A Look Back at 2009 (Part 7)

Most critics and bloggers provided their top 10 shows of the decade at the end of 2009 and like them I made my own list, but unlike most critics I didn’t include Mad Men, Deadwood, The Sopranos, The Wire, The Shield, Six Feet Under and Dexter or even Arrested Development. Since I have never watched any of these shows, I couldn’t select them on principle alone.

The shows that I did select were ground-breaking and unique; shows that touched a chord with the viewers, making them stop and really think, that introduced unbelievable situations and memorable characters and even, in some instances, scared the crap out of viewers while thrilling and entertaining the viewers at the same time. Some of them are critical ‘darlings’ while others are simply fan favorites.

Without further adieu, here are my choices for the top 10 shows of the decade, in no particular order:

House – This medical drama debuted on FOX on November 16, 2004, covering the unconventional antics and delving into the mind of medical genius Dr. Gregory House at the fictional Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey. The series has not only been a success with critics but is also a fan favorite. The show has consistently ranked as one of the top ten scripted dramas for nearly its entire run on television.

Veronica Mars – Based on the fictional life of Veronica Mars (the terrific Kristen Bell), a Southern California high-school teen who is wiser-beyond-her-years and moonlights as a private investigator under the tutelage of her detective turned sheriff father (Enrico Colantoni), the series premiered on the now defunct UPN on September 22, 2004 where it aired for two seasons. For its third (and last) season, it was moved to the CW (after the WB and UPN merged) and aired its final episode on May 22, 2007. Veronica would solve a different case in each episode while working to solve a more complex mystery each season. The series was never a ratings success but was a favorite of critics and its avid viewers. Fans of the series, or those who want to learn what all the talk is about, can find all three seasons of the series available on DVD.

Battlestar Galactica – What started as a 2003 mini-series on the then Sci-Fi Channel, chronicling the ragtag lives of the survivors of the Cylon attack against the Twelve Colonies, turned into a 4-season long series that delved into more than just territories in space but those of religion, philosophy, and morality (just to name a few). During the show’s run it also featured several web-only episodes bridging the various seasons together as well as two made-for-TV movies. The storylines were multi-faceted and the characters were real and gritty. The series finale aired on March 20, 2009 and while the series was never a ratings success in comparison to network standards, it was a ratings winner for the cable network, was a favorite of critics and genre fans alike and won a Peabody Award for excellence in television in 2005. The final story was told in January on Syfy when Battlestar Galactica: The Plan aired.

Firefly – This Joss Whedon cult classic lasted less than a full season on FOX in 2002 (getting to air only 11 of its 14 produced episodes), but continues to be a critic and fan favorite the world over. This futuristic series was set in the year 2517 in a new star system where humans on outlying planets struggled to thrive in a near-like pioneer culture with little governmental authority while the central planets were firmly ruled by the Alliance, the central federal government. The focus of the show was on the travails and adventures of the renegade crew of Serenity, a Firefly-class spaceship. The series may have ended on December 20, 2002 but due to the efforts of its devoted fans, the DVD sales of the entire series were unprecedented at the time, allowing for a theatrical release – the movie Serenity – to be made and released on September 30, 2005.

Friday Night Lights – Perhaps one of the most realistic series on television right now and the winner of a Peabody Award in 2006, Friday Night Lights follows the life of Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler) and his family – wife Tami (Connie Britton) who is the guidance counselor turned principal at Dillon High and teenage daughter Julie (Aimee Teagarden) in Dillon, Texas where football is as important as breathing. Debuting on NBC on October 3, 2006, the series was never a ratings winner, but the network remained committed to the series for nearly two seasons until the 2007-2008 Writers’ Strike hit the industry hard. The show was saved, much to the delight of all the fans, by an unprecedented collaboration by NBC and DirecTV. While the show can be called a family drama about the Taylor family, it is the remaining cast that ties all the events in Dillon together. The series just completed its fourth season run on DirecTV (and will air on NBC starting at the end of April). It was just recently announced the upcoming fifth season will be its final, but the show has been nothing short of simply terrific and very moving.

Lost – Probably one of the most unique and inventive series to air in recent history, Lost debuted on ABC on September 22, 2004 and during its first season it averaged 16 million viewers. The show follows the harrowing and arduous tale of survivors of a downed commercial airliner – Oceanic 815 – on a seemingly “normal” tropical island somewhere between Sydney, Australia and Los Angeles, California that is anything but normal. While some seasons’ storylines were stronger than others, the series always delved into the supernatural, revealing more layers of the island’s mysteries and keeping viewers on the edge of their seats. The final season began on February 2 and the final episode is planned for May 23, 2010.

