Favourite TV Shows 2010 - Favourite Episodes 25-11

This year's list of my favourite episodes is a little longer than it has been in previous years. Not only did I manage to find a fantastic episode in every show I featured on my list, but also a couple of shows which didn't feature also get their dues. So onward with the first 15 of my favourite episodes of 2010!

25. Charlie Brooker's Newswipe - Series 2, Episode 2
Newswipe isn't the kind of show which necessarily has perfect episodes, it's just a uniformly fantastic show with moments that stick out more so than actual entire episodes of sheer perfect. I love almost everything that Charlie Brooker has ever laid his hands (particularly the XXXwipe shows) but it's hard to pin point an individual episode as the best of a particular series. So I chose Episode 2 of the second series as a true example of the show at it's best. There was the fantastic 'How to Report the News' segment, the genuinely informative piece on British journalists and the complete ripping apart of the Wooton Bassett story from early last year. Yes I don't like every element of the show (*cough*TimKey*cough*) but the bits I like, I absolutely adore and this episode had that in spades.

24. Modern Family - 'Manny Get Your Gun'
The best episodes of Modern Family will normally have the entire cast in one place (see 2009's 'Fizbo') and whilst 'Manny Get Your Gun doesn't have the cast together for the majority of its run time, when everyone does meet it is literally a collision. Modern Family might not be the most hilarious comedy on TV but this episode was able to have enough funny moments (Phil, Claire and Alex breaking down in the car etc.) whilst holding together the sense of family that makes Modern Family so enjoyable.

23. 30 Rock - 'When It Rains, It Pours'
After the resurgence that the show had back in spring, this episode was the solidification that 30 Rock was back on top form. A fantastic, but not flashy guest appearance by Paul Giamatti, Jack making the video for his future son ("the secret to good hair is dove....blood") and of course Tracey playing Cash Cab in order to see the birth of his child. 'When It Rains, It Pours' played to the strengths of most of the cast proved how 30 Rock can still hit it out of the park.

22. South Park - '200'/'201'
South Park celebrated its 200th episode in 2010 and definitely pushed the show to the limit. '200' and '201' were celebrations of a show that has been on TV for almost 15 years. Almost every celebrity that South Park had taken the piss out of was back, we had Tom Cruise (and more gayjokes), Mecha-Streisand, Scott Tenorman and of course Muhammad. What followed over their combined 40 minute run time was a fantastically hilarious and even thoughtful look at the ideas of censorship. Of course the show ended up getting censored and the creators received death threats for trying to portray Muhammad on TV, showing just how right South Park was in the first place.

21. Futurama - 'The Prisoner of Benda'
Futurama came back to our screens after great anticipation. Whilst it maybe wasn't as consistent as it was back before it was cancelled, there's no denying that Season 7 had flashes of the Futurama we loved, and 'The Prisoner of Benda' was the clearest example of this. Everyone knows body swap episodes, pretty much every sci-fi TV show ever has done an episode about, but what made Futurama's take so great was to the lengths that they took it. By the end of the episode almost everyone was in someone else's body and always leading to hilarity (Scruffy & Wash-bucket Amy FTW). The episode was intricate and even proved how dedicated the writing staff of Futurama are by having the writer Ken Keeler actually create an entire mathematical theorem to have the episode work.

20. Justified - 'Fire in the Hole'
'Fire in the Hole' was a template for the Justified was going to succeed as the show went forward. Based on the short story by Elmore Leonard and developed for TV by Graham Yost (Band of Brothers, The Pacific), the pilot Justified turn out to be a fantastic piece of television. This first episode hinted at a larger plot to the show, but also showed how it could work within a self contained. The fact that the show was buoyed by a fantastic performance by leading man Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood) and a fantastic villainous portrayal by Walton Goggins (The Shield), made Justified's first episode one of the most rounded hours of television all year.

19. Rubicon - 'The Outsider'

Rubicon may have stumbled a little out of the gates, especially when compared against AMC's other fantastic shows Mad Men and Breaking Bad, but 'The Outsider' proved that Rubicon might have had what it took to actually compete with those two shows on a qualitative level (barring that godawful finale). This was the episode was the lose threads started to come together and the show became less interested in the central mystery behind the show and focusing on the characters jobs within API and the moral responsibilities it holds for them. It also Truxton Spangler's fantastic tie speech, one of the best scenes of television all last year.

