The 2006 retrospection continues, but I won't make this a long 'un as we have far more important shit to discuss. Never the less, seeing how TV currently ranks barely one notch lower than gaming on Dig's rung o' "shit to waste stupid amounts of time with every week", I had to dedicate a little space to what rocked and what flopped last year. Well actually, just what rocked.
Needless to say, I refer solely to American shows broadcast over the - ahem - internet preview channel here, as opposed to home-grown UK showings lagging six months behind. Expect mild spoilers of course, but nowt too big, I promise...
10. LOST
What I proclaimed my fave show of 2005 on last year's
list unfortunately slumped all the way down to the bottom of the barrel for 2006. After a superb start, the "tailies" subplot degenerated into arse, while one-too-many flashback-tainted filler eps bored us in its wake. As a result, LOST went from edge-of-the-seat brilliance of head-fuck proportions...to just another mediocre sci-fi show. Still, Desmond's fantastic season finale reminded us why we still watch this sucker in the first place, and the more recent introduction of super hot Julia in season 3 at least now gives us something to visually eye-fuck amidst the illustrious shark jumping.
9. Scrubs
While not quite the best year yet in Scrubs-ville, '06 still provided a selection of truly decent stand-out eps to rival the very best. One in particular titled "My Lunch" really hit the mark, in which an unwitting Dr Cox accidentally killed a room full of patients with a missed diagnosis. As bumbling attending J.D., Zach Braff continues to prove a comic goldmine here though, mixing hilarious banter with the most ludicrous physical nonsense you've ever seen, while Janitor, Turk, Elliot and good old Coxy provide more than ample back-up for his tomfoolery. Its recent return for a sixth season may not have gone down particularly well in Dig's various circles so far, but fuck the haters, Scrubs has still got the goods in my book. Episode two of this new batch in fact, was quite possibly the funniest 20 minutes of the year, with a relentless onslaught of top class zingers that proved, even after all these years, this greatest of ensemble casts ain't slowing down.
8. Arrested Development
In my eyes, 2006 will forever mark the year Fox killed off the greatest sitcom ever made. Rewatching the hilariously over-the-top saga of the Bluth family from beginning to end over Christmas, just outright solidified this work of genius as the greatest slab of comedy ever for me. There's just so much packed into every episode, I swear to god you miss half the gags in your first 10 viewings. Arrested unfortunately went out on its least impressive season by a long shot, that all said - one complete with ludicrously over the top British sub-plot that I couldn't even begin to recount if I tried, and some all-too-iffy cameos to boot. Once such whack-ness disappeared at the dawn of '06 however - and the focus of the show returned to those we love to hate - perfection flourished. The final run of five in fact, were true highpoints of modern television, and if you never got on board the weird and wonderful world of the Bluths back when they needed you most, all three DVD sets require an insta-purchase
now.
7. Veronica Mars
The ever-enjoyable, yet somewhat convoluted season two of Veronica Mars wrapped up superbly in early 2006 - including an oh-my-fucking-god ending to rival the very best - but it's actually season three's more recent run of nine episodes that impressed me most. Veronica's tussle with a rapist amidst her first year at college rocked hard, with her on-going life as a teenager-turned private detective growing ever more intriguing the darker and more twisted it gets. Kristen Bell continues to show the world why she is the most entertaining actress of her generation (even if her recent Assassin's Creed comments were a little - er -
misguided), and you just know I so totally would. Still.
6. Rescue Me
I'm embarrassed to say that in spite of being now three years old, it was only these past few months where I finally discovered this unquestionably fab series about the life of a New York fire-fighting crew. It's always kinda cool to get on board a show a fair bit into its lifecycle like this though, thus blazing through a good 30 episodes sequentially in less than a week, and in that short time alone Rescue Me managed to turn itself into one of Dig's all-out fave shows of the year. More than anything, its sheer balls make it shine. While paying homage to these bravest of men - exposing the inner workings of a fire-fighter in the post 9/11 world in which many of their friends sadly died - it then flips that concept on its head just as often by then showing 'em to be alcoholic, racist, homophobic pricks. Our antihero Tommy Gavin for instance, even took a somewhat shocking detour into the world of rape this year. And yet in spite of all this, it's still one of the funniest damn shows on the box. Utterly, utterly ace.
5. The Shield
What Rescue Me is to the fire department, you could say The Shield is to the boys in blue. My love for this most gritty of cop shows has only grown from year to year, but one couldn't help but notice this past season was
particularly good, even by its own standards. The introduction of Forest Whitaker - playing Internal Affairs investigator Kavanaugh, hot on the trail of crooked Vic and his band of cohorts - made for ultra compelling viewing, almost impossibly bettering itself each and every week without fail. The sheer impact of that final episode - especially a certain Lem versus Shane showdown - marked a true emotional highpoint in any show this past year in fact, and the depression of knowing the series as a whole is next to over is offset pleasingly by the fact that...well, in just a month or three we get to see how it all fucking ends.
