With that in mind, and without further ado, here's the first half of the thirty-strong list:
30. Dirt(Fiver, season 2)
Courteney Cox's tabloid satire was a guilty pleasure in its first year, thanks to a heady mix of sex, violence, melodrama, pop-culture spoofs and Cox triumphantly shrugging off the ghost of Friends' neat-freak Monica to play hard-nosed, acid-tongued, bitchy editor Lucy Spiller. How tragic that season 2 decided to fix what wasn't broken (lazily parodying existing tabloid storylines and real celebs, smoothing Lucy's spiky nature, and making the series less serialized.) The writers' strike didn't help, as Dirt only managed six low-rated episodes before FX stopped the presses.
29. Bonekickers(BBC1, season 1)
The next project from Life On Mars' creators, Bonekickers wanted to make archaeology sexy, exciting and mysterious. It worked for Indiana Jones and Lara Croft, but this was hardly painting on the same canvas. A rag-tag group of Bath-based "bonekickers", led by Julie Graham's irritatingly officious bitch, who waded through weeks of preposterous, historical revisionist fantasies. There was the kernel of a good idea here, and a few moments of intrigue, but it was played so broad as to be laughable, while the dialogue creaked more than the tombs they excavated.
28. Bionic Woman(ITV2, season 1)
Full credit to Britain's own Michelle Ryan for landing the lead in a major American sci-fi drama, but this remake of the kitsch '70s series, about a woman given bionic implants, failed to ignite. The mythology was unfocused and a succession of showrunners were brought in to try and pull it all together, but nobody could find a way to make the series interesting beyond the inciting premise. After nine incredibly uneven episodes, NBC decided to call it a day and Ms. Ryan swam back across the pond.
27. Lab Rats(BBC2, season 1)
A well-meaning sitcom, designed as a throwback to the 1980s – when studio-based comedies were often full of caricatures, catchphrases and total silliness. The idea of a bunch of university scientists getting into crazy scrapes every week was a neat platform for surreal, broad comedy, but Lab Rats seemed two decades out of date from the start. Intentionally, or not. It's not that this brand of comedy has totally vanished (see Father Ted in the '90s, or IT Crowd right now), but it needs to be far cleverer than this. Still, writer-star Chris Addison made a good impression.
26. Raines(ITV3, season 1)
By the time this detective series arrived in the UK, it had already been cancelled in the US for well over a year. Still, it had an interesting concept, and the presence of Jeff Goldblum meant it was worth checking out. Goldblum played a detective with an over-active imagination, who visualizes the victims in murder cases. They essentially become fictional "sounding boards" for his theories and discoveries during the course of the investigation. A unique, intriguing idea, nicely played by the intriguing Goldblum – but the majority of its episodes were crippled by uninvolving plots that failed to capitalize on Goldblum's charm.
25. No Heroics(ITV2, season 1)
The current craze for superheroes meant this sitcom was ideally timed to poke fun at comic-book tropes, even if the idea of juxtaposing a very American genre with swearing, working class, boozy Brits wasn't a particularly fresh one. Mind you, despite a few shakes and a paucity of big laughs, there was something mildly amusing and entertaining about the five hapless characters and their depressing lives.
24. The Fixer(ITV1, season 1)
ITV1 needed a drama hit earlier this time last year, and The Fixer was one of their better efforts. It was the gritty tale of a man released from prison to become a state-sanctioned hitman, targeting villains of the criminal underworld. A juicy concept, not really done full justice, but most episodes were fairly involving and the performances were quite strong.
23. Moonlight(LivingTV, season 1)
A variation on Joss Whedon's Angel, with a vampire private eye falling in love with a mortal reporter. This appealed more to young women (ideally goths) than any other demographic, with a handsome leading man in Alex O'Loughlin, although the men were well-catered for with Sophia Myles, too. The series fluctuated in quality for awhile, before hitting its stride for a decent run of episodes mid-season, before cancellation in the US outraged fans. Not a great series by any means, but its charismatic leads and the feeling it was inching closer to finding a groove helped sustain it.