18. Better Off Ted - 'The Impertinence of Communicationizing'

Sometimes a show is just so damn for funny for reasons that are quite simple to explain. A memo goes around the offices of Veridian Dynamics urging the employees to insult each other and hilarity ensues. Here is a series of hilarious outtakes from the episode. Enjoy.

17. Supernatural - 'Weekend At Bobby's'

I could have quite easily chosen the Season 5 finale 'Swan Song' as the best episode of Supernatural in 2010, but that episode would have worked on a whole other level if it had actually been the final episode of the show. Instead I decided to use this as a chance to speak of unsung heroes. Bobby has been the closest thing the boys have had to a functioning father figure since the beginning of Season 2, and whilst he's been a constant presence on the show since then, it took us until Season 6 to get an episode highlighting his awesomeness. Sometimes moves away from established format can prove to be messy and muddled, but Supernatural offer consistently offer up interesting ways of subverting their format, and 'Weekend At Bobby's' was one of the best.

16. Cougar Town - 'You Don't Know How It Feels'

Cougar Town magically transformed a few episodes into Season 1 and became one of the most consistently funny ensemble comedies on TV. Yes, Courtney Cox is still the obvious weak link and it's a shame the show has to built around her, but even she can't take away from the natural chemistry all the actors have together. Guest-starring Scrubs' Ken Jenkins as Jule's dad, Cougar Town finally strives for some more of the lofty emotional moments that Bill Lawrence's other show so often achieved. But even removed from the most emotional beats there was the fantastic Halloween themed hilarity, with a multitude of fantastic costumes. Ellie and Laurie going dressed as each other was the gift that kept on giving and Bobby's Windy Man is genius on so many levels. If you aren't watching Cougar Town, you are definitely missing out on a very worthy successor to Scrubs.

15. Chuck - 'Chuck versus The Beard'

Whilst Chuck Season 3 didn't quite reach the heights that the show was able to achieve in it's second season, 'Chuck versus the Beard' was an episode the fans had been waiting a long time for. Ever since Chuck gained the intersect, it was obvious it was only a matter of time until it bled more and more into his personal life and his family and friends would inevitably become privy to his life as a spy. First came Captain Awesome and then, finally, in this episode, Morgan found out. Of course this all took place during yet another assault on the BuyMore but what made the episode was Morgan's of sheer elation when his friend told him he was a secret agent. Chuck in 2010 had many great moments, in particular the first episode with Chuck and Sarah as a couple on the train, or Timothy Dalton's fantastic guest appearances, but it shall forever be remembered as the year Morgan found out about the Intersect.

14. The Pacific - 'Peleliu Airfields'/'Peleliu Hills'

Whilst some people don't hold The Pacific to the same lofty heights that they hold Band of Brothers (I cannot honestly say, seeing as I have only seen the first 4 episode of BoB) but I will say The Pacific is fantastic in its own right, dealing fair more with the emotional tole of warfare, rather than its visceral nature. But no episodes were as harrowing as the episodes that dealt with the assault on Peleliu. The men were completely out of their element and completely outmatched. Images from these episodes still float when I think back on the miniseries, from Sledgehammer finally breaking and trying to rip out the teeth of a dead Japanese soldier or Snafu throwing rocks into the blown apart skull of a corpse. They might not be pleasant images, but they came from some of the strongest hours of television I watched last year, and I'm grateful I saw them.

13. Louie - 'God'

It's very hard to describe Louie as a series. Louie takes the form of a series of vignettes, sometimes 10 minutes, sometimes 20 or 40. One of the standouts vignettes from it's first season was the episode which dealt with the idea of religion. What starts of seemingly innocently turns into one of the most downright terrifying lessons on Jesus' crucifixion I have ever heard, going into disgusting details of how much pain Jesus would have been on the cross with only the choice between the pain being in his legs or arms, for three days. Even that scene alone would have been enough to earn this episode a place on my list, but the later scene with Louie talking to his mother about religion and the expertly placed stand-up excerpt helped prove that Louie is definitely something very special.

