TV: The Best of 2005

Television fans had many good reasons to stay at home and sit in front of the TV this year.  Many of the best shows that debuted in the Fall of 2004 returned in 2005 and there were several new shows to keep TV addicts occupied.  Here is a brief recap of the best television on the past year.

Best New Show

The Closer (TNT)

I’m not a huge fan of the police procedural drama but I was completely taken by surprise with this summer series from TNT.  After the initial shock of getting over actress Kyra Sedgwick’s over-the-top Southern accent, I quickly embraced the clever plots and detailed characterizations in this show about a Georgia native who must lead a homicide unit in Los Angeles filled with male chauvinists who initially resent being led by both a woman and an outsider but gradually embrace her.  The writing is sharp and the final showdowns in the interrogation are often surprising and suspenseful. 

Runner-Up

Prison Break (FOX)

Ridiculous?  Preposterous?  Completely unbelievable?  These are all good descriptions of the plot of Prison Break but that doesn’t matter one bit to me as this is one entertaining serial drama.  I loved the way the show’s writers continue to come up with new ways to keep the tension building by adding multiple sub-plots and keeping the main characters in almost perpetual jeopardy.  Just run off your brain and enjoy this fun show.

The Rest:

The Office (NBC)

So you think your boss is bad?  Then watch Steve Carell’s unbelievably obnoxious boss on this American version of the popular British show.  Not every episode is a winner but there are usually a couple of truly hilarious moments per episode.  I wonder how many people have gone to a Chili’s restaurant and ordered an Awesome Blossom with “extra awesome” after watching The Office. 

Invasion (ABC)

I’m still not sure what to make of this slow-paced alien invasion story.  The show looks great and has great acting but it’s maddening that so little of the plot appears to have revealed to the viewers.  More details have been emerging in recent episodes but I hope the show’s creators quicken the pace.  I don’t want the season to end and still have no idea what’s going on. 

Best Returning Show:

Lost (ABC)

Lost was the best show of 2004 by far and it continued to be one the best acted, directed, and most suspenseful shows on TV.  The first season finale was incredibly intense as one group of survivors finally blew open the mysterious hatch and the others were met on the open water by…well the Others.  While some people complained that the opening of season two was a let-down, I disagree.  The first three episodes which dealt with the question of “What’s in the hatch?” were some of best episodes of television I’ve ever seen.  The show’s writers accomplished the seemingly impossible:  they answered one mystery and set up and even more intriguing one.  I can’t wait to find out what happens next. 

Runner-Up

Gilmore Girls (WB)

Those witty, fast talking Gilmore Girls were at the tope of their form in 2005.  There are very few shows out there that can combine hilarious comedy with heart-wrenching drama like this one.  The feuds between Lorelei and her mother and also between Lorelei and Rory were hard to watch.  I actually got a lump in my throat when Rory and Lorelei reconciled.  The occasionally crazy situations may only happen on TV shows, but the emotions are completely real. 

Arrested Development (FOX)

Without a doubt the funniest show on the air now and maybe the funniest show ever, the dysfunctional Bluth family providers more laughs per show than any other sit-com.  Arrested Development combines the strange characters and bizarre coincidences of Seinfeld with the joke-a-minute style of the Airplane and Naked Gun movies.  It is frequently necessary to pause and rewind the show just to get all the jokes.  Why more people don’t watch this is a mystery to me. 

Battlestar Galactica (Sci-Fi)

It seems that there is only one really good science-fiction TV show on at any given time.  Following in the footsteps of Babylon 5 and Farscape comes Battlestar Galactica, a tense update of the cheesy show from the late 1970s.  The new version is filled with political and military intrigue as a desperate group of human colonists try to run from the deadly Cylons, a race of robots who have evolved to look exactly like humans, a clever plot device that creates incredible tension as the human heroes of the show don’t know if someone in their midst could be a Cylon spy. 

Other good returning shows.

Other TV shows that continue to produce high-quality episodes from week to week include:  24, Without a Trace, Monk, The 4400 and Veronica Mars.

Biggest Letdowns:

Alias (ABC)

Once one of the most exciting shows on TV, Alias has fallen a long way.  The plots are redundant and the villains aren’t as nasty as they used to be, case in point, the wussing down of Sloane.  The whole Rambaldi subplot had the potential to bring a fascinating level to the show but it concluded with a giant red ball over Russia and a whole bunch of zombies.  Huh???  Let’s hope the show’s creators send out the series with a bang as it ends its run next year. 

Desperate Housewives (ABC)

When it premiered, DH was a clever satire of suburbia mixed with an intriguing mystery and classic soap-opera elements.  Unfortunately, the mystery dragged on for far too long and the satire became forced, frequently devolving into slapstick.  The characters quickly became unlikable with the notable exception of Felecity Huffman’s portrayal of frazzled working-mom Lynette.  If the show were only 30 minutes long and just about her, I might start watching again. 

CSI  (CBS)

Not really a letdown, but this show just doesn’t interest me as much as it used to.  For every well-written episode, there are several mediocre ones as the characters go through the motions of finding clues and using forensic science to uncover a frequently bizarre explanation for a crime.  The notable exception was the Quentin Tarantino directed episode in which Nick was buried alive.  If only they all were that intense. 

Storm Front

Jim Butcher

Every time I go to the bookstore and peruse the science-fiction/fantasy section, I always see a plethora of “cross-genre” books.  The most popular kind seems to be supernatural mysteries and the books in The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher are among the most popular.  My copy of Storm Front, the first in the series is a thirteenth printing.  So is it any good?  The short answer is yes.  The plot is fairly standard and not too complex.  It follows a private investigator, who also happens to be a wizard, as he tries to solve a series of gruesome murders as well as find a missing person.  If you’ve read even a few mystery novels before, the conclusion won’t be much of a surprise but in a story like this, populated with wizards, vampires and fairies, it’s the journey that’s the fun part.  Harry Dresden, the P.I., is a likeable character who never seems to catch a break.  He’s behind on his rent and things like computers and elevators always break when he’s around.  But when he gets in a jam, he knows how to use magic in clever ways to escape.  Storm Front contains several lengthy action scenes that would look fantastic filmed as a movie.  Butcher has also crafted an interesting “mythology” for his characters that will no doubt be explored in greater detail in the other books in the series.   Overall, Storm Front is a fun read although it occasionally goes over the top in the gory details of the murderer.