The weirdest, most wonderful TV moments of 2014

In our viral, millennial culture (ugh, someone punch me for that please), it's more important than ever to create individual scenes and moments that stick out and stay in our brains. 2014 saw so many oddly creative, completely weird, and totally surreal moments that have stuck with me, in some cases, for months and months, so I thought I'd make a quick list compiling the best, weirdest, most memorable TV moments of 2014 in no particular order.

Orange is the New Black - Morello's Backstory

(From Season 2, Episode 4: "A Whole Other Hole")

Through out all of the first season, we heard tales of Morello's fiance on the outside, sort of wondering why he never visited but nevertheless generally accepting her tales of a happy future outside of Litchfield. All of that was devastatingly destroyed in a single montage, which revealed that Morello's fiance is an ex that she spent years stalking and is continuing to do so, using the prison van to find his house, put on his real fiance's wedding dress, and live out the fantasy that she's convincing everyone is real. I couldn't find a clip of the actual scene, so just use this YouTube clip of "Almost Paradise", a cheesy love ballad that the show scored the scene with, turning it into a terrifying and heartbreaking cry for help.

Mad Men - Bert Cooper Serenades Don Draper

(From Season 7, Episode 7: "Waterloo") 

Some fairly major spoilers for Mad Men Season 7 follow, so if you haven't caught up, don't read. If you do read, then it's your own goddamn fault.  Some shows might put a tense cliffhanger as the close to the first half of their final season, but Mad Men, instead, decided to have a recently deceased character come back from the dead and serenade its protagonist about the soul-sucking contract he has just signed. And we wouldn't have it any other way.

Too Many Cooks

Too Many Cooks is an 11-minute short that premiered on Adult Swim's "Infomercial" block at 4 AM, got uploaded to YouTube by a bunch of stoners, and completely captivated the country for a few weeks. I don't need to explain why. I can't do it justice. I just need you to watch it. 

Community - Dean Pelton's Peanut Rap

(From Season 5, Episode 9: "VCR Maintenance and Educational Publishing") 

The Dean has had many different costumes over the years, but the best of them all came this season, when he dressed up as a peanut and offers an apology rap that quickly turns racial and disturbing. This is perhaps Jim Rash's best work ever, including that movie he won an Oscar for.

Rick and Morty - "Saturday Night Live of the Future" 

(From Season 1, Episode 8: "Rixty Minutes")

The "Rixty Minutes" episode of Rick and Morty is probably my favorite TV episode of the year, and part of that is due to the completely improvised intergalactic TV show ads. One of the best was what Rick and Morty imagines a futuristic SNL would look like, starring a bunch of inanimate objects and Bobby Moynihan. 

Bob's Burgers - "Work Hard or Die Tryin', Girl"

(From Season 5, Episode 1: "Work Hard or Die Tryin', Girl") 

Bob's Burgers produces some of the best music around, and that all came to a head when the show had Gene produce a musical that puts together Die Hard and Working Girl, creating the beautiful speicman known as..."Work Hard or Die Tryin', Girl."

Broad City - "Eight Fucking Thousand Dollars"

(From Season 1, Episode 9: "Apartment Hunters")

When Broad City opened its ninth episode with an elaborate music video parody, I was confused and thought I had changed the channel or something. Then I realized: nope. This is a music video, that they created, to showcase Abbi's $8,000 check from a dating service that used one of her drawings. It's wonderful, as is the snap back to reality after the fact.

Best TV of 2014

With a vast array of television shows to choose from each year, it seems a little bit redundant to declare each year the "best one" for the medium. And yet, every year it's hard not to do that, as the huge amount of content available to us produces so much amazing material that you have to get excited about it. The past few years of television have felt especially vital, too - they've been years of change, both in the television shows we consume with old stalwarts like Mad Men, 30 Rock, Breaking Bad, and Parks and Rec either ended or ending soon, to the way that the consumption of television is rapidly reinventing itself. This list features shows from network television, cable, and streaming services - a variety that would've been unthinkable even five or six years ago. So here I break down the top 20 shows that best captivated my interest this year. I went with 20 because there was so much good stuff on this year that I felt too bad leaving anything out. I know I'm indecisive, okay?! LEAVE ME ALONE.

ONE NOTE: I didn't put Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on this list because I always forget to categorize it as a TV show and not just, like, a way of life. But rest assured I love it. It's the best news-comedy hybrid on television right now, which is not nothing in a world with The Daily Show and the swan song of The Colbert Report. SORRY, JOHN OLIVER, but I love you anyway. Oh, and the same can be said of The Chris Gethard Show, which I also love but forget it's a television show and not just a hangout with some old, weird friends. I LOVE YOU TOO, CHRIS GETHARD. I LOVE EVERYTHING. Actually, I'm hoping to do an individual piece on The Chris Gehtard Show sooner rather than later so I'll give it the love it's due then. Until then, enjoy this list, if you want to!

20. Parks & Recreation

Now in its sixth season, it's only natural that Parks & Rec has lost some of the element of surprise from the time when it was a transcendent and refreshing spin on the old workplace comedy chestnut. But although this past season was probably the show's weakest, it still managed to be a funny, entertaining and consistently delightful half-hour, and considering the amount of affection we've stacked up for these characters over the years, that's enough to keep enjoying our time in Pawnee. Especially impressive was the shows' finale, which changed up its game quite considerably for its upcoming final season and proved that maybe it did have a few more tricks left in its bag after all.

Standout Episodes: "Ann and Chris", "Galentines' Day II", "Moving Up"

19. Black-ish

In a season that has made a strong case for the idea that cable has completely replaced network as the go-to for good comedy on TV, Black-ish has remained an important "except for...", as it's the only new network comedy this season that shows any sort of promise for the future of the medium. But Black-ish didn't earn the distinction of the seasons' best new comedy by default - it's a hilarious and creative family sitcom, one that balances social issues and family hijinks better than any show has managed to do in probably decades. Not only that, but the Johnsons are just a genuinely awesome family, the kind of TV family that you look forward to spending some time with every week. Shows like Black-ish are perhaps the last remaining argument for the worth of the network sitcom. Also, it's just really funny.

Standout Episodes: "Crazy Mom", "The Prank King", "Black Santa/White Christmas"

18. Archer

At the beginning of its fifth season, Archer unexpectedly blew the lid off of its entire premise, ditching the spy agency that had been so kind to it in the past four years and sending its characters on a crazy quest as newfound cocaine dealers. While the season didn't quite live up to the tall order that its premiere set up, it was still a reinvigorated season for the show, with a lot of interesting twists on character dynamics that were beginning to feel a little bit stale. As it heads into its sixth season with a return to the status quo mixed with some new surprises,  Archer feels like it's in solid hands, and it can thank some of the experimental done by Archer Vice for it.

