5. Lost (Season 4): Lost went from being one of my absolute favourite shows on television to completely disappearing from these lists. But it picked up momentum midway through season three, carrying it forward to its fourth season, which may have been even better than its legendary first season. It is now easily the best drama on network TV, proving that the format need not be a dead zone for quality long-form storytelling (although at this point, it is the exception, not the rule). Switching from unimportant flashbacks to the new flashforward format injected life into the series, but the biggest improvement came from A) reducing the number of episodes thus trimming the fat that accompanies most network shows, and most importantly, B) setting an end date for the series to build toward. What looked to be a show aimlessly stretching for two seasons now has real momentum every week, making it again what it started off as: the most exciting show on television.
4. The Office (Season 4): It's funny, I still stick to my caveat of only judging seasons that ended in the calendar year, but this year, that rule only applied to the following two sitcoms on the list (well, and HIMYM in the honourable mentions section). Because only network TV separates seasons into two years, and even then, they're moving away from that trend with some of the bigger, continuity-heavy dramas like Lost and 24. It's also funny that NBC used to be home to the majority of my favourite shows, and now they only have one hour of watchable programming, the two best sitcoms on television. The writers' strike was tough on all shows this year, but particularly network shows that were interrupted by it. Of the two sitcoms sitting near the top of the list, I felt The Office was more negatively affected because it's the one with a stronger ongoing narrative. When that momentum was slowed by the strike, it took the show a bit of time to get its momentum back, and was hurt a bit more by the missing episodes. But, it was still fantastic, churning out classic episodes like "The Dinner Party", "The Deposition," and "Goodbye Toby".
3. 30 Rock (Season 2): So I gave 30 Rock the slight edge, mostly because I felt that its zanier tone was less affected by the interruption, as there's very little that ever changes with these characters. In fact, the worst episode of the season, "SeinfeldVision," was its first, and thus had nothing to do with the strike. "MILF Island", their first after the layoff, was a bit off, but then the show was on fire, with "Subway Hero", "Succession", "Sandwich Day", and "Cooter" all contending as best episodes of the year. Plus, any show that can come up with this deserves to be on top of the comedy division. This show makes me feel like my heart is trying to hug my brain!
Article comments
1 - Billy
It's interesting looking back at your past lists at the ones that make it like Prison Break season 1. Which I even remembered really liking during its first season, and even its second season did pretty well.
Heroes is another one of those how the mighty have fallen. Same with Dexter. From #1 to an honourable mention. And you caught Grey's Anatomy at its height.
Reminds me of Barbara Walters commenting on her own list of the "Most Fascinating People of 19/20XX" When even she can't remember so of the people on her lists going back five-ten years.
2 - Tan The Man
Yah for your love of The Wire and Generation Kill...
3 - Andy
@Billy:
Yes, I wonder which of these ten shows will either drop down significantly (a la Dexter), or will get dropped completely (a la Heroes or Prison Break, and Grey's should be). Or maybe these ten are just better than past years (or at least eight out of ten, as two won't be making future lists because they are complete).