Now I watch quite a bit of TV so this was a VERY hard list to come up with. I found myself putting in some shows that may not actually be more favorable over others but I have to give props if they had an impressive year. I’ll try to keep summaries to a minimum but there are gonna be spoilers to give a little on why one such show was awesome last year.

12- Cougar Town – Title withstanding, the ABC show has really came into its own and improved significantly, and we’ve seen less of Barb, so that alone is a major improvement. 2nd season airs Wed. 9:30PM, ’til February, then returns again in April.

11- The Vampire Diaries – Yeah, it’s a bit on the soapy teen side, but it still has more sex and violence (at least what can be on broadcast, so no nudity, but that’s okay) than a certain (non)-vampire movie franchise (note, I’m basing that on the 1st movie). Plus, the introduction of werewolves, bringing in more witches, and the arrival of Katherine, the vampire who turned Damon and Stefan and who Elena looks like. The writing is much stronger and the storylines now are really making it a bit of a surprising drama series that I find very much worth watching. The 2nd half of its 2nd season returns January 27th at 8PM on the CW.

10- Modern Family – What’s not to love about this one of a kind comedy where you have a father who married a younger Colombian woman with a son, and a daughter with a man-child of a husband and three kids, and a gay son who adopted a Vietnamese baby with his partner. Add in a doc-style therapy narration and you have a unique comedy that not only does extremely well in demo, but it actually won an Emmy too for a comedy and get this, it’s actually funny. This ABC series 2nd season airs Wed. at 9PM.

9- Eureka – The Syfy series saw some real creative genius last year when Carter, Allison, Henry, Jo, and Fargo had traveled back to the past and arrived back to the present with a man named Trevor Grant joining, to find a very different Eureka (Jo and Zane never dated, Tess never left, Henry is married, Allison’s autistic son was surprisingly no longer autistic, and, Fargo is in charge of GD). Playing with time can be a tricky thing, but this show excelled (although I’m still not sure how a kid would no longer be autistic), but it was still a fun show to watch, and I look forward to more. Return TBD.

8- Sanctuary – This little Syfy gem may not get the press that the now canceled SGU and Caprica got, but it certainly tops my list from the net. And last year it got even better, picking up after the the Big Bertha storyline, Magnus and her team look for Hollow Earth, and the last ep of the year was a big “WTF” moment that still has me in shock. I look forward to its return this spring to finish out its 3rd season, and hope for renewal of such an underrated series.

7- Fringe – This FOX series, now in its 3rd season, is moving to Fridays, so spread the word ’cause this series must continue. The 3rd season opened us up more to the alternate universe with the first half switching between the ‘Fringe’-world we know and the alternate one, having our Olivia “over there” and Fauxlivia (the “over there” Olivia) “over here.” The once X-Files-esque show is going more in mythology and the deepness of it is a hard sell to average viewers, which is a shame, because this has been a truly great year. 3rd Season returns January 21 at 9PM on FOX (with an episode titled, get this, “Firefly”)

6- Bones – Oh last year saw the 100th episode with Booth telling Brennan he loved her and she rejecting him and then the last ep of the year in which Brennan saw herself in a victim and realized she made a mistake and her putting her heart out there, but because of, eh, Hanna, Booth then rejected her. I say, give the Emmy to Emily Deschanel, please. Oh, and Hodgins and Angela got married in jail and are now expecting. Really looking forward to the aftermath of Brennan’s tearjerking moment, plus, there are spoilers out there that a supporting character (possibly one of the squinterns) is gonna say hello to a bullet. 6th season returns January 20 at 9PM on FOX (yes, 9PM now, not 8PM, 9PM, don’t forget it).

5- How I Met Your Mother – The closest thing to a Friends replacement, this CBS comedy is now in its 6th season and isn’t slowing down. Any show that can take what should be a simple story to kids on how their parents met and make it into a non-stop force of comedy for 6 years running is a masterpiece. Now if only Neil Patrick Harris can get that Emmy for this series he so DESERVES, and maybe little more love for Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan this year? Oh, and let’s not forget that almost a year ago was the 100th episode, with the wonderful musical number “Girls Vs. Suits.” This CBS series 6th season airs Mondays 8PM.

