The 10 Best TV Episodes of the Year
It's easy to lump together the year's best TV: The finest dramas teemed with catastrophic violence and incomprehensible human loss; the best comedies jutted with madcap fun and frankness. The ten best episodes of 2010 are all unforgettable -- in fact, they're difficult to rank -- but there's no doubting the power of their characters, timing, and place in our continued "golden age" of television.
10. Grey's Anatomy, "Death and All His Friends"
Any decent recap of the year's best TV must include a hearty slice of craycray. Lo and behold, Grey's Anatomy's season finale was so violent, it should have been directed by Rob Zombie and called "Hospital of 1,000 Corpses." A shooter ravaged Seattle Grace, Meredith suffered a miscarriage, and our man Derek pulled through. The pure insanity -- and ultimate humanity of it all -- makes you forgive the Coldplay-esque title. Almost.
9. Glee, "Never Been Kissed"
You're either a Glee hater or a Gleebaser, but it's hard to deny the teenage dreaminess of Blaine, Kurt's new confidant, who crooned Katy Perry's homage to adolescence, turning the song into the show's biggest smash, and putting some gay teen affection in the open like no other primetime series. Whether you subscribe to Glee's tonal schizophrenia (called "American Bollywood" by some defenders), this episode was a necessary, progressive one.
8. The Walking Dead, "Days Gone By"
Frank Darabont kicked off AMC's cultiest series with convulsive carnage and some of the most gorgeously shot scenes of the year. You'd think a closing shot of zombies overtaking the tank where Rick finds momentary respite would be chilling, not poetically beautiful, yet somehow it was both. We can thank the comic's original creator, Robert Kirkman, for material that's coming to raise the bar on terrifying television.
7. Modern Family, "Strangers on a Treadmill"
We're suckers for Hitchcockian conceits at Movieline, but that's not why we're giving this Modern Family episode such high marks. Though Claire and Mitchell do trade awkward tasks like Farley Granger and Robert Walker in Strangers on a Train, we adored the episode's mix of sentimentality and bawdy comedy. Cameron wore unflattering bike shorts, Alex tried to befriend a popular girl (to Haley's despair), and Claire attempted to sabotage Phil's embarrassing banquet speech, even though it turned out to be a hit. Touching and funny at every turn, the episode was embodied by Claire's final moment of comfort with a crestfallen Alex, an unforgettable example in the show's subtle sincerity.
6. 30 Rock, "Live Show"
In both its East and West Coast versions, 30 Rock's live episode featured a number of deviously clever touches: Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Liz Lemon in flashback sequences, cast-sung theme songs (Jane Krakowski took the East Coast theme while Cheyenne Jackson trilled for the west), and drop-dead funny interludes from Jon Hamm and Chris Parnell. Alec Baldwin also performed magic tricks, which was a nice clincher.
5. Lost, "The End"
The manic attention paid to Lost before its world-paralyzing finale culminated in a singular opinion: There's no way this episode can satisfy the show's myriad convolutions. And it didn't. But it did present 150 minutes that dared to explain Sideways World and turn this whole inside-out show into something of a parable. Fans will ponder Lost forever, and the finale managed to provide resolve and plenty of food for thought -- which is all you can ask for with a devastating sci-fi Mobius Strip like Lost.
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I would put Meet the Grandparents (Raising Hope) and Another Bad Thanksgiving (Cleveland Show) as contenders for this list.
Oh Louis. I'm with you all the way with your top 3, but that live 30 Rock was the worst!
Dimo, you are family around here. You may disagree with me.
For today only.
LOST's finale was one of the worst endings of all time. OF ALL TIME.
yes, Lost was horrible---i think the season finale of the Big C could be in the top ten.
Count me in as Glee-hater. But hey, the great thing about tv this year is that we viewers have had an embarrassment of riches!
I'd add these episodes for your consideration:
-True Blood, 3.9 "Everything is Broken" - Was there a more jaw dropping/laugh out loud moment on tv this summer than when Denis O'Hare as the vampire King of Miss. wooshed on to a CNN-type newscast, pulled the heart out of the anchor with one hand, told America vampires wanted "to eat your children!" and then smiled into the camera finishing with "...and now for the weather. Tiffany"?
