Justified / The Strokes
Science Bros / Rec List
The personal likes of a music loving, book reading, film watching obsessive geek who spends way too much time watching TV and getting emotionally attached to fictional characters.
• Aaron Paul • Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.• The Americans • The Avengers • Bat For Lashes • Being Human • Ben Wyatt • Boyd Crowder • Breaking Bad • British Sea Power • Bruce Banner • Clara Oswin Oswald • Community • Cougar Town • Deadwood • Doctor Who • Documentaries • Enlightened • Fringe • Game Of Thrones • Gwendoline Christie • Hannibal • Happy Endings • Iron & Wine• Jaime/Brienne • Jesse Pinkman • Joss Whedon • Justified • Leslie Knope • Lone Wolf • Mark Ruffalo • Marvel movies • Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds • Nikolaj Coster-Waldau • Orphan Black • Parks & Recreation • Raylan Givens • Rectify• Scarlett Johansson • Science Bros • Sons of Anarchy • Southland • Spartacus • Spider-man •Star Trek • The Strokes • Timothy Olyphant • Walton Goggins • Yeah Yeah Yeahs • Zachary Quinto
01 Fringe
02 Justified
03 Breaking Bad
04 Doctor Who
05 Parks and Recreation
06 Game of Thrones
07 Homeland
08 Being Human
09 Community
10 The Fades
11 Happy Endings
12 The Hour
13 Boardwalk Empire
14 Chuck
15 United States of Tara
16 Curb Your Enthusiasm
17 Raising Hope
18 Up All Night
19 Sarah Jane Adventures
20 Cougar Town
21 Awkward
22 Dexter
23 Psych
24 Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes
25 Psychoville
The shows that I watched in 2011 but didn’t make the Top 25
Damages - I am still catching up with this show (only on early S3) so I couldn’t add it to my list this year but if S4 was as great as I heard it was then I’m certain it would have been fighting it way into the top 10. My Christmas TV viewing will be S3/S4
30 Rock – I thought S5 was hit and miss and with the show not back till January its fallen off my radar for now, it could easily be back in my end of year list for 2012 though
Episodes & Mr Sunshine – Two shows which at the beginning of the year would have been on my list but have been taken over by other comedies. I do wonder how great a show Mr Sunshine might have become.
The Office - Declined pretty bad this season which is a shame because the Michael Scott leaving storyline of S7 was the show’s best for quite a while
Modern Family - I do laugh at this show but do I think its the great comedy all the award shows seem to think it is? No and sadly S3 has been pretty average, I’m afraid the success of the show may have made the writers a tad lazy. Could do better but will it?
True Blood - It made the list last year but seriously I am now only watching it for the Bill/Eric team ups, any connection I had left to the characters is gone now they ruined Jessica/Hoyt and the Sookie plots just make me want to cry blood.
Supernatural - S6 was so hit and miss in 2010, it only got worse. I try not to think about the show much these days because it breaks my heart what it has become, I will always love the cast but I could not follow the characters and writers down their chosen path.
01 - Fringe
Every day, for the past 25 years, I’ve tried to imagine what you’d look like as a man. My son. But I don’t deserve this. I realize that now. This is my punishment. You were sent to take me to see if I would repeat the mistakes of the past. You shouldn’t be here.
Last year Lost topped my best of list and perhaps unsurprisingly Fringe now takes pole position. The shows have a lot in common and have all the elements that for me personally makes a TV show go from good to amazing to damn well out of this world. I adore mysteries, I love figuring out clues and working out where the show is going (whether I get it right or wrong and with Fringe its about a 50/50 split), I completely and utterly eat up time travel and alternative universes and what if scenarios, I love tragic complex love stories.
Where many shows post Lost have failed is when the writers and network think that what makes a show like Lost so popular is the weird shit. In reality it is the characters that people are interested in.
It’s why shows like Fringe and Game of Thrones actually work because even though its taking place in a world none of us have experience of and in circumstances more dire than our every day lives we can still relate to their struggles because they are complex rounded characters forced to make decisions that we would probably make ourselves. The show works because their choices no matter how crazy oddly make sense, I mean which parent wouldn’t tear apart reality for a chance to see their child again?
