The 15 Best Episodes Of Television in the 10/11 Season

Only one episode per show to make it interesting. Let's do this.

15) Wildfire, The Walking Dead

While there was certainly some awful in amongst it there, I did very much like this episode of The Walking Dead. It seemed like it came from a stronger, more thoughtful show that I would watch every week without having to make allowances. Yet again I want a strongly written show about survivor psychology, and I'm pretty sure everyone else is fine with a dumb show about pawning zombies with crossbows. Why can't it be for both of us?

14) You Don't Know How It Feels, Cougar Town

A show whose title makes it nigh on impossible to advocate let alone admit to liking (I mostly socialize with film studenty types, and you know I have an image to uphold) But the anonymity of the internet is perhaps the perfect setting to say that this has in fact become a pretty good show, not world-bending necessarily, but a fun place to be for 20 minutes a week. And this episode, utilizing a terrific guest performance from Scrubs' Ken Jenkins, is the closest its got to balancing that sense of fun with actually being about something.

13) Pilot, The Killing

Its well known that The Killing didn't progress exactly as we would have all hoped, after a promising start it became very clear that this show didn't know how to be a serialized TV show, and instead frustratingly bided time for its entire run. To the point where I imagine you could just watch the first episode and its approaching last and see all the story the show has to tell. It's a shame, because I really did like the first episode. It told a familiar story sure, but it was bleak and pretty dark and featured some great performances and a very strong ending.

12) A Golden Crown, Game Of Thrones

Look, I don't hate this show. It's a good show by any definition, but measured against the best of the best, it falls flat. And I'm tired of people saying its the natural successor to The Wire and its the best show on television and that kind of thing. Because its not, its way too stupid for that. But what I liked about this episode is that it made a transition from stuttering drama series to confident action series. The show is way too expositional to do character in any interesting way, but a Golden Crown showed it could just stop trying to be great and be AWESOME instead and that would be fine. It contained a terrific spin on the usual fantasy duel trope, and had many grim moments of violence, including one that will stay with me for a while. Good shit.

11) Chicken N' Corn, United States Of Tara

Now me and the rest of the world had problems with Tara when it began. It was a painfully smug affair, albeit one where there was a terrific central performance from Toni Collette. But its another show that grew into something much more interesting once people had grown tired with it and this third season in particular has been great, becoming almost a horror series in principle, seeing Collette develop a new personality whose coming after the older ones. And this engaging, dark turn is punctuated nicely by the presence of Eddie Izzard as Collette's therapist, delivering one of my favorite performance of the year, and Izzard and Colette's Psycho-alter came to a head in this episode. By any measurement a great show these days, regardless of you're Diablo Cody feelings.

10) Subway Wars, How I Met Your Mother

Now this season of How I Met Your Mother has taken a lot of stick, and while it did have a pretty awful finale, there were many single one-off episodes that worked this year. My favorite of which was this, an episode that reminded me of younger days of the show. It was pretty high-concept, who could get to a restaurant first, but it was a fun, baggage free hour that I enjoyed immensely.

9) Sins Of The Past, Terriers

This Tim Minear scripted episode, which for my money was the best of this show's criminally short run, did some great filling in the blanks and showed why this show worked so well, the terrific performances by Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James.

8) The Outsider, Rubicon

Of the many cable shows that have aired this year, you get the impression that Rubicon is going to be the quickest forgotten. Every other show has its fans, yet I've still never met another living sole who watched this show. Again, perhaps because it started badly and became awesome later. Anyways this episode probably remained my favorite, mostly for an awesome scene where Michael Cristofer explains the reasons intelligence agencies have to exist via complimenting someone's tie.

7) Boardwalk Empire, Paris Green

Perhaps because Boardwalk didn't follow any kind of episodic structure, people really did hate on this show, in spite of the incredible stuff that was in it week to week. It had the best cast in television history, and in particular Michael Shannon, whose performance absolutely deserves an Emmy, and in this episode which saw him melt down of sorts. Well holy shit. Any problems I have with its structure don't take away from what it was capable of doing.

