Best and Worst TV of 2004 (1 Viewer)

[Rob P S]

I'll start...

BEST
1. 24
2. American Dreams
3. Lost
4. Without a Trace
5. The Bernie Mac Show
6. King of the Hill
7. The Simpsons
8. Everybody Loves Raymond
9. Still Standing
10. Third Watch (A&E reruns)

WORST
1. Quintuplets
2. Complete Savages (or any ABC sitcom of your choice)
3. LAX
4. Las Vegas
5. American Idol
6. Phil of the Future
7. Drake & Josh

 

[danak]

Worst:
The 2nd Apprentice

Dana in MD

 

[ZacharyTait]

Best

1. The Simpsons
2. The Sopranos
3. Six Feet Under
4. 24
5. Scrubs
6. Law and Order
7. The West Wing (Season 6 only!)
8. Arrested Development
9. American Dreams
10. Sportscenter

Worst
1. Anything reality!
2. LAX
3. Las Vegas

 

[Matt Stone]

Best:
Angel
The Sopranos
Six Feet Under
Arrested Development
Lost

Worst:
Reality Shows!

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Best New Shows:
Nothing's hooked me.

Improving Classics:
Arrested Development
Scrubs
Joan of Arcadia

Declining Has-beens:
The Simpsons
Malcolm in the Middle
Everwood

Jury's Out:
Smallville

 

[Chris]

Best:

Arrested Development
Joan of Arcadia
Sopranos
Deadwood
Dead Like Me (*sigh*) what a great S2.
(Carnivale hopefully will be among my list for 05)

Shows that are turning it around and becoming good:

Enterprise(*) which has been "eh" to poor in the first few seasons, has really reformed itself this year.

Shows that I enjoyed somewhat last year, that really sucked this year:

Las Vegas
ER

Shows which just should not be on the air, at any point:

Father of the Pride
Entourage
LAX

Shows new this year that have me watching at least some:

Desperate Housewives

 

[Michael Menduina]

I'm only counting the new fall season, otherwise Deadwood would've made the Best list. Also, 2 shows I'm looking forward to have yet to start their Season (Alias and 24).

BEST:
Arrested Development
Lost
Gilmore Girls


ON THE DECLINE:
The Simpsons
Everwood
One Tree Hill
The O.C.


WORST:
Smallville
Joey
Will & Grace
Reality Shows

 

[Paul_Stachniak]

Best:
Arrested Development
Scrubs
Six Feet Under
Curb Your Enthusiasim
Chappelle's Show

On the Decline:
Smallville
24

Way past experation date:
The Simpsons
The Sopranos

(There are a lot more I could list here, but really its pointless - a lot of TV is bad. And I found myself watching very little this year.

 

[Brad Porter]

We did this same listing back in 2003 and I had posted the following list:

1. Gilmore Girls (WB)
2. South Park (Comedy Central)
3. Arrested Development (Fox)
4: 24 (Fox)
5. Ed (NBC)
6. Futurama (Fox)
7. Coupling (Seasons 1-3) (BBC America)
8: Alias (ABC)
9. Dead Like Me (Showtime)
10. Survivor: Pearl Islands (CBS)

Here's how things have changed for me in 2004:

I wasn't a big fan of the second halves of 24 or Alias last season, and neither has aired an episode yet this season, so they dropped off my list. Ed (6 episodes in 2004) and Futurama were cancelled. South Park, Coupling, Dead Like Me, and Survivor: Vanuatu were all good, but not enough to stay in my top ten.

1. Arrested Development (Fox)
Comment: It hasn't missed a beat from the first eight episodes that aired in 2003 that earned it the number three spot in my list. My other top programs slipped a bit to give up the number one spot.
Best Episode: Best Man for the Gob It's difficult to pick a best episode, but I seem to recall really enjoying this one. They're all excellent.

2. Deadwood (HBO)
Comment: Holy Crap this is a good show. Al Swearengen is perhaps the best character to appear on television since Tony Soprano.
Best Episode: I'm tempted to say Mister Wu, but Sold Under Sin really brought the whole season to an emotional climax.

3. The Sopranos (HBO)
Comment: I loved the Tony Blundetto and Feech La Manna storylines. I hate having to wait so long for new seasons.
Best Episode: Long Term Parking An amazing episode, and not just because it followed the incoherent mess that was The Test Dream.

