Monday, January 05, 2009

2008: An Unnecessary Retrospective - Part 2: The TV

So, with 2008's music covered, it's time to move on to that mightiest of media: the gogglebox. As with music, I tended to spend more time discovering the old than tuning into the new, and as I still refuse to watch any scripted show as it's broadcast (instead holding out for the DVD, so it can be consumed in three-hour-sized chunks), it's hard to compile any kind of "best episodes of 2008" list, because I spent more time watching old Moonlightings from 1987. Still, I'll have a go.

Top 5 Shows I Actually Watched On TV In 2008

As mentioned above, a list like this is restricted to shows that don't get released on TV - mostly unscripted shows. But, as my list will prove, unscripted doesn't mean un-good! Heavens, no.

5. Have I Got News For You
At times this year it felt like the show was treading water - and pretty average water at that, none of your upmarket Evian stuff - and Ian Hislop occasionally descended into the marginally-too-smarmy, but the occasional episode still managed to knock "it" right out of the park, whatever "it" is. The recent Christmas special, with all on fine form, was non-stop hilarity.

4. Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe
Charlie Brooker is the thinking man's thinking man, and the latest run of Screenwipe was among the best yet - particularly when Charlie was either a) organising a public piss or b) taking the piss (especially the classic Britannia High scene). More please.

3. The Apprentice
Another series, another pile of undeserving dolts that don't have a brain cell between them. I'm more deserving of a job with Sir Sugar. But that's all part of the fun; this year's fourth run was as viciously compelling as ever.

2. Mock the Week
Nowadays more consistently hilarious than HIGNFY, Frankie Boyle and Russell Howard - the real highlights of the show - were on fine form. Plus without Mock the Week, we'd never have had the classic Newsnight moment wherein Emily Maitlis (quoting Frankie Boyle joking about the Queen - one hopes) tells some head BBC honcho "I'm so old, my pussy is haunted".

1. Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Simon Amstell is probably the funniest man Britain's got right now. He, and arguably he alone, makes Buzzcocks brilliant.

Top 5 Shows Of 2008 That I Didn't Watch On TV, But I've Seen Up To The Latest Season Released On DVD, And They're Still Continuing Anyway, So I Won't Look Too Out Of Date


5. Dexter
Michael C. Hall is absolute perfection with a capital perfect as Dexter. Season 2 somehow even managed to heighten the tension even further than the superb season 1. My only concern is that with season 3, I might just tense up so much that I'm temporarily incapacitated and unable to change the disc.

4. Monk
Still one of the most fun, enjoyable and downright likeable shows on DVD, the sixth season of Monk - that's the one released on DVD in 2008 - was among its best yet. "Mr. Monk Stays Up All Night" is an al-time televisual highlight, blending comedy, drama and emotion masterfully. Also, I heart Traylor Howard.

3. Friday Night Lights
Gah. This shouldn't be so fall-down good. It's about a small-town football team in rural Texas, for crying out loud. But it just is. The characters are fully-drawn; the stories make you laugh and cry like few other TV shows can. This deserves a bigger, better audience. If its third season is its last, that's about as strong a condemnation of the US' public failure to tune in to quality TV as there ever has been.

2. Californication
Doesn't take itself too seriously, it's just hilarious, self-indulgent good fun. David Duchovny fits the role of Hank Moody almost suspiciously well.

1. ER

Grr, I'm now up to season 13 and I still can't wait for the next season to come round. It's fallen since its S1-8 heyday but it can still wrench the heart and churn the stomach like precious few other shows. Here's hoping it goes out with a bang in spring.

Top 5 Shows Of 2008 That I Didn't Watch On TV 'Cos They Finished Approximately Fifteen Years Ago, But Somehow I Only Discovered Them On DVD This Year


5. Moonlighting
It got a little crazy in the last couple of seasons, but early Moonlighting is classic TV, no doubt about it. The chemistry between Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd is mind-bogglingly spot-on; the dialogue is witty and just the right amount of self-aware.

4. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
More depth than any "teenage" show has a right to. Alyson "now in How I Met Your Mother" Hannigan is the unlikely highlight among a remarkable cast. Equal parts dark and light, Buffy never fails to engage.

3. Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip
Another show destroyed by premature cancellation (jeez, if that doesn't sound like an innuendo I don't know what does), Sorkin's third masterpiece in a row - set behind-the-scenes at an SNL-type sketch show -
offered a remarkable cast and storylines that compelled, both when on-set and off-set.

2. Sports Night
Yeah, two Aaron Sorkin shows in a row. With good reason, though - the man's a genius. I swear, he could even make According to Jim good. His rat-a-tat-tat dialogue was already well-developed and on display in this, his first network show, which happens to be set behind-the-scenes of a cable sports show. Hm.. to anyone who hasn't seen The West Wing, he's beginning to sound like a one-trick-pony. But then again, anyone who hasn't seen that show doesn't deserve an opinion on television, right?

1. Titus
The best sitcom you've never heard of, Titus is a post-Seinfeld torrent of Very Special Episodes that lack emotion, dysfunctional families that make the Simpsons look like a model of respect and order, and piss-takes of the most horrendous events (terrorism, rape, homophobia.. you name it, it's here). If it weren't for the restrained language, you'd swear it had been on HBO, not Fox.

Top 10 Shows Of 2008 That Didn't Fit In Above

10. House
For the sublime two-part S4 season finale, "House's Head"/"Wilson's Heart".

9. Without A Trace
For Anthony Lapaglia kicking ass in "Malone vs. Malone".

8. Psych
For not being the Monk rip-off it so easily could've been.

7. It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
For proving Danny Devito's still got it.

6. 30 Rock
For keeping the effortlessly brilliant Tina Fey on screens outsie of Sarah Palin impressions.


5. The Shield
For that powerhouse of a season five finale. OMG LEM!!!1

4. Frasier
For making me laugh, even on the fifteenth viewing.

3. The West Wing
For "In Excelsis Deo" and "Two Cathedrals".

2. How I Met Your Mother
For keeping Alyson "once on
Buffy" Hannigan on our screens. Also, Barney Stinson.

1. South Park
For the denouement of "Scott Tenorman Must Die". The crew at Tales of the Unexpected would be proud. Maybe.

--Later this week: "Part 3 - The Websites, And Other Stuff". Possibly.

2 comments:

boredlaura said...

Alyson Hannigan: Legend...wait for it, and I hope you're not lactose-intolerant because the second half of the word is...dairy.

Wesley Mead said...

Niice.