Top 25 TV Shows of 2014 (Part 2)

Numbers 25-16 (  Which can be seen HERE )  on my list were some shows i really loved, which should speak volumes of what i think these next shows.

If you couldn't find something to watch on TV in 2014, then you really just weren't trying hard enough.  This easily the deepest year in television programming in my memory, and this list could have easily been a top 50.  With new entries from the likes of Amazon, Netflix and Comedy Central, 2014 was not only the deepest year of programming, but perhaps the most diverse as well.  Without further ado...

15.  The Affair (Showtime)

Showtime's drama about 2 married people having an affair with each other during one summer is so much more than that.  By using a Rashoman style of story telling, we get to see just how funny and fragile a thing the human memory is.  Be it outfits, order of events, oer even whole conversations, its quite amazing how two people can experience the same events  but remember aspects about them completely differently.  Complete with an absolutely fantastic cast led by Dominic West and Ruth Wilson, The Affair is a captivating and often fully engrossing experience.



14.  Hannibal (NBC)

The fact that Hannibal is a thing that will now be occurring for 3 seasons on a broadcast network really astonishes me.  It is so violent and at times so disturbing that i think it would be a hard sell on HBO or Showtime, let alone NBC.  But whatever grace of god has given us Hannibal, hopefully it doesn't go away anytime soon.  Hannibal is the most beautiful looking show on TV.  It may sound morbid to say that about a show where violent murders and cannibalism happen on the regular, but the cinematography of this show is a cut above any other show.  The storytelling was spot on in season 2, whether dealing with Will Graham in jail, or dealing with the titular doctors murderous tendencies.



13.  Louie (FX)

Louis CK took a year off from making episodes in 2013, partly to avoid getting burned out and apparently partly to reinvent himself.  Louie was never a traditional sitcom, opting to forgo continuity to build episodes and vignettes as mini-movies.  Such episodes were still present in season 4 ( So Did The Fat Lady and Back/Model are 2 very good episodes) but they were the exception.  Louie gave us a 6 part story of romancing a foreigner, a 3 part story of his relationship with Pamela and a 90 minute episode that CK was barely in.  A lot of it worked really well, and while I may not have enjoyed this season as much as the first 3,  I will always appreciate a show taking risks, and I will always appreciate having Louie on the air.



12.  Broad City (Comedy Central)

If it feels like the 2 actresses at the center of Broad City have the chemistry of people who have worked together forever, it's because they really have.  Co-creators Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson had two years to let their street smart, quirky comedic timing and chemistry grow.  Whats so refreshing about Broad City is that it doesn't try to be something bigger than what it is, 2 slacker friends living their lives and owning everything they do.  The fact that it makes you crack up every 2 minutes only helps you realize that you are watching what could become the female comedic voices of our future.



11.  Brooklyn 99 (FOX)

In it's 2nd half of season one and the 1st half of season 2, Brooklyn 99 was able to grab the throne of the most purely funny show on network TV.  It's no surprise that a show coming from Parks and Recreation veteran Mike Schur was really able to find itself after a rocky start with a very solid cast.  Andre Braugher should be nominated for every supporting actor award that exists for his deadpan portrayal of Captain Holt.  All the supporting players are fantastic.  The show also gets major props for finally finding a successful way to utilize the always hilarious Joe Lo Truglio.  Even Andy Samberg, who might have been the weakest part of the show when it first began, has turned into a very solid lead.  With Parks and Recreation signing off this year, here's hoping that B99 has a nice lengthy run in its place.



10.  Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

I covered this show extensively a few weeks ago HERE


9.  Sons Of Anarchy (FX)

This was the most fluid show in my rankings.  At one point I had it at number 7.  At another point in the season I had it at 15.  I ultimately settled it here at number 9 because of a surprisingly subtle (for Kurt Sutter standards) and weirdly beautiful finale.  The Final Ride, as the last season of Sons of Anarchy was called, had its bumps but in the end I didn't care.  I loved every bloated episode for one reason or another.  Sure, many characters were passed redemption, including Jax who was always the audiences entry point into this world, but that was kind of the point.  Jax was beyond redemption so instead of even trying to redeem himself, why not go out in a blaze, and at the same time, try to help everyone else we've grown to love along the way.  Bonus points for one of the most touching scenes of love declaration between Tig and his transgendered girlfriend.


