Let's wrap it up!

Well, Freaks, it's almost time to break out your party hats and noisemakers for the end of another year, can you believe it? And what would the turning of the calendar be without a little snarky reflection on the year that was?


Best and Worst of 2011 TV

Best

Sitcom Glory

Sitcoms are my favorite. Really. I would prefer a good sitcom over a great drama, no matter how exciting or well done it is.

Screw you and your judgement, I just want to laugh.

So, thanks, TV, for giving me such awesomeness as Modern Family, Community, Happy Endings, Parks and Recreation, Cougar Town, 30 Rock, New Girl, Raising Hope, Up All Night, Suburgatory, and How I Met Your Mother. Really.

We won't talk about this.

Chuck

Thanks, NBC, for giving one of my favorite shows a chance to wrap everything up before you kick it off the air. I really am going to miss this sweet, funny show, and getting to watch the adorable Zach Levi every week, but it's really nice to know I'll get to have a happy ending. And really, it's not like you didn't have room on the schedule....

Yep,

there's

room!

Justified

Is the best show on TV. Plus, and I mean this as a sincere and dedicated TV blogger, Timothy Olyphant is hot.

Yep.

Game of Thrones

An ambitious, ballsy epic for even the legendarily spend-happy HBO, Game could have been a complete disaster. It's a complicated book series with heavy mythology and a million characters, and it would have been really easy to screw it up. Luckily, they didn't, and instead made a season-long fantasy adventure movie, full of great acting and even more great reasons to have an HDTV.

Plus, how cute are baby dragons?

Terry O'Quinn

This is random, but I really love Terry O'Quinn, and I'm really glad they decided to keep him around on Hawaii Five-0. The show needed his gravitas, his badassery, and his twinkly-eyed grin to make it one of the most enjoyable procedurals on TV.

Hello, I'll try not to kill you in a submarine this time.

Castle

It's not the most enjoyable, however; that award goes to the always-entertaining Castle, who makes me happy by bringing Nathan Fillion into my living room every week.

He rollerbladed into my heart. 

The Vampire Diaries

The most fun crazy drama on TV, these vamps keep me entertained by keeping the action fast-paced and surprising. The show is even more fun now that Paul Wesley gets to have as much fun playing baddie Stefan as Ian Somerhalder has been with Damon, and I'm looking forward to the show's return in January.

Just in time for the Plantation Fish Fry and Limbo Contest! 

USA Shows

Psych is the only show on TV I watch live. I like it so much, I'll sit through commericals. The network just makes consistently fun, flashy, enjoyable shows with characters we feel like we know. Also...

TV Freak's most used picture of the year! 

Way to Bring it, Cable!

Where the networks have mostly fallen short, cable and pay-cable stations have stepped up in a big way, producing not only several of the shows I've already mentioned, but fantastic fare like Sons of Anarchy, Breaking Bad, Boss, Boardwalk Empire, The Walking Dead, Mad Men, Homeland, Shameless, The Big C, and Dexter.

TBS, however, needs to go back to reruns. 

Joe Manganiello

Worst

Glee

Glee lost it this year for me. While there have still been a few enjoyable moments and I adore Darren Criss, I'm really, really sick of the same plot lines, the shoehorned-in songs, and Lea Michelle's face.

That's the one, stop doing that. 

Pan Am

This was the biggest disappointment of the fall season for me. With West Wing pedigree, good acting, and a big flashy budget, this retro show should have been one of my favorite new shows this year. While I liked it perfectly fine, it never became the show I was hoping it would, and I won't be sorry when it disappears from the schedule.

I think I'll miss you most of all, Anime Ricci!

Charlie's Angels

Terrible. Just really, really bad.

Somebody deserves a junk punch. 

TV Land

Getting into the cable original programming game was clearly smart for TV Land, since their new sitcoms have done well, but god, I hate them for it. They're taking actors I like and putting them in pedestrian sitcom crap, and people seem to think it's fantastic. What's wrong with those people? Hot in Cleveland is terrible, and don't get me wrong, I heart Betty White, but she took all kinds of awards away from people who actually deserved them by playing....Betty White.

Betty White stole my nomination!

