Here's a quick list of some of my favorite programs over the course of the year. Enjoy!
10. Modern Family
NBC had been all but shutting out the other networks when it came to smart and funny sitcoms when ABC introduced us to the Dunphy, Pritchett, and Tucker-Pritchett clans in the fall of 2009. In the year or so that followed, we were treated to a heart-and-humor-filled family comedy that was popular with both audiences and critics. While it wasn't my absolute favorite comedy of 2010, its Emmy win for Best Comedy isn't going to get any complaints from me either.
9. Rubicon
Rubicon had the cards stacked against it from the beginning. When many digital cable/satellite guides had listed the anticipated Breaking Bad finale to last two hours, the actual second-half programming showcased the pilot episode of AMC's soon-to-premiere conspiracy theory drama. Though hardly Rubicon's fault, it turned a lot of people off. And that's unfortunate because those who gave up on Rubicon missed out on some of the starkest and darkest writing on television. And though Rubicon was cancelled following its season finale, the end result was a show that needed to wrap things up perfectly to make its slow-burn plot progression worthwhile. And, man oh man, did it ever.
Luckily for AMC, their other rookie show in 2010 was a much bigger hit. In fact, The Walking Dead -- the cable network's uniquely serialized addition to the zombie genre -- premiered with one of the highest-rated pilots in cable history. And while it had its occasional flaws in terms of acting and dialogue, the undead aspects were achieved to near perfection. The first season was only six episodes long, but thankfully the already-renewed series will expand the number of episodes for season two.
7. 30 Rock
I remember feeling somewhat disappointed with 30 Rock's fourth season the first time I watched it, but when it emerged on Netflix's "Watch Instantly" service, I rewatched a majority of the episodes and found myself consistently cracking up. If anything the second half of Season Four and now the first half of Season Five have been so under-the-radar funny that it takes more than one viewing to really realize just how smart this show continues to be. Some critics have claimed that 30 Rock hasn't evolved much over the course of its five seasons, but if it ain't broke...
Boardwalk Empire has been called the Yankees of television series, a show stacked with so much talent (from Martin Scorsese to Steve Buscemi to seemingly every writer who ever wrote for The Sopranos) that you almost want to root against it. But much like a great deal of Yankee teams in the recent past, Boardwalk Empire was too good to ignore. If it has any fault, it would be a somewhat lackluster finale that focused more on setting up Season Two than resolving Season One. Nonetheless, season two looks it's going to be a doozy.
5. Justified
As Justified's first season took great artistic strides near the halfway point of its magnificently entertaining first season, I knew I had to place Timothy Olyphant's quick-draw U.S. Marshall character, Raylen Givens, among the best protagonists on television. His dry wit bounces perfectly off his surprising professionalism and the result is a man so good at his job, he's dangerous. A special kudos must also go out to Walton Goggins, whose portrayal of white-supremacist-turned-backwoods-evangelist Boyd Crowder created one of the best villains (or is he?) in a year full of great ones.
4. Community
If I could pinpoint one reason why Community has become such an outstanding situation comedy over the course of its first season and a half, the easy answer (and the one I'm going to go with) is that the ensemble cast feeds perfectly off of each other. It's saying something when a comedy legend like Chevy Chase is probably the weakest link in the group. And that's not to say that Chase isn't great in his own right, but Community is all about introducing the world to the next Chevy Chase, be it Joel McHale, Donald Glover, Danny Pudi, Alison Brie, or any one of the other cast members who help create the wonderfully wacky world of Greendale Community College (Go Human Beings!).
To use some sports terminology, Parks and Recreation went from a draft bust to the comeback player of the year to a comedy MVP in only a few short months. Outside of a few brief high-points, the show's first seasons was borderline abysmal. And then its second season debuted with a few easy tweaks (making Amy Poehler's protagonist a thousand times more likable, promoting Chris Pratt to series regular) and suddenly we are viewing the best sitcom on television. In hindsight, the groundwork was always there to make Parks and Recreation essential TV viewing. And it shouldn't be any surprise that former Simpsons writer Greg Daniels has co-created a show that's almost like a live-action version of that classic animated series with its ever-growing cast of recurring Pawnee, Indiana townspeople.
2. Terriers
Like the earlier mentioned Rubicon, Terriers is going to be a show that makes a great deal of people angry in the future when they watch it on DVD. They will be kicking themselves for not watching such a great series when it first aired, eventually leading to its cancellation. There are a lot of possible reasons why FX's shaggy-dog detective story never caught an even decent-sized audience. Maybe the title was too vague. Maybe the marketing campaign was misleading. Maybe Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James just weren't big enough to carry a series. I think it probably just wasn't meant to be. But that doesn't take away from Terrier's greatness, as brief as it was.
1. Breaking Bad
If you wanted to argue that Breaking Bad's third season was the best single season in television history, I'd be very hard-pressed to find a season of any other show that beats it. The closest that I can think of would be Breaking Bad's second season, but it's third took the dying-man-makes-meth premise in extraordinary directions. If there were ever a show you could describe as unpredictable it is Breaking Bad. I had no idea how it got to where it did over the course of this season's amazing thirteen episodes and I have even less of an idea where it's going in Season Four. But, Jesus, I can't wait to find out.
Great list -- I'd be hard pressed to seriously argue with any of the choices, though mine would likely find a way to squeeze in Party Down and a guilty pleasure or two (Jersey Shore or Spartacus, perhaps?).
Party Down, The Office, Eastbound and Down would all be honorable mentions. Not sure if I can say the same about Jersey Shore, haha.