TV Feature: 10 Best Shows of 2010

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5. “Community” (NBC)

Community
Photo credit: NBC

At times, this was the funniest show on television (and there’s only one comedy above it on the list) thanks to increasingly-clever writing and one of the best ensemble performances on right now. Why aren’t you watching? Seriously. It’s starting to piss me off. I understand that the show is inanely up against the program that arguably has the most common demographic in CBS’s mega-hit “The Big Bang Theory,” but the ratings are still depressing. What’s great is that instead of seeing the lack of popular support as a hindrance or a reason to appeal to a lower common denominator, the writers of “Community” went the other way, getting more creative as 2010 went on. Episodes built around paintball (arguably the best half-hour of the year), a spoof of “Apollo 13,” blanket forts, stop-motion animation, and Professor Professorson — “Community” found new ways to make me laugh every week. And, as happens with great sitcoms, all of which throughout history feature great ensembles, my favorite character/actor changed every week. Today, it’s Alison Brie’s brilliant take on an innocent girl who likes to get her way. It could be Danny Pudi’s Abed again tomorrow. Or back to Joel McHale. It doesn’t matter. They’re all fantastic.

4. “The Pacific” (HBO)

The Pacific
Photo credit: HBO

One of the best mini-series of all time has added resonance by being a document of war that takes place while young men and women are fighting for their lives at the very moment that you read this. Who could possibly watch a young man wash his just-dead friend’s blood off his face with his canteen full of water and simply move on with his time in country and not think that perhaps complaints about the lines at Starbucks are a bit petty? “The Pacific” presented one of the most harrowing accounts of the impact of war in the history of film or television and it did so with production values more impressive than most feature films. As impressive in its scope as “Band of Brothers” and deserving mention next to any mini-series in the last several years, “The Pacific” is one of the few things that aired in 2010 that I can guarantee you will be watched for decades to come. Sadly, the theme that war is Hell is timeless.

3. “Lost” (ABC)

Lost
Photo credit: ABC

Here’s where I’ll probably lose some people who like to bitch about the series finale, which was fantastic. Yes, fantastic. As was the majority of the riveting final season of the best show of the ’00s. The complaints about the final season of “Lost” often don’t fully understand what they’re asking for through their bitching. The most common complaint is about the lack of answers to minor (and a couple major) questions from the first few years. A.) More questions were answered than you probably think if you really break it down, including all of the important ones. B.) Isn’t most of our best science fiction and fantasy filled with a few crucial unanswered questions? Did everything end with a period in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “The Dark Tower,” or even “The X-Files?” Of course not. If “Lost” had dotted every ‘i’ and crossed every ‘t,’ I would have been severely disappointed. They ended the series the way that a show about a time-traveling island should end — more thematically than literally. And they did so with honestly-moving emotion and fascinating philosophical turns. (The most baffling complaint about the finale had to be that it was too sentimental… what show were you watching for the last six seasons? “Lost” was always sentimental. Three words - pantomime peanut butter.) “Lost” is a program that often rekindled the flatlining concept of a “water cooler show” in that it regularly had people talking about what happened the night before all the way up to the end and beyond. I miss it already.

2. “Modern Family” (ABC)

Modern Family
Photo credit: ABC

The best comedy since “Arrested Development” continued to impress with the start of its second season. Just one small notch above “Community,” this is the best ensemble on television today and it’s only getting better in the new TV year. One of many joys this year has been watching the cast of “Modern Family” absolutely master the deadpan glance through the fourth wall. I’m not sure whose is the best — today it’s a dead heat between Ed O’Neill or Julie Bowen, who can both get a laugh with just a look. And picking a favorite cast member overall is getting harder and harder, sometimes from scene to scene. Take for example the last new episode of 2010 in which Ty Burrell and Ed O’Neill delivered one of the funniest scenes of the year in a mall security office only for it to be followed by an equal with Sofia Vergara and Julie Bowen in a high school bathroom. That’s what is so special about “Modern Family” — it’s constantly topping itself. And you never know who or where the next punchline is going to come from. But you’re going to laugh.

1. “Dexter” (SHO)

Dexter
Photo credit: Showtime

There was nothing more mesmerizing this year than the way in which the writing staff of “Dexter” dealt with the amazing decision that they made at the end of season four to essentially detonate a bomb in the lives of their characters. With amazing guest turns by the wonderfully-cast Julia Stiles, Peter Weller, and Jonny Lee Miller, “Dexter” surprised at every turn and not just with the natural twists of a thriller but in the way that it worked on so many levels. There was no program more riveting in terms of pure mystery/thriller, but the true reward of the best season of one of the best programs of the last decade was how it wrapped its themes around its mystery. As he attempted to deal with the grief of losing his wife, Dexter both found out that there were monsters significantly more disturbing than himself and, in his own way, created a monster of his own in a damsel-in-distress turned deadly, who also became the only person ever to truly know the depth of Dexter’s dark passenger. With the best work of Michael C. Hall’s amazing career balanced by a cast (especially the guests) who nearly matched him, there was nothing more immediate or riveting this year. Once again, it’s a program built around strong characters. It may have been a weak year overall for the medium, but, with characters like Dexter Morgan, Rick Grimes, Raylan Givens, Phil Dunphy, and Nucky Thompson coming back next year, there’s still reason for hope.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com