Top 5: 2010 TV Shows

     I'm back.  Had to take the holidays off since I was leaving my house at 5 am and not getting back until midnight.  Didn't really leave much time for blog writing.  Anyway, my schedule has opened back up so I should be able to get back to updating this thing on a regular basis.
     Normally this time of year I would start a series of Top 5 Of The Year lists, but I have become super out of touch with music and movies are best done when the Oscars come around in another month, so the Top 5 TV Shows of 2010 is all I really feel qualified to do.  I might do a Top 5 Books I Read In 2010, but that won't be a best of 2010 since there are a good chunk of this year's books I haven't gotten around to yet.  So, here's my best of 2010 list, Top 5 TV Shows...  (Note:  I don't get HBO so shows like Boardwalk Empire and Treme couldn't be considered for the list)

5) Community
          NBC is said to be the worst network on TV and maybe that's what the ratings say, but for my money it's the best network tv has to offer.  Community is one of two NBC shows on my list.  No other network is represented.  I still enjoy How I Met Your Mother and Modern Family, but Community has rocketed into my favorite sitcom position.  Everyone is the cast is spot on, the comedy is fresh, its the most consistent comedy on tv.  Each character feels like they could have their own show.  Even the side characters like Ken Jong's Senor Chang and John Oliver's Professor Duncan are never wasted.  If you're not watching, you're missing out.

4) Walking Dead
          I don't think I've ever been rewarded by a TV show I so highly anticipated then with The Walking Dead.  Robert Kirkman's awesome zombie comic was beautifully transformed into TV magic even if it was for 6 short episodes.  The show creators did a good job of mixing the comic's theme of human survival with good old zombie horror.  At it's heart the comic was more about what humans are capable of doing to each other then a zombie invasion.  The tv show got that and started to convey it before the season was abruptly ended.  I can't wait for next season (which should be a full 12 episodes).

3) Terriers
          Why didn't anybody tune in to this show?  By far the best new show of 2010.  I'm going to miss Hank and Britt even though I just got to know them.  I won't go on too much about it since I spent a lot of time on this blog going over each episode.  I'm thinking I'm going to do a Top 5 Shows Cancelled Early list soon in it's honor.

2) Friday Night Lights
          Another show that doesn't get the audience it deserves.  I haven't seen the Direct TV episodes airing right now, but last season was as strong as ever.  It makes me sad to know that this will be the last episode.  Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton are the best couple on TV, if not the best of all time, and two of the best television actors around.  So many characters over the 4 seasons have made such an impact, much like the Wire, I will only be able to see the actors that played them as Matt Saracen or Jason Street or Tim Riggins or Vince Howard.  For whatever reason, Minka Kelly will always be Minka Kelly and not Lyla even if she marries that overrated Yankee.

1) Mad Men
          I've enjoyed Mad Men right from the beginning, but this season was one of the all time best seasons of any TV show ever.  The four episode run of Waldorf Stories, The Suitcase, The Summer Man, and Beautiful Girls was the best four episode run ever, with The Suitcase being the gem of the whole season.  If you don't watch this show you are missing out on story telling at it's absolute best.  Anyone who says TV is vapid and cheesy and that film is a better medium isn't watching this show.

Honorable Mentions: Sons Of Anarchy, Fringe, Tosh.0, Rubicon, Breaking Bad

How I Met Your Mother: The Mermaid Theory

     "The Mermaid Theory" was season 7 of HIMYM encapsulated in 30 minutes, a constant flow from great funny moments to total misses.  I wish I was just able to say that this episode was awesome or just plain horrible, but my opinion seemed to change with each changing scene.  The opening scene was classic.  The Happy Captain/Scary Captain was hilarious and brought back one of my favorite moments, Marshal's obsession with blowing up pictures and charts at work.  Lilly's theory about a single person and a married person of the opposite sex hanging out had potential as well, but then Ted screwed up the narration and things took a turn for the worse.  I loathed this storyline.  It was stupid and took you out of the flow of the episode.  It might have worked better if it was the main story, but I didn't care about Lilly and Barney in this episode so the constant changing of the story was just annoying.  The one saving grace was when Ted showed up in a green dress.  I love when later episodes are set up!
     The Marshall/Robin story was very hit or miss as well.  The idea of them having an awkward dinner was cool.  We've all hung out it groups and while we can have a good time hanging out with everyone in the group, there are some people who we know we just wouldn't enjoy hanging out with alone.  I thought that's where this was going, but when it took a turn in a different direction I didn't buy it.  At the same time, The Mermaid Theory was awesome.  It was HIMYM at it's best, taking a nugget of truth, spinning it into a funny theory and introducing it with either a college flashback (because where else did any of us have the time to come up with these types of theories then college?) or a fake historical reenactment.  I would have been much happier if they had used the theory with another storyline, but oh well.
      The Ted storyline had its moments, but for the most part I though it was a miss.  The ticking Mermaid clock at the end of the episode had no punch at all.  Really?  There's going to be sexual tension between Ted and Zoe?  Why the hell would she be hanging around if there wasn't?  The episode acted like it was some big revelation that Ted was going to find her attractive, that the clock was ticking before Ted saw her as a mermaid, but I was under the impression that he already liked her.  The mermaid theory says that someone that is not attractive to you slowly becomes attractive.  It seems to me that Ted has always been attracted to Zoe, he just can't admit it for various reasons (she's married, she wants to stop his building of the GNB building, etc).
     It seems to me that the writers of HIMYM are still trying to capture the magic of the first few seasons and haven't quite figured it out yet.  This type of search almost always results in a hit and miss season and that it exactly what we are in the middle of.  Nothing has showcased that more then this episode that seemed to go from hit to miss back to hit minute by minute.  All we can hope for is that when all is said and done, it's been more hit then miss and they figure things out so next season can be all hit.