4. Gilmore Girls (WB)
Comment: I'll be honest, the show hasn't been as rewarding this season, although I can't really pinpoint why.
Best Episode: Of the season five episodes, I liked the storyline of Richard and Emily antagonizing Luke in You Jump, I Jump, Jack and I really enjoyed the ending of But Not As Cute As Pushkin, but so far none of the season five episodes stack up with season four. I'll go with Tick, Tick, Tick, Boom!.

5. Penn & Teller: Bullshit! (Showtime)
Comment: Another great season. I love these guys.
Best Episode: The P.E.T.A. episode was great, but the Recycling episode was probably my favorite.

6. The Amazing Race 5 (CBS)
Comment: Hating Colin and Christie became a national sport.
Best Episode: It's Okay, Run Them Over! - "My ox is broken!" The only flaw was that it was a non-elimination leg. The Amazing Race 6 will continue to suck until Johnathan is eliminated.

7. The Wire (HBO)
Comment: There were times when I really couldn't follow what was going on because there seemed to be too much going on, but by the end it was a great season, albeit the weakest of the three.
Best Episode: Middle Ground - Emotional payoff for a hard fought wiretap case - then the rug is pulled out from under the whole thing. Plus I really liked Bunny giving Carcetti the tour of the Western district.

8. The Venture Brothers (The Cartoon Network)
Best Episode: Midlife Chrysalis - The Monarch cracks me up. This show achieved a level of coherence that the other Adult Swim shows always seem to strenuously avoid.

9. Rescue Me (FX)
Best Episode: Inches, I suppose, but the series really maintained a similar quality level throughout without having any showcase episodes.

10. Lost (ABC)
Best Episode: Walkabout. This was the first episode that left me pleasingly shaking my head wondering just what crazy stuff J.J. Abrams had in his head for this show.

I would have loved to list some shows like Wonderfalls, Line of Fire, or The D.A. on my list, but none of them survived long enough to prove their worth.

Brad

 

[ThomasC]

Best:
1. Scrubs
2. South Park

On the decline:
1. Alias (but I am very optimistic about the fourth season)

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

Best

Angel
Alias
Arrested Development
Deperate Housewives
Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars
Lost
Reno 911
The OC

Scrubs
South park


Worst

Anything Reality except Manhunt

 

[teapot2001]

Best: "I'll put in her brownie." (Oscar, from Arrested Development)

Worst: Cancellation of Last Comic Standing days before the live finale was supposed to air.

~T

 

[Chris]

For all of us who really enjoy Arrested Development, man, we need to get on the ball and promote the show.. with it lingering in the 70s in the ratings, (a 45% drop off from the Simpsons) it most certainly could use the boost!

 

[Jason Seaver]

I just don't get this attitude. I only watch a few, but just dismissing an entire genre seems silly. What, pray tell, is bad television about The Amazing Race?

 

[Michael Menduina]

I couldn't agree more but unless you have a Neilsen box, our support doesn't matter. The funny thing is, from all the people I know, no one has a Nielsen box. This ancient form of judging show popularity really needs to be expanded or changed.

I still believe companies like Tivo can do a better job of letting the Networks know what people are either watching live or recording.

 

[Jason Seaver]

The problem with TiVo or Replay is the audience - though they tend to be very desirably demographics, it's also the people who skip ads, and to a certain extent, the networks don't care what those people watch.

 

[Patrick_S]

Actually the networks couldn't care less if you watched the ads as long as you are counted as watching the show.

 

[AnthonyC]

I agree. I haven't watched an episode of Sopranos in 2004, so I wouldn't put it on my Worst list. But I've seen earlier episodes and I thought the show was awful.

If you haven't actually watched a show, you really have no right to judge it. That's my thinking anyway. It's interesting that every anti-reality TV person I've met has never seen any reality show.

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

Something I dont get, The Simpsons is the same type quirky humor with sight gags a plenty. Hell people will watch Malcolm and the Middle but not this great show???!!!???

 

[Jason Seaver]

The whole point of getting viewership information is to set ad rates. If the network gets information from Replay or Tivo or your cable box that you watched the show, they may feel good about having created a quality program, but when they bring that information to the advertising agencies, those agencies will want to know the source, and when you say it's from Tivo, it might actually have a negative correlation - the audience for this show won't be seeing our ad buys.