Fringe is my top show of the year because it provides me with that emotional connection with it’s characters, I find myself drawn into their journey every action they make really matters, every heartbreak that hits them also rips my own heart apart. With Fringe I have that in the central trio of Walter, Olivia and Peter but also in the wonderful supporting characters. I care about what happens to these people and the fact that it is happening in a strange version of this world is important but not vital to my enjoyment.
The thing about Fringe is and its been said by the writers and actors on the show is like Lost at the heart of the show it is a love story, a story about a distraught father doing everything he can to save a little boy from dying and the terrible consequence that ends up having to multiply worlds. It is about how two people’s lives can be interconnected through the strangeness of fate and how despite the world trying to keep them apart they keep finding each other. It is about how sometimes you have to make decisions that will take away the people you love because its the right thing to do.
Some fans and critics have complained about the new timeline we are faced with in S4 but for me it just highlights what makes Fringe so great, the relationships between the characters are still there they are just shown in a different way, Walter still made that fateful decision to save Peter as a child but his chance of watching him grow into a man was taken away from him by the Observers. Instead he gets this wonderful relationship with Olivia instead, so heartbreaking but both are lost souls. Peter aware he is in the wrong reality instead of trying to make this new version of Olivia fall in love with him decides to guide her path to happiness towards the equally lonely Lincoln.
Like Lost showed us these characters are connected no matter what. I think all sides, all universes will need to work together to beat a greater threat.
So I take my hat of to Fringe for continuing to exceed my expectations and for continuing to fight for another day despite its dire rating situation. We need shows like Fringe, we need its wonderful characters and its mysteries. Fringe please don’t leave us before you are ready.
02 - Justified
The truth is…I don’t know if you can trust Boyd to have your back, but…well he has tried to kill me, and I have shot him, and imprisoned him. I wouldn’t be surprised if our paths again crossed in such a manner. He has had my back on two occasions. Once was the last day I was in the mine, and the other not so long ago.
Is there a show that is better at portraying the so called bad guys as well as Justified does? The series draws us into the low life of Harlan county so incredibly well that even though the majority of them can be nasty pieces of work you can’t help but want to spend time with them.
Mags Bennett is one of the most terrifying characters on screen this year and yet I would genuinely love to hang out with her (just staying well away from her infamous apple pie moonshine) because she is so damn fascinating. Her need for a new beginning, for a second chance with Loretta is so compelling and heartbreaking, she made tough (often unwise decisions) for her family and for while there she came out top until everything crumbled away.
Then we have Dickie Bennett with his constant mistakes and fatal fuck ups but the things he does are motivated both out of revenge and bitterness towards Raylan and a deep desperate need to prove himself to his family and especially his mother.
The incredible journey of Boyd Crowder continued in this season, nothing makes me happier than wondering what he will do next, his storyline took some surprising twists especially in regards with Ava and it all worked so well.
I love the continued connection with Raylan, even when they are on opposite sides of the law their lives keep on interweaving with each other, that old bond from their youth still there even if they try to deny it.
The overall quality of the show is marvellous, the dialogue, the performances, the direction but also I love the black comedy that pops up now and again it is a lot like earlier season of Breaking Bad in that respect.
The three feuding families of the Givens, Bennetts and Crowders show us not only the complexities of family and loyalty but also the wider sense of community Harlan has.
Roll on S3.
03 - Breaking Bad
I won
There are a couple of shows which I only caught up with this year, Breaking Bad was one of them and I am so glad I did. I really feel like S4 took the show to a whole new level of brilliance and intensity which after S3 I thought was impossible to beat.
This was the season that my love for Jesse and Hank consumed me whole, their speaches in Problem Dog are an great example of how very dialogue heavy scenes can be executed perfectly. Both characters are poles apart but even if they don’t know it yet they both need to take down a man very close to them, Walter White.
Oh Walter White let me count the ways I hate you, the ways in which I simply can not wait to see your inevitable demise because you are an arrogant prideful bastard that really could have walked away from a life of crime but just couldn’t stop himself. Don’t get me wrong I love actually love the character of Walter I just don’t you know actually like him, he is just so fascinating to watch. He is so flawed and his fate is set in stone that watching it come crumbling down in the final 16 episodes will be delicious.
Honestly if he somehow ends up on top in the series finale at this point I will be bitterly disappointed. The anti-hero of the show has become the villain and the bumbling slightly jerky brother-in-law the hero alongside the recovering drug addict.
