Top Ten TV Shows of 2005-06

It's become increasingly difficult to properly define a "season" of TV. Not only because the networks continue to test the boundaries of the traditional season and cable has never restricted itself to a "proper" September-May schedule, but also because the rise of TiVos, On Demand and TV on DVD have made it easier than ever for viewers to create their own schedules and watch entire seasons of shows on their own terms.

But I'm gonna stick with tradition and pay tribute to the best of the conventional TV season that ended about a month ago. That means stuff that aired between June 2005 and May 2006. After all, it's still the way the Emmys define their eligibility period (this year's nominations are due out July 6, while I'm on a break from this blog).

I could list out everything that I watched over the past year, and everything I still plan on catching, but instead I'll reserve this space for what I liked most of all. However, there are a few shows that would have made my list of the season's best, if I had more room:

-Big Love, yet another strong effort from HBO which invited viewers into a unique world (and lifestyle) in a credible way
-Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO) and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX), two cranky comedies that regularly made me laugh out loud

and first place runner-up...
-Wonder Showzen (MTV2), still wonderfully warped, if a little less fresh, in season two

But on to the real deal...

10. Rome (HBO; available on DVD)

HBO and the BBC teamed up to turn truly ancient history into an addictive soap, equal parts class and trash. The first season of this opulent epic was overflowing with raunchy sex and graphic violence, but it never felt forced thanks to its strong characterizations and extraordinary ensemble cast (with Ray Stevenson and Polly Walker especially relishing their scene-stealing roles). Forget Hollywood's ponderous period pictures, for costume drama that sizzles all roads lead...right here.

Standout episodes: The Stolen Eagle; The Ram Has Touched the Wall; The Spoils; The Kalends of February

9. Sons and Daughters (ABC)

This could have been the next great family comedy, if only people had bothered to watch. It probably should've aired on cable where the show's sharp, partially improvised dialogue, semi-serialized storylines and extensive ensemble would've been properly viewed as strengths rather than flaws. At least ABC took a chance and let ten episodes air, making network television a more interesting place in the process.

Standout episodes: Anniversary Party; BBQ Therapy; Surprise Party; The Homecoming

8. Six Feet Under (HBO; available on DVD)

The last season of HBO's signature sex-'n'-death drama started off a little weak, but by the time it hit the home stretch Six Feet Under delivered some of its finest episodes ever, culminating in a remarkable series finale that gave the show the arty/invigorating/absurd/glorious/pretentious/abundantly satisfying ending it deserved. And on a series that always honored its supremely talented cast, Frances Conroy and Rachel Griffiths finished the run as first among equals.

Standout episodes: Rainbow of Her Reasons; All Alone; Static; Everyone's Waiting

7. Extras (HBO; available on DVD)

Following up one of the greatest TV shows ever made is a pretty tough challenge. But Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant proved themselves up to the task with this unique portrait of two insecure and self-sabotaging background players in the U.K. film world. Gervais again starred, paired this time with the equally brilliant Ashley Jensen, and the result was a short season of piercing hilarity.

Standout episodes: Kate Winslet; Ben Stiller; Patrick Stewart

6. 24 (Fox; available on DVD)

It's surprise enough that such a gimmicky concept even made it to a fifth season. But watching this high-wire-act of an action drama deliver its most consistently compelling season yet was downright shocking. Bolstered by the show's strongest ensemble ever, "Day Five" raced breathlessly from one tension-filled situation to the next. Cast members dropped like flies, bold twists divided (and delighted) the audience and the clock kept ticking... making those seven days between new episodes seem like an eternity.

Standout episodes: Difficult choices for a show that's more about moments than episodes but: 7:00 A.M.-8:00 A.M. (season premiere); 4:00 P.M.-5:00 P.M. (motorcade attack); 10:00 P.M.-11:00 P.M. (the big reveal); 11:00 P.M.-12:00 A.M. (season finale)

5. Bleak House (PBS; available on DVD)

Who knew a novel from the 1800s, by Charles Dickens no less, could be turned into something so gripping in 2006? This Masterpiece Theater presentation of a BBC sensation preserves Dickens' serialized storytelling format but shatters PBS' stodgy reputation thanks to an audacious filmmaking style and passionate emotional resonance. Anna Maxwell Martin turned in arguably the best performance of the entire TV season as the radiant and intelligent Jane Austen-esque heroine.

