My favorite shows of 2014/2015

My favorite shows of 2014/2015:
1. The Flash -CW
2. Star Wars Rebels -Disney XD
3. Brookyln Nine-Nine -Fox (2)
4. Parks and Recreation -NBC (3)
5. Better Call Saul -AMC
6. iZombie -CW
7. Arrow -CW (1)
8. The Mindy Project -Fox (5)
9. The Big Bang Theory -CBS (6)
10. The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt -Netflix
11. The Last Ship -TNT
12. Extant -CBS
13. Whose Line is it Anyway? -CW (19)
14. Castle -ABC (18)
15. Daredevil -Netflix
16. The Simpsons -Fox (15)
17. Modern Family -ABC (10)
18. The League -FXX
19. Black-ish -ABC
20. Conan -TBS
21. Saturday Night Live -NBC
22. Last Man Standing -ABC
23. The Last Man on Earth -Fox
24. Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. -ABC (20)
25. Fresh off the Boat -ABC
26. Gotham -Fox
27. Marvel's Agent Carter -ABC
28. Jack and Triumph -Adult Swim
29. The Amazing Race -CBS (17)
30. Community -Yahoo (9)
31. Welcome to Sweden -NBC
32. Marvel's Avengers Assemble -Disney XD
33. Family Guy -Fox
34. The Comedians -FX
35. Shark Tank -ABC

(Last year's ranking.) Yes I watched a lot of shows, but I would have them playing in the background while applying for jobs or working on creative projects. Also not all the show were airing at the same time.

By network: ABC 8 (but the highest ranked show is #14), Fox 6, CW 4 (all in top 13), NBC 4, CBS 3, Disney XD 2, Netflix 2, AMC 1, TNT 1, FXX 1, TBS 1, Adult Swim 1, Yahoo 1, FX 1
Best opening title sequence: The 100, Unbreakable, Brooklyn, iZombie, Arrow,
Daredevil, Conan

My Favorite TV Shows from 2013/2014: #1-3

1. Arrow- CW (Last Year #4)
By far my favorite show of the year. And yes it's on the CW. It's a great action show that avoids predictable storylines while still making sense; it has great personal interactions that avoid the soap-opera romances that usually happen on the CW; the characters change in ways that develop quicker than expected while being reasonable. Stephen Amell is able to portray a hero with sufficient angst and darkness while still having humor. The main supporting characters (Felicity, Diggle, Quentin, Roy) go through interesting challenges and provide appropriate occasional humor. The show throws in flashbacks that are exciting and build the characters even though you know what roughly happens to the characters. Summer Glau was great, if somewhat underutilized. The main villain had a power performance and was menacing. (I am including a spoiler section at the end of this post.)

2. Brooklyn Nine-Nine- Fox
I generally like Andy Samberg's Digital Shorts, but this show shows that he can lead a structured show that follows some degree of reality. His character is great and I like most of the supporting cast. They definitely fit in weird personalities that pretty much stay the change and pretty much wouldn't work in reality. Once you get used to it the way they interact with each other and with their circumstances are great. I was surprised that they won the Golden Globes for best comedy show and comedic actor but I think it's deserved. Andre Braugher, Terry Crews and Joe Lo Trugio are really good stars and Patton Oswalt and Craig Robinson made good guest appearances. The pilot and first couple episodes took a while to get going but it kept really strong in all the other episodes.

3. Parks and Recreation- NBC (Last Year #3)
Such a great cast! Everyone here is great, and I like every character. In addition there are a ton of fun one-note characters and guest stars. The characters also went through some interesting overall arcs and resolved things really well. Filibuster, One in 8,000 and the season finale were my favorite episodes. The season finale wrapped things up in a really satisfying way while also being entertaining. It takes a bold leap that works and will lead well into the final season next year.



*Spoilers for Arrow
Deathstroke was a really good villain for season two. He made a great transition from ally to enemy. They did a really good story with Canary and she is really good in action scenes. The story around Flash was a little cheesy but the character and actor was really great and I'm looking forward to seeing Flash next year. Deadshot was a fun character and I liked the League of Shadows. I also liked Malcolm Merlyn's return. They kept on bringing in more and more and got in two seasons worth of story in one season.

My Favorite TV Shows from 2013/2014: #4-6

4. Breaking Bad- AMC
This show was definitely hyped to me but it lived up to expectations. I finally watched the show this year and I would have put this at least this high in previous years. This review concerns the final 8 episodes of the series. This show was exceptionally well acted and the characters command attention. The story resolved in ways I would have never guessed but still found very believable. The first half of the season was my favorite part overall but I can't think of a way to improve this show. If you want to watch the show it is entirely on Netflix. Season 1 and even the pilot are very good indicators on whether you will like the series or not.

5. The Mindy Project- Fox (Last Year #6)
The jokes are really great and I consistently like any scene with Mindy or Morgan. The rest of the cast is solid and I like the guest stars they bring in. As someone who hates chick flicks this show still appeals to me by somewhat subverting the genre. I think this works an excellent example of the chick filck genre by keeping things from going in predictable manners. Music Festival was a really good episode but I wouldn't say there were any bad episodes.