22. The Middleman(ABC Family, season 1)
A real oddity, but a curious delight for fanboys raised on sci-fi, fantasy, comics and horror movies. This was a superhero comedy about a crime-fighting hero and his resilient apprentice, as they faced surreal villains and problems each week – from talking gorillas, Mexican wrestlers, flying zombie fish and dead sorority girls. A pleasant balance of silly drama, engaging characters, cartoon-y violence, vibrant visuals, throwaway sight gags and tongue-twisting dialogue. Inexplicably aired late at night in the US, this inevitably didn't find a big audience, and a second season isn't expected.
21. Heroes(BBC2/Three, season 2)
How the mighty fell. Heroes was the show that stole Lost's thunder in its freshman year, and catapulted itself to the top of many peoples' affections. It was fresh, fast, exciting, involving, tense, interesting and full of in-jokes for comic-book nerds. The second season should have been a slam-dunk that accentuated what has worked before, but it became clear the writers didn't have a strong idea about where to take the story and characters next. A convoluted virus-themed story took forever get going, popular characters were lost in boring sub-plots (Hiro in Japan), others were brought back past their lifespan (Peter), or de-powered (Sylar), and new characters failed to excite (Maya, Alejandro, Monica). The strike-related decision to end the season early came as blessed relief to everyone watching...
20. Chuck(Virgin1, season 1)
A lovable nerd accidentally has the US government's top secrets downloaded into his mind, necessitating the need for him to be protected by two secret agents. Chuck tries to balance his home-life with the new dangers he faces, helping his protectors protect the country using his invaluable mind-computer. Great idea, great cast, only let down in its first season by rather tedious B-stories set in Chuck's workplace, and a mild sense of repetition. Still, it was rescued from mediocrity by the comedic talent of Zachary Levi and the appealing, playful sexiness of Yvonne Strahovski.
19. Primeval(ITV1, season 2)
The ITV dinosaur action/time-travel series returned after a tiresome first season (only enlivened by generally impressive FX), and definitely improved on its formula. Characters were altered or added (thanks to a change to the timeline), and the series was given an overarching mystery to tie episodes together. While still silly hokum, it was far more entertaining and better put together than series 1.
18. Survivors(BBC1, season 1)
A remake of the '70s doomsday series, where a 'flu pandemic wipes out 99% of the world's population. Adrian Hodges' remake was of middling quality overall, but there were moments of interest and occasional excitement. Max Beesley was particular good as escaped prisoner Tom, but I could have done without Julie Graham's whining for her missing son. The main problem with Survivors was a lack of grit (events often played like a terrible family holiday, not an end-of-the-world nightmare), and the budget was only splurged on the premiere and finale (meaning the middle four episodes were quite insular and soap-like). That said, it was more hit than miss, and the cliffhanger finale bodes well for a punchy season 2.
17. Robin Hood(BBC1, season 2)
Another series that improved after a tepid first year, Robin Hood remained crippled by some fundamental casting problems at its core, but the mix of episodes were better and a few ongoing storylines kept your interest. Still far too lightweight and dumb for its own good, but this was certainly an improvement thanks to a slightly darker viewpoint. The finale's killer twist doesn't bode well for this year's third season, though.
16. Apparitions(BBC1, season 1)
Aiming to do for demons what he did for vampires in Ultraviolet, writer-director Joe Ahearne's exorcism-based chiller was utter nonsense... but played with such conviction by the actors, and layered with enough persuasive research, that it kept you gripped. Martin Shaw played Father Jacob, the tidy-bearded exorcist fighting the forces of darkness and the scepticism of his more "enlightened" superiors. The various twists on exorcism-themed stories were intriguing (and you thought you'd get bored with bedroom-set head-rotating?), and the throughline battle for a homeless man's soul tied the six-part series together nicely. A second season is unlikely given the ratings (it lost half its 4 million audience by episode 3), but never mind.
15. Dead Set(E4)
A five-part zombie epic, shown on consecutive nights in the run-up to Halloween. Charlie Brooker's TV writing debut had a shaky start, but soon developed a sharp, grizzly style for a spirited and blood-soaked finish. Distilled as Big Brother-meets-Dawn Of The Dead, the satirical swipes were annoyingly blunt to begin with (given the juicy premise), but this was well-made and refreshingly intense. And who would have thought Davina McCall would make such an excellent zombie? Some kind of follow-up would be very welcome – what happened to Bruce Forsythe in the Strictly Come Dancing studio when these zombies attacked, eh?