8.  Parks and Recreation (NBC)

Parks and Recreation has been so good for so long, that I think its at a point where many people take it for granted, myself included.  This is the lowest that Parks and Rec has even been on my year end list, but it by no means had a bad season.  Things were put into motion for the upcoming final season, but the penultimate season provided a lot of closure as well.  The episodes leading up to the departure of Rashida Jones and Rob Lowe, as long as the episodes immediately after, were truly fantastic displays of mixing comedy with heart and emotion.  As Parks is apt to do, it absolutely nailed the finale, one that involved a time jump rarely seen on network sitcoms.  This group of government employees have become a family to everyone that has watched them over the years, and this last season is going to be one hell of an emotional roller coaster.



7. Transparent (Amazon)

Finally a solid depiction of a Jewish family!  Sure MOST Jewish families are not dealing with a father figure who is transgendered, but above all else, Transparent is about family and the influences parents have on their children's behavior.  The series is superbly acted and marks a big step forward for Amazon in the scripted programming department.  Often times this show could be laugh out loud funny, only to be completely heartbreaking just minutes later.  Melora Hardin is fantastic and almost unrecognizable as Tammy.  The show also managed to do something in it's flashback episode that few shows do successfully, and that's cast young actors for flashbacks that can actually act and bring a whole new layer to the story.  Bravo, Amazon, I can't wait to see what else you have for us.



6.  You're The Worst (FXX)

Its Harry Met Sally for the millennial generation!   While that may not be entirely true, You're The Worst came out with guns blazing and turned into a hilarious show that really had much more heart than it had any right to.  There is no stereotypical romantic tension to have to bear through here.  The leads have one of the most graphic sex scenes on non premium cable within the first 5 minutes of the show.  After that, we just get the funny story of how two non-perfect people can have a non-perfect relationship, which for them, IS perfect.  Desmin Borges almost steals the show as a PTSD stricken war vet who goes through a ring of emotions throughout the season.  This show came out of nowhere and quickly turned into a comedic powerhouse, hopefully a sign of more things to come from the comedic offshoot of FX.



5.  Silicon Valley (HBO)

The man behind Office Space gives you.... Office Space in the tech world.  Beyond that, Silicon Valley is also the best cast TV comedy of 2014.  The ensemble of nerds and tech geniuses is a powerhouse, punctuated by perhaps the best supporting comedic performance of the year by Christopher Evan Welch (who sadly passed away as the shows season was coming to an end).  Part satire about the douchiness of the tech industry and part scary truth about the douchiness of the tech industry, Silicon Valley is smart and sophomoric at the same time.  Kudos for to the writing staff for including a 10 minute dick joke that actually makes you laugh for the entire 10 minutes.




4.  Mad Men (AMC)

If Mad Men were given the chance to air its final season in its entirity, I am farily certain it would have been number one this list.  AMC, surely realizing their lack of quality upcoming programming, decided to split the final 14 episodes into two 7 episode mini seasons.  While something more action or intensity based like Breaking Bad may be able to pull that off, Mad Men is all about story telling and the slow burn, which makes seven episodes more difficult.  Alas, Matt Weiner and company were still able to pull off a handful of good episodes, with the last 2 before the hiatus being 2 of the series all time best .  We saw Peggy come full circle in her journey to become the female Don Draper, giving her own version of "the carousel".  We saw Don basically hit rock bottom, rally back professionally, only to once again suffer a setback in his personal life.  We saw the return of kick ass Roger Sterling.  And yes, we saw the last of Bertram Cooper, who upon leaving the show and this world reminded us that indeed, the best things in life are free.



3.  Orange Is The New Black (Netflix)

The Netflix prison dramedy came back for season two with much more anticipation than people had for season 1.  The thought of season 2 being a letdown was a very real possibility given the praise heaped on the show after season 1.  With that in mind, its quite amazing that season 2 not only matched season 1 in terms of quality, it surpassed it.  The show uses all parts of its ensemble so freaking well.  The writers took Morello, nothing more than a funny accent in season 1, and used her to give us one the most heartbreaking stories told anywhere this year.  And who would have thought the biggest moment of the season, would go to Miss Rosa, who was barely an afterthought going into this season.  The show was forced to scale back on Piper stories, and the show and the character were better for it.  Honestly, any person in this cast is deserving of awards recognition, but it is such a joy to see Uzo Aduba getting all sorts of recognition for her often funny, often tear inspiring performance as Crazy Eyes.