6. The Big Bang Theory- CBS (Last Year #2)- Still a classic show and has great stories. Some people say it only makes fun of nerds but I think it actually shows a lot of what's cool about nerds and nerdy things, while character flaws are mostly just about the individual characters. The Convention Displacement (with James Earl Jones) was hilarious while The Raiders Minimization, The Proton Displacement (the Bill Nye episode) and The Locomotive Manipulation are all very good episodes. Like Sheldon, I'm not that happy with some of the character's direction. I think the show is great when they keep things the same and any character arcs feel a little forced. The show creates funny jokes around Star Wars and comics that work beyond name dropping.

My Favorite TV Shows from 2013/2014: #7-10

7. Sherlock- BBC/PBS
It's impressive how much impact a show has with so few episodes. Benedict Cumberbath and Martin Freeman are both really talented actors. It's the most believable portrayals of Sherlock and Watson I've seen (though Elementary's stars are also very good) as well as Moriarty and Mary. There were amazing plot twists and they really used the 80+ minute format to tell full movies. I really get into Sherlock's deductions while also being disliking his actions as much as the worst villains. The stories use very long scenes to create really complex and fun moments.

8. Almost Human- Fox (Cancelled)
A sci-fi crime drama that incorporates a lot of cool ideas without being too far out. There were some really good individual stories and some moments of promise in the overall, slowly developing arc for the characters. Karl Urban and Michael Ealy were both really good on their own and in their interactions with each other. It seemed to have good numbers, but I guess the show was too expensive to make?

9. Community- NBC (Cancelled)

Sometimes the show is brilliant and other times it's just weird. The first couple shows back were really interested and the episodes centered around a VCR game, Dungeons & Dragons and G.I. Joe were really interesting. I think when it missed it wasn't really funny though.

10. Modern Family- ABC

I don't really like the characters but the situations and jokes are usually pretty good. (Well the young girl is really funny when she has two lines per episode.) The cast really works together as a whole.

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.

My Favorite TV Shows from 2013/2014: #16-20

Yes I watched more than 20 TV shows over the last year. I often would get work done on my videography business with TV playing in the background. That said, I didn't have cable TV for most of the year and haven't had the chance to check out many shows of network TV. Recommendations and arguments in the comments are encouraged. If a show was in my top 10 last year I include the rankings

20. Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.- ABC
Coming off The Avengers and the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I expected better stories. I had low expectations for a budget but even it didn't even meet my production expectations. Bring on B-list superheroes and more things from the Marvel universe instead of name-dropping things from the movies (and never showing them). The first half of the season was bad. There were some better stories in the second half, but there are finally some good episodes beginning with the big plot twist in Turn, Turn, Turn. Unfortunately this was episode 17 of the series but the series is showing potential.

19: Whose Line is it Anyway? -CW
I didn't catch the original run when it was on (or the British version) but I definitely enjoy this new version. Drew Carey is a better host than Aisha Tyler, but I got used to her and she is still a solid host. Wayne Brady is crazy funny and Colin Mochrie, Ryan Stiles and Greg Proops are very good. The jokes are as interesting as most sitcoms but the occasional sketch is brilliant. The celebrity guest stars they bring in aren't that great but luckily they barely use them in the episodes.

18. Castle- ABC
I gave this show a chance because Nathan Fillion was really fun to watch in Firefly. I can understand why this has more than twice the viewership of Firefly even if it's not as good a show. The show is well-written with a solid cast. The show is okay when it's a standard cop show but it becomes a lot of fun on the episodes that are really surreal and strains believability. If you want to cherry pick episodes, the ones that sound the most interesting deliver.

17. Amazing Race- CBS
Is every episode essentially the same? Yes, the "plot" and "characters" of this show essentially are the same over all the seasons but it's great to see different views of places all over the world. It's nice to see a reality show that's not centered around pain subjected on the contestants. It's also feels one of the most "fair" reality shows because the results are based on performance instead of popularity. The two person teams are more fun to watch than most reality free-for-alls. The product placement is a little annoying and I don't like some extra drama that's created by creative editing. This is by far the show I most want to be on. Anyone want to apply with me?

16. Revolution (Last year #5)- NBC
A world without power is a really interesting premise and they even managed to explain it in a way that doesn't sound hokey. The societal impact and mishmash of industrial and modern technology creates a great background world that's fun to explore. The season one finale was around the high point for the series for me as the story has taken some weird turns and some of the characters are less likeable. Overall the action is pretty good. The episode "Dreamcatcher" was especially good this season.

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Honorary Mention: Best Late Night: Conan
In my opinion Conan has the best monologue, interviews, sidekick, recurring sketches and one-off sketches. The weeks that he tours are classics and re-occurring sketches Fan Corrections, Basic Cable Name that Tune, Ted Turner, Minty the Candy Cane That Briefly Fell on the Ground, Bill Tull's Budget Holiday Tips, Clueless Gamer and The Audiencey Awards are really good.

Worst Show (that I gave a chance): Dads
I gave this a chance because of Seth Green but this is just unfunny (while somehow being both bland and offensive at the same time). I'm surprised it hasn't been officially cancelled yet.

Real Life of David Kasdan week: Episode 3

This one will almost certainly be the shortest episode in TRLAODK but it was fun to do physical stunts in this (as well as in 1 and 5). If someone were to help me with stunts that would be awesome. As you will probably figure out, you're not getting episode 2.

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