12. Dollhouse - 'Getting Closer'

Dollhouse only aired 3 episodes in 2010 and whilst the final two episodes were a mixed bag in the way that concluded the series, 'Getting Closer' was an amazing penultimate episode from writer Tim Minear (Firefly and Terriers). We got an action packed 40 minutes filled with so many mind blowing twists and revelations that showed that even with only 3 episodes left it was going to be hugely enjoyable. The two big twists of course were Dr. Saunders coming back and then proceeding to shoot Bennett in the head immediately after she and Topher had a moment (a Whedonesque twist on so many levels). But of course the huge twist of the piece was that Boyd had in fact been the head of Rossum since the very beginning. Yes in context it doesn't make much sense, but that doesn't take away from the sheer amount of fun that this episode really was.

11. The Walking Dead - 'Days Gone Bye'

What a pilot episode this was. You can argue as to whether the rest of the show was able to reach the heights that this episode did (I'd say episodes 4&5 came closest) but there's no denying that Frank Darabont wrote and directed one hell of a pilot episode here. Capturing every single beat from the first issue of the comics, The Walking Dead proved that there was still life in the zombie genre. From Lennie James' fantastic portrayal of Morgan to Rick shooting the half Zombie in the face was filled with little moments of sheer brilliance. Compared to other works of Zombie fiction, the pace was positively sedate able to properly explore the toll of being alone in a world infected by zombies. To start a tale of ongoing survival, The Walking Dead couldn't have possibly hoped for a stronger episode than this one.

Favourite TV Shows 2010 - Honourable Mentions

2010 was yet another fantastic year for TV shows, it might not be the golden age that was occurring a few years ago with The Wire, Sopranos, Deadwood etc. but it was still a year that gave us fantastic seasons of shows like Mad Men, Breaking Bad and Parks & Recreation. But those aren't the shows that I'm here to talk about, instead I want to focus upon the shows that haven't made it into my top 10. Instead this blog post will be almost an other top 10 (or 12) with shows which whilst more often than not fantastic for various reasons didn't quite make it into my overall top 10 of the year.

So enough with the introductions, here were the great shows of 2010 which didn't make my top 10 (bearing in mind that I have yet to watch some shows like Treme and Boardwalk Empire) in alphabetical order:

30 Rock
30 Rock didn't have a fantastic 2009, there was still a lot to laugh at still but it wasn't as consistent as it was during it's 2nd Season. Then there was the fact that it was having to compete with the new 2009 comedies of Community and Parks & Recreation. But then 2010 gave the show a massive comeback. There were some fantastic guest stars with Elizabeth Banks, Matt Damon, Jon Hamm, Michael Sheen, James Franco and Paul Giamatti and outright hilarious gags. James Franco and his Japanese sex pillow, Tracy remembering his past and having a mental breakdown, Jack making the video to his future 'son' about how to live, Buzz Aldrin shouting at the moon, Tracy making the advert but continually flubbing his lines and of course every moment that Michael Sheen was on screen as Wesley Snipes. 30 Rock might not be my favourite or the most consistent comedy on TV, but when it's on form it rivals the very best the medium has to offer.

Adventure Time
Adventure Time is a show that you wouldn't expect to be on any other critical TV list for 2010, but personally I think that this show is fantastic. Adventure Time is a Cartoon Network (yes THAT Cartoon Network) animated series about Finn the Human and Jake the Dog and the adventures that they have. That description doesn't highlight just how insanely surreal this show is though. It's the kind of thing that just appeals to university students in the same that Spongebob Squarepants is so appealing. But Adventure Time is something special, every episode is only 10 minutes long but you'll get vignettes dealing with a zombie invasion, pie throwing robots, how Finn deals with being turned into a foot and the art of imagination during a knife storm. It's hard to describe what makes this show so wonderful but it is, quite definitely one of the best new shows of 2010, if only for Lumpy Space Princess.

