There are a lot of TV lists flying around this time of year.
Top this, top that. A lot of them don't seem all of that relevant or interesting to me, so I decided to dig in and think about the things that I learned from watching television during 2011.
Please jump into the comments with things that you've learned this year. And now, I give you…
50 things I learned from watching TV in 2011
Boardwalk Empire's second season finale could not have been more shocking.
truTV's Most Shocking may well be pointing the way toward making Mike Judge's Idiocracy downright prescient.
I've always found Jimmy Fallon to be bright and affable, but his take on Jim Morrison and The Doors by way of Reading Rainbow's theme song was downright masterful.
Reality television – and specifically train wreck reality TV – was as big as ever in 2011.
Speaking of shock value: the possibility that Community might be cancelled.
The Situation, lacking for a situation, smashed his head into a wall for kicks (and to avoid getting further smashed up by Rock Head Ronnie).
I got overly excited when I learned that Party Down: The Movie may be happening.
Louie's second season was one of the more extraordinary things that one could hope for from the televised medium.
Unless series creator and exec producer Matthew Weiner is messing with us, Mad Men will end in the modern day with an 84-year-old Donald Draper. Who says you can't drink and smoke your way into the sunset?
Tony Soprano may well have six fingers.
Sunday remains the king of TV nights.
Homeland: "There really was only one way that the season could have ended and it ended perfectly."
Breaking Bad's fourth season somehow, some way managed to top its breathtakingly good third season. That Walter White is one crafty and malicious chemist/gardener.
Toddlers & Tiaras is scary for reals.
HBO's Game of Thrones makes fantasy a legitimate part of the television landscape from now on.
We didn't find out who killed Rosie Larsen (but does it matter?).
Terra Nova: cool dinosaurs and effects are not enough without the cool story to match.
Rescue Me got to end in the way that it wanted to.
All-American Muslim humanizes a largely misunderstood culture.
TV critics should love NCIS more.
Kelsey Grammer: he's not just for laughs anymore. Oh no.
Justified languidly became one of the best shows on television in its second season.
While this is a minority opinion amongst the intelligentsia of TV critics, it's clear to me that Treme has failed to live up to its promise.
Pan Am and The Playboy Club help prove that Mad Men is far more than costumes and cocktails and '60s glamour.
I continue to get frustrated by competition-based reality shows like The Apprentice and Hell's Kitchen quickly cutting to black after the winner is announced.
Arrested Development is coming back… to both TV and the movies.
Franklin & Bash: guilty as charged… with greatness.
Sister Wives portrays a truth-is-stranger-than-fiction convergence of Big Love and real life for Mormon polygamists.
Adventure Time pushes the bounds on animation and storytelling.
So many shows need to be put out to pasture (or into a kill room) that it's enough to perk up the interest of one's Dark Passenger.
American Horror Story turned out to be an ambitious, stylish mess.
The dream of the '90s (and early '00s) includes not just (the deliciously great) Portlandia but the return of Fear Factor and Beavis and Butt-Head to boot.
Parks and Recreation might be the best comedy on television today.
Ancient Aliens keeps a lot of ancient alien theorists/authors/enthusiasts busy.
Randy "Macho Man" Savage's legacy lives on.
Saying goodbye to Friday Night Lights was as sad and wonderful as we could have imagined.
Sons of Anarchy caused more scoffing than cheers this season.
South Park: still deeply twisted, still deeply hilarious (usually).
Boston Rob took Survivor: Redemption Island to school as he is wicked smart.
Osama bin Laden's death was a moment when everyone left their laptops, ignored their DVRs, and watched live television.
Charlie Sheen's roast proved… well, not much, really.
Wilfred, a show about a guy and an imaginary walking/talking dog, is surprisingly funny and weird and touching.
The Daily Show still makes me laugh myself sick on a regular basis (see: Wyatt Cenac's debt crisis-inspired interpretive dance of woe).
Curb Your Enthusiasm. Still good. But good good?
Hulu is a great place to further develop one's television obsessions.
The Biggest Loser is a deeply weird TV show.
Battlestar Galactica is not that great as it turns out (yeah, I said it).
The Killing got killed on how it ended its first season.
Tracy Morgan, amongst others, got in trouble with the Word Police.
No Mad Men in 2011 left us with a little time on our hands.