Standout episodes: Parts 1, 4, 6

4. The Sopranos (HBO; available on DVD)

Continually setting the bar for the level of quality possible on television, the landmark drama had a fascinating sixth season. Complaints about the pace seemingly disregard the peerless filmmaking and performances. Tension mounted as the people we've come to know so well took baby steps forward, and backward, in this introspective season that explored big questions of mortality, heredity, enlightenment and the irresistible lure of a lifestyle that has great rewards but even greater penalties. Only eight more to go.

Standout episodes: The Fleshy Part of the Thigh; Mr. and Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request; Johnny Cakes; Cold Stones

3. Battlestar Galactica (Sci Fi; first half and second half available on DVD)

In case you haven't heard, this is the show that single-handedly made sci-fi (both the channel and the genre) a respectable destination for lovers of quality drama. And over the course of an exhilarating and provocative 20-episode second season, split into two equally riveting halves, this re-imagining of a cheesy 70s space opera blossomed into one of TV's unquestionable best. Despite its cosmic setting, no show has more to say about the way we live now. Episodes make time for kick ass action and challenging portrayals of religious fundamentalism, terrorism, war, civil liberties and other vital topics without pandering or preaching. And damn is it fun.

Standout episodes: Home; Resurrection Ship; Downloaded; Lay Down Your Burdens

2. The Shield (FX; available on DVD)

It's a real mystery why The Shield isn't on the tip of everyone's tongue as one of TV's best dramas. This richly complex police drama gets deeper, and better, with each new season and long ago deserved the right to be mentioned in the same breath with The Sopranos, as a true contemporary classic. The problem is you've got to start at the beginning, but by the time you hit season five and see the Strike Team face off with a fiercely committed IA agent, who is determined to expose and end their corruption once and for all, you'll wonder why you ever resisted watching in the first place.

Standout episodes: Trophy; Kavanaugh; Of Mice and Lem; Post Partum

1. Arrested Development (Fox; available on DVD)

No, putting it on top isn't some statement about a great show that ended too soon. In fact part of me is glad that Arrested Development is done, finished, kaput. Yeah I said it. It's actually heartening to know that this brilliant comedy never lost its mojo. How it survived for three genius seasons without fading, becoming desperate or selling out is for wiser people than me to know. I'm just glad we have 53 episodes of these miserable bastards, and enough in-jokes to last a lifetime. Bob Loblaw. Mr. F. Oh come on. Has anyone in this family ever even seen a chicken? I've made a terrible mistake.

Standout episodes: The Ocean Walker; S.O.B.s; Fakin' It; Development Arrested

Summer heroes

June is almost over and the summer movie season is every bit as uninspiring as I thought it would be. At least Mission: Impossible III delivered the action goods, and I'm still holding out some hope for the I'll-get-to-it-eventually flick Cars (and maybe Over the Hedge will be a decent surprise when I get to it on DVD). But what I want to talk about now is a smaller film now making its way to theaters around the country (before we get to the big movie that everyone already knows about).

Wordplay opened last week to strong limited release box office and solid reviews and I'm confident it will continue to play well throughout the summer.

It's the latest entry in the Lite Documentary subgenre, the kind of crowd-pleasing movies that have helped docs muscle in on precious arthouse screen space in a major way. "Fun" docs reached a quality peak with the spelling bee examination Spellbound, a movie to which Wordplay owes some sort of debt. While Spellbound lovingly scrutinized the quirky personalities of the kids who enter spelling bees before thrusting us into the suspenseful world of the bee itself, Wordplay introduces a range of crossword puzzle fanatics on its way to a climax at the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in Stamford, Connecticut.

In both movies it comes as a surprise that such seemingly cerebral challenges can provide such nail-biting tension on screen, but both films deliver exactly that by building interest in the competitors and helping the audience see, through their eyes, what makes these brainy showdowns worth getting worked up over.