S4 always brought with it the shear wonder of Gus Fring, the cool collected fast food owner who is also a psychopath hell bent on revenge and complete control. The parallels between his own life and the path Walter has found himself on is fascinating and unless Walter can learn from his former boss’ mistakes and let us face it Walter probably won’t then he could find himself in a rather unfortunate position though perhaps not as graphic as Gus death was.
04 - Doctor Who
No, I just wanted to say… hello. Hello, Doctor. It’s so very, very nice to meet you.
I know many fans have a lot of feelings towards this season and the Moffat run but I am firmly in the hell yes I love this madness camp. Everything went crazy this season and mostly I feel like they pulled it off.
The mystery of River, the apparently inevitable death of the Doctor, all the twists and turns were delightful.
Perhaps though the season was at its strongest when it took a step back and became about the characters, The Doctor’s Wife was simply beautiful perhaps my favourite of the season. It packed the same emotional punch as Vincent and The Doctor did. A great idea executed perfectly. Then we have The Girl Who Waited which I thought was a fantastic piece for Amy/Karen.
Where the series goes from here is anyone guess, will the Doctor stick to his plan to lay low? Will Amy and Rory find themselves drawn into the madness of the Time Lord again? Will we see River again? What happens when Silence falls?
Lots of questions still to be answered but that is what I love about the show, it pulls you in for the long run, it gives you questions but says ‘hey dear viewers you will have to wait a little while to find the answers, can you handle that’? Many people scream accusations of the show being too complicated and confusing but in return I scream ‘bring it on!’
05 - Parks and Recreation
I’m Ron Swanson and you’re Leslie fucking Knope.
Is there a more delightful wonderful show on TV right now? The answer is of course not because Parks and Recreation warms all of our hearts in these frankly depressing uncertain times.
Here we have Leslie Knope, a civil servant who aims to not only do her job but do it well, serve the community she lives in, run for public office and be wonderful at it. Even her ironic, cynical, colleagues and friends can not deny the joy that Leslie brings to all of them.
It is a truly optimistic show that isn’t afraid to wear its values and heart on its sleeve and is still perfectly able to make us laugh on a weekly basis.
The relationships on the show are some of my favourite on TV, we have the wonderful Ben/Leslie and the somehow despite getting married after a month it works marriage of April and Andy. I adore the Ron/Leslie friendship so much but also the Leslie/Ann one which seems to get more lovely as the seasons roll on. Also we have Tom and Donna who should do more things together because they are so great on screen.
Basically I love everyone in Parks and Recreation, from the over enthusiastic Chris to the put upon Jerry, everyone has a place in the show, everyone a chance to shine.
So I salute you Leslie Knope, I salute you Parks and Recreation now lets go make out.
06 - Game of Thrones
All of us dead, all of us rotting in the ground. It’s the family name that lives on. That’s all that lives on. Not your personal glory, not your honor, but family. Do you understand?
Game of Thrones the show I knew I would love before it even began and love and adore this show I did and then I spent a month reading thousands of pages of the Song of Ice and Fire series and then I collapsed in joy. The end.
Well GOT had a lot to live up to but apart from a few hippics (namely the excessive use of sexposition scenes) everything about the show first season was simply marvellous. To enter such an expansive world was at first daunting but once the series got into the flow of things and we grew to love the characters (especially the morally gray ones) then the entire series became a fully fledged addition.
I came to the series spoiler free and now having read the books I do wonder how whether my enjoyment of the show will change in S2, on one hand I know roughly what to expect which takes out any real tension but on the other I already have characters I can’t wait to see on screen, storylines I can’t wait to play out.
Whatever happens GOT proved that fantasy shows can work and that the unfilmable can happen. I hope HBO continues to take risks with its programming and that other epic series like The Dark Tower get made.
07 - Homeland
I missed something once before. I won’t, I can’t let that happen again.
When I first started writing down my list Homeland was about number 14 but slowly over the course of the last few weeks it has crept up the chart. After a fall season of disappointing new shows Homeland came along and completely consumed my TV life.
The series is strongest when it is dealing with the characters, the loneliness of a CIA agents is shown in both Saul and Carrie, the sheer confusion of a returning POW solider in Brody, hell it even manages to convincingly get in the head of a young couple dragged into a war against the West they aren’t even sure why they are fighting.
