The 25 Best TV Shows Of 2011
This year, more than ever, the richest, craziest, and funniest stories were told on smaller screens, not in multiplexes.
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Once again, the storytellers and performers working in television outdid their big-screen, moviemaking counterparts. No longer Hollywood’s bastardized little sibling, TV has evolved into both a breeding ground for immensely talented newcomers and a limitless outlet for A-list film veterans eager to flesh out characters beyond mere two-hour timeframes. The last few years have seen the shift in visual fiction veer in the direction of television screens, courtesy of A-list veterans like Martin Scorsese and Frank Darabont. But in 2011, the change became indisputable.
There were so many exceptional options on TV this year, in fact, that narrowing 12 months’ worth of kick-ass programming into a truncated, ranked list wasn’t easy. Between already great shows exceeding previous levels of quality (Breaking Bad, Parks And Recreation) and a multitude of outstanding first-season debuts (Game Of Thrones, Homeland), DVR memory banks were stretched absurdly thin.
Which programs took top priority over those taped episodes of Kardashian family reality shows, though? Yes, we know you watch those, but as long you can also appreciate The 25 Best TV Shows Of 2011, we’re not mad at you.
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Written by Matt Barone (@MBarone)
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How To Make It In America
25. How To Make It In America
Network: HBO
Stars: Bryan Greenberg, Victor Rasuk, Lake Bell, Kid Cudi, Luis Guzmán, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Shannyn Sossamon
Earlier this week, Twitter was awash with disappointment, anger, and confusion over the cancellation of HBO’s How To Make It In America; if you think about it, though, it’s not all that surprising that the prestigious cable network severed ties with the Mark Wahlberg-produced, fluffy dramedy. Though we all loved the show for its presentation of cool-chasing twenty-somethings, hip-hop influences, and style industry insight, the show never pulled in heavy ratings. And after the recently concluded, drastically improved second season, that fact is even more of a shame.
Treating its characters like actual people and not one-dimensional ciphers, which it often did in Season One, How To Make It In America formed its own identity this year, leaving skeptics with less ammunition for those pesky Entourage comparisons. The addition of Gina Gershon worked wonders to distinguish Ben (Bryan Greenberg) as a conflicted leading man, and the complicated relationship between Rachel (Lake Bell) and Dom (Kid CuDi, coming into his own as an actor) afforded two previously one-note characters with exciting arcs that could’ve paid off quite well in the now-only-a-façade third season.
Simply for being one of the year’s most improved shows, How To Make It In America merits one more celebratory, though bittersweet, salute.
Wilfred
24. Wilfred
Network: FX
Stars: Elijah Wood, Jason Gann, Fiona Gubelmann
The award for the year’s strangest new show goes to…Wilfred. Based on an Australian series of the same name, the first season of FX’s dark comedy followed a depressed, suicidal guy (Elijah Wood) who decides to give life a better chance after befriending his sexy blonde neighbor’s dog, Wilfred, a pooch that he sees as a grown Australian dude (Jason Gann) with a dirty mouth and a dog costume.
As far as oddball TV premises go, that’s certainly at the top of the heap, yet, surprisingly, Wilfred worked in spite of its hazardously ridiculous concept. Any show that can open with an Emily Dickinson quote, show its main character joining his wacko mother in an asylum, has a man in a dog suit flirt with said unstable mom, and manages to make us laugh our asses off is something special indeed.
Revenge
24. Revenge
Network: ABC
Stars: Emily VanCamp, Madeleine Stowe, Gabriel Mann, Henry Czerny, Connor Paolo, Ashton Holmes, Ashley Madekwe, Joshua Bowman, Nick Wechsler, Amber Valletta, Margarita Levieva
There’s a strong chance that when you first saw the ads for ABC’s Revenge, whether during commercial breaks or on subway trains, the initial thought was something along the lines, “Fuck outta here, not another Gossip Girl rip-off.” At least that’s what crossed our mind initially—that is, until we gave Revenge a shot and became secretly obsessed. Look, we still feel a bit uneasy about lavishing what’s basically a more pristine and nighttime-airing soap opera with so much adulation.
