KMK: Best TV Shows 2009

I haven’t done this in awhile so I felt the time was right to get you all hooked on the best shows in televsion (according to me)!

Last time I only reviewed the new shows popping up with the new season, but I shouldn’t discriminate between shows that have been around and still kick ass. I’ll also include some mid season replacements that I am checking out but haven’t had time to develop any set feelings one way or the other and shows that I watch and belive have the potential to rock but only end up squandering all my good will.

Battlestar Galactica

If Sci-Fi sets your eyes to rolling or sends you scurrying for the remote then you are missing one of the best shows on TV! A scifi fantasty space opera dealing with a fleet of human refugees searching for Earth while fleeing, fighting, dealing with the Cylon meanace bent on, well, who knows what! The show stars Edward James Olsmos and Mary McDonnel as the Admiral and President respecitvely. The acting is rock solid all around and the writers pick you up and send you off on a dizzying tale of revenge, redemption, and heartbreak that will have you glued to the screen and scouring the subtext for the parallels to real life issues. This show is great and I hope you are not missing it!

Damages

I found this show by accident in its first season. Glenn Close stars as Patty Hewes, a rock solid tough as nails high powered attorney in flats. Patty is driven, hard working, and great at her job. Glenn Close brings a character who could have been a man eating stereotype into a fully dimensional woman. Patty is layer after layer of complication. Rose Bryne also stars as Ellen a young attorney who works for Patty. I can’t say too much because if you haven’t watched it’s told in flash forward and flashback which really revs up the tension! In the first episode of season one you see Ellen brutally attacked. Who is she? How did she get there? Whats going to happen? Damanges. Watch it. Now.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

There was a time when I would’ve considered it sacrilege to cast anyone other than Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor, but Lena Headey has made me a believer. Her Sarah Connor maintains the kick ass soldierness we got from Hamilton in Terminator 2 (minus the crazy) with the mothering instincts of a lioness. Did I mention that Summer Glau (Firefly) costars as a cyborg? What more could you want? I’m glad the show has been given a chance to find its footing because its definitely worth checking out even if it does have a 90210 alumnus which disturbs me even more since I actually find him attractive. After that Brian Austin Green rap album who knew he could be so studly? Just smack me back to my senses please.

True Blood

If you love vampires, like me, then True Blood will deliver your bloodsucker fix bigtime. I liked Twilight but unlike the ten year old girls in the movie theater gushing with me over Edwin I was truly hoping for a more visceral vampire drama. True Blood has answered my prayers. True Blood is about Soukie Stackhouse, a straight up backwoods bayou gal from the small town of Bon Temps Louisana. She’s a waitress at Merlots and did I mention she’s telepathic? Yup, Soukie hears peoples thoughts even though she tries her best to tune them out. The conceit of the show is that thanks to a Japanese company inventing synthetic blood the vampires of the world have decided to come out of the closet. Vampire Bill comes home to Bon Temps to reclaim his lost heritage. He meets Soukie and ignites the old tale of girl meets vampire. The story and writing on True Blood are first rate and the actors handle everything thrown at them. Jason Stackhouse, Soukie’s brother, will have you counting the seconds until the next episode.

The Legend of the Seeker

I know, know cheesy sword and sorcery fantasy, but its in the mold of Xena so you know it’s a straight up guilty pleasure. It doesn’t hurt that the lead actor, Craig Horner, is easy on the eyes. The show is based on the novel series by Terry Goodkind, which I am now planning to read. This is a fun romp and good if you want to have a scenery chewing good time with ham it up actors and over the top action.

Heroes

This show has so much that goes right and so much that goes wrong, wrong, wrong. For one thing the entire show should have just been named the Petrelli family drama because basically that’s what we get week after week. I also finally realized that its named Heroes and not Heroeines. Which must explain the abysmal writing and characterization of the females on this show. This writing staff bombs when it comes to the gals. Even with powers and abilities the women are used, abused, outwitted outgunned and outperformed in every way imaginable. Even characters who are set up as intelligent and capable end up being just another damsel in distress. Which would be fine if the same could be said of the male characters. It can’t. Heroes, I want to love you but Damn! You’re the Chris Brown of NBC TV.

DollHouse

Yay! The new series from Joss Whedon. I have been waiting with baited breath for this to air and since the first episode last friday I can honestly, thankfully, exhale. I really wanted to like this show so much, but um, yeah. It left me feeling flat. It’s no Firefly and it’s definitely no Buffy. Sure its only been one episode so I can be forgiving, but my optimism is fading quickly. I think soulless is the word du jour for this show, at least for now. The premise is that individuals sign over there lives to the company so they can be reprogrammed to be whatever the client needs: sex slave, soul mate, assasssin, negotiator. Once the job is done that personality is erased and they go back to being blank slates. Which somehow means the acting becomes blank as well becomes the usually vibrant Eliza comes off like a coma patient. It’s painful. Trust me. My fingers are crossed, it is Joss Whedon after all.

Lost

Why I keep watching this I will never know.