The character moments are what make the show so compelling and I think that the moment when Carrie decided to approach Brody at the meeting was the turning point of the show. Making these two characters who are essentially at war with each other have this intense connection and chemistry was a great move. Everything about their relationship just feels natural and right and of course destructive and wrong at the same time.
It also has the ability to keep you guessing even when events take an apparent turn nothing is never as simple as terrorists are bad guys and the CIA are the good.
I simply can’t wait for the finale next week and the long wait for S2 will be hellish.
08 - Being Human
Just cause you’re a vampire doesn’t mean you have to smell like the undead. One word Mitch: deodorant
Ahh Being Human how you break my heart with the angst, keep with tense with the insanity and still manage to make me laugh on occasion. I know many fans have vowed to never watch the show again after the finale but for me Mitchell’s demise was inevitable, heartbreaking, soul destroying but completely inevitable and his descent into paranoia was a highlight of a fantastic season.
I loved the new characters we got in McNair, Tom, Lia and Adam as well as the return of the brilliant Hennrick. Episode 03x05 was one of the most intense hours of TV I watched all year, part psychological thriller part horror. I look forward to S4 and seeing where the gang goes from here.
09 - Community
Annie will always be driven, Shirley will always be giving, Pierce will never apologize, Britta’s sort of a wildcard from my perspective and Jeff will forever remain a conniving son of a bitch
My second favourite comedy of the year (and if you can’t guess the first then why are you following me on Tumblr? ha) this season of Community started a little slow for me the first few episodes didn’t really work in a way that others have but then Remedial Chaos Theory happened and its been pretty much amazing every week since.
I think Community works best when Abed is the heart of the show, his ability to observe the others makes him essential to the study group survival. I’m a fan of both the high concept and regular episodes just as long as there is a great story and fantastic dynamics between the characters then I’m happy.
10 - The Fades
I don’t know whether to be scared for you, or scared of you
I’ve talked about this show quite a bit in an effort to get people watching but as I always say it is an odd little series that definitely won’t appeal to everyone but those who fall for it will fall hard. The way the story developed over just 6 episodes was so impressive, they took such risks which many shows wouldn’t even dare to unleash until a few seasons.
The friendship between Paul and Mac is also a highlight, two teenage boys who clearly care for each other and despite everything falling apart around them will stick together. Oh and its also super dark and scary. Don’t watch with the lights off.
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Every show in the Top 10 at one point was my favourite show of the year, seriously so hard ordering them but I like to torture my TV loving heart.
11 - Happy Endings
We watched Con Air with the director’s commentary! So here I am, laughing AND learning.
From average sitcom about 6 friends to one of the funniest shows currently airing Happy Endings made a quick leap up my end of year list about 5 minutes into the S2 premiere.
Like all the best comedies (Parks and Recreation being a great example) it learnt from its problems and amended them in style. The writers have found great material for Alex and Dave who were the weakest characters when the show started. Jane and Brad are pretty much one of my favourite couples on TV right now and Penny and Max bring the funny in every scene.
12 - The Hour
Because I’m not afraid of the answers
British drama has been hit and miss over the last couple of years but I was drawn into this series immediately, from the interactions between the characters (especially the central trio Bel, Freddie and Hector) to the tension in the newsroom and the underlying mystery The Hour kept me entranced for 6 weeks over the summer. Really excited for S2.
13 - Boardwalk Empire
It doesn’t make a difference if you’re right or wrong; you just have to make a decision.
I was a tad apprehensive entering the second season of Boardwalk, though I really enjoyed S1 there were a few story lines that didn’t grab my attention at all. I think this season has done a much better job of rounding out all of the characters. Making Richard Harrow a main character was probably the best decision the show made because Jack Huston steals every scene he is in. Also delighted that Chalky has had more screen time though really he should be in every episode if I had my way.
14 - Chuck
You’re great even without the intersect
When Chuck ends next month it will be a sad but hopefully fitting conclusion to the show. Much like Chuck, Sarah, Casey and Morgan the show has always struggled against the big guns but somehow lived to fight another day. I will miss it deeply but I am glad they are getting a chance to end it on their terms. The addition of Carrie Anne Moss to the show this season has been inspired and I hope it points towards happy endings for all.
