2013 Top 10 TV Shows

 

When I was creating this list, I had closer to 20 shows that I whittled down to 15. Then I finally got it down to 10. Please post what you think is missing and I can let you know if it was just outside this list.

1. Breaking Bad

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I have loved this show since it first aired. I actually found a review I wrote about it back in 2008. I also had it on my Best of TV lists in 2008 and 2010. I haven’t been very consistent in my year-end lists or else it would have been on all of them since it aired. I think the best seasons of this show were the third and fourth seasons. The first half of the fifth season were last year. Some of those episodes weren’t my favorite since there was so much plot trying to be crammed in all at once that it lost some of what I love about the show. It did end on a huge cliffhanger. The second half of the fifth season was this year and it was impressive. I’m still not sure if I loved how it ultimately ended, but I did like so many things that happened in that last episode. One of the final episodes with the huge shootout in the desert and everything surrounding it was so tense and crazy that it made me physically sick watching it. That’s what I love about this show. It was fantastic.

2. Orange is the New Black

This show arrived on Netflix with not as much fanfare as the return of Arrested Development or House of Cards, but I’m so glad I found it. I was a fan of creator Jenji Kohan show Weeds in the beginning before it went off the rails, and not in a good way. I was cautious about this one since I still haven’t forced myself to watch the last season of Weeds. I’m glad I did start watching it. Piper is a hipster white girl who gets sent to prison for something stupid she did when she was in college. I didn’t start out feeling sorry for her at all and found her very annoying, but also identifying with her a lot since she did not know what she was getting into. I loved that the show doesn’t just focus on her but all the other ladies locked up and even some of the guards. Little did I expect that I would go from laughing to being frightened to feeling bad and then loving Crazy Eyes. I can’t wait to learn her backstory, which is hopefully coming in season two. We binge-watched this show so quickly that when it ended, I immediately started searching for when we would get season two. I learned it was coming, but not sure exactly when in 2014. I can’t wait.

3. Mad Men

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I loved season 5. I think a lot of episodes in season 6 were hit and miss. I felt at times we were watching stories we already saw before with Don cheating on his wife again and Don seeming to hit rock bottom again. Then, I saw it as it isn’t easy for people to change, even when they want to do it. I actually liked Megan, but I don’t think I’ll miss her if she is really gone for good. I loved the merger of Peggy’s firm into Don’s firm. It was so messy and petty. I never liked Peggy with Abe and the way they ended that relationship was hilarious. I loved seeing Peggy turning into Don, even though so many things she was emulating from him, she hated when he did it. She both admires and hates him, which I find fascinating. Don’s breakdown at work with the Hershey pitch was awesome. I wonder what is going to happen to him in this final season, since it seems the partners aren’t as enamored of him as they once were. My favorite scenes though were with Sally. She always adored her father and hated her mother, but after catching him, she basically turned into a mini-Betty. I just want to watch more of her interacting with her dad after having to grow up so much this past season.

4. Game of Thrones

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I loved the first season. I thought the second season dragged a lot, just like the second book, since it seemed to be setting up what happened in the third book and what happens in the third and fourth seasons of this show. I didn’t feel like anything dragged. After last season where Dany was reduced to running around yelling about her dragons, she finally had them. They were tiny, but still dangerous. Her scenes were short, but awesome this season. I loved the scenes with Jaime and Brienne. Their travels on the road were hilarious. The fight scene with a bear was amazing. I actually felt bad for Sansa since her life is a mess. I actually like the dark turn Arya has taken and want to see where that leads. Bran controlling things with his mind, like Hodor, was amusing. I loved Jon and Ygritte together, even though he knows nothing. I was bored with Robb and his young wife, but those scenes were brief and they eventually led to the Red Wedding, which was quite shocking! The only thing I did not like about this season was anything with Theon. All that was done to him after he was captured was dragged out all season and it could have taken place over two episodes. Annoying.

