TV Roundup - 9/23 to 9/28

So I've experimented in the past with doing episode-by-episode reviews, and while I enjoy doing episodic reviews sometimes, the truth is that I don't always have a lot to say about every episode of every show. But I still feel like I should write a little something about where I stand with a bunch of the shows that aired in the past week. So here's a thing: each week I'll attempt to do a quick summary of some of the highlight episodes of the past week that I didn't get around to doing a full-length review for. Let's see what happens!

New Girl - New Girl's second episode was not as strong as its premiere, but it was still a pretty fun episode of television, with two storylines that found a good way to utilize everyone in the ensemble. One of the weaknesses of Season 3 was that the strong Jess/Nick focus often left other characters in the dust, so it's refreshing to see an episode where everyone in the main cast gets at least one moment to shine. And this episode also did well by mixing up the pairings a bit: Schmidt/Jess is a combo we haven't gotten in quite some time, and running CeCe loose with the guys rather than keeping her as Jess's sidekick was a good way to dig into her character a bit more deeply than the show typically does. New Girl may not be the world beater it once was, but it feels like it's on solid ground right now, so let's hope it stays that way.

The Middle - The Middle returned for another year in much the same way it has in previous years, which is not a bad thing. This is one of the most consistent shows on television, always delivering the right note in a way that's familiar but still continuously endearing. The show can get away with some of the "more of the same" feel in a way that say, Modern Family can't because it actually does take the effort to gradually change and mature its characters, and that was well on display in this week's premiere, where Sue simultaneously gets her braces off and seems a little bit more weary of the world and Axl begins to confront the fact that his dad is aging and he's not quite sure how to handle it. This is pretty heavy stuff for an 8:00 family sitcom, and that The Middle handles it with the warmth and strength that it does demonstrates why it's still the go-to family show on television.

Doctor Who - I'm actually two episodes behind on my Doctor Who reviews, but that's mostly because I didn't have all that much to say about last week's episode, which was a perfectly solid Doctor Who story that felt a bit inessential to the shows' central themes but still managed to be a good time overall. I have a lot more to say about the most recent episode, though, which was right up there with "Listen" as my favorite episode of this season so far. Sending the Doctor off into Muggle World is almost always a guaranteed good time, but this episode went even further than that and analyzed just what it means to be a companion of the Doctor. It also contained some surprisingly deep-rooted analysis of some of the Doctor's flaws and prejudices, including his apparent distaste for soldiers and his current hesitance to accept anyone that isn't Clara. We're about halfway through this Doctor Who season, and I have to say that I'm surprised at how successful it's been in terms of being an intricate analysis of just who the Doctor is - really is.

Saturday Night Live - SNL kicked off its 40th season in mostly uninspired fashion. There were some decent sketches - the Good Neighbor team continues to bring forth some of the most delightfully weird material SNL has ever seen, the show's skewers of the NFL were pretty damn solid overall, and new cast member Pete Davidson has some real skills that I'm ashamed to admit to because he's younger than me, but overall it was not the strongest of season openers, and it mostly wasted the extremely likable and game host it had in Chris Pratt. The new Weekend Update team in particular was a little bit painful - I'll give Michael Che some time to settle because he's had success on The Daily Show, but man, Colin Jost is just...not suited for this role, is he? Still, SNL premieres often feel like they're shaking off the cobwebs, so hope isn't nearly lost yet. Last season was a pretty rough one, but there's enough talent in this cast and writing staff that they should be able to pull it together.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine - Over the course of the year, I had sort of forgotten about Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which ended its run seemingly ages ago. I really enjoyed the shows' first season, but it never quite wowed me in the way that some of the excellent cable comedies that premiered this year did almost immediately. And yet, this premiere reminded me of just what a solid, funny and overall incredibly entertaining show Brooklyn really is. The cast is truly a hit list of some of the finest actors working in comedy today, and the shows' go-for-broke attitude leads to some of the fastest and smartest comedy currently on network television. This wasn't a perfect episode - the main plot with the mobster sort of just petered out, and a lot of the romance stuff felt shoehorned in (although I'm actually a fan of the totally absurd Gina/Boyle pairing), but it felt fresh and funny enough that it gave me hope Brooklyn could go on to not just become the best comedy on network television (though it'll have to battle it out pretty hard with Bob's Burgers, which returns next week) but could hopefully duke it out with some of those cable comedies to become a contender for TV's funniest show. It's not there yet, but it's so close.