4- Smallville – Hey, it’s in its 10th and final season and they are giving us one hell of a season. The 10th season is now getting more into the Superman mythology, even that scene with the ‘Superman Returns’ costume in the Fortress of Solitude gave me goosebumps (got them again just thinking about that scene). And let’s not forget the wonderful 200th episode where James Marsters returned as Brainiac and Clark and Lois’s floaty dance at the end, it’s just, well, super. 10th season returns, with only 11 episodes left, of this epic series, on January 28 at 8PM on the CW.

3- Chuck – This spy-action comedy series is very much adored by its close-knit of fans, and that dedication has helped bring this series into its now 4th season. But, hope for a 5th dwindles unless ratings can spike, and last year saw a massive amount of what they call stunt casting, but, though it didn’t hurt, Linda Hamilton, Lou Ferrigno, Summer Glau, Robert Englund, and Timothy Dalton didn’t help ratings either. 4th season returns January 17 at 8PM on NBC.

2- True Blood – Well, duh, my #2 show in general is the HBO hit with vampires, werewolves, and now fairies. Going into a 4th season this year, we should see more witches and, from what I hear, more vampire politics. The sex and gore didn’t stop in the 3rd season (the disturbing head twist sex scene between Bill and Lorena and Russell ripping the spinal column of a news anchor on live TV, great stuff.) 4th season airs this summer on HBO.

1- Supernatural – Not a surprise, it’s always been my most favorite show since it premiered. With a great mix of drama, action, and comedy, strong characters, excellent writing, we haven’t had a show this strong since Buffy. Last year we got the 100th episode, a showdown with Lucifer, and more crazy “WTF” moments (“fairies”?), a great Bobby episode, and you also had Castiel watching porn, I never laughed so hard in my life. Kidding aside, it’s still a strong serious show, and now that Sam has his soul back, with the unreliable “patch” from Death, what’s next for our favorite demon hunters? 6th season returns January 28th at 9PM on the CW.

BEST NEW SERIES from LAST YEAR:
Haven (Syfy) – The series will return for a 2nd season this summer (yay!) and is actually a quite intriguing show, much better than the highest rated scripted show on Syfy, Warehouse 13, which is good too, but I like Haven more. Taking place in a small town in Maine, it follows an FBI agent who found herself trying to unlock the mystery of the Troubles and a mysterious picture in an old newspaper of a woman that she believed to be her mother. It’s got a great cast, and when we last saw it, Audrey got more clues to her mother, that it might not have been her mother, but her! Plus Duke’s hunt to find out who is supposed to kill him, bringing in the mystery of the maze tattoo. Oh, and this is loosely based on the Stephen King novella ‘The Colorado Kid.’

Shows I Wish Weren’t Canceled:
My Boys – The highly underrated TBS comedy was a pleasant surprise to me. I started watching it when it was halfway through its 1st season since someone recommended it, and I’m glad I did. It was a smart and funny show, with a great ensemble.

Party Down – The Starz comedy by Rob Thomas (not the singer, the guy who gave us the wonderful Veronica Mars) was about actors, writers, comedians who work at a catering company called Party Down in order to pay the bills as their dream jobs aren’t going well.

Heroes – Yeah, ratings were low, blah, blah, but all I really wanted was some shorter season to tie up loose ends, as the last episode ended with a HUGE cliffhanger, Claire showing her regeneration ability on camera for everyone to see.

Stargate Universe – after a rocky start, the show really improved. It was canceled last year, but the remaining 10 eps of its 2nd season will air this year, and I believe I heard there’s a cliffhanger (of course).

Dollhouse – Of course I’m gonna have this on here. Those few eps last year were among the strongest. Guess it’s a good thing Joss Whedon pretty much knew the chances of renewal were slim, and the last episode at least had an ending, while Heroes did not.