Wordplay is, not unexpectedly, a celebration of both words and puzzles. Its subjects' enthusiasm for crosswords is contagious, helped by filmmaker Patrick Creadon's relaxed, entertaining style. And although the movie lacks Spellbound's depth and range, it has a secret weapon of its own: entertaining interviews with celebrity crossword enthusiasts ranging from documentarian Ken Burns to musicians the Indigo Girls to Major League Baseball player Mike Mussina to comedian Jon Stewart (in hilarious form) to former President Bill Clinton (and his former rival Bob Dole, who both help explain one of the cleverest crosswords ever created).

This is the kind of movie that makes moviegoing refreshing, and fun.

Fun is exactly what, I think, Superman Returns is supposed to be. And exactly what, I unfortunately know, it isn't.

Although it doesn't properly arrive in theaters until next week I have to say I'm a bit baffled by the overly kind early reviews. But at least it can be said that Superman is no X-Men-level fiasco. This one actually delivers something. It has the kind of visual dazzle one would hope for from a massively expensive summer movie: the special effects are truly awesome and director Bryan Singer gets strong technical support from his usual ace director of photography Newton Thomas Sigel, who is undeniably gifted when it comes to unusual angles and showy camera moves.

But the rest of the movie falls strangely flat. Especially critical components like writing (including dialogue, storyline, plotting and characterizations) and casting. Even the movie's timeline is weird. The film pays direct tribute to the earlier Superman films and, in puzzling decision #1, is apparently designed to take place after the events of 1980's Superman II. Yet, in puzzling decision #2, the lead actors are ridiculously young. Who decided on a "mature" take on Superman starring two actors who wouldn't be out of place on a WB soap? (Especially since, um, The WB actually has a youthful Superman soap.)

It wouldn't matter much if Brandon Routh and Kate Bosworth delivered inspired performances in their roles (after all, everything about Superman relies on suspension of disbelief) but they don't. Not that they have inspired material to work with, or that they stand out for their failure to elevate it. Everyone in the film either has too little to do (like proven greats Frank Langella as Perry White and Eva Marie Saint as Ma Kent) or is boring doing it (notably Kevin Spacey as a thoroughly unmemorable Lex Luthor and James Marsden in the ill-conceived new role of Lois Lane's fiance). Only Parker Posey adds some spark to her role, as Luthor's lady of the moment (but she might add a bit too much spark, it often seems like she's in a different movie entirely).

Even so Bosworth is asking for a Razzie nom for her entirely unconvincing work as Lois Lane, here a Pulitzer Prize-worthy journalist and young mother (though the actress seems more like a big sister to her onscreen offspring), and Routh leaves little impression at all in the dual roles of Superman and Clark Kent (making it seem doubtful he'll find any more career traction than those who previously portrayed the superhero).

At least the movie delivers the visual goods. And for some that may be enough. There's an epic-ness to the film that is otherwise pretty much absent this summer (with the possible exception of the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel), but at 2 1/2 hours Superman and Singer are really trying the audience's patience, especially when the movie fails to advance these iconic characters in any meaningful way.

And for a movie designed to re-ignite a franchise for its studio it commits an even bigger offense: it doesn't leave you wanting more.

Looking forward to fall

I don't like writing about pilots for the broadcast networks' new fall shows so early for two reasons: first because the early pilots networks send out aren't always reflective of what will actually air (things can still be recut, reshot, recast or otherwise reworked) and secondly because not that many people have access to them and they won't actually air until September. So I'll save the detailed posts for later, but I've been looking for something good to mention here lately and a couple of the pilots I've seen so far definitely fit the bill.

They're not, however, either of NBC's heavily-hyped-by-entertainment-media Saturday Night Live-inspired "backstage" shows. I like the one by the woman who actually wrote for SNL a little better than the one by the guy who (for some completely unfathomable reason) wishes he had. But they both have strengths and weaknesses. Together they might make for a great show, but separately they're both too TV-focused to actually be interesting and simply not creative enough to stand out beyond their concepts and pedigrees. In other words neither one really leaves me wanting more.

