"Attack of the Show," "Supernatural," "Doctor Who," "Weeds" and More: The Top Ten List You Won’t See Anywhere Else
By Ed Martin TV / Video Download Archives
In advance of my column naming the Ten Best Television Programs of 2008, here are ten shows that likely won’t land on many (if any) Top 10 lists but are nevertheless deserving of special recognition.
Attack of the Show(G4)
It’s 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 G4’s 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. It’s the coolest show on any screen. In the capable hands of executive producer Gavin Purcell, this simple, straightforward, no-budget wonder is consistently fun to watch regardless of the subject matter at hand. And let’s hear it for Show’s irresistible co-hosts Olivia Munn and Kevin Pereira. She’s the sexiest babe on television and he’s like a younger and funnier Ryan Seacrest. If you won’t take my word for it, consider this: When Show was telecast live last July from G4’s booth at Comic-Con, 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.
Supernatural(The CW)
Better than ever in Season 4, The CW’s 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 aren’t 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 demon-hunter Dean Winchester, broke down while describing in dark detail to his brother Sam what he went through during his recent four-month exile in hell, which was actually 40 years in hell-time. Given the estimable competition he faces in this second Golden Age of Television Drama, Ackles doesn’t have a chance in, well, hell, of such industry recognition. No worries, Jared. You’re pretty damn terrific, too.
American Idol(Fox)andDancing with the Stars (ABC)
Fox’s long-running juggernaut just wasn’t 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 fan-girls 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 didn’t help matters, choosing a particularly bland batch of semi-finalists in whom viewers had trouble becoming invested, while host Ryan Seacrest’s 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. Don’t eff it up.) Meanwhile, television’s other top live entertainment franchise, ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, delivered its best season ever, thanks to the perfectly thoughtful casting of Cloris Leachman (the show’s 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 all-consuming that the energy goes right out of television after their season finales. Who says broadcast has lost its power?
Weeds(Showtime)
In 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 couldn’t get enough of it. Meanwhile, and with much less fanfare, Weeds creator Jenji Kohan revitalized her show’s 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 Decision-Making Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise 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. Don’t even try to categorize it; you’ll only harsh your buzz.
The Soup(E!)
E!’s The Soup is still TV’s 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 week’s 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, Lifetime’s 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 attention.
General Hospital: Night Shift(SOAPnet)
Almost every soap opera became hopelessly unwatchable this year, each one the victim of writers and executives who seem not to understand the genre’s format or its audience. Just when it seemed that all was lost, however, the General Hospital spin-off Night Shift rose from the collective ashes of daytime drama as a 14-episode, late-night 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, character-driven 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 Shift’s 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 want.
Doctor Who(Sci Fi Channel/BBC America)
Russell T. Davies, the writer and producer who is the master creative force behind this current incarnation of Doctor Who and its sizzling spin-off Torchwood, is a frakkin’ genius. In more than 40 years of television watching I have never seen anything like Who’s three-part Season 4 finale, which included (or referred to) virtually every significant character and every powerful plot point from the 45-year 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 spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures. (Even K-9 was on hand!) Most television programs can’t run for five seasons without jumping the shark or at least smelling like chum. Who puts them all to shame.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia(FX)
Either 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 low-budget FX comedy It’s 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 underrated.
Jimmy Kimmel Live(ABC)
With all the attention lavished late in the year on those Saturday Night Live sketches featuring Tina Fey’s sterling impersonation of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, it was easy to forget that 2008 started off with another late-night comedy sensation: The I’m F*cking Matt Damon and I’m F*cking Ben Affleck videos on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Fey’s sketches were priceless pop-culture gems, but they didn’t super-charge SNL the way the wicked awesome F*cking 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 Leno-Kimmel 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.
Ed Martin
Ed Martin is the chief television and content critic for MediaVillage. He has written about television and internet programming for several Myers publications since 2000, including The Myers Report, The Myers Programming Report, MediaBizBloggers a…