2.  Review (Comedy Central)

Comedy Central's wildly successful year is topped off by a show that sat on their shelves for almost 2 years because they didn't see the appeal in it.  Andy Daly has been "that guy" in so many things throughout the years, but i knew him best from various podcast appearances.  I knew the man was wildly funny, but i was not prepared for the crazy experiment that was Review.  Daly plays Forrest MacNeil, a TV host who reviews life experiences such as being a racist and having a best friend.  Its the characters dedication to the TV show that really brings the comedy to a new level.  The show takes such dark turns that you would never think could work in a comedy, but they are so wildly uncomfortable and hilarious that you just can't turn away.  I cant really say more without ruining many of the jokes.  Comedy Central's Review: 5 stars.



1.  Fargo (FX)

I still to this day say that the idea of a Fargo TV show on paper was a horrible idea.  The Cohen brothers might have the most distinctive voice in Hollywood and to put perhaps their best story in the hands of someone else, had disaster written all over it.  Noah Hawley (along with approval from the Cohen's) proved me so wrong.  Fargo was compelling, thrilling, smart, funny, you name it.  Every performance in this beautiful show was top notch, from veterans like Martin Freeman and Billy Bob Thorton, to an absolutely perfect new comer like Allison Tolman.  The story that Fargo told was gripping for every step along the way, and Hawley was able to capture enough of the Cohen's voice, while at the same time adding his own flavor to the story.  This show would have been fine as a one and done mini series, but Fargo will return for a season 2, telling a different story than the one we saw in season one.  The only thing MORE difficult than turning Fargo into a great TV show, is doing a second season that could possibly live up  to the first.  I for one, am wildly excited to see Noah Hawley answer the challenge of topping what was the best TV show of 2014

Top 25 TV shows of 2014 (Part 1)

If you couldn't find something to watch on TV in 2014, then you really just weren't trying hard enough.  This easily the deepest year in television programming in my memory, and this list could have easily been a top 50.  With new entries from the likes of Amazon, Netflix and Comedy Central, 2014 was not only the deepest year of programming, but perhaps the most diverse as well.  Without further ado...


25. True Detective (HBO)

Before this show actually aired, I thought it was a lock for my top 10.  And right out the gate it did not disappoint. Both McConaughey and Harrleson put on an acting tour de force.  At the end of the day however, 2 characters are not enough to carry an entire show, and once the interrogation style of story telling ended, the show lost a lot of its momentum and what resulted was a show that could have been amazing, but ended up just being great.


24. The Mindy Project (Fox)

The Mindy Project has not only surpassed New Girl in terms of quality, it has left it in the dust.  The Fox comedy has done a marvelous job in putting its male and female leads into a relationship, an area where 95% of most shows fail.  The show also does a tremendous job of utilizing guest actors that range from Glenn Howerton and Seth Rogan to Allison Tolman and Anna Gunn.  Chris Messina is fantastic as Danny and really should get some awards recognition, even though that will never happen.

 
23.  The Leftovers (HBO)

  

With the negative reaction Damon Lindelof recieved at the end of LOST (undeservingly so, by the way) he would have to be crazy to take on a show like The Leftovers.  HBO's show about life three years after 2% of the world disappeared into thin air is so very dark and has so little commercial appeal.  Not only did Lindelof accept the challenge; he also knocked it out of the park for the most part.  The show is never going to be one of my very best shows due to it's sheer depressing nature, but the characters on it are so good and so deep, that its tough to not appreciate the beauty of this show, even if it may be hard to get true entertainment from it.



22.  Veep (HBO)

Recency bias may have caused me to put this show lower than I normally would.  Airing in the first portion of the year, its easy to forget just how damn FUNNY this show is.  Julia Louis Dreyfuss continues to be one of the funniest women on TV but it really is the ensemble that makes this comedy special.  I was ready to call it a down year for Gary (Tony Hale) but then he had the bathroom scene and all was right in the world.


21. Community (NBC/ now Yahoo!)

How did we get here?  There really should be a documentary on the run of Community.  For 3 seasons it was a critical darling with a very passionate, albeit very very small fan base.  Showrunner Dan Harmon was fired before season 4 and replaced, which resulted in a toothless version of a once beloved sitcom.  Harmon was then brought back to run season 5.  While season 5 did not live up to the amazing first 3 seasons, it was still quite great, and much better than season 4.  Losing Chevy Chase and Donald Glover should have been enough to put this show to sleep, but Harmon, along with the addition of the apparently very versatile Jonathan Banks (Mike from Breaking Bad) helped reinvigorate the show.  To add to the Community lore, it was cancelled after season 5, but picked up by Yahoo for a season 6 that will be delivered all at once, ala Netflix shows.


