I love lists.
Odd, since I’m not a very organized person. But when it comes to organizing my Top 10 cherry-flavored candies or the Top 5 most painful moments in Denver Broncos history or the Top 20 best uses for duct tape, I’m all over it. One of my favorite articles ever was titled “The Top 10 Reasons Why People Love Lists.”
It’d probably rank eighth amongst my favorite magazine article titles ever.
But when it comes to making a list for Plugged In, the task can be a little ticklish. If our year-end lists were strictly based on objective content—the television show with the fewest improper usages of “h‑‑‑,” for instance, it’d be a snap. We could take all our selections from the Home Shopping Network and be done.
We want these list of picks to be more than just that. We want to give some weight to those intangible aspects of what we like. What moves us. What works. So the fact that something lands on one of these lists should not be taken as a blanket endorsement, not from Plugged In or Focus on the Family. Chances are you’ll find something listed that, for one reason or another, you’d quibble with.
And, frankly, we kinda hope that you do. The subjectivity of lists is part of their fun. This is about conversation, not about bronzing a group of selections for all time. This is about exploring both what we watch or listen to and why we watch or listen to it. So by all means click through to the full reviews of each show of album or game to see all the details before you conclude that it’s A-OK for your family just ’cause we put it on a list.
Speaking of lists, let’s get on with them, right? Today in this blog, I’ll explore the TV landscape. Tomorrow, Adam Holz will tackle music (albums and tracks), and then on Thursday, Bob Hoose will get to the games.
In alphabetical order, then, these are the TV programs I reviewed that stuck with me in a good way this year.
Doctor Who (BBC America): 
Britain’s good time-traveling Doctor has been saving the universe for 50 years now, fighting everything from Daleks to the Master to the very devilish Beast. And during those decades, you can be sure he’s gotten into some problematic situations. Shows can be scary and sometimes violent. Sexual allusions are not unknown. And, alas, the Doctor himself tends to lean toward a more humanist viewpoint than we’d like. But all that said, it’s one of television’s most reliably intelligent, provocative and slyly humorous programs. Plus, really, who doesn’t want to play around with one of those sonic screwdrivers?
Downton Abbey (PBS): 
It’s rare for PBS to have a bona fide hit on its hands. But Downton Abbey, an Edwardian drama by way of Britain’s ITV, fits the bill. For three seasons in the U.S., Downton’s cast, from the Crawleys upstairs to the butlers, maids and cooks downstairs, have treated fans to a highbrow soap opera filled with, yes, death and scandal, but also ever-welcome witticisms from the Dowager Countess. It is not, exactly, a clean show. Characters have engaged in sex outside the bounds of matrimony. One of its most important characters is gay. But because Downton takes place in Edwardian times—when most everyone adhered to a more, well, Plugged In sense of propriety—such matters are handled with more decorum than they would be on the likes of, say, Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Sure, the show’s turns may surprise, even shock, but they’re not designed to titillate. Downton Abbey is about grownups and for grownups. And its sensibilities are refreshingly mature.
Duck Dynasty (A&E): 
Let’s not pretend for a moment that the reality show Duck Dynasty is any more real than professional wrestling. Its plots seem scripted, its oversize characters pulled straight from the golden age of caricatures. It’s possible that Uncle Si—who owns a disturbing number of feather boas—hides a degree from Princeton in his gun safe. But in this age of manufactured reality shows, we won’t hold that against the Robertson clan. Real or not, Duck Dynasty is about a gazillion times funnier than Two and a Half Men without relying on off-color jokes or gag-worthy gags. The humor is surprisingly sophisticated, actually. The characters are delightfully likable. And the fact that these guys and gals from Louisiana seem to love one another like a family should? That every episode ends with a prayer ’round a dinner table? Well, that’s priceless. Duck Dynasty might not represent reality in the strictest sense. But its heart is as genuine as it gets.
Liv and Maddie (Disney): 
For years, Disney has been churning out reliably clean comedies for kids and younger teens—shows that parents can let their kids watch with a reasonably easy conscience. But while these shows might offer confidence, they sometimes don’t illicit that many genuine chuckles. Liv and Maddie—the story of very different twins learning to live together again—is an exception. These two very different identical twins (both played by the clearly versatile Dove Cameron) headline a comedy that not only the family can watch together, but can actually enjoy together too. And that these days is all too rare.
Once Upon a Time (ABC): 
I didn’t want to select this show for this list this year. Really, I didn’t. I called it out last year, after all, and it’s nice to spread the love. But after tuning in the touching midseason finale and watching one-time evil queen Regina sacrifice much of her happiness for a greater good, I had to go ahead and include it. Make no mistake, the series has its issues. This magic-saturated fairy tale can be both dark and violent. But for all the glowing hearts we may see at times, none is bigger or more prominent than the one the show itself wears on its sleeve. In Regina we see the redemption of a woeful sinner. In her relationship with adopted son, Henry, and her birth mother, Emma, we see a complex but ultimately beautiful story of love. And most importantly, Once gives witness to the power of hope and courage and story itself.
Recent Comments