My Favorite Television Shows of 2012

The greats continued to be the greats this year. Only two of the ten shows I mention in this post are new shows (and one of them isn't even coming back for another season). So it's basically an opportunity to continue to shower praise on the shows I've already praised so much already. As always, I haven't seen every show, though one particular show I feel that I may have liked quite a bit had I gotten to it is Treme. Maybe next year.

Homeland: Season Two (2012)

Creators: Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa

 It was in the first half of this season when I proclaimed Homeland to be the next Breaking Bad. I said this mostly due to the unpredictability of the plot, and I'm not talking about the unpredictability of what things will happen, but of when things will happen. Like Breaking Bad, this is a show in which you eagerly anticipate every single episode with bated breath because you have no idea what crazy plot twist will occur on any given night. Also like Breaking Bad, our main character is a fascinating and original character who is brilliant yet deeply flawed. By the end of this season though it's clear that Carrie is not the the only "main" character of the show, because Brody is given an even larger presence this season than the first. Damian Lewis puts in a performance just as good as Claire Danes, as he plays a man stuck between a rock and a hard place, carrying secrets upon secrets. In the first season Carrie lost her mind due to bipolar disorder, this season Brody also loses his mind but it was due to the overwhelming amount of mental stress placed on him by all the secrets he was carrying.

As compelling as the show is though, it did falter a bit this season in expanding the story and becoming almost 24-like in it's convenient plot points. It didn't quite retain the intimacy and subdued storytelling of the first season, and so the plot sometimes overwhelmed the characters and themes. Even throughout this 24 phase the show was still exciting and suspenseful, so there was never a point where I started to dislike the show, but there were moments where it turned into the show that I fear may turn into someday, one that you love but still accept the flaws of. But then the show regained its footing with a superb finale in which personal conflicts rose once again and secrets starting piling up. It set the stage for a third season that could go anywhere, and since the writers of this show are clearly talented, this gives me optimism that this newfound freedom from plot will turn out to be good for all of us.

Grade: B+

Filmcap: The week of Dec 25-Jan 1

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the first season of Homeland finish up one year of filmcaps on this blog, while also being the last one. From now on, you will only blog posts for individual films because that seems like a much easier format. Also, I am now only one month behind on posts, which is actually something I can live with. Here's to 2012. 

My Favorite Television Shows of 2011

Everyone knows by now that television is now a completely serious and important art form. While many desire to compare film and television, I think that television has now reached a point where it no longer needs to be compared to film because it is now a distinct art form that has its own advantages, and this was well displayed in this years crop of television.

My list of my five favorite television shows (with the next five in unranked order) represents the diversity of styles that television now offers. Not only did we get smart versions of familiar genres, but we also got a show that delivers some of that incredible tension that only television can induce, and also a show that highlights perfectly a singular point-of-view of an auteur.

Because I believe that season by season judgement is the best way to judge television shows, I only counted the shows that had seasons that ended in 2011, which also means I tried my best not to consider the ongoing seasons of shows like Parks & Recreation when judging the season that ended in 2011. There also a couple of shows that I did watch that I feel I may have had merited serious considerations if I had watched them. The most notable of those are Treme and Justified (currently catching up with that one). I've also included links to the original reviews of the shows if they have been written about previously. For the shows without links, reviews are probably forthcoming.