Now the second half of my list of top ten shows I watched this past year (in alphabetical order).
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel; HBO. What every sports news show should aspire to be. The team of reporters are all at the head of their class, and they dig deeply into a story; most of which you’d never hear of outside of this venue. The pure range of stories is amazing, and within a single hour, it can bring you to any number of emotional responses. Just this last year, I got to see the former circus ringleader of FOX Sunday football coverage, James Brown, have a very touching discussion with a severely disabled little girl who explains her equine therapy. Or the difficulties the soccer team plane-crash survivors, who were stranded on a mountaintop and had to resort to cannibalism, had when they returned back to civilization. Or the heartbreaking story of former NFL players in their 40s and 50s who have brain deterioration found in the average 80 year old due to countless head injuries—or just injuries in general. When you see Conrad Dobler, one of the fiercest men who ever stepped on the field, using a cane to walk—due to extremely swollen knees which have had a half-dozen surgeries in the past couple of years—say he’d take his own life if he could, it’s chilling. And then it can bring tears to your eyes when they spotlight a five-year-old boy who watched Tiger Woods on TV and somehow picked up the perfect golf swing. Just an amazing story about an amazing kid that warms the heart. And then they hit you with the fact that he had cancer in his eye and nearly died twice. Now he has a glass eye—and the kid just lives life and still golfs with a swing that others would pay unlimited money to have.
Reaper; CW. There are a handful of shows that could be on this list instead, but I think Reaper has lots of untapped potential that needs an audience, so it can grow. Bret Harrison is one of the best young comedic actors out there right now, and even though this is a drama, his humor makes Sam more believable and relatable. Tyler Labine gets the best lines, and uses them masterfully. Rick Gonzalez is finally getting something more to do than just being the pensive one of the group. And you can’t mention acting on this show without mentioning Ray Wise’s Devil, who is spot-on (as “spot on” as one can be to a character that has many interpretations).
The show floundered about a bit at first, but then it had an inspired storyline about demons banding together to overthrow the Devil. This is the type of mythology a genre show needs to survive. I think it’ll be great—even if they killed off Michael Ian Black’s demon in the process.
Slings and Arrows; Sundance. Quite a bit was packed into this six episode season. Geoffrey prepares a production of King Lear and hires a major star to lead it. The problem is said star knows this is his last production, and he wants everyone’s “A” game; and he doesn’t care that most of the others have nowhere near his experience. Oh yeah, the star also is dying of cancer and shoots up heroin to keep going. Geoffrey’s inability to control the star causes a rift between he and Ellen, and his dead friend Oliver is haunting him more and more. Richard makes some adjustments to the concurrently running musical and finds himself finally doing some creative work, which comes at the expense of his financial work that needs to be done. And it wouldn’t be S&A without a young love storyline.
It was a bittersweet season as the series came to a close, but it ended well. Sadness mixing with happiness. Just like life.
This American Life; Showtime. I got on this train a little late, but I was instantly attracted to it. This NPR show transplant works just fine on television. Each episode has a theme, and 2-3 stories that fit into that theme. The thing is: usually these stories are very “small”, but the show makes them vastly interesting. It’s not exciting, it’s just stories about American lives done very well.
Weeds; Showtime. Season Three got a little loopy, but it held together. After two seasons of Nancy's new career being explored, the stakes got higher when she got involved with big time dealers and really started to move her own strain of pot ("MILF Weed"). And then things came crashing down. The season finale was one of the most series changing episodes I've ever seen. Things would not be the way they were-- ever again.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Teameck's Top Ten of the 2007-2008 TV Season (A-P)
And, finally, my list of top ten shows I watched this past year, starting with the first five (listed alphabetically).
Aliens in America; CW. It’s a crime this show didn’t attract more viewers. An overly worried mom wants her unpopular son, Justin, to have a handsome and popular best friend, so she signs up her family to host an exchange student. Unfortunately for her plan, the exchange student is from Pakistan (he’s mistaken for a terrorist a lot and dresses differently than most of the rest of the world). But what started out as disappointment ends up being a learning experience for everyone. And while Justin didn’t get more popular, he did have a few adventures he wouldn’t have had, and Rajah helped him out of.
