Every year, I publish a long, long “best of” list, but this year I’m going to break it up, making my blog even more of drain on your daily RSS checking than it already is. Happy New Year, everyone!
Peep Show
Peep Show is a Britcom following the troubles of two flatmates, stuffy constantly-smitten office-drone war-history-loving Mark, and scuzzy techno-groupie Jeremy. The show’s gimmick is simple but ingenious: Repeated use of internal dialogue, and camera shots from characters’ perspectives. Mitchell and Webb (the two actors and creators) create brilliantly funny and uncomfortable scenes, and mix in a dark sort of honesty that no show I’ve seen has touched. The from-their-perspective camera shows kissing as weird, unromantic act, and Jeremy and Mark crash through emotional highs and lows during the simplest of scenarios. Mark’s jogging expedition (Season 3, 2006) leads to a particularly familiar train of thought:
Oh yeah, I’m REALLY going! It’s like I was made for jogging, like my legs are two mighty pistons! I’m unstoppable! Jesus, is that a stitch? Think I’m going to be sick… slow… I think I’m going to walk, I’m literally going to be sick. What an idiotic boob I was ten or eleven seconds ago.
Peep Show sets itself apart from similarly dark British exports like The Office and Extras by creating such a deep affinity and sympathy for, as well as dislike of, its main characters. While both act (for the most part) like reasonable, almost caring adults, inside they’re actually obsessive, mean-spirited, jealous, and frightened, just like the rest of us.
YouTube Clip: “I Am Doing Excellent Shopping.”
Lost
I’m proud to say that in the year when 24 and Heroes tanked in the final episodes, Lost absolutely shined, airing the best episode yet for the Season 3 Finale. Overcoming its rough start this season, Lost won over critics by revealing more than ever, continually evolving the threats of the Island, brutally killing its least popular characters, and finally, blowing the doors off it all with the last few minutes of the finale. It looks like Season 4 is in a little trouble, both with Richard Alpert leaving and the writer’s strike, but I have absolute faith that this thing’s going to end well and be worth my years of obsession.
YouTube Clip: Season 4 Preview (With Jeremy Davies!)
30 Rock
In a year when The Office sagged with absurdly long episodes and over-the-top antics, 30 Rock stepped up and became the funniest show on American TV. 30 Rock seems to have inherited Arrested Development’s magic formula, namely complex plots compacted and strung together with light-speed gags and surprises. The show seems to have ditched its early “Tina Fey as sacred cow/modern everywoman” leanings and accepted that Liz Lemon is, like everyone else on the show, just blindly stumbling around in a panic most of the time. This season’s best jokes are funny enough that I laugh when I even think about them. Taking a shot at those manipulative Dove commercials? Werewolf Bar Mitzvah?! THE CARTOON WITH SHAQ?!? Priceless.
YouTube Clip: Unavailable because NBC doesn’t want you finding out about shows you’ll love and then watching them on their channel.
It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia
After you get over the fact that it’s about a bunch of hip 20-somethings running a bar (which admittedly takes several episodes), you realize the brilliance of IASIP. Here’s another show that has no sacred cows: The main characters are what most people would classify as the ‘villains’ of any story. Narcissistic, selfish, and greedy, they wander through manic plotlines that involve indecencies such as selling double-priced alcohol to minors, seducing each other’s moms for revenge, and setting up a third-world-sweatshop to make dresses which will dwarf the fashion skill of a girl who used to be fat in high school but now isn’t, the fact of which makes Dee angry.
It sounds pretty unbearable, but it’s all kept at a great, hilarious pace with an unnervingly peppy soundtrack. Also, I love Charlie’s voice. Dear networks: I will watch any show that makes that man yell in a high-pitched voice. It. Is. Hilarious.
YouTube Clip: “Are We Going To Talk About Pirates All Day?”
Missing From This List
The Office - Boo Office. This season, 90% of this show’s writing seemed to be “well, we have these craaaazy characters. Let’s make them go to a _____.” While the American Office’s focus on a larger range of characters was initially a great idea, now it just seems to run their bits into the ground, all while keeping Pam and Jim far above the rest of the crowd with their apparent inability to do anything stupid of clumsy on the job.
Dexter - Even though I tweeted that Dexter was the “best show evar” this season, I felt like the finale was a little bit of a let-down, which is a deal-killer for a show that revolves around a central storyline. But to give Dexter its due: Every episode up until the last one (especially the one before it) was mind-blowingly great.
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