20. Key and Peele (Comedy Central)

I love sketch comedy shows but for them to break my top 20, they need to be really special.  Key and Peele went dark in season 4 and may have had their funniest season because of it.  These aren't just sketches, but fully formed mini-movies.  Stand out sketches such as "Gay Wedding Advice" "Urkel Interrogation" and "Aerobics Meltdown" were easily some of the funniest things I watched all year.


19. Kroll Show (Comedy Central)

Comedy Central was on absolute fire this year.  Inside Amy Schumer just missed my top 25, this is the 2nd show listed already and spoiler alert, there are 2 more shows coming.  Kroll Show like Key and Peele is a very funny sketch comedy show, focused mostly on skewering reality television.  The thing that makes it unique is the sketches that air are all part of a bigger serialized story.  So we get the story of a pet plastic surgeon trying to beat a murder rap throughout the entire season.  We get the story of an inbred degenerate trying to become a father.  Oh and the mother of that child?  Shes a shallow vapid public relations specialist with HER own reality TV show.  Throw in standalone gags like The Legend of Young Larry Bird and Oh, Hello and you are left with a non-stop riot.  P.S  I would watch the shit out of Wheels, Ontario.


18. Parenthood

The final season of Parenthood has been far from perfect.  Adam and Christina starting a Charter school just as Adams business seems to be tanking seems one step too far fetched. The writers have made me absolutely not care about Joel and Julia.  And you know what?  None of this bothers me, because all the feels and cries are still there.  No show taps into a persons emotions better than Parenthood.  Ray Romano has been a perfect addition to the cast.  I have an industrial sized box of tissues ready for the final 4 episodes.


17. BoJack Horseman (Netflix)

Bojack Horseman is a primary example where the Netflix strategy of dumping episodes is a major positive.  After the first couple episodes i was amused, but if more was not avalable to me, I probably would have given up on the show.  I'm so glad i stuck around though because what came next was not only a funny animated sitcom, but actually a fascinating exploration of celebrity life, drug culture and friendship.  With first class vocal talent, Bojack Horseman was such a delight to watch that i found myself begging for more after the final episode.  Oh, and Vincent Adultman is the best running gag on any show, period.


16.  Rectify (IFC)

Rectify is not a show for everyone.  I am going to say that upfront.  It is slow moving.  Not many major things happen.  It focuses a bit on religion and Christianity.  But damn is it a beautiful show.  The exploration of Daniel Holden after being released from prison for the murder of his girlfriend (which we don't know if he did or not) is storytelling at its finest.  The 2nd season jumped from 6 episodes to ten but the story did not suffer one bit at all.  With everyone's current obsession with Serial (I am included in that everyone), this is a great, albeit very different companion piece.

How Last Week Tonight with John Oliver became the funniest show on TV

When John Oliver’s show, Last Week Tonight debuted on HBO in the summer, I was very skeptical about its success.  I had really liked all of Oliver’s previous work.  I found him a very good replacement for John Stewart on the Daily Show when Stewart had to take time off, and I love him in his recurring role on Community.  My issue wasn’t with Oliver himself, it was with the format.  Could a weekly 30 minute current events show really work in an era when The Daily Show and The Colbert report every night?  Sure HBO has had success with Politically Incorrect with Bill Mahr, but that’s a completely different beast.  Even as promo’s for Oliver’s show seemed to embrace the once a week nature of his show, I was still skeptical.  I am proud to report, after season one wrapped up this past Sunday, that I could not have been more wrong

Oliver turned the circumstances of the show into a strength.  He realized quickly that just running down news stories that he may have missed during the week was not going to work.  Instead, each episode was focused around one story, be it elections in India, or lack of interest in any country hosting the Winter Olympics, and dove deep into these subjects.  Often times, the main segment on Oliver’s show would take up more than half the episode.  By doing so, he could explore every angle of the story, instead of what was just broadly visible to the public.

