Recently Alex and I were deciding what movie we might see next and it struck us that pretty much everything out there would probably pale in comparison to the stuff we've been watching lately on TV.
It seems we're in a golden era of television entertainment where the finest character development, the most thoughtful treatment of major issues, the biggest laughs and the best-earned tears can all be found on the small screen.
Currently, I'm hooked on five shows each of which has a strong claim on the designation of the best frakkin' show on TV.
(This sets aside a number of other shows I watch and enjoy, but which fall short of that mark: Heroes, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Survivor. It also, obviously, excludes a couple shows I don't watch but which have received universal acclaim: The Wire, The Shield)
5. Entourage
This HBO comedy is the best time you can have watching TV — the episodes go down like popcorn and are more addictive than crack. Produced by Mark Wahlberg and inspired by the adventures he and his buddies from the mean streets of Boston had once he hit it big in Hollywood, Entourage gives viewers the chance to live vicariously the life of a huge movie star. We follow Vincent Chase as he takes the meetings, goes to the parties, dates the most incredible-looking women. We also get to hang out with a hilarious supporting cast, highlighted by Kevin Dillon as Johnny Drama, Vince's pathetic but proud older brother, and Jeremy Piven as Ari Gold, Vince's breathtakingly arrogant agent. This show makes me want to subscribe to HBO.
4. Lost
It started as an adventure about a group of people stranded on a remote island with something that sounded a lot like a dinosaur stomping through the woods behind them. But it quickly turned into a captivating puzzle, complete with mysteriously reappearing numbers, a series of hatches tied to psychological experiments, precognition, time travel and a freaky smoke monster. Best of all, Lost spends most of its time digging ever deeper into the backgrounds and psyches of its large ensemble cast of characters. In the most arresting season finale of last year, the flashback structure was turned completely on its head and we were treated to a flash-forward showing Jack and Kate off the island. The show's creators have arranged for a unique end game, giving us three shortened seasons eight months apart, and I'm confident they will deliver the goods, giving this special show a finish as satisfying as its start.
3. The Office
It seems unlikely that a remake of a beloved British show could end up as one of the best shows on American TV, but a month into its fourth season, The Office has never missed a step. It is consistently the funniest thing on the air but also has a thread of pathos running through every episode. Steve Carrell's Michael Scott is a buffoon, but you always believe he wants what's best for the people and company he cares about. And the Jim/Pam relationship has gone through so many phases now and just becomes deeper and more winning with each one. Of everything on this list, The Office is the show that best captures a regular daily life — we can all appreciate dealing with the weirdo the next cubicle over or harboring a secret crush on the pretty girl across the room. That it turns such mundane material into hilarious high art is quite an achievement.
2. Battlestar Galactica
On the opposite side of the spectrum (though Dwight is a huge fan, so there is a connection) we have Galactica. Though on hiatus for months now, and with months left before the start of its next season, this show continues to enthrall me (not least because I've been able to relive the first two seasons through Amy and Dana's eyes). It's a gripping human drama that happens to take place in outer space, with heroes and villains painted in so many shades of grey it is sometimes hard to tell them apart. Dark and uncompromising, Galactica has tackled issues such as torture and abortion through the prism of a world not quite our own, but powerfully similar. And it must be appluaded for adding to the lexicon the word "frak" — a TV-friendly stand-in for its more vulgar cousin.
1. Friday Night Lights
I don't want to be accused of lapsing into hyperbole, so believe me when I say this bold statement is completely heartfelt: the first 22 episodes of Friday Night Lights make up the finest season of television I have ever seen.
How is it that a show about a high school football team in Texas reaches such lofty heights? Well, for starters, you've got the sports thing. On the big screen, movies from Hoosiers and Rudy to Bull Durham and Rocky have made for outstanding fiction — mixing the heart-pounding tension of on-the-field competition with the personal battles between and within the characters. Now imagine that same level of excitement and emotion spread over a television season, with so much more time dedicated to each character.
And what characters these are — people you hate but grow to love, people you love but grow to hate and then grow to love again. People who are funny, angry, weak and strong. At the center of this universe are Kyle Chandler's head coach and his wife, played by Connie Britton, in an exquisitely dramatized marriage. You completely believe these people have been married for 20 years, and beyond that, you want to move to Texas to be friends with them. I know the Emmys are notorious for overlooking stellar shows and performances and for giving awards to the "wrong" people, but Connie Britton not winning (let alone being nominated for) the Best Actress trophy is the single biggest travesty in that award show's history.
Finally (though I could go on and on) I'll call attention to the meticulous attention to detail the show offers, the overwhelming realism. Whether it's the workings of a small Texas town obsessed with high school football, the atmosphere surrounding a quadriplegic rugby team or the awkward maneuverings of a first teenage love, everything is spot on. Friday Night Lights often feels more like a documentary than a scripted TV show.
We're about to start Season Two, and I hope the show maintains its level of quality (not to mention its very existence, which is in doubt thanks to lackluster ratings). But for now, I can confidently say Friday Night Lights is the best frakkin' show on TV.