6) God, Louie

Louie, airing all the way back to last summer, is probably going to get no awards recognition of any kind. In spite of being the most innovative and fearless comedy series television has seen in quite some time. To the point where its comfortable having an episode that isn't a comedy at all. God, instead is a pretty horrific example of what enforced religious guilt does to young children. And its pretty harrowing. It also contains a pretty legendary cameo from Tom Noonan, who gives a performance so good its ridiculous.

5) Critical Film Studies, Community

Community gets the term experimental shouted at it a lot, but this episode really earned its name. Essentially an episode about a conversation, as is its influence My Dinner With Andre, it is hypnotic and engaging and strangely dramatic in a way Community has rarely achieved. The performances by Joel McHale and Danny Pudi are fantastic and it remains one of the most singular episodes of a sitcom I have ever seen, or ever will see.

4) Placebo Effect, Archer

Because seriously, What is Cancer? This episode was an insane high point for Archer, a fringe show before this season, now a pretty unanimous critical success. Even if nobody watches it. Well they fucking should, because this was the funniest episode of anything in the entire TV season bar none. Ridiculously good.

3) Andy and April's Fancy Party, Parks And Recreation

On the whole I think Community and Archer are stronger, more interesting shows then Parks and Rec, but there's no doubting the brilliance of this episode. It may not have been as straight out funny as Placebo Effect, but it had a weird poignancy that you can't really explain, except its about watching people you love make a mistake and knowing you have to let them do it. Pretty incredible episode to be honest.

2) Brother's Keeper, Justified

This season of Justified was just a ridiculous upgrade in quality from the first season, to the point that outside of Mad Men I think I'd call Justified the best drama on TV. Its been that good. Much of the season's drama has revolved around Margo Martindale and her family of miscreants, and her performance has just been so good its not even funny. This episode was probably the season high point, because it both featured Martindale's best scene and a dark southern gothic story that had far too much emotional impact then this show has any right to have, and featuring fantastic performances by Kaitlyn Dever and Brad William Henke. Its just fucking great TV.

1) The Suitcase, Mad Men

But it couldn't be anything else but this, a masterpiece of the form and quite possibly is the best episode of TV ever made by anyone. Even if you don't like Mad Men, and while I think its mostly an mamzing show I do have my problems with it, there's no way you can argue anything against the majesty of this episode, which focuses on the creative relationship of Don and Peggy over one night. And it's spellbinding. Just watch the damn thing.

NWI Awards: Best Leading Actress In Dramatic Television

A little sidenote: This category is was much, much more difficult to compile then it should have been. This industry is mad sexist when it involved to dramatic roles for women, but I managed to do it. And more importantly do it without including Anna Paquin for True Blood.

10) Emily Deschanel, Bones

I don't not to watch episodic cop shows, mostly because past about four episodes they become nauseating, but if I were to watch one on a regular basis, it would probably be Bones. Leads Deschanel and Buffy's David Boreanaz work well together, and it can be funny. But sister of Zooey gives an always interesting performance as borderline asperger's inflicted Temperance Brennan. (Show, why call your main character Temperance. Why?)

9) Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer

First of all this show has a stupid title, because it could mean the closer, as in one who is becoming closer to things, like solving cases. Or it could mean the closer, as in someone who closes cases. Either way, Sedgewick gives a good, if occasionally OTT performance at its centre. It gives it a little more identity then just another female lead cop show on TNT.

8) Jennifer Carpenter, Dexter

On a show where the supporting cast is a multi-ethnic conglomeration of blandness, Carpenter does well with what she's got, taking a character that is seemingly defined by whoever her boyfriend is at any given time, Carpenter has done some good work in a difficult role.

7) Karen Gillan, Doctor Who

A vital part of what for me has been by far and away the best year of Doctor Who, with much of the camp and maudlin melodrama Russell T Davies brought to proceedings gone, and replaced with a greater element of serialization and more formed characters. And Gillian's Amy Pond is probably the greatest example of that. A fun, winning performance.

