Lopez Blogs

It was the year when NBC royally screwed up their ten o'clock spot (and Bro-Sis rip off Parenthood hasn't done much to fix it). It was the year when lots of shows finished after four seasons (Ugly Betty; Heroes - both joining the ranks of four season wonders such as Felicity, Lois & Clark, Early Edition, Everwood, The 4400, et al). It was the year new favourites fizzled into nothing (damn you ABC for cancelling Flash Forward and the promising Eastwick). And of course it was the year when Glee began and Lost ended. But more on that later. For now, here are my top ten favourite shows on network (and a couple of sneaky basic cable) tv between September 2009 and May 2010...

Bubbling under - the stalwarts: Oh there are just some shows I sort of half watch almost out of habit hoping that indeed, at some point they will retain their former glories. Desperate Housewives is a shadow of it's former self, chugging along with the same old tired one season mystery again (though the revelation of the actual strangler was quite a surprise) and even the season finale failed to reignite my passion for the show (tho to be honest it was quite nice to see John Barrowman gag that annoying whiney teenage kid from Nu Joy-see)... Smallville should have just ended years ago, it's now shitting on Superman mythology left right and centre (Clark is working at the daily planet, still not superman and NO GLASSES!!) yet i stick with it because i've invested so much blooming time. Private Practice is usually worth watching for a decent season premiere and finale, but not much inbetween. Gossip Girl is insane as ever, almost a modern day Dynasty, but it's not as thrilling as it used to be to hear Melismatic/Veronica Mars' voice on television in any format. And of course the animation block on fox continued to be a bit hit and miss, though at least one of the shows each week would be funny...

10 = Supernatural: With a mythology so dense and elaborate by season five, it was almost impossible for new viewers to tune in and have any clue what was going on (see also Lost). The epic good vs evil battle ramped it's way up all season with a fine mixture of horror, humour and drama. Yet in the end it all came down to the characters and their interaction with each other (see also Lost). A fitting series finale, if you stop watching about 5 seconds before the actual ending...
10 = Community: I wasn't expecting to like this at all, but Joel McHale turned out to be a fine comic actor who worked well in a likeable ensemble cast. Some genuinely hilarious moments were interspersed into each episode and even the supporting characters became essential to the show (the creepy PC dean, the hateful spanish teacher). Love love loved the cliffhanger love-square that put Felicity-Noel_ben triangle to shame...
10 = The Office: It just continues to veer perfectly between beautifully observed comedy (Pam & Jim continue to reign as one of tv's most perfect couples - their wedding and baby birth were two of the highlights of this year's run) and riotous office nonsense, mostly highly entertaining to watch. Just imagine if Holly DOES return next year... Sigh :)
09 - Grey's Anatomy: Though I was a bit miffed with the return then non-return of ungrateful Katherine Heigl, and the whole integration of Mercy West wasn't exactly brilliant, the old regulars continued to shine and i've adapted well to a new happy Meredith Grey. The finale showed what GA can achieve when it puts it's mind to it - it was brutal and genuinely shocking, plus occasionally devastating. Bring on season 7...
08 ~ Flash Forward: Sob. Surely this could have come back to partner V for a an uninterrupted run of spring time episodes a la Lost?! But no - it seems there will be no Flash Forward for Flash Forward next year. True, the main appeal was seeing Joseph Fiennes look all dishevelled in a suit, but it was strangely intruiging at times and I'm hoping they explain that bloody kangaroo...
07 ~ 10 Things I Hate About You: Just 20 episodes and cancelled? Bah I say bah! It quickly evolved from annoying teen comedy into charming little show with some genuinely witty banter, sly view on high school life and a male character that actually said "amazeballs". Thank you Chris Zwyck. Ended on a ridiculously unfulfilling cliffhanger, deserved at least 10 more episodes a la Greek. But that's the way the tv exec cookie crumbles :(

