<3 <3 <3 TV. I’m not ashamed to say it. I think TV is the jam. Do I spend more time than I’d like in front of it? Yes. Am I ashamed? No. TV is cool! Here are my fancy ticklers from 2009.

Comedies:
Modern Family- This is my favorite new show. It’s absolutely hilarious. It focuses on three distinct parts of the same family. Their dysfunctions, idiosyncrasies, and misguided love make for what is rapidly becoming my favorite comedy on TV. Bonus points for Ed O’Neill playing Al Bundy again. AMAZING.

Community- I wanted to write this show! Chevy Chase’s skeezy semi-fix-it-all old man is my favorite and that’s saying a lot for a pretty big Joel McHale fan. This show’s “family” is a group of community college students bonded together through Spanish class. What makes this show great is its heart. When other shows go for the extra joke, Community goes for the heart and makes great use of their ragtag family group.

30 Rock- Love they Fey. Love the Baldwin. Love the Morgan. Love the Lutz even! This show is consistently one of the highlights of my week. I’m on the verge of taking it for granted. It continually is on top of its game and the cast is top-notch, the writing still kills. And the Tracy-Jenna tandem is loonier than ever. BRING ME SOME HAM!

How I Met Your Mother- The multi-camera show that wanted to be a single cam continues to be probably the most inventive and cleverly in-joking show on television. Their planning is simply intricate. They set jokes up episodes/seasons in advance and the payoff is hard to match. The Barney-Robin storyline was interesting in that we saw Barney become a real person. But I’d be lying if I said I’m unhappy that he’s back to being Barney. This is a show right in the middle of its most confident stride and the quality has been so consistent I think it’s a real shame it’s not mentioned in the same breath as some of the shows listed above.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia- The show you shouldn’t like because the people are just jerks. But they are about the funniest jerks you could imagine. Some good pop culture references and riffs matched with incredibly silly story lines and actions, it might be the least realistic comedy on TV, but it’s also one of the smartest and certainly one of the funniest.

Flight of the Conchords- With recent news that this show is now over for good, I was left thinking about how just fantastic it was. Easily the best comedy ever made about a New Zealand Folk Novelty Duo, Conchords has been funny on more than one level since they write songs for every episode, you can relive their glory over and over again. In truth, the show is about romance and bromance, and they explore both in about every hilarious possible way.

Chuck- So underappreciated. Spy games! Nerds! Babes! It’s amazing. One of my favorite moments in all of TV this year came from Chuck when his dad appeared and they teamed up. Such fun stuff. The show really grew up last year and was saved from being canceled, thank goodness! Don’t let this show go down. It is one of the things I’m most excited for returning come January. Chuck is now a badass! Can’t wait to see what happens.

Dramas:

Battlestar Galactica- Sad to see this one go, but loved watching it leave. A fantastic show, one of the best of the decade, ended its epic run. A show dripping with allegories set in space never had much of a chance to succeed ratings wise. But MAN can they make a show over at Syfy. This was one of the smartest and exciting seasons with mysteries, angst, and collusion galore. It was impossible not to get wrapped up in the show.

Friday Night Lights- DirecTV deserves a lot of credit for teaming with NBC to keep this show alive. It’s become a healthy addiction for me and I am crazy for each new episode. There is SOOOO much more to this show than football. All of the relationships, the painting of small town America, and yes, their beloved Panthers are just enthralling TV. NEVER been disappointed by an episode of this show and I was moved to tears during one actor’s final episode. Well-written, brilliantly-acted and criminally unrecognized, FNL is a show that should be watched MUCH more than it is. It literally has something for everyone.

Dexter- Sooo, how can we make one of the most compelling shows on TV even better? Add John Lithgow as the US’s most prolific serial killer and create a complex relationship between he and the main character. And slap on the wildest cliffhanger on the season finale in Dexter history. That’s all. I keep waiting for the day I feel less conflicted about rooting for this guy, but it has yet to come and it has yet to stop me from watching. Complex! Delicious!

Fringe- I spoke earlier about a show in the midst of its most confident stride. This show is at a sprint in terms of creativity, mind-blowingness, and overall quality. The fact that its being compared so often to The X-Files is credit enough. But this show works on so many levels, the mysteries week-to-week are compelling, freaky, and well-tied to the overall story which has been taking off. I am so excited by this show, it’s hard to contain. If you asked me whether I wanted a pony or a new episode of Fringe right now… I’d say pony. But it would be a close call!

Damages- Talk about your mysteries. And character development ! Our main characters in this show showed so much more of themselves and the mysteries and connections went deeper than the previous season. An excellent year of growth for a brutally intense show. Glenn Close is just dominant as Patty Hewes and this year Rose Byrne played off of her well. I think that was the key to this show really stepping into the elite echelon.

LOST- My fave! I am absolutely obsessed with this show. I love that they finally let their freak sci-fi flag fly. And they made it work. This show totes makes go OMG! more than any other one. And it taps into my complete nerdiness and obsessive pop culture nature. As my sister said in our debate about the best show of the decade, it makes you smarter! How many shows can you REALLY say that about. Freaking awesome. Only one left. So sad/excited!

Supernatural- I like to think of this show as the dramatic version of How I Met Your Mother in spirit. Very little actually relates content wise. But the story of two brothers in a giant battle of good vs. evil has done more to play with structure, “special” shows where they act as ghost hunters a la the Syfy show, and the expansion of their world to include a metauniverse in which they are big stars has made this one of the craftiest shows on TV and certainly one of the most epic, I mean angels versus devils every week for control of the world is pretty epic. I think this show has become one of the best on television and its storylines continue to grow in depth and complexity.

I watch more than this, trust me it’s possible. But I tried to limit my list to those I was wildly entertained with. It was hard. I am not good at weeding things out.

Things I’m looking forward to taking in in 2010: Breaking Bad, The Sopranos.

Show I couldn’t get into that everyone else loves: Mad Men (I know, I know!)

Show I miss the more I think about it: Veronica Mars

Insert Clever ending!