The humor was edgy at times (like when bullies accused Justin of being gay because he wasn’t attracted to his hot sister), but the crux of the show was heart. Rajah became a member of the family, and had to experience the good and the bad of it.
How I Met Your Mother; CBS. Repeats as my favorite network comedy (only [adult swim’s] Frisky Dingo comes close) for the second straight year. This season just got better. First we saw Ted & Robin deal with their breakup as well as their attempts to move on. We saw Marshall and Lily deal with the problems at their dream place. Barney took Ted on a whirlwind spree of serial dating/getting laid and then hooked up with Robin himself. Ted fell in love with a new woman; one who just might be the titular mother.
I don’t know why this show isn’t more popular. The cast is great, the writing is amazing. It has a progression to the storylines like the best episodes of Friends had, and it could add to the classic television lexicon much the same way that Seinfeld did. Each episode stands on its own, yet each episode also carries the thrust of the series a step further. And, waiting in the wings, is the mother we are supposed to meet by the conclusion of the series. I just love that this show has a map of where it’s been and where it’s going. Part of the fun is when someone refers back to an episode months or years in the past, and you say to yourself “I remember that”. And there’s the occasional referral to something that will happen in the future that makes you say, “Oh yeah, ‘Old Ted’ said that was going to happen."
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia; FX. Bring Seinfeld into basic cable and make it a one-camera show, and you’re just hitting the tip of the iceberg of this show. These five characters are about as self-involved as you can get, and will stab anyone in the back to get what they want. But as repulsive as they are as people, they sure can make me laugh. It helps that they always get what’s coming to them by the end of the episode.
The New Adventures of Old Christine; CBS. I was a bit surprised to see this one make the cut, but I had to remind myself what I told a friend of mine during this latest season—this show makes me laugh harder than most any I can remember. I mean, really laugh out loud laughs, not the chuckles most other great comedies get out of me. The show has really grown the past few years, and this season was very tight. The focus is now-- finally-- solely on Christine, and they’re not trying to force New Christine, the ex, or the son into every episode. It has strengthened the entire show by making the supporting characters actually support Old Christine instead of being a focus themselves. And they’ve gotten funnier as a result.
The biggest credit needs to be put on Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who I’ll go on a limb and say is the funniest female in a comedy. I know Tina Fey is the “hot” one to praise, but Louis-Dreyfus has more range right now (yes, much of that is how the character is written, but she can take even the most humiliating of situations, and make them funnier than many others could).
Phineas and Ferb; Disney. Every once in a while, a show “made for kids” just blows me away. This one is definitely made for kids, but there is a maturity and sophistication to it that an adult like me can love. The premise is very simple: two boys decide not to sit around during summer vacation, so they make these gigantic plans every single day in order to live life to the fullest. Disregard the fact that they must be super-geniuses—and super-rich—to even accomplish these ideas; just bask in the idea that every single day should be one of adventure and learning.
The zealousness of the main characters and funny “throw away” lines by everyone make this an infectious show, but take one step back and see how each episode is constructed, and the show becomes that much more fun and sophisticated. I’ll say 90% of each episode contains the following: Phineas and Ferb come up with an idea. Their sister Candace finds out about it, and tells their mom. Mom doesn’t believe her. Phineas asks, “Where’s Perry?” Their pet Perry the Platypus sneaks off to get his orders from Major Monogram. Monogram tells Perry what Dr. Doofenshmirtz has planned, and sends Perry to stop him. P&F continue to work on the day’s project, and someone they have to get materials from asks, “Aren’t you a little young to be doing [whatever they’re doing]?”, and Phineas responds with, “Yes. Yes I am.” Isabella, the cute neighbor girl with a crush on Phineas arrives and asks, “Whatcha dooooin’?” and Phineas answers, and oftentimes drags her into the plan. Candice gets a step closer to “busting” them but mom still doesn’t believe her. Perry breaks into Doofenshmitrtz’s lair and Dr. D. captures him. Dr. D. does something stupid, and Perry escapes, and turns the tables on Dr. D. Dr. D.’s plans fall apart just as Phineas and Ferb finish their adventure for the day, which is just when Candice convinces her mom to see what the boys are doing. And somehow, Perry and Dr. Doofenshmirtz destroy whatever the boys had created just seconds before their mom shows up.
