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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Meet Me In Montauk 
I’m so glad you finally took our advice and decided to give the best show on television the chance it deserves. This is, quite simply, the finest hour on television. It should be nominated for every award that there is, and win each one. Now, as we are deep into season 3, I can confidently say that is, and always has been, the best frakkin show on tv.
Ha! I vividly remember the crap you gave me for predictably picking an “unknown” show as my #1 on this list. But you have come to see my wisdom!
That comment was in jest, of course, as I gave Clay some grief at the time for picking the new next greatest thing, as he is apt to do. Truth is I didn’t get on the Friday Night Lights bandwagon until the summer after the first season was over, when Clay handed me his dvd of the first season and strongly suggested we watch it. After the pilot episode ended, I sat there, cheeks tear stained, and realized this was not an ordinary television show. Each episode feels like a revelation. Clay has gotten a lot of things right over the years, but this pick may be his crowning achievement.
Had to revisit this blog post after just watching the season 5 finale. I can’t recall another show that has such a powerful impact that I’m still reeling hours – sometimes days – later. I feel as though a member of my extended family is going to jail, and I’m more than a bit distraught about the whole thing 😦 (but at least West Dillon won 🙂
Great stuff, as always. I’ll admit to being a little disappointed in some aspects of the fourth season but no matter what direction the show takes, the acting and direction is always so perfect that you’re completely invested in every moment. Friday Night Lights could pull a Roseanne and have everybody win the lottery next season and it would still feel like a powerful documentary.
What aspects disappointed you? Storylines involving the new characters? Or the old faithful?
A mixture of things, some of which could have been fixed by having more episodes in the season. For example, I wanted more on Jess’ father, and on the history between Jess and Vince. That will come next season, I hope.
I didn’t like that Landry’s story was basically a repeat of his Tyra arc… him going out with a girl seemingly out of his league and then losing her. It beat his murder arc from Season Two but I’d like to see him get more to do. Of course, he’s wonderful at everything he does so it’s hard to complain.
My biggest issue with the end of the season was the handling of the abortion fallout. The abortion episode itself was amazing but I didn’t like how it turned into an attack on Tami’s job. I’m sure Dana was licking his chops at the prospect of that lawsuit! And where were Becky and her mother during that whole mess? They were both chasing after Riggins as if oblivious to the fact that her abortion had caused a front-page scandal that could lead to an innocent woman’s firing. I would have liked at least a scene acknowledging that Becky knew she was the cause of that whole mess. And Luke’s mom felt like one of the only two-dimensional characters I’ve ever seen on this show.
Can’t disagree with any of those observations, esp. about Luke’s mother. I’m hoping we’ll learn more about that family next season. And I agree that there is little point in casting Steve Harris as Jess’s father if you’re not going to give him more to do.
However, I do think the Jess/Landry/Vince triangle was very well done. I changed my mind scene to scene about how I wanted that whole thing to play out. So I didn’t view that as a Tyra retread. That said, I would have like a Tyra mention once her nephew was born 🙂