Revenge deserves it, though, for several reasons. The performances, particularly from lead Emily VanCamp (as a scorned girl quietly working against high-society snobs who wronged her father) and Madeleine Stowe, who’d own TV’s “greatest hellcat” award if not for American Horror Story’s Jessica Lange.
Like AHS, Revenge finds ways to rollick viewers with unexpected turns and salacious scenes that one-up each other week in and week out. Now we understand what our mothers used to feel like while fixating over Melrose Place.
Sons Of Anarchy
22. Sons Of Anarchy
Network: FX
Stars: Charlie Hunnam, Ron Perlman, Katey Sagal, Maggie Siff, Mark Boone Junior, Theo Rossi, Kim Coates, Dayton Callie, Tommy Flanagan, Ryan Hurst
For most of its polarizing fourth season, Sons Of Anarchy was tense enough to cause viewers to bite through all ten fingernails. Wisely, showrunner Kurt Sutter brought the story back into its origins of Charming, avoiding any international exploits (a la last year’s uneven stretch of Ireland-set episodes) and meticulously imploding everybody’s favorite machine-gun-toting motorcycle gang, SAMCRO.
Introducing cocaine into the gang’s business regimen, Sons leader Clay (Ron Perlman) turned himself into a cancer of sorts for the group, a ballsy move on Sutter’s part that grew in seriousness once Clay, in an effort to protect past sins, tried having Jax’s (Charlie Hunnam) girl Tara (Maggie Siff) killed and beat Gemma’s (Katey Sagal) face into mural of bruises.
Up until the season finale, Sons Of Anarchy captivated us with its overpowering dread—you just knew that Clay was going to die for all he’d done wrong. But then he didn’t, thanks to an all-too-convenient reveal and a general, disappointing feeling of producers playing it safe. It’s a shame, too, because, aside from the letdown of a conclusion, Season Four was almost on par with Sons’ magnificent second season.
Workaholics
21. Workaholics
Network: Comedy Central
Stars: Blake Anderson, Adam DeVine, Anders Holm, Maribeth Monroe, Jillian Bell, Kyle Newacheck, Erik Griffin
It may be an acquired taste, but Comedy Central’s Workaholics quietly brought more funny to the airwaves in 2011 than all of CBS’ ratings killers combined. The ultimate slacker comedy, the brainchild of YouTube stars turned TV headliners Blake Anderson, Adam DeVine, and Anders Holm covers familiar ground for anyone who’s stuck in an Office Space-like job that excites them less than midget porn: bored (and usually drunk or stoned) nine-to-fivers causing mischief at work and plotting to do dumb shit once it’s time to clock out.
Though, chances are you’re nowhere near as hilarious as the Workaholics crew. When you vow to stop drinking for a week after suffering from a catastrophic hangover, it’s a downer; when Anderson, DeVine, and Holm resist open bottles, the collectively self-imposed shutdown is a riot.
Dave's Old Porn
20. Dave’s Old Porn
Network: Showtime
Stars: Dave Attell
It’s Mystery Science Theater 3000 for perverts and guys who prefer bushes over Brazilians. Seriously, what’s not to love about Dave’s Old Porn? Hosted by stand-up comedian, and series creator, Dave Attell, Showtime’s funniest show is simplistically inspired: Attell and one of his comedian friends (including Chelsea Handler, Adam Carolla, Whitney Cummings, and Jim Norton) sit on a plush couch, watch clips from '70s and '80s adult skin flicks, and spit uproarious, on-the-fly commentary.
In the name of authenticity, a veteran porn star (such as Ron Jeremy or Seka) joins them to dish out firsthand wisdom and memories from the jack-off movie industry’s golden years. Clocking in at scant 26-minute clips, Dave’s Old Porn episodes leave you wishing Attell and his motley crew of talking heads would pay you a visit, eat your popcorn, and watch the entirety of E3: The Extra Testicle in your living room.
Ugly Americans
19. Ugly Americans
Network: Comedy Central
Stars: Matt Oberg, Kurt Metzger, Natasha Leggaro, Randy Pearlstein, Michael Leon-Wooley, Larry Murphy
One of the hardest things for a genre filmmaker to pull off is horror-comedy, a task made difficult by not knowing when to play the scares straight and when to go all-out with the laughs. Ugly Americans, Comedy Central’s animated oddity that finished its notably strong second season in September, avoids the issue of balance and chooses terror-free comedy. And that’s a good thing, since cable TV’s most under-appreciated and original cartoon, about a normal, human social worker who helps out various underachieving monsters and dates the devil’s busty daughter, habitually unites irreverent humor with pop culture send-ups and nerdy horror influences. Hysterically, at that.
