The Best of 2011: TV Shows

Snapper Carr

Biggest Disappointment: Spending seven episodes on Sophia going missing, only to find out she was a zombie all along. (The Walking Dead).

Best Twist: Tom Walker on Homeland. For the first half of Homeland, we were lead to believe that Tom Walker was killed by the male lead, Brody. We watched his body get thrown into an open grave. However, he comes back alive, energized and ready to terrorize America.  

Best Single Episode: Finale: Part 2 (Smallville). Why does everyone hate on this show? Here are a few reasons. 1. It’s Nerdi 2. It has nothing to do with the comic 3. Bad acting. Here is why I loved this show and especially its series finale. I spent 10 years with this show. I first watched it as a ninth grader in high school. This show wasn’t about Superman, it was about the development of Clark Kent. The second part of the series finale actually brought me to tears. Most fans were upset that we never saw Clark as Superman. I didn’t mind. The show wasn’t about Superman, it was about Clark Kent and his journey to becoming Earth’s greatest hero.

Best New TV Show: Shameless. Picture your family; but as white trash, with an alcoholic father, and living in the ghetto. But at the end of the day your family only survives by depending on each other.  White trash doesn’t necessarily mean their bad people. Right?

Best Actress: Claire Danes. She plays a bat-shit crazy CIA agent. At times, we can’t help but doubt her but other times we want to believe that she is right.

Best Actor: John Noble. The most underappreciated actor on television. On the show he plays two characters that are polar opposites of each other. He should have been nominated for the Best Supporting Actor at this year’s Emmys but was sadly over looked. 

Best TV Show: Fringe. This show is the most underrated show on television. Some would compare it to X-Files but, to me it has better characters, better stories and is a little bit less confusing than Lost.

Gabriel Partridge

Biggest Disappointment: One-dimensional characters on Terra Nova. While the stories and the CGI are pretty memorable, the characters are drab and boring.

Best Twist: Professor Gellar (Edward James Olmos) has been dead the whole time. I feel like I’m pretty good at predicting the twists and turns for the dramas I watch, but I really just didn’t see this one coming. Colin Hanks seemed to be too innocent to be the crazy-ass villain he turns out to be, so the fact that the “main-villain” isn’t a villain (or even alive) at all, was a pretty sweet twist.

Best Single Episode: Save the Last One (The Walking Dead). The seemingly meaningless opening with Shane shaving his head evolves into him murdering Otis for his own selfish (or maybe selfless?) reasons and everything in between make for a damn fascinating episode.

Best New TV Show: Homeland. I love characters that are just waiting to explode at any moment. On Homeland I’m always waiting for Damian Lewis or Claire Danes to lose their shit (and they do, often). It keeps you on the edge of your seat and guessing the entire time.

Best Actress: Jennifer Carpenter (Debra Morgan, Dexter). She’s completely underappreciated. She is so likable and so adorably vulgar on the show as Dex’s little sis. I feel like she should be nominated every year but never really gets there. 

Best Actor: Jon Bernthal (Shane, The Walking Dead). He gives an utterly intense performance every week. Love or hate his character, you gotta admit, he gives it his all episode after episode and rocks it every time.

Best TV Show: The Walking Dead. I’ve already written a post about why this is the best show on TV since Lost, and God knows I love me some Lost. It’s addicting, the characters are fascinating and it’s one of the most technically awesome shows I’ve ever seen.