Better Off Ted
Better Off Ted is the first show on this list that was cancelled in 2010 (and sadly not the last). Better Off Ted was a comedy show set inside the fictional multi-national corporation Veridian Dynamics and dealt with the work force who helped create the inventions that they use to shape the world, which also gave birth to some absolutely fantastic fake adverts for the company ("Friendship. It's the same as stealing"). Better Off Ted was a fantastic satire of large corporations and how they deal with people. The ideas ranged from sending out a corporate memo encouraging the employees to swear (the fantastic outtakes can be seen here) and turning an employee who died on the job into a Jesus figure. All of this is topped off with a great ensemble which also gave fresh work to the Arrested Development alum Portia De Rossi as well as Jay Harrington as the titual Ted andJohnathan Slavin and Malcom Barrett as the wonderful Phil and Lem.

Chuck
After the fantastic Season 2, I think that most fans were just thankful that Chuck managed to survive being cancelled, twice I might add. Chuck is still a great show, maybe not quite as good as it was in Season 2 (although it quite often gives episodes of that level) but still one of purest blasts of fun to be found on TV these days. In season 3 the show maybe got a little too dark for what it was but that's forgetting what was great about Season 3 and the first half of Season 4. We got more Jeffster, Brandon Routh (Superman) put in a great performance as the villain of Season 3, Chuck and Sarah finally consummating their relationship and Morgan and Ellie both finally found out that Chuck was a spy (as well as a great plot featuring Awesome being brought into the spying life). Then there was the continued fantastic guest casting the show does with the crown jewels at the moment being Timothy Dalton as Volkoff and Linda Hamilton as Chuck and Ellie's mother. Timothy Dalton, especially, has been fantastic as the possibly insane but increasingly scary Volkoff and I can't wait to see where this goes in the second half of Season 4.

Doctor Who
2010 and the fifth season of Doctor Who was possibly the most important year for the show since its rebirth in 2005. Not only David Tennant leaving the show after four years of inhabiting the role of The Doctor but so was Russell T Davies the man who had sheperherded the show into coming back. Luckily Steven Moffat and Matt Smith stuck the landing in what was one the better seasons of the show since it's return. There was the normal wavering quality between certain episodes but the charismatic Matt Smith and Karen Gillan were great throughout and finally the audience was getting more than one or two Moffat scripts a year. A lot of what made 2010 great for Doctor Who must be laid at Moffat's feet (not counting David Tennant's goodbye which January 1st 2010) with the terrific two parters of 'The Time of Angels'/'Flesh and Stone' and 'The Pandorica Opens'/'The Big Bang' as well as a superb Christmas special with 'A Christmas Carol' which closed out the year and left anticipating Season 6 even more.

Justified
Justified could have just turned out as just a show which let Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood) take out bad guys in a cowboy hat, but instead it became so much more than that. Whilst the pilot was based off of a Elmore Leonard story, the rest of the show expanded to the point where it existed on it's own away from that story. Whilst not every episode was great, Justified was a show that put out some fantastic stand-alone episodes such as the fantastic 'Long in the Tooth'. Eventually the show achieved that hard sought balance of procedural and serialised story telling putting a great compelling overarching narrative which was frequently backed-up by a series of very well done one and done plots. Justified might feature as strong an ensemble as other shows but Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens and Walton Goggins as Boyd Crowder put in two of the best performances of any actors this year something which just makes the show that much more compelling. The final 'Bulletville' might not have been the best way to end the season, but the first season was more often than not great and I can't wait for Season 2 in February.

Louie
Louie is the reason why I haven't this blog post up sooner, because I wanted to watch the complete season to make sure I was right about putting it on here. Luckily it is and if I'm perfectly honest, probably completely worthy of making the top 10. Louie is the brainchild of the hilarious comedian Louis CK (Parks & Recreation) and is one of the most difficult shows to pigeon-hole. On face value it would appear to be a sitcom, but really it's more a collection of vignettes with a loose continuity between them all bookended by some stand-up from Louie himself. The fantastic thing about Louie is that in any given episodes it's almost impossible to guess what might happen. Some episodes have downright hilarious moments, such as Louie's trip down to the South or the heckler during one of his shows, others will poignant such as the poker episode which turned into a discussion of homosexuality or just intentionally unfunny such as the fantastic episodes 'God' and 'Bully'. Not every bit or episode will work but it never tries one thing for two long and it's nearly always refreshing to watch.

