Time to get started on our year end lists! While the tv shows aren’t currently fresh, the critics’ best and award noms give you something to get ready to tune back into. I can’t personally recommend all of these shows (stay tuned for my top ten list) and as most readers know I don’t catch most of the real cable on first run (HBO, Show, Starz), but from the breadth of shows there is a little something out there for everyone. So without further ado here’s a sampling of top tv picks:
- 2 Broke Girls (CBS) – E
- 2012 Election – JP
- 30 for 30 (ESPN) – DF
- 30 Rock (NBC) – AS, PGA, TG
- American Horror Story: Asylum (Fx) – AFI, GG, JP, MoR, MZS
- Archer (Fx) – MZS, TG
- Ben and Kate (Fox) – TG
- The Big Bang Theory (CBS) – E, MR, PGA
- Boardwalk Empire (HBO) – GG, TG
- Boss (Starz) – GG, TG
- Breaking Bad (AMC) – AFI, AS, DF, JP, KT, MR, MoR, MZS, PGA, TG
- Call the Midwife (PBS) – MR
- Castle (ABC) – E
- The Colbert Report (Com) – KT, MM
- Coma (A&E) – MZS
- Community (NBC) – E, MZS, TG
- Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO) – PGA
- Dexter (Show) – MR, TG
- Don’t Trust the B- In Apartment 23 (ABC) – TG
- Downton Abbey (PBS) – MR, PGA
- Enlightened (HBO) – GG
- Episodes (Show) – GG
- Game Change (HBO) – AFI
- Game of Thrones (HBO) – AFI, DF, E, GG, JP, MoR, PGA, TG
- Girls (HBO) – AFI, AS, DF, JP, KT, MR, MoR, TG
- Glee (Fox) – E, GG
- The Good Wife (CBS) – KT, MR
- Gossip Girl (CW) – E
- Happy Endings (ABC) – E, MoR
- Hatfields & McCoys (Hist) – MZS
- Homeland (Show) – AFI, AS, E, GG, JP, KT, MM, MR, MoR, MZS, PGA, TG
- The Hour (BBCA) – DF, TG
- House of Lies (Show) – TG
- How I Met Your Mother (CBS) – E
- It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Fx) – TG
- Justified (Fx) – KT, TG
- Louie (Fx) – AFI, AS, DF, JP, KT, MM, MR, MoR, MZS, PGA, TG
- Luck (HBO) – AS, MM, MZS
- Mad Men (AMC) – AFI, AS, DF, JP, KT, MR, MoR, MZS, PGA, TG
- Magic City (Starz) – TG
- The Middle (ABC) – MR
- The Mindy Project (Fox) – E
- Modern Family (ABC) – AFI, E, GG, PGA, TG
- Nashville (ABC) – KT
- New Girl (Fox) – E, GG, MoR, TG
- On Freddie Roach (HBO) – DF
- Once Upon a Time (ABC) – E
- Parenthood (NBC) – AS, JP
- Parks and Recreation (NBC) – AS, DF, E, JP, KT, MoR, TG
- Raising Hope (Fox) – TG
- Revenge (ABC) – E
- Scandal (ABC) – E
- Shameless (Show) – TG
- Sherlock (PBS) – MM, TG
- Sons of Anarchy (Fx) – MR, TG
- Supernatural (CW) – E
- Treme (HBO) – AS, DF, MZS, TG
- The Vampire Diaries (CW) – E
- Veep (HBO) – TG
- The Walking Dead (AMC) – AFI, E, MM, MR, TG
- Wilfred (Fx) – TG
AFI – AFI Television Programs of the Year, AS – Alan Sepinwall for Hitfix, DF – Dan Fienberg for Hitfix, E – E! Best Comedies and E! Best Dramas, GG – Golden Globe nomination, JP – James Poniewozik for Time, KT – Ken Tucker for Ew, MM* – Mary McNamara for LA Times, MR* – Matt Roush for TV Guide, MoR – Maureen Ryan for Huffington Post, MZS – Matt Zoller Seitz on Vulture, PGA – Producer’s Guild, TG – Tim Goodman’s Best Comedies and Dramas
* Some top votes were for categories of shows or notations to things like Clint’s chair speech and referee strike.
My days of avid music collecting ended somewhere around high school. Although I didn’t stop wanting to have something good to listen to my cds started rolling in less and less. And then with the transition to digital tunes I finally made the move, downloaded, and started purchasing via iTunes. Along the way either radio stations got less good, or I just couldn’t find something that worked for me I still felt like I was missing an intro to new tunes.