06 ~ Modern Family: Could have been an utter disaster, but actually was very funny and lovely indeed. Each of the couples within the family tree were engaging and delightful in their own screwed up ways and it never failed to get me laughing out loud (I refuse to "lol"). More canoodling from la gays though please. Also, hope season 2 evolves into a more continuous storyline rather than separate vignettes of episodes, but otherwise heaven.
05 ~ Glee: That I forgot about this when I was composing the list in my head on the way to work says a lot. It was my number one show of the year in 2009, and the first thirteen episodes were corking. I don't know if it's overkill or the fact that everyone and his mom loves it now or the fact that it's just trying to hard too hard now, but the shine has gone off it. I mean it's still quite good overall, but when they do drama it's far too mawkish and cloying rather than subtley played. Much like Popular. Which this makes me want to watch again. Particularly the original Vogue and the amazing Dirty Ho.
04 ~ Life Unexpected: Thank god this got a second season otherwise I may have broken down in a puddle of my own goo. This is essentially vintage old school WB type family drama - think Everwood meets Gilmore Girls; not quite as good as either of those (particularly the genius of the latter) but with oodles of potential and totally charming in it's very own way. And how amusing to see the teen stars of Roswell and Dawson's Creek now be the parents of a teen star drama. That makes me feel very old indeed...
03 ~ Brothers and Sisters: The search for Lake Narrow turned out to be vaguely intruiging as the season went on, and this year benefitted from no more of William's bastard offspring popping up with a grudge to settle. Again just some lovely family drama and some recession based storylines that weren't too ott, but quite affecting in their own sweetly-sad way. The final 15 minutes of the show was blooming brilliant and showed how things can change extremely quickly on tv without feeling like a plot shoe horned in for finale night or a deus et machina... Season 5 promises to be just dandy.
02 ~ Greek: Though those blooming Cyprus Rhodes kids may never actually bloody graduate college, it's easy to ignore the slightly dodgy timeline because this show just gets more enchanting the more I watch it. Funnier than a lot of comedies on television and with some great relationship drama that is more refined and polished than the OTT nature of, say, Glee, it sparkles in it's third year and a further ten episodes are promised next year which may well round it off. I'm happy for them to stay enrolled for a long time yet though :)

01 ~ Lost: As it's much anticipated final season drew to a close, it dawned on me that not only is Lost by far the most superior tv show of the season, but one of the greatest tv shows of all time. Sure it was a head scratching, mind looping, time tripping head fuck, but in the end all that mattered were the fate of the characters. The story of the island was over. It didn't matter to me that some of the stuff wasn't answered - we don't always get answers in life anyway. What mattered were those gorgeous little awakenings of memory where characters flashed back to their happiest most romantic times together, and that heavenly (perhaps literally) final few moments. Quite simply, effortlessly charming. I shall miss it terrible.

Best of cable tv: Dexter (that cliffhanger ending! OH MY!); The Tudors (another fourth season finisher this year); Big Love (gay mormons! Who knew?! :P); True Blood (more please of this essentially soft porn drama)
What I'm looking forward to next tv season: Hellcats, Nikita (The CW); My Generation, No Ordinary Family, Mr Sunshine (ABC); Pretty Little Liars (ABC Family); The Cape, The Event (hmmm, both tentatively, both NBC)

Hello everyone. Time for the mid week update special - purely because the US tv "season" has come to a close, and seeing as I watch so much of it I should probably do some sort of wrap up! As I do this, I am of course listening to Hotel Rival's Second Best To None (a-freaking-gain) purely because it is almost a pilot for a tv show itself. And if not then it is probably the ideal x factor finalists charity single for November (and so much better than a cover of Hero, n'est pas?). Anyway, as I so often do, I digress. So what of this tv "season"? Well at least it was more consistent than the strike-ridden last season, which I still hold responsible for killing (or at least gravely wounding) one of my favourite shows. So here is a brief run down of what shone, what stunk and everything in between...

