"Dexter," "Lost," "Battlestar Galactica," "Mad Men" and More: The Ten Best TV Shows of 2009 - Ed Martin - MediaBizBloggers

Following last week39s Alternative Ten Best of 2009 list here are my choices for the Official Ten Best television programs of the yearMad Men AMC amp8211 Series creator and executive producer Matthew Weiner continued to earn his cred as the most gifted creator of scripted television working today by boldly ripping apart the extraordinary narrative canvas he so meticulously crafted during Mad Menamp8217s first two seasons plunging most of his characters into unexpected personal and professional chaos especially following the assassination of President John F Kennedy As this standout season concluded there were emotional upheavals at every turn some of them loud and destructive others quiet and thoughtprovoking just as there were for all Americans during that tragic time I canamp8217t wait to see what Weiner has in store for everyone as he moves through the tumultuous years that followedamp160Breaking Bad AMC amp8211 This list isnamp8217t necessarily in order though I do think that AMC delivered the two best and most consistently surprising series of the year in Mad Men and Breaking Bad Mad was epic in its reflection of early Sixties political cultural and sexual tumult while Bad was more intimate sometimes painfully so Bad executive producer Vince Gilligan delivered several standout episodes none more extraordinary than Peekaboo a tour de force for young Aaron Paul as dopey drug dealer Jesse who got himself mixed up with a methravaged couple and was unwilling to extract himself from a deadly mess without somehow first saving their little boy from a life in hell Until I saw the Season 4 finale of Dexter last week I had intended to note that Bad had the most shocking cliffhanger ending of the year as the private pressurecooker existence of woeful Walt White the very deserving twotime Emmy winner Bryan Cranston literally exploded in the skies above his community Dexter trumped that but not by muchamp160Dexter Showtime amp8211 Holy shiz The shocking surprise at the end of Season 4 was beyond all fears and expectations but then again John Lithgowamp8217s Emmyworthy guest turn this year as the terrifying Trinity Killer called for something totally shocking at its conclusion and damned if Dexter didnamp8217t deliver This sizzling series about a serial killer of serial killers is going to be something completely different in its fifth yearamp160Modern Family ABC amp8211 ABCamp8217s grandly sophisticated singlecamera documentary style comedy proved to be that rare television creation amp8211 a show that improved week after week on a flawless fantastically entertaining pilot It wouldnamp8217t surprise me to see every adult member of this cast nominated for Emmys in various categories There isnamp8217t much I can say about Modern Family that other critics havenamp8217t been repeating over and over since last summer except this Since the early years of television there have been hundreds or maybe thousands of situation comedies about families but when I watch this one I feel like Iamp8217m enjoying something completely newamp160The Big Bang Theory CBS amp8211 Everyone is talking about the gleeks over on Fox but the geeks on CBS are still the nerds to beat for sidesplitting comedy Significantly Big Bang is served up the oldfashioned threecamera way proving that the oftenbashed format isnamp8217t dead after all Television Critics Association Awardwinner Jim Parsons is a comic supernova as the increasingly highstrung genius Sheldon Cooper but costars Johnny Galecki Simon Helberg Kunal Nayyar and Kaley Cuoco are similarly inspiredamp160Friday Night Lights DirecTVNBC amp8211 Still the most stirring drama on television Friday Night Lights is a quiet powerhouse that pays tribute to and offers an unwavering appreciation of the intimate details of basic human behavior in small town America Case in point The recent episode about the death of young Matt Saracenamp8217s absentee father and the impact it had on him The story went way beyond showing what grief is rather it revealed what grief does The revelation continued in the following episode when Matt Zach Gilford a former highschool quarterback who has been wasting his time working at a pizza parlor since graduation abruptly left town in search of his life leaving his family friends and devastated girlfriend behind Members of the Academy of Television Arts ampamp Sciences should be ashamed of themselves for consistently failing to recognize the brilliance of this seriesamp160Torchwood Children of Earth BBC America amp8211 There were three series this year about shocking events that impacted billions of people ABCamp8217s FlashForward about a bizarre incident that killed 20 million people around the world ABCamp8217s V about the arrival on Earth of seemingly benevolent aliens who are anything but and the BBCamp8217s Torchwood miniseries Children of Earth which was also about malevolent aliens a nasty species that craved human children as their recreational drug of choice Thrilling deeply emotional and at times utterly horrifying especially when dashing hero Captain Jack Harkness was forced to sacrifice his own grandson Children did something the two ABC series have yet to do Create a palpable sense of growing worldwide urgency in the face of an allconsuming crisis The characters in FlashForward and V act as though mass devastation and giant alien spaceships hovering above cities are relatively minor annoyances like blizzards or power failures But throughout Children it really felt as though the entire world was holding its breath while Harkness and his team lost almost everything to save millions of kids from fates worse than deathamp160Battlestar Galactica Syfy Syfyamp8217s already classic space opera came to a deeply satisfying conclusion with its extraordinary balance of intimate emotion and epic adventure intact Indeed its final moments were so sublime in their surprising reflections on all that had come before that I came away wanting to watch the entire series all over again from what would now be an entirely different point of view I sincerely believe that BSGamp8217s unique blend of action emotion insight spirituality and thought leadership will remain as entertaining and thoughtprovoking in the distant future as it has been since the 2003 miniseries that started it all This Peabody Awardwinner is one for the agesamp160Lost ABC amp8211 Itamp8217s a sign of how deeply we have all surrendered to the bizarre magic of this boundary busting show that we chose to stay with it last season when the island literally began bouncing through time adding many queries about the limitations of simple physics to the very long list of questions Lost has generated during its five seasons Still it was impossible to turn away especially after coming so far It would be nice if the final season of Lost returned its focus to powerful explorations about fate faith and humanism rather than renegade science fiction I guess it all depends on Jacob Meanwhile I continue to hope that the primary motivation for the actions of the main characters turns out to be something more than the sorry state of their love lives as suggested in last springamp8217s explosive season finaleamp160Burn Notice USA Network amp8211 If there is a sexier more consistently exciting actionadventure series anywhere on television it has escaped me Jeffrey Donovan and Gabrielle Anwar as the mysteriously terminated or amp8220burnedamp8221 former government agent turned freelance spy Michael Westen and his badass former girlfriend and exIRA operative Fiona Glenanne are the hottest pair on any tube Bruce Campbell as Michaelamp8217s capable buddy Sam and Sharon Gless as his toughtalking mother Madeline provide invaluable comic support With Burn Notice White Collar Psych Monk and In Plain Sight USA Network has winningly redefined the traditional crime caper genre without being overly graphic or exploitative Nobody does it betteramp160Runners Up True Blood HBO Nurse Jackie Showtime Big Love HBO The Closer TNT Damages FX The Good Wife CBS The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency HBO Glee Fox and ABCamp8217s Cougar Town simply for the giddy comic chemistry among cast members Courteney Cox Josh Hopkins Brain Van Holt Ian Gomez Dan Byrd Christa Miller Busy Philipps and Carolyn Hennesy Lastly Iamp8217m adding the terrific JFK 3 Shots that Changed America History to this list because it proved that cable documentaries can offer so much more than talking heads and lowbudget recreations of historic eventsamp160

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"Dexter," "Lost," "Battlestar Galactica," "Mad Men" and More: The Ten Best TV Shows of 2009 - Ed Martin - MediaBizBloggers

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Empowering Women in Media: Insights from Industry Leaders (Video) - By E.B. Moss

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