Couch Potato: A season in review
By Casey Gillis on Jun. 09, 2010
The 2009-2010 television season came to an end earlier this month, and boy was it a good one.
My DVR has never been so busy, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Here are my picks for the best and worst this season had to offer:
Best new comedy: ABC’s “Modern Family,” as if there was any doubt. It’s consistently funny, with great characters that I still buy, even when they’re doing outlandish things.
Best new drama: CBS’s “The Good Wife” or FX’s “Justified.”
Series that’s hardest to categorize: “Glee,” for sure. Yes, first and foremost, it is a musical. Beyond that, though, it’s not a straight comedy or drama. It falls somewhere in between, with scenes that alternately make me laugh out loud and tear up (especially anything involving Kurt and his father). The musical numbers never fail to put a smile on my face, and actress Lea Michele, who plays Rachel, has to be one of the season’s breakout stars.
Most improved show: “Parks & Recreation.” The first season did nothing for me, but the second has totally won me over by making annoying characters like Leslie and Andy more loveable. Plus, Ron Swanson might be one of my favorite TV characters of all time. This show is better than “The Office” these days.
Best cast chemistry: “Cougar Town.” After an uneven start, the cast settled in to become one of TV’s best ensembles. They seem to really enjoy each other’s company, whether they’re playing the made-up game of Penny Can, participating in impromptu sing-a-longs or discussing the finer points of morning drinking.
Funniest guy: Forget leading men like Steve Carell (“The Office”) or Charlie Sheen (“Two and a Half Men”). Supporting sitcom characters were the ones that really cracked me up this season. I’m talking to you, Aziz Ansari (Tom on “Parks & Recreation”), Eric Stonestreet and Ty Burrell (Cam and Phil on “Modern Family”).
Funniest gal: Krista Miller (“Cougar Town”) was always delightfully mean — but nice when she had to be — as Ellie.
Best drama king: Nobody broke my heart on a more consistent basis than John Noble’s Walter on “Fringe.” This season had Walter falling out with his beloved son, Peter, and Noble was brilliant in every scene.
Best drama queen: Chandra Wilson as Dr. Bailey on “Grey’s Anatomy.” I’ve said this many times, but when Dr. B cries, I cry. West’s work in the season finale — which found the hospital terrorized by a gunman, and Bailey trying desperately, and failing, to save one of her fellow docs — was as good as it gets.
Best second fiddle, male: Sam (Bruce Campbell) on “Burn Notice.”
Best second fiddle, female: Laurie (Busy Philips) on “Cougar Town.”
Best lawman: Raylan Givens (Couch Potato favorite Timothy Olyphant) on FX’s “Justified.”
Best villain: Walt Goggins’ Boyd Crowder, Raylan’s nemesis on “Justified,” is certainly the most charismatic bad guy. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Terry O’Quinn’s turn as Locke-turned-Smokey on “Lost.” He was truly terrifying.
Character I most love to hate: Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) on “Glee.” Nobody delivers an insult better than the evil cheerleading coach.
Actor who made me forget his/her most memorable character: Chris Noth as Julianna Margulies’ philandering hubby on “The Good Wife.” Watching them in scenes together, I completely forgot that he was once “Sex and the City’s” Mr. Big, an iconic role if there ever was one.
Best tough guy: Agent John Casey (Adam Baldwin) on “Chuck.”
Best tough gal: Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar) on “Burn Notice.” She gives butt-kicking characters like Buffy and Sydney Bristow a run for their money.
Best onscreen family: The Bravermans on “Parenthood” (they’re much more watchable than those Walkers over on “Brothers & Sisters”). They’re the kind of family that fights, but always makes up, and has real problems, but can still find the humor in life.
Best couple: “Lost’s” Sun and Jin, whose tragic end — dying together on a sinking submarine — was devastating. And an honorable mention goes to another “Lost” couple, Sawyer and Juliet, even though they weren’t technically together this season (she was, you know, dead and all). Their reunion in the finale was one of my favorite moments on any show. When “Lost” began, I was a Kate/Sawyer fan, but once he fell for Juliet, I couldn’t imagine “James” with anyone else.
Best almost couple: April and Andy on “Parks & Recreation.” They’re no Jim and Pam, for sure, but April and Andy’s burgeoning romance is still pretty darn cute. And I cracked up at the way he finally confessed how he felt, telling April he had “romantical feelings” for her.
Worst couple: This one is kind of a stretch, but bear with me. Sayid and Shannon’s reunion during the series finale of “Lost” was kind of ridiculous. Are we really to believe that the snotty, spoiled Shannon is Sayid’s soul mate, and not Nadia, the woman he loved for years? Not buying it.
Best boss: Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) on “Parks & Recreation.” I loved his glee over potential government cutbacks in the season’s final episodes, but also his loyalty to Leslie when her job went up on the chopping block. Ron has also developed a kind of father/daughter relationship with April that’s very endearing. And who isn’t a fan of his impeccably groomed mustache?
Best onscreen team: Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins on “Justified.” These two play mortal enemies but, sometimes, you’d never know it. Their characters, Raylan and Boyd, usually shared an easy rapport in their scenes together, with just hints of the tension lying beneath the surface.
Best cast addition: Alan Cumming as a political fixer on “The Good Wife.” And, good news: he’s joining the show full-time next season.
Best multitaskers: Mark Pellegrino and Titus Welliver, who guest starred as brothers-turned-mortal-enemies Jacob and MIB on “Lost.” Pellegrino also showed up as Lucifer on “Supernatural,” while Welliver played bad-guy District Attorney Glenn Childs on “The Good Wife” AND one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse on “Supernatural.” Talk about typecasting.
Favorite reality show contestants: The Cowboys on “The Amazing Race.” As everyone around them fell to pieces, brothers Jet and Cord always kept their cool and played the game with class. Let’s get them on an all-stars edition, stat!
Best season finale: I’ve gotta go with “Lost” for wrapping things up in a way that totally satisfied me. “Fringe” was good, too, (in case you missed it, the finale ended with poor Olivia trapped in the alternate universe, while her double pretended to be her in this one).
Worst season finale: “Bones.” Talk about a snoozefest. There was no forward movement in the Bones/Booth potential romance. Instead, the pair decided to go their separate ways for a year — she to an archaeological dig in Indonesia, he to serve his country in Afghanistan. If that wasn’t bad enough, we didn’t even get a goodbye kiss.
Most traumatizing season finale: I created this category just for “Grey’s Anatomy.” Was that a tense two hours, or what? I cried every time a character got shot and was on the edge of my seat the entire time. I barely even watched the show this season but, after that finale, you can bet I’ll be tuning in this fall.
“Lost” Sideways storyline that should be its own TV show: “Sawyer and Miles: The Buddy Cop Show.” I’m totally there, man.
Guiltiest pleasure: “Jersey Shore,” of course.
Shows I promise to catch up on over the summer (so my TV tastes will run a little more high-brow): HBO’s “Treme” and AMC’s “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad.”
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