At least that's one problem that another new NBC show, Heroes, doesn't have. The average-Joes-discover-they're-superheroes hour is derivative of Lost in a lot of ways, but unlike last season's glut of convoluted supernatural mystery offerings this one only borrows concepts from Lost that are well suited to a TV drama. If it maintains a strong emphasis on its characters (and improves its writing a bit) Heroes may even turn out to be better (less frustrating) than the hit island saga.

But we have to switch networks to cover the best of what I've seen so far. Three new shows from ABC suggest the network is looking to corner the market on TV's most involving, and best looking, series. According to Jim is going to look even worse on a network where everything else looks like a mini-movie, if the pilots for Betty the Ugly, Let's Rob... and Notes from the Underbelly are any indication. Yes two of them have terrible titles (and a case could be made that Let's Rob... is pretty bad too) but they're all interesting, well done shows that make the whole pilot thing look easy. Even though anyone who's ever watched TV knows it's anything but.

Notes is the least special of the three and suffers from an unfortunate lack of chemistry between its leads, and I don't expect it to be around very long, but it still looks and feels so much better than we have any right to expect from network TV. For most networks it would probably be a standout effort, but not here.

Especially because both Betty and Rob are so extremely good. They could be the best pilots of the season, but it's too soon for me to say (there's nine more shows to watch from ABC alone). Like the best pilots these two immediately place you in their world, establish a strong, distinctive tone and introduce you to characters you want to keep watching. Both have casts that immediately click (with very strong leads in America Ferrera and Donal Logue, respectively) and, very important since both are comedies, both have genuine laugh-out-loud moments (especially Rob).

It's still a long way till September, but in the network TV world it's never too early for hype. And these two deserve it.

So again:
Betty the Ugly
and
Let's Rob...

Even HBO makes mistakes

HBO's latest original series, the half-hour comedy Lucky Louie, premieres tonight (and repeats throughout the week) and it's a rarity for the network: it's really awful.

Sure HBO has had an occasional trainwreck in its past (Arli$$ and The Mind of the Married Man come to mind), but for the most part even its "failures" (like say K Street or The Comeback or Carnivale) are still interesting in some way. Lucky Louie does have an interesting concept: it's a "traditional" sitcom with a studio audience, laugh track, spare sets and a blue collar family at its center, but since this is HBO the writers are free to use as much "colorful" language and tackle whatever "adult" topics they want without resorting to innuendo or double entendres. Unfortunately the execution is as painful as any other generic network sitcom and the pilot episode plays something like an especially vulgar episode of According to Jim.

There was reason to expect more. Series creator and star Louis C.K. has a resume that includes writing gigs for David Letterman, Conan O'Brien and Chris Rock and this show does air on HBO. But in watching it it's hard to understand why, this show is unreasonably bad for such a high quality network. There's a feeling of desperation here that would be more at home on Showtime. Not only is the writing not funny but the acting is terrible (only Mike Hagerty, as Louie's best friend, displays decent comic delivery) and the look of the show is appallingly bad. To top it all off the first episode runs a painful 31 minutes, an excrutiating amount of time to spend on not being funny (without commercials most network sitcoms are about 23 minutes long). The second episode is shorter at least, if not any funnier.

Several critics have already done an excellent job eviscerating the show (especially Tim Goodman in the San Francisco Chronicle) and I'd rather not spend any more time on it. Instead I'd rather write about something good (maybe the new season of Deadwood, which I haven't started watching yet), so I'll be back with something better soon.

Criticizing the critics

While we're on the topic of NBC, let's pause to celebrate their strong showing in yesterday's Television Critics Association nominations.

And by "celebrate" I mean get so blasted we can't even remember these things were announced. Because they're best forgotten.

Usually you can count on the TCAs for a pretty solid list with a couple of fun "the-Emmys-would-never!" picks. Yeah, they always lean a little too heavily on the guys in their two performance categories but they'll also do things like nominate Sarah Michelle Gellar or Lauren Graham or The [real] Office or The Shield or other genuinely deserving but often overlooked shows/performers. This year there are no such fun picks (although they did go for Graham again, but considering her show's less than spectacular season even that choice feels rote).