Standout Episodes: "White Elephant", "Baby Shower", "Arrival/Departure"

17. New Girl

In the second half of its third season, New Girl showed some signs of losing its way. The Jess/Nick relationship, while entertaining, was beginning to push the other members of its ensemble out of the picture, and the show seemed to be struggling to balancing it with all of the other changes it integrated in the third season, such as the addition of Coach and new endeavors for Winston. Luckily, the show seemed to realize this and quickly course corrected in its fourth season, which might just be the most consistent season of the show yet, even if it doesn't reach the heights of the all-timer that was Season 2. Still, Season 4 of New Girl has managed to be a reliable dose of well-executed farce week after week, with a sprinkle of the characterization that made the show jump out in its early seasons. It may not be the world beater it once seemed to be, but damn if it isn't still one of the funniest shows on TV.

Standout Episodes: "Basketball", "The Last Wedding", "Background Check"

16. Community

With Dan Harmon back at the helm, 2014 was a comeback year for Community after the deep trenches of the gas leak year. While the show has definitely begun to feel like a late-in-life sitcom at times (see also: my Parks & Rec write-up) it still manages to pump out episodes that rank among the most daring things I've seen a half-hour sitcom attempted, and given how much experimentation the form recieved this year, that's actually a pretty big statement. The 5th season also turned out to be the final one of the show's run on NBC, as it moves to its new home on the internet next year, where it has always seemed destined to be. As long as it continue to pump out ideas as fresh and hilarious as commemorative sperm jars and MeowMeowBeenz, I'll support it wherever it goes.

Standout Episodes: "Cooperative Polygraphy", "Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality", "App Development and Condiments"

15. The Middle

Year after year, everyone forgets about The Middle when it comes time to do year-end lists, despite the fact that it has been one of the most consistently great network sitcoms for at least four seasons now. The show continuously manages to breath new life into the family sitcom format, portraying characters who are unique both for the form and for television in general, and by not pulling any punches when it comes to its honesty about the Hecks' financial situation and almost constant sense of conflict. As its characters age, The Middle is finding more and more ways to dig comic honesty out of the world of small-town America characters its created, and it's only continuing to be an absolute joy to watch.

Standout Episodes: "Major Anxiety", "The Sink Hole", "The Christmas Wall"

14. Brooklyn Nine-Nine

After a strong start last fall, Brooklyn Nine-Nine solidified its place this year as one of the best ensemble shows on all of television, with a cast that completely pulls its weight in every direction and an array of characters that are diverse not just in their ethnicity but in their approaches to the world in general. The second season of the show has done a great job of deepening the roots between these characters and examining their bonds while beginning to experiment a bit with longer-term plotting, even successfully toying around with the idea of romantic arcs (though not going too far in that direction yet, thankfully). Like Black-ish, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is proving the strength of a show with a great group of characters that you look forward to spending 22+ weeks a year with.

Standout Episodes: "The Bet", "The Road Trip", "The Pontiac Bandit Returns"

13. Louie 

After a too-long hiatus, Louie returned this year with its more ambitious season yet, a season that almost completely abandoned the shows' previous structure of short, contained stories and instead focused on developing longer and even feature-length arcs. Still, the shows' sense of hard truth and deep-rooted emotional turmoil continued as Louie explored his relationship with the various women in his life, from his daughters to longtime companion (and new girlfriend?) Pamela to his past relationship with his own mother. While this was arguably Louie's most inconsistent season yet, what it lacked in consistency it made up for in sheer ambition. 

Standout Episodes: "Model", "So Did the Fat Lady", "Into the Woods" 

12. Transparent

The first great show to be produced by Amazon Prime, Transparent - not unlike fellow streaming exclusive Orange is the New Black  - uses its niche delivery method to tell a story that would struggle to get attention from a major television network. In this case, it's the story of Maura Pfefferman, a transgender woman who has recently settled upon officially making the transition late in her life. Transparent's groundbreaking story of Maura alone was enough to make it one of the most captivating shows of the year, but the way it used Maura's revelation to deconstruct the rest of the Pfefferman clan's assumed gender and sexuality roles only added to the fact that this was one of the most intriguing new shows of the year.

Standout Episodes: "The Wilderness", "Symbolic Exempar", "Best New Girl"

11. Nathan for You

Nathan for You was one of the strangest and most delightful pieces of pop culture I consumed this year, constantly keeping me on the edge of my feet more than most drama series are capable of doing. The shows' unique mix of cringe comedy, mockumentary, and reality show spoof continuously come together to produce some of the most hilarious television I've ever seen. In Season 2, the show began to hit on points of genuine pathos, as it gradually turned into the story of desperate inclusion for its lonely host. There's absolutely nothing on television like Nathan for You, which is what makes it something you absolutely need to watch.

Standout Episodes: "Souvenir Shop/E.L.A.I.F.F", "Dumb Starbucks", "Daddy's Watching/Party Planner"

10. Doctor Who

It's hard for me to remain unbiased with a show like Doctor Who, a show that appeals so directly to each and every one of my personal preferences, but I don't think it's my bias speaking when I say that this season was one of the very best seasons the show has done to date. Peter Capaldi as the 12th Doctor has brought a new energy to the character, one that gets down to the anger and ache that always exists under the surface but is finally being brought out to the light. And also adding to a great season was Jenna Coleman, whose character Clara rebounded from some spotty characterization last season to become a really great antidote to the smarmy darkness that Capaldi brought to the table. The show used this perfect pairing to create a season that constantly put the very fabric of the show into question and reinvigorated the series to heights I wasn't even sure if it was still possible to reach. Capaldi is thankfully signed on for another season, and hopefully he can keep pushing the show into uncharted and exciting territory. 

Standout Episodes: "Listen", "Kill the Moon", "Flatline"

9. Review

2014 was full of great, alternative comedies that ripped apart the sitcom structure and created something new and meaningful out of it. Out of all of the shows, the one that went to the most delightfully weird places was Review, a show about star reviewer Forrest MacNeil and his quest to review everything that his shows' viewers throw at him. Review would be great even if it was just the satire of critics that it appeared to be on the surface, but it soon became a dark, morbid tale of a man destroying his entire life for the sake of a silly television show, become one of the funniest shows of the year, as well as one of the saddest, darkest, and most disturbing. If 2014 is remembered as the year alternative comedy came to dominate the cable airwaves, Review will be a proud, strange and beautiful artifact of that movement.

