Sunday, July 18, 2010

6th Annual Josh's Choice For Best New Show of the Season

Wow, I'm getting really bad about getting these things in on time.  I'll do a better job with it next year, sometime in June.  I promise.

(really shouldn't be making promises I probably can't keep)

Anyway, to recap, this is the 6th year (holy crap!) that I've been giving this award.  The rest are all on this blog, and you can find them by using the JCFBNSOTS label at the bottom of this post.  So that's cool.

But, if you'd rather, I can just recap the winners real quick right here.

5th Annual- Dollhouse

4th Annual- Journeyman

3rd Annual-Friday Night Lights

2nd Annual- Invasion

1st Annual- LOST

What does it say about the state of television that only one of those (Friday Night Lights) will be on the air next season?

I don't know.  You tell me.

At any rate, let's see if this years winner will return, or if like Invasion and Journeyman it will be one and done.

First, the honorable mention

GLEE

If it had only had 13 episodes this would have made the final five without a doubt.  However, do to the popularity that the show had in its initial run, the producers (or the network) got a little crazy and turned the show into a spectacle, instead of the character driven show that it started out as.  The characters, in fact, would often act completely out of character if it would serve the spectacle or some outrageous moment to fit in the episodes theme of the week.  On top of that, most of the musical numbers were still overproduced, and Mr. Schuester was still unwatchable (the only problems I had with the show during its initial run).  It is a shame.  I have no doubt that many of you who love the show will continue to watch it, despite its departure from the show that it began as, and that is fine.  I am done, and probably won't miss it, although I will always miss the show that it started as and the show that it could have been if they had left well enough alone.

Okay, onto the shows that placed in this years competition...

As always, counting down because it is so much more fun that way!

5. Community

This show finished very strong, with some fantastic episodes towards the end (Paintball for instance).  This show probably has a very bright future, and I can't wait to see where it goes next.  It would have finished higher if it didn't spend a little too much time finding its way early in the season.

4.  Modern Family

Which this show did not.  This show was fully formed right out of the gates.  Such a great comedy with such amazing characters.  The writing is spectacular, and the comedy comes out of the well written characters, making the situations that they find themselves in completely believable.  Other television shows could learn a lot from Modern Family, you don't have to sacrifice character for spectacle.

3.  Mercy

Such a good show, I really hope it returns, although I'm doubting it.  I don't know why more people didn't give this show a better chance.  Some people complained that it was a little too reliant on the emotional stuff, but it did the emotional really well, and unlike another super soapy medical drama (looking at you Grey's) the characters are smart and believable and so are the situations that they find themselves in.  I'm much more willing to buy into the dramatic and emotional stuff when I can believe and connect to the characters, and I definitely can with Mercy.  I never could with Grey's and that is why this, in my opinion, is the far superior show.  Sadly, the ratings follow Grey's Anatomy.

2.  FlashForward

This show was really hurt by the huge hiatus that it went through.  It was still a smart sci-fi show, and worth watching, but the way the break was handled probably killed any chance it could've had at being renewed.  It is probably going to be hard for a few years for any show cast in the LOST mode (even though because of the success of LOST there will probably be quite a few of them) because it will be such a hard label to live up to and because there quite honestly is probably some LOST fatigue.  (Not from me.  I could have watched another ten or twenty years of LOST, but then I also kept watching this, so, what are you going to do).

And the winner of Josh's Choice for Best New Show of the Season is...

For the first time ever from CBS (although Jericho almost won one year)....

1.  The Good Wife

Such a terrific show.  Much like Eli Stone the last couple of years, this is a court room drama that sets itself apart from all of the other court room dramas, and all of the court room dramas of the past.  This one does it because of the fact that it is also an outstanding family drama and has an outstanding season long mystery/case as well as the good weekly cases.  The cast is spectacular, and taking its cue from family dramas like the lone remaining JCFBNSOTS winner other than this one, FNL, it has a very believable and realistic family dynamic.  That really is, for some reason, very rare for television these days.

Well, there you have it.  TV will be a lot different next year, without LOST and 24, but this years winner will be getting a season 2, so at least there is that.

Until Next Time, I'm still really, really, really missing LOST.