My Television of 2009 Rundown

Current Tunes: Radiohead - The Tourist

Not many days left in this year, so it’s high time I got down to the business of letting you folks know what forms of entertainment got me excited this past year and what let me down seriously. Instead of throwing up one huge post covering everything, I decided to split it into three separate posts, for your reading pleasure. Today I’ll be covering my year in television, while tomorrow’s topic will be music and Monday will bring us the anticipated list of Matt’s favorite (and not-so-favorite) films of the year. Enough with the explanations, on to the task at hand!

In regards to my television habits, I’m not exactly what you’d call a researched or learned consumer of television shows. I have always had a hard time dedicating myself seriously to serial television shows over the years, but this past year it all started to add up for me. I’ve found a few shows that really grabbed my attention, and I’m happy that they did. Most television shows are so contemptible for me, always following the same outlines and rehashing the same kinds of characters and stories. The few shows that I did get attached to in the past year I think caught my eye because they try to do something different, which is really what I look for in any kind of entertainment media. Anyway, I can’t really put together some sort of top 10 for TV because I’m so apathetic about it usually, so instead I just offered up a few words on the shows that did delight me:

“Sons of Anarchy” – This show definitely picked up steam in its 2nd season, to the surprise of many I do believe. When I first heard about “SOA” I figured it would get canned right away for delving too deep into a sub culture that most people know nothing about or are completely frightened of. I guess though I was foolish to underestimate the power of those kinds of emotions; people can so often be drawn to what they don’t understand. This show is a powerhouse for FX right now, and it seems like the sky’s the limit for SAMCRO.

This was my favorite show of this year because out of everything I watched this felt the most real. I believe this characters in the show are real. Especially Jax (Charile Hunnan) and his mother, Gemma. (Katey Segal, still deserves a Golden Globe nomination) This mother and son team is so complex and rich it’s unbelievable. This 2nd season also showed me that the writers and creators of this show aren’t afraid to do what they have to do; i.e. kill of characters that have something coming to them even when I personally want them to stay alive so badly.

“House” – This season isn’t over yet (we’re only half way through) but it’s had a fairly good start. It’s been bumpy, and has had stop-start moments that have felt awkward but there is one single element that’s really keeping me hyped on this show and it came out of left field for me. The story arc involving Chase and the Great Sin he perpetrated early in the season is absolutely phenomenal. I have no idea how it will turn out, but I’m certain it’s only getting started.

Even putting that aside, Hugh Laurie is still bringing down the house night after night. Get it? Bringing down the house??? So far this season we’ve been getting an interesting dose of Gregory House 2.0 after his embroiled, painful stint in rehab created an entirely new breed of monster. He’s still House, he’s still a prickly thorn in everyone’s side, but he’s… different. And I don’t think you can deny that it’s different in a positive way. This show probably only has two or three seasons left, so this is the stretch where the creators will have to determine if this goes down in history as a truly great show, or a show that had promise and floundered out in the end.

“Lost” – Oh, “Lost.” You are an elusive, mysterious mistress indeed. Whatever people might say or think about this past season, there’s only one thing that truly matters when talking about season 5: time travel. I was very skeptical. I didn’t think it would work. “Lost” was already the most complicated TV show in history and time travel only makes things more difficult. But they did it, they pulled it off. Not only did they pull it off, it looks like they’re using time travel as a great device to not really “bookend” the show, but to seal it off, preserving it in a sense. As if they’re wrapping it in plastic to keep out contaminates.

The actors on the show continue to step it up episodes after episode on this show. How valuable are the performances of Terry O’Quinn (Locke), Michael Emerson (Ben), Matthew Fox (Jack), and Evangeline Lilly (Kate), indeed the whole cast? Here’s how I see it: “Lost” would make a fantastic series of novels; the story and the mystery is what makes this show so popular. The actors however are making this a real-world story; a lesser group of actors would merely make this show an overly elaborate fairy tale. The final season has so much to live up to, and the writers could possibly end up failing fans. But I seriously doubt the actors will.

“The Daily Show” & “The Colbert Report” – Not necessarily what I would call the best shows on television, but I don’t think it’s a stretch at all to call them the most important hour of creative television being made today.

“Real Time with Bill Maher” – This show keeps me sane. This is the show that “Crossfire” could have been if it hadn’t been run by ideologues and puppets.

Even with these fine shows, there were a few shows on TV this past year that seriously disappointed me:

“Dollhouse” – Given that I wrote about the failures of this show about a week ago, I don’t feel any especial need to elaborate any further. Despite it’s faults, I very much wish the show wasn’t being canned.

“Kings” - This show actually should be included in the section of what I enjoyed, as “Kings” was completely absorbing. It’s not the show that disappointed me, but NBC for not continuing the series, and the rest of the cable universe for not seeing their mistake and picking up and continuing the series. This show was gorgeous. Even if the story wasn’t near Shakespearean in its depth (and it was), it has to be the most beautifully filmed show I have ever seen on television. I’m so sad to see this show go. Ian McShane is a gargantuan actor capable of any task you set before him.

“The Glenn Beck Show” – Now, I know what you’re thinking. Haha, what a funny little joke. But I’m including this here because it was a true, legitimate disappointment for me. On his radio show, I had come to somewhat respect Beck as a pundit for the Republican party. I didn’t agree with hardly anything he said at all, but at least he wasn’t the pompous windbag that Rush Limbaugh is. Turns out if you put him in front of a camera he’s actually worse than Limbaugh. I was fine to disagree with him politically, and his random conspiracy theory rants don’t bother me so much. It’s his tactics that absolutely blow my mind. This guy is an inexcusable weasel.