And every episode also contains at least one short, original song in the spirit of the episode.
And what’s even more amazing—every episode feels different. It follows a formula, but it’s always presented in a different way.
Aliens in America; CW. It’s a crime this show didn’t attract more viewers. An overly worried mom wants her unpopular son, Justin, to have a handsome and popular best friend, so she signs up her family to host an exchange student. Unfortunately for her plan, the exchange student is from Pakistan (he’s mistaken for a terrorist a lot and dresses differently than most of the rest of the world). But what started out as disappointment ends up being a learning experience for everyone. And while Justin didn’t get more popular, he did have a few adventures he wouldn’t have had, and Rajah helped him out of.
The humor was edgy at times (like when bullies accused Justin of being gay because he wasn’t attracted to his hot sister), but the crux of the show was heart. Rajah became a member of the family, and had to experience the good and the bad of it.
How I Met Your Mother; CBS. Repeats as my favorite network comedy (only [adult swim’s] Frisky Dingo comes close) for the second straight year. This season just got better. First we saw Ted & Robin deal with their breakup as well as their attempts to move on. We saw Marshall and Lily deal with the problems at their dream place. Barney took Ted on a whirlwind spree of serial dating/getting laid and then hooked up with Robin himself. Ted fell in love with a new woman; one who just might be the titular mother.
I don’t know why this show isn’t more popular. The cast is great, the writing is amazing. It has a progression to the storylines like the best episodes of Friends had, and it could add to the classic television lexicon much the same way that Seinfeld did. Each episode stands on its own, yet each episode also carries the thrust of the series a step further. And, waiting in the wings, is the mother we are supposed to meet by the conclusion of the series. I just love that this show has a map of where it’s been and where it’s going. Part of the fun is when someone refers back to an episode months or years in the past, and you say to yourself “I remember that”. And there’s the occasional referral to something that will happen in the future that makes you say, “Oh yeah, ‘Old Ted’ said that was going to happen."
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia; FX. Bring Seinfeld into basic cable and make it a one-camera show, and you’re just hitting the tip of the iceberg of this show. These five characters are about as self-involved as you can get, and will stab anyone in the back to get what they want. But as repulsive as they are as people, they sure can make me laugh. It helps that they always get what’s coming to them by the end of the episode.
The New Adventures of Old Christine; CBS. I was a bit surprised to see this one make the cut, but I had to remind myself what I told a friend of mine during this latest season—this show makes me laugh harder than most any I can remember. I mean, really laugh out loud laughs, not the chuckles most other great comedies get out of me. The show has really grown the past few years, and this season was very tight. The focus is now-- finally-- solely on Christine, and they’re not trying to force New Christine, the ex, or the son into every episode. It has strengthened the entire show by making the supporting characters actually support Old Christine instead of being a focus themselves. And they’ve gotten funnier as a result.
The biggest credit needs to be put on Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who I’ll go on a limb and say is the funniest female in a comedy. I know Tina Fey is the “hot” one to praise, but Louis-Dreyfus has more range right now (yes, much of that is how the character is written, but she can take even the most humiliating of situations, and make them funnier than many others could).
Phineas and Ferb; Disney. Every once in a while, a show “made for kids” just blows me away. This one is definitely made for kids, but there is a maturity and sophistication to it that an adult like me can love. The premise is very simple: two boys decide not to sit around during summer vacation, so they make these gigantic plans every single day in order to live life to the fullest. Disregard the fact that they must be super-geniuses—and super-rich—to even accomplish these ideas; just bask in the idea that every single day should be one of adventure and learning.