Alias – This series was described by its creator (J. J. Abrams) as college student Felicity (from his acclaimed WB series of the same name) working as a super spy. The character of Sydney Bristow while an undergraduate student of English Literature, was approached by someone claiming to be part of SD-6, a supposed branch of the CIA. She takes the offer and eventually becomes a field agent all the while hiding her true career from her family and friends. When she reveals the truth to her fiancé Danny, he is killed by SD-6, leading her on a mission to work for the real CIA as a double-agent of sorts. The following seasons had Sydney and her handler Michael Vaughn (Michael Vartan) battling SD-6 and many other adversaries and organizations as well as often battling her father Jack Bristow (Victor Garber), who was also a spy, and continually butting heads with the nefarious Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin). The series debuted on ABC on September 30, 2001and made star Jennifer Garner a household name. Much like the series Lost, Alias had its ups and downs in terms of plot development and the cast grew and changed over the five years it was on the air; but the series could always be counted on for action-packed stories that spanned the globe and even brought back a plot device that had been long thought to be out-dated: the “to be continued” cliffhanger ending. The final episode aired on May 22, 2006 and while certain factions would contend it didn’t provide enough answers to unresolved story-archs, the series did bring closure, of sorts. Each season of Alias is available on DVD and a limited edition complete series collection was released in 2006.

Everwood – This superb family drama premiered on the WB as part of the network’s 2002-2003 TV season, debuting on September 16. It chronicled the lives of two very different families brought together not by shared beliefs, values or even religion but rather location – Everwood, Colorado. The Brown family from Manhattan moved to this picturesque town after the tragic death of matriarch Julia (Brenda Strong), bringing widower and top neurosurgeon Dr. Andy Brown (Treat Williams), his 8-year-old daughter Delia (Vivien Cardone) and 15-year-old son and classical pianist Ephram (Gregory Smith) to a town far removed from anything for which they were familiar. Enter town doctor Harold Abbott (Tom Amandes), his wife (and town mayor) Rose (Marilyn Gann), their teenage daughter Amy (Emily VanCamp) and her older brother Bright (Chris Pratt). The series was never soft on hard-hitting issues and tackled a wide array of “off limits” topics, rarely copping to simple and easy answers. The show came to a regrettable close on June 5, 2006, allowing some closure to the on-again, off-again relationship between Amy and Ephram and moving the slowly building relationship between Andy and Nina forward. Only the first two seasons are available on DVD with season two just being released this past summer.

The West Wing – This series will probably be seen as one of the best political-based series ever to air on network TV. It debuted on NBC on September 22, 1999 (as part of the 1999-2000 season, therefore, eligible for this top shows of the decade list) and brought to life the Bartlett White House in all its colors of red, white and blue and every spectrum in between. The series lasted for 7 seasons, which obviously meant a changing of the guards in the White House. The West Wing may have been primarily about a Democratic president and his administration; but it covered much more than just political intrigue and all the mundane duties contained within those hallowed halls. It focused on a team of very diverse and highly skilled individuals who, in essence, became a family; and the viewers were given nearly a 100% backstage pass on all the action: good, bad or otherwise. The series was a consecutive 4-time Emmy winner for Outstanding Drama Series among countless other honors and consistently ranked in the top 20 during its run. The final episode aired on May 16, 2006. Every season of this acclaimed drama is available on DVD, including a complete series collection.

Doctor Who – This much-beloved series is the longest-running science fiction television show EVER and while it could be argued that Doctor Who does not deserve a place on this decade’s top 10 shows, the relaunch of the series by UK television in 2005 with Chris Eccleston as the ninth incarnation of the Doctor brought about a resurgence to the series that had wavered without any new adventures for nearly a decade. Eccelston’s role as the Doctor only lasted one season, but the tenth Doctor, as played by David Tennant, made the series a must-see not only on its own shores in Britain (and throughout Europe) but also here in the United States. Tenannt’s role as the Doctor lasted 4 seasons and came to a close (at least on this side of the Atlantic) just as the dawn of 2010 is fresh and new. The reign was taken over by newcomer Matt Smith, who has become the youngest actor to play the much-revered time lord.

