Top 10 Television Shows of 2006

I watch a whole lot of television, too much probably. But hey, at least now I can actually make some money off it by writing about it right? So that's what I'm going to do. I decided I would share with you all what I feel are the ten best television shows this year. When coming up with my list I had about twelve shows up for consideration but two fell short. So apologies to Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Prison Break, I like your shows but they just don't quite cut it.

10. Scrubs
I was actually late to Scrubs, watching it for the first time this past year. I'm sorry it took me so long to catch it because it's a pretty funny show. The writers for this show are geniuses and among the best writers in television. However, I'm not crazy about the main cast. I find Zach Braff to be ok at best and kind of annoying a lot of the time and Sarah Chalke and Judy Reyes' characters are not likable or interesting. But the writing is so good that I like the show even though I don't like three-fourths of the main cast. Really the stars of the show are Neil Flynn and John C. McGinley who steal every scene they are in with the main four. Also this show has guest stars galore: Scott Foley, Michael J. Fox, Amy Smart, Brendan Frasier, Tara Reid, and Heather Graham to name a few.

9. Bones
I've never been a big fan of the crime drama television series. I tried CSI, CSI: New York, and CSI: every other city in North America but never liked any of them. However, when Bones came along I gave it shot mainly because David Boreanaz was playing one of the main characters and David Boreanaz rocks cause he was Angel! Anyway, I didn't care for the first season of Bones. Emily Deschanel was kind of dull and even Boreanaz wasn't great and the two didn't have much chemistry together. The second season of Bones improved greatly though. Deschanel is still a little dull, but purposely dull, but the few times they need her to actually show some emotion she does. Boreanaz has also improved nicely, judging by this and his role as Angel, Boreanaz just needs to get a season under his belt before he really sinks his teeth (no pun intended) into a role. More importantly the mystery on Bones each week is pretty good and their methods of figuring who did it are pretty interesting.

8. American Idol
There was no Bo Bice this year and definitely no Carrie Underwood but I thought this season of American Idol had the most even group of contestants once they got down to the last six or seven. In the past I've only bought two CDs of American Idol contestants, Carrie Underwood and Bo Bice. But out of last year's groups I'd definitely buy CDs of Taylor Hicks, Chris Daughtry, Katharine McPhee, Elliot Yamin and Bucky Covington and maybe even Kellie Pickler. Paula Abdul is really annoying though and American Idol's choices of genres they have to sing are kind of boggling at times. I also don't like how when they got down the last three contestants the judges chose a song for each of them to sing. Someone shouldn't get eliminated because one of the judges picked a crappy song for them to sing.

7. The Office
Oh the Office, what is there to say? There is a lot to like about this show. The Pam/Jim relationship is way more interesting than Friends Ross/Rachel relationship years ago because Pam and Jim are actually likable. Michael is ignorantly hilarious, much of the minor cast is spot on and the writers are very good. So why is this show number 7 on my list? One reason: Dwight. I know some people love Dwight but I find him to be the most unbelievably, ridiculously annoying and stupid character in the history of television. In one episode Jim sends a fax to Dwight and in the fax Jim says he is actually Dwight from the future and Dwight actually believes it. NOBODY is that stupid! Dwight is just ridiculous.

6. Smallville
Smallville was in my doghouse for a long time. After the first season or two the Lana/Clark relationship got old and so did Chloe pining for Clark all the time. Finally during last season Clark and Lana broke up and since then Smallville has picked up. We've seen Zod take over Lex, we've seen a guest role by James Marsters (Spike rocks!), we've seen the debut Green Arrow and I think we're starting to get glimpses of a Clark/Lois relationship. This season of Smallville is very promising with the rumors that we'll see a Justice League of some form. Also the addition of Aaron Ashmore as Jimmy Olsen once again proves that Smallville is the best cast TV show or movie based on a comic book.

5. Gilmore Girls
Like Smallville, Gilmore Girls has been in the doghouse. Lorelai and Rory weren't talking to each other for a while and that really made the show kind of boring. Finally they got back on track but then made the idiotic decision to have Lorelai sleep with Christopher. Fortunately the first half of the new season has been much better. The Lorelai and Rory scenes are better than they've been for 2 or 3 seasons. Christopher and Lorelai are together but it's not too bad, Christopher is actually a pretty likable guy. Meanwhile Luke has his own life going on with April. Lorelai's parents and Paris are both still up to their old antics and Zac and Lane's reactions to getting pregnant has led to a lot of fun. Most importantly the new writer David Rosenthal's writing has been so close to the writers of the past six years that you can't even tell there is a new writer and that is a great accomplishment because the Palladinos unique writing style is hard to match.

4. Veronica Mars
Veronica Mars this year has been the reverse Gilmore Girls. Instead of the first half being not so great and being salvaged by the second half of the year Veronica Mars had a great first half of the year but has gone downhill lately. The end of Season 2 of Veronica Mars at the beginning of the year was must watch more than anything I've seen this year. The mystery was great and suspenseful, the ending was surprising and much of the Veronica Mars cast is great. If it had kept up in the new season then Veronica Mars would be number one on my list. Unfortunately Season 3 has been a disappointment. The large ongoing storyline has been poorly handled and hasn't seemed very important at all. The revelation of who did it wasn't all that important because it was a character we barely knew and the ending was pretty anticlimactic. Now the new mystery is who killed the dean. The problem is I don't think anyone really cares about him. Also this season they turned Veronica into a huge jerk and Weevil, Wallace, and Mac are hardly even seen on the show anymore.

3. Heroes
When I first heard the premise for Heroes I thought this was either going to be a great television show or really bad and cheesy television show. Fortunately Heroes is the former. The execution of this show so far has been close to perfect. Most of the cast is really good although I'm not crazy about Milo Ventimiglia and his need to fix his hair in every single shot. Hayden Panettiere has been improving every episode, Greg Grunberg has always been a favorite of mine, Jack Coleman has done great as Claire's father, Nora Zehetner has followed up on her good performance in Brick earlier this year and of course the star of the show is Masi Oka. Masi Oka as Hiro Nakamura has been the most entertaining character on any television show this year. The powers are pretty cool and have been pretty good with the exception of a few of Claire's moments. I'm really looking forward to the second half of the season as we see the whole group come together. Even though Heroes was only on for half of this year it was better than a lot of shows that were on the whole season but ultimately it fell short because it has only been on half the year.

2. Monk
I'm usually not a very big fan of comedy on television even though I like to write humor more than anything. First of all I don't usually like what television shows consider humor and second of all I like to see a good story, especially mysteries. Well nobody has ever mixed a good mystery story with good humor like the television show Monk. All the mysteries are well written and not easy to figure out right away and there is plenty of humor strewn about. Tony Shalhoub deserves any awards he wins. All within the span of one episode he can be serious, funny, and sad and have it all fit into the story. The supporting cast is also really good all around. Monk is so enjoyable that it's probably the best show in years that I've liked despite not having an overall large ongoing story.

1. Lost
What is there to say about Lost that hasn't already been said? I know some people are tired of Lost asking questions without answering them but my opinion is if it's entertaining every week then who cares? Lost has been consistently entertaining every week while all the other shows on the list have been good for half a season or so. Yes the Lost creators have a lot of questions to answer but the questions are still intriguing, the show is still suspenseful and the cast is top notch. Matthew Fox in particular has been outstanding especially in the first half of the new season. But the rest of the cast is still excellent as well especially Josh Holloway and Terry O'Quinn. Lost has also had the two most talked about episodes this season when Ana-Lucia and Mr. Eko died so they must be doing something right.