The zealousness of the main characters and funny “throw away” lines by everyone make this an infectious show, but take one step back and see how each episode is constructed, and the show becomes that much more fun and sophisticated. I’ll say 90% of each episode contains the following: Phineas and Ferb come up with an idea. Their sister Candace finds out about it, and tells their mom. Mom doesn’t believe her. Phineas asks, “Where’s Perry?” Their pet Perry the Platypus sneaks off to get his orders from Major Monogram. Monogram tells Perry what Dr. Doofenshmirtz has planned, and sends Perry to stop him. P&F continue to work on the day’s project, and someone they have to get materials from asks, “Aren’t you a little young to be doing [whatever they’re doing]?”, and Phineas responds with, “Yes. Yes I am.” Isabella, the cute neighbor girl with a crush on Phineas arrives and asks, “Whatcha dooooin’?” and Phineas answers, and oftentimes drags her into the plan. Candice gets a step closer to “busting” them but mom still doesn’t believe her. Perry breaks into Doofenshmitrtz’s lair and Dr. D. captures him. Dr. D. does something stupid, and Perry escapes, and turns the tables on Dr. D. Dr. D.’s plans fall apart just as Phineas and Ferb finish their adventure for the day, which is just when Candice convinces her mom to see what the boys are doing. And somehow, Perry and Dr. Doofenshmirtz destroy whatever the boys had created just seconds before their mom shows up.
And every episode also contains at least one short, original song in the spirit of the episode.
And what’s even more amazing—every episode feels different. It follows a formula, but it’s always presented in a different way.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Teameck TV 2007-2008 Awards
Taking a page fro the Comic Shop News and its "Red Kryptonite Awards", I'm going to do some goofy "awards" of my own from the past TV season (June 2007-May 2008).
Here we go:
Best Comedy: How I Met Your Mother
Best New Comedy: Aliens in America
Most Anticipated New Season: Frisky Dingo
Most Improved Comedy: It’s Sunny in Philadelphia
Most Improved Dramedy: Desperate Housewives
Most “Wrong” Show: Moral Orel
Comedy MVP: J.B. Smoove; Curb Your Enthusiasm, ‘Til Death, and Everybody Hates Chris
Dramedy MVP: Chi McBride, Pushing Daisies
Multi-genre MVP: Blair Underwood; New Adventures of Old Christine and Dirty Sexy Money (and In Treatment-- which I didn't watch).
Recurring guest star MVPs: Michael Ian Black and Tony Moreno; Reaper
Biggest Crime: Inside the NFL gets cancelled.
I can now cripple someone because I watched this show: Human Weapon
Show that can make me laugh, cry, uplifted, and outraged all in 60 minutes: Real Sports
Biggest Surprise (show I hadn’t planned on watching, but ended up loving): Phineas and Ferb
Biggest Surprise (show that made me laugh much more than I expected): New Adventures of Old Christine
I appreciate the attempts, but they just didn’t work out: All the “outside the box” storyarcs on My Name is Earl
Show I should have loved but didn’t “get”: Spaced
Show I love that needs to end soon before it gets so ridiculous even I won’t watch it: Prison Break
Show that should have been saved: Aliens in America
Hottest mom: Mary-Louse Parker on Weeds
Show I would have liked to see go on, even though it ended well enough: Journeyman
Show that best found its voice from pilot to season finale: Big Bang Theory
Character I wish I could see more of, but know too much of something isn’t always a good thing: Marmaduke from Carpoolers
Show that makes me laugh, even though I should feel dirty that I do: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Show that is lucky to be on adult swim because Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would crucify it were it anywhere else: Boondocks
Show that tells me what’s really going on in the world: Real Time with Bill Maher
Show that was pretty funny last season and pretty not this season: Head Cases
Show whose pilot was just too good to live up to: Reaper
Show whose pilot was just too good to live up to— and somehow did: Pushing Daisies
Worst behind the scenes problem that ended up affecting a show: Sarah Wayne Calles and Prison Break producers cannot agree on a work schedule or a story arc.
Channel I wish I had more time to watch: History
Most misleading title: John Safran vs. God (he’s not challenging God; he’s exploring religion)
Best Save: ABC, for letting Scrubs finish out its run on its own terms.
2nd Best Save: Reaper getting some show mythology.
Where did all the great shows go? BBC America, which was my favorite of all channels two years ago, but doesn’t have any more than one series at a time that I watch now.