Modern Family
Modern Family also made the honourable mentions last year, and that isn't to say it isn't any worse than it was last year, it just isn't up to the level of the shows I selected for my top 10. The main problem with Modern Family is one that pervades many shows with ensembles, that some plot lines just might not work in some episodes, and the episodes that do work have a meeting of all the plot-lines. Luckily the cast for Modern Family is one of the most likeable on TV with great performances from Ty Burrell, Eric Stonestreet and Ed O'Neill. Modern Family is definitely not the most experimental or ambitious comedy on TV, it's just an incredibly reliable, often hilarious family sitcom which is more often than not just what you want.

The Pacific
Say what you will about The Pacific being "just another war show/movie" and you're probably right, but that doesn't stop it from being any less fantastic. At 10 hours long, The Pacific offered one of the most psychologically draining shows on all of TV last year. In it Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks offered yet another superb war drama on par with Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, and it was an entirely different beast. Instead of being based on the western front, The Pacific, as the name suggests, focus on the far less reported by far more gruesome Pacific front. What was a delivered was a 10 hour tour de force that looked into the psychological nature of being a soldier in the war and what exactly it puts you through without every shying away, which as a result meant that The Pacific had a far darker tone than Band of Brothers. Bolstered by amazing production values and fantastic performances by James Badge Dale, Jon Seda and Joseph Mazello, The Pacific was one of the best shows to air on TV in 2010 and only just missed out on the top 10.

Rubicon
Moving from one show that starred James Badge Dale to another one. Rubicon was an entirely different beast to The Pacific, but was just as great and despite numerous early problems a great addition to the AMC line-up. Sadly though Rubicon was cancelled after it's first season but that still doesn't make enjoyment of that season any less. Rubicon was a show that started out as in the same vein as 70s conspiracy thrillers but eventually found a far more comfortable setting focusing on the moral ambiguity that goes into researching terrorists and appropriate responses. It was fascinating to watch what was essentially four people in a room reading files, but it became compelling viewing. If only episode 12 'Wayward Sons' (Journey reference FTW) had been the finale, Rubicon would have been one of the best shows of the year, sadly the far more conspiracy centric 'You Never Can Win' served as the finale and sadly focused on the weaker elements of the show. Luckily the first 12 episodes of the show were still uniformly fantastic especially with great performances from the likes of Arliss Howard and Michael Cristofer.

Supernatural
It wasn't the best year for Supernatural mostly due to the fact that the show is never as good as when it was as focused as it was in the early parts of 2010 but it's still just a great show. Whilst I might have been happier if 'Swan Song' had indeed been the last episode of the show (I'm a sucker for when shows end when they feel like they should have ended) I'm still getting new episodes of one of my favourite shows. Season 6 at the moment is only half way through and therefore it's almost impossible to make any snap judgements so all I can say is that I have no fucking clue where it's all going, which is interesting if slightly worrying at the same time. Season 6 might be slightly muddled, but has still been made enjoyable by the occasional fantastic episode ('Weekend At Bobby's), the usual great performances from Jensen, Jared, Jim and Misha and the fact that the show week-in, week-out puts out a great and interesting take on the Supernatural.

The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead makes it onto this list almost entirely because of the potential it holds to become fantastic. Season 1 seems far more like a prologue to a far more fantastic second season than anything else. Because of it's incredibly short length (only 6 episodes) there wasn't any real room for the show to breathe, it was in those moments in Season 1 that the show was fantastic. Whilst the show does need to work on certain characterisations, overall it's found a very sturdy foundation, especially when it comes to the divergences that it has made from Robert Kirkman's graphic novel series. The Walking Dead has probably the most promise of all the returning shows this year to improve, and it when it does come back in October I know I'll be waiting with bated breathe to see what Frank Darabont and the rest of the team will deliver.

So those were the honourable mentions, feel free to weigh in with any of your own thoughts and be sure to check back over the next few days for Top 10 favourite shows, my favourite episodes and my biggest disappointments of 2010.

