Top 13 of Television 2006
TV is everywhere now: internet, phones, iPods, DVD, even the television itself—and in all forms: drama, comedy, reality, game show and more. In celebration of the no-limit world of TV we live in now, this is a free-form list of my favorite things on TV of any kind for this year.
First, the ten runners up, in alphabetical order: 24’s Supporting Players (Gregory Itzin, Marylynn Rajskub, Sean Astin, Jean Smart), ABC.com Full Episode Player, CBS.com Innertube, “Get a Mac” ads with John Hodgman & Justin Long, Lost: “Two for the Road,” Pardon the Interruption, Project Runway Season 3, Saturday Night Live Season 1 on DVD, The State Season 1 on iTunes, YouTube
13. Veronica Mars Season 2 Finale
Three season-long mysteries came to head with a genuinely surprising and chilling conclusion. Then, in true V Mars fashion, new questions were raised in a last-minute cliff-hanger. The best show mystery/crime fans aren’t watching.
12. Michael Emerson as Henry Gale/Benjamin Linus (Lost)
He stole the show from the moment Danielle trapped him in that net—you could argue that Michael Emerson’s original 3-episode arc-turned-series-regular storyline changed Lost as we know it forever. Detractors say the show’s gone downhill since the Hatch discovery; I say it’s only getting better, thanks to actors like Emerson and characters like Ben Linus.
11. HornyManatee.com (Late Night with Conan O’Brien)
An accident turned mini-phenomenon, HornyManatee.com is a perfect example of the inane & absurd humor on the most consistently funny variety show around. 2009 is hot on your heels, Jay Leno.
10. The Mutiny (Survivor: Cook Islands)
The people were uninteresting, the racial tribe storyline long dead and the show was descending into the territory of Marquesas, Thailand and Vanuatu—boring and forgettable. But when Candice & Jonathan jumped ship and left Ozzie, Yul, Becky and Sundra to fend for themselves, the show moved into the annals as one of the best ever in the long-running and still-enjoyable reality game show granddaddy.
9. Dunder-Mifflin Stamford (The Office)
It could’ve been a terrible mistake: yet when Jim moved to the Stamford office of Dunder-Mifflin Paper, it shook up the show and brought us a welcome group of new odd but hilarious office drones. Ed Helms’s Andy Bernard was a great new foil for Jim “Big Tuna” Halpert and the beautiful and bubbly Karen (Rashida Jones) was the perfect rebound from dour Pam.
8. Borat (SNL, The Daily Show, et al)
Borat was everywhere in the week leading up to the release of his movie and every place he went, laughter followed. If you saw more than one of his appearances, the shtick got a little repetitive, but the beauty of Borat is not in his words but the reactions he elicits from those around him. Even those who are in on the joke still can’t contain their stunned laughter.
7. Ethan Suplee as Randy Hickey (My Name is Earl)
TV has a long history of lovable doofuses and you can now add Randy Hickey to the mix. Ethan Suplee can play dumb well, but his real trick is making Randy the emotional and moral center of the show. The best scene of the year? Randy in Mexico paying a mariachi to play his breakup song “Time After Time”—en espanol.
6. Lost: “A Tale of Two Cities” Opening Sequence
Lost does season openers better than anyone, and this was no exception. The total disorientation of who these people are and where they are is broken by a shaking house and a plane in the sky. Brilliant.
5. Beck performing “Clap Hands” (Saturday Night Live)
I’ve seen it live, but seeing this two-year-old B-Side performed live on national television was a treat beyond compare. No one in current pop music is as daring or inventive as Beck Hansen.
4. Neil Patrick Harris as Barney Stinson (How I Met Your Mother)
Quite possibly the most original character currently on TV, Barney is one of those friends everyone has, but they’re not sure why. Playing against type, Harris makes a welcome return to TV as the ladies man who likes suits, laser tag and anything else that’s “awesome.”
3. Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghey (30 Rock)
The funniest SNL host of all-time apparently does regular TV pretty well, too. His network honcho turns a zany but average show into one which defies you not to laugh. Alec gives the Baldwin parents at least one son to be forever proud of.
2. “Dick in a Box” Digital Short (SNL)
Can lightning strike twice? Apparently so. Almost one year to the day after the genius of “Lazy Sunday,” Andy Samberg’s digital shorts return to legend status with this Color Me Badd parody/raunchy holiday ditty that’s already spawned t-shirt tributes. (NBC.com uncensored version)
1. Stephen Colbert
He coined the word of the year in “truthiness,” stunned the world with his White House correspondents dinner speech, challenged The Decemberists to a green-screen duel, co-starred in the “Strangers With Candy” movie, stole the show at the Emmys simply by losing to Barry Manilow, and even saved the elephant population in Africa from extinction. What can the current funniest man on television do for an encore? Another year of made up words, fake facts and lovable egoism, that’s what.