Modern Family
18. Modern Family
Network: ABC
Stars: Ty Burrell, Julie Bowen, Sofie Vergara, Ed O’Neill, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eris Stonestreet, Sarah Hyland, Ariel Winter, Nolan Gould, Rico Rodriguez
Few things in life are as guaranteed as the laughs that come from ABC’s Modern Family. Thanks to sharp writing, uniformly appealing characters, and performances anchored by expert comedic timing, Wednesday night’s best sitcom is always good for six or seven genuine laugh-out-loud moments, a consistency that never wavered during the show’s 24 episodes this year.
Amongst 2011’s highlights: buffoonish dad Phil Dunphy (Ty Burrell) poorly building a treehouse with his dryly hilarious son, Luke (Nolan Gould); Cam (Eric Stonestreet) picking up a hot blonde (guest star Leslie Mann) just to spite his partner, Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson); and Haley’s (Sarah Hyland) college campus visit to Phil’s old alma mater.
The Walking Dead
17. The Walking Dead
Network: AMC
Stars: Andrew Lincoln, Jon Bernthal, Sarah Wayne Callies, Laurie Holden, Jeffrey DeMunn, Steven Yeun, Chandler Riggs, Norman Reedus
The year’s most infuriating name: Sophia, referring to the missing little girl who plagued the first half of The Walking Dead’s crucial second season. And, before the undeniably powerful midseason finale, Sophia is all the AMC zombie show’s haters could talk about, though they had good reason to complain. It’s not all Sophia’s fault, but, nevertheless, The Walking Dead’s second run has so far been exemplified by overly preachy monologues and very little undead action. Which unjustly trivialized some grade-A work from co-stars Norman Reedus (as crossbow-shooting redneck Daryl Dixon) and Jon Bernthal (as the fearless, and reckless, Shane).
A few weeks removed from The Walking Dead’s most recent hour, though, it’s now easier to appreciate the season’s slow-burn approach thus far. Yes, characters like T-Dog (IronE Singleton), Andrea (Laurie Holden), and Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn) have yet to earn much goodwill, and all of Lori’s (Sarah Wayne Callies) scenes continue to disinterest us. But the power struggle that’s being set up between Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Shane, along with the midseason finale’s vicious destruction of the Hershel farm’s tranquility, promises to pay off in major ways come February, when The Walking Dead starts back up. And, hey, at least we know there won’t be any more talk about she-who-won’t-be-named.
Happy Endings
16. Happy Endings
Network: ABC
Stars: Elisha Cuthbert, Zachary Knighton, Adam Pally, Damon Wayans, Jr., Casey Wilson, Eliza Coupe
Admittedly, we weren’t quick to embrace ABC’s Happy Endings when it debuted in early April. For one, the early promos that pegged the ensemble sitcom as this generation’s Friends did little to entice—does the world really need a new-school version of David Schwimmer? And then we watched the first few episodes, which couldn’t muster more than the occasional chuckle.
As word of mouth spread, however, Happy Endings entered its second season this past September with a “it really got better over time” buzz. The below-the-radar hype was justified, it turns out, considering that Happy Endings has sneakily bettered many a 2011 sitcom with its idiosyncratic sense of humor, most commonly mastered by co-stars Adam Pally, Eliza Coupe, and Damon Wayans, Jr. And, for eye candy enthusiasts, there’s also Elisa Cuthbert, looking hotter than ever (see: the Halloween episode, in which she dressed as Marilyn Monroe).
Shameless
15. Shameless
Network: Showtime
Stars: William H. Macy, Emmy Rossum, Jeremy Allen White, Cameron Monaghan, Justin Chatwin, Emma Kenney, Ethan Cutkosky, Shanola Hampton
The dysfunctional family set-up has long been overused in the TV market, but we can’t recall too many examples of the otherwise trite device that match Showtime’s Shameless in terms of vulgarity and nudity. Going that extra mile to drive home the familial malfunction is exactly what gives the crude yet warm-hearted series its strength.