-Justified,"Pilot" - Timothy Olyphant's "Rayland Givens" dispenses frontier justice in modern Miami and is banished to his homestate of Kentucky. Once there the ghosts of his childhood hang over him and he squares off against Walton Goggin's "Boyd" a bomb-detonating, drug-dealing, white supremacist. The dialog snap, crackles and pops. A great hour of tv.
-Treme, 1.9 "I'll Fly Away" - The season finale where most of the season's plots paid off: Khandi Alexander and Melissa Leo both had outstanding scenes of emotional catharsis. We see the awesome and haunting St. Joseph's Day performances by "Big Chief" (the show's conscience), and a Best-of-New-Orleans tour by Steve Zahn's Davis (the show's comic relief). A melancholy and hopeful end to a season of intimate storytelling. That the Emmy's ignored "Treme" is just sad.
-Fringe, 3.8 "Entrada" - You could pick almost any episode Fringe aired in 2010 and you would have a weird, funny, touching, suspenseful, intensely creative hour of tv. The audaciousness of "Lost" without the audience-expectation-burdens that weighed so heavily on that show. Anna Torv is bringing the intensity of early-season "Alias" with steely resolve, John Noble is an acting tour-de-force as crazy-insane "Walter" and icy-scary "Walternate".
Party Down: tie for episode 2.5 "Steve Guttenberg's Birthday" & 2.10 "Constance Carmell Wedding"
"Guttenberg's Birthday" is technically the better episode as the gang gets to cater their own party and impromptu script reading ("Are science fiction and heart mutually exclusive? One word: 'Cocoon'"). But seeing Ryan Hansen as the extremely clueless"Kyle" sing a song that could double as metaphor for the Hollywood rat race or the Holocaust (or as he put it "Holo- what?" in "Carmell Wedding" was one of the funniest scenes of the year. Adam Scott and Co., you will be missed.
-Eastbound & Down, 2.2 "Chapter 8" Appalling, offensive, ridiculous, and original. This episode of E &D featured the return of Kenny's demented sidekick Stevie who follows a trail of breadcrumbs (hookers) down to Mexico where he reunites with Kenny and is immediately shot in the leg, and thrown in shower. Over the next 48 hours he meets Kenny's menagerie of friends and animals (among them a boa constrictor in the fridge and a donkey in the carport) is thrown on coyote truck to be smuggled back into the States against his will, returns and begs Kenny to let him join "The Resistance". 30 minutes of manic energy, stereotypes, and strange comic timing.
-Parks & Recreation. Almost any episode from '10 could compete for best episode of the year. This show gets more laughs from just showing the murals in the Town Hall than some comedies get in a whole episode.
Would have swapped "Community", "Modern Family" (both funny but "year's BEST? No.) or "Grey's (though it was their best eps in YEARS) for "Fringe" eps"White Tulip" or the 2 part "Over There" eps. Actually either of those eps were better than the "Lost" Finale too.
A pretty decent list. The episodes chosen for Friday Night Lights, Breaking Bad and Community were all worthy.
However, that Mad Men episode is overrated as hell. That show has done much better. Also, Never Been Kissed" represents Glee at its worst, not best.
Good choices!
One show missing from that list. 'Boardwalk Empire'. I think it is the most finely scripted,acted,& directed television show out there!I also think it is the program most deserving of its Golden Globe nods!I've found EVERY episode to be truly sensational.
Finally the world recognizes Steve Buscemi as the great actor he is,rather than "that guy who played in Fargo,I think his name was Steve!"
BTW,"Gleebaser" is my new favorite term!
You never fail to amuse and inform:)
I loved "the suitcase". I have re-watched that episode more times than I can count. Thanks for including the live 30 Rock episode. Never understood why it got such a beating. I loved it!
What! Nothing from The Big Bang Theory? Any episode of this show is better than any season highlight of Mad Men,whose premise can induce snoring from insomniacs. The trendy gayness of Glee and sappy sentimentalism of Friday Night Lights are factors that should work against them even being considered for a place on this list. TBBT is one of TVs highest rated shows and to ignore it is just plain WRONG!
Mad Men is so overrated.
Harry, your championing of Big Bang Theory renders your criticisms of Mad Men and Friday Night Lights invalid.
If these are the best then Virtel has no idea what a good show is. Surely his tastes do not reflect the masses