Standout Episodes: "Pancake, Divorce, Pancakes", "Best Friend/Space, "Road Rage/Orgy"

8. Veep

After two seasons of portraying Selena Meyer as a comically inept narcissist, Veep took it to the next level this year by portraying her as something truly disturbing: a possible presidential candidate. This gave the show an added levity to its already near-constantly firing machine of beautifully crafted insults and nihilistic political humor, as all of the massive and terrifying fuck-ups Selena and her team encountered now actually mattered. It also allowed the show to cover some heated topics like abortion and equality with its trademark dark humor that doesn't even try to fix anything but instead points out just how massively screwed up it all is. With a surprise twist at the end of the season, the next season of Veep proves to be even more of a depressing, hilarious and painful journey to political turmoil for Selena Meyer. 

Standout Episodes: "The Choice", "Alicia", "Debate"

7. The Americans

In Season 1, The Americans was a gripping spy thriller, an unprecented role reversal that took a deeper look into what we always perceived were the "bad guys" in the Cold War. In Season 2, the show took a leap and became not just a spy thriller (though it was still very good at being that) but an analysis of what its characters value, how much they value it, and a test of how far they were willing to go to preserve it. Kicking off with a gruesome murder in the season premiere, constant fear crept around the surface of The Americans this year as Phillip and Elizabeth began to wonder whether their career was putting their childrens' wellbeing at stake. It all cultivated in a huge, unprecedented twist in its season finale that will make the shows' third season answer some very, very tough questions.

Standout Episodes: "Comrades", "Behind the Red Door", "Martial Eagle"

6. Orange is the New Black

It was going to be nearly impossible for Orange is the New Black to top its first season, a total surprise that burst onto the scene and practically made us rethink the way we all watched television. And yet...Season 2 somehow managed to, or at the very least, managed to match it. The second season expanded upon the shows' already giant universe, filling in the backstories for beloved characters like Taystee and Suzanne while simultaneously giving shades to characters that fell under the radar in the first season but came into prominent fruition in Season 2, such as cancer patient Rosa - nearly an afterthought in Season 1 that wound up being one of the key heroes this year. Between the addition of Vee and the divide she placed in the prison to the continuing saga of Piper and Alex to the isolation of Red from her prison family to the shocking dismantling of our perceptions of Morello to the strange friendship of Healy and Pennssatucky, Season 2 continued to do its job of making each and every inmate at Litchfield feel like a fully-rounded person that truly matters, and that mindset is what separates Orange from nearly anything else on TV.

Standout Episodes: "A Whole Other Hole", "You Also Have a Pizza", "We Have Manners, We're Polite"

5. Rick and Morty

In a year of amazing comedy, Rick and Morty was a true highlight, a show bursting at the seams with creativity. Centered around the Back to the Future-esque adventures of grandfather Rick and his grandson Morty as they travel through time, space, and reality, Rick and Morty blended comedy and hard science fiction more successfully than any show this side of Futurama. Week after week, Rick and Morty took us to heights that seemed more ridiculous, more exciting and more amazing than anything we'd seen before, all while grounding itself in some genuinely moving family drama. That kind of balance is so incredibly hard to pull off, but Rick and Morty did it with aplomb, making me extremely eager to see what the show can come up with next.

Standout Episodes: "Lawnmower Dog", "Rixty Minutes", "Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind"

4. Mad Men

Thanks to AMC scheduling tomfoolery, Mad Men only aired seven episodes in 2014, but those seven episodes were something of a revelation. After the turmoil of last years' finale, Season 7 dealt with an exploded status quo - one that spelled out a dark end for our "hero" Don Draper. And yet, these seven episodes turned out to be more than just Don's death knell. They were the start of what I'm sure will be a doozy of an ending, a collection of episodes that brought together seven seasons worth of relationships and put a magnifying glass to them, showing which relationships were true and once were sprinkled with the artificiality that the characters of Mad Men treat as a second language at this point. The final absurdist scene, featuring a dead Bert Cooper singing to Don about how "the best things in life are free", brought everything this season was to a close: strange, surprising, a little disturbing... and yet somehow making perfect sense.

Standout Episodes: "A Days' Work", "The Strategy", "Waterloo"

3. You're the Worst

Romantic comedy is an old chestnut at this point, so that only makes it even more surprising just how excellent You're the Worst turned out to be. By putting its leads together in the pilot and slowly deconstructing all of the expected romcom tropes, the show was able to focus in on its characters and create two people that we didn't just want to see get together, but that we just wanted to see, because they were both relatable, funny, and well-drawn characters. You're the Worst also benefited from being more than just Jimmy and Gretchen's story - Lindsay and Edgar served as supporting characters that gawk at the idea of just being supporting characters, demanding that Jimmy and Gretchen treat them on their own accord. Additionally, characters like Becca & Todd, Allan, and a special bookstore cat added to the mix to prove that You're the Worst wasn't just about Jimmy and Gretchen's relationship, it was also about the comical, screwed up world that they both inhabit, which only added to the richness of their compelling hook-up. Renewed for a second season, I'm really excited to see where You're the Worst will take that world when it returns next year.

Standout Episodes: "Sunday Funday", "Finish Your Milk", "Fists and Feet and Stuff"

2. Bob's Burgers

Another year, another string of amazing episodes with the Belchers, my favorite TV family with some of my absolute favorite TV characters. Bob's Burgers continued to deliver total acceptance in form of warm, weird, occasionally gross but always hysterical comedy, and this season saw the show produce some of its strongest and most creative ideas yet, from the My Little Pony spoof The Equestranauts that had some interesting things to say about cartoon fanbases, to a Working Girl/Die Hard musical entitled Work Hard or Die Trying, Girl, to a new and improved(?) use for baked beans. As you can see, I love a lot of television shows, so it means something when I say there's no show whose world I look forward to joining more than the loving and twisted world of Bob's Burgers.

