The year in television …

• Posted in On TV

The 2007-2008 television season is finally over. Yeah, it wasn’t nearly as good as previous years, due to the strike, but there was still plenty to talk about. Here are some of my low- and highlights:

Best new show: Chuck. I love spy shows, and Chuck was light, frothy, zany fun. It’s great to see a genuine nice and dorky guy on television as the hero. My favorite new show of the year.

Runner-up: Gossip Girl. A glamorous soap opera with catty, mean girls that manages to be witty, smart, and yes, even deep. Plus, Blair and Chuck are two of the best characters on television. You love them, even when they do horrible things. They are just that appealing.

Best drama: CSI. I know lots of you will disagree with me, but Lost was uneven. So was Grey’s Anatomy. Overall, I thought CSI had one of its best years ever, especially during the fall episodes. Saving Sara, her departure, Warrick’s downward spiral. Lots of good stuff and interesting cases. I especially liked the episode penned by the Two and a Half Men writers. Who knew murder could be so much fun?

Runner-up: Lost. There were flashes of brilliances (the episodes with Sayid, Desmond, and Sun and Jin) that reminded me why I loved the show so much in the beginning. But there were also episodes that went nowhere (Locke).

Best comedy: How I Met Your Mother. As Barney would say, it was legendary. Seriously, this is a gem of a show that’s even smarter and funnier than Friends was. I’m interested to see how the Barney-Robin hookup plays out next year.

Runner-up: My Name Is Earl. You gotta love any show that’s ballsy enough to have it’s main character in prison, in a coma, married, and divorced — in a single year.

Shows I’m over: CSI: Miami and Without a Trace. Except for Elizabeth Berkley on Miami, they were both snoozefests this year. Not sure if I’ll keep watching next year.

Show that was overhyped: Desperate Housewives. Dana Delaney was good, but not that good. For me, Gaby and Bree continue to be the highlights of the show. Susan and Lynette both had pretty stereotypical arcs this year, although I thought Lynette’s cancer was handled with grace and humor.

Shows I’m looking forward to this summer: The Closer and Burn Notice. Sugar addict Brenda Lee Johnson and sexy spy Michael Weston. Need I say more?

Shows I’m looking forward to this fall: The spy show with Christian Slater (whose name escapes me at the moment). The Mentalist with Simon Baker looks interesting, even if it’s another crime show on CBS. Fringe and Dollhouse also look cool, although I hope they’re more fantasy than sci-fi (and make more sense than Lost has been making lately).

So that’s my television wrap-up for the summer. Maybe now I’ll actually get some book work done. 😎

What about you? Which shows did you love or loathe this year?

7 Responses to “The year in television …”

  1. celeber says:

    Your mention of a spy show with Christian Slater intrigued me, so I went searching on imdb.com and it is “My Own Worst Enemy”.
    This sounds like a lot of fun. Thanks for the tip!

  2. Chasity says:

    Oooooh, I can’t wait for Burn Notice. There’s something about Michael Weston that is just hot. And I can’t quite put my finger on it. (Just like Daniel Craig as Bond. He’s not good looking in the least, but for whatever reason he’s hot.)

    What did you think about the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy? Personally I was excited, I even squeed a bit at the very end with Meredith. That was just awesome to me. I just get tired of the whole Mer/Der together, Mer/Der apart. Sure it makes for drama, but I just can’t stand it.

    Gossip Girl is such a teenager show. But I lofe it. I adore Chuck. He makes that show for me completely. I must say though, I hate Michelle Trachtenberg character. I think its’ because I see her and I automatically think of whiny Dawn, but I’m just not feeling her. For me the series went downhill a bit when Georgina/Sarah arrived. Hopefully, it’ll pick up next season.

  3. Jennifer Estep says:

    Celeber — You’re welcome. It does sound like an interesting premise.

    Chasity — Oh yeah, Jeffrey Donovan is one of the main reasons I’m watching that show. Along with Bruce Campbell. :scooby:

    I really enjoyed the finale, and the fact that Mer/Der got back together. But I don’t understand why they couldn’t have just let it end at the kiss. I didn’t need to see Derek immediately go off to break up with Rose. I would have just faded to black after the big kiss.

    Oh, I love me some Chuck Bass! Even when he’s being bad, he’s so appealing. I didn’t care much for Dawn on Buffy, but I thought she did an okay job as Georgina. I thought it was so great when Blair got her shipped off to reform school.

    And I love Chuck and Blair together. I wish the writers would have saved the last five minutes (when they’re both thinking about hooking up with other people) for next season. I would have been happy all summer knowing C&B were together at least for a little while.

  4. Chasity says:

    Opps. I just realized I spelled love wrong. Lofe. I’ll have to use that one more often. 🙂

    Jerry Donovan = <3. Bruce Campbell rocks that show.

    I didn’t like the fact that Derek left Meredith standing there. But I get it. The first time he was with Meredith he was still married. This time he’s dating Rose. He needed to wipe the slate clean so he could be with Meredith. He had to give her a reason to trust him. I get it. I would have preferred he took care of that during the first episode of next season, but I get it.

    I guess I see Michelle Trachtenburg and I think of Dawn. She doesn’t suck as Georgina, but I keep thinking of Dawn. I’m having a hard time seperating the two characters.

    I absolutely loved, loved, “lofed” when Blair set her up. She got what was coming to her. I squeed when that happened.

    Chuck and Blair are just so wrong, they are right. I really hope they start next season with him showing up for the trip with Blair. That would be perfect.

  5. Jennifer Estep says:

    Donovan makes that pale suit look good. And Campbell is so funny he’s always a pleasure to watch. 😎

    Yeah, I get it too, but still, I would have faded to black. You had to think Rose knew it was coming anyway, given the “legend” of Mer-Der. I’m also interested to see what they do with Alex/Izzie and George/Lexie next year. Lexie really grew on me by the end of the season.

    As long as C&B are together by the end of the show (whenever that is), I’ll be happy no matter how many times they break up in the interim. I just can’t see them being happy with anyone else.

    The only thing that really bothered me was Serena in the last few eps. Blaming herself for a guy overdosing and then hiding it from Dan seemed a pretty weak way to get them to break up for the summer. And Dan … he’s so judgmental. Don’t really care for him much.

  6. Brian says:

    Gossip Girl was my favorite new show of the past year. How could anyone not be in love with Blair? She is everything you could ever want in a TV character. She is strong, weak, mean, loyal, forgiving, beautiful, vengeful – I love her and I’m scared of her.

    I bought Michelle/Dawn as Georgina. Though the best performance by a Buffyverse player was James Marsters in Torchwood. He was great on Smallville, but his work on Torchwood was even better. In fact, the whole second season of Torchwood was great.

    For Gossip Girl fans, New York Magazine had a great cover story about the show a few months ago. It can be read online.

  7. Jennifer Estep says:

    Blair and Chuck are my two favorite characters because they are so flawed and can be so deliciously evil at times. Dan, and to some extent Serena, bored me.

    Probably my favorite scene of the whole season (besides C&B on the dance floor at the wedding) was when B called herself, Chuck, and Nate the “nonjudgmental Breakfast Club.”

    I’ve never watched Torchwood but I’ve heard lots of people raving about it. James Marsters could watch paint dry and make it seem interesting. He’s that versatile. 😎

    Thanks for the tip about the article.

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