NEW SHOWS this year:
The Cape (special premiere on January 9th at 9PM on NBC, regular time slot begins January 17 at 9PM) – Summer Glau returns to TV! NBC is promoting this more heavily than their other new shows, and it does seem interesting, but is it too soon after the fall of Heroes?

Mr. Sunshine (premieres February 9 at 9:30PM on ABC) – Chandler Bing! Yes, Matthew Perry is back on TV, 2nd time after the end of Friends and with a sweet timeslot after the super hit Modern Family. Though, that means Chandler is being mean to Monica, being it’s bumping Cougar Town for a little bit.

Camelot – Starz isn’t slowing down in an effort to go up against HBO and Showtime, and this further proves it. A retelling (yes, another) of the Arthurian legend, this version will primarily be using Thomas Mallory’s 15th century work, “Le Morte d’Arthur”, along with other Arthurian legends as its source. Premieres April 1.

RETURNING Shows looking forward to:
Primeval – It came back on New Year’s, after over a year since the 3rd season and news of a cancellation, the show was brought back with a deal of 13 episodes spread between two seasons. BBC America is currently showing this wonderful British series on Saturday nights for us in America.

Torchwood – The 4th season of this British show, which was missing last year, returns this year, now on Starz (for us). The series will take a slightly different direction as Captain Jack and Gwen Cooper will travel across the pond, as the series will now have US financing (thanks to Starz) along with continuing BBC love. The 4th series adds Americans Bill Pullman and Mekhi Phifer to the cast, as well as some big guns in writing, with former Buffy writer Jane Espenson, X-Files & Supernatural writer John Shiban, and House writer Doris Egan adding their magic touches to the season along with creator Russell T. Davies and John Fay returning. This will be one series not to miss.

—-

I don’t have much to say in terms of music and movies (I didn’t purchase that many CDs last year, getting only CDs from bands I like enough to get the day they come out (which is VERY few) and I don’t go to the movies, it’s been 2 years almost since I’ve last been.

But, going by albums released last year, I actually purchased 5 total CDs, and only 3 of them were new releases (Godsmack ‘The Oracle’, Disturbed ‘Asylum’, and Apocalyptica ’7th Symphony.’) So I guess there’s my top 3, but Apocalyptica would be my favorite of the three.

And, I saw newer movies in other ways (Netflix). So, movies that came out at the end of 2010, of course I haven’t seen yet, but for those available to rent and buy (I believe I only bought 2 movies – ‘Legion’ and ‘Kick-Ass’) but I’ve also eventually saw ‘Daybreakers,’ ‘Death at a Funeral’, ‘Alice in Wonderland’, ‘The Grown-Ups’, ‘Sorcerer’s Apprentice,’ ‘Hot Tub Time Machine,’ ‘The Losers,’ and ‘When in Rome.’ And when they are available to rent or when popularity dies down, I look forward to check out ‘Skyline,’ ‘Toy Story 3,’ ‘Inception,’ and hopefully in about 4-5 months, ‘Little Fockers,’ ‘Yogi Bear,’ ‘Tangled,’ and I kind of want to see ‘Gulliver’s Travels.’ Unfortunately, I haven’t seen them, so I can’t say anything about them other than that they look good from previews.

Anyway, of the ones I saw, I think people were too negative about ‘Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ ’cause I thought it was entertaining (even though there were some amounts of lameness, I mean seriously, Prime Merlinean?) ‘Hot Tub Time Machine’ wasn’t as funny as I thought it would be, but it was still funny, but ‘Death at a Funeral’ was HILARIOUS. ‘Legion’ wasn’t as good as I would have hoped, but ‘Daybreakers’ was actually pretty good (not the best vampire film, but is a better movie than the shit a certain studio is selling as vampire films (you know what I’m talking about). ‘Alice in Wonderland’ was, eh, okay, but eh, was a waste of my time, ‘The Losers’ was pretty awesome, and ‘The Grown-Ups’ was pretty funny (not the funniest Adam Sandler movie, but good). And ‘Kick-Ass,’ well, it KICKED-ASS.

