10) Skins
Nothing gets under my skin (no pun intended) quite like the fact that MTV is re-making this wonderful British show. The original is frank in its depictions of drugs, sex, and just being a damned teenager. The fourth season of the show, which follows its second generation of teens, starts off with the suicide of a young girl after she takes some drugs. The first episode seems to clear up the mystery of why and how, but the repercussions follow our main cast as the season ambles along. This season falls apart towards the end, especially as Effy develops a strange relationship with her therapist, but it’s engaging enough throughout that we forgive its moments of silliness. It’s certainly not on part with the first two seasons, mostly because the characters are not as likable and the actors not as charismatic, but it’s still better than most shows on American television. Jack O’Connell as Cook really surprised me this season, taking a character that I did not care for in the first season and deepening it, making him the true hero of this generation of kids.
9) True Blood
If you think this show about vampires, werewolves, fairies and shifters is too silly, then I completely concur. But if you can embrace the fact that it’s going to be ridiculous, then I think it’s one of the most entertaining shows on TV. The political points it tries to hammer home are a bit on-the-nose, but otherwise this is a show that is not meant to be taken seriously. It’s about watching these insanely beautiful people inhabit a strange world where sexual tension pervades every word and action. I think Anna Paquin deserves a great deal of credit for being the guide that allows us to believe in this world for an hour every Sunday. This is a soap opera, but a great one.
Louie
Louis C.K. is the funniest stand-up working today, but he’s a difficult person to cast in a television show. He’s raunchy and dirty, but he brings a strange kind of sweetness to his comedy, a sweetness that is really buried in neuroses. Lucky Louie was not the project for him because it pigeonholed him in an typical (yet ironic) sitcom. With Louie, he gets to plumb the depths of his own psyche and he does it by writing and directing every episode; this is Louis C.K. through and through. It’s a ballsy show too, that is comfortable with whole sections that are not designed to make you laugh. I especially liked a scene where Louie shares a smoke with the dad of a bully on the steps of his Staten Island home; it’s not funny, but it’s true and it felt right. With Curb Your Enthusiasm taking the year off, it’s a good thing we had Louie to take the “awkward comedy” reins.
7) Boardwalk Empire
This is a dense show that I think will grow into something gorgeous and even more complicated. The first season did a wonderful job of giving us this ensemble of great characters that will hopefully be utilized even more in future seasons. Steve Buscemi and Michael Pitt do wonderful jobs of giving us characters that are duplicitous, murderous yet not evil. Both men have charitable streaks, moments where they do incredibly loving things for the people they care for. As the season progressed, though, I found myself completely engaged in two other characters: Chalky White and Richard Harrow. Chalky, played deliciously by Michael K. Williams, is just flat-out awesome, doing what he needs to do for himself and his people. Richard is just one of the most original and engaging creations on television, a man who lost half his face in the Great War and is now the most sensitive yet cold-blooded snipers ever. Characters like this (and the ones played by Kelly MacDonald and Michael Stuhlbarg) make up for the fact that Paz de la Huerta is giving one of the most terrible performances I’ve ever witnessed in a great show. I just don’t know what she – or the creators – are going for with that character, but she doesn’t resemble a rational human being in any way.
6) Bored to Death
Being an aspiring novelist living in New York City, I probably have a greater affinity for this show than most people. But I will say that I didn’t like most of the first season, finding it off-putting and strained. But it’s really come into its own in the second season by giving us more Ted Danson and Zach Galifianakis. More importantly, the show has done a good job of getting all three of the main characters together more often because that’s when the show really takes off. Danson, especially, should be given every award there is for his performance as George Christopher, the perpetually stoned magazine editor and benefactor to Jonathan, our hero. I think Jason Schwartzman also did a wonderful job of giving us a more sympathetic (emphasis on pathetic) portrait of a struggling author with a love for white wine. The season started off with an episode in which Jonathan runs around Times Square with an S&M bodysuit on and ends with he and George going to smoke some pot; in between, there were moments of hilarity and startling poignancy. Poignancy, you ask? When George is headed off to surgery and the nurses asks him if Jonathan is his son, I was already in tears before he said, “Yes, yes he is.”
5) Saturday Night Live
Know what the worst opinion to have is? “SNL hasn’t been funny since ________.” That bothers me so much because it shows that whoever said that doesn’t know much about SNL. Go back and watch those early “great” years of the show and you’ll see that was just as hit or miss as it is now. The show was never consistently funny all the time, the skits always ran on too long, etc. Then there’s “this cast sucks.” People said the same thing when the cast had future superstars Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, and Chris Rock or when Will Ferrell and Jimmy Fallon were on. The point is that, yes, it sometimes misses the mark and there are off-shows, but when it’s on, it is the funniest live-action comedy show out there. Between the Digital Shorts and Seth Meyers’ wonderful job on Weekend Update, SNL is still going strong and I’m still watching it (well, DVRing it) every Saturday. If you disagree, then I suggest you go on Hulu and check out Bill Hader’s “Stefon” character who recurs on Weekend Update from time to time…pure deranged genius.