Oh, and there was also a Family Guy/Simpsons crossover. I won't comment on that, because that way, I can go on pretending like nothing happened at all. Trust me, the healing process will be better this way.

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!

TELEVISION UPDATE

HI! I have not written here in a while, because of life and because I'm terrible and stuff. So, since we're about halfway through November sweeps and coming close to the halfway point of the TV season (!!!), I thought I'd give a few updates on where a few shows are standing with me right now.

Let's start with Bob's Burgers. Bob's has only had 4 episodes so far this year, thanks to FOX's stupid dedication to SPORTS (gross!), but they've all ranged from decent ("A River Runs Through Bob") to fantastic ("Fort Night", which is, in my opinion, is already Bob's Burgers' Halloween classic). Bob's Burgers is one of those shows that's in such a great groove right now that it's hard to imagine it doing much of anything wrong. Other shows may be more ambitious, sure, but I still look forward to my half-hour with the Belchers every week more than anything else on television. Other than "Fort Night", nothing this season has quite hit the dizzying heights of episodes like "Mother Daughter Laser Razor" or "Topsy", but since the first half of this season will all be episodes made under the Season 3 production schedule (thanks to scheduling weirdness, now a staple of Fox's animation block), I'm fairly certain there's more classics waiting for us in the bunch. The thing that continues to impress me the most about Bob's Burgers is the way it just accepts everyone's flaws and quirks and does so in a way that is lovingly hilarious. It's such a refreshing tone, and it's certainly been present in all of the episodes this year. I really can't say enough good things about this show. It's a strong contender for my favorite show on television right now.

Let's get onto Brooklyn Nine-Nine, easily the seasons' best new comedy and probably the best freshman comedy since Community back in 2009. It's amazed me just how quickly this show found its comic tone - by the second or third episode, I was already consistently laughing out loud when I watched it, which is pretty rare for a comedy that young. The show has also done a great job crafting strong, relatable comic characters, from Captian Holt to Terry to Amy. And of course, it features the hilarious Chelsea Peretti, who was absent in this weeks' episode but is always there to bring her special touch of enderaring weirdness to everything she touches. My biggest issue with the show has been the way its lead character, Jake Peralta, can delve into douchebag territory far too quickly and never quite get the moments of redemption a character like that needs to in order for us to root for them. But the show actually remedied that a bit this week, with a stellar plot where Jake puts himself on the line after someone insults Captain Holt's sexuality. He's still not a perfect lead character, but I can see now that the show is working to make him better, and given Mike Schur & Dan Goor's track record with that subject on Parks & Recreation, I'm confident they'll be able to do so. One thing I find interesting about Brooklyn Nine-Nine is how old-school it feels - not so much in its humor, which feels very much like modern comedy, but in its relatively simplistic plotting and subtle character development. It's an interesting vibe that I'm wondering if the show will keep. I think it could stand to push its characters just a bit more, but other than that, I'm enjoying the bit of a throwback vibe its giving off, and I'm certainly enjoying the misfit ensemble they're crafting through solid writing and mostly pretty fantastic performances.

Then there's New Girl, which got off to a bit of a slow start this year but has really picked up its game in the last few episodes. I loved this weeks' episode, "Menus" - it was my favorite of the season so far, and probably one of my favorite episodes of the show of all-time. It wasn't anything particularly fancy, but the way it took the characters' seperate insecurities and blended them into one meaningful and thematically strong storyline was some really excellent writing. I think the show is also being aided a lot by the re-addition of Coach, who has already freshened up the dynamic a lot in the two episodes he's been around. I am hoping that Coach's return will spark something in Winston, rather than having him pushed to the sidelines even more. Winston's been having a great season comedically, constantly providing the show with some of its funniest moments, but I do think it's about time we got a real, full-fledged Winston arc (and not just a half-assed romance one like the one he had with Brenda Song). I know some people are frustrated with the show this season, but I really don't understand why, other than the usual third season backlash narrative. New Girl has never been a perfect show, but that's sort of what I like about it. It doesn't settle into a groove and continue to coast. It's constantly pushing and re-inventing itself to get to the emotional truth of its characters. That makes for a show that isn't always consistent but, when it hits, it really hits, and it's still hitting enough of the time that I continue to find it one of the best shows on TV.

