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!

Many, many, many TV-related sites have all their ‘Returning TV’ lists as well as ‘New TV’ lists; an all in one guide to this fall TV season (I’ve done a ‘new series to watch list’ after the upfronts, in two parts: Part One (ABC/FOX/NBC), Part Two (CBS/CW), in case you’re interested). *Note, I have since decided not to watch a few, since it’s difficult to find time to watch all these shows (unless I got paid, which would be sweet, BTW, as retail sucks), also a few video clips appeared to have expired, I’ll update it when they premiere and I can review them further.

Back to what I’m getting at here.

I watch a ton of TV shows, I counted 19 shows returning this season (3 of which had already returned) just on the broadcast nets alone (ABC/FOX/CBS/NBC/CW). Monday is a big day, with 9-20-10 seeing the returns of How I Met Your Mother (CBS, 6th season), House (FOX, 7th), Chuck (NBC, 4th), in the 8pm hour alone. Of course, I love them all, but I push Chuck more, since Mondays are so blah, Chuck is the fun-fast action-spy-adventure that takes away the Monday blah. Plus, another reason to watch this season: Linda Hamilton (yo, it’s Sarah Connor, dudes), Eric Roberts (who was in Less Than Perfect with Zac Levi, and will be in the upcoming Syfy Sharktopus, and in The Expendables), Olivia Munn, Dolph Lungdren (you know, from Rocky IV, as well as this year’s The Expendables), Lou Ferrigno (The Hulk, dudes), Bronson Pinchot (remember, Balki Bartokomous), Isaiah Mustafa (Old Spice dude), Harry Dean Stanton (Alien), and Timothy Dalton (James Bond #4, I think), phew, that’s a lot of guest stars. Check out a 5 min look at Chuck:

And of course, ABC’s Castle (3rd) comes back that day as well, in the 10pm hour. Tuesday already saw the return of CW’s Life Unexpected (9pm, 2nd) and NBC’s Parenthood (10pm, 2nd), and on 9-21 will be the return of NCIS (8th) at 8pm on CBS (plus the spin-off series 2nd season, which I ended up stop watching). Wednesday, 9-22, is all about the return of ABC’s comedy lineup, including EMMY winning series for Best Comedy, Modern Family (9pm, 2nd), and at 9:30pm Cougar Town (2nd), which will feature guest Jennifer Aniston (cue Friends reunion), and on the serious side, CBS’s Criminal Minds (9pm, 6th) continues to be a powerful night, it’s one crime-procedural that continues to improve itself (like NCIS, this year it’ll have a spin-off series in the midseason). Thursday, we saw the return of CW’s hit The Vampire Diaries (8pm, 2nd), which I like watching, but admit there are lots of room for improvement (it’s not Buffy, that’s for damn sure), and on 9-23, FOX’s Thursday brings us the return of Bones (8pm, 6th) and Fringe (9pm, 3rd).

New paragraph, as September 24th, 2010 is the most important night in television, remember it. The CW has it’s most powerful night (sorry for using the word ‘powerful’ again), but it really is. 8pm start it off with the TENTH (yes, 10th) and FINAL season of one of the most beloved series from the WB era that transitioned to the CW (it’s 5 on WB and now 5 on CW, kind of like Stargate SG-1, which had 5 on Showtime and 5 on what was the Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy). Smallville is monumental, because, knowing it’s the last, means they can pull out all the stops and close the series that’ll give it justice. Also, it will beat SG-1 in terms of having the most produced episodes for a sci-fi/fantasy series in the US (they’re still tied in terms of there being 10 seasons). And hey, Clark may (hopefully) now finally FLY. Actually, I believe they said they will finally do that, plus the teaser with the Superman suit (from Superman Returns). Check out this CW official video clip, highlighting Clark through the seasons, it’s just purely awesome:

And then at 9pm, the 6th season of the BEST TV SHOW, Supernatural (sorry for the shouting, it’s just all too exciting). Last season, was all about the impending apocalypse, now, with Sera Gamble now taking the helm as showrunner, it’ll be more about the monsters that go “bump in the night.” The premiere is set a year after the events of the 5th season finale. And thanks to TNT, next week, starting on the night of Sept. 23 at midnight and ending at 8pm the next day, a beautiful 20 hour Supernatural marathon. Catch a few, including the end of the 5th, and watch the premiere of season 6 on the CW at 9pm (might as well watch Smallville before it, the marathon does end at 8pm, so why not?). Check out this preview clip from the CW:

And then there is Sunday, which has FOX’s ‘Animation Domination,’ with the 22nd season premiere of The Simpsons, plus returns of Cleveland Show, Family Guy and American Dad.

Obviously, the series I like the most are highlighted by embedding video clips, but I also push FOX’s Thursday with Bones and Fringe as well as Criminal Minds on Wednesday, and just to pick one series on Tuesday, my favorite is Parenthood (Lauren Graham, come on Emmy people, recognize brilliance), and my fave Sunday is Family Guy, but I want to keep this post from getting too long. Too many video clips can be annoying.

And, remember, this is just broadcast, there are a few cable ones too, but I won’t get into that now.

Ahh, 10 days into the new year and the TV schedule is already filling up. First, the third season of Chuck returns on NBC on Sunday, January 10th, with a special 2-Hour event starting at 9/8c. Then, the series will return to its normal, regular timeslot of Mondays at 8/7c on January 11th. For those who’ve watched the show (or at least checked the last few eps last season), know that Chuck has been upgraded with the Intersect 2.0, which does more than just causes him to flash for intel when triggered (either by the face of a spy or even a top secret device), now, in a given situation where he needs to act fast, he’ll flash for a useful skill. As seen in the second season finale, he and Sarah and Casey were in a little tight situation, so he flashed on kung-fu skills, and boom, he knew kung-fu. Previews show him flashing on complete languages and even getting mad guitar skills. It’ll sure be a fun and interesting development for our favorite little spy that could. Check out the preview trailer for the upcoming 3rd season:

Also, Sunday night sees the 450th episode of The Simpsons plus a 20th Anniversary special, starting at 8/7c, on FOX.

FOX, has decided to bring House back from winter hiatus a little early (those pesky devils), going up against the new Chuck as well as How I ‘s milestone 100th episode. And what a special episode it’ll be. First, Barney has to choose between wearing a suit or dating a girl, which leads to an awesome musical number involving 75 people dressed in suits. Second, a clue to the mysterious ‘Mother,’ as in, who she might be. CBS.com is lovely and nice enough to have a 2-min clip of a behind the scenes look:

How I Met Your Mother – ‘Girls vs Suits’ airs Monday, Jan. 11 at 8/7c on CBS.

And let’s not forget the rest of Monday night, with new Heroes after Chuck (I don’t care what anyone says, I still see good in it), a special night for Fringe on FOX after House (guess they want to see if Fringe can get some better ratings with a more higher-rated lead-in, like it did last year, also when it wasn’t against 2 mega-ratings dramas), and a new Castle on ABC at 10/9c with special guest Alyssa Milano (Charmed).

Phew, that’s just the next two days. The week will also see Bones back from hiatus (note, their 100th is currently scheduled to air on April 8th [could change]). Next week, the CW will come back with their #1 lineup on Thursday with the Vampire Diaries and Supernatural, and Fridays are complete again (briefly) with the return of Smallville [sadly, Jan. 22 will also serve as the day Dollhouse is dismantled]. Also, see the return of USA Network’s #1 shows come back in full force, including new nights for White Collar (Tuesdays at 10pm, starting Jan 19) and Psych (Wednesdays at 10pm, Jan 20), and for those who watch [unfortunately, time didn’t allow[, Burn Notice remains on Thursdays (10pm though) on Jan 21. The CW will premiere a new series, Life Unexpected on Jan. 18 at 9/8c, starring Roswell alum Shiri Appleby, which I might give a shot. See when/if your favorites return this winter at the futon critic.