TV's Top 10 of 2008

Without too much thought put into it, here's my Top 10 list of TV shows from 2008.

AMERICAN IDOL - Love it. Not as good as in years past, but improvements are coming in 2009.

LOST - Now that the producers know when the series will end, the filler episodes are gone and this show is flying at warp speed.

BREAKING BAD - Love Bryan Cranston. Love him. He is a fearless actor - just look at the risks he took during the run of MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE. Aaron Paul's performance as Jesse is equal to Cranston's - which is saying something.

MAD MEN - Love the languid, yet taught pace, the attention to detail. This year it became clear that the nuclear family the advertising geniuses are pushing on the public is even more foreign to them than it is to us. You know you're a hot property when THE SIMPSONS send up your show intro.


PUSHING DAISIES - The abbreviated first season was far superior to the second. Brilliant art direction and a self-contained universe free of modern technology made this an instant favorite. As the show progressed, that self-contained universe began to fray a bit at the edges and the second season saw a darker, less whimsical texture but this one will be missed. Three episodes remain unaired, then it's done.

HOUSE - Same story week in and week out - but I don't care.

LATE LATE SHOW WITH CRAIG FERGUSON - His monologues are a different creature from anything else on TV. Craig isn't afraid to talk about his demons or his pride in being a naturalized American citizen. His show that followed the passing of his mother was heart-breaking, personal and brave. He will no doubt benefit from the 2009 late night re-rack over at NBC.

SUPERNATURAL - You can tell a lot of X-FILES veterans are involved in this show (Kim Manners rocks!). It has the same gritty, creepy flavor that helped every episode of THE X-FILES look like a mini-movie. The Winchester brothers have never been better.

SMALLVILLE - What? Really? Smallville? Yep. This show is so much better than it was three years ago. As someone who someday hopes to create a TV series it pains me to say that this show has vastly improved with the departure of its original show runners. Maybe it's luck, but their departure, along with the loss of Lex Luthor and Lana Lang and Clark's relocation to metropolis have all combined to make this show more grown up, much more palatable and better written.

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE - This is THE dance competition to watch. Great summer programming, filled with folks who have danced all their lives. It's amazing stuff.

What's on your list? (There are very few wrong answers.) Show you list, defend your choices!

Random Thoughts 080707

Good lord, it's almost been a month since my last post!

It's been a bit busy, you see.

Gretel's home from college, there's the new job, a new car and a new play. Not enough spare time to mow the yard, let alone post to a blog no one reads.

Know this: I'm lovin' another season of HELL'S KITCHEN. Gretel & I are eating up SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE - the level of the competition is miles above the previous seasons, And there's too much good stuff on cable to keep up.

The TiVo's filling up with MAD MEN, CLOSER, DAMAGES and SAVING GRACE - and reruns of SUPERNATURAL, which got lost last fall when it was head to head with THE O.C., but is worthy of consideration for a Season Pass this fall.

Speaking of this fall, BONES is on the move to Tuesdays, where it will now team up with HOUSE for a fun night of FOX style yumminess. NEW AMSTERDAM has been pushed back to January - all on the strength of this summer's DON'T FORGET THE LYRICS which will be getting a fall timeslot on Thursday nights (allowing me to watch SUPERNATURAL - see how it all comes together?)

CBS' ANGEL knockoff IMMORTAL is now on its third show runner, after major recasting by the second showrunner. Not a good sign. No Season Pass for you!

If you think politics is crazy where you live, you can't imagine the insanity of living in or near Iowa as the straw poll awaits. Political commercials out the ying yang. which makes advertising rates for non-profits who really need air time rather pricey.

Haven't made it to see that French rat movie, or the Simpsons flick, or pretty much anything since PIRATES came out. Seems that's about when the new job, the returning daughter and the new play all collided.

Check out the moderately redesigned SCCT website - (meaning slightly larger fonts, since I finally had to get reading glasses).

Later.

Random Thoughts 050807

There may be SPOILERS ahead. Proceed with caution if you're not completely caught on your good TV watchin'.

May sweeps is upon us, but for myself, not nearly like it used to be.

GILMORE GIRLS is calling it a wrap in two weeks. Hope they go off into the sunset properly. This season seemed like so much filler, delaying the happy ending fans want by an entire calendar year for no other purpose than to waste TiVo space.

I'm enjoying THE RICHES. It's such a unique setting and I believe I would watch Eddie Izzard in just about anything (except for MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND - cue Meatloaf "I can't do that!")

If I haven't mentioned it before, I recommend By Ken Levine - he wrote for M*A*S*H, CHEERS and FRASIER among others. He posts more regularly than I do - and he's a lot funnier. Every now and then he'll discuss some behind the scenes stuff from FRASIER or CHEERS - and sometimes he just vents about AMERICAN IDOL - just like 50% of all bloggers known to mankind.

I was stunned by what happened on tonight's 24. It sucked the life out of the last 15 minutes of the episode - literally. I was hoping to a lot more of Milo down the road.

I think maybe THE SIMPSONS is getting better lately. I caught Mrs. Kimosabe chuckling Sunday.

The producers of LOST have managed to convince Disney it's best to have a planned ending to the series, rather than go one season too long. Remember the final season of THE X-FILES? Not gonna happen to LOST. Three more semi-seasons, consisting of 16 episodes each. Expect LOST to return in Feb '08 and run without repeats through May.

Gotta admit - I got a bit excited seeing the SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE promo Sunday night. Made me miss Gretel a bit. Wave, Gretel!

Holy cow - I COMPLETELY forgot to go see SPIDER-MAN 3 this week. Apparently, I was responsible for the single unsold seat in America this weekend. $151 million. And it's still in the $100 million in red.

All I need is maybe $10,000 to shoot my movie. You know, if everyone who reads this blog contributed just $1, I'd only have to come up with $9,995 on my own....

Odds are, if you're reading this, you've read FIRST AVAILABLE - but just in case you're an agent looking to hire a brilliant new writer - but are willing to settle for me, here's a link to the script.

Gotta run - Hollywood calling now! Nope, just a telemarketer. Stupid caller ID. It never tells me when Hollywood calls...they are going to call - right?

Hello?

Hello?