Blank Newspaper's Top 15 Comedies of the decade (2000-2009)
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25. Flight of the Conchords (2007-2009) HBO
The New Zealand musically inclined comedy duo of Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie took America by storm in 2007. Their HBO show started slowly but built a huge following before the pair called it quits at the end of 2009.
24. CSI 2000-Present (CBS)
First there was Las Vegas, then there was Miami, and then came New York. Miami is probably the best of the trio, even with David Caruso and his terrible oneliners. This franchise has prospered more than any of the crime TV shows, and there are a lot of them.
23. Eastbound and Down 2009 (HBO)
Kenny Powers is the worst person you’ve ever cheered for. As a washed up baseball player, Powers (Danny McBride) refuses to give up his playboy lifestyle, even after he moves in with his brother Dustin in a small North Carolina town. Powers is rude, obnoxious, and as funny as any character we’ve seen in years. Will Ferrill and Adam McKay co-produce the HBO series and season two begins later in the year.
22. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia 2005-Current (FX)
When a bunch of friends run an unsuccessful bar, things aren’t always good. Nothing is ever done the right way, people are mistreated and tempers often flare, but this show is must see TV. Danny Devito headlines "The gang," but it was newcomers Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton and Charlie Day who created the concept and developed the show.
21. Grey’s Anatomy 2005-Current (ABC)
This medical drama gets its name from a medical textbook used in nearly every hospital in the world. A star-studded cast full of actors with past and present movie success makes up the crew at Seattle Grace hospital. The show has always had a huge focus on the music that accompanies the acting and has served as a spring board for several prominent musical outfits like Snow Patrol, Tegan and Sara, and Santigold.
20. The Simpsons 1989-Current (FOX)
The longest running show on television is still cranking out funny episodes. Though it took a bit of a backseat to Family Guy in the aughts, The Simpsons are still providing guaranteed laughs.
19. Reno 911! 2003-2009 (Comedy Central)
The Reno Sheriff’s department is hilariously backwards. It’s as if you took a group of seven, or sometimes eight, idiots off the street and gave them a badge. Many have attempted to stay away from it, but once you get it, you’re hooked.
18. Deadliest Catch 2005-Present (Discovery)
This program lets the viewer see the rigors of life at sea. Fishing is a dangerous business and Deadliest Catch illustrates how tough life is on a boat. It is hard to imagine working in this environment or earning a living on a boat. Sailing in the Bering Sea is hard enough but crabbing in the Bering Sea is grueling. This is reality TV gone real! Between the day to day activity of hauling in Crab Baskets, dealing with the elements and weather and dealing with the individual personalities of shipmates, this is must see TV.
17. Breaking Bad 2008-Present (AMC)
This is the story of Walter White, a chemistry teacher with a pregnant wife, and a son with cerebral palsy. When White is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer he is determined to develop an inheritance for his family before his death. White enters the drug trade using his chemistry knowledge to cook potent crystal meth. The story revolves around a former student who has a drug addiction and White is constantly struggling to keep him from the Meth they are trying to sell.
16. Heroes 2006-Present (NBC)
The plot of Heroes is designed to be similar to that of the superheroes in comic books. Although the story is quite unbelievable, this TV series has developed an almost cult following. DVRs and TIVOs are busy on Monday nights, and people talk about it all day Tuesdays at work! Each season of Heroes is designed to involve ordinary people who discover extraordinary super powers, and how these powers take effect in the character's daily lives.
15. Weeds 2005-Present (Showtime)
This is the story of a newly widowed housewife (Mary-Louise Parker) who becomes her neighborhood's marijuana dealer to make ends meet. She climbs the ladder of the illegal marijuana trade quickly and finds that she is in over her head. This show also has a cult following (probably due to the subject matter) and Mary-Louise Parker has won a Golden Globe for her performance.
14. Freaks N Geeks 1999-2000 (NBC)
Freaks N Geeks was the first step for Judd Apatow, BLANK newspaper’s Movieman of the Decade. This show not only got the ball rolling for Apatow, but also for several other names that you now recognize. Seth Rogan, James Franco, Jason Segal and Linda Cardellini are just a few of the people who first saw the screen with Freaks N Geeks. The show received rave reviews from critics and those who followed it, but it was cancelled after just 18 episodes. The show evaluated the different cliques that make up an ordinary high school scene.