As for what to look forward to in 2011 as far as music and movies:

MOVIES:
‘Cabin in the Woods‘ – Joss Whedon, need I say more

‘Super’ – limited April 1 – Rainn Wilson stars as a man who decides to become a superhero, even having a crazy sidekick played by Ellen Page. Nathan Fillion, Liv Tyler, and Kevin Bacon also star.

‘Super 8′ – June 10- not much is really known, but it’s Steven Spielberg and JJ Abrams working together on this, super secret movie.

‘Thor’ – May 6 – the kickoff of the summer blockbusters starts with a Marvel superhero. The movie looks good, and as much as I tend to prefer DC over Marvel, I’d be more inclined to check this out over ‘the Green Lantern,’ though I kind of want to see that too.

‘Your Highness’ – April 8 – It’s a spoofy movie on the whole like medieval prince/princess/dragons stuff which stars Danny McBride, James Franco, Zooey Deschanel, and Natalie Portman.

MUSIC:
One confirmed album I’m looking forward to: Within Temptation‘s 5th album ‘The Unforgiving.’ A concept album based on a comic book series by Steven O’Connell. Set for release in March.

Anything else is up in the air as the year just started, but Lacuna Coil are writing (stated on their Facebook page) and Tantric is also working on a new album (also mentioned on their Facebook page, but vaguely).

AND, let’s not forget VIDEO GAMES:::
First, ‘Mass Effect 2′ comes to the PS3, which is the console I have, so that means, if/when I get it, I can finally play it.

And on 11/1/11 we get the third ‘Uncharted’ game, ‘Drake’s Deception,’ which is available only for the PS3. HAHA, take that Xbox owners!

I remember growing up without any cable TV networks, including MTV. But, whenever I was at my grandparents, MTV was a network we’d watch (now this is the early 90s, they still showed videos then). The only non-music program we watched was Beavis and Butt-head (and that even had them, I guess you can say, do commentary to shortened music videos). Even earlier in the 90s, or really late 80s, for me, when we visited my mom’s family 400 miles away, we stayed at my great-grandmother’s apartment, and from time to time, watched MTV (yes, my great-grandmother would watch MTV too). I remembered they didn’t restrict themselves to the newest videos, as I remember “Don’t Come Around Here No More” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, which at that time, was easily 3 years old. I remember 1990, with Aerosmith “Janie’s Got A Gun,” and Jon Bon Jovi’s “Blaze of Glory” (loved that video as a little 5 year old).

The point is, I loved music videos. We had the VHS tapes for Def Leppard Hysteria videos (which wasn’t just Hysteria, also had Pyromania ones as well) and Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet the videos, so those were the only way for us to watch videos. NBC used to have Friday Night Videos (YEAH, I remember that), which became our only source for music videos, being an antenna family.

But in 1995, we got Primestar, a satellite dish company, but MTV wasn’t part of our lineup (or, wasn’t available to Primestar, I was only 10), but I remember when we got it, in Oct. ’95, it was available to us, and right when I got home from school, I tuned to it, and Bush “Comedown” was on. That’s how much I loved having the station. They played videos in the afternoon, so everyday we’d tune to it after school, caught the likes of Tom Petty’s “You Don’t Know How It Feels,” Alanis Morisette’s “You Oughta Know,” and more from the likes of U2, REM, as well as the shit being played at that time (Rap, not a fan of it) which there’s a ‘Mute’ button for. And, of course, Beavis and Butt-Head, which eventually even my parents ended up liking.