Perennial awards watching irritant Tom O'Neil, in typically hysterical form, posted a Tom-explains-it-all rant about why TCA "snubbed" Desperate Housewives. And his "it's a boy's club" rationale probably isn't that far off base, but it does ignore a couple points: it may or may not make the Emmy list but DH wasn't getting a TCA nom this year no matter what, it simply wasn't good enough (and the real question isn't why it was ignored, but why Lost didn't get the same treatment after a similarly disappointing second season), and, more importantly, Grey's Anatomy got two big TCA nominations. Try to find a bigger chick show than that on all of primetime television at the moment.

The nominations are clearly more about "buzz" than anything else (which makes sense because in TV, critics either create the buzz or become slaves to it to avoid looking irrelevant). But I'll stop dancing around it and get to the point: where the hell are Battlestar Galactica and Arrested Development?

Seriously. This is what I count on the TCA for, recognizing the deserving underdogs. I can forgive them for moving on from The Shield (it's their loss) but must they hold up the absurdly overrated My Name is Earl and the why-isn't-it-dead-yet!?! Scrubs as examples of television's best comedy? And does House really need a drama series nomination? (Correct answers: no and no.)

Seeing the season's best shows overlooked at the Emmys will be unfortunate enough. Seeing them passed over by television critics is just pathetic.

Fall Schedules: NBC (Take Two)

This was announced last week but I didn't really catch it until the weekend (and didn't get around to writing about it until now, obviously): that silly fall schedule NBC announced a couple weeks ago is history. In its place is a brand new schedule, a reaction to what the grown up networks announced after NBC dove headfirst into an empty pool. (Check out the network's spin here.)

Good Move: Obviously something had to be done about sending Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 to the slaughter opposite CSI and a relocated Grey's Anatomy on Thursday nights, and in the process NBC ditched its lame new-shows-at-9 "strategy." Studio 60 will now air Mondays at 10, following new series Heroes (the only new show that will air at 9). Studio has a better shot here—it was smart to capitalize on ABC's most obvious vulnerability: the returning What About Brian—but it's still doubtful to be a breakout hit, and CSI: Miami won't even have to break a sweat to dominate the hour.

Taking Studio's place in the nobody-wants-it Thursday at 9 slot is NBC's most popular show, Deal or No Deal. It probably won't stay NBC's most popular show in this new time but it should keep the network alive better than anything else would (like, say, The Apprentice, or, lord help us all, an hour of Scrubs). And DoND also airs Mondays at 8, where it should keep doing fine for the time being (and is a lot less embarrassing than previous timeslot occupant Fear Factor).

The other new series relocated before they even air are Kidnapped (moving to Wednesdays at 10 from Tuesdays at 9, which seems smart but could be risky if ABC's Lost helps its new lead-out The Nine become a hit) and the comedy block of Twenty Good Years/30 Rock (from Wednesdays at 9 to Wednesdays at 8; they'd be the only comedies on network TV in either hour but this takes them out of Lost's attack zone and avoids two full hours of new shows on Wednesday).

Bad Move: NBC clearly has no idea what to do with its Law & Order franchise anymore. Ratings may not be as strong as they once were but by moving the original series to Friday night (in a timeslot that claimed the only L&O spin-off casualty, Trial By Jury, and last season's L&O-variation Conviction) they essentially admit it's no longer anything more than a Crossing Jordan-type utility player. (Not coincidentally Crossing Jordan, which wasn't on NBC's original fall schedule, has been called back into action for the Friday at 8 slot. I think it's the first time the show has ever aired at such an early hour.)

And both L&O spin-offs, Criminal Intent and SVU, will air back-to-back on Tuesday nights. This is a really weird move but I expect one of the two will end up on Sundays after football ends anyway. (That's apparently also where NBC tentatively plans to put Medium, the only show removed from Fall Schedule Version 2.0.)