That seems like a good way to segway us into Parks and Recreation, which has spent much of the last several years in "coasting" territory. Parks & Rec has an incredibly strong core, so when it coasts, it's still pretty damn great a lot of the time - but it can still get kind of same-y and boring after a while, as it did for much of Season 5 and portions of this season so far. Luckily, the show came back roaring this week in its return from its random hiatus/not hiatus, and it did so by doing what it used to do well in its earlier seasons but hasn't done in a while (arguably since Leslie got Ben back in Season 4) - it let Leslie Knope lose. I know, tragic. Just tragic. It was! The scene where it was announced that Leslie was recalled was a gut punch, and millions of Leslie Knope fans on Tumblr all cried out in sorrow at the same time. But that's a good thing! These things make us feel more connected to the characters. What was missing with Parks over the past few years was that it didn't let Leslie fail anymore. It gave her everything she wanted, mostly without even trying. All she had to do was defeat a bumbling moron for City Council or go through ridiculous, cartoonish townspeople to get what she wanted. So I'm really happy to see the show actually testing her again. It's sad! But this is Parks, so you know something good is coming for her soon, and that something is going to be even more powerful now that she's been through a bit of a struggle. This season has been inconsistent so far, but I'm enjoying it more than the last because it feels like its slowly poking out of the narrative rut it was in for all of last year and even a lot of Season 4. Let's hope it keeps pushing itself as the season progresses.

And finally, The Michael J. Fox Show, which I have nothing to say about. Because I dropped it. Because that shit is boring. I love you, MJF, but please, get a better show.

So, there's the basics. There are other shows that I'm consistently entertained by - like The Middle, which is the best family sitcom in ages - and other shows that I've been consistently let down by - like South Park, which is showing more cracks than ever this season, but those are the shows that have been consuming my mind the most lately. And Doctor Who. Oh, do I need to make a post about Doctor Who. But that's for another time.

The 12 Best Comedies of 2012 (if you have the exact same taste as me)

Hello, everyone/no one! I haven't posted in a while, because holidays I'm lazy/was busy with finals then got lazy. But I decided, on this wonderful New Years' Eve, that while everyone else is getting drunk, I'd intoxicate myself with television feelings, like I do most other nights. So, I'll be posting my top 12 TV shows of 2012 and my top 20 TV episodes of 2012.

Here are some disclaimers: I pretty much only watch comedies, so you can consider this a list of the best comedies of 2012. I do watch some dramas (okay, mostly just Mad Men), but I'm not as well-versed in them as I am in comedies. Also, I chose 12 because...I felt like it. Besides, 2012! Get it? Okay.

Anyway, here are the 12 comedies you should've been watching in 2012, according to me.

12. South Park 

2012 wasn't really South Park's strongest year, but it still managed to churn out a ton of pretty damn fantastic episodes that easily rank among the show's best. For a show that just ended its 16th season, that's no small feat, and when you compare to other aging cartoons like The Simpsons and Family Guy, the show's continued strength becomes even more impressive. There are probably dozens of factors as to why South Park remains a viable entertainment option while other cartoons have fallen prey to the DVR delete button, but I'd attribute it to the fact that the show is still interested in pushing itself and its characters to places they haven't been before. In this year alone, the show turned itself into an action reality show for half an episode, put its own spin on "shipping", and even questioned its own influence on morality. As long as the show can keep churning out similarly fresh ideas, it should have no problem remaining the reigning champ of long-running animation on TV.

Highlight Episodes: "Cash for Gold", "Cartman Finds Love", "Raising the Bar"

11. Suburgatory

Suburgatory was a show that I was pretty torn on last year. I loved so much of the cast and felt it had tons of potential, but the whole "city dad moves his troubled daughter to the SUBURBS!!!!" angle seemed so trite, and the show wasn't really putting any new spins on it. Luckily, the show downplayed that aspect of it this year, turned its homebase Chatswin into less of a demonic Stepford Wives-esque world and more of a lovingly bizarre Pawnee/Springfield type setting. But what really made the show stand out - aside from America's favorite family, the Shays - was the way it was able to take Tessa's maturation into adulthood and relationship with her father seriously. The show was by far at its best when it was dealing with Tessa trying to reconnect with her long-lost mother and figure out just where exactly she came from, and how that affected who she is today. Suburgatory still stumbles into over-the-top territory a bit too often, but when it's at its best, mixing its off-beat humor with serious emotional depth, it's easily one of the most compelling shows on television.