But the late 90′s became a problem. Right after school, this stupid video countdown was on (TRL, Which I believe stood for ‘Total Request Live,’ but it wasn’t a pure ‘request show,’ just more of a voting of current videos into a countdown, so MTV failed to understand one concept). And that was an hour of videos, MTV increased how often Real World and Road Rules was shown, and even when videos came on, the new shit playing (the Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys) was enough to want your ears ripped off. And they were also more strict to new videos, rarely anything older than 6 months, it seemed. Tom Petty used to be the one artist MTV showed and honored, but they swept him under the rug for young assholes, there is no nice way to put it. Music Television was for all music, not just youthful. (Which is why we have VH-1 Classic, but, eh they have been showing some of those ’100 whatevers’ VH-1 loves, but the good thing is they are all MUSIC RELATED, so far).

As the years progressed, TRL wasn’t in the afternoon, and the only time blocks of videos were played were in the wee-hours of the morning, and for only a few hours at best. Now, with more shit like Jersey Shore airing, videos are compressed to near nothing (maybe once a week there is an hour block, maybe).

For over ten years, MTV has been increasing non-music programs, but continued to refer to themselves as ‘Music Television,’ while the masses, people like me, lean more towards ‘Moronic TV,’ or ‘Meaningless TV.’

Now that’s changing, MTV is officially re-branding their logo, removing the ‘Music Television’ tag-line. Unfortunately, the general manager, Stephen Friedman, is still blind and believes that “”Music is still at the center of so much of what we do, but we’ve really expanded what that means. We needed the logo to be flexible enough to have the artists within it but also the stars of our shows.” (AdAge.com).

When was the last time you remember anything MTV has done with music at its center?

MTV drops ‘Music Television’ from official logo – LA Times

What’s the ‘M’ in MTV for? – BuddyTV

MTV Finally Gives Up on Music – TV.Com

Small opinion:

Now, VH1 (the ‘VH’ is supposed to be ‘Video Hits’) should follow, as they don’t showcase ‘videos’ much no more as well, neither does MTV2. Also, Cartoon Network needs to adjust their logo, as they have strayed from actual cartoons several times. Even TNT and TBS switch their roles, ’cause I remember a few occasions where TBS is showing something more on the drama side than comedy, despite TBS’s tagline is ‘Very Funny,’ and TNT’s is ‘We Know Drama.’ Seems like networks just can’t stick to one thing, since Sci-Fi Channel showed wrestling and they rebranded last year to Syfy, so they can justify showing wrestling, but other than that, all the programming is still consistent in the sci-fi/fantasy realm.

I am glad to announce that I have surpassed my goal of 300 CDs (I have 301 now) in a matter of slightly less than 14 years time [which comes to around 20-21 CDs a year, but some years, such as the first few years, are more pathetic, while my bigger year is 2008, with 40 CDs, and then 2001 with 34.

Today I got Breaking Benjamin’s latest, ‘Dear Agony’ (which I flavored on my way home from work and got to say, amazing), and Three Days Grace’s latest, ‘Life Starts Now’ (released last week), which I have yet to check the rest out, but I’ve already ripped the songs to my laptop, so my Last.FM account will reveal when I play the shit out of them, like I did when I got Tantric’s last two releases, which are so very underrated, even in the rock world, which is a real shame.

Oh, and I updated my CD list: Current List of CDs I Own

Tantric's fourth studio release, 'Mind Control'

Next month there are three great bands releasing new albums.  Let’s start with the August 4th release of Tantric’s latest, ‘Mind Control.’  The title track has already been released to radio (and is available to purchase on iTunes), and is currently in the Billboard Maintream Rock Chart (around #37, I think, it was mentioned on the official Tantric Message Board). Head on over to Amazon.com where you can hear clips of all the songs, and while you’re there, pre-order it (currently at 13.99). The video, from what I’ve heard, is supposed to come out around August 4th, I can only assume it’ll be available at iTunes at least, since MTV/MTV2 don’t even play music videos (and if they did, least likely to play this great band), and while Fuse did acknowledge their previous release, with the single “Down and Out,” it wasn’t in the Rock countdown much (highest I saw was #7), and there aren’t that many videos on that network either. Point is, this is a great band, very unique one in the rock world, and I highly recommend them to anyone who listens to rock music (or for the most part, enjoy music altogether, but definitely if you like rock bands, especially hard rock).
[edit 7-31-09: MTV2 WILL show the video, unleashing it on Aug. 4th. Here's a YouTube clip:
]

