Top 10 TV Shows of the Decade

I know there have been some fantastic shows this decade that deserve to be on this list, but I’ve kept it to shows I’ve actually watched completely.

10. Dexter
This show won me over just reading its premise. A killer with heart? Like House, except he’s a murderer instead of an asshole. The constant plot twists the writers come up with are great, and they constantly challenge themselves by putting Dexter into strange situations and forcing the character to deal with other people. I love how dedicated the writers are to creating engaging, original story-lines that draw people in. Also, the marketing campaigns for this show are some of the best I’ve seen.

9. Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
Ferguson is better than any late night talk show host out there, including Letterman, Leno, Conan O’Brien. Why he hasn’t been promoted yet is beyond me. He’s hilarious, his interviews with guests are genuinely entertaining (none of that pre-scripted BS on certain other talk shows), he’s intelligent, he’s a writer, and who can resist his fantastic accent?

8. The Daily Show/The Colbert Report
I hate lumping these two together because they are two very different shows, but I usually watch them together, one after the other. What I love about them both is how unflinchingly honest they are about pretty much everything. Both Stewart and Colbert have no qualms about pointing out failings in any political party, which is more than most regular news stations can say. The result is the most accurate view of the political landscape to be found on TV. I’d vote for either Stewart or Colbert for president.

7. How I Met Your Mother
This is the only sitcom that has managed to get me watching regularly. Originally I was only watching for Neil Patrick Harris as Barney Stinson, a womanizing jerk, but gradually I began to love the other characters as well. Ted’s pretentious doucheiness has been getting a lot more endearing lately, as have Marshall and Lily, who’s relationship is almost sickeningly sweet. The show is known for making details only mentioned in passing in past episodes the focal points of later episodes, which I love. While the show has been faltering a bit this season, I have faith that the writers will get back to the original story, which is Ted telling his kids the story of how he came to meet their mother.

6. House
I put this on here mainly because of Hugh Laurie’s starring role as Gregory House, M.D.  He is, in my opinion, one of if not THE best actor working on TV right now. It could have been so easy to just make the character a grumpy asshole and be done with it, but what Laurie’s done is add layers to the character. He’s a flawed person, but he has heart. That, I think, is what keeps people watching. The season 5 opener, with House serving a sting in a psychiatric hospital, was one of the best episodes of TV I’ve EVER seen and just proves why Laurie is the one that carries the show. Special mention goes to Robert Sean Leonard, who plays House’s best friend Wilson and plays so well off Laurie that you get the feeling half of their dialogue on the show has been ad-libbed.

5. 24
One of the most revolutionary shows of the decade, both for its content and its format. Each episode takes place in “real” time, meaning that the events of every episode span 60 minutes’ time, adding up to 24 hours in a day in the life of Jack Bauer. Aside from engaging lead Kiefer Sutherland, the show has a knack for picking fantastic guest stars and supporting actors, and arrived just when America’s interest in terrorism had peaked (around the time of 9/11).

4. Chuck
Like Firefly, Chuck is a great blend of two genres: comedy and drama. The titular character is that everyday guy, kinda nerdy but really nice, and is played by Zach Levi to perfection. The other two main characters, Sarah (Chuck’s main love interest, played by Yvonne Strahovski) and Casey (played by Adam Baldwin, a Firefly alumn!) play off Chuck well. It’s one of the smartest shows on TV, and the constant geeky references and fantastic musical choices make this show one of my favorites of all time.

(the next three shows are pretty much tied; tough to rank them because of how different they are.)

3. Mad Men
To be honest, it took a while to get into this show, and I originally kept watching just for the great fashion (whoever is the costume designer on the show deserves a HUGE raise). I soon realized, though, that this was only because Mad Men is not a plot-based show at all. It’s all about the characters, and is so realistic that it can drag sometimes, as real life so often does, and gets very uncomfortable to watch at some points. Lead Jon Hamm, playing advertising exec Don Draper, is fantastic, as is January Jones as his wife Betty Draper, Elizabeth Moss as Peggy, and my favorite, Christina Hendricks commanding the screen as Joan Holloway. It’s the characters that eventually engaged me in the show, and it very quickly became must-watch TV.

2. Firefly
Sadly short-lived but still beloved by many (it’s in the Top 20 bestselling DVD’s on Amazon.com, years after it concluded its run), this is the sci-fi show to beat them all. Joss Whedon constructed an entirely new universe (the ‘verse, as the characters call it), incorporating Asian, Western, and sci-fi elements into it and creating something brand new but familiar at the same time. I think that’s because, as he himself has said many times, the show was about real people going through the common things that real people do; getting jobs, making money, and trying to live with each other. The space ships and different planets are merely a distraction and make for some pretty backgrounds while the show dealt with more pressing character issues. Also, no bad CGI aliens is always a plus.

LOST
Probably the best sci-fi show on TV right now, LOST has dared to go where no other sci-fi show has gone before in many areas. Through five consistently great seasons, it has experimented shamelessly with its format (present-day interspersed with flashbacks and later in the show, flashforwards), killed off much-beloved characters for the sake of story, and the cinematography (the show is shot on location in Hawaii) and musical score by Michael Giacchino (Star Trek, Up) just contribute to the show’s overall appeal. It’s the characters, however, that make the show what it is and not just another sci-fi show. One of the only TV shows that has gotten me to cry, and that’s mainly because of how attached I’ve become to so many of the characters (see: finale, Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).