Highlight Episodes: "The Motherload", "The Wishbone", "Krampus"

10. Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23

Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 was easily one of the year's most surprising new shows. Its high level of quality wasn't necessarily what was surprising, but rather the fact that an ABC sitcom was allowed to go to places as dark, disgusting, and downright weird as Apartment 23 - or, more affectionately, Bitch 23 - went over the course of the year. The fact that a network that refuses to even air the show's actual title somehow gave the green light to a scene that prominently featured a main character blatantly masturbating in a bathtub is a television miracle in and of itself. Unlike some other shows that highlight their raunchiness, though, there's a lot of talent that goes into Apartment 23, and what makes the show as great as it is is not necessarily its raunchiness, but its excellent performances (especially by surprising comic genius Krysten Ritter), truly unique style of humor, and its way of taking old sitcom plot points and turning them in completely bizarre directions that somehow make total sense in its world. There's nothing else quite like it on TV, especially live-action TV. Unfortunately, that very well might lead it to an early demise, but even if Bitch 23's reign is a short one, the fact that it even happened at all is a pretty amazing achievement.

Highlight Episodes: "It's Just Sex", "A Reunion", "Love and Monsters"

9. Ben and Kate

Few shows have developed an online following as quickly as Ben and Kate, and with good reason - in the time where most sitcoms are figuring out just what the hell they're trying to say, Ben and Kate had already established one of the best comic ensembles on TV, with each character bringing something truly unique to the show's warm, pleasant rhythm. Ben and Kate's strength lies in its authenticity - the show's stakes aren't that high and it never digs all that deep, but it's formed a bunch of misfit characters whose problems and personalities feel real, down-to-earth, and extremely relatable. That's probably why its small but dedicated audience clung onto it so quickly, other than the fact that it's boasting some seriously excellent comic performances from just about every member of its cast. Unfortunately, as dedicated as they are, Ben and Kate's audience does remain very small. Here's to hoping 2013 brings around some kind of turn in fate for the show, because its created such a pleasant world that would be a lot of fun to hang out in for a few more years.

Highlight Episodes: "Kate's Birthday", "Scaredy Kate", "Reunion"

8. The Middle

If there was one comedy underdog in 2012, it was The Middle. Sure, the show's ratings are higher than any other show on this list. But in terms of acclaim and general fanfare, The Middle has slipped quietly under the radar - and that's a bit of a shame, as it's slowly turned into one of the most realistic family comedies in several years, and just a really great sitcom on the whole. It's understandable that the young folks of the internet wouldn't be interested in a family show that airs on ABC and stars Patricia Heaton, but the show has done an excellent job of painting an accurate picture of what it's like to be a family on the brink of economic turmoil - and considering the age we live in, the one where everyone is running around yelling things like "DEBT CEILING!" and "FISCAL CLIFF!" all the time, its message has become incredibly poignant. Still, the show's slow but steady march to greatness needs to be partially chalked up to the Hecks themselves - a flawed but endearing bunch who all have pretty big problems but are able to get past them and become a functional and even loving family unit anyway. With the show going into syndication next year, let's hope people who wrote it off as family-fluff will catch an episode in between Seinfeld re-runs and discover one of the strongest, funniest family sitcoms of our time.

Highlight Episodes: "The Guidance Counselor", "The Second Act", "Christmas Help"

7. Veep

Veep is one of those shows where there was basically no way it could have gone wrong. The Thick of It creator Armando Ianucci creating an American political satire with Julia-Louis Dreyfus playing a frazzled vice president? With Buster Bluth and the girl from My Girl playing her cronies? That sentence alone would be enough to make my "best of 2012" list. The best thing about Veep, though, was its ability to mix razor-sharp satire with extremely strong comic characters. The fun of Veep lied not nesseccarily in its big statements about American politics - truth be told, there weren't really many of those - but in the way it took seemingly powerful, all-important people and brought them to human levels, having them nonchalantly toss around phrases like "fuckload of bread" and...well, various other spins on the F word. It brought a weirdly human level to the annoyingly un-human world of politics, even as it was having its characters make some classically despicable political moves. And of course, so much of Veep's magic comes simply from having a bunch of talented people working in a room together. Sometimes, that's really all you need.