5. Masters of Sex

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I was late to start watching this, and I’m not completely done with the first season, but can’t wait to watch the rest of it. It is fantastic. It is about the human sexuality research starting in 1957 and resulting in two books in 1966 and 1970. It was the first of its kind ever done and broke a lot of misconceptions about sex, especially relating to women. It was crazy groundbreaking stuff to be done in the fifties. I knew about the research from my college classes so I wanted to see the series. It is even better done than I expected. Lizzy Caplan playing Virginia Johnson is excellent. Michael Sheen plays William Masters as a total bastard, but he’s also interesting to watch. It is on Showtime so there is a lot of sex, but it is almost all related to clinical research. It is well done, but sometimes there is a bit of smirking (like the opening credits) that cracks me up. I can’t wait to finish up the rest of the season.

6. The Americans

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How are we supposed to sympathize with two Soviet spies pretending to be a married couple in Washington D.C. in 1981? Make them full-rounded characters that you grow to like and actually cheer them when they are getting away with things before you realize that you are rooting for them to destroy things in America. Part of their struggles are with being married with two kids, but the wife has been faking it all these years while the husband has fallen in love with her. Then there are the complications of them both sleeping with other people to get secrets out of them. Also, tons of great wigs while they are being covert!

7. Parks and Recreation

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The end of last season saw Leslie and Ben getting married in one of the cutest tv weddings. They are pretty adorable. The beginning of this season saw that even though Leslie is very competent at her job, she can still be recalled by the public. It has been entertaining to watch things just keep changing for her and this show. This show has been on the verge of cancellation since it started, but it is one of my favorite comedies on today. Beyond Leslie and Ben, there is Ron Swanson who is so awesome when he’s annoyed, but even better when he giggles. April could be a character that is so one-note and annoying as the eye-rolling sarcastic girl, but she is much more well-rounded than that. I even grew to like Tom, even though he used to annoy me so much. I wish Donna was given more to do. Her and Tom together is usually pretty awesome. I look forward to Andy coming back. I don’t think I’ll miss Ann and Chris too much, but I will be sad for Leslie when her best friend is gone.

8. The Good Wife

A Precious Commodity

I have always enjoyed this show, but it wasn’t one of my favorite. I call it my “old people show” since it is on CBS. I first loved the forbidden love between Alicia and Will, but when that ended, I thought it was silly to revisit it which is what it seemed like was happening last season. The entire storyline with Kalinda and her husband last season was horrible, so I was glad when that was over. Starting at the end of last season and going into this season with Alicia deciding to leave to start her new firm with Cary has been so much more awesome than expected. The blowout when Will and Diane realize she is leaving and how they get their own fire back in them to be not only the best law firm in the city, but also one that can beat her, has been great to watch. Each episode leaves me wanting to watch the next one and I’m going crazy waiting for new episodes to come back in the new year so I can see what happens next.

9. Bob’s Burgers

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I was late to watching Bob’s Burgers. Steve was shocked that I hadn’t watched it. I think I had been burned by too many shows relating to Family Guy on FOX that I had ignored it when it started. I should have paid attention, especially when Bob had the same voice as Archer Sterling from Archer. It is just odd and that’s the kind of humor that I love best. It takes random story lines that could be on any classic family sitcom, but done through the weirdness of Bob, Linda, Tina, Gene and Louise makes it so much funnier. I also love that hardly any of the female voices are done by actual women. It just makes me laugh more.

10. Hannibal

Hannibal - Season 1

I did not expect to like this show so much. While I enjoyed watching Bates Motel, it had some issues with it. The Following was overly stupid and boring. Did I really want to watch another serial killer show? Especially one that NBC dumped from its fall and winter schedule to debut in May? That did not make it sound like it was going to be good. I’m glad I decided to watch it anyway. Mads Mikkelson is fantastic as Hannibal, who is a psychiatrist to a profiler who works with the FBI. Creator Bryan Singer gave the entire season a very stylized look that I enjoyed, even when it was being bloody and gross. It was still fun to watch, even if the very ending of the season makes me wonder if they can keep it up for a second season. I guess I’ll find out.

 

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