13. Curb Your Enthusiasm 2000-Present HBO
It’s like a bad car accident. You just have to watch as Larry David, co-creator and executive producer of Seinfeld, unintentionally turns every social situation into an cringe-fest of awkwardness, angered frustration, and downright disdain for David, or rather the cartoon version of himself he portrays – the George Castanza of his psyche. Only this time, it is Larry David himself who exposes his lovable but maddening streak as he provokes nearly everyone he encounters with hopeless obstinacy, adamant defense of his questionable social etiquettes, and suspicious demonstrations of surprise when it all inevitably goes wrong. With only an outline created by David, the cast (whose real names are used and who frequently include celebrities playing themselves) relies largely on improvisation. This is quite impressive for a show so craftily funny, it seems as though it must have taken pains to perfect—instead of one very imperfect pain providing the cues. That’s enough raving because, as David suggests in the HBO series’ title, too much enthusiasm is really not necessary.
12. Man vs. Wild 2006-Present (Discovery)
Bear Grylls bears it all in this series that shows you how to survive in the most remote eco-systems of the globe. In each episode he explains his actions of survival in a thick British accent. Man -vs- Wild is a realistic depiction of what it would be like to be by yourself in the wilderness and the things that anyone would have to do to survive.
11. Colbert Report (Comedy Central)
The Colbert Report on Comedy Central is about a fictional anchorman character named Stephen Colbert (played by the actor with the same name). The character is described by Colbert as a "well-intentioned, poorly informed, high-status idiot", and is a caricature of televised political pundits. The show is a spin-off of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and was created as a way to hold on to Stephen Colbert after the Daily Show lost actor Steve Carell when he left to pursue a successful film career. Stephen Colbert is the "right" to Jon Stewart’s "left".
10. LOST In this "stranded on an island" series many of the characters struggle with father issues while they encounter various "Others". Season Five ended with Juliet cursing/exploding the bomb, which should have ended the island completely. However, a flash back in time may be the outcome of that last moment. Was this the incident? We finally have met a man named Jacob, who evidently is in charge of this mini Eden. Does he use the magnetic attraction of the island to play with peoples’ lives, hoping that he can prove that a utopia can exist? Some viewers fear that the concluding season of LOST will play out like the movie, "Groundhog Day," since it premiers on February 2nd. And this time the survivors from Flight 815 will get it right. No matter what, we will undoubtedly be looking into Jack’s eye as the final season unfolds.
9. The Wire 2002-2008 (HBO)
If you have seen this show, you probably think it deserves a higher ranking (if not the top ranking). The Wire is presented as a crime drama but the show is really about a typical American city and it’s inhabitants. No matter who you are as an individual or what your job is, we all end up committed to the ideals of whatever organization we are employed by.
8. Mad Men 2007-Current (AMC)
Mad Men is set in the 1960s, at a fictional advertising agency on Madison Avenue in New York City, and later at the newly created firm of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. In the pilot, someone from Lucky Strike cigarettes comes to the agency looking for a new advertising campaign because of a Reader's Digest report that says smoking will lead to various health issues including lung cancer. This is just the start of the depiction of what life was like in the 1960’s. The show concentrates on the social mores of the times. Drinking, sexism, adultery, homophobia, anti-Semitism, racism and a complete lack of concern for the environment are all subjects that are part of the script.
7. The Office 2005-Current (NBC)
The Office is a comedy television series that is an adaptation of the BBC series The Office. The series depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of a fictional Paper Company. Steve Carell plays the boss and feels he is the life of the office but his employees feel otherwise. There is everything you would want in a comedy series with The Office; sexual tension, pranks, rivalry and not much work gets done. The Office is consistently one of the best rated shows on NBC.
6. Dexter 2006-Present (Showtime)
Set in Miami, the series centers on Dexter Morgan played by Michael C. Hall. The show follows the events of Morgan's life, a forensic blood spatter analyst for the Miami Police Department, who ironically also happens to be a serial killer. He was taught by his adoptive father to kill only those "who deserve it". Dexter is a roller coaster ride of a balancing act between his real job with the police department and his secret life exacting justice on those who fooled the justice system.