The season finale that most brought its show back to where it needed to be: My Name is Earl
Season finale with the most promise for next year: Desperate Housewives
Season finale that has me the most afraid things will change too much: Weeds
Here we go:
Best Comedy: How I Met Your Mother
Best New Comedy: Aliens in America
Most Anticipated New Season: Frisky Dingo
Most Improved Comedy: It’s Sunny in Philadelphia
Most Improved Dramedy: Desperate Housewives
Most “Wrong” Show: Moral Orel
Comedy MVP: J.B. Smoove; Curb Your Enthusiasm, ‘Til Death, and Everybody Hates Chris
Dramedy MVP: Chi McBride, Pushing Daisies
Multi-genre MVP: Blair Underwood; New Adventures of Old Christine and Dirty Sexy Money (and In Treatment-- which I didn't watch).
Recurring guest star MVPs: Michael Ian Black and Tony Moreno; Reaper
Biggest Crime: Inside the NFL gets cancelled.
I can now cripple someone because I watched this show: Human Weapon
Show that can make me laugh, cry, uplifted, and outraged all in 60 minutes: Real Sports
Biggest Surprise (show I hadn’t planned on watching, but ended up loving): Phineas and Ferb
Biggest Surprise (show that made me laugh much more than I expected): New Adventures of Old Christine
I appreciate the attempts, but they just didn’t work out: All the “outside the box” storyarcs on My Name is Earl
Show I should have loved but didn’t “get”: Spaced
Show I love that needs to end soon before it gets so ridiculous even I won’t watch it: Prison Break
Show that should have been saved: Aliens in America
Hottest mom: Mary-Louse Parker on Weeds
Show I would have liked to see go on, even though it ended well enough: Journeyman
Show that best found its voice from pilot to season finale: Big Bang Theory
Character I wish I could see more of, but know too much of something isn’t always a good thing: Marmaduke from Carpoolers
Show that makes me laugh, even though I should feel dirty that I do: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Show that is lucky to be on adult swim because Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would crucify it were it anywhere else: Boondocks
Show that tells me what’s really going on in the world: Real Time with Bill Maher
Show that was pretty funny last season and pretty not this season: Head Cases
Show whose pilot was just too good to live up to: Reaper
Show whose pilot was just too good to live up to— and somehow did: Pushing Daisies
Worst behind the scenes problem that ended up affecting a show: Sarah Wayne Calles and Prison Break producers cannot agree on a work schedule or a story arc.
Channel I wish I had more time to watch: History
Most misleading title: John Safran vs. God (he’s not challenging God; he’s exploring religion)
Best Save: ABC, for letting Scrubs finish out its run on its own terms.
2nd Best Save: Reaper getting some show mythology.
Where did all the great shows go? BBC America, which was my favorite of all channels two years ago, but doesn’t have any more than one series at a time that I watch now.
The season finale that most brought its show back to where it needed to be: My Name is Earl
Season finale with the most promise for next year: Desperate Housewives
Season finale that has me the most afraid things will change too much: Weeds
Monday, June 30, 2008
Another Free Album
Gotta give a shout out to my pal, Brian, who gave me a link to Duff McKagen's band Loaded's new album DARK DAYS.
As with Nine Inch Nails' album THE SLIP (which I wrote about here ), it's free to download. I've had in the background the past half hour, and it's decent. I'll probably burn it to a CD and listen to it in the car to see if I really like it or not.
But, hey-- it's free. You can't go wrong with that price while trying it out. The link isn't working for me when I post this, so try a cut and paste in your browser window:
idolmanagement.com/duffmckagan's/loadeddarkdays.htm
As with Nine Inch Nails' album THE SLIP (which I wrote about here ), it's free to download. I've had in the background the past half hour, and it's decent. I'll probably burn it to a CD and listen to it in the car to see if I really like it or not.
But, hey-- it's free. You can't go wrong with that price while trying it out. The link isn't working for me when I post this, so try a cut and paste in your browser window:
idolmanagement.com/duffmckagan's/loadeddarkdays.htm
So... What Do YOU Do During the Writer's Strike?
