Grid Effect

Helluva holiday season this year, we’ve probably been fairly outgoing in the wake of this writer’s strike. And you know what? We don’t like it. Spending time with loved ones, discovering and experiencing new things the world has to offer is overrated if you ask us. Sitting down in front of the television for a five hour binge is generally just as exciting and far more relaxing. Anyhow, onto the rest of the year end review…

5) Extras
Only got better from season one to two and was capped off by an hour and half finale that was as sentimental and introspective as it was hysterical. A sharp turn for a series that’s only dramatic moment beforehand was concluded with a voice mail from Patrick Stewart offering the series’ female lead a role in a soft porn. If Extras taught us anything, it’s that British actors, on a wide scale, are much more self-deprecating than American actors. And that Gervais and Ashley Jensen could both make the transition to dramatic acting and not miss a beat.

4) South Park
Imaginationland! To be frank I couldn’t even remember anything else about the most recent stretch of episodes and had to look it up. There was a King of Kong parody, an oral sex episode that coincided with a mockery of Jesus Camp, a 300 parody, a Guitar Hero episode and several mediocre attempts. But the three part saga that was “Imaginationland” hit on every comedic element possible. From rehashing former characters to absurd scenarios to remarkable likenesses, Trey Parker and Matt Stone proved they still hit more often than they miss.

3) It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia
Sometimes they strive too hard to upset as many people as possible (much like their predecessors at #4) and it cuts into the comedic stylings. But, when it’s working it works better than any other comedy on television. The cast (including Danny DeVito) appears to feed off their apparent synergy more so than any other cast on television since Seinfeld as “the gang” disparages and destroys their lives and the lives of those who dare associate with them. After finishing their third and best season I think this spot is well deserved, if unpopular.

I’d probably rather cross Chris and Snoop.

2) Mad Men
If it wasn’t for the finale of arguably the greatest achievement in television history this probably would have claimed the top spot. Jon Hamm, Vincent Kartheiser and John Slattery (who was briefly in Charlie Wilson’s War getting brow beaten by Philip Seymour Hoffman, by the way) led the helm of an ensemble cast that’s second to none. Every remarkably imperfect character is capable of invoking sympathy at times and hatred at others, including the protagonist Donald Draper, whose mysterious background and unfolded tale kept the summer television season worthwhile. The atmospheric has paved the way for a new style of television as it focuses on every intricate detail of the life during 1960. All we have to say is the editing team is probably underpaid.

1) The Sopranos
What else is there to say that hasn’t been said? The final scene has been rehashed and debated ad nauseum and in some ways diminished the brilliance of the final nine episodes. From a critical standpoint, the concluding half season of this series is probably the best run they produced (we’d still make a case for the fifth season, but that’s a different post) over the eight years it was on and left the series on an ambiguous high note, probably the only appropriate manner for David Chase to end it on.

That’s it for 2007, happy new years!