4) Friday Night Lights
This is not a show about football. I’ve had so many friends of mine who aren’t sports fans tell me about how they have no interest in “a show about football.” It’s a show about a town, a family, a group of friends and they just happen to be connected to each other through football. Sure there are scenes of games, but they are way less dramatic than the intimate moments between people. This season, the show has taken a drastic turn with Coach Taylor stuck with the newly formed East Dillon High football team and we just know that there’s going to be a showdown with his old squad, the Dillon Panthers. This season took a cue from Necessary Roughness, where there is no shot the team is going to win the championship but you just hope they can stick it to the bad guys. However, the heart of this show has always been about Coach and his wife Tami, who are the greatest married couple on TV and played expertly by Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton. Also, Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch) is still around breaking and mending hearts wherever he goes; he’s the character that I’ve become more drawn to as the seasons pass, a different take on the reformed bad boy who is not quite reformed but not that bad. This season introduces new characters and brings back old ones and its to the show’s credit that it all meshes seamlessly. I wish that this upcoming season (currently airing on DirecTV) wasn’t its last because I can see how it could go on forever…at least as long as Coach and Tami stick around.
3) In Treatment
This is just such a fantastic example of how great writing plus great acting equals a great show. There are no elaborate sets or special effects, just two people talking in a room and the dramatic tension within those conversations. Gabriel Byrne’s Paul is an unusual therapist who gets close with his patients and the way in which he aligns with the people he treats is one of the big themes this season. Irrfan Khan, who has always been an underrated and fantastic actor, absolutely kills it as Sunil this season – a man who is living with his son and his son’s family in the States and the friction between he and his daughter-in-law. Debra Winger’s episodes weren’t as strong for me, but I thought she was good in them. I didn’t respond to the “Jesse” episodes early in the season because he seemed like such a brat, but as I continued with it they became some of my favorites and it’s in no small part due to Dane DeHaan’s complicated and conflicted portrayal. But this season for me was all about Paul’s relationship with his new therapist Adele, played by the uber-talented Amy Ryan. The episodes start off by turning the “Gina” sessions from the previous two seasons on their head, making us question the ethics of Dianne Wiest’s character. Then, of course, the complexion of Paul and Adele’s counseling changes and we veer off into unexpected (although not uncharted) territory for this show. The last episodes weren’t as satisfying as they have been in the past – nothing is really resolved – but I’m hopeful that HBO will renew it for another season. There may not be a large number of In Treatment fans (although there should be), but we are passionate and loyal.
2) Archer
Hands down the funniest show on television. It took me a while to watch this animated show on FX, but when I did it absolutely floored me. I’m not the kind of person that laughs out loud a lot when I’m alone, but this show had me crying from laughter and my neighbors must have thought I was insane. The show follows the most self-centered and hilariously deranged secret agent, Sterling Archer, who works at an agency called ISIS that is run by his mother Mallory Archer. I don’t really know where to go from here because I don’t want to ruin a single second of this show for those of you haven’t seen it, but I’ll just say that H. Jon Benjamin does incredible voice work as the titular character and Arrested Developmentalums Jessica Walter and Judy Greer (as well as Jeffrey Tambor) also do excellent work. I’ve been quoting this show non-stop since I saw it – the humor is really quite insane, especially when it’s derived from the relationship Archer has with his butler Woodhouse. Here’s an example and if you don’t find these this type of humor funny then it might not be for you:
1) Mad Men
The funny thing about putting these two shows together is that the style of the clothes in Archer is heavily based on the clothes in Mad Men and Archer is kind of a dead-ringer for Don Draper himself. But, there is no longer any doubt in my mind that Mad Men is the best show on television right now and is possibly in the running for greatest television show of all time. That is not just hyperbole either; I honestly can’t think of another show that has been this dense and this beautifully crafted. This season of the show could be called “MadMan.” It puts Don Draper in a new office with a new apartment, having moved out following his divorce from Betty, and in the early going he does not handle it well. Gradually, Don tries to become a better and healthier person. By the end of the season he is engaged and we’re left wondering if he’s really made any strides at all. The episode where Don and Peggy spend the night arguing as they try to figure out the ad slogan for Samsonite is certainly one of the best in the show’s history, but I think the season finale is even better. When Don travels to Disneyland and he sees his secretary Megan cleaning up a spilled milkshake with a smile instead of the scowl that Betty would have worn, it’s one of the greatest moments in the show because no dialogue needs to be spoken for us to understand what is happening. Everybody at that table, including Don’s kids, has a revelation in that moment, but it’s a subtle one. And it’s moments like that that make Mad Men such a wonderful show, the way it doesn’t feel the need to spell out its intentions, giving us the benefit of the doubt. It doesn’t talk down to us and it doesn’t talk at us, it asks us to pay close enough attention so that we can make the most out of our experience of watching it. The agony of waiting another eight months for a new episode is excruciating.
