Everyone’s sick of end of year lists but how can I not do one on my favorite TV shows of 2007? I always find these lists hard to do because 12 months is a really long time and we watch a LOT of TV. I wish I could prepare enough ahead of time to write up some great “moments” that stand out but let’s be honest… I don’t get paid to do this so that’s not gonna happen.
Regardless, the end of the 2006-2007 season provided lots of thrills and even a few tears. The 2007-2008 season started off so promising but as we all know, many shows just didn’t live up to the hype and the WGA Strike has kind of killed any hope of making this a banner year for television. So what did I choose? Did I pick a previous favorite that ended last May? Did I give a sophmore series about superheroes another nod? Did those Housewives make a showing after being off the list for so many years? Here goes.
Ducky’s Favorite TV of 2007:
30 ROCK I was late jumping on the 30 Rock train but once I gave it a chance late last winter, I instantly fell in love. 30 Rock is the successor to Arrested Development and I actually may love it even more. Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin together are impossibly brilliant and the supporting cast only add to the mayhem and madness. Highlights: Season 1’s “I love NY in springtime” moment, Season 2’s return of Will Arnett, “Me Want Food” and “Gay for Jamie“.
CHUCK Chuck Bartowski, how I love you! The funniest thing about Chuck is that GMMR and I had seen the pilot probably 10 times before we hit Comic-Con where Zac Levi and crew got a superheroes reception from the geek gala. I don’t know that the show has lived up to my expectations but I can’t say that I don’t love watching it every week. There’s an inherent sweetness to this action-comedy that makes me squee. Zachary Levi and Yvonne Strahovski are magnificent together and anytime Adam Baldwin gets to be a smartass, I’m on board. So sad that the WGA Strike put an end to our enjoyment of the Nerd Herd! Highlights: The Pilot, Chuck and Lou, Captain Awesome’s many skin shots, and the return of Bryce Larkin.
DAMAGES Week after week this intense drama built to a shockingly graphic climax and it kept me guessing every step of the way. Glenn Close, Rose Byrne and Ted Danson delivered crazy intense performances for 13 weeks, proving that summer is not for the lazy brainless reality shows any longer. It was great interviewing most of the cast this summer, it really made me realize how brilliant the writing of the show really is. Kudos to FX for sticking with Damages and granting us 2 more seasons. Highlights: The endless time shifting and the seemless togetheness of it all, Glenn Close’s reaction to Ray Fiske blowing his brains out, the closing moments on the dock.
DOCTOR WHO/TORCHWOOD The one-two punch of Doctor Who and Torchwood coupled with my going to Comic-Con made 2007 my geekiest year to date. Season 3 of Doctor Who was probably the best of the new series. While I loved and miss Rose, Martha was a great companion. Capt. Jack may have ended up on Who at the end of Season 3 but more importantly he kicked some demon ass all season on his own show, Torchwood. Harkness, Gwen, Ianto, Owen, and Tosh made their show so much more than a spin-off. Torchwood delivered thrills, chills, and tears and I cannot wait for it’s return early in 2008. Highlights:Who’s Donna the Runaway Bride, “Human Nature” and the scary intense weeping angels of “Blink”. Torchwood’s gayness, “Random Shoes” with Eugene, Billis the scariest wrinkled creepy since the Preacher Kane from Poltergeist.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS The Dillon Panthers won State, the audience won another season and all seemed great down there in Texas. Then poor Tyra and Landry had to dump a body in a river leading to the most interesting coupling the show could ever have concocted. Some balked at the stunt plotline but I welcomed it once I saw how unbelievable both Adrianne Palicki and Jessie Plemons would make their roles. The Taylors continued to bring one of the most realistic and beautiful families to television not to mention Connie Britton’s acting her ass off. Highlights: Winning State, Plemons acting, Santiago’s first moment in the game during “The Confession”… breathtaking.
LOST Say what you will about Season 3 of LOST but the addition of Juliet and the jump forward solidified the show as greatness in my book. While it took a bit to flesh out Ben’s backstory, Juliet’s arrival on the island, Mr. Friendly’s allegiance, and the involvement of the Whidmore’s it was all worth the wait. We got some great answers this season, some scary twists and turns, some great revelations, some wonderful death’s, and HELLO, the chaos surrounding who’s coming to the island in Season 4? Matthew Fox continued to bring anxiety and sadness to the role of Jack and it’s a damn shame he wasn’t nominated for something this year. I’m psyched for it’s return on January 31st! Highlights: The story of how Juliet came to the island, the death of Charlie, the flash-forward, and Patch!
MAD MEN Seriously, do I even need to explain why Mad Men is on the list? The acting, the writing, the art direction, the costuming, the genius? Another summer sleeper that rocked my socks! Highlights: Jon Hamm as Don Draper, any scene with Joan, the sadness of the era, Don Draper’s carousel pitch.