William H. Macy, reveling in a gaudy role, plays an alcoholic, single father of six kids, whom all live in near-poverty and do their best to not turn into raging fuck-ups like dear old dad. Oh, and in case you haven’t heard, Emmy Rossum gets naked. Often. Even better, she’s excellent as Macy’s oldest, most legally responsible child. Together, she and Macy anchor a show that dexterously walks the fine line between raunchy comedy and affecting drama.
Fringe
14. Fringe
Network: Fox
Stars: Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Jasika Nicole, Lance Reddick, Seth Gable
We’re guessing that everyone involved with Fringe has accepted the fact that Fox’s stellar sci-fi program won’t ever amass “hit” ratings. Especially since the network has relegated the J.J. Abrams-produced show to Friday nights, a positioning that guarantees little more than Nielsen stats garnered through DVR machines, not live viewings. They must also be aware that the chances of Fringe ever making it to a fifth season are looking more dire every Friday evening.
God bless Fringe’s writers and producers for never letting that get them down, then; in 2011, the best science fiction show currently on TV spent its time delving deeper into its complex, parallel universe, doppelganger-heavy mythology, basically shunning away newcomers and catering to those who’ve been down since Fringe’s 2008 premiere. Per usual, all involved, namely the show’s underrated leads Anna Torv, John Noble, and Joshua Jackson, maneuvered around Fringe’s many intricacies and loaded plotlines with the utmost skill.
Community
13. Community
Network: NBC
Stars: Joel McHale, Alison Brie, Chevy Chase, Danny Pudi, Donald Glover, Ken Jeong, Gillian Jacobs, Yvette Nicole Brown
All it takes is one episode of NBC’s Community to understand why it’s the definition of a cult hit. Depending on which half-hour block you check out, you’ll either come across a themed episode that’s recounts a pizza delivery gone awry from six different points-of-view, an unexplained reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey, or an extended parody of the documentary Heart Of Darkness. It’s no wonder, then, that Community’s ratings have always been low-level, to the point that NBC booted the show off its 2012 midseason schedule, much to passionate fans’ vexation.
But there’s reason why millions of die-hards have signed petitions and bombarded Twitter in efforts to save Community: For those who connect with creator Dan Harmon’s bizarre sense of meta humor (not to mention, guys who can’t get enough of mega-cutie Alison Brie), Community is a risk-taking, inventive landmark within the predominantly cookie-cutter realm of modern-day sitcoms.
Lights Out
12. Lights Out
Network: FX
Stars: Holy McCallany, Stacy Keach, Catherine McCormack, Pablo Schreiber, Meredith Hagner, Billy Brown, Eamonn Walker, Reg E. Cathey
It hurts us to think that this Best TV Shows Of 2011 inclusion will be the first time that many folks hear about Lights Out, but, alas, that’s no doubt the truth. Back in the year’s first quarter, though, the rookie FX boxing saga was a real knockout, centered around a fascinating character, Patrick “Lights” Leary (Holt McCallany), and his efforts to reclaim his once-prevalent ring king status.
When Lights Out put the gloves on, McCallany’s believable athleticism and the show’s dedication to real-looking pugilism made for a Rocky lover’s dream; outside of the ring, the domestic issues and media conflicts showed that Lights Out could bob and weave its way around intriguing drama. Something tells us that creator Justin Zackham had a truly great series in him if he’d been given more seasons to earn an audience; unfortunately, as it stands, cancellation has knocked Lights Out into the graveyard of unfairly killed TV programs. And don’t even get us started on that question-igniting final scene.
The League
11. The League
Network: FX
Stars: Mark Duplass, Paul Scheer, Nick Kroll, Katie Aselton, Stephen Rannazzisi, Jon LaJoie
One sign of a winning comedy series is if you’d actually want to hang out with its characters in real-life or not. Far too commonly, so-called “funny people” on sitcoms and wannabe hilarious shows try so hard to be humorous that they’re ultimately cheese grating (case in point, NBC’s painful Whitney). So it says a lot that we’d gladly knock back a 24-pack of beers with the guys on FX’s criminally underrated The League.