Highlight Episodes: "Frozen Yoghurt", "Catherine", "Tears"

6. Parks and Recreation

2012 was a big year for Leslie Knope. Not only did she embark her on one of the most extensive fictional political campaigns in TV history, she got engaged to her Game of Thrones-loving boyfriend Ben Wyatt and was awarded with the seat of City Council. But if I'm being completely honest, I enjoyed Parks and Recreation the most this year not when it was telling big, grand stories of triumph and victory, but when it was telling smaller, more intimate stories, like Leslie learning she'll have to compromise a bit to be successful in politics, but can still stick to her roots - or April subtly showing she's grown to care about her job and the people in it. Not all of the beats the show hit during the campaign arc worked for me, and there were times where I felt like the story was taking the show off the rails a little bit. But the show always brought itself back around with the small, subtle character details that made it stand out in the first place. Parks is an aging show now, but it's built enough love and respect for its world and the people ingrained in it that it'll have us following them no matter where the show takes them. And that's pretty much exactly the place a veteran comedy show should be. No matter what happens, we'll always treasure the time we get to spend hanging out with the Parks Department in Pawnee.

Highlight Episodes: "The Comeback Kid", "Win, Lose or Draw", "How a Bill Becomes a Law"

5. Louie

I almost think Louie can't be ranked against the other comedies on this list, because what it's trying to do is so radically different from what any show on TV is trying to do. Louie has absolutely no concern with story, or character, or really anything that usually makes TV what it is. Instead, Louie is simply 22 minutes of Louis CK telling amazingly crafted short stories where he lets us in on his view of the world. The show doesn't just disregard continuity - it snarls in the face of it. Character development, storytelling - none of that has any place on Louie. It's a little jarring the first time you sit down to watch it - but it eventually reaches a point where everything is just so damn beautifully crafted that you stop caring about any of those things. And then it gets to a point where you actively enjoy the fact that you can sit down, watch an episode, and have no idea where it's going, because any sort of storytelling convention is completely out the window. You like that you're actually caught by surprise when the end credits pop up. It's a really unique and interesting new spin on the television format, and it'll be interesting to see if it winds up being a trendsetter or an outlier. Either way, Louie is something that's incredibly rare in pop culture - something that's never been done before.

Highlight Episodes: "Miami", "Daddy's Girlfriend (Part 2)", "New Year's Eve"

4. Community

Community had a turbulent 2012. It started the year on a forced hiatus with no announced end date. Then, its creator, the beloved Dan Harmon, was fired right after NBC announced the show would return for a shortened fourth season that would be buried on Friday nights. Right before its planned return date, NBC delayed the premiere until early 2013 - and if that wasn't enough, the troublesome Chevy Chase quit the show just before production on Season 4 ended. All of this turmoil seemed to cause a lot of people to forget that Community actually produced a fairly great run of episodes in 2012. Despite a few missteps, the show carefully put together an emotionally satisfying arc that dug deeper into its misfit study group than ever before, using Ken Burns-style documentaries, 8-bit video game spoofs, and Law & Order homages to tell a really excellent story about how far these people have come since we first met them, how much they've had an affect on each other, and how the influence they've had on one another will stay with them forever. Community's future may be uncertain, but its fans can at least take comfort in the fact that the three excellent seasons it did air were able to build to such an excellent, moving character study. Hopefully Season 4 will continue down that path- but even if it doesn't, and even if 2012 will go down as the end of an era for the show, it'll be an era that ended on a high note.

Highlight Episodes: "Pillows and Blankets", "Digital Estate Planning", "Introduction to Finality"

3. Happy Endings

Happy Endings was the true underdog of 2011, starting off as a generic mid-season replacement that no one cared about only to rapidly and unexpectedly develop into one of the fastest, funniest shows on the air. In 2012, Happy Endings cemented itself into the hearts of comedy lovers everywhere, continuing its delightfully wacky antics and joke-a-minute dialogue while simultaneously adding new comic layers to its dizzying array of hysterical characters. The show has little goal other than to make you laugh and smile for 22 minutes, and it hits the mark perfectly every single time. As the show continues on, though, it's begun to develop its own distinct personality - a perfect example is the fact that it has practically invented its own language through the weird iterations and shortenings of words that its characters use. Watching an episode of episode of Happy Endings is almost like entertaining another universe - a universe where just the way everyone talks is hilarious, and where you're constantly surrounded by people who would be the  "funny one" in any other group of friends. Other shows may make you think more or have better developed character arcs, but there's no show on TV right now you're going to have more fun watching than Happy Endings.