If your name is Joss Whedon, you made a pet project with some friends, will let everyone in the universe see it for free for a few days, then will make it available for download, and finally put it on DVD with scads of extras.
The project is called Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. Part 1 premieres on July 15, Part 2 on July 17, and the third and final part on July 19. It'll be free until midnight on July 20.
So why should you care? Joss Whedon. The guy is a fanboy wet dream. And you know if he put the time into this project without any guarantee of compensation, he must believe in it.
If that's not good enough, how about Nathan Filion as Captain Hammer, Felicia Day as Penny, and NPH himself as Dr. Horrible? Yep, the former Doogie Howser and current Barney Stinson plays the titular character.
It's a comedy; it's a musical; it's probably going to be pretty good.
Here's the link to the site: http://www.drhorrible.com/
Here's a link to TV Guide's Matt Roush's chat with Whedon: http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Roush-Dispatch/Joss-Whedon-Dr/800042425
The project is called Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. Part 1 premieres on July 15, Part 2 on July 17, and the third and final part on July 19. It'll be free until midnight on July 20.
So why should you care? Joss Whedon. The guy is a fanboy wet dream. And you know if he put the time into this project without any guarantee of compensation, he must believe in it.
If that's not good enough, how about Nathan Filion as Captain Hammer, Felicia Day as Penny, and NPH himself as Dr. Horrible? Yep, the former Doogie Howser and current Barney Stinson plays the titular character.
It's a comedy; it's a musical; it's probably going to be pretty good.
Here's the link to the site: http://www.drhorrible.com/
Here's a link to TV Guide's Matt Roush's chat with Whedon: http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Roush-Dispatch/Joss-Whedon-Dr/800042425
Teameck's 2007-2008 TV Awards: Series List
Better (way) late than never.
I worked on this most of May and then never put the finishing touches on it (story of the life of this blog). But as a bit of fun, I compiled a list of all the television shows I could remember watching from June 2007-May 2008 and then made a few comments on them.
Lots of critics (not that I am one) make Top Ten Lists of shows, but they're usually done in December. In December, I'm too busy, so I thought I'd go against the grain and do it after what is recognized as the "television season" (in May). I included the shows that aired in the summer of 2007 because in August/September, I'm way too busy to do this.
For those of you new to my lists, I give the rundown of everything I watched during the time period. Why, you ask? Because I cannot possibly watch every single show. Hopefully, those of you who think I'm crazy for not including The Sopranos or Lost can see that I didn't watch either during this season (they're on my "to watch" list).
Here's the list of shows I watched from June 2007 through May 2008 (at least the ones I could remember) as well as the ones I tried (2 or more episodes). Shows in italics are ones I didn't watch every episode of.
Aliens in America; CW
American Dad; FOX
Aqua Teen Hunger Force; adult swim
The Big Bang Theory; CBS
Big Brother 8; CBS
Big Brother 9; CBS
Big Shots; ABC
Boondocks; adult swim
Boston Legal; ABC (up until the the post-strike shows; I'll be getting to the rest.)
Californication; Showtime (halfway through the first season; I'll be getting to the rest)
Carpoolers; ABC
Cavemen; ABC
Chuck; NBC
Costas Now; HBO
Curb Your Enthusiasm; HBO
Curious George; PBS
Desperate Housewives; ABC
Dirty Sexy Money, ABC
Entourage; HBO
Everybody Hates Chris; CW
Extras, HBO
Family Guy; FOX
Fantasy Insider; ESPN2
Frisky Dingo; adult swim
Hard Knocks: Kansas City Chiefs; HBO
Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law; adult swim
Head Cases; Starz
Hollywood Residential; Starz
How I Met Your Mother; CBS
Human Weapon; History
Inside the NFL; HBO
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia; FX
John Safran vs. God; Sundance
Journeyman; NBC
King of the Hill; FOX
Last Comic Standing; NBC
Lewis Black’s Root of All Evil; Comedy Central
Life; NBC
The Loop; FOX
Metalocalypse; adult swim
Miss Guided; ABC
Moral Orel; adult swim
My Boys; TBS
My Name is Earl; NBC
The New Adventures of Old Christine; CBS
The Office; NBC
Penn & Teller: Bullshit; Showtime
Phineas and Ferb; Disney
Pushing Daisies; ABC
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel; HBO
Real Time with Bill Maher; HBO
Reaper; CW
Robot Chicken; adult swim
Rules of Engagement; CBS
The Sarah Silverman Program; Comedy Central
Samantha Who?; ABC
Scrubs; NBC
The Simpsons; FOX
Slings and Arrows; Sundance
South Park; Comedy Central
Spaced; BBC America (just wasn't into it after four eps)
10 Items or Less; TBS
That Mitchel and Webb Look; BBC America (just wasn't into it after five eps)
30 Rock; NBC
This American Life; Showtime
Tim and Eric Awesome Show; adult swim
Unhitched; FOX
Weeds; Showtime
And some not-new seasons I watched for the first time in the past year:
Alias Season 4
Dexter Season 1
I worked on this most of May and then never put the finishing touches on it (story of the life of this blog). But as a bit of fun, I compiled a list of all the television shows I could remember watching from June 2007-May 2008 and then made a few comments on them.