Standout Episodes: "Mazel-tina", "The Equestranauts", "Dawn of the Peck"

1. Broad City

I've mentioned several times what an amazing year this was for comedy, and I don't think there's a show that represents that better than Broad City, which was the show I laughed at the most in 2014 and also introduced me and the rest of the world to the comic stylings of Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, whose humor offers a worldview that differs from anyone else's making television - both in terms of how upfront and honest it is about the struggles of young women in a big city (what other show would coin the phrase 'pussy weed'?) and in terms of just how beautifully, amazingly strange it is at every turn. The humor of Broad City is unlike any other - it's surreal yet grounded in some deep-rooted truth, it's smart and yet unafraid to appeal to its dirtiest impulses, and most importantly, it's just so fucking funny. This year in TV will be remembered as the year so many unique comic voices received a platform to share their stories, and the year that television proved there wasn't one specific way to tell a comedy story. And there's no better show that exemplified all of that than the fearless breath of fresh air that was Broad City.

Standout Episodes: "Working Girls", "Destination Wedding", "The Last Supper".

THERE'S MY LIST. Have a wonderful holiday season and watch all of these shows if you haven't. DO IT NOW.

Season Review: Orange is the New Black - Season 2

Okay, so I was going to do weekly reviews for this show, but then I didn't. So here's a season review!

There was no way for Orange is the New Black to match its first season. It was a season constructed around the idea that people aren't always what they seem to be, and that first impressions and stereotypes often prevent us from seeing the person inside of all of the people in our lives. But the show is now in its second season, which means we already know most of these characters fairly well. Granted, Orange is a show with such a sprawling cast that it would probably take like nine seasons before each character was fully developed and given their own story, but the trick that Season 1 pulled off, the trick where our impression of each character was deliberately challenged and transformed over the course of the season, was only going to be met with diminishing returns in Season 2.

So, respectably, Season 2 of Orange is the New Black decided not to attempt to recreate the magic of Season 1 and instead did what a great second season should do - it took the characters and dynamics established in the first season and expanded on them, dug into them, challenged them, analyzed them, and tried to figure out just what exactly they mean. The second season is a tough hurdle for a television show to overcome, particularly one with a first season that made as much of a splash as Orange's did. In many ways, the second season is the true test for a television show's legacy. There are countless amounts of shows that had big, well-loved debut seasons that fell off in their second years and ultimately became known as shows that never lived up to their promise, even if they would run for several more years (think Glee and, of course, the poster child for this example, Heroes). And while there are a few shows that were able to rebound from messy second seasons (such as Friday Night Lights) most of the best television shows rise to the task in their second years, showing that what they did right in the first season wasn't just a fluke. Think of the second season of Breaking Bad, which took the intriguing premise that the first season laid out and skyrocketed it to full force. Or, the second season of Mad Men, which rubbed its characters' noses in the shortcomings, flaws, and desires that they were lingering under the surface in Season 1. Or look at countless great comedies over the past few years - Community, 30 Rock, New Girl - which took the solid foundations the shows had built for themselves in their first seasons and tore them apart, experimented with them, and used them to become bolder, braver shows. So it's a great relief to see Orange is the New Black put together a daring, ambitious second season that made the show's universe feel more alive than ever.

The strongest competent of Orange is the New Black's second season - and the key to making it work - was empathy. Granted, empathy has always been one of the shows' key elements, but what made the shows' second season so bold was how it forced the idea of empathy to expand to everyone. This was most evident in the way the show handled Pennsatucky and Healy, who had become the central villains of the show by the end of the first season. But rather than doubling down on their awfulness, the show paired the two in a story arc together and asked us to look into them in the same way we looked into people like Red and Suzanne in Season 1. This empathy was also extended to the guards - the Litchfield newsletter includes a section entitled "Guards Are People Too", and that concept ran strongly through-out the season. People like Fig and Caputo were given shades of humanity that weren't granted to them last season, and while we're not supposed to forget that they can do pretty loathsome things sometimes (such as Caputo accepting oral sex from Fig after ratting her out, or the large majority of Fig's persona), we're also forced to remember that they, too, are human. Everyone is. Even the most despicable person, be it Vee or Pornstache, is a human being with feelings and emotions.

That idea sort of creates a warm and fuzzy feeling, but it also contributed to the season being a rather dark season of television - much darker at the core than the shows' generally optimistic first season. The idea that even the worst of us are human also uncovers the worst in ourselves, or in the people we previously perceived as "good" - we look at Pornstache and know he's a vile human being. He raped Daya! He trafficked drugs into the prison and directly lead to Tricia's death! But then we look at someone like Bennett, and what did he do? He...well, technically raped Daya, too. Sure, Daya says she loves him, but who knows if she really does or if she's just responding that way because he's a man in power and she's powerless? He...trafficked contraband into the prison, contraband that could potentially be harmful. We want to believe that Pornstache is the "bad guy" in the store, but is a "good guy" like Bennett really all that much better? That point leads to Vee, perhaps the most terrifying antagonist that Orange is the New Black has introduced in its run thus far. Vee is, most likely, a genuine sociopath, but also an incredibly smart genuine sociopath. She takes the inmates and immediately spots their weaknesses, then uses those weaknesses to manipulate them and take them down to depths that even they probably didn't realize they were capable of sinking to. We watched as people like Suzanne, Taystee, and Red, people we had grown to love, were transformed from the lovable characters we had come to know them as into the hardened criminals we first perceived them as. I've seen some criticisms that Vee was too cartoony of a villain and totally devoid of the shows' signature empathy, and I can't necessarily disagree, but I also don't really care. Vee was such an effecient way for the show to demonstrate how thin the line can be between "good" and "bad", and how uncomfortable of a feeling that is to sit with.

And yet, Orange is the New Black remains a pretty hopeful show. The season ends, once again, with most of the characters redeeming themselves in some way or another, and ultimately favoring the "good" side of the line over the "bad" side. But there's always the feeling lingering around the surface that "good" and "bad" are simply illusions, and that all of us are collections of various emotions and components that can easily be turned into something we never thought we could be. And as long as Orange remembers that, it's going to continue to be one of the most fascinating shows on TV, a co-existence of warmly comforting and deeply unsettling.

Final Grade: A

Orange is the New Black - "Hugs Can Be Deceiving" and "A Whole Other Hole"

How appropriate is it that these two episodes are getting lumped together in the review order? Both episodes deal with mental illness in such upfront but completely disparate ways - and yet, they're equally tragic. LET'S GET TO IT.