Sticking with relatable set-ups, The League mines laughs out of everyday idiocy, common awkwardness, and the types of buddy-on-buddy insults that can only be deemed tolerable by years’ worth of friendship. In its third season, the fantasy football-centered laugh fest also offered up some of the year’s funniest guest star appearances, including Eliza Dushku’s as a grabby self-defense instructor and Seth Rogen as the awesomely named porn filmmaker Dirty Randy.
Curb Your Enthusiasm
10. Curb Your Enthusiasm
Network: HBO
Stars: Larry David, Jeff Garlin, Susue Essman, J.B. Smoove, Richard Lewis, Bob Einstein
As much as we love Larry David, we can’t overlook the fact that Curb Your Enthusiasm’s seventh season, which aired back in 2009, was sadly underwhelming. Revolving around a Seinfeld reunion, the show’s weakest year often felt too obvious and forced; for the first time in Curb’s nine-year existence, Larry’s uncomfortable run-ins with friends and strangers lacked naturalism. So fans would’ve been forgiven for wondering if Curb had started to run its thematic course.
Thankfully, this year’s new batch of episodes assuaged any doubts and put Larry, pushover Jeff (Jeff Garlin), foul-mouthed Susie (Susie Essman), and the rest of Curb’s eccentric regulars back into top form. The show’s wild eighth season, set in both L.A. and New York City, lampooned everything from professional athletes and steroids, relations between Israel and Palestine, and Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s disease with David’s signature brand of subversive intelligence.
Friday Night Lights
9. Friday Night Lights
Network: DirecTV, NBC
Stars: Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, Aimee Teegarden, Michael B. Jordan, Taylor Kitsch, Zach Gilford, Jesse Plemons
The fifth and final season of Friday Night Lights perfectly conveyed how to end a series on a high note. Wrapping the high school football drama up with the fans firmly in mind, the perennially slept-on series maintained its non-showy fineness while merging newer characters with older faces from earlier seasons.
Impressively, the reintroductions of fan favorites like Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch) never distracted from the show’s central plotlines, like all-star quarterback Vince Howard’s (Michael B. Jordan) troubles at home, or the marital stresses endured by head coach Eric Taylor (Emmy winner Kyle Chandler) and wife Tami (Connie Britton). In its final season, as much as its previous four, Friday Night Lights thrived on characters and everyday conflicts, and longtime partisans couldn’t be happier.
American Horror Story
8. American Horror Story
Network: FX
Stars: Dylan McDermott, Connie Britton, Jessica Lange, Taissa Farmiga, Evan Peters, Denis O’Hare, Frances Conroy
For the first half of its debut season, American Horror Story was the funhouse ride that never stopped. Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, tapping into their Nip/Tuck craziness and not their Glee softness, dared viewers to stick around, throwing so many out-of-nowhere images, batshit plot turns (S&M ghosts, mutants in the attic, horny spirits in skimpy maid get-ups), and unsubtle horror movie references at the screen that the FX series felt more like a guilty pleasure than a genuine investment.
As the season progressed, however, American Horror Story faintly pumped its brake enough to nurture the central family story, giving fans plenty of reasons to actually care for the Harmons (Dylan McDermott, Connie Britton, Taissa Farmiga). It was a tightrope act that very few thought could be pulled off, but, somehow, Murphy and Falchuk turned a kitchen sink genre conceit into a legitimate small-screen drama. Of course, it didn’t hurt that they had Jessica Lange on their team; playing the Harmons’ conniving, dominating, and downright sinister neighbor, the Oscar winner gave the year’s most devilishly addictive performance across all mediums.
Boardwalk Empire
7. Boardwalk Empire
Network: HBO
Stars: Steve Buscemi, Michael Pitt, Kelly Macdonald, Michael Shannon, Shea Whigham, Aleksa Palladino, Stephen Graham, Michael Stuhlbarg, Michael K. Williams, Paz de la Huerta, Anthony Luciara, Gretchen Mol
Visually, no other show on TV looks as elegant as HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, the Prohibition Era drama created by Sopranos veteran Terrence Winter. Decked out in plush 1920s costumes, the show’s colorful array of morally shoddy characters (led by Steve Buscemi’s Nucky Thompson) speak with eloquence and regularly drop philosophical wisdom; operating in various forms of criminality, they’re also harbingers of high-art doom. And by the end of its remarkable second season, Boardwalk Empire revealed itself to be the finest of tragedies.