5. Entourage 2004-Present (HBO)
Four childhood friends from Queens, New York travel across the country to Los Angeles, California so one of them can pursue a blossoming acting career. The main character, Vincent Chase, gets to lead the life every guy wants to lead on his way to stardom while his friends get in on all the benefits. His "entourage" includes his older brother, a struggling actor who is never short on acting advice (Drama), and two of his childhood friends. One of them, Turtle, serves as Vince’s driver while Eric works as his manager. The comradery that this group shares mimics that of a real-life group of friends and this is what makes the show so special. If any member of the crew messes up, the others let him hear about it.
Over the years many highs and lows have been examined both personally and professionally, but the main message is one of eternal friendship. No one on TV exemplifies the need for friends within the work atmosphere quite like Jeremy Piven’s character, Ari Gold.
He is a slick, fast-talking man about Hollywood who has earned his way up to the top with hard work and a cutthroat attitude. Though he has 100s of clients, Vinny is his favorite. The show has been ground-breaking in its behind-the-scenes look into the entertainment industry and has a waiting list for celebrity cameo appearances.
4. Arrested Development (2003-2006) FOX
Arrested Development is yet another show that got cancelled despite the fact that everyone loved it. Nearly every one of the characters has gone on to big time movie success. The most notable of these actors are Jason Bateman and Michael Cera. Arrested Development examines the lives of the Bluth’s, a family whose members are each the polar opposite of the other. Somehow, the character’s dysfunction creates a charming bond between them all. While Bateman’s character tries to keep the family and the business together, the rest of the family suffers from unearned entitlement. It is unbelievably funny show. But, it is even harder to figure out how they could cancel such a show that has been syndicated on several other networks since.
3. Family Guy 1999-2001, 2004-Present (FOX)
The Griffins are a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois, and their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie and their pet dog Brian. Family Guy is an animated show that returned to TV after being cancelled due to high DVD sales. For once, the people spoke and the people were heard (Sorry Conan, we already used all our merits here). Besides Seth MacFarlane providing the voice for Peter, Brian and Stewie, the show has an A-list cast voicing the other characters including Alex Borstein, Seth Green, Mila Kunis and Mike Henry.
The writers behind Family Guy have learned to take everyday events and attack them without the least degree of political correctness and that is why Family Guy was the funniest cartoon of the decade.
2. Chappelle’s Show 2003-2006 (Comedy Central)
Well, lets see here. There was Prince. There was Lil Jon. And there was Rick James. And that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the funniest half hour sketch show of all time. Dave Chappelle and co-writer Neil Brennan made fun of everything and everybody, and they got by with it. The two were able to fight subjects that no one else would touch because no matter how hard you tried not to, you laughed. They say a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down, and when Chappelle called it quits, we were all in need of more medicine.
1. Sopranos (1999-2007) HBO
After The Godfather, Goodfellas, Scarface, Casino, and a glut of other gangster dramas, The Sopranos may have seemed like just an attempt of creator David Chase to cash in on one of American viewers’ longstanding guilty pleasures. Who doesn’t like a good mob story complete with a tough but tormented protagonist, his tragic wife, and a flock of Italian-American caricatures all graced by those infectiously charming New York-north New Jersey accents? Having earned eighty-seven award wins, including five Golden Globes and twenty-one Emmys, countless nominations, and unprecedented viewership during its six-seasons on HBO, to suggest that The Sopranos was a cookbook gimmick – well, fughedaboudit! What the story of Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) offered was not only an exciting yet poignant plot about a panic-stricken, depressed mobster who sees a therapist (Lorraine Bracco) and his tumultuous relationship with wife (Edie Falco) and family. It also offered masterful writing, screenplay, and a soundtrack that ingeniously captured the complexity of the characters and the seemingly impossible situations in which they found themselves – impossible because of either the grandiose pressures of the Mafia, the "ordinary" ones of domestic affairs, or—as was most often the case—both.
Outside looking in: True Blood (HBO), Deadwood (HBO), Friday Night Lights (NBC), House (FOX), Six Feet Under (HBO), The Contender (NBC), Boston Legal (ABC), 30 Rock (NBC), The Shield (FX), Two and a half men (CBS), Everybody Loves Raymond (CBS), Sons of Anarchy (FX)
Best TV to DVD programming
Planet Earth
Best Channel
HBO (6 of the top 25 shows were on HBO)