Highlight Episodes: "The Butterfly Effect Effect", "Cocktails & Dreams", "No Ho Ho"

2. 30 Rock

Most sitcoms limp their way to the finish line. Truth be told, trying to mine comedy out of the same characters for years upon years gets to be pretty difficult. But the very best comedies figure out a way to keep the momentum going despite their age, to keep you laughing and loving their characters right up until the end. 2012 was 30 Rock's last full calender year, but it can sit proudly up with the show's prime years as a fine example of the show at its very best. So how? How does a show keep such a high standard of quality after having so many episodes behind it? In 30 Rock's case, the answer came from two different factors - a willingness to go deeper and darker with its humor than it ever had before, and carefully plotted character arcs that brought its characters to their crescendo as 30 Rock neared its sunset. The best example is Liz Lemon, who the show has put through hell on her quest to "have it all" - which only made her first stable relationship, the first time she found someone who actually accepted her, her decision to finally fulfill her dream of having a baby, and her long-awaited marriage even more satisfying. There's still a few more episodes of 30 Rock left, so it remains to be seen if the rest of the show will wrap up as nicely. But either way, 30 Rock is going out with one of its best seasons and one of the strongest final seasons of a sitcom I can remember - and one of the best comedies of our times deserves nothing less.

Highlight Episodes: "Leap Day", "Stride of Pride", "Mazel Tov, Dummies"

1. New Girl

No comedy had a more exciting 2012 than New Girl. The show debuted last fall to huge numbers, but most critics wrote it off due to its obnoxious advertising campaign and middle-of-the-road pilot as a soulless Zooey Deschanel star vehicle. Most comedies likely would've been completely fine with this, ranking in their huge numbers and carrying on. But despite its rocky beginnings, it was always clear that New Girl wanted to be something more than that. And in 2012, the show rapidly turned the corner - it brought out the talented members of its comic ensemble, toned down Deschanel's performance while simultaneously bringing out the best in her, and started working its way toward being a comic character study of a bunch of weird, lost 30-somethings who have nothing to rely on but each other. The show slowly started to earn back all of the people it had lost by churning out strings of excellent episodes that no one would've ever believed the show was capable of when it first started. This can be attributed to many things - creator Liz Meriweather's dedication, some truly excellent writing, but perhaps most important is the the chemistry between the show's ensemble, who - much like their characters - each have their own unique vibe and personality that they add to the show's whole. Watching New Girl grow from a troubled young show with a lot of potential into a legitimately excellent comedy has been pretty incredible, and while maybe the show isn't technically the very best comedy on TV right now, the journey it took me on this year was more rewarding than any other show this year, and that's why it's getting top honors on my list.

Highlight Episodes: "Normal", "Fluffer", "Eggs"

Notable mentions:

• Archer - Admittedly, I've just started watching this and haven't made it to the show's 2012 offerings yet. But considering I assume I'll be all caught up by the time next year rolls around, I would be pretty surprised if it didn't end up high on my list in 2013, unless it has a terrible year or something. Because man, I am loving the shit out of it.
• Saturday Night Live - SNL is like a totally different TV experience for me, so I didn't rank it among the other comedy shows on my list, because it'd be a weird comparison. The show's quality fluctuates so much from week-to-week and operates on such a different standard that I think it'd be difficult to really rank on a list like this. But don't worry, I still love it.
• Raising Hope - Poor Raising Hope suffers with me because there's just too much good TV on Tuesdays, but when I do happen to watch it, I usually really like it. Hopefully I will discover it on TBS in like 2 years and fully appreciate it or something.
• The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, The Soup - Again, like SNL, these shows are kind of a different type of TV viewing for me, but I enjoy them all very much.
• Mad Men - I'm not nearly caught up on all of my Mad Men, but I really enjoy what I what I do see of it, and it's a show I'm planning on sitting down and watching from start to finish sometime hopefully soon. It's definitely a landmark TV show and one that is doing some pretty amazing things.

