‘Twas 2012: Top Ten Television Episodes of the Year

Here are the best episodes of 2012. Obviously this contains spoilers:

10) “Argentina” — Dexter

One of the nicest surprises on television this year was Dexter’s renaissance in quality. After some misguided years and a true nadir of a season in 2011, Dexter finally embraced a real progression in the story—having Debra find out about her brother’s “hobby”—and was all the better for it. The tension between Deb and Dexter led to some of the show’s best scenes ever. And since Dexter didn’t spend the entire season chasing his usual Big Bad Guy, Season Seven actually had decent subplots, including great guest performances from Ray Stevenson and Yvonne Strahovski. In “Argentina,” the show was even able to address the weirdest element of last season—Deb’s crush on her brother—in an impressive and compelling way.

Monday Medley

What we read while Katie Holmes left Tom for Pacey…

• The Supreme Court disappointed conservatives twice last week. First, it made Mitt Romney’s life more difficult by striking down most of Arizona’s controversial immigration law (though Romney’s campaign is getting pretty good at avoiding questions). Then, of course, the Court upheld Obamacare. The swing vote in the latter case was, surprisingly, Chief Justice John Roberts, who is now an unlikely hero to many liberals and a traitor to many conservatives. Of course, the decision wasn’t a total win for liberals, and it certainly helped Romney raise money. The effect of the case on, you know, health care, is yet to be seen

• Judge Posner agrees with Chief Justice Roberts and co. that the mandate is a “tax” under Article I of the Constitution. Two unnamed  sources confided in Jan Crawford on how Chief Justice Roberts changed his position on the constitutionally of the mandate. Orin Kerr opines on Crawford’s article. Speaking of reporting on the decision, many interns took to sprinting with the paper copies of the opinion.

• The Supreme Court invalidated a federal statute the same day as the ACA opinion, holding that the Stolen Valor Act violates the First Amendment.

• Now that October Term 2011 is over, SCOTUSBlog has released their Supreme Court stat pack, which is remarkably comprehensive. Among other things, it reveals that Scalia and Thomas agreed the most in judgment this term (93.3 percent of the time), while Scalia and Ginsburg agreed the least (56 percent of the time).

• Red Sox fans said goodbye to Kevin Youkilis, who was trade to Chicago last week. He was loved by few, hated by many, and respected by some.

• Season Three of Louie started last week, and Slate listed the 10 best episodes thus far.

• Jimmy Carter attacks America’s record on human rights. Meanwhile, Bradley Manning faces life in prison.

• Lena Dunham on Nora Ephron.

Girls: Women Be Shoppin’!

“Ladies….”

Most of the problems with HBO’s Girls come from the name. By titling her show so simply, Lena Dunham implied that she was speaking for an entire gender. Having her character announce in the pilot, “I think I might be the voice of my generation,” also didn’t help her.

Of course, this says far more about the current state of television (and society) than anything else. Shows created by, produced by, and starring women are so rare that when one appears, it is expected to make a statement about the entire gender. A show that was allegedly supposed to speak for so many couldn’t help but get criticized for being so narrowly targeted: There were no minorities, or people from poor backgrounds, or sympathetically portrayed men, etc.

But this is not a fair standard: Nobody expects Louie to speak on behalf of all men. Even someone like Tyler Perry, who is in a similar situation as one of the few African-Americans with complete creative control over his work, isn’t expected to speak on behalf of all black people. In fact, it would be seem phony and unrealistic if someone like Louis C.K. tried to tailor his vision to fit social conventions; it would ruin the show.

By the same token, it would feel phony and unrealistic for Dunham’s character on Girls, Hannah, to have a black best friend.

Going to ’11: The Best Television Episodes of the Year

Is This Episode on the List?

Well, the 2012 list is pretty much all wrapped up, but what were the best episodes of TV in 2011?

10) “You’re Getting Old” – South Park

 This was not the funniest episode of South Park this year, or even the best, but it was certainly the most memorable for the way it dealt with the show’s ongoing existence. As Trey Parker and Matt Stone found success on Broadway with The Book of Mormon while their aging series had now passed its 200^th episode, they were bound to start questioning the value of a show that “just shows how shitty things are.” When Randy and Sharon Marsh broke up, it seemed like a thinly veiled commentary by Parker/Stone on the series itself (“Every week it’s kind of the same story in a different way, but it just keeps getting more and more ridiculous”). It was so jarring that some people expected it to be a surprise series finale. Of course, I’m happy Parker and Stone are continuing with the series, and the fact they are willing to question the value of the show is part of why it’s so great.

 

The Louie Rankings

Nervous about the rankings?

Well, we promised rankings of the second season of Louie, and we followed through. It took us several weeks, but we followed through. If you want to see how Josh and John S broke down this summer’s best comedy, just keep reading…

Monday Medley

What we read while contemplating the art of winning an unfair game…

• Moneyball, the movie, was released on Friday. Joe Posnanski and Roger Ebert opine. Meanwhile, Keith Law gives a not-so-positive review, and here’s some background on his relationship with Michael Lewis. The New York Times Magazine has a feature on Billy Beane. A Bay Area writer goes over the creative liberties taken by the movie.

• In non-Moneyball baseball news, this story looks back at the strange decline of Chuck Knoblauch.

• Taylor Branch’s article in The Atlantic on college athletics has been all the rage, spurring many to consider this a tipping point in the debate over whether college athletes should be paid. Frank Deford called it the most important article ever on the subject. Others weren’t as quick to heap the praise, including John Gasaway at Basketball Prospectus and Seth Davis at SI. Branch himself responded to Davis on his blog.

• The Columbia Journalism Review takes ESPN to task for its coverage of conference realignment.

• Hey, remember R.E.M.? If you don’t, read this 1987 story on the band.

• Louis C.K. talks with The A.V. Club about the second season of Louie.

• Penn Jillette discusses atheism, libertarianism, and his new book about atheism and libertarianism with Reason TV.

• An homage to Phil Hartman on what would have been his 63rd birthday. It reminds us of our own last year.

• A look inside an Amazon.com warehouse. Meanwhile, Bill Gates loves Amazon.

• The best tweet ever?

Curb Your Enthusiasm Season Eight Review

About midway through Season Eight of Curb Your Enthusiasm, I was worrying that the show was in the twilight of its run. There wasn’t anything major wrong with the season, but it seemed like every episode had enough minor flaws—it was too long, one story was weaker than the rest, a crucial plot development didn’t make sense, etc.—to prevent the humor from really clicking like it does in the best episodes of the show.

More generally, I wondered if airing at the same time as Louie was hurting my perception of the show. Both are shows about middle-aged, bald, single, misanthropic comedians who often have trouble relating to other people—and they both aired during the summer, when there are only a few comedies airing—so it was inevitable that I would be comparing the two. And the comparison was not working in Curb’s favor. In weeks where Louie was airing such memorable episodes as “Oh Louie/Tickets” and “Come on, God,” Curb was airing uninspired efforts like “Vow of Silence” and “The Hero.” I even started to wonder if Louie was making Curb redundant.

But then Season Eight ended on a run of four straight stellar episodes, and my worries mostly dissipated.

Louie Louie Louie: Airport/New Jersey

As Season Two of Louie continues on FX, John S and Josh will be offering NPI readers their reactions to each episode. At the end of the season, they will rank the episodes. Get excited.

Louie Louie Louie: Niece

As Season Two of Louie continues on FX, John S and Josh will be offering NPI readers their reactions to each episode. At the end of the season, they will rank the episodes. Get excited.

Louie Louie Louie: Duckling

As Season Two of Louie continues on FX, John S and Josh will be offering NPI readers their reactions to each episode. At the end of the season, they will rank the episodes. Get excited.