Best Shows of 08...

Never to be out done by my colleague thought I would weigh in on my own personal choices for the best shows of 2008.

07. 30 Rock- I love this show because it is the comedy show where the writers and characters are more worried about whats funny, than trying to make great serious compassionate storylines with sympathetic characters. Lets face it, I'm watching this show just to hear clever jokes, funny scenes, and ridicuolous characters which is what exactly this show brings. Reminds me of a good Marx Brothers film going "Yeah we could bombard you with serious stories, humanistic but odd characters and try to resolve issues at the end while being goofy ("cough scrubs") but I think we'll just make you chuckle a bit." And Tina Fey is the first woman since Gilda Radner that can make me laugh out loud, and thats saying a lot. Best character though is Will Arnett: "No we're not GE anymore Jack, it's just G now, I sold the E to Samsung, their Samesung now...I was supposed to be in Conneticut 4 hours ago, which way is easy??"

06. The Shield- I've been watching this show since I was 12, every episode every Tuesday since it's be on and I am finally seeing the end of it all. And this is one of the few dramas that always delivers. Great camera work, perfect acting, gritty dark realism of the streets where the American dream no longer exists, and Vic Mackey the ulitmate in conflicting character. Hes as good as he is bad and vice versa. The strike team is finally being brought down, but all I'm curious about is...could this be the end of Vic??

05. The Daily Show- This show is what America needs, their funny, their smart, their original, their up-to-date on politcs, granted it would be better if they were less liberaly bias and took on both sides. But when these guys find something to riff on "The Bailout Bill, The McCain rallies, The Obama-McCain crowds acting as if this election will destory the world" Their right on target and damn funny too. This is and always will be Jon Stewart's show, especially since he lost Colbert and Carrell, but he found a witty counterpoint in the British John Oliver who brillantly has just been using his high form of satire perfectly. Favorite Line from John: "Oh god this election is over! I haven't been home in two years, I hope someone remembered to feed my cat...Meowgret Scratcher." But Stewart still has my all time favorite "So...today what do you wanna do...discuss the economic market, while this election pulls our country in halves, while we sit here and chuckle at Sarah Palin's latest wink. Well guess what i don't fuckin feel like talking about that right now."

04. Arrested Development. Yeah I know it's off the air!!! But it's still better than 90 percent of the shit we are forced to shovel down as television these days. So it gets a place on this list! You don't like it...while Annyong to you!

03. Pushing Daisies. I'm a fan of anything that will be basically go, whats a boring old type of show we've seen time and time and time again. A: Murder mystery. Oh...well what if the show had Dr Seuss gadgets, colors from the wizard of Oz, a dark undertone to it, some of the best writers on television, and just an oddness to it we haven't seen since Twin Peaks??
I won't watch that...
Neither has most of America sadly but Pushing Daisies is one of the most original shows I have ever seen, its smart, completely different than anything else you will see on any tv station and a cast that is so (god forgive me for saying this word) quirkly perfect that you for once can just sit in, watch something just fun and entertaining and remember theres nothing wrong with entertainment when it's this well done.

02. Doctor Who. It's got the doctor, it's got Donna, it's got robots, it's got british humor, it's got a gigantic sci-fi epic ending, it's been on for nearly 45 years. WATCH IT!
Q: There's a man here...say's hes a doctor....
Scientist: Of medicine?
Q: Of everything

02. The Office- This is the best show on American basic cable. It's also probably the first and only time we've taken a British show and made it better. This show could not have a better cast, everyone is not great but perfect in their roles, their all funny in their own unique way, it's not like Friends where everyone is basically the same and we laugh at the same joke, no one is exactly alike and you can easily identify their personalities after a few words. What makes this season so great though is how smart the writers have been, they've given Michael less episodes revolving around him, hes funny as hell but too much can be too much, instead of using Jim and Pam and their relationship as the basis of every episode and doing the Scrubs thing where they make-up, break-up, ever few days, they smartly made them seal the deal, showed the audience these are people who really love each other, and BAM used their other cast members. No other show can be that smart, they took the lesser known funny characters and bulked em up to main characters which is great because those guys are already so funny. But don't be discouraged there is still plenty of Jim and Dwight. American Comedy...thy name is the Office
Pam over a phone: Ohhh cool shoes
Jim Answering her: How many shoes do you need
Dwight un-aware he's talking to Pam: I Dunno, 2, 3 if one wares out...

01. Sons of Anarchy. How do they do it? How does FX always manage to have the best, original, shows on television, they have had decent (The Riches, Testees, Nip/Tuck), Good (It's always sunny in philly, Rescue Me,) Great (The Shield, Damages) but this is far and away the high water mark of this network. The show could not be more riveting or funny. Every character is a bad ass but human, not like or their so senstive and emotional FUCK THAT!, these are real tough guys, loyal to their family and friends, but not afraid to throw a punch and than wine about it later. The names of the characters just spell out cool...Jacks, Bobby Elvis, Opie, Tigs, Jenna, and The King...Clay Morrow.(Sounds like someone who could share the piss out of the devil) But above all else the stories are always compelling and interesting, the lines are funny yet never feel like they are script written, the characters are all played perfectly. This show is the best thing on television. Nothing even compares to it. This show is so good I say it late on wednedays and come late to parties just to catch the full episode. If this show gets another season...sign me up as A son cause I wanna go along for the full ride.