 "Hugs Can Be Deceiving"

There are few Orange is the New Black characters I wanted to see a flashback more than Crazy Eyes Suzanne. Initially introduced to us as mentally unstable to a terrifying degree, the first season gradually tore her apart and revealed how she was just a troubled girl genuinely trying to do right at her core. This allowed the series to make some compelling points about mental illness, points that are made stronger than ever in "Hugs Can Be Deceiving", which finally answers some questions about Suzanne's past that have no doubt been nagging at all of you every night, even when you least expected them. The first, and most important - "what's with her white parents?". We soon learn that, no, this isn't a Louie thing. Suzanne was adopted, thought to be her parents' only shot at a child until they miraculously conceived her younger sister four years later. But to their credit, the birth of their new baby didn't influence them to push Suzanne out of the spotlight, despite her apparent mental health issues and her struggle to fit in with the often closed-minded, WASP-y life she was thrust into. No, it made them push harder. And while the show doesn't exactly demonize her parents for this, it demonstrates that even trying their best, they simply didn't have the resources or even the knowledge about how to deal with someone like Suzanne. Society, really, has no idea what the fuck to do with her, and that even boils down to the society of Litchfield, who relegates her to roles like "time keeper" to stop her from ruining Jenga again. It's a heartbreaking truth, one that comes to circle in the final flashback to Suzanne's past, when we see her getting stage fright at her high school graduation and running off the stage as her classmates snicker. Even the people who want to support Suzanne - whether it be her parents or her fellow inmates - simply just can't. But then...enter Vee, who at this point is mostly a pretty mysterious figure but is obviously someone who knows how to read people. Vee probably doesn't fully understand Suzanne, but she seems to understand that no one does, and she immediately uses that to con her way into Suzanne's trust. She may not completely understand why she's lonely, but she understands that she is, and she knows she can do something about it. And just as Taystee was lured in by Vee's promise of a family she never thought she could have, Suzanne is lured in by Vee's promise of being the only one who can at least kind of understand what's going on in her mind. 

While this episode is clearly dominated by Suzanne, credit also has to be given to Piper, who makes her return to Litchfield in a way that seems to directly address the criticisms lured at her last season. This could all seem too cutesy or self-aware, but I've always felt the show wants us to see Piper's shortcomings. So when Piper comes in as a seemingly changed woman who's had her heart hardened by the system, it feels genuine rather than a character reversal. This is especially evident when she's playing off of Soso, a young new inmate who shares many of the same fears and shortcomings that Piper had when she first entered Litchfield last season. Piper finally giving in and telling Soso to shut the fuck up and get over it is perhaps the moment where she officially leaves her "deer in headlights" old self behind and officially becomes The New Piper. So who is The New Piper? We're not entirely sure yet, but if that speech calling out Soso's silly bullshit is any indication, it's someone who's going to be a hell of a lot of fun to watch.

"A Whole Other Hole"

If "Hugs Can Be Deceiving" shows us one end of the mental health spectrum, then "A Whole Other Hole" takes the complete opposite approach while still more or less having the same thesis statement. Suzanne's level of mental illness is immediately recognizable. It's completely overt, and while it's initially scary and potentially violent, its obviousness allows it to be dealt with in ways that don't fix the problem but at least allow the people in Suzanne's life to deal with it the best way they can. Someone like Suzanne is someone whose behavior strikes up all of the typical discussions about mental illness, the kind of person that you may very well think of when you hear those words. But "A Whole Other Hole" covers the other kind of mental illness - the covert one. That's the kind of mental illness where you may not even know the person is mentally ill. Hell, for most of Season 1, Morello seemed like one of the more well-adjusted inmates, someone who apparently had a light at the end of the tunnel that allowed her to get through her days with a pep in her step that many of the inmates didn't have. And then, in one traumatizing flashback and one incredibly misguided decision, that entire image comes crashing down in an instant.

It's an incredibly interesting counterpoint to Suzanne's brand of mental illness that makes what Orange is the New Black is saying about the topic all the more interesting. We see Suzanne's behavior and we immediately label her as crazy - hell, her nickname is Crazy Eyes. But Morello lives out her mental illness in ways that are less obvious but equally as harmful to her surroundings. She's created a delusional life for herself, a life that can completely escape her fellow inmates, her family members, and even herself. Suzanne's story tells us that treatment for the mentally ill often fails because no one knows how to deal with it - Morello's story tells us that treatment for the mentally ill often fails because no one even knows about it, at least not until it's already caused destruction. It's a bleak take on a complex issue, and Orange is the New Black knows it's not capable of giving the answers. But it's putting the question out there, in hopes that someone can, and that's damn admirable.

The other major plot thread of "A Whole Other Hole" also focuses on the dismantlement of something that was established in Season 1 - the Taystee and Poussey friendship. What I truly love about this season of Orange is the New Black is the way it takes everyone - even people who were mostly relegated to comedic background roles in Season 1 - and asks us to feel for them. Poussey was never much more than Taystee's sidekick in Season 1, but this episode opens her up in ways that I wasn't even sure was possible in Season 1. By revealing her desire for a relationship with the person who's most important to her life right now, we get a layer of complexity to Poussey's psyche that wasn't there before. And as with many of those other layers revealed to us this year, it's also revealed to Vee, who uses it to continue the wedge she's attempting to drive into the Litchfield ecosystem. Not only is this season of Orange is the New Black asking us to consider all of these peoples' feelings, it's also asking us to see how those feelings often send them directly into traps. 

Oh, and Larry and Polly like each other or some shit. Who cares?

Orange is the New Black - "Thirsty Bird" and "Looks Blue, Tastes Red"

Orange is the New Black may very well be the show whose new season I was most anticipating this year, and that says a lot considering this year saw things like Dan Harmon's return to Community and Louie return from a two-year hiatus. But Orange's first season was such a "lightning in a bottle" experience, a show that seemingly came out of nowhere to offer us a refreshing and completely unique experience that couldn't be paralleled anywhere else in pop culture. Shows that splash onto the scene like that go in one of two directions in their second seasons - they either improve and solidify the hype and praise they've been showered with or they completely collapse under the weight of their own expectations. I was genuinely unsure as to which category Orange would fall into, but thank the lord it's the first one, because I don't know what I would do if a show with as much potential as this one fell off the wagon. So let's get down to those first two episodes.

Thirsty Bird

There has perhaps never been an episode of Orange is the New Black that utilized its distribution model as well as this one. If Orange were a "traditional" television show, an episode like this would send fans into shock and rage. You mean the SEASON PREMIERE completely leaves out all of the fan favorite inmates and focuses in on BORING FUCKING PIPER, aka JASON BIGGS' FIANCE?!?! While I like Piper more than a lot of other people, I have to admit that even I was initially slightly let down when I found out I would need to wait until episode two to see the rest of the inmates I had grown attached to over the course of the first season. Then I remembered this is Netflix, and I can just watch the next episode and see all of those people again in a matter of seconds.