The He-Man-Woman-Haters-Sitcom-Club

While I'm on horrible sitcoms, let me momentarily rail against the crop of "hilarious" shows with plot lines that revolve around the most overused of stand up cliches, "Men and Women are different!" Look, Tim Allen, maybe it was funny fifteen years ago, but it's not now. We're over it. We've moved on to bigger, better, smarter comedy. Please come along for the ride.

Spoiler alert! This will make the 2012  list. 

Bones

It happened so fast, Freaks. It's impressive, almost, that a show could, in the blink of an eye, go from being one of my absolute favorites (like, of TV ever) to just...a nice procedural. Fine, I'll watch it, and I do, but I don't care anymore. There's nothing that pisses me off more as a TV viewer than having my intelligence insulted. You know what, writers, I've watched this show for years. Yes, I love the will-they-won't-they between Booth and Bones, but for you to think that you can somehow skip the "danger zone" of getting them together by completely bypassing it and jumping straight into having a baby makes me insane. How is that any better? Now I just feel like I missed a season, and I'm a hell of a lot more likely to stop watching because I feel like I got gypped.

You stole my happy, you bastard. 

They Cancelled Mr. Sunshine

I know I was the only one watching, but I really liked this show. And I love Alison Janney and Matthew Perry, and I am really sad I don't get to watch them every week.

I miss you, Chandler. 

No Emmy for Steve Carell

Wrong. It's just wrong that he never got an Emmy for playing Michael Scott. I maintain they should have given it to him just for being able to read the scrip for "Scott's Tots" without his brain exploding.

If only frat boys gave out Emmys! 

NBC

I'm going to keep picking on you, NBC, until you get your act together. In this year, you have given us Outsourced, The Paul Reiser Show, Prime Suspect, Free Agents, The Playboy Club, Perfect Couples, and Whitney. Shame on you. Seriously, what's going on at the peacock? Of all the new stuff you've done in the last year, only Up All Night is any good, and you would have had to really tried to screw that up with the excellent cast. Learn who you are, NBC, and stop trying so hard. And while we're at it...

More of this!!!

Whitney Cummings

Stop letting this woman make TV. I'm talking to you too, CBS. Stop it, all of you.

No more. 

Happy New Year, Freaks! If you need help with a resolution, might I suggest Liking the TV Freak on Facebook and following me on Twitter (@theTVFreak)? 

Snap Judgment: Golden Globe Edition

OK, Freaks, I'm gonna make this short and sweet, because I have, like, this whole job thing I have to do, but I didn't want to leave you without the awards show snark I know you are eagerly anticipating.

You're welcome.

So the Golden Globe nominations came out today, (you can find the full list here) and they're....

Weird.

It's the foreign press, you know, so the noms are always a little different than what American boards like the Oscars and the Emmys do, but really, I kinda like that. The Globes are always a little more cable-skewed for TV than the Emmys, and while I certainly think there are a few misses, I'm much less pissed about this than I was about the Emmy nods. That being said....


Seriously, who did FX piss off?

No Justified. No Sons of Anarchy. No love for any of it's quirky, off-beat comedies. American Horror Story got a little bit of recognition, in the form of a Best Drama nod and Jessica Lange for supporting actress, but really that just makes it sadder. Horror has made a big splash of late, but it's not that great of a show, and it's Ryan Murphy, so it will be horrible within the next season and a half. Plus, I know Jessica Lange used to be a movie star or whatever, but she is, um... not actually a good actress. Sorry, universe. You may smite me down at any time.


See, somebody is watching Boss!

Apparently overseas, they are paying attention to Kelsey Grammer's brilliant performance as the twisted Tom Kane on the massively-underwatched Boss. This will go a long way to sustaining the show, I think. Starz has already committed to two seasons of this politico drama, so expect ratings to pick up next year when people can catch up on the first season on DVD. Because, seriously, who has Starz?


Stop nominating scenery chewers!

I've already railed on Jessica Lange, so I'll leave her alone, but allow me to point out a few more actors who were nominated for the sheer force of their intense gazing and random inappropriate yelling: Jeremy Irons for The Borgias and Callie Thorne for Necessary Roughness. Do you realize that Callie Thorne was nominated over Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones), Connie Britton, Elizabeth Moss, and freaking Katey Sagal?

Um, no.

Wrong.


Stupid comedy nominations never get it right.

David Duchovny over Joel McHale? Really?

Nothing for Community at all? Or Cougar Town? Or Happy Endings? Or Raising Hope?

