Let’s get it on:
12:34pm Season 3, Disc 1, Episode 1″ The Fabulous Belding Boys”
Tag Archives: Sopranos
On the Last Day of the Year: The Best Show of 2010 and Nine Other Good Ones
Unbelievably, we’re about to enter our third calendar year in existence. It seems like just yesterday we were scrambling to put together our best of the decade lists (which makes sense, because we didn’t actually post one of those until this week). In 2011 we hope to be even more timely, on-point and just plain better. Until then, let’s try to end 2010 on a high note with our not-at-all anticipated Best Shows of the Year:
1. Community: This was an absolute no-brainer. Far and away Community was the most original, ambitious, rewarding, warm, funny, creative, fearless show of 2010. It was just a little over a year ago when the show delivered its holiday episode, “Comparative Religion” (featuring mustachio’d Anthony Michael Hall), and we began to feel then that the show was truly building towards something special. When Community returned in January of this year it began what should be considered one of the greatest runs of any comedy series in television history, playing “can you top that?” with itself from week to week. Solid episodes like “Investigative Journalism” with Jack Black, “Physical Education” with a nearly naked Joel McHale, and the truly superb Goodfellas tribute “Contemporary American Poultry” culminated in the single best episode of 2010 across the board, the paintball-splattered, action movie homage masterpiece “Modern Warfare” (we know that we’ve already proclaimed the greatness of this episode, but it’s worth doing over and over again).
Keep reading: More on why Community is the best show of 2010. And 9 other good ones…
Winter Cleaning: ‘LOST’ Finale: The Neverending Story (And a Brief Discourse on Series Finales)
Note: We began this post the day after Lost’s series finale. Unfortunately, do to a series of fortunate events, we became otherwise occupied, and soon a Lost finale review seemed rather dated. But with the end on the year quickly gaining on us, we thought we’d finally finish that piece, perhaps all the wiser for having an extra half-year to let the series’ end sink in.
For most of Lost’s final season (and for the first five) we’ve offered little, if any, commentary, instead leaving the expert analysis to the experts. In fact, besides a couple of links and a few Jimmy Fallon videos we’ve only really spoken in-depth about the season premiere. However, much in the fashion of Lost, we feel compelled to call back to that post and close the circle.
However, before we delve into the finale, the series, and the nature of season finales, I think it’s necessary that we first outline our particular history with Lost. The show premiered during my senior year in college, the four-year period when I probably should have been OD’ing on television, at least on the Mr. Show DVDs, but instead foolishly focused on my studies, only making time for The Simpsons, Survivor, Friends for some reason at beginning and, thankfully, Arrested Development towards the end (talk about growing up). Lost premiered during the fall of my Senior year, but I was far too wrapped up in my penultimate semester, and getting in as much Mario Tennis as possible, to pay it much mind (plus, it seemed like a risky venture to get involved with such an ambitious show that likely wouldn’t make it past its first season). During winter break of that year, I did record a couple of episodes on VHS (the dark ages!), and found it interesting, intriguing and definitely full of potential. But without the benefit of having seen the pilot, and understanding the context of those episodes, I was, in essence, lost. So it wasn’t until the following summer when, on somewhat of a whim, I just went ahead and purchased season 1 on DVD. And that basically changed my life.
Filed under Analysis, Count Bleh, Flashback!, In Memoriam, LOST
Winter Cleaning: My (Belated) Top 10 TV Shows of the 2000s
With the snow keeping us indoors we thought it might be a good time to go through our drafts and let some of these long-languishing, somewhat unfinished posts see the light of day. First up, our best shows of the 2000s, which we held off publishing until we could embed some video evidence. But, at this point, we’ll put that responsibility in your hands.
My belated best TV shows of the 2000s! (in a semi-particular order)
1. LOST: For the reasons I outline here.
2. The Sopranos: The Godfather of dark, fearless cable shows with flawed central characters. Might be responsible for killing network TV.
3. Arrested Development: Simply the smartest sitcom of all time. It was probably to clever for its own good. It was basically teaching a master class in comedy while throwing out an impossible amount of sight gags, call backs and cutaways. We should just be thankful that we got 3 seasons of this masterpiece.
4. Veronica Mars: Could have put it below Freaks and Geeks, but I give it the edge for somehow making it to season three (even if that was a neutered, watered-down version of VM). I’d put the first season up against any season from the last decade.
5. Freaks and Geeks: The most gut-wrenchingly accurate depiction of high school ever. 18 episodes of achingly beautiful growing pains [editor’s note: just watched much of IFC’s Freaks and Geeks Holiday Marathon, and if we revised this list today we’d be tempted to put this show at the top of this list. It’s that fucking good].
Thoughts on the LOST Premiere AKA Why LOST Was the Best Show of the Last Decade
I’m not sure if I’m going to make a habit of posting weekly Lost reactions. First of all, there are countless other bloggers who do an infinitely better job parsing the show and its mythology (Doc Jensen, Videogum, Alan Sepinwall, AV Club to name a few) And second, I think I’d rather spend my time reading other people’s thoughts and theories than formulating my own, because immersing myself in the world of Lost and its possibilities is one of my all-time favorite pastimes. But, in honor of the season premiere, and in light of a post I didn’t get around to writing six weeks ago, I thought I’d put finger to keyboard and deliver commentary that’s more along the lines of Ken Tucker’s, focusing not on the mythology, but on the storytelling and the characters. Not on what the things in Lost mean, but on what is Lost‘s meaning.
Read on: Why I thought Lost was the best show of the decade, and how I was wrong but still right.
Filed under Freak Out Control, LOST, Must See TV
Jumped The Snark 