This is how "Thirsty Bird" manages to be a compelling study of its protagonist without sending us all into a state of panic about where everyone else is!!! And once you realize that the other inmates will be back soon enough, you start to realize just how great of a measure this episode is to how much Piper has progressed since we first met her. The Piper we met in the pilot was someone who seemed to have no issues following the system, because until now, the system had always done her right. She told the truth, because why shouldn't she? She made a mistake in her younger days - days that are now far behind her - and she was willing to face the consequences and get on with her life. Of course, as the first season progressed, we discovered that the Piper that made those mistakes wasn't buried as far down as she liked to pretend she was, and we started to see the anger and frustration hiding behind her perfectly sculpted image. This episode solidifies this with a set of far back flashbacks to Piper's youth, where she tells her mother about her father having an affair and is punished for it. Assumingly, that led to the Piper that dated an international drug dealer and carried a suitcase full of contraband across country lines, only to regress back into the safe and sheltered mindset she was born with while burying her rebellious and angry confusion at what's right and what's wrong. All of this is summed up quite well when Piper learns she's been transported to Chicago to testify in a trial against the drug lord that Alex worked for, and Alex warns her to lie and say she's never met him to protect herself. This is where there's a split between the Piper of Alex's world and the Piper that's about to marry Jason Biggs. The latter version of Piper would tell the truth despite the danger it might present to her, for the good of the system (and the good of not facing possible perjury charges). But the former version would say fuck the system and lie about her involvement because not doing so could result in her death - or, at least, Alex's death. The former version of Piper, once again, wins out - as it seems to be doing quite a lot lately. 

And then it turns out, Alex pulls a Jason Biggs Piper move and is rewarded with an early release, while Piper watches her walk away from behind the bars of a cell. It puts Piper in a position she's never been in before: a position where she's been screwed over. It's a hell of an interesting way to kick off the season, and we don't even get a minute of screentime from Crazy Eyes Suzanne. That's a great season premiere.

"Looks Blue, Tastes Red"

HERE they are!

Since "Thirsty Bird" was quite an anomaly of an opener, it's up to "Looks Blue, Tastes Red" to serve up the typical "back to school" vibe of a season premiere, and it does so quite well without any of that "new season" awkwardness that those kinds of episodes occasionally have. Indeed, the shows' timeline more or less means that there's really no "new beginnings" for the inmates of any kind - we're more or less right where we left off, give or take a month, and it's life as usual for just about everyone at Litchfield. What is new in this episode is the information we receive about Taystee, one of the more popular breakout characters of the first season but also a character we didn't know all that much about. This episode changes that, giving us a look back at Taystee's life - a life completely dominated by the dark side of the "system". 

Let's talk about the "system" a little bit. Orange is the New Black has always been a show that's deeply skeptical of powers that be and how those powers tend to benefit some while ruining the lives of others. But in these first two episodes, that bell has rang through clearer than ever, particularly as we lie Piper and Taystee's backgrounds next to each other. Piper comes from the positive influence of the system; Taystee squarely the negative. And yet, they've wound up in the same place. Sure, Piper has far more of a support system than Taystee, but it's a support system that's ready to give up on her at any moment, if the scenes with Jason Fucking Biggs are to believed. (Can we please talk about Jason Fucking Biggs and his dad going to a gay bathhouse together? I hope we get more on that development. Maybe Jason Fucking Biggs' dad was once a drug mule for his past gay lover too?). If these first two episodes are any indication, this season of Orange is the New Black seems like it's going to go even deeper into the concept of privilege, asking the differences in those who get it and those who don't - and how it can be taken away

But let's get to Taystee herself. This was perhaps Taystee's best episode yet, as it showcased just how capable she really is and just how well she could fit and thrive in society if someone would just give her a fucking chance. From the time she was just a child eating blue ice pops that taste red, no one expected enough from her to give her the time of day. And yet, every time she's given a challenge, she shines. She has ambition, drive, talent...she was able to make heroin dealing seem like a creative endeavor. There's no reason she shouldn't have been able to make something out of herself...except for her background, which is literally the only thing that could've held her back. And it did. Completely. Anyone who still honestly believes America is an equal playing ground where everyone has equal opportunity needs to take a look at people like poor Taystee. The episode ends with Taystee's heroin dealing boss/de facto mother showing up out of nowhere, and it makes me wonder just where this is going. The final flashback seemed to strongly hit at her death, which would mean the only person who ever saw what Taystee could do was gone. But she's not. She's here. And she's probably bringing some pretty bad shit with her. But it's hard not to see her peering over Taystee pleading her way into a $10 commissary credit and get the image of a proud mother looking upon her daughters' achievements. Granted, that mother is likely the one who landed her where she is and those achievements are a small victory at best, but it still promises an incredibly interesting dynamic for Taystee going forward.

The episode features a myriad of other storylines and bits of storylines, from a fun plot that gives us a sweet mother/daughter story with Daya and her mom to a sad slice of Red's dire straits to an interesting scene where two of the shows' bigger villians  (Pennsatucky and Healy) play off of each other, but it all comes back to that idea of these people reeving the wrong end of the stick. After all, the inmates' petty crimes have ruined their lives; Fig's have given her more power. With the resolution to Piper's story in "Thirsty Bird", I imagine this dynamic is going to play itself out in some fairly interesting ways as we progress through the season.

Best TV of 2013

Hello, everyone! Due to some "oh no I never watched Breaking Bad let me binge through it so I don't look like an asshole when I make my top TV of 2013 list" related issues, my Best of 2013 post is a bit delayed. But that's okay! It's here now, and that's all that matters, right?

2013 was a pretty fantastic year for television, and it was an interesting year for my personal television habits. I've expanded my taste a lot this past year - previously I had mostly contained myself to the comedy genre, but that wasn't the case this year. There are plenty of shows on this list that I would've never dreamed could be on there in previous years. Why did I decide to finally expand my TV mind? Maybe it was because this was the year we lost 30 Rock and I needed something to vill the void. Maybe it's because Community was off and I needed something to fullfill THAT void. Maybe it's just because I was bored. I don't know! But I'm glad it happened. It lets me see TV in a broader and more interesting light.

Alright! Let's get down to it. But before we get there, I wanted to give a shout-out to....

