Well here is my list of favourite television shows and episodes of 2007. It was quite a year, looking forward to what 2008 brings.
1. Lost
Lost is the best show on television, Period. I have yet to come across a show which can beat it in terms of story or characters. The story is continually engaging and characters like Ben, Locke, Desmond and Eko keep me coming back for more and more. Whilst Season 3 started slowly it got into its stride and then kept going only to slow up during that ruddy tattoo episode.
OMG LOST SEASON 4 = FREAKING AWESOME
2. Dexter
Dexter is the best show on television (wait didn’t I already say that?). Okay best show that doesn’t involve an island. Dexter had a superb first season and the second is even better. Dexter has had me drawn in with suspense and amazing acting since the first episode. Michael C. Hall deserves every acting award under the sun for what he’s done with the character of Dexter.
3. Firefly
A show I ashamedly only watched this year, Firefly was an awesome show which I binge watched in a day along with the movie Serenity. Firefly is a show that shouldn’t have been cancelled and gets this high on my list not only because it’s amazing but because I want to show it my (belated) support and pray that it comes back in any shape or form.
4. Pushing Daisies
Pushing Daisies is the best new show of 2007. The style and concepts are perfect and help give the show a real Tim Burton-esque feel. The show boasts lightning wit and has already become the critics darling. My only wish is for its continued sucess around the world. Which is I am pledging to get as many people as I can to watch it when comes to the UK. Even if it does mean that I will have to watch ITV1 *groan*
5. The Wire
The Wire is a novel. There is no other way to describe it, if you miss a single episode you’re f*****. However the show includes a massive array of characters and each episode focuses on multiple plot points, and it makes it work (unlike the stodgy mess that Heroes has become). The Wire is another show that I did not get into until this year but unlike another show that I started watching this year (24) I’m gonna keep this up till it finishes
6. South Park
South Parkis hilarious. It’s crude yet socially applicable at the same time. South Park is the only show I can think off that can take the piss of events going on in the real world whilst having an array of characters that are completely off the wall (talking poo and a towel, come on!!). However
7. Doctor Who
Oh Doctor Who you’re still an awesome show but can you please get rid of the Deus Ex Machina endings you seem to incorporate into you’re finales? You have an awesome build up towards the last episode of the series but they always end up disappointing. Episodes like Blink, Family of Blood and Utopia show that you are still one of the best shows on TV. So I want you to make me a promise next year Stephen Moffat is going to write the finale. Okay?
8. Heroes
Heroes started of really well. The story and characters were awesome and there was definite sense of motivation, then the season 1 finale happened. It was terrible. Heroes could have still made my top 5 shows of the year if it came back in the autumn with all the bravado it seemingly left behind the season’s penultimate episode, but sadly it didn’t and suffered for it. We didn’t want more build up; we wanted super powers and action. Then there’s the fact that they became too bogged down with the cast. Too many stories per episode meant that the pacing faltered and urgency was lost. Episodes like Company Man where there are only one or two storylines and the shows strength and they should make more like it. This making me sound negative isn't it, Heroes was good but then they just couldn't carry the story and the writers have admitted they screwed up so I can't wait for the next batch of episodes (a re-powered Sylar already has me salivating)
9. Chuck
Chuck is another new show. Chuck is a show that encompasses a lot of the changing perspective of the world. Not like religion or stuff like that but on the view of geeks. Geeks used to be the stereotypical bloke who wears white shirts, plays dungeons and dragons and lives in his mother’s basement. However shows like Chuck, show that it is the time of the geek. Zachary Levi is a natural fit as the awkward Chuck and really with the amount of references to geek topics (video games, gadgets), it’s a show I wouldn’t miss for the world.
10. Top Gear
Oh Top Gear why do have be so difficult? You’re not a comedy yet you’re funnier than most shows on television. Really Top Gear is a show I shouldn’t like. But I love it. I want to put it higher but…I can’t. Because of what it is, a magazine show. I have a loathing for all things without a storyline. Only Top Gear has been able to slip past my net and I intend to keep it that way.
Honourable Mentions:
Jekyll
My Name is Earl
Scrubs
I loved all these shows but they just didn’t do enough to make my list. Jekyll was a great show. But since it won’t be back next year I didn’t want to put it on my list. Scrubs had a lacklustre season (even if My Musical was great) and My Name is Earl failed to deliver as much as it did in its first season.
Maybe Next Year:
Veronica Mars
Started watching this a few days ago and already I can tell it’s gonna be good. Shame it got cancelled, but as we can see with Firefly I don’t really care if a show got the boot or not
EDIT - Having watched most of season one of Veronica Mars (binge watched it over the holidays not in time for this blog update) I can safely say that it would have made my list of favourite shows. The show is amazing. Funny, dramatic and damn good yarn. I HEART VERONICA MARS is all I can say (why didn't I start sooner?!?!?)Favourite Episodes:
1. Flashes Before Your Eyes Lost
Just wow. Sheer awesome. Best hour of television I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching.
2. Blink Doctor Who
Stephen Moffat is a genius. Blink showed his incredible skill and talent and was only let down by the bit at the end when he tried to scare the little kiddies and even that was only a few secs long.
3. Pie-Lette Pushing Daisies
Not many shows can get me hooked just by watching the first episode, but Pushing Daisies did and with style (and a large slice of pie)
4. Through the Looking Glass Lost
The series finale of Lost showed how amazing the writers were with a twist at the end that I sadly spoiled for myself and wish I hadn’t. Still and awe-inspiring episode though.
5. Top Gear the American One Top Gear
The funniest hour of television ever, I nearly wet my self on multiple occasions. Top Gear doing what it did best, have three guys piss around in a couple of cars for a few days and film it.
6. Fantastic Easter Special
By far the best episode of South Park the year. A pitch perfect spoof of the Da Vinci Code and at the same commented on how stupid the idea of an Easter Bunny was.
7. Ariel Firefly
A highlight of my year was buying Firefly on DVD. Ariel was the highlight of that experience. Ariel was Firefly at its best and hate awesome plot points and character moments (that scene with Jayne and Mal at the end was awesome)
8. Out of Gas Firefly
When I saw a bit of this on television I thought it was just a flashback episode but it was so much more. The story played out in a non-linear fashion and really showed how creative some writers are.
9. My Musical Scrubs
My Musical was wickedly funny episode featuring so many jokes from Scrubs’ past. The songs were great (Guy Love being the best) and even had its poignant moments that make Scrubs one of the funniest but also dramatic shows on television.
10. Company Man Heroes
Company Man is Heroes at its finest. One story line with lots of the main characters interacting with each other, and the flashbacks helped fill in Mr. Bennet’s past. Also it was the final episode featuring the amazing Christopher Eccleston and the last episode written by Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller.