4. 24
Another show at the absolute top of its game in 2006, 24 is the one that - perhaps more than any other show ever - refuses to grow complacent. Wiping out regular cast members as if they were Star Trek "red-shirts" - while constantly rejuvenating its overall premise at a moment's notice - you never know just where the fuck you're heading next in 24 land. As the cast of this most riotous of counter-terrorism shows continued to be whittled down to worryingly slender numbers in its 5th season, I'd be lying if I said I didn't get a major lump in my throat seeing fave after fave drop from the radar in continually more gory ways. It was like watching your friends die, one by one. The introduction of Robocop himself as arch-villain Christopher Henderson made it all the more enjoyable though - the one man able to mutter the words, "WHERE'S BAUER!" better than perhaps any other human being alive - and a nemesis who, at ever so long last, finally proved the worthy match for Jack he's needed all these years. Season 6 starts back up this weekend in the States too incidentally, and having just watched the opening four episodes already, I have to say...I can't believe they fucking did that...
3. Dexter
Not just one of the better debuts for 2006...but quite simply one of the flat-out coolest shows full stop. Dexter tells the tale of the titular Dexter Morgan, a crime solving forensic expert dealing mainly in blood. The twist of course being, he's actually a serial killer himself by night. No regular psychopath though, Dexter flavours his kills with more of a vigilante twist. He'll hunt down paedophiles, murderers and those who beat the system...then dish out his own brand of Dexter justice in the process. It usually involves strapping 'em to a trolley and sawing various body parts off. With Six Feet Under's Michael C. Hall playing Dexter himself - worryingly spot-on I might add - the character proves immediately likeable in spite of all this, and diving into just why he is the way he is, and how he does the things he does proves deliciously perverse stuff. Although his co-stars and characters don't quite match up to the expert standard set by Dexter himself, his introductory tale still went down as one of the most gripping weekly hours on the box. As an anti-Patrick Bateman of sorts, Dexter's probably the closest we'll ever see to an "American Psycho - The TV show".
2. Heroes
As far as brand new offerings go however, Dexter was beaten to the punch in 2006 by this most truly stunning of genre shows. Heroes started off positively
awful in its pilot episode - a plodding and dull introduction I'd rather soon forget - but stick with the sucker I say, because almost immediately it ramps up into undoubtedly one of
the best hour-longs around. A super compelling, if somewhat minimal take on a comic book tale brought to TV land, Heroes follows a bunch of gifted humans on the verge of developing super human abilities. While avoiding the "lasers shooting from eyes" kinda stuff of X-Men in favour of more, well, affordable powers like time-travelling and mind-reading (this is TV, after all), the subsequent tale of said humans dealing with their new-found powers and deciding how to put them to good use proves gobsmackingly thrilling, yet totally different to anything else out there. With a mammoth cast of characters covering the entire spectrum of ages and backgrounds, some end up more watchable than others of course. Superhuman cheerleader Claire's regular brushes with death prove riotous, while bitchy stripper Niki's tale of Hulk-like split personalities bores, but the show as a whole holds together remarkably well in spite of this, and as a nice bonus...Gil's crazy Japanese clone is in it too. Do not miss.
1. Battlestar Galactica
 | | Forget the old cheddar-fest from the late '70s, new skool Battlestar includes barely a handful of resemblances, instead a far more mature re-telling that uses sci-fi allegories to shine worryingly relevant light on more recent world events like the war on terror. It also has hotties |
|
I hear you laughing. That's the sound of someone who's never watched a single episode of Battlestar in his life though, as once you do, it'll all make sense. This show is
amazing. A sci-fi tale of spaceships, epic battles and killer robots trying to wipe-out humanity it may be, but Battlestar is one that handles such topics about as far off the beaten path as you've ever seen before. Believe it or not, this is the most intelligent and adult-centric program on the box right now.
It never panders to the audience. It never preaches. It never resorts to cheese. It's just gripping, dark, fucked-up and edgy viewing, incomparably better than pretty much any high-profile film of recent years, let alone TV show. Most impressive of all is its ability to weave the most controversial of modern day topics - everything from religion, to abortion, to suicide bombing and the war in Iraq - into its most preposterous of futuristic settings, thus grounding them in a worrying reality that feels a hell of a lot closer to home than you'd like to think.
Battlestar is an all-too rare show that never, ever falters thanks to inspired concepts like this, and I can honestly say I've yet to see a single dud episode. It's just so ridiculously god damn entertaining every single week, I always end up feeling somewhat dumped each time its latest run ends and the sucker retreats off-air into hibernation. This comes complete with withdrawal symptoms, regular vomitus, and the flinging of faeces into walls. If it's possible to physically love a TV show - even without an all too precious orifice - I do so with Battlestar. Inspired stuff, sir.
Extra special mentions that I just couldn't squeeze into the above list also go out to the Hollywood flavoured Entourage, just as good as its ever been last year, the American take on Ricky Gervais' The Office, which quite possibly overtook its UK counterpart with more recent eps, and lastly but most certainly not least, good old ER. A show that 13 years in, still has the ability to pump out captivating, well written drama that - in spite of perhaps not quite matching up to them golden years of Greene, Carter and Cloonedog - still draws me back every damn week without fail.
And that ain't counting your Family Guys and your South Parks of course, but hey, you knew they rocked already, no? "Alright Time Child, we've filled your end of the bargain. Now return with us to Otter Bay!"
Classic.
