"Attack of the Show," "Supernatural," "Doctor Who," "Weeds" and More: The Top Ten List You Won’t See Anywhere Else

amp160In advance of my column naming the Ten Best Television Programs of 2008 here are ten shows that likely wonamp8217t land on many if any Top 10 lists but are nevertheless deserving of special recognitionamp160Attack of the Show G4Itamp8217s my feeling that television would not be losing ground to the Internet and other media if more networks offered live programming on the order of G4amp8217s Attack of the Show an essential daily talk and comedy series that targets all things important in the increasingly intertwined worlds of digital technology and entertainment Itamp8217s the coolest show on any screen In the capable hands of executive producer Gavin Purcell this simple straightforward nobudget wonder is consistently fun to watch regardless of the subject matter at hand And letamp8217s hear it for Showamp8217s irresistible cohosts Olivia Munn and Kevin Pereira Sheamp8217s the sexiest babe on television and heamp8217s like a younger and funnier Ryan Seacrest If you wonamp8217t take my word for it consider this When Show was telecast live last July from G4amp8217s booth at ComicCon the thousands of fans that crowded around every day were just as excited to be near Olivia and Kevin as they were any of the celebrities who stopped by to promote their movies TV shows or other projects amp160Supernatural The CWBetter than ever in Season 4 The CWamp8217s Supernatural is a sterling example of a dramatic series that knows how to continuously expand its underlying mythology without cannibalizing itself or alienating its fans Series stars Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki arenamp8217t just TV pretty boys they are two of the finest actors working in the medium In fact Ackles deserves an Emmy nod for the recent scene in which his character tough guy demonhunter Dean Winchester broke down while describing in dark detail to his brother Sam what he went through during his recent fourmonth exile in hell which was actually 40 years in helltime Given the estimable competition he faces in this second Golden Age of Television Drama Ackles doesnamp8217t have a chance in well hell of such industry recognition No worries Jared Youamp8217re pretty damn terrific tooamp160American Idol Fox and Dancing with the Stars ABCFoxamp8217s longrunning juggernaut just wasnamp8217t itself this year For reasons known only to them its producers decided to do all they could to distance the home audience from the talent building a gargantuan new stage cramming dozens of fangirls in front of it every week and instructing them to wave their hands during every song a hugely irritating distraction for viewers and bringing in too many mentors who are popular with people much older than the average Idol enthusiast Judges Simon Cowell Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson didnamp8217t help matters choosing a particularly bland batch of semifinalists in whom viewers had trouble becoming invested while host Ryan Seacrestamp8217s signature bitchy banter with Cowell stopped being mildly amusing and was instead uncomfortably testy Despite all that damage though ferociously talented finalists David Cook and David Archuletta kept the Idol love alive as the season progressed The climactic Battle of the Davids was one of the television highlights of the year and vintage Idol at its best Memo to Fox This show has still got it Donamp8217t eff it up Meanwhile televisionamp8217s other top live entertainment franchise ABCamp8217s Dancing with the Stars delivered its best season ever thanks to the perfectly thoughtful casting of Cloris Leachman the showamp8217s oldest contestant ever and instantly one of its most popular and Cody Linley the youngest contestant ever and one who attracted a legion of new young fans to the show Idol and Dancing are so allconsuming that the energy goes right out of television after their season finales Who says broadcast has lost its poweramp160amp160amp160 amp160Weeds ShowtimeIn a creative move that seemed both inspired and a bit lazy series creator Marc Cherry skillfully revitalized Desperate Housewives by moving its tiring narrative forward five years between Seasons 4 and 5 Housewives came excitingly back to life and the media couldnamp8217t get enough of it Meanwhile and with much less fanfare Weeds creator Jenji Kohan revitalized her showamp8217s tiring narrative with similarly successful results But Kohan did it the hard way changing the locale of her show from a Los Angeles suburb to a tiny town below San Diego and moving most of the main characters on her colorful canvas to a new setting in wholly believable and organic ways tweaking every relationship in the