Top Ten TV Shows of the Season

[Mr Light]

So the season is nearly at an end; what are your favorite shows this year?

I'm going to list sitcoms and dramas separately. Apples and oranges.

TOP TEN DRAMAS:
10. Fringe: I have constantly flirted with dropping this show as every episode is so boring and I hate the main character/actress, but the ZFT story has forced me to stick with it.
9. The Shield: it's a good show but also hard to get into. and the ending was... interesting.
8. Reaper: cute show.
7. Dollhouse: first five were awful but it's picking up now.
6. Terminator: very disappointing season of no action, no Terminators, and do nothing episodes of Sarah going nuts, and the Weaver storyline took an entire season to go anywhere.
5. BSG: while I hate the soap opera antics, when they actually fight Cylons I like it. And I thought the ending was excellent.
4. Prison Break: I never stopped loving this show! Though perhaps the back half of this season my interest has finally waned with the endless betrayals and twists it's all become a bit meaningless.
3. Twenty Four: this season is an improvement but it's still the same formula.
2. Heroes: I was one of the few to love the "Villains" arc, but the "Fugitives" arc was pretty bad. It's improved since Fuller's return though. So it's one half excellent one half below average.
1. LOST!!!: one of the greatest shows ever made. and this season has been one of the best, living among Dharma in the past!

Chuck would be on this list if I was watching it but I'm waiting for the DVD.

SITCOMS: There's no way I could rank these.

GREAT: South Park, Scrubs, Earl, Office, 30 Rock, Simpsons, Family Guy
GOOD: Better Off Ted, Reno 911, Parks Recreation, King of the Hill, American Dad
WAITING FOR DVD: How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men

 

[Starbreaker]

Dramas:
7. CSI: NY (watched occasionally)
6. CSI (watched occasionally)
5. Criminal Minds
4. Battlestar Galactica
3. Chuck
2. Dexter
1. Lost

Sitcoms:
5. Scrubs
4. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
3. Weeds
2. The Big Bang Theory
1. How I Met Your Mother

 

[bigdaddy]

I can't even think of 10 shows I watched this year... let me try...

Weeds
BSG
House
Bones
Lost
Reaper

Edit - Boston Legal!

Umm... I'll get back to you...

 

[TheArsenal]

Dramas in this order. These are all I watch, except Heroes, which isn't good enough this year to make my "top" anything list.

BSG, LOST, Sarah Connor, Fringe, Dollhouse

Comedies:

30 Rock, Better off Ted (a show that shouldn't be funny, but is made so purely on the power of Portia de Rossi) and Flight of the Concords.

Not watching a lot of television this year.

 

[miraclefan]

Squidbillies, Superjail, South Park, 'bout it!

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Oh wow, do I even watch ten shows worth mentioning?

1. Lost
2. Dexter
3. Heroes (even when it's kinda sucky it's still too much fun to list lower)
4. Chuck
5. Pushing Daisies
6. BSG - no for that one - it had a good run
7. Breaking Bad
8. Reaper
9. Mad Men (I feel kinda obligated to list it tho frankly it's not that entertaining...)
10. 24 (way past the sell-by date but worth watching for kinetic energy alone)

Bailed on a lot of stuff this year - My Own Worst Enemy, T:SCC, Dollhouse, Fringe, Eleventh Hour, Kings, 30 Rock, Damages, Harper's Island (maybe I'll give it one more ep but the writing is on the wall).

 

[Starbreaker]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that bailed on Damages. It's soooo boring this year.

 

[auntiehill]

1. LOST
2. Dexter
3. Pushing Daisies--damn it.
4. Heroes
5. Burn Notice
6. Chuck --huge improvement over last season
7. Reaper
8. BSG
9.24
10.Kings --I love it, but it is completely doomed.

 

[Trippy]

I don't watch 10 shows!

So, of those I do (I hope Cable counts )

1. Lost-Best show on television ever! It's like a movie once a week!
2. True Blood (season ended in Jan, second starting in June )
3. The Tudors (third season started mid-April)
4. Californication (second season just ended)

That's it so far! I gave up on House, Grey's, Heroes, American Idol and Fringe. I keep wanting to watch Castle, but keep forgetting about it!

I might give Dexter a try...it sounds good!

 

[Jayson]

1 Lost=Love most of the characters and I love all the mysterious and wierd stuff that happens.

2Eastbound and Down=Best Sitcom on tv. Edgy and funny.

3The Shield=The show has always been good but it's final season was the best yet.

4Stargate Atlantis=I like the characters and the universe.

5True Blood=Terrific characters and it's a fun alternate universe type of setting.

6Rescue Me=Only a few ep's in but I like it, though i am sick of Tommy hooking up with evry hot girl on the show.

7.Reaper=Love the characters(especially Sock and Satan) and the girls are super hot and the show is funny.

8Fringe=Love how it blends realisim with X-Files style stories along with humor.

9In Treatment=This show can be really sad and depressing but I like it. Wasn't so sure after week 1 but I do like his new clients now.

10Battlestar galatica=They had a good final season and a solid series final, even if it is not logical to get ride of all your tech when most of the people won't even have the proper survival skills to make it on the planet without learning how to adjust.

Jason

 

[Bishbot]

1. BSG - my favourite television programme ever, at this stage and it ended perfectly (and I'll fight anyone who says different :P)

2. Terminator - so good I forget about the two blockbuster movies that spawned it. Linda who? You must mean Lena Headey...

