Wednesday, December 27, 2017

BEST OF TV 2017: A YEAR WAY BETTER THAN MOVIES WERE!

TV is rapidly becoming far superior to the failing film business. If you keep putting out crap like Justice League, The Dark Tower and a million other awful flicks, people stop going to the theater. Meanwhile, TV is attracting A-List talent due to the fact it is far more lucrative than films are now (residuals baby), and as a result, there are more TV shows than any one person could possible watch. And while there were a lot of fantastic programming this year, that didn't prevent them for also putting out some unwatchable crap. But that is for tomorrow. Here is the list of the ten best programs of the year. Take notice that most of the best shows are not on regular TV anymore.

BEST OF

10)GLOW- I used to watch this show all the time when I was a teen. It was terrible, trashy and stupid. I loved it. Now comes this fictionalized version of that same show and somehow managed to make a throw away program into a revolutionary tale about female empowerment. Alison Brie is luminous as a not so nice person forced to work with her former best friend (Betty Gilpin) whose husband she cheated on with twice. Their interaction is real and authentic and powers the show. The rest of the cast is awesome, especially the incredible Ellen Wong, Marc Maron and Sunita Mani all of whom people will recognize from other famous works. If you haven't seen this yet, make it a point to.

9)Game of Thrones- Wrapping up for it's final season, this year was short on nudity and plot, and heavy on action and rocketing toward a major finish. We saw the birth of the Ice Dragon, a big and slightly disgusting reveal about two major characters, and lots of lots of death. The end may not be until 2019 and I can hardly wait.

8)Walking Dead- This has been a great year for the show. Negan is a force to be reckoned with from last season to the mid-season finale. The betrayal of one of Rick's men was stunning and absolutely believable, Carol returned to bad ass mode after being stuck in neutral for way too long ( I hated that story line so much) and a major role, one who does not die in the comic, is going bye byes soon. I can't wait to see what happens next.

7)Preacher- This show is messed up and I don't care. A preacher with the ability to make people do whatever he wants, his psychotic girlfriend and a vampire take a road trip in search of God. I told you it was weird. It is also one of the best shows on TV.

6)Zumbo's Just Deserts- This Netflix show is an Australian import that is a cooking competition that is truly hard. Each week the contestants have to first make a spectacular sweet treat that conforms to the theme of the day. Then the two losers have a pressure test where that have to recreate an impossible task that usually leaves the final result nothing like what they should be. It is a lot of fun for the whole family.

5)The Good Place- One of favorite shows from last year, this season did not disappoint. Now knowing where they are, SPOILERS, hell, the three damned souls team up with Ted Danson's demon lord to hopefully escape as he is on the outs as well after failing so spectacularly. When dumb as a post Jason figures out where they were after thousands of previous failures, Ted Danson's mea cupla is hysterical. "JASON figured it out. That one hurt." I can't wait to see what happens next.

4)Lucifer- Man this show is funny and has a whole lot of pretty in it as well from both sexes. But besides the eye candy, the show is really put together well with interesting characters and well thought plot lines. This year with an adversary weirdly called the Sinnerman and the addition of Lucifer's step mom becoming a regular, this season has been a blast.

3)Supernatural- This show has been on forever and it still is good. My fiance forced me to watch this years back and I am happy she did. Sam and Dean rule. My favorite episodes are anything with the Trickster or Lucifer (different guy from above but both shows have poked fun at the other).

2)The Orville- Funny Star Trek. Who would have guessed that would work? A far cry better than the actual new Star Trek show that appeared briefly on CBS before being exiled to CBS All Access. This was the Star Trek we wanted and thankfully has been renewed for another season. Other than maybe the Cleveland Show, everything Seth McFarlane touches rules.

1)Twin Peaks- No show was more frustrating, scary, sexy funny and just plain strange as this. Kyle McLaughlin is fantastic as three versions of Agent Cooper, the real one, BOB and Dougie Jones. New characters and old ones arrive, including the last performances from the Log Lady and Migual Ferrier, both of whom died shortly after filming. David Lynch as Gordon was front and center here and great. The scene where a french lady is getting ready to leave, and taking FOREVER to do so, was everything this show was. It started funny, then got annoying, then a little boring, then funny again. Some scenes did stretch on for too long, like a guy sweeping up dirt for what felt like a month. But others, like an entire episode devoted to the birth of BOB and very Eraserhead, was my favorite hour of TV this year. The whole show was off the charts odd and riveting.The final scene of Laura Palmer screaming will haunt me. Catch it if you like weird stuff that doesn't fit into an easy box.

Runner ups- Will and Grace, The Defenders, The Punisher, Jessica Jones, Family Guy, Ghosted, Big Bang Theory, Kevin Can Wait (way improved from last year), The Amazing Race, Superior Donuts, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow. Masterchef, Fresh off the Boat, Brooklyn 99, Ellen's Game of Games, The Wall, Joker's Wild, Jeopardy, The X Files, Gotham, Superstore, Will and Grace, Agents of Shield, Hawaii 5-0.

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