No love for the men on Parks and Recreation? No Best Comedy nomination for that show, which I maintain is the best comedy on television, is really just completely insane. I mean, seriously, you nominated Glee. Are you distracted enough by all the mediocre singing and dancing you can ignore the hackneyed storylines and pedantic acting? Oh, I see, you were driven insane by Matthew Morrison's tiny little ukulele and the gross lack of judgement that led to his solo album.

No nomination for Steve Carell?

Really?

What is wrong with you, Globes? Are you completely insane? No, you're right, let's nominate the outstanding acting work of Thomas freaking Jane, who has about as much facial expression as Kristen Stewart and less charisma, but ignore the final performance of a brilliant actor playing one of the most seminal comedy characters on television. No, you're right, that makes perfect sense.

Morons.

OK, so maybe I'm a little pissed.








If you are too, yell about it in the comments! And be sure to Like me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter (@theTVFreak).

Over It

Hey, Freaks. Feel like doing some bitching?

Good, me too.


Shut up, Glee.

Really, you couldn't do the "Santana's a lesbian!" episode without "I Kissed a Girl"? That song is about being a drunken bar slut, not an out and proud lesbian. I'm not knocking bar sluts, I'm just saying it's a different thing.

And while we're at it, Cory Monteith's horrible, horrible "earnest" face while doing the excruciating "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" should never be allowed on my television again. This show is just so inconsistent. One second we're doing the exact same plotline that we started three years ago (Still haven't dealt with being losers, people? Really?) and the next second they've swept through something that could have been an actually interesting plot point (So glad you managed to clear up Quinn's devastating emotional problems with one pep talk, Puck!). I'm delighted Rachel got suspended. Now get rid of Finn, Quinn, Mr. Schuester, Emma, Sue Sylvester, and Kurt (who I love, but never gets anything new anymore).

Well, he did get that new...sweater? Shawl? Shaweater?

Bye, Pan Am!

I tried, y'all. I really, really did. If you read this blog regularly, you know that I have talked this show up a lot, because I genuinely enjoyed it, and I thought it really had the potential to get better.

Yeah, it didn't.

Plus, it is really, really getting cancelled. So off the DVR it goes, to make way for other things that have better lived up to their potential. (Yeah, that's basically just New Girl, Up All Night, and Revenge.)

No, it's not you. You are a torture chamber of cliche.

Speed it up, Ringer.

Ringer has never been a show I can't wait to watch, but I have enjoyed it pretty consistently, and it does manage to surprise me on occasion. I still think the problem it's having holding my attention is that it feels slow. I want this show to feel more like The Vampire Diaries, where the main arc turns over three or four times in a season. The closest they got was when they killed (maybe) the best friend, but I feel like I've just spent the entire run of the show thinking that it should be a much more wild, crazy, fun ride.

You can tell, because the stunt casting has begun. Side note- Amber Benson looks hot!

Stay put, Grimm.

I'm not really watching Grimm, because...well...honestly, I just don't care. It's a good show, I like the fairy tale angle, the dude is cute, it's got a little zippy humor; I should care. I don't. But a fair number of people are watching the show on Friday nights (more than lead-in Chuck, which somehow surprised the network with low ratings when they'd already announced it was the end of the show). I know you are struggling, NBC, but moving this show to another night, especially the talked about Thursdays is not going to work. Just leave it alone. You got yourself in this mess NBC, don't punish decent shows trying to get out of it. (Ahem, Community, ahem.)

At least you know that rewarding awful shows is not helpful...Oh, no you don't.

Screw you, Bones.

My DVR has not been recording Bones.

I have not had a panic attack about this.

In fact, it's been perfectly fine. I've caught up on the internet at some point in the next week, but still. Last year, Bones was number one on the DVR list, the only show it was programmed to record at all costs.

Hey, remember when I cared enough to hate you? Good times.

This year? Eh, not so much.

Look, I watched and liked last week's episode, it was cute and funny in several places. But Bones is broken for me. When I watch, it just doesn't feel like the same show to me. Or it's the same show, but I missed a whole season or something. It's just not the same, and that makes me sad. Who knows, maybe it will get better, and I haven't spent this much time invested to give up now, so we'll see if tonight's much-touted "emotional" episode can bring me back into the fold.

Right now, I'm just over it.