3. Dexter - the third season continued to build on the previous two - no drop in quality at all - tense, funny and oddly heartwarming in equal parts.

4. House - it's not always good, and I only really care about House, Wilson and Cuddy, but I always look forward to it, so it must be doing something right.

5. Transformers: Animated - I'm a huge Transformers fan and this is by far the best cartoon version since Beast Wars - maybe even better since they're trucks and cars again in this one.

5. Dollhouse - currently my least favourite of Whedon's shows, and it'll probably be axed, so it'll probably stay that way, but its still a great way to spend 45 minutes a week.

6. Sanctuary - it wasn't must-see viewing, but I did eventually catch up with the whole thing, and while it wasn't exactly original or particularly compelling, at times it was able to surprise and charm with its sheer earnestness. Hard to describe but I loved the way they actually went the whole hog and did mer-people, and Nicola Tesla is a vampire, and a bunch of other things that other shows would have thought themselves too cool to try.

7. Castle - basically a by-the-numbers mismatched cop buddy show, but Nathan Fillion is always worth a watch and the banter is a cut above average. I won't rush out and buy the DVDs, but I'm always entertained by it. Bonus points for having a kid who's a genuinely funny, non-annoying, non-precocious, non-rebellious teenager for once.

8. Legend of the Seeker - I'm way behind, but I like the show for what it is, an unassuming fun fantasy adventure. In many ways it is everything the execrable books are not. I have a peculiar history with the property. I went from a big fan to hater of all things Goodkind in the space of a very short time, when I grew up and realised they were nothing but childish right-wing diatribes, but that has still left me with a residual affection for the characters that I had had in my head for so long and seeing them on the screen, without all the insulting sub-Randian bullshit, is frequently pleasurable. Plus Kahlan has legs that go all the way up.

9. Wolverine and The X-Men - haven't seen all of this yet, but I'm enjoying this take on the X-Men story quite a bit - although the fact that he isn't allowed to cut loose and actually use huge knives sticking out of his hand gets kind of annoying.

10. Heroes - in on a technicality - I haven't seen any of this season yet, on the grounds that season 2 left me mostly unimpressed, but the summer is long and tv will be in short supply, so I'm bound to get around to it, and I probably won't hate it.

 

[auntiehill]

1. Lost-Best show on television ever! It's like a movie once a week!

I might give Dexter a try...it sounds good!

Lost is like a movie once a week. Everything about it is top-notch!

OOoo....definitely try Dexter! Rent season 1. You won't be able to stop watching. And Season 2 is actually even better than season 1.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Oh yeah I forgot The Tudors because I have to wait for DVD. I'm just watching it to see

Spoiler: 400 year old spoiler

James Frain get his head chopped off; but once Cromwell is gone,

I'm not sure if these folks are going to still hold my interest!

I've read that they may extend the series after Henry VIII's death. That might be good - the story gets pretty interesting again after that. Till Elizabeth I becomes queen because frankly that's beyond overexposed. They should forget her and go back to do a Henry VII "prequel."

OOoo....definitely try Dexter! Rent season 1. You won't be able to stop watching. And Season 2 is actually even better than season 1.

I agree, and I didn't think they'd be able to top S1. Haven't seen S3 yet (no spoilers!!! ) but I really doubt they can repeat the level of the first two seasons. Just getting close would still be more than worth watching.

 

[bigdaddy]

Season 3 of Dexter doesn't even come close to the two other seasons

 

[Harvey]

Hard to say. I really like Dexter (although it has more faults than I've seen anyone admit), but I haven't seen the third season. I liked the first season of Californication a great deal, but haven't seen the second. 24 is a lot better in its seventh season than in its sixth, but it's still not as good as the first two seasons, nor as good as the fifth. Battlestar Galactica had a great run in season 4.5, though.

So, grading the "current season," but, really, mostly a season behind, I'd say:

1. Battlestar Galactica
2. Dexter
3. Californication
4. 24

 

[Aragorn]

I don't think I watch 10 shows... and even if I watched exactly 10 shows, some of the ones I watch like Terminator, Heroes and 24 I wouldn't even want to put on the list.

 

[Vanyel]

Dramas:
1. Bones
2. House
3. Heroes
4. Fringe
5. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
6. Battlestar Galactica

That's all I can think of for Dramas.

Comedies:
1. The Big Bang Theory
2. Two and A Half Men
3. How I Met Your Mother
4. The Simpson's
5. Family Guy
6. American Dad

 

[Mr Light]

Why did you stop watching 30 Rock, Temis? I love that show.

 

[Trippy]

Oh yeah I forgot The Tudors because I have to wait for DVD. I'm just watching it to see

Spoiler: 400 year old spoiler

James Frain get his head chopped off; but once Cromwell is gone,

I'm not sure if these folks are going to still hold my interest!

I've read that they may extend the series after Henry VIII's death. That might be good - the story gets pretty interesting again after that. Till Elizabeth I becomes queen because frankly that's beyond overexposed. They should forget her and go back to do a Henry VII "prequel."

It's getting one more year, so the series ends at Henry's death I'd imagine. They are doing three wives this season alone!

 

[TheArsenal]

OOoo....definitely try Dexter! Rent season 1. You won't be able to stop watching. And Season 2 is actually even better than season 1.

"...won't be able to stop watching" is about right. Haven't seen the third season yet, but I watched the first two in a matter of days. I was transfixed. The most interesting thing about watching it that way is you realize the show flows from one episode to another like one very long movie. I would not be surprised to find out the seasons are fully written before committing to film.