PUSHING DAISIES The facts are these: Lee Pace, Anna Friel, Kristin Chenoweth and Chi McBride are my favorite finds of 2007. Bryan Fuller created a vivid, magical world I didn’t realize was missing from making my life complete until it slapped me in the face. My favorite pilot of 2007 led to stalking Fuller and Co. at Comic-Con, creating a fansite called ThePieMaker.com, and landed me on the Red Carpet interviewing these great talents. What a summer and fall leading up to the premiere of Pushing Daisies. This show makes me beyond happy and I cannot wait for its return in 2008. Highlights: The pilot, Ellen Greene, the musical numbers, Ned & Chuck, Bryan Fuller and Lee Pace recognizing me on the red carpet with hugs all around. Swoon…
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE I have to include SYTYCD because seriously could there have been a bigger obsession all summer long? Sure I loved Damages and Mad Men but sweet lord did it not compare to my lunacy over Neil Haskell and the rest of the dancers on SYTYCD. Highlights: Neil and Sabra’s boardroom brawl, Cat Deeley’s flawless hosting, Mary Murphy’s continued screaming, Wade Robson’s increased involvement, Debbi Allen and Shankman, backstage on tour.
SUPERNATURAL Love those Winchester’s. In a year that saw Sammy go real dark, the demise of YED, and a soul searching Dean, how can I not love Supernatural? The end of Season 2 was a wild wild ride but the beginning of Season 3 proved that this show is not and will not be stereotyped. Broadening the horizons of the demon world has suited the show nicely. Sure the addition of Ruby and Bela has been problematic for some but I can overlook that because the suspense and the gore has increased! Highlights:Visiting the set last May, blood and more blood, Supernatural:Origins comics, the return of Gordon.
The rest of the best:Battlestar Galactica, Big Bang Theory, Brothers & Sisters, Gossip Girl, How I Met Your Mother, Project Runway, Psych, The Closer, The Office, Top Chef and the end of Veronica Mars.
Should be on the list but isn’t for one reason or another: Dexter (never finished Season 2 because we got rid of Showtime but I’m dying to see the rest), Bones (just got addicted so I felt it couldn’t be added just yet – though let it be known that I’m obsessed), Dirty Sexy Money (something just isn’t right just yet, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love it).
Have a safe and Happy New Year! Looking forward to a wonderful and hopefully television filled 2008.
Oceanic Airlines, grounded since the plane crash in 2004 that left “no survivors” has finally hit the friendly skies again. Whether you need to fly your dead father’s corpse back to the states or transport a fugitive for blowing up her Father, Oceanic is your airline.
Starting today, December 31st, Oceanic will begin service to 9 markets (Los Angeles, Calif., Tustin, Calif., Ames, Iowa, Miami, Fla., New York, NY, Portland, Ore., Knoxville, Tenn., Seoul, South Korea and Sydney, Australia).
“We are very eager to resume flying and apologize for any inconvenience temporary closure may have caused our loyal customers,” said Michael. Oceanic Airlines. “Oceanic Airlines is proud to be a top tier flight provider to providing travelers with many more years of unparalleled service.”
USA Today is reporting that NBC won’t let threats from the WGA and Actors spoil their planned festivities for the January 13th telecast of the Golden Globes.
NBC said Sunday that it would air the Golden Globes Awards as scheduled Jan. 13, despite plans by striking Writers Guild of America members to picket the Los Angeles ceremony. The planned pickets sparked fears that nominees would boycott the ceremony and hurt ratings and led to early discussions about canceling the broadcast of the annual movie and TV awards given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Actors also have been leery about appearing on late-night talk shows affected by the strike.
Question though, how fun can the awards be if half the actors nominated don’t show up?
STRIKE TV is an internet based channel that will be showcasing original content from working professionals in the TV and Film industries in hopes of raising money for the Writers Guild Foundation Industry Support Fund, assisting non-WGA members, including IATSE and Teamsters affected by the strike.
To learn more about Strike TV head on over to their MySpace page where you can learn how WGA members can contribute and also how you can participate on January 9th.
It’s New Year’s Eve which means I’ll be in bed by 12:01 a.m. — whoo-hoo! Yeah, I’m increasingly more smug and old manish on New Year’s Eve. When I was a kid my parents would always have a huge party so it was great fun. When I was old enough to celebrate it with friends, it was a bunch of hardcore kids, a cactus accident, and no booze as all of us were straight-edge. Well, a decade or so later and I’m still not going to toast the new year with a drink so it’s kind of lost it’s luster.
I’ll probably head downtown for the parade and the “family” fireworks (over by 7:10 p.m.) and then head back home where I pray noone in my building is having a party so I can settle in to watch Cat Deeley, Strokey Clark, and some others until it’s time for me to say goodnight to 2007.