30 Rock
30 Rock aired only four episodes in 2013, so it wasn't eligible for my list. But if it was? It would be a strong contender for the #1 slot. There wasn't a single episode of TV this year I enjoyed more than the final 3 episodes of the shows' run, which brought each of its characters to a perfect, well-earned conclusion. And all the while, it never stopped being the funniest show on TV. Farewell, sweet 30 Rock. We'll miss you. Well, we'll miss making new episodes. We're still going to watch you obsessively on Netflix, obviously.

Alright! And now for the...

Honorable Mentions

These shows didn't quite make my top 10, but they came very close. Therefore, they deserve mentions!

Parks and Recreation
2013 saw Parks & Rec comfortably settling into its middle age. Many times, the show felt like it was running around in circles, rehashing plots it had done better in its peak years. It also lost its usuallysharp focus, often seeming unsure of what left it could do with its characters (and particularly its protagonist, who seemed halted in her growth). But even though the storytelling left something to be desired, Parks remained a show that I was happy to spend a half-hour with every week. And at the end of the year, the show made the curious decision to recall Leslie from her City Council position and send her off on an unknown path. It was the most interesting narrative choice the show made in several seasons, and it provides some hope that Parks can re-emerge as a vibrant and compelling show once again. But even if it doesn't, spending time in Pawnee is sure to remain a simple pleasure for as long as the show airs.
Highlight Episodes: "Leslie and Ben", "London", "Recall Vote"

Archer
Archer remained an incredibly funny show in its fourth season. The cast was still aces, and the writing was still sharper than just about every other comedy on TV. But one important competent was missing - the element of surprise that always drove the show at its best. This is pretty natural - as a show ages, there's no way it can continue to bring the same thrills it did at its peak. But it was still incredibly funny and entertaining, which likely would've been enough to give the show a long and fulfilling future - even if it meant a little bit of coasting. Of course, as we all know now, that wasn't enough for Archer. They hit the reset button this year, sending us on an insane journey that recalls the fast-and-loose experimentation that drives the show at its best. I'm glad Archer wasn't content to settle into a groove, but Season 4 proves that Archer coasting still made for a pretty great time.
Highlight Episodes: "Live and Let Dine", "The Papal Chase", "Sea Tunt"

Happy Endings
Happy Endings spent most of 2013 in burn-off mode on ABC, which caused many people - including myself - to sort of forget about it come the end of the year. But when VH1 marathoned all of Happy Endings on New Years' Day, it reminded me how much of a perfectly crafted joke machine it was. Few shows on TV make me laugh as loudly and consistently as this one did, and I'm going to miss its delightfully insane characters and jokes that are fucking poetic in how perfectly hilarious they are. The marathon also reminded that Happy Endings closed out with a fairly strong set of episodes. They were just as hilarious as the show had always been, and for the first time, they successful rang some pathos out of situations like the end of Penny's engagement with Piece and Alex and Dave deciding to call it quits. I'll really miss Happy Endings, but at least it went out on a high note.
Highlight Episodes: "The Ex Factor", "The Marry Prankster", "She Got Game Night"

Arrested Development
Arrested Development's long-awaited fourth season was sort of a beautiful mess. On one hand, the excitement of seeing the Bluths back in action was matched by very little else on TV this year. On the other hand, the confusion of the shows' downright strange narrative style was also matched by anything on TV this year. Since the original recipe of Arrested Development was heralded for its innovation to the TV sitcom, the Netflix revival seemed to feel like it had to follow in its footsteps - but that caused the show to often forget about what made it work so well in the first place. Luckily, this wasn't always the case. Even though the narrative was convulted, the humor on AD remained mostly sharp, and the fourth season succeeded in providing a new wave of classic Arrested Development quotes. It may not have completely lived up to the shows' original run, but what could? At its best, AD Season 4 was still an incredibly funny and entertaining show, with some intriguing character work. That's more than enough to keep me hoping we don't have to wait another seven years to see the Bluths again.
Highlight Episodes: "Colony Collapse", "Senioritis", "Off the Hook"

Alright. That's that. Now let's get on to the Top 10!

10. Veep

Veep is one of those shows that could've simply repeated its first season for its entire run, and a good portion of its audience (possibly including me) would've been content. I mean, it's a bunch of hilarious people dressing up as politicians and cursing, and that's awesome. But I was impressed by the narrative choices the show made in its second season - rather than continuing to hammer the "Selina is useless" shtick, Veep made her an integral part of her administration in Season 2 after her nameless party received a particularly harsh setback in the midterm elections. This raised the dramatic stakes in ways that helped keep the show fresh and interesting. The season ended with an even more intriguing twist, suggesting that POTUS will not be seeking re-election and that Selena will attempt to fill his seat. That paves the way for a third season that could be quite interesting indeed, and will certainly continue to give us the classic, profanity-laced exchanges we've all come to crave.
Highlight Episodes: "Hostages", "First Response", "D.C"

9. Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Brooklyn Nine-Nine is the most promising new network comedy in several seasons (perhaps since Community?), and the reason why it's been so delightful can be boiled down to a few simple components: it has a killer ensemble cast, it has top-notch talent behind it, and it has an interesting set of characters that it's willing to dig into. Oh, and it's really, really funny - far funnier than any sitcom halfway through its first season has any right to be. The shows' only real blind spot is its protagonist - Andy Samburg does a fine job with Jake Peralta, but the show has yet to give us a reason why we should be rooting for such a self-absorbed, obnoxious character. But other than that? Just about everything on this show is fire right now, and I'm incredibly excited to see where it's going to go.

Highlight Episodes: "The Vulture", "Halloween", "Thanksgiving"

8. The Middle

It's rare that I get overly excited about a family sitcom, but The Middle is just that good. And unlike most aging comedies, it's only getting better. As the Heck kids grow up and begin dealing with things like graduation, college, and part-time jobs, The Middle is able to renew its comic energy by digging into these rites of passages and putting its own unique spin on them. But change isn't limited to the kids - the show made the wise decision to give matriarch Frankie a career change last year, and it's resulted in a surprisingly interesting story about people trying to re-invent themselves in their middle age. The way The Middle manages to consistently find fresh new challenges for the Heck clan is the key to its success, and it's what makes it continue to be the quietest great show on television.

Highlight Episodes: "Wheel of Pain", "Change is in the Air", "The Potato"

7. Mad Men

After a dynamic 5th season that experimented with the shows' form in incredibly interesting ways, Mad Men's 6th season first appeared to be a bit of a cooldown. It was still thought-provoking and genre-pushing, sure, but it didn't quite have the spark of the 5th season. And then, about halfway through, everything changed, and the season arc became clear: this is the beginning of the end for Don Draper. The season suddenly became the story of a broken mans' downfall, as we saw Don sink to depths we had never seen him reach before. Add this to a sudden status quo change that merged Sterling-Cooper-Draper-Pryce with one of its rival firms, and you have another great, intriguing season of television.