Collective Soul's 8th studio album, Rabbit

Next up, Collective Soul, who’ve had seven #1 Billboard Rock tracks in the 90s, and are returning with more on August 25th. They’ve mainly have radio-friendly songs, but that doesn’t mean they don’t put out some good rockers as well. The first single is “Staring Down” released to Adult AC radio, while “Welcome All Again” was released to rock radio. Both tracks can also be purchased at iTunes (Staring Down at iTunes, Welcome All Again at iTunes). Oh, and the name of the new CD is a second self title (the first was back in 1995, which was their most successful album to date (3x platinum), having giving us the gems “The World I Know” and “December”), so this is being referred to as ‘Collective Soul (Rabbit)’, since the album cover has a rabbit.  It marks their debut with Roadrunner Records (they originally were under Atlantic Records, then went independent (EL Music Group) with 2004′s ‘Youth,’ and are now with Roadrunner).  It can be pre-ordered now at Amazon.com.

Smile Empty Soul's 4th Studio Album, Consciousness

Lastly, but not least (yeah, yeah, I know), Smile Empty Soul. Though they aren’t exactly at the top of anyone’s list, I certainly believe them to be a very good band, and am looking forward to their new release, ‘Consciousness,’ also being released on August 25th. The band has previously had success with “Bottom of the Bottle” from their debut album back in 2003, but label issues prevented their next effort, ‘Anxiety,’ from getting a formal release. Their third album, ‘Vultures,’ did see the light of day, and, in my opinion, topped their debut effort. Now, a fourth one is on the way (again, pre-order at 13.98 at Amazon.com), and the only place I’ve heard the first single, “Don’t Ever Leave,” is on XM-Sirius’s Octane.

Other releases for the year include Chevelle’s ‘Sci-Fi Crimes’ on September 1st, and both Breaking Benjamin and Three Days Grace have been in the studio with plans to have an album by end of the year. Breaking Benjamin will actually have a song, “I Will Not Bow,” on August 10th to radio (Sept.1 on iTunes), and it’ll be featured in the upcoming Bruce Willis movie Surrogates (movie comes out Sept. 25). As to when their 4th album comes out, no idea, just possibly (not a certainty) end of 2009 (although one source, Lehigh Valley Music, thinks end of September, but that seems really unlikely, ’cause that close, it’ll have been announced).
[update: Turns out, Breaking Benjamin will release 'Dear Agony' on September 29, and the first single, "I Will Not Bow," can now be heard on their MySpace page [www.myspace.com/breakingbenjamin]
ShallowBay.com – Official Breaking Benjamin site | Three Days Grace Official site.

Just a week ago (Tuesday, June 23), we learned of the passing of Johnny Carson’s right hand man of 30+ years on the Tonight Show, Ed McMahon. Two days later, major double blows of the news that one of the original Charlie’s Angels, Farrah Fawcett, lost her battle with cancer, and just later that day, King of Pop, Michael Jackson died of cardiac arrest (heart attack). Then, only three days after that, pitchman extraordinaire Billy Mays (OxiClean, Kaboom, etc) died of heart failure.

Through all this mega-sadness from the legendary TV world, to pop-icons, to, well, we secretly love those commericals, didn’t we? Through it all, one supposed death rumor allows Stephen Colbert to put a smile on our faces.

Thursday night, there were massive tweets (I remember, it was a trendy topic that worried the shit out of me), on Jurassic Park star Jeff Goldblum. But don’t worry, those were just rumors, he’s a alive and well enough to plug Law and Order: Criminal Intent on the Colbert Report.

Lamenting Television’s Week of Losses – TV.Com

Tantric has updated their MySpace Page with a new layout to reflect their new upcoming album, ‘Mind Control’, and with it, a clip of the title track, which sounds…AWESOME.

‘Mind Control’ comes out August 4.