Remember back in the day when MTV had the best New Year’s Eve show ever? It was a huge countdown of the best videos of the year, then a huge party with a bunch of amazing artists performing. The best always being the alternative bands performing covers of 80s tunes just after the stroke of midnight. MTV’s gotten increasingly shitty so at most in recent years I’ve popped over for a second or two, enough to know I hate every one of their on air “talents” and enough to know that I hate almost every “artist” out there today.
This year we have even less to look forward to on MTV as that whore Tila Tequila basically has the night to her skanky self. Then add Perez, Kid Rock and Good Charlotte… hold on while I jump up and down looking for rope to hang myself with. How Mary J. got hooked into this telecast is beyond me. Girl, get out while you can. Tila Tequila’s New Year’s Eve Masquerade 2008 (11 pm/MTV)
Ex-MTV goldenboy Carson Daly is back on NBC with Alicia Keys and Lenny Kravitz. Project Runway’s recent dress form Tiki Barber is a correspondent. I don’t care for the newish waifish Carson Daly nor Alicia Keys… and is it New Years 1995 because I know Lenny Kravitz hasn’t had a hit in at least 10 years. New Year’s Eve with Carson Daly (11:35 pm/NBC) (more…)
Late Night could get funny again, well funnier than reruns at least. It looks like World Wide Pants (owning both Letterman and Craig Ferguson’s Late Late Show) has successfully worked out a new deal with the WGA which will allow their shows to return with their writers.
According to TVGuide:
World Wide Pants has made a deal with the Writers Guild of America that will allow both Late Show and Late Late Show to resume production Wednesday with their respective writing staffs on board.
Helping make this special consideration possible is the fact that Letterman’s World Wide Pants owns both talkers and as such — and until Friday — had been working out a deal with the WGA.
“This is a comprehensive agreement that addresses the issues important to writers, particularly new media,” the WGA says in a statement. “Worldwide Pants has accepted the very same proposals that the Guild was prepared to present to the [AMPTP] when they walked out of negotiations on Dec. 7. Today’s agreement dramatically illustrates that the Writers Guild wants to put people back to work, and that when a company comes to the table prepared to negotiate seriously a fair and reasonable deal can be reached quickly.”
David Letterman also issued a statement, saying, “We’re happy to be going back to work, and particularly pleased to be doing it with our writers. This is not a solution to the strike, which unfortunately continues to disrupt the lives of thousands. But I hope it will be seen as a step in the right direction.”
The pressure is now (conceivably) on other late-night hosts to follow suit, and the WGA has already called out one in particular: “It’s time for NBC Universal to step up to the plate and negotiate a company-wide deal that will put Jay Leno, who has supported our cause from the beginning, back on the air with his writers.”
Spotted: A Boston TV Blogger exiting his not so posh dentists office and boarding public transportation of all things. Arriving at his humble abode, said TV Blogger found a beautiful red and orange package on his doorstep. What’s inside? I’ll never tell.
xoxo — Gossip Girl
I just got home from the dentist where I found out I’m going to be needing a crown because I chipped the corner of my tooth off today while having lunch… on hummus (don’t ask, I couldn’t tell you how in a million years) to find the next two episodes of GOSSIP GIRL at my doorstep!
Make that THE LAST TWO EPISODES OF GOSSIP GIRL! Yup, that’s right — there are only two more episodes before Josh Schwartz and crew ran dry of their pre-WGA Strike scripts.
On January 2nd, “School Lies” will air and the final episode (of the probable season) “A Thin Line Between Chuck and Nate” will air the following week, January 9th.
Are Guilty Pleasures really that guilty? Sure every TV lover/blogger out there has a red headed bastard stepchild of a show on their DVR that they don’t talk about but is probably one of their favorite shows to watch week after week. I for the most part, freely wave my guilty pleasure flag high and proud so some of my picks for 2007 should come as no surprise.
While ideally some of these shows could easily be in my Favorite TV Shows of 2007, I would feel guilty giving some other shows their due, so these shows got pushed to the Guilty Pleasures list.
Ducky’s Favorite Guilty Pleasures of 2007
Gossip Girl This is one that could almost make my Top 10 of 2007 but when I sit right down and think of it, I love the show for its cheesy elements and not because its moving, breath taking television. Blair is one of my favorite television characters of the last 5 years and she makes the show worth watching each and every week. I heart Gossip Girl (no one question that) and it’s glam-bam-thank-you-ma’am approach to teen melodrama. Long live these Upper East Siders.
The Hills I could kiss Lauren Conrad, Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt for making my Monday night’s a delicious overdose of hell in a Prada handbag. The minute the theme song kicks in every week I’m delighted to be watching television. Whitney’s wise friendship, Lo’s catchphrases, Elodie screwing Heidi over, and Justin Bobby. The bitching, the fighting, the partying, and the drama (so much drama) makes The Hills a huge improvement over it’s predecessor Laguna Beach. As a bonus, this show has the best After Show in the history of television.
