The TV Top 10 for 2007 was initially conceived as a team effort, but in a series of byzantine moves, I wrested complete control. (No, I'm not pitching a pilot.) I don't do reality TV, so you won't find any Dancing with America's Top Survivor on this list. Plus, with the writers' strike looking to completely gut a good portion of '08's TV season, it seems appropriate to honor the out-of-work scribes by concentrating on edgy dramas and forward-thinking comedies — you know, things that are written. And it'll soon become apparent that I'm a big fan of Sunday-night pay cable.
1 Dexter (Showtime). Michael C. Hall deserves mad kudos for making a serial killer sympathetic, even lovable. You see, Dexter Morgan, who works for the Miami PD as a blood spatter specialist, has a code: He only carves up people he's absolutely sure have committed a heinous murder. Dexter claims to lack emotions, but he's a tortured soul who's constantly seeking self-awareness. He even flirts with moments of guilt. Dexter is a terrific character study with plenty of action, suspense and compelling support characters. And the show has its share of wry humor as well.
2 The Wire (HBO). This sprawling social drama examines the bleak, mean streets of Baltimore from multiple points of view: the bad guys, the police and, this season, a handful of schoolboys tempted by the drug trade and failed by every legit institution they encounter. With dozens of characters and nearly as many interweaving plotlines, The Wire can require viewer patience. But the show is about as realistic as TV drama gets. It also laces in sly political commentary — like the time a rogue police captain cut a backdoor deal with pushers and users to consign the drug scene to a small, broken-down section of town (called "Hamsterdam"). Crime stats plunged. The press found out. And, of course, the experiment was scuttled.
3 The Office (NBC). In season four, unctuous, bumbling Michael Scott (Steve Carell) raised the bar on the show's ever-important cringe factor. He and his retinue of kooks, slackers and a couple of normal folks had to contend with hassles from the home office this season. Former Scranton intern Ryan took a big position in New York and was suddenly Michael's boss. This did not go over well. Pam and Jim became an official couple and spent a night at Dwight's beet-farm bed and breakfast. The office crew even made their own TV commercial (rejected by corporate, of course) with the tag line, "Endless paper in a paperless world." The show's mockumentary style has never become heavy-handed. This no-laugh-track show is one of the few laugh-out-loud half-hours on TV.
4 The Sopranos (HBO). Yes, they broke our hearts by wrapping the series up. Yes, the cut-to-black ending was love-it-or-hate-it, but Tony and the gang went out in a blaze of glory, tying up most of the loose ends and bringing closure to the big cast of characters. The language was rich (the cursing sublime); the violence harrowing, the Machiavellian moves brilliant. Glimpses of humanity shone through all the despicable behavior. Plus, the show had plenty of blackly hilarious sequences. Oh, and didn't you wanna just kick AJ in the ass?
5 Entourage (HBO). Here's Entourage's real trick: There's a lot of reasons to detest Vince, the privileged young film star, and his coterie of hangers-on, but somehow you don't. You root for them. This year found Ari working his way back into the fold, and the guys putting it all on the line to make their dream movie, Medellin. Rhys Coiro was hilarious as the maniacal auteur Billy Walsh, who the guys called on to direct. There was some talk among critics that Entourage took a few steps backward this year, but I disagree. Their escapades were a hoot.
6 Deadwood (HBO). This gritty Western bowed out this year, and that's too bad. It was profane, violent and merciless, filthy, decrepit and depraved — everything you'd expect a lawless frontier town to be. Ian McShane's Al Swearengen was the heart of the show, a real foul-mouthed son-of-a-bitch with the occasional redeeming moments. His expletive-laden soliloquies were positively Shakespearean.
7 Mad Men (AMC). Set in 1960, Mad Men is about the burgeoning advertising industry on Madison Avenue in New York. Men rule; women live in servitude. No sexist remark is out of bounds. These alpha males smoke countless cigarettes, drink heartily at lunch and in the office, talk raunchy about the secretaries — and screw them whenever possible — and somehow manage to come up with some very effective ad campaigns. Mad Men, which debuted this year, is a spot-on period piece. The guys wear some seriously dapper suits — narrow lapels, skinny ties and all. When, in one episode, lead character Don Draper wakes up in the 'burbs on a Saturday morning and assembles a playhouse for his kid, he knocks back about five beers. That was my old man to a T.
8 The Shield (FX). The Strike Team got squeezed in season six, with leader Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) facing a forced early retirement. The secretive unit dropped the out-and-out murder, theft and corruption, and turned its efforts to survival. Forest Whitaker's internal affairs officer Jon Kavanaugh became increasingly unhinged in his quest to bring down Mackey et al. The Shield is fast-paced, smart-assed and, with its jittery camera and grainy stock, as visceral as it gets.
9 Friday Night Lights (NBC). Ostensibly about a football-crazed high school in Texas, FNL really concerns itself with all the problems, pitfalls and pressures facing adolescents in a medium-size, tradition-bound town. There's just enough gridiron action to make the show earn its title — and the on-field stuff generally rings pretty true — but the hour's real richness comes from the complicated interpersonal politics, the fuck-ups, the sex (or lack thereof for Coach Taylor) and other conundrums that can make high school such a mind-bender. The show balances out its bevy of hotties and hunks with a couple of well-placed, and sympathetic, nerds. But what's the deal with sitting through those commercials? I just DVR the thing.
10 Damages (FX). This sleeper of a show really dug its claws into me. Glenn Close shows that a great film actress need not necessarily be slumming if she takes on the right plum TV role. She plays Patty Hewes, a ruthless attorney bringing a class-action suit against a sleazy billionaire (elegantly played by Ted Danson). Hewes brings in an idealistic young lawyer (Rose Byrne) and proceeds to mercilessly manipulate her — and everyone else. Everyone in this artfully plotted show has some sort of nefarious agenda, and it's so much fun to sit back and watch it all play out.
Here's a handful of shows that just missed the cut: Lost (ABC); Extras (HBO); 30 Rock (NBC); My Name is Earl (NBC); Big Love (HBO).
This article appears in Dec 26, 2007 – Jan 1, 2008.