Here's the concluding part of my list, counting down the best TV shows I watched during 2009. Part 1 and Part 2 are still available, but here's my Top 10 of the TV year:
10. Misfits, series 1When the premise was first mentioned in the summer, it felt like Misfits was destined to be an embarassing Heroes ripoff for teenagers (four young offenders on community service get super-powers after a freak ice storm), but creator Howard Overman kept expert control of the drama and transformed Misfits into an absorbing Skins-style teen drama with occasional flashes of superhero shenanigans. There was only six episodes, but the majority of them were excellent. Roll on series 2! [read reviews]
9. Merlin, series 2The most-improved show of 2009, no doubt about it. Merlin was pretty weak when it started in '08, but series 2 saw real flashes of inspiration and a string of mid-series episode that were very strong and enjoyable. The performances from the young cast remain its biggest selling point, and I'm pleased that the writers took note of the obvious problems in series 1 and duly ironed them out. I'm now looking forward to series 3 in 2010. [read reviews]
8. Chuck, season 2A huge improvement on the likeable but awkward first year, Chuck found a slicker mix of comedy and action in season 2. I'm still instinctively turned off by the frat boy antics at the Buy More store (which so often works as a tedious B-story counterpoint), but the spy-based action comedy was much stronger this year, and the performances from the Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski and Adam Baldwin triumvirate make most episodes a treat. [read reviews]
7. True Blood, season 1The pilot to Alan Ball's adaptation of Charmaine Harris' popular vampire novels was one of the worst I've seen in years (abrasive, tonally-awkward, meandering), but luckily True Blood only took four episodes to hit its stride. This tale of vampires that have "come out of the coffin" to walk freely amongst humans (thanks to the creation of a synthetic blood drink), is a sexy, sweaty, violent, sweary mix of southern soap and horror-comedy. The second season is even better, although it kind of goes crazy towards the end... [read reviews]
6. Fringe, season 1After a fabulous pilot, Fringe was only a mild curiosity for the next five episodes, buoyed by John Noble's crackers performance as insane scientist Dr. Walter Bishop. Thankfully, by episode 6 Fringe started to embrace its intriguing mythology and a run of great, serialized stories helped make the occasional standalone episodes more palatable. A slick, polished production from J.J Abrams' Bad Robot stable, Fringe became a solid and occasionally excellent dose of pulp sci-fi. The natural successor to The X Files. [read reviews]
5. Peep Show, series 6A remarkable and hilarious comedy. This sixth series was superior than the spotty fifth and possibly one of the best ever. The unique POV filming technique still feels fresh and daring after all these years, and the dialogue is sublime for the most part. Performances were as strong as always (especially from Robert Webb this year) and the situations as memorably embarassing and socially-awkward as ever. A real gem. [read reviews]
4. Battlestar Galactica, season 4To be honest, season 4's success and prominent on my list is almost exclusively down to the fact it was The End of this seminal sci-fi series. BSG did a decent job bringing everything together for a finale that worked well, and certainly engaged its audience emotionally. The journey to the end was bumpy and uncertain at times, but as a climax to a space opera with so many questions to answer, I think it did a good job for the most part. [read reviews]
3. Mad Men, season 2The ad men of New York's Sterling Cooper were back on fine form in season 2 of the award-winning '60s-set drama. It didn't have the freshness of the first season, or an overarching storyline to top that freshman year's, but almost everything else felt intelligent and sublime. It's quite slow, but it's also graceful and elegantly written, with some fantastic performances and the era expertly reproduced. [read reviews]
2. Breaking Bad, seasons 1 & 2I'm including both seasons because they aired within days of each other on Five USA recently, and season 1 was truncated to a mere seven episodes because of the US writers' strike. Together, both seasons comprise a brilliant human drama about an underachieving high school chemistry teacher who decides to become a drug lord in a misguided effort to provide for his family after he's diagnosed with potentially terminal cancer. Bryan Cranston is superb in the lead as Walter White, but there's fine support from Aaron Paul as his unruy dropout sidekick and Dean Norris as Walt's gruff brother-in-law. The painful thing about Breaking Bad is how badly it's been treated by Five, who aired season 2 on consecutive nights over Christmas around midnight. Absolutely shameful, particularly because the primetime outpit of the channel is, let's face it, dross. Do yourself a favour -- buy the box-set. Now. [read reviews]
1. Lost, season 5I know, I'm predictable. But it's my favourite show and will remain so until it's off-air, so expect another #1 ranking when I summarize 2010 (unless something goes seriously wrong with the final season this year.) Season 5 was actually worse than the excellent fourth season, mainly because I wasn't a fan of the split narratives -- with one storyline being told in flashback (covering the missing three years since the end of season 4), one storyline set in the '70s (with half the cast there as part of the DHARMA Initiative), and the present-day storyline focusing on Ben and Locke in the present. But, once again, the writers somehow made it all work, and there was a definite sense of the entire mythology continuing to find form and focus. Setting an end-date really did do wonders for the show, which a few other shows could learn from. So, for all its faults, if you've made it to season 5 and you've embraced the overt sci-fi nature (a light-year away from the simple island survival drama we started with, no?), then how can you not be entertained and psyched for the concluding year of mystery? [read reviews]
