Best of the TV Season: Top Ten (Part 2)

5. 30 Rock (NBC)
30 Rock ranks this high simply for being the funniest series on television. Every episode ellicits at least three boisterous laughs from me, which is by no means a small feat. The series might have been criticized this season for being too guest-star heavy, but while several episodes did incorporate celebrity guests, they were for the most part well utilized, the exceptions being Steve Martin and Salma Hayak. Hayak's plotline would actually have worked well had it only covered two or three episodes. This season benefited from better usage of Jane Krakowski as the needy, egotistical, and almost delusional Girlie Show actress Jenna Maroney. Last season Jane's Jenna was often on the periphery, or just plain absent, from the episodes, but this season she had two hilarious, ongoing plotlines, playing Janis Joplin in a biopic, and finding success with a popular catchphrase, and had a chance to sing in a number of episodes. If you hire a Tony winning actress for your series, you better let her sing.

4. Pushing Daisies (ABC)
Why did you have to cancel this series ABC? I'm still highly upset over the network's handling of the program. It could have maintained decent enough ratings had the show only come back after last year's writers strike, rather than being kept off the air until the next season. Whatever; what's done is done. I'm going to miss every quirky moment of this series, it's dark underside camoflauged by bright colored sets and costumes, and rapidly spoken dialogue. I'm going to miss the romance between Ned and Chuck, the pie-shaped restaurant appropriately named The Pie Hole, the Charles sisters, but most of all I'm going to miss Olive Snook, the adorable waitress pining for Ned, played by the equally adorable Kristin Chenoweth. Sob.

3. Battlestar Galactica (SciFi)
The SciFi series came to a close this season, airing its last ten episodes, and boy did it go out a bang. A grandly staged battle between the Galactica and the Cylon's base led to a brief truce, which collapsed under human/cylon psychodrama. The humans find a new "Earth," our Earth thousands of years in the past, and Hera proves to be the ancestor of all humans. Then there's President Roslin, played magnificently by Mary McDonnell, who, once finding a home, succumbs to her cancer. I'll admit it - I cried. The series also chose not to explain everything, retaining a sense of mystery around it. What exactly was Kara, what happened to the Cylons once they left the humans on Earth, and who or what was the God/Supreme Being/Force intervening in these character lives? Lost could learn a lot from the Battlestar Galactica's finale. When you're bringing an epic series to a close, make the finale epic, and don't force an explanation for every mystery, leave some wonder.

2. Breaking Bad (AMC)
The first season of Breaking Bad showed signs of a promising series, but there was always the sense its concept, a high school chemistry teacher dying from cancer decides to sell chrystal meth to support his family, would limit its scope. Season 2, however, has proven this wrong. The series benefited from expanding its focus beyond Walt, delving deeper into the supporting characters. While Jesse was often used as comic relief in the first season, he's become the voice of reason in many instances, opposing Walt's grander schemes. Skyler is no longer the dutiful, trusting wife. She realizes Walt has been lying to her, and is willing to confront him, while rebeling in her own ways. Hank, Walt's brother-in-law and DEA agent, has probably expanded the most. During the first season, he wasn't so much a character, as a concept, providing a sense of danger and irony, but given a promotion in the DEA, Hank is now shown as a reluctant hero, who may be in over his head. The series also benefits from refusing to allow easy situations. Most of Walt's and Jesse's plans to expand their business fall through, because ultimately, these characters still have no idea what they're doing.

1. Mad Men (AMC)
How bizarre is it that AMC has the two best series on television? Who'da thunk it? Choosing my number one program was the easiest decision on the list. Nothing on the air can compare with Mad Men. Hell, most films couldn't compare with Mad Men. IT'S SOOOO BRILLIANT! But, anyway... the second season proved creator/writer Matthew Weiner had more to say about these characters and the time period. Most great shows often fumble during their second outing, not finding their footing after the initial concept is explored in the first season. The series was aided by having a leap of time between the seasons. We get to discover the events that led to the characters' positions in season two, without having to witness them. And while, Don Draper is the central character of the series, and its thesis, the most interesting aspects of the show, are its women. The characters Peggy, Betty, and Joan represent archetypes of women in the early sixites - the newly ambitious working girl, the dutiful wife, and the husband-seeking single gal, but through the season, we see these women struggle with their society given identities. Few other shows are able to write such strong female characters.