Well, there we have it. This was a pretty incredible year for TV, honestly - lots of amazing stuff all-around. I feel like 2013 is going to bring a lot of change, but hopefully things remain just as good, because having TV be so great is pretty fun, right?

You missed a spot...in my heart: ABC Wednesday Round-Up 12/5/12

So Wednesdays are a pretty long day for me at school, meaning I usually do not feel like doing shit when I get home. Therefore, I'm just getting around to writing about last night's ABC comedies now. Sorry! I think you'll survive! Especially since you probably don't actually exist! Anyway, here they are. By the way, I should specify that by ABC comedies, I really only mean The Middle and Suburgatory, because Modern Family lost my interest a while ago and I don't watch The Neighbors because...well, what do I look like to you?


The Middle is kind of a weird show for me, in that I rarely really look forward to watching it like I do with my favorite shows, and I usually don't bother with watching it live and wait until later in the night or the next day to watch it on my DVR. (Which I realize is how most people watch TV these days, but I'm a fucking old-fashioned kind of guy with this stuff, okay? I like pretending it's still 1996 and we're all watching everything together). And yet, when I am watching it, I enjoy it more consistently than most shows on TV right now. It's never going to be most ambitious or interesting show out there, but it's a show that has an excellent grasp on its characters, knows exactly what it wants to do, and does it very, very well. Last night's Christmas episode was a fine example of the show functioning at its best - it centered around the Hecks struggling to make ends meet for Christmas and trying to give their kids the best Christmas possible regardless. That may not be an overly original plot when you're looking at TV as a whole - hell, that's basically the exact plot of the first episode of The Simpsons - but there aren't many shows on TV dealing with economic turmoil as head-on as this show is right now. It doesn't sugarcoat the fact that these people are struggling and really, you can see their struggle. Their house isn't big and pretty like so many other supposedly "poor" TV families - it's small and sort of dumpy, and they don't spend too much money on extravagant things (okay, maybe Sue's 1,000 cookies were more pricey than what would've been realistic, but eh, I can cut the show some slack). On a night where the Modern Family gang is crashing an extravagant car every week and thinking nothing of it, this really sticks out. And yet, through it all, the show manages to show that these people - as flawed as they are, and as many problems as they have - still share a bond that unites them together. Oh, and also, the lines are funny! Not just "funny for a family sitcom". Frankie's "maybe I can fake my own death and then show up on Christmas - surprise! I'm alive!" line was one of my biggest laughs on TV this week. I think The Middle is a seriously excellent portrayal of the modern American family and I kind of wish more people were talking about it. It's quietly having a bit of an all-star season.

As for Suburgatory, that's another weird show in that it can have one of my favorite TV episodes of the year one week and one of my least favorites the next week. The previous two episodes - "The Wishbone" and "Friendship Fish", were so different that it's hard to believe the same show was responsible for both episodes. The former was a gut-wrenching Thanksgiving episode about Tessa finally meeting her estranged mother that really dug into the concept of family and how it shapes our identities. The latter was mostly an infomercial for the Microsoft Tablet that centered around a talking fish. Luckily, this week's Christmas episode resembled the former much more than the latter. It still retained some of the show's cartoonishness - which is a good thing. Suburgatory being a live-action cartoon while simultaneously being a pretty interesting family drama makes it one of the most ambitious and interesting comedies on TV. As great as the meaty family stuff is, it wouldn't be the same show if it didn't have Dalia making a viral video asking for her maid back that inexplicably takes place on an airplane or Ryan Shay running around town shirtless like a wild animal. "Krampus" struck that balance exactly right by balancing all of that with some seriously thoughtful scenes where Tessa realizes that, while her mother is her mother, she isn't her mom. Suburgatory is an inconsistent show, but - Microsoft Tablet infomercials aside - it has been increasingly playing to what works for it this season and eliminating what doesn't aside. If it can continue to churn out episodes like this one and "The Wishbone" (which was genuinely one of my favorite episodes of TV this year), it'll pretty easily join my ranks of the absolute best comedies on the air right now.

Both of these shows are ending in a pretty good place for me this fall, and I'm excited to see what they'll have in store for us after the holidays.