By focusing so much time on one topic, it really allowed for Oliver’s humor and personality to shine through.  When he found something funny, you knew he found something funny.  When he thought something was asinine you knew that as well.  He didn’t need to fake shock or to fake disdain because these are his ACTUAL takes and feelings on these stories, with his own John Oliver twist on them.  He can make any story amusing and can also find a sense of light-heartedness to even the most dark or drab stories.  Most people really don’t care about Supreme Court sessions, but Oliver can make them care a little bit more when he reenacts the whole thing with dogs as the justices.  He can dive into a segment on the death penalty, because in the end, he will show you a video of a tiny hamster eating a tiny burrito.

To HBO’s credit, they have done a lot to aid in the success of the show.  They have let Oliver really do his own thing in regards to format and content.  They have also put basically whole episodes of the show on YouTube, something unheard of for a premium channel such as HBO.  I think they realize that Last Week Tonight is not really a show people are going to revisit on an episodic basis.  If we have learned anything, it’s the importance of clips from shows like these being posted online and going viral, and HBO has allowed for that.

Last Week Tonight will be back in February to kick off its new season.  Already there has been talk of changing some things up.  One suggestion was moving the show to one hour.  I would advise against this.  The show is so perfect the way it is, at one hour it may get diluted.  Why mess with what is now the funniest show on TV?

 

"Twitter: It’s not just for pithy observations, dick pics, or messages to your favorite One Direction member, who for some reason never responds to you.”

ReviewCap: The Newsroom - Boston

     "This isn't going to be a reality show. We don't do good TV. We do the news."

The Newsroom is a show that I typically hate watch.  I know that among people who write about TV, I am in the majority.  However, many people I talk to who are just casual TV viewers really do enjoy the show and are said that it is entering its third and final season.  It’s understandable.  Often times hearing dialogue written by Aaron Sorkin is enough to block out some truly horrible aspects of shows.  Sports Night is one of my favorite television shows but upon rewatching at an older age, it is clear that many weaknesses the show had were covered up by that damn catchy writing.

And while I normally do hate watch The Newsroom, I really want it to be good.  I have a feeling this will be Sorkin’s goodbye to television, at least for quite a while, and I would love it to be a one season masterpiece to close out what has been an aggravating show.  The first episode of season 3, “Boston”, is at least a step in the right direction.  

Last we left our ACN crew, their credibility was shot to hell from Genoa and some sneaky video editing from the nefarious Hamish Linklater.  The season picks up in the aftermath of all that, on the day of the Boston Marathon bombings.  Because of the credibility issue that ACN has, they are one of the last stations that report the story of the bombings, needing 100% confirmation to avoid anymore shoddy reporting.  Not focusing on the sensationalism of the actual bombings and avoiding using that story as a manipulation of feelings is definitely a pleasant surprise.  The story leads to the revelation that ACN has fallen to the fourth ranked, a fact that has Will wanting to quit his job.  Amidst the chaos of the Boston bombings, Neil receives a note requesting his encryption key.  The person requesting it wants to send Neil some classified government documents.  Upon receiving them, Neil requests more documentation which he then receives.  Upon sharing this news, Will quickly points out that by requesting more classified documents, Neil has aided in committing a felony.  The show has always had issues with how to incorporate Neil into the ongoings of the newsroom, often regulating him to crackpot theories and coming relief.  This is a story that could be interesting and have some legs, although there is a lot of work to do to successfully resolve it, given the limited amount of episodes left in the series run.

The episode falters, as it usually does, when it comes to dealing with the women of The Newsroom and the relationships in the workplace.  Sloan and Don (who will from here on out be known as hairline) are a thing I totally forgot happened at the end of last season.  I wish Sorkin would have forgotten about it to because those 2 have absolutely zero chemistry.  Sloan is investigating a secret sale between undisclosed parties, which she later finds out is actually Reece’s step siblings trying to sell the company out from under him.  The story seems a bit ludicrous, but if it leads to some great speeches from Jane Fonda in coming episodes, sign me up.  Mac on the other hand is not given much to do, other than give Will crap and be shocked at the amount of twitter followers people have, because in the world of Sorkin, technology is hard for women.  I will say that after completely murdering the character of Maggie, she’s actually allowed to resemble a real life person for a week when she has to go on air to report a story because Elliot has an allergic reaction to walnuts.  I’m sure all that will be ruined tough by Sorkin’s blatant copying of the Jim and Pam romance on The Office, but hey, I’m trying to stay positive

All in all, this was a pretty good episode of a show I often hate.  Hopefully they can focus on the good, drop the bad, and make a decent season.  As maddening as he can be, Aaron Sorkin deserves to get out of TV on a high note.