Kyle XY I know, I know… this is another legit show. But really, it’s an ABC Family show so it’s yet to officially become legit. It has some cheesy production values, and is at times so saccharine it could choke a horse but that doesn’t mean I don’t love my bellybutton-less friend and those darn Tragers. The show has really tried to become more adult this season and the ongoing storylines about the origins of Kyle and Jessi are pretty good. They’ve even managed to incorporate some gayness to the show (and no I’m not talking about Matt Dallas) with the introduction of Andi and her yet unseen lesbian Moms. Can’t wait for it’s return in 2008.
Flavor of Love Girls’ Charm School I grew to love these wretched skankbags that Mo’nique tried her damndest to class up. I never watched Flavor of Love so each of these characters were semi-new to me. Sure I’d seen some of the debauchery on The Soup but I got to know and appreciate each of these worthless human beings through Charm School. The scheming, the backstabbing, and a little growth actually put this show on a higher level than it’s brother and sister shows. Here’s to hoping for more Charm School in 2008.
America’s Most Smartest Model This is the reality show that should have failed miserably yet succeeded in surpassing every expectation I had for it. It took the best and worst of reality shows and made modelling and academia sexy again. Andre was hands down one of the best reality personalities of 2007 and to be frank, Mary Alice is the sexiest bitch on television.
The question of the morning is whether or not Alec Baldwin hates the WGA Negotiators as much as he hates his pig headed daughter.
In Baldwin’s latest Huffington Post blog, he ponders a new negotiation team, the impact of the DGA Strike, and the difference between supporting the troops while hating the war (or the WGA Strike equivalent).
Supporting the WGA while losing faith in this particular “team” of negotiators are two different things. (Kind of like loving your country even while it’s been overrun by a cabal of trust-fund fascists who have Jesus’ private cell phone number.) Calling a strike is sometimes a necessary thing.
Having the wisdom and guts and talent to get it over with expeditiously is even more so. The current WGA negotiators do not represent the best hope the WGA has right now and should be replaced. They should be replaced with more skillful negotiators.
Otherwise, the directors, who have typically fielded the most effective negotiators of the three guilds, will step in and, once again, school everyone. In our business, you start a strike knowing how to end it. Not when, but at least how. Otherwise, don’t strike.
Yeah yeah, I know this is a TV blog and all but I traditionally list my favorite music from the past year as we head into the big ball drop. Looking at my music choices this year, I’m getting old and normal. It’s sad to me. Gone are the days of hardcore bands and screamo. Hello middle age.
SUPERNATURAL still has an episode or two in the can that will air at some point in 2008. Episode 3.09 “Malleus Maleficarum” does not have an airdate yet, repeat… DOES NOT have an airdate. I’ve seen the CW Schedule Press Release through the week of January 14th and it’s nothing but repeats. The minute we have an airdate I’ll let you know.
In the meantime, sit back and check out some pictures from “Malleus Maleficarum”
See, you mention American Gladiators and suddenly some Gladiators stuff ends up in your email box courtesy of NBC. I didn’t get any NBC box sets for Xmas, how sad. Let’s see if it works this time!
Here’s a really fun video celebrating the return of American Gladiators on NBC. I almost forgot Hulk Hogan was hosting this thing. I could do without that, no?
Have you ever wanted to be an American Gladiator? Well here’s your chance! Be A Gladiator let’s you pump it up! Send your old high school bully’s a screenshot of your new physique. Guaranteed to make the remainder of the holiday’s a treat for all.
Want to know which Gladiator used to be in Gay Porn? Probably not safe for work. Thanks to Tim G, we now know! What’s that say about Tim G.?
Tis the season… to be watching the DVD box sets you got for Christmas. Jesus Christ is there nothing on television these days. Luckily I got Seasons 1 & 2 of BONES so I’m good to go for a while. Seriously though, it’s quite depressing how little television there is that’s worth spending time on. Is it wrong that I’m kinda excited to see American Gladiators? I mean where else can you see men in bulging tight unitards wrasslin around with other men in bulging tight unitards? It’s a gay dream, I haven’t seen that much stuffed sausage since… wait, what?
Regardless, we should not forget that there is still a major work stoppage in Hollywood. It’s December 27th, Day 53 of the WGA Strike and while there’s not a whole heaping helping of stuff to report on, I thought I’d share some links and a great video.
First, here’s the video LIFE ON STRIKE which was originally produced for The Strike Show benefit. It’s cute and also has Ana Ortiz from UGLY BETTY (which sadly I did not get for Christmas so I still can’t catch up).
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