The Great Comedy Round-Up

Due to not really having no clue how to criticise a comedy show beyond knowing I enjoyed it and laughed (or cried in some cases), I'm not actually going to do full on reviews for comedy shows. Instead I'm going to just kind of list them in order of their finales. (BTW Sit Down, Shut Up, the new show from the guys behind Arrested Development isn't that good and was a bit of a waste of my time).

So on with the list.

Scrubs - My Finale


Scrubs came back in a big way this and ended with the perfect episode. Whilst it is still to be seen whether or not this will be spoiled by the season 9 which will apparently take the show in a direction, at least we got 8 great seasons. If your a Scrubs fan then you know that Season 5 represented a bit of a down turn for the show and whilst we got some great episodes such as 'My Lunch', 'My Way Home' and 'My Musical' it just didn't feel the same. Season helped improve the show a lot and the 2nd episode of the season 'My Last Words' easily ranks in my top ten episodes of the show ever. Part of the reason this season was so good was because they knew it was their last and the fact that brought back some of the dramatic stories which made Scrubs the perfect mixture between comedy and drama in its early seasons. The other great thing about this season were the interns, with the best easily being Denise (Eliza Coupe) who I'd be more than happy to see Season 9 revolve around.

But this is Scrubs and as usual the main cast of the show was fantastic and the finale was just the perfect way to end the show, it might start a bit like any normal episode but by the end it just becomes this massive goodbye fest. Everyone gets their own special goodbyes with the best being Turk, Elliot, Janitor and Cox and of course we get all the closure we need. JD and Cox hug, we (sorta) find out the Janitors name and then we get this just amazingly perfect wrap-up to the series that starts with Cox saying how JD is the best doctor to come through the hospital and finishes with JD and creator Bill Lawrence sharing a quiet goodbye whilst an acoustic version of 'Superman' by Lazlo Bane plays in the background. 100% the perfect way to wrap up one of the best comedies of the 21st Century.

Party Down - Stennheiser-Pong Wedding Reception
I didn't see myself enjoying this show as much as I did. Party Down is easily my favourite new comedy this year and I would recommend so many people to go and watch it. Whilst I love the cast and writers I didn't think it would be able to fill the Veronica Mars shaped hole in my heart. Whilst it hasn't done so completely it managed to fill a hole I didn't know I had which was for the same kind of awkward comedy as The Office and the foulmouthedness of Superbad. Then there are the guest stars. Whilst it was fun seeing the likes of Enrico Colantoni, Jason Dohring and Alona Tal interacting with a truly great cast (Lizzy Caplan and Adam Scott have great chemistry and Ken Marino is just...amazing) I was actually shocked to see they had both Breckin Meyer and J K Simmons in one episode!! Those are two really big actors in comedy, and it looks like both will be back next season along with Paul Rudd (who created the show).

The shows premise is simple, each week this group of near total idiots goes and caters a new party but so much humour comes from what happens there such as at the high school reunion which ends with a character getting alcohol poisoning whilst trying to impress someone and then throwing up a small lake of vomit, or the party which ends with the birthday leaving her true friends going off with the popular people. Or my personal favourite the sex awards episode. The show can be found quite easily on the net and this episode just stands out as how great this show can be. And yes Kristen Bell was in the last episode and was superb, even playing a bitch she's still amazing, especially the last scene, I just had a small fit of laughter. Party Down is the best comedy to come from America since 30 Rock or possibly How I Met Your Mother, so do yourself a favour and track down all ten episodes of this great show.

How I Met Your Mother - The Leap
Whilst the goat wasn't that great, the finale and this season was still a lot of fun. We edged closer to finding out who the mother is and we got a fun guest spot from Sarah Chalke (who it looks like will be back next in the finale). Plus we got some truly spectacular Barney moments such as him breaking all the televisions, his want of a building that can breath fire or the fact he used Jesus as to why you should wait three days before phoning girls, oh and of course his Christmas carols. Barney Stinson (played stupendously by Neil Patrick Harris) makes this show as amazing as it is and whilst Season 4 wasn't as strong as previous seasons (where was slap number 4!!!) we still got a lot of great moments and it looks like Season 5 is going to be great with hopefully the reveal of the mother, Barney and Robin hooking up, two more slaps and an episode which has been describe as being the perfect How I Met Your episode. This show is still the best comedy in America at the moment and I can't wait for Season 5.

