This was a great year in television, so it's especially important to acknowledge some pretty terrific programming that won't quite make it into my top 10. Below are five (unranked) excellent seasons (or in one case, half-seasons) of television that would be very worthy in any other year, and came extremely close in this one. Tomorrow, I'll unveil my final, ranked top 10 list.
The
Comeback –
HBO
There
was a definite anxiety surrounding The
Comeback’s unexpected revival, due in no small part to the profoundly
disappointing re-launch of Arrested
Development last year. But creators Michael Patrick King and Lisa Kudrow
found an angle, using what made The
Comeback so great in 2005 – satire on the boom of reality television, and on the era of lifeless multi-camera sitcoms making it to air in bunches – to
maintain its vitality and worthiness in the 2014 television landscape. This
time, the focus turned to the dark HBO dramedy, exploring the new forms of
artistic pretention and gross misogyny deeply present in the industry. Though
the series couldn’t quite capture its initial magic, King and Kudrow were fully
aware of that very possibility – necessarily, they allowed the ongoing
misadventures of Valerie Cherish (played superbly as ever by Kudrow) to evolve
tonally and thematically, a courageous and risky decision. In the end, The Comeback returned different, yes,
but just as blisteringly funny, unfathomably awkward and brilliantly realized
as its beloved original incarnation.
The
Leftovers –
HBO
I
knew I wanted to talk about The Leftovers
in one of these year-end spaces – it wasn’t a top 10 show and it may not even
be a top 15 show, but multiple episodes of its freshman run hit some of the
most emotionally-penetrating marks of the year. I decided that discussing a
single episode of the series wouldn’t really do it justice, considering it’d
have masterpieces in its repertoire to spare. And yet around those near-perfect
hours, The Leftovers was a disparate muddle
with unwarranted fluctuations in tone and quality – as I have explained, this
is experiential art that too often is too-lightly committed to its conceit.
Even so, it is shockingly unique, with character studies of devastating depth
and ideas of profound and complex formation both working to significantly
elevate my overall perception of it. Easily, The Leftovers is the most inconsistent show of any on this list, and
yet, its moments of greatness are far too impactful to ignore.
Mad
Men –
AMC
This
is the first time Mad Men has not
ranked among my top 10, which feels strange considering the final two episodes
of the first half of its final season – yes, that was a mouthful – were among
the very best it has ever done. But, there are a combination of factors
at play here: one, this was a ridiculously strong year for television; two, Mad Men was without its usual
consistency; and three, at only seven 40-some minute episodes, it was
relatively lacking in content. Mad Men
will go down as one of the greatest television series ever, and it continues to
feature a trough-deep ensemble of terrific actors. It’s visually informative,
narratively poetic and admirably meticulous in the building of its characters
and story. Even so, as mentioned before, Mad
Men felt a little clunky in the early-going; the collapse of the Draper
marriage seemed rushed – even if it ended on a wonderfully poignant note – and
the integration of Betty Francis felt like even more of a strain than usual.
But Mad Men is never without the
ability to be purely cathartic – few moments in 2014 were as satisfying as
Peggy, Don and Pete brainstorming in a diner, or Peggy landing her first big
pitch with gusto, or a singing-and-dancing Bert Cooper playfully guiding Don
out of the old and into the new. If it wasn’t the masterful season of TV Mad Men has given us in the past, it still
ranged from good to fantastic, and ably set up its closing run of episodes to
premier next year.
True
Detective –
HBO
As
popular and critically-acclaimed as True
Detective was, it retrospectively pulled off a balancing act that’s kind of
hard to believe. It strung together a very familiar – and sometimes needlessly
complicated – serial killer hunt, guising it in Rust Cohle’s (Matthew
McConaughey) esoteric ramblings about being a “man” and being a “human.” Writer
Nic Pizzolatto framed a story around the very idea of a detective story,
paralleling an unfurling mystery with the sad trajectory of his two leading
men. The series never felt especially concrete in its intent, and
consequentially it is no surprise that Cary Fukunaga’s groundbreaking direction
and McConaughey’s brazenly bizarre performance are what really stick as
indicators of its quality. But True
Detective remained a fun and fascinating (and visually sumptuous) ride
throughout, even if limiting and, upon reflection, a little thin on the
substance side.
You’re
the Worst –
FX
Anybody
invested in the seriously-uneven first few episodes of You’re the Worst would attest to the fact that it adjusted exactly
as was needed, right up until the finale of its debut season. Every sitcom –
seriously, just ask The Office or It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia or Community – needs time to figure out its
tone, its characters, its relationships and its direction, and this one, from Weeds writer Stephen Falk, had an
arsenal of assets that couldn’t quite come together. But eventually, Falk’s
uncommon affection for character, incisive pop culture commentary and
superficially cynical worldview integrated to an impressive degree. Its rather
trite premise – Jimmy (Chris Geere) and Gretchen (Ava Cash) really don’t
want to fall in love, and yet, they happen to be falling in love with each
other! – gave way to a supremely-funny and blessedly-original half-hour. You’re the Worst asserted itself as TV’s
most pleasurable weekly check-in just as it came to an end, and I can’t help
but adopt a Jimmy and Gretchen-ism as a result of that irksome reality:
shortened cable seasons, you really are “the worst.”
Previous YEAR IN REVIEW entries: