Coming up with a list of my favorite TV shows for a calendar year is always difficult as the majority of series’ start their season in the fall and end the following spring. Making things more difficult is the growing number of quality shows on cable. Still, I managed to come up with a list of my 10 12 favorite TV shows for 2007.
Note: This list was originally supposed to be capped at 10 but then I realized that I completely forgot about two shows that had no business being off this list. I didn’t want to drop two shows off my already completed list so, since it’s my list, I’ve expanded it to 12.
12. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
How could a show with the megastar power of Matthew Perry, Bradley Whitford, Amanda Peet, et al. not make it past its first season? The answer, simply enough, was unevenness as the show could never sustain the high level of quality it established in the pilot - remember, the pilot should be the worst episode you ever put out. Still, when Aaron Sorkin decided not to be too heavy-handed in his politics, there were moments of brilliance to be found, especially when he focused on the process of making television. If it had just been more Sports Night than it was The West Wing, it could have been an entirely different show, one that might not have turned off the casual viewer.
11. The O.C.
After a disastrous third season that gave Fox pause as to whether they would even grant The O.C. a fourth season, the show rebounded in its final season to give fans a show reminiscent of those halcyon first season offerings. The season started out slowly as it had to deal with the aftermath of Marissa’s death but once that was taken care of, the show’s sense of whimsy returned, something that had been sorely missing in the previous season. Credit has to be given to Fox as their early decision, halfway through the season, to end the show allowed Josh Schwartz and company the time to properly end the series.
10. Burn Notice
The best decision the crew behind Burn Notice could have made was the decision to film the show in Miami. I’m sure southern California would have been a suitable substitute but there’s a certain seediness about Miami that makes it unique when put on film. After toiling on cancelled shows and bit parts in film, Jeffrey Donovan finally has a breakthrough performance on this show as Michael Westen. The second-best decision made when crafting this show has to be the casting of Bruce Campbell as the sidekick as he generally provides an excellent comic foil for Donovan.
9. House
With 2007 beginning with the conclusion of the long, drawn out Michael Tritter story arc, House returned to the kind of episodes that made the show great - weird, hard-to-solve medical mysteries with just enough personal storyline to create a loose continuing story arc. Then the show decided to shake things up by separating House from the rest of his team and then shoving a Survivor-style competition to form his new team. Not to say that the competition arc wasn’t fun to watch unfold, it just seemed as though it was filler to ultimately bring the original team back together sometime in the latter stages of the fourth season. With the writers’ strike still in full swing as I write this, maybe the new team will have a chance to stick around. I actually like the idea of a new team where House is in charge but with Foreman as a clearly-defined second-in-command, plus three rookies - I’d just hate to see this positive be negated by rushing to put the old team back in place.
8. The Closer
In its third season, The Closer continued to be best crime drama on television. With Brenda and her team back together after being suspended as a result of the second season finale, the focus shifted from building squad unity to Brenda’s personal issues, with regards to her heath and her relationship with Fritz. I thought that the medical issue was pointless but it did serve as a catalyst to strengthening her relationship with Fritz, resulting in the two being engaged. Provenza and Flynn continue to serve as the spiritual successor to Lennie Briscoe’s dry, wisecracking cop archetype.
7. Chuck
Chuck is one of two new shows of the 2007-08 season to make it onto this list. While that speaks more to the general quality of this season’s class of new shows, its fairly high placement on the list is a testament to the building quality of this show. The pilot episode hinted at a lot of potential and subsequent episodes has built on that potential to create a deep show with fleshed-out characters. As much fun as the spy caper of the week can be, they generally pale in comparison to the antics at the Buy More. I’m looking forward very much to what Josh Schwartz has in store for Chuck in 2008.
6. Dirty Sexy Money
Dirty Sexy Money, the other freshman offering to make the list, is a well-crafted primetime soap and it’s unapologetic about it, choosing to embrace all the standards and conventions normally associated with the genre. What separates this from standard fluff is the amazing work turned in, episode after episode, by Peter Krause and Donald Sutherland. As the Darling patriarch, Sutherland infuses his role with a lot of bluster and bombast but adds necessary vulnerability to give his character the necessary heart to make him three-dimensional. Krause continues to be one of the finest TV actors of his generation as he can express more with slightly nuanced facial expressions than most thespians with words. The only drawback to this show was teasing me with a pilot shot in NYC and then choosing to shoot the series in LA - you can’t fake NYC!
5. Psych
Coming out strong with the second half of its first season in January, Psych continued to churn out episode after episode of top-notch hour-long comedy. James Roday and Dulé Hill have undeniable chemistry as life-long pals who go into business together, running a fake psychic detective agency. As a detective show, Psych doesn’t really add much to the genre but the creative staff knows that viewers don’t tune into the show for that aspect. No, what keeps bringing viewers back are smart, witty writing, 80s callbacks, and solid work from a great cast.
4. Veronica Mars
Veronica Mars is the show I was most devastated to hear of its cancellation this past May. Sure, it’d never been a ratings draw but, being on the CW where ratings don’t really happen, you’d think even middling ratings would be enough for another season. While that wasn’t the case, kudos to creator Rob Thomas for consistently putting out a quality show. The decision to split the season into three arcs with a mystery each and then changing the third arc to stand-alone stories was a smart one as the full-season arc only worked the first time when the mystery was so personal. Though the show didn’t have a real series finale, it was fitting that the show ended with Keith Mars risking all to protect his daughter, showing once again that, at its core, the show was about a girl and her father.
3. How I Met Your Mother
That this show continues to fly below the radar is beyond me. On its face, How I Met Your Mother, is a fairly conventional sitcom, albeit a smartly written one. Sure, there’s a gimmick in the show’s concept as the story is told from a future voice but it rarely hampers the show - it actually enhances the show since it allows the writers to play fast and loose with conventional storytelling. It’s an ensemble show in all respects but praise must be bestowed upon Neil Patrick Harris for his bombastic portrayal of Barney. Here’s hoping CBS doesn’t cancel the show before we find out who the mother is.
2. Friday Night Lights
Did Friday Night Lights peak with its first-season finale? Perhaps, but I would dare to say that the bar was set so high with that episode and the episodes leading to it that the show may never reach such lofty heights ever again. As it was filmed back in March, well in advance of when most shows film their finales and well before the May upfronts, you have to believe that they filmed the season finale thinking it may serve as the series finale. While the second season has started out slowly, it’s picked up in recent weeks and it shows signs of being another quality season, even if it’s not as good as the first.
1. 30 Rock
30 Rock is, bar none, the funniest show on television today. Obviously, Emmy voters are in agreement as they bestowed a Best Comedy award upon the show, after a positively brilliant first season. That Alec Baldwin didn’t win a Best Actor Emmy is ludicrous as he steals just about every scene he’s in. In it’s second season, Tina Fey and crew show no signs of living off their Emmy success, continuing to punch up each episode with joke after joke. Seriously, if you’re not watching this show, why aren’t you?
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