TV’s Top Ten of 2009
6. Pundit of the Year for 2009
Charles Krauthammer (Special Report with Bret Baier, Fox News)
Recognized with a cover piece at National Review, the brilliant political analyst and unlikeliest of television stars has become a central figure in our national dialogue.
Krauthammer’s weekday appearances on television’s top daily political news program compress his big ideas into cogent quips and incisive analysis, delivered with sly but gentlemanly gravitas.
7. Prime Time Star of the Year
Julie Bowen, Modern Family (ABC)
Every decade has its defining television mom: June Cleaver, Claire Huxtable, Jill Taylor, Debra Barone.
Finding the female lead in a family series is no easy task. Beautiful actresses with comedy chops who are identifiable to a mass audience are difficult to find. Best practices based on hard experience also advise against employing psychopaths. The stakes are high, many audition, few are cast, and even fewer wind up anchoring hits. This year a new star appeared: Julie Bowen, Modern Family’s Claire Dunphy.
Claire has a husband who wants desperately to be a hip dad, three quirky kids, a grumpy dad (Ed O’Neill, the actor formerly known as Al Bundy ), a young and sexy Colombian stepmother, a stout but romantically inclined young teen stepbrother who “wears cologne and dresses like a count,” and a neurotic gay brother with a fabulously funny man in his life. Try being hilarious in a motherly way in the middle of all that! Julie Bowen pulls it off smoothly.
Prior to Modern Family, you may recall Ms. Bowen from Boston Legal, where she was occasionally given a scene between writer David E. Kelley’s polemical left-wing rants on policy, law, and morality. Her role here is more central, and the writers behind her have a gracefully light touch, so this smart actress is positioned to be the defining TV mom of the decade ahead.
8. Outstanding Television Documentary
WWII Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West (PBS)
This well-researched and visually powerful three-part documentary is a forceful denunciation of Stalin. Now available on DVD, the documentary effectively uses recreated scenes with Russian actors, enhancing its drama. And that’s no typo — it actually aired on PBS.
9. Emerging Talent of the Year
Monica Crowley, The McLaughlin Group (syndicated) and Fox News
Impeccably prepared, Crowley knows how to get the maximum impact from the fewest words. Politicians (and lip-glossed pundits who wish to be taken seriously) should study Ms. Crowley’s work, which shows that she understands not just the issues, but also the language of television. You’ve heard Bill O’Reilly command his home correspondents: “Be pithy!” I’m sure that instruction goes double to his on-air guests. No one does brevity better than Monica Crowley.
10. Most Outstanding Television Program of 2009
Season three of Mad Men (AMC)
Matthew Weiner’s masterpiece Mad Men gave us several memorable episodes in 2009, notably the final two. This year the Kennedy assassination jolted all the characters in Episode 12, and set up a powerful and unpredicatable season finale which will change the program’s direction for next year.
John Meroney’s fine Wall Street Journal article, “Hollywood Discovers a Real Businessman,” noted how showrunner Matt Weiner integrated Conrad Hilton’s persona and conservative beliefs into the plot this season with integrity and dramatic purpose.
Unlike ad man Don Draper (Jon Hamm), the Conrad Hilton we meet has honestly integrated his humble origins into a self-made man’s identity. Draper is a work in progress. The brilliant season finale triggered by a message from Hilton tests Draper’s impulse for independence and invigorates his business life. Their journey over the season is built on a joint recognition of how the American Dream is available to all willing to make the effort. Draper also learns the value of a colleague who feels the tie between self-esteem and consumption. Leave it to this once poor ad man to remind us how consumers benefit when free markets flourish.
Mad Men is television’s most impressive business drama ever. Unlike the megahit Dallas, which depicted the oil industry in broad strokes, Mad Men gets into the details of what makes advertising such a fascinating arena. The sexual infidelities (often with serious consequences) rivet your attention, but the pitches for new client business are an equally compelling seduction.
As a famously accurate period piece, Mad Men is free from the intrusions of 21st century music, manners, and verbal shortcuts. Its portrayal of male-female relationships, race relations, smoking and drinking is observant, but never loaded with obtrusive lessons. You can tell that Matthew Weiner doesn’t think much of polemics. If you haven’t seen Mad Men, you have a treat coming. Start by cashing in a gift card for the Season One DVD.
So why would one watch broadcast TV?
Great list, especially the Monk and Julie Bowen.
Monk had, in my opinion, the best finale I’ve ever watched. As mentioned, all the main characters got a nice ending. It helped that many of their endings were developed throughout the season, so nothing semed forced. It was also nice to see Monk heal and achieve some happiness.
I’ve been a fan of Julie Bowen since the criminally underappreciated Ed, where she was the female lead. She was always radiant and had to be dramatic and comedic in the series. Hopefully it will be released on DVD someday.
I did not realize that she was in Modern Family. I’ll have to start watching now.
Wouldn’t mind if O’Rielly retired and handed the reins to Monica Crowley. I doubt if I would turn the program off, which I do early and often with the all about Bill show.
Rick Santelli for something. His choice.
What about Daniel Hannan’s dressing down of British Prime Minister Brown at the European Parliament in 3 and a half minutes?
Or is this only an Americans only recognition slate?
Since I don’t have cable or satellite, I have to make do with the networks. They at least offered one new gem this season: ABC’s “Castle”. Just the right combination of the offbeat and the dramatic. Just when you think the “case” has been solved, they throw in a twist. The lady detective, however annoyed by the writer she’s forced to work with, nonetheless comes to respect him.
And I love the family dynamic of the lead (played by Nathan Fillion formerly of “Firefly”), his teenage daughter and his live-in mother. If Modern Family’s Bowen is providing this decade’s mother figure, we could do worse than the father figure Castle provides.
I agree #3. Monica Crowley is tops! Time for Chief Fox Bloviator O`Reilly to go. He`s getting more and more difficult to watch.
David W. Lincoln:
Yes, this list covers U.S. airdates only, although some of the programs were international productions. Hannan’s speech did get some circulation here, especially on the internet.
Another noteworthy achievement which aired here in 2009 was the conclusion of Foyle’s War. I do wish more U.S. dramas had the maturity and respect for the audience seen in that program.
Patricia Heaton is just as good in “The Middle” as is Ms. Bowen in Modern family IMHO.
I want to second Robert Denis’s point about Patricia Heaton in “The Middle.” I’ve only seen “Modern Family” a few times, and think it’s o.k., but after these comments, I might want to pay closer attention next time. However, I’ve enjoyed every episode of the “The Middle” I have caught so far.
Add me as big fan of Patricia Heaton’s role in “The Middle”. I’ve watched both shows, and “Modern Family” is totally hilarious. However, Heaton is brilliant in “The Middle” and practically carries the show. “Modern Family” is more of an ensemble effort.
As for dramas, I’ll take “Lost”. It’s groundbreaking, intellegent, complex, and most of all, engaging. I can’t wait for it’s final season to start in February.
Modern Family? I admit I have not seen it but saw previews. Two men with a daughter? How about two men with a boy?
What exactly are you saying about this show? It’s not on my watch list.
The Mentalist is very good, with nicely drawn characters. I especially like how they are treating the romance between Rigsby and Van Pelt (played by very attractive Amanda Righetti).
I also like Sons of Anarchy on FX. Sure it’s Hamlet on Harleys by way of the Sopranos, but Katey Sagal and Ron Perlman are great and I really like Dayton Callie’s Sherrif Unser – he was terrific in Deadwood (but then everybody in Deadwood was terrific).
My favorite program on tv now is Curb Your Enthusiasm. David always manages to come up with clever “plots” which theme the season and end beautifully. He has a cast that is perfection and the construction of each episode is likewise perfect. David is an equal opportunity offender, the antithesis of the politically correct and as offensive as he is, he is examining moral dilemmas while he is shocking or entertaining us.
Excellent call on Krauthammer. A stunning, hyper-intelligent person, yet very acessible. FOX at it’s best.
Ms. Crowley, I’m not so sure. She seems caught between “trying too hard” / “too pleased with herself.” The result is an annoying on-air persona. Her interaction with bro-in-law Alan Colmes is corny, FOX at it’s worst.
On Fox News Sunday today, over a Mad Men montage, Brit Hume opined that television drama today is far ahead of film. Nina Easton followed up by singling out Mad Men for praise. For once we have a program which appeals to educated viewers regardless of political orientation.
Too often in the past Hollywood has showered Emmy awards and nominations on programs with lopsided ideological agendas: West Wing, Boston Legal, The Practice, etc. Now, with wide recognition of Mad Men as television’s outstanding drama, broad artistic achievement has triumphed over narrow polemical argument.
Jim,
I think you are off by a year on number 8. It actually aired in 2008 on BBC before it aired in the U.S. last year on PBS.
And in number 7, the one woman actually carrying a show happens to be on CBS in “The Big Bang Theory.” Its numbers are truly impressive and it’s in no small part thanks to the casting of Kaley Cuoco in the role of Penny. Other actresses could have been cast in Bowen’s role on “Modern Family” and the show wouldn’t have lost much, if anything. I personally watch it because of Al Bundy (Ed O’Neill) and fast forward through most of the rest of the cast that I find more annoying than amusing.
By the way, how are you liking the reincarnation of Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) on “Justified?”