SPECIAL MENTION:

Of course I have to mention my fave tv movie this season - Spectacular. Entirely enjoyable from start to finish and completely responsible for my current obsession of youtubing show choir versions of pop songs. And of course it featured Simon Curtis singing away in gold lame. What's not to love?! And while I (im)patiently wait for Spec2, there was quite an amusing episode of Hannah Montana this week featuring Simon. Now, despite loving See You Again and 7 Things, I've never taken the time to watch anything HanMontan, but for Simon i made an exception - I was surprised by actually how amusing (in a Saved By The Bell sort of way) the show is. The main scene that features Miley lusting after Simon is quite delightfully OTT, particularly when things start reminding Simon's character of his ex. Jenny! Artichoke Dip!! Check it out if you can :)

Shows that have lost their shine ~ I'm almost done with some of my old favourites. It's lucky that Prison Break finished this year (although a 2 hour wrap up movie has it's world premiere on Sky tv next week!) - i mean it was always a bit bonkers and illogical, but the third and fourth season really just took the piss. Ace for high octane thrills, rubbish if you wanted anything to make sense. And by god but Heroes and Ugly Betty became virtually unwatchable this year. Heroes may have won me back with the re-addition of Bryan "Pushing Daisies" Fuller and an interesting finale, but i think I'm dunzo with Betty. She has fast become the most unlikeable character on tv since righteous Krystle Carrington :(

Shows I might have left too late to get into ~ on behalf of my many friends who watch it and keep trying to convince me to watch it, thanks NBC for renewing Chuck. Yet it's one of those shows I keep meaning to watch but still haven't gotten around to. Also in that "interests me conceptually" category are 30 Rock (Adam Levine was in the freaking finale. ADAM LEVINE!), Friday Night Lights (with secret crush Kyle Chandler) and How I Met Your Mother (with Deb Gibson gal pal Dougie Howser!). If you were to recommend the dvds of just one, which would you go for?!

Shows I will be watching this summer ~ I do not trust US tv executives. Clearly most of them are stupid. In Britain (where admittedly we have shorter series runs), a show is rarely cut off midway through it's proposed run. The folks at Fox, CBS, NBC, CW and ABC just can't wait to throw the axe. So sometimes I am attracted to the idea of a show, but get this sense that it may not be long for this world. And as I am still mourning classic tv like Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, Jack and Bobby et al I am cautious with my choices and often wait til a renewal notice comes through - that way I can either watch knowing a second season is a-coming, or at least be pre-warned I'm in it for only a set number of episodes. This year I totally didn't trust Fox to renew Dollhouse, but they totally did so I will be bugging DanUK and Adem with my opinions on it this summer. Ditto as I catch up on the Veronica Mars filled Party Down and mad as a box of frogs United States of Tara. And of course I am very excited about finally getting into Fringe :) I'm unconvinced by megasmash The Mentalist though - not sure I'm a CBS guy :P

Shows that totally have my attention for next season ~ Flash Forward, V, Eastwick, the amazing Glee (which aired after AI last night and was insanely and very "me") and possibly Day One and Happy Town (which sounds a bit Eureka doesn't it?)...