30 Rock - Kidney Now!
30 Rock is easily the most critically acclaimed comedy in America at the moment and whilst I prefer How I Met Your Mother it still deserves every ounce of that respect. The writing is still blisteringly fast and Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin are just superb as the leads of the show. This years finale definitely showed that the show hasn't lost any of its edge, continuing on with a string of superb guest castings from Steve Martin, John Hamm and Oprah. Then in the finale we got one of the lead actors from M*A*S*H (it's a really famous show in America) and it lead to superb moments such as getting in a massive string of musical guests to do a charity song about getting a kidney for this man. The song is absolutely superb playing up every single cliche about these charity songs and just hearing Cyndi Lauper proclaiming 'I'm one of the drunk ones!' was hilarious. Then in the perfect way to cap of another great season Liz says "We sure had quite a year" and then in possibly the most perfect meta way possible Alec Baldwin deadpans "What are you talking about? It's May". 30 Rock is just so madcapped and has a great supporting cast that I hope this continues on into a more successful future than what happened to Arrested Development

The Office - Company Picnic
This season started wonderfully for the Office with the episode Weight Loss and whilst we've had some great moments (the opening to the Superbowl episode and the Michael Scott Paper Company Arc) it didn't make the Office feel as great as it did in Seasons 2 and 3. The show is not bad at all but it still feels like a show that has hit 100 episodes and may be running out of stories to tell. Whilst we had some great guests such as Idris Elba and Amy Ryan (both Wire veterans), they only appeared at the beginning and the end of the Season and it as the middle that suffered the most, all that really happened there was the fall out of the Dwight-Andy-Angela love triangle and not much else. Next year does look like its got some good stories such as more from Jim and Pam (pregnancies and weddings) and hopefully more of Dwight and Andy's bromance but unless the show can shake up the formula (like they did briefly this season) it might be time to say that The Office should quit whilst the going is good.

My Name is Earl - Dodge's Dad
My Name is Earl was once a superb comedy, but now it's seriously 'meh'. Whilst the show did perk up briefly towards the end with Darnell's cover being blown, the show is just not as good as it once was. Even the occasional high point such as the Seth Green episode doesn't make up for a season of episodes like the diabolically bad 'Pinky'. The show has just lost so much of what made season 1 so great. Even trying to reuse things that made them great such as the Cops episode (this year dubbed 'Inside Probe') just didn't work. Then there was the finale which whilst fun just made me miss the old show. Even a returning guest star and finally revealing the parental issues on the show was spoiled by the fact the show got cancelled and they had the balls to finish with a "To Be Continued". Maybe if the show does come back, they'll be hit by the same bolt of lightning as Scrubs.

Parks and Recreations - Rock Show
This show is seriously 'meh' at the moment. I'm still contemplating whether or not to continue next season. However the strength of the cast (seriously Chris Pratt is great) and the fact it's from the guys that made the Office, make me want to stick around. Even though the show isn't popping quite right yet, neither did the Office in Season 1 or even 30 Rock at the very beginning. So what I'm left is a decent show that gets a few laughs (the big ones being Chris Pratt and a joke made Aziz Ansari (Scrubs) about Easter Eggs in the second episode). However a few laughs and potential don't make great shows. If they can maximize on their potential then the show could be really great. But at the moment you could quite easily miss this one (at least until Season 2 potentially blows me out of the water with funniness.)

Favourite TV Shows 2008 - #09 Arrested Development/30 Rock

Alright I'm sort of cheating here in two respects. One in that one of the two chosen shows was canceled two and a half years ago and the second being that I picked two shows. This was the reason that I decided to shorten my list by one number because I just thought that these shows are both too similar to be listed as separate items. Although at the same time they are both completely different entities.