6) Anna Torv, Fringe

Torv was rightly called on being the weakest element of Fringe back in the day. But in its superior third season, Torv was in her element, playing two versions of her character Olivia. The newer of which, heralding from the alta-universe, has began to steal the show on a regular basis, neither the straight-forward villain people expected nor the blank slate that the old character could be, Torv isnow quietly giving some of the most under-rated work on TV, and doing it twice over.

5) Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie

This show is classified as a comedy in al the awards ceremonies, but Falco's performance is so inherently dramatic I have no interest in wasting a space that someone who's actually funny could have. Falco is very good on this oft frustrating show, as you'd expect. Not groundbreaking work perhaps, but hitting al the old beats fantastically.

4) Glenn Close, Damages

The inconsistent Damages did itself a huge favor when it landed Glenn Close at its centre, and over the years she's given a stellar performance in a show that, despite its A-list pedigree and reception, can be fucking awful at times. But Close is too good of an actress not to be extra-ordinary, so what are you going to do.

3) Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights

The show that made melodrama cool again, and much it works largely thanks to the terrific performances of its two leads, Kyle Chandlerand Connie Britton. Unfortunately the male category was too competitive for me to fit Chandler in, but Britton does equally good work as his wife, neither a pushover or a shrew. The two default arechetypes for TV wives, even in well respected shows, she's complex but fundamentally a great person, and Britton brings that out wonderfully.

2) Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife

At the centre of the very classy legal show The Good Wife, Marguiles gives an exceptionally intelligent performance. Not afraid to be showy when she has to be, nor appropriately quieter when the scene calls for it. Classy work on a classy show.

1) Eilsabeth Moss, Mad Men

Moss started out one of the weakest aspects of Mad Men. Particularly in the early years, when everyone was so awesome and she was so mousy and unimpactful, but in a year where so many characters fell from grace, Moss' Peggy came into her own, giving performance where the maturity forms in front of your eyes.

NWI Awards: Best Leading Actor In Dramatic Television

10) James Wolk, Lone Star

Yes this show only lasted two episodes and that barely seems enough to accredit it in this way, but damn if this isn't my own blog where I can say what I want and be coherent only if I choose to be. The most intriguing, arguably the only intriguing new network show of 2010, this tale of a con man living two lives was anchored by a very solid and engaging performance by Wolk at its centre. I think it would have only gotten better.

9) Idris Elba, Luther

As you could probably deduce from many of the selections on this list, I'm not the biggest fan of most of what British television does or the way it does it, despite being British and all, but whereas Luther was I think just an exceptionally smooth, elegant rendition of the same old thing. Having Stringer Bell himself at its centre lent it a weight and an intensity one rarely finds, mostly because Elba is awesome, and the kind of actor you'd watch in anything.

8) Hugh Laurie, House

The show is a dinosaur. A preachy, cowardly mess leaning on lame internet 'shipping' to give it even an illusion of freshness, but Laurie's performance refuses to let the show die. In a way there's a serious argument to be made that Laurie's work on this show is the best performance by anyone of the last twenty years or so. He doesn't get the richly written material of a Gandolfini or a Hamm, yet crafts a character every bit as layered and subtle. He's single handedly the comedy and the drama of the show, and he does both excellently. He's made a thousand crass moments seem poignant and has never dropped his game. Just saying.

7) Steve Zahn, Treme

The hell with all of you, I liked this performance. Zahn was a likeable, warm presence at the show's centre and in a way an embodiment of the show's high on life mission statement.

6) Timothy Olyphant, Justified

In a way its nice to have an action hero on TV. Great drama is synonymous with complex, morally ambiguous leading men, so in a way watching Olyphant be an epic badass every week was a nice antidote. And the performance is no less substantial, with the character bearing a soft-spoken cool, and a deceptively intelligent side that goes beyond the cowboy hat iconography.