Hats off to Michael Pitt, whose performance as Jimmy Darmody, the wannabe kingpin with an incestuous past, carried Boardwalk Empire’s main Season Two arc—the overzealous Jimmy versus his old mentor, the tried and true Nucky—from beginning to its unbelievably brave and game-changing end. In Jimmy’s final moments, all of Boardwalk’s pieces fell into place, even the few that marred the season’s two or three weak episodes.
Louie
6. Louie
Network: FX
Stars: Louis C.K.
Beneath far too many people’s noses, stand-up comedian Louis C.K. is telling some of the bravest, smartest, and emotionally potent stories on television. Louie, now two seasons deep in its subversive genius, isn’t exactly a comedy, though it’s routinely hilarious, like when Louie confronted Dane Cook about the latter’s reputation as a joke-stealer (a real-life beef that they hashed out and parodied here). And it’s not best defined as a drama, though Louie’s serious moments impact harder than most laugh-free programs—his struggles as a self-loathing single dad, for instance, always register.
Handling every single aspect of the show himself, Louis C.K. controls Louie with the kind of freedom that’s rarely, if ever, experienced by showrunners on any other network, basic or cable. And where most comedians would spend their 30-minute blocks refurbishing old material into sitcom set-ups, Louie opts to share his alternately bleak and humane worldview with whomever cares to watch. For those who get it, Louie resonates deeply.
Justified
5. Justified
Network: FX
Stars: Timothy Olymphant, Walton Goggins, Nick Searcy, Joelle Carter, Margo Martindale, Jeremy Davis, Joseph Lyle Taylor, Brad William Henke, Raymond J. Barry, Kaitlyn Dever
Last year, in its premiere run, Justified proved itself to be a damn good show; in 2011, it became a great one. Two key factors played into the FX series’ dramatic improvement, all-important alterations that largely benefited the top-notch performances from lead Timothy Olymphant (as charismatic lawman Raylan Givens) and co-star extraordinaire Walton Goggins (as soulful antagonist Boyd Crowder). The first was a central plot, something that eluded the show’s heads in Season One; the second, casting Margo Martindale as this season’s villain.
Justified’s first season often fumbled its way through a procedural approach, developing its main characters while chasing down a new criminal every week. But this year, Martindale’s Mags Bennet, the queen bee of a rule-breaking family of hillbilly degenerates, supplied both Raylan and Boyd with a mutually disruptive entity. As a result, Justified had its focus, and Season Two handled its storyline with admirable grace, subtlety, and unpredictability.
Parks And Recreation
4. Parks And Recreation
Network: NBC
Stars: Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Adam Scott, Rob Lowe, Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza, Aziz Ansari, Chris Pratt
If it were a real place, and not a fictional town dreamt up solely for NBC’s Parks And Recreation, we’d love to live in Pawnee, Ind., for the townsfolk alone. Throughout its four seasons, the mockumentary-styled comedy has developed its central location in touching, fully realized ways, and this year Parks And Rec gave Pawnee’s funniest citizens the type of care and respect that other sitcoms rarely do.
At the season’s heart was television’s most endearing romance: Leslie Knope’s (Amy Poehler) forbidden-by-law love for colleague Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott), who’s equally smitten. Never losing its goofball edge, Parks And Rec made viewers root for the lovebirds just as much as their mostly moronic, yet altogether likeable, friends and co-workers appreciate them.
Meanwhile, TV’s strongest comedic ensemble all brought their A-games to the show’s peripheral storylines, such as Tom’s (Aziz Ansari) fledgling and ineptly overseen entertainment company, April’s (Aubrey Plaza) and Andy’s (Chris Pratt) life as newlyweds, and Ron’s (Nick Offerman) endless battles against human interaction. What debuted back in April 2009 as a quirky, scatterbrained show with potential has evolved into a wonderfully executed standout.