TOP TEN USA TV SHOWS OF THE 2008-2009 SEASON

10 ~ True Blood (HBO): Based on the actually very charming Sookie Stackhouse books, this HBO was everything Twilight should have been - sexy, funny, scary, dramatic and kinda romantic without ramming it down your throat. I'm suffering a Twilight backlash, so this nighttime soap is the perfect antidote. Bring on season 2...
09 ~ The Office (NBC): Oh, it's all (and always has been) about Jim and Pam. They are just too darn adorable together. Plus it continues to be one of the funniest observational shows on television on what used to be Must See Thursday...
08 ~ The Tudors (Showtime): Clearly getting more historically inaccurate by the day (Henry isn't getting fat, he just has a gammy leg) but a decent dramatic portrayal of my favourite era of history ever is always enhanced by the presence of Henry Cavill (yummers) who this season is all tormented by his king-ordered murderous deeds. Meanwhile, Henry is romping through wives and is already entertaining a fourth - the brilliantly cast unlikeable Joss Stone who plays the unlikeable Anne of Cleves. Ace. Final year though next year :(
07 ~ Grey's Anatomy (ABC): Once my favourite show, it then got all mired in the homophobia and tiresome Katherine Heigl moaning about wanting to be a movie star. Oh and bad writing. The Denny's ghost storyline, though explained, was still extremely unnecessary. But when it delivers it delivers, and the final batch of episodes were just brillo. Meredith having 007 written on her hand was just jaw dropping. And the whole show is still infinitely better than it's spin off (despite that having a killer cliffhanger...)
06 ~ Reaper (The CW): By this time tomorrow, Reaper may be in hell. It's not looking good with Sock having defected to a comedy. On FOX! I mean for crying out god's sake, how long do they usually last?! Smartly written, funny, well acted and always enjoyable, this was always the little show that could on The CW and while 90210 got all the media attention this year, this little gem is what people should have been watching :( I'll be tres sad if it goes...
05 ~ Greek (ABC Family): Greek sort of crept up on me and took me unawares. While Felicity and Undeclared remain the greatest college tv shows of all time, this is not far behind. Seeing as we don't have fraternities and sororities in the UK, i'm always fascinated by them and this show continues to be hilarious and heartbreaking all at the same time. Jesse McCartney was a decent cast addition but it's Max and Casey that have my heart. PS, this show sneaks in some of the funniest one liners - comedy writers could do a lot worse than to learn from these guys :P
04 ~ Brothers and Sisters (ABC): It can veer towards the sudsy side of soap on occasions but generally it's brilliantly written and wonderfully acted. Holly has to be the most understated villain on tv (a stark contrast to the hyper Wilhemena on Ugly Betty) and it's easy to see why Tommy wanted rid. The addition of Ryan as the latest bastard to join the clan has been intruiging and frankly who wouldn't want to boff Park Guy after how moody Rob Lowe has been lately? Funniest moment? Kevin and Scotty getting all passionate at the thought of a threesome :)
03 ~ Lost (ABC): If it pulls off it's final season next year with the same skill it has year five, then Lost may well end up not only as one of the best shows of the millenium, but one of the best shows on tv ever. While I constantly feel like I need to be taking notes, it's rich and textured story telling is full of easter eggs and hints that are now starting to pay off. The finale had some strange character interactions but ultimately bought on a bit of a game changer for the islanders before they soprano'd our asses with that white screen fade out. 2010 seems SO far away!!
02 ~ Gossip Girl (The CW): Six-seven years ago, this list would have been full of WB shows including Everwood, Felicity, Gilmore Girls and Buffy. Either i've grown up or the quality on that network has gone right down hill. Luckily Gossip Girl is more than which guy you would like to spaffle on (current winner: slutty Nate) and is a veritable melting pot of teen hormones, switching partners, unfeasible dilemmas, hot DILFS (hello Rufus) and the lovely voice of Veronica Mars. Yes it's all a bit bonkers and yes it's for teenage girl but I care not. I'm entirely hooked. OMFGG!
01 ~ Pushing Daisies (ABC): Sob. It came. It saw. It sadly didn't conquer. What it did do was bring a whimsical fairy story to life in a beautifully colourful and vivid way. Not only was the entire cast top notch, but the story telling whisked you away from the worries of life on a weekly basis (at least til ABC yanked it and the poor americans are still waiting for the final 3 eps that the UK aired in April). Seeing Ned and Charlotte find inventive ways to touch, smooch and hold each other was a delight. Hated the bodged together ending, would have preferred an open ended cliffhanger over that! Still, any show that has all of the above, plus a fascination with plurals (Darling Mermaid Darlings, C'ouer de C'oeurs, Boutique Travel Boutique) and Kristin singing Eternal Flame is a-ok with me. Am I mad at ABC for cancelling it - not really, i'm just pleased they allowed 22 episodes of quirky goodness into my life! Now bring on the zombie filled comics :)
Honourable mentions: Desperate Housewives; Dexter; Kyle XY; Supernatural; Smallville

What are your thoughts?!