process Kohan also upped the stakes elevating Queen of Bad DecisionMaking Nancy Botwin MaryLouise Parker the Ultimate Desperate Housewife from suburban pot dealer to international drug smuggler The wonderfully wacked Weeds is too dark and twisty to be classified as a comedy and too bright and breezy to be labeled a drama Donamp8217t even try to categorize it youamp8217ll only harsh your buzzamp160The Soup EEamp8217s The Soup is still TVamp8217s funniest show Week after week host Joel McHale and his tireless producers Edward Boyd and K P Anderson continue to turn out their brutally funny review of the previous weekamp8217s highs and lows in popular culture with unforgiving attention paid to the best and worst emphasis on the latter of reality television even the cruddiest stuff on E This fall Lifetimeamp8217s bizarre Project Runway clone Blush has been a particularly tasty target I would have missed the ongoing spectacle that is the entity known as Maxi had McHale and Co not brought this show to my attentionamp160General Hospital Night Shift SOAPnetAlmost every soap opera became hopelessly unwatchable this year each one the victim of writers and executives who seem not to understand the genreamp8217s format or its audience Just when it seemed that all was lost however the General Hospital spinoff Night Shift rose from the collective ashes of daytime drama as a 14episode latenight summer soap that did everything right A handful of current General Hospital cast members anchored the show others were featured in brief guest turns and several GH veterans from decades gone by including two not seen since 1993 were featured in emotionally satisfying characterdriven storylines the likes of which once powered GH to greatness Meanwhile a host of talented unknown young actors playing young doctors and interns thrillingly held their own against these seasoned pros Night Shiftamp8217s first season was an unmitigated disaster on every level which only added to the surprising fun of its sophomore success Clearly NS head writer Sri Rao and executive producer Lisa De Cazotte understand what soap fans wantamp160Doctor Who Sci Fi ChannelBBC AmericaRussell T Davies the writer and producer who is the master creative force behind this current incarnation of Doctor Who and its sizzling spinoff Torchwood is a frakkinamp8217 genius In more than 40 years of television watching I have never seen anything like Whoamp8217s threepart Season 4 finale which included or referred to virtually every significant character and every powerful plot point from the 45year history of this legendary British franchise which first began in 1963 on November 23 the day President John F Kennedy was assassinated The season finale also complimented and played off of the narratives in Torchwood and the other current Who spinoff The Sarah Jane Adventures Even K9 was on hand Most television programs canamp8217t run for five seasons without jumping the shark or at least smelling like chum Who puts them all to shameamp160Itamp8217s Always Sunny in Philadelphia FXEither series stars writers and producers Rob McElhenney Charlie Day and Glenn Howerton had after three seasons become one of the most seasoned creative teams working in television or I was desperate for a guilty pleasure diversion from the seemingly insurmountable problems facing our country and the world but for whatever reason Season 4 of their scabrous lowbudget FX comedy Itamp8217s Always Sunny in Philadelphia this fall became my television comfort food of choice As our economy and health care systems crumbled and our two wars continued seemingly without end this talented trio proved that delirious bad taste can be vastly underratedamp160Jimmy Kimmel Live ABCWith all the attention lavished late in the year on those Saturday Night Live sketches featuring Tina Feyamp8217s sterling impersonation of Alaska Gov Sarah Palin it was easy to forget that 2008 started off with another latenight comedy sensation The Iamp8217m Fcking Matt Damon and Iamp8217m Fcking Ben Affleck videos on Jimmy Kimmel Live Feyamp8217s sketches were priceless popculture gems but they didnamp8217t supercharge SNL the way the wicked awesome Fcking videos did JKL Kimmel had a great year and I hated the thought that his reward for keeping ABC alive in his daypart would be a bump to an even later hour to make room for Jay Leno That said the LenoKimmel combo sounded unbeatable to me Now that he will be facing a tough new competitor in his usual time period I expect even greater things from Kimmel in 2009

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"Attack of the Show," "Supernatural," "Doctor Who," "Weeds" and More: The Top Ten List You Won’t See Anywhere Else

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