Game Of Thrones
3. Game Of Thrones
Network: HBO
Stars: Sean Bean, Emilia Clarke, Peter Dinklage, Mark Addy, Lena Headey, Kit Harrington, Harry Lloyd, Michelle Fairley, Jason Momoa, Aidan Gillen, Iain Glen, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Games Of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss couldn’t have made it any harder on themselves. On one end, the duo willingly decided to adapt beloved fantasy author George R. R. Martin’s massive, dense, and obsessed-over Song Of Fire And Ice series of novels, an assignment that all but promised Martin’s passionate throngs of readers would have their swords ready for angry reactions. Honoring the characters and loyalists’ demands aside, Benioff and Weiss also had to make something work on TV that has never been done before, at least not brilliantly: They had to conceive a mythical, eye-popping fantasy world that looks like a Hollywood production and doesn’t intimidate those who don’t know Gandolf from Gidget.
To say that Benioff and Weiss pulled it off would be as big of an understatement as Emilia “Daeneyrs” Clarke looks pretty good topless. Packed with fascinating characters, great performances, and hardcore violence, Game Of Thrones worked on all levels, so much so that Martin’s biggest supporters weren’t able to even slightly quibble. For 10 engrossing and frequently shocking (R.I.P. Ned Stark) episodes, HBO’s best new show of 2011 pushed the TV medium into places of fantastical magnitude never before seen. And here’s the crazy part: It’s just getting started.
Homeland
2. Homeland
Network: Showtime
Stars: Claire Danes, Damian Lewis, Mandy Patinkin, Morena Baccarin, David Harewood, Diego Klattenhoff, Morgan Saylor, Jamey Sheridan
The best new show of the year caught us, like many others, totally off-guard. With minimal pre-debut hype, Showtime’s Homeland premiered in September and immediately jammed its hooks into our nerves.
On a week-to-week basis, the premise felt like it could implode at any given moment: A bipolar CIA hotshot (Claire Danes, a.k.a. Ms. Better Win An Emmy) suspects a Marine (Damian Lewis, also dynamite) returning home from eight years of Iraqi captivity of having switched allegiances and secretly plotting a terrorist attack. Over 12 tense weeks, Homeland tossed several red herrings, plot twists, and character deceptions at its viewers, to such a degree that producers Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon (both 24 alums) always seemed on the verge of dropping the narrative ball.
Yet, as the season escalated, so did Homeland’s excellence, building up to its wholly satisfying finale with incredible, white-knuckle tension and suspense.
Breaking Bad
1. Breaking Bad
Network: AMC
Stars: Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn, Giancarlo Esposito, Dean Norris, Betsy Brandt, RJ Mitte, Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks
At this stage of the game, there’s really nothing to left to do but bow down to Vince Gilligan and his whole Breaking Bad creative team. Last year, the cinematic, viciously dark AMC drama checked in with an absolute beast of a season, ending its run on such a ridiculously high note that it seemed nearly impossible for Breaking Bad to outdo itself in 2011; Walter White (Bryan Cranston, whose Emmy trophy should be standing by) and Gustavo Fring (Giancarlo Esposito), however, begged to differ.
With his back against the wall and a target on his head, Walt spent Breaking Bad’s tremendous fourth season embroiled in an intelligent and morally corrupt chess match of sorts against Gus, with an emotionally fractured Jesse (the consistently tremendous Aaron Paul) serving as their primary pawn. The show’s supporting players all had their own moments to shine, though some were uneven (Marie’s brief reversion into petty larceny; Skyler’s IRS dilemma). But in the case of Skyler (Anna Gunn), Gilligan and company provided one hell of a payoff in the season’s near-horror-toned highlight, “Crawl Space,” one that reminded Bad fans that even when the show feels like it’s lagging, that’s only because Gilligan is 10 steps ahead of us all.
At the center of Season Four was Gus, the calm, refined, and incredibly cold-blooded antagonist, played with such impeccable greatness by Esposito that he now ranks amongst TV’s all-time best villains (believe that). Even though Walt won in the end (a victory that blessed viewers with an unforgettable death scene involving a half-blown-off face and the fixing of a tie), this modern-day classic of a series heads into its fifth, and final, season with its main character at his darkest point yet. And, as Season Four displayed in superlative fashion, Breaking Bad has no competition when it comes to grim, mind-blowing entertainment.