5) Michael C Hall, Dexter

Like Hugh Laurie, Hall is the sole reason Dexter isn't entirely unwatchable at this point. Fighting against the writers urge to simplify things and never letting the darkness out of the character. It's long since past the time for me that Dexter was in the running to be a great show, but there's no denying the greatness of the performance.

4) Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire

This is a difficult one, because I think Buscemi's performance is almost the most subversive thing about the show and its something that people have pointed to as one of the failings of it. But Buscemi's not a pillar of masculine rage like Tony Soprano or Walter White, or even a relic of an age of a stronger male identity like Don Draper. The way Buscemi plays it avoids these trappings and allows it to become something potentially more unique. Something this shows very much needs.

3) Donal Logue, Terriers

Logue is not necessarily an actor that I had taken notice of before. I'd seen him in many things, but nothing ever really registered until this. Hank Dolworth plays like kind of a cross between The Dude and Philip Marlowe, capable of both coolly riffing and burning up the screen with intensity. Logue was the best thing about what turned out to be a very good show. If nothing else, this show should have bough Logue some pedigree.

2) Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad

The most important Emmy win in TV history was Cranston's for that first season of Breaking Bad. Without it I doubt the show gets a second season, and we lose what has become one of the best shows in history. And what a centre Cranston is to this world. He's done a lot of great work o this show, but I'm tempted to say that the monologue he has in 'Fly' is amongst the best work he's ever done. And that's a high frickin standard.

1) Jon Hamm, Mad Men

But Mad Men had 'The Suitcase'. And in that episode was Hamm doing the best work he's ever done. On Mad Men. With past ravings, I've probably made my position clear on what show I prefer but there's not point denying that Hamm was the best actor on TV in 2010. I don't think you can.

NWI Awards: Best Supporting Actress In Comedic Television

10) Heather Morris, Glee

I know I'm supposed to put Jane Lynch or maybe Lea Michele here, but Heather Morris has long been the best thing about Glee for me. And while the show shoots head first into smug intolerability, Morris and her quietly hilarious one liners have become the only reason to watch.

9) Kaitlin Olsen, Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia

A lot of attention is given to the male cast of this show, but I think Olsen is quietly doing a lot of good work, often thanklessly. Her attempts to become an inspiring drama teacher this year proved particularly amusing.

8) Cobie Smulders, How I Met Your Mother

I think Smulders has long proved the secret weapon of this show, often given little to do other then tell Canada jokes, but for a character originally conceived as the hot girl of the show, she's given a long-lasting and constantly funny performance.

7) Aubrey Plaza, Parks And Recreation

Plaza gives a wonderfully deadpan performance, her face seemingly cut in a permanent disapproving scowl, but she's hilarious. Not quite as much as Ron Swanson, but it'll certainly fly.

6) Busy Phillips, Cougar Town

Freaks and Geeks alum Phillips has wondered the TV wilderness for a while, but its great to see her land on a show that allows her to be this winning. Cougar Town has a great ensemble, but I think Phillips stands out just the tinciest bit, perhaps because here character is the broadest. But when that works, it works.

5) Gillian Jacobs, Community

Jacobs and character Britta take a lot of fan hate, and while its true perhaps that the show leaned too heavily on her as group conscience in the early days, in later episodes she found a great little niche as a super self-satisfied hipster whose jokes nobody finds funny. A deceptively strong performance.

4) Sofia Vergara, Modern Family

Granted, most of Vergara's dialogue begins with, 'well back in Columbia we..' but it's an enjoyable, scene stealing performance. Vergara is an easy actress to dismiss on account of the way she looks and all, but she's much funnier then the archetype would have you believe.

3) Portia De Rossi, Better Off Ted

Yet another notch on the tally of great shows that came and went with nobody caring, Better Off Ted was much better then its hideously lame pun of a title would suggest. Combining clever corporate satire, with an appreciatively warm centre, it was clever comedy done right, an none more so then the performance of Arrested Development's Portia De Rossi as Veronica, exuding a kind of controlled insanity that amused no end.