Highlight Episodes: "For Immediate Release", "The Crash", "In Care Of"

6. Orange is the New Black

The most surprising new show of the season may have been Orange is the New Black, a Netflix original series that came seemingly out of nowhere and blew us all away with its intriguing premise, refreshing characters, intricate character work, and unique storytelling structure. Of all of the things to love about the show - from all of the reasons I just listed along with its amazingly diverse cast and subtly effective social commentary - the single element that made the show work may be the way it challenged the way we view characters on television. The way it was able to take characters that started off looking like villians - such as Alex or Red - and turn them into truly sympathetic individuals was an amazing feat, as was their ability to do the opposite with a character like Healy. Of course, the best example of this may be Crazy Eyes (or Suzanne), who starts off the series as a terrifying wildcard and ends it as perhaps the most lovable character on the entire show. The show even achieves this goal with its protagonist, who goes from poor, helpless soul to dangerous anti-hero in a surprisingly natural way. After a year where it made such a splash, there's few shows I'm looking forward to in 2014 more than Orange is the New Black.

Highlight Episodes: "Lesbian Request Denied", "Fucksgiving", "Tall Men With Feelings"

5. New Girl

New Girl continued its momentum in 2013 by giving us one of the most compelling will they/won't they arcs on TV in a long time - the epic romance of Jessica Day and Nick Miller. I was originally completely against a Jess/Nick pairing, but the show did an excellent job turning me by basically just forcing me to accept it. In "Cooler" - quite possibly the shows' best episode to date - the series simply throws the characters together for a passionate kiss and refuses to give the audience time to process it all. And it worked! That episode kicked off New Girl's best run of episodes yet, fueled by the perfectly constructed Jess/Nick romance. But Jess and Nick aren't the only factors that made New Girl so compelling in 2013 - the show continued to dig deep into its characters and ask them tough questions about who they really were and what they wanted. This was perhaps most obvious with Schmidt, who was forced to hold a bit of a mirror up to himself and question how good of a person he really was. It didn't always work, and the show had a few rocky episodes this fall, but when it did, there wasn't much else on TV that could match its mix of top-notch humor and deep-rooted characterization.

Highlight Episodes: "Cooler", "Parking Spot", "Menus"

4. Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad's final eight episodes were some of the most upsetting and emotionally disturbing things to air on TV this year, but that only cemented just how fantastic the story they were closing out was. All of the characters we've grown to care about (except Walt, because he's a terrible, terrible human being) were put in the desperate, grim situations we've known were coming for them since Season 1 - and it was every bit as terrifying and emotionally draining as we knew it would be. The best example of the beautiful misery of Breaking Bad's final stretch episodes was the breathtaking "Ozymandias", a nauseatingly tense episode of television in which everything we spent the past five seasons fearing was going to happen, happened - in the span of about 10 minutes. While the finale was a mild disappointment that never engaged with the psychological questions that the show was able to at its best, the build-up to it was perfect enough that Breaking Bad's curtain call will certainly be remembered for years to come.

Highlight Episodes: "Blood Money", "Confessions", "Ozymandias"

3. Enlightened

(The picture represents Amy and Tyler's reactions to ranking above Breaking Bad).

Enlightened is gone too soon, but what a beautiful story it told while it was here. After a strong first season that created a compelling protagonist in Amy Jellicoe, the second season of Enlightened put things into the highest gear possible and told a no-frills story about realizing what you're capable of. It was one of the most powerful shows on TV, and it was also one of the most unique - very few shows ever wear their heart on their sleeves as much as Enlightened did, which is perhaps why it wasn't a show for everyone. But if you could get on the shows' wavelength, you were lucky enough to experience some truly powerful messages about human connection, all done with some of the most lovable misfits this side of Community. It's a shame that we aren't getting anymore Enlightened, but part of me thinks we don't even need any more. What we got is such a beautiful, self-contained story that articulated its message so well, I'm just glad it existed in the first place.

Highlight Episodes: "Higher Power", "Follow Me", "The Ghost is Seen"

2. Doctor Who

On a purely subjective level, Doctor Who is probably not the #2 show of 2013. The second half of the shows' seventh season wasn't its all-time best, hurt a bit by the decision to split the season into two separate parts (although the two specials - the 50th anniversary and the Christmas special - were fantastic). But damn it, I'm putting it here anyway, because I don't know if there's a show that aired on TV this year that made me as purely happy as this one. 2013 was the first time I watched Doctor Who, and I binged through all seven seasons of the modern incarnation of the show pretty fast. What I love about Doctor Who is how, despite its seemingly complex nature, its really incredibly simple: it's about a time traveler and his companion, traveling all through space and time. Sure, there's plenty of other mythology to it, but that one sentiment sums up the child-like glee that you get when you immerse yourself in the shows' world. It's fun. It's campy. It's often funny, it's often heartbreaking. It's Doctor Who, and while it sometimes slips up a bit, there's nothing remotely like it on television.

Highlight Episodes: "The Rings of Akhaten", "The Day of the Doctor", "The Time of the Doctor"

1. Bob's Burgers

Oh, Bob's Burgers. Is there any show on TV that accepts people from all corners of the Earth as much as this one does? Is there any show with characters as downright lovable as the Belchers? Is there any show that could come up with a line as brilliant as "they'll say aw, topsy at my autopsy?". No. No, there is not. Bob's Burgers has such a refreshingly warm comic tone that brings a much-needed change of pace not just to the Fox animation family, but to television comedy in general. The way it manages to take characters that would easily be the butt of the joke on any other show and turn them into sympathetic and beloved figures is what truly sets it apart. That and its wonderfully weird and consistently hilarious sense of humor, of course. Sure, other shows might have kept me on my toes more, but no show made me as excited to spend time in its universe this year than Bob's Burgers. The way it accepts its completely weird, off-beat characters with such open arms is the kind of thing that really melts the heart of internet losers like me all over the world. Here's to another great year with the Belchers.

Highlight Episodes: "Mother Daughter Laser Razor", "Topsy", "Christmas in the Car"

So there's 2013. It was a great year, but with the re-emergence of Community and Archer, the return of Louie, and a whole slew of promising new shows, I wonder if 2014 could somehow be even better. I guess we'll just have to wait and see! How FUN!