So as 2014 comes to a close it’s up to me to give what was the hottest, flyest, Trillest of Television of this past year. I’m going to give you the realness unlike the Emmys or Globes. I’ll keep it completely one hundred and tell you all I’m a snob. I like only the upper echelon of TV ( #nohyperbole). So enough with the preamble and let’s get to the list in no particular order:
Hannibal: Season 2
Much like last year there really isn’t anything on TV like Hannibal and what’s still amazing is that it’s on Network and NBC for that matter. Everything from Fuller’s suspense drama about the Hannibal Lecter before the events of Red Dragon. This season saw everything ramp up with a switch in the Hugh Dancy’s character Will Graham in relation to Mads Mikkelsen’s Hannibal Lecter. Laurence Fishburne’s Jack Crawford also got a great deal more to do this season in plot and development. The season also starts with a beautifully shot future event with Jack Crawford that we don’t get back to until the end. In all the things I watch on TV nothing is as excellently shot or paced for its genre. The tightness of the 13 episodes which is a rarity in network TV is allows it tell a great story even with its feel of times of a killer of the week scenario that lacks any concept of filler. If there is one TV that is criminally underappreciated it’s this one.
Game of Thrones: Season 4
Game of Thrones is my get right. I get hyped up when watching GoT like folks do when it’s Bowl Week for college football. I loved this season when Rocky and John were talking about the books and this Red Viper dude I was imaging what he was like, but man Pedro Pascal as Oberyn Martell just blew up the expectations. While everyone was calling him the Spanish dude from The Princess Bride I call him Puss N Boots because I be damn if wasn’t like a medieval Zorro (like if they make a new Zorro, he needs to be Antonio Banderas’s son as new Zorro). I loved this dude. He straight up stayed dissing Lannisters and I couldn’t get enough. This season also had Jon Snow on some LotR battles with giants and stuff, Tyrion going hard in the paint at court, Arya with the Hound on some Leon the Professional lifestyle, and cliffhanger after cliffhanger that had me throwing stuff and flipping tables like a mad man. Also some many bodies in this show, so many. Like you folks need to cop some HBO just for this at least.
True Detective: Season 1
See, I was easy to please on this one. I knew it was going to be hot once I saw that teaser ad last year during True Blood. I was like “Yo them my boys from EdTV! This is going to be GOLDEN!” and I wasn’t wrong. This insanely short season of a tight 8 episodes, all written by Nic Pizzolatto and all directed by Cary Fukunaga in an amazing manner, took over my circle of people by storm. McConaughey in full McConaissance mode with Harrelson in full Scottie Pippen mode on this performance of two Louisiana detectives trying to solve a series of murders that may or may not have a connection to the occult was some captivating TV. It seriously put Hollywood on smash. To me the whole show was robbed of many awards by Breaking Bad’s final half of its final season. From Cohle’s long speeches on his thoughts on the nature of the universe, Hart’s infidelity with younger women, mentions of a Yellow King to making flowers on people, True Detective was a welcome addition to a transitioning HBO line up that needed it and reasserted itself at the top of the TV show food chain challenged by AMC and Netflix.
Mad Men: Season 7 part 1
There is no show on TV right now that I love more than Mad Men. The journey of Don Draper has been a long one. This season started so beautifully with Don on the airplane going to LA and leaving the airport in that amazing slow mo shot as he walks to Megan getting out of the little blue convertible - that might be one of the best sequences on film of all of 2014. The path of the prodigal Don to reclaim his place at Sterling Cooper and Partners was a captivating one, along with the trials of the Peggy Olson; they were really some of the stand-out threads to watch. I really connected with Don and Peggy fixing their beautiful platonic friendship. I don’t know, I’m just biased; Don Draper is my spirit animal. But I really think those that haven’t seen it should really seek it out before the last 7 episodes start next year.
Black-ish: Season 1
You know it’s kind of crazy that right now this show is the only black sitcom on TV and is the first one in many years on network TV. Since I grew up in the 80s and '90s, black sitcoms were a staple of each network. From the Cosby Show and Different World to Family Matters and Fresh Prince to Martin and Living Single, it was basically taken for granted, and then all of the sudden they were all gone. It seemed as the amount of the sitcoms over all decreased, that black-centered ones fell by the wayside first and seemed to not even get a chance to make. Now we have Black-ish, coming out now in this weird state of Obama presidency where we see we are not in a postracial world; we have a show dealing with the blackness in a world where Gen Xers are raising children where what is black is changing in terms of ourselves and how others view us and we view them. The show has dealt with corporal punishment, being the only black person in the office, the nature of being a black geek, and even Black Santa Claus. The writing and the cast really sells the whole thing with Anthony Anderson and Tracey Ellis-Ross having great chemistry and timing for each joke. The children are great also, but the real scene stealing is done by Laurence Fishburne as Pops, the Granddad with the old school quips constantly checking Anderson’s Dre in his parenting ideas for his kids. He drops more gems than Columns people.
House of Cards: Season 2
Frank Underwood is the trillest, dopest, most charismatic bad guy on modern TV (sorry, Walter White). Frank is doing some of the most deplorable things you can do but you sit there binge watching this guy going so hard in the paint to achieve his goals of gaining power that you can’t help but root for this dude. All this on President’s Day weekend no less. Let’s not underplay the factor of Claire Underwood, the second best Claire in TV history in my opinion. She’s so ride or die yet running her own game in her own power play while the whole time they still Team Underwood. This season had everything including Major Dad as a bad guy. MAJOR DAD PEOPLE! I need to go get ready for the next season and get me a mean plate of ribs to go with it.
Boardwalk Empire: Season 5
Here is a show that I completely stopped watching because of a storytelling choice at the end of season 2. I still haven’t seen season 3 besides the finale and none of season 4 besides the commercials for episodes. With all that said MAN OH MAN is the last season really good. They did a smart thing with time jumping to the '31 during the Great Depression; that choice really added life to show in my opinion. At a point early on I was more interested in the stories of Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, and Al Capone. This season really expanded that world with adding little things like Al Capone’s fall and Elliot Ness on his trail, and Joe Kennedy building his fortune through stocks which has great effects on the rise of his family in politics later on. Everything was wrapped up so nicely and I feel handled perfectly with the flashbacks to Nucky as a child and Nucky as a young man, where he made a deal with the devil for power. Out of all the shows that ended on HBO this year, this was the one that did with flying colors and fireworks at the end.
The Legend of Korra: Seasons 3 & 4
My final entry in this list is the animated show on Nickelodeon that by far broke the most rules, took all the risks you can take with a show on a network, and did some really surprising things even for an animated show. Korra had a really rough time since at a certain point it seem Nick didn’t support the show anymore. For them it seems an animated show about this teenage girl dealing with more mature battles than what Ang had to got to be a bit much for them. Season 3 of the show dealt with Korra facing a set of foes that were basically against the current structure of the world. They were against the governmental structure of the nations and planned to get rid of monarchies in charge and the United Republic of Nations, and wants in way to set up a free world that is more like anarchy. Their goal is to kill the Avatar forever. Korra had to deal with some serious ideas to deal with, stuff you couldn’t just punch in the face and defeat. The events of that season led directly into the final season, with Korra trying to come back after nearly dying and being utterly defeated, along with facing essentially the rise of a totalitarian government. I’m betting right now there is a ton of Tumblr think pieces on this show that you can read but you can just take away this: it’s good. Plain and simple it’s one of the best things that came on TV - it had humor, action, drama, romance and kung fu. IT HAS KUNG FU. This is a show that will be missed because I don’t think there will be nothing like this on TV.
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