While the above 10 series are what I consider the top 10 shows from this past decade, there are some other special series that aired that deserve some extra attention, being the honorable mentions. They are as follows (again in no particular order):

Pushing Daisies – One of the most colorful and unique shows to air on network television, this Bryan Fuller-created series only lasted two seasons on ABC (debuting on October 3, 2007 and ending on June 13, 2009); but it captured the hearts and minds of countless viewers all over the globe with it multi-hued palette, witty dialogue and engaging characters. With an absurd premise, a lonely pie-maker who has the grave ability to bring anything back to life – people, animals and insects and even fruit – with one touch only to take that second chance at life away in a millisecond with the next touch. However, if that second touch is delayed for more than one minute something of similar “life value” must perish, as a way to balance the odds. While the series did not get the opportunity to meet its full potential, the story of Ned, Chuck and Emerson will continue in comic book format and both seasons of this special series are available on DVD.

Chuck – This one-hour comedy delves into the world of espionage and intrigue with the most unlikely hero: Chuck (portrayed by Zachary Levi), an average computer-whiz next door who receives an encoded email from an old college friend (who now works for the CIA); the message contained in the email is the only remaining copy of the world’s greatest spy secrets (known as the Intersect) and all those details end up inside Chuck’s brain by one click of the mouse. Enter Major (nee Colonel) John Casey (Adam Baldwin) and Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski) – from the NSA and CIA – who are first assigned to retrieve the Intersect only to learn that Chuck IS the Intersect. The proceeding two seasons then delve into Chuck being protected by Casey and Sarah while they handle countless missions, endangering their own lives and those of the people closest to Chuck, his family – and his friends and co-workers at the local Buy More. The series returned for its third season recently with Chuck now being “new and improved” after receiving another download of the Intersect, this time the “new” version of the world’s greatest spy secrets that was meant for his old college friend Bryce Larkin (Matt Bomer), who was killed before the transfer could be completed.

Supernatural – What could simply be seen as a horror-filled TV show, bringing the terror of the big screen to the small screen or simply a hunkfest-palooza for the female viewers because of its more than average looking lead actors – Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki – is actually a show that is more than just “scare the crap out of you” or “can these guys get any hotter?”. The series is actually a well-written, smartly crafted vehicle that leads from one supernatural occurrence to another with an over-arching storyline of two brothers who hunt demons and anything that goes bump in the night because of a horrific incident that happened in their past, leading their father to become a “hunter” and passing the legacy on to them. The series debuted on the WB on September 13, 2005 and survived the merger of the WB and UPN networks, becoming part of the CW lineup the following year. The series is currently in its fifth season and while it may not be a ratings winner in the eyes of the other major networks, it is one of the CW’s top series and has been such since its first season.

Wonderfalls – Another creation by Bryan Fuller (the man behind Pushing Daisies) was this short-lived FOX “drama” that debuted in March of 2004 and met with critical acclaim from the very beginning but had an extremely difficult time garnering an audience, except for its loyal, albeit, small (but vocal) following. This series also had a very unique premise, following the life of Jaye Tyler (played by Caroline Dhavernas), a recent graduate of Brown University with a philosophy degree, who holds a dead-end job as a sales clerk at a Niagara Falls gift shop. What set Jaye apart was her unusual ability to converse with inanimate objects – such as a wax lion, a brass monkey, a stuffed bear or even a mounted fish – which directed her via oblique instructions to help people in need. The series only had 13 episodes and ended much too soon on December 15, 2004, but thanks to the avarice fan base and an online campaign a Region 1 (for North America) DVD set was released in 2005.

24 – This long-running FOX series is currently in its 8th (and proposed final) season starting next month with Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) returning, once again, for one of the longest days in his life, fighting the bad guys and saving the country. What started out as a visionary series on its debut night – November 6, 2001 – because of its presentation in “real time” with split screens showing action from different points of view by characters involved in each season’s storylines – has nearly become the record holder for longest-running espionage series in television history by number of episodes and by its longevity. Much like the other long-running series included on this list, 24 has also had its share of ups and downs in plot and character development, but it certainly has paved new ground in television.

Now, the real question is: do you agree with me? Did I miss a show that you strongly feel deserves to be on this list? Did I get any right?

2009 has been quite a year, to say the least, and I’m sure 2010 will be no different. It will be filled with a lot of good and bad movies, books, TV shows and music along with incredible (and assuredly ridiculous) headlines.

NOTE: If you would like to read my full article on the top 10 shows of the decade and the honorable mentions, please check out the following: http://rueben901.livejournal.com/164889.html.