Both of them are from that new breed of comedy that America seems to be experiencing at the moment. Really they are the most perfect examples of it as well. The Office is based on a British idea so doesn't count, How I Met Your Mother is very much a normal American sitcom with some interesting time altering storyline. Then nearly every other comedy TV show in America is actually quite bad (I'm not going to name the remaining ones I do like, but I will say that Scrubs is one of the few, even if it isn't as good anymore). This new breed is sort of a quirky self referential humour. In fact both shows have a very similar joke about product placement within their shows. You stuff like in Quantum of Solace every single piece of computing merchandise is Sony, in Arrested Development and 30 Rock both shows take the piss of it. 30 Rock for example spends about five minutes talking about one product and how amazing it is and then the main character turns to the camera and asks "can we have our money?" It's hilariously funny and something similar is used in Arrested Development when one of the characters is sat in Burger King and the entire scene plays around product placement of various meals and offers before the character proclaims "it's a wonderful restaurant" and the narrator chimes in with "it sure is!". Similar concept but equally as funny.

Both shows are written superbly and the only reason that they don't fall higher on the list is that this sort of comedy isn't my favourite sort of comedy. If it were both of these shows could have ended up in my top three but as it stands I prefer drama shows and little sly geeky references in my comedy (hence why The Office and How I Met Your Mother fall higher). However I implore anyone reading this to at least check out Arrested Development and 30 Rock. The thing is both shows reward being watched in little chunks, Arrested Development more so. Arrested Development is chock full of little sly references to other episodes. Characters will allude to previous episodes or jokes in obscure ways that only constant viewers will get. Arrested Development also plays with a very funny "punch line before the actual joke" concept. In one memorable episode one of the characters comments on there being a pigeon in the fridge, we then flashback a little while later to security camera footage of the purchasing of the pigeon and the reason it is in the fridge (I won't spoil it for you). 30 Rock doesn't exactly rely on the same methods but it is something of a spiritual successor. The show has some incredibly great moments, one of the characters proclaiming "I'm voting for Osama" and a memorable therapy session in which Alec Baldwin portrays something like six characters. In fact that exact scene is in the clip below.



I'm going to take a moment to talk about the actors. 30 Rock really has two standouts, Tina Fey who if you were following the election at all will realise is the person behind the incredibly funny Sarah Palin impression, she portrays Liz Lemon in the show and whilst not being the funniest characters has a fair share of great lines. However the heart and soul of 30 Rock is Alec Baldwin or for Team America fans "the greatest actor ever" and really if you watch 30 Rock you may end up agreeing with it, the guy is just fucking amazing. That therapy scene above is just one of many awesome scenes that Alec Baldwin is give throughout the show.

As for Arrested Development actors you're bound to recognise at least some of them. My favourite character G.O.B. is portrayed by Will Arnett who you may have seen in movies such as RV or Blades of Glory. How about Michael Cera in Juno or Superbad? Jason Bateman in Hanncock or Juno? Tony Hale who is currently guest staring in Chuck or David Cross in Men in Black and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (that by the way is an amazing film). So many of the actors are instantly recognisable but so many people are surprised to hear that they were in a TV show together, let alone one that ran for three amazing years. All the characters are some of the most detestable characters that you'll ever meet and yet that all plays to their charm.

Both shows also have amazing guest stars departments. Arrested Development managed to get actors like Ben Stiller, Zach Braff, Liza Minnelli, Charlize Theron and Alan Tudyk. As for 30 Rock they got Oprah, Jerry Seinfeld, Steve Martin, Carrie Fisher, Edie Falco and Rip Torn. Both of these are just the tip of the iceberg but you'd be surprised the amount of times that you can just point at the screen in either show and go "oh my god I didn't know that he could be funny!"

I would love to rant and rave about how amazing these shows are but all I can give is my recommendation, watch just a few episodes of either show (both preferably from the beginning, but give 30 Rock a while because the first few episodes aren't as strong), and you'll get hooked along for the ride. By the time you get to the Goregasm game in 30 Rock or the Mole vs. Man with Jetpack fight in Arrested Development and be fully along for the ride. Finally some great news for both shows, whilst Arrested Development was canceled a few years ago a movie version should be coming back next year (if Michael Cera signs on) and as for 30 Rock, that's still going strong with both Salma Hayek and John Hamm (he's in Mad Men) doing guest arcs.