My Favorite TV Shows from 2013/2014: #11-15

11. Cosmos- Fox (Limited Series)

It's impressive how visually stunning this show looks. It's beautiful and it makes education entertaining! Niel deGrasse Tyson is able to present ideas in interesting ways and some of the threads that carry an episode feel like cliffhangers. "Find out after the commercial break what happened to a scientist you're barely heard of hundreds of years ago" actually works. The story of the episode is usually pretty good and at the very least there are at least some interesting ideas in each episode.

12. The Crazy Ones- CBS (Cancelled)

Robin Williams was really funny in each episode and his interactions with other actors were really good. However the actors don't really hold their own when Robin isn't in a scene. He could move a cliche episode in unexpected directions. The product placement was an issue. A chunk of each episode was about making an ad pitch. Unless the ad was really great or subversive in some way it wasn't entertaining. Worse, CBS didn't even get paid for product placements. Maybe that could've kept the show going.

13. Futurama- Comedy Central (Cancelled)

There are always a few good jokes along the way, but for me Futurama always has a few good episodes that are really memorable. This year's "Season 7-B" episodes: "Fry and Leela's Big Fling" "Stench and Stenchibility" and the series finale "Meanwhile" are incredible episodes, while the rest are generally just okay. It's too bad the show is probably done.

14. Star Wars: The Clone Wars- Netflix (Last Year: #1)

Last year my favorite show seemed to go out on top story wise! And then it was quasi-renewed for a final half-season online that wasn't quite as good. Out of the four story arcs, the final arc was really interesting, two were pretty good and one was a little boring. The one story shows they still are making a quality show and I would have really liked to see how a lot of characters were resolved.

15. The Simpsons- Fox (Last Year: #7)

The Simpsons is never really bad, it seems to have settled in a comfortable zone for years (or more than a decade) where it's good but not as good as the earlier years. "Brick Like Me" was a pretty clever episode. This gets a boost because of the wild creativity in the couch gags and the opening sequence. There were good riffs on Silly Symphony, the Hobbit and Fantastic Voyage.