2) Alison Brie, Community

Erm, because she's really, really funny? Arguably the stand out in an extremely talented cast, Brie can do anything the show asks of her and more, from producing the best scream played for comedy known to man to physical comedy that almost rivals Chevy Chase, and that's Chevy Chase.

1) Lizzy Caplan, Party Down

As much as I love Community, no show in 2010 did character comedy quite like Party Down, and Caplan's sarcastic comedienne/caterer was a huge part of that. A performance that has so much more depth and sadness then one would expect in a sitcom about people in pink ties.

NWI Awards: Best Supporting Actor In Comedic Television

10) Charlie Day, Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia

IASIP is pretty aged now, and its certainly lost a lot of that uncompromising sociopathic bent that made it such a unique show in the first place. But it's cast continue to be amusing together, and none more so the Charlie Day who has been so consistently good on this show it's not even funny.For the episode where he gets to play his joy at getting a job as a janitor in a high school alone.

9) Bobby Van Holt, Cougar Town

Cougar Town, much like Better Off Ted before it and How I Met Your Mother before that, is a hard show to tell people that its good. Its title and original premise lend itself to such an immediate punchline, I've found it best to not mention how much I like it, other then in public forum form obviously. Van Holt is a large reason why the show is so winning, playing his goofy, eternally upbeat Bobby in a way that is always hilarious.

8) Ty Burrell, Modern Family

Modern Family is a show that I'd be tempted to call solid rather then outstanding, it will always play it safe. Hence its popularity. But Burrell always gives an interesting performance, his man-child salesman perhaps the least broad and defined character on the show, and its certainly the subtlest performance on a show where there's not much of that to go around.

7) Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother

I don't know quite why this performance is as utterly endearing as it is. Its very big and quite broad, but perhaps because of Harris gift for physical comedy and his immense almost innate likeability, it becomes a joy to watch even when the show isn't all it could be. Just very funny.

6) Chris Pratt, Parks And Recreation

I think Chris Pratt was what kept me watching through the first season of Parks and Rec, where everything was not quite as it should be. Now the show has become quite the awesome little thing, Pratt is no longer the best thing about the show, but he's still a very vital, entertaining part. An idiotic fratboy type, only with a heart underneath. But more then that shit, he's always frickin hilarious.

5) Martin Starr, Party Down

Probably most recognized for his bit part in the very high quality Adventureland, Starr is a joy to watch on Party Down, as Roman, the caterer moonlighting as a writer of 'hard' sci-fi, he pulls of a character who could be quite hate-able, Roman thinks he's better then everyone he ever meets after all, But what works wonderfully is that Starr plays him so smart, as intelligent people can be entirely talentless too, and Starr plays that note perfectly.

4) Donald Glover, Community

I think in the early episodes of Community, Troy felt like the character that would just be there, not necessarily adding anything that substantial. But Donald Glover exploded out of the role, and that has only been more noticeable in the show's second season, in which Troy has headlined more episodes then anyone, and Glover has handled it like the very talented man he is. He's going to do what he has to, he's gonna be a nerd.

3) Ted Danson, Bored To Death

Bored To Death is a show that really found its anarchic, goofy voice in its second season. But I think the reason to watch this show, and it boasts Jason Schwartzman and Zach Galifianakis as its co-leads, is the performance of Danson, as the stoned, elderly intellectual George. Kind of a presentable version of the dude, stuck in a generation that has no use for him. But Danson's deliveries remain to the end hilarious and often weirdly sad.

2) Danny Pudi, Community

What is there to say about Pudi's performance as Abed. It's so pitch perfect, nailing the social befuddlement and yet also in his world, the self-assurity. Abed may be the first Asperger's driven character to take the problems and turn them into something badass. One is rarely pitying Abed, rather wishing you could be him, and that's down to Pudi's entirely Emmey worthy performance.

1) Nick Offerman, Parks And Recreation

And yet, I can't really justify giving this to anyone but Ron Swanson. Because he's Ron Fucking Swanson. Genius.