Lots of critics (not that I am one) make Top Ten Lists of shows, but they're usually done in December. In December, I'm too busy, so I thought I'd go against the grain and do it after what is recognized as the "television season" (in May). I included the shows that aired in the summer of 2007 because in August/September, I'm way too busy to do this.
For those of you new to my lists, I give the rundown of everything I watched during the time period. Why, you ask? Because I cannot possibly watch every single show. Hopefully, those of you who think I'm crazy for not including The Sopranos or Lost can see that I didn't watch either during this season (they're on my "to watch" list).
Here's the list of shows I watched from June 2007 through May 2008 (at least the ones I could remember) as well as the ones I tried (2 or more episodes). Shows in italics are ones I didn't watch every episode of.
Aliens in America; CW
American Dad; FOX
Aqua Teen Hunger Force; adult swim
The Big Bang Theory; CBS
Big Brother 8; CBS
Big Brother 9; CBS
Big Shots; ABC
Boondocks; adult swim
Boston Legal; ABC (up until the the post-strike shows; I'll be getting to the rest.)
Californication; Showtime (halfway through the first season; I'll be getting to the rest)
Carpoolers; ABC
Cavemen; ABC
Chuck; NBC
Costas Now; HBO
Curb Your Enthusiasm; HBO
Curious George; PBS
Desperate Housewives; ABC
Dirty Sexy Money, ABC
Entourage; HBO
Everybody Hates Chris; CW
Extras, HBO
Family Guy; FOX
Fantasy Insider; ESPN2
Frisky Dingo; adult swim
Hard Knocks: Kansas City Chiefs; HBO
Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law; adult swim
Head Cases; Starz
Hollywood Residential; Starz
How I Met Your Mother; CBS
Human Weapon; History
Inside the NFL; HBO
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia; FX
John Safran vs. God; Sundance
Journeyman; NBC
King of the Hill; FOX
Last Comic Standing; NBC
Lewis Black’s Root of All Evil; Comedy Central
Life; NBC
The Loop; FOX
Metalocalypse; adult swim
Miss Guided; ABC
Moral Orel; adult swim
My Boys; TBS
My Name is Earl; NBC
The New Adventures of Old Christine; CBS
The Office; NBC
Penn & Teller: Bullshit; Showtime
Phineas and Ferb; Disney
Pushing Daisies; ABC
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel; HBO
Real Time with Bill Maher; HBO
Reaper; CW
Robot Chicken; adult swim
Rules of Engagement; CBS
The Sarah Silverman Program; Comedy Central
Samantha Who?; ABC
Scrubs; NBC
The Simpsons; FOX
Slings and Arrows; Sundance
South Park; Comedy Central
Spaced; BBC America (just wasn't into it after four eps)
10 Items or Less; TBS
That Mitchel and Webb Look; BBC America (just wasn't into it after five eps)
30 Rock; NBC
This American Life; Showtime
Tim and Eric Awesome Show; adult swim
Unhitched; FOX
Weeds; Showtime
And some not-new seasons I watched for the first time in the past year:
Alias Season 4
Dexter Season 1
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