TV Show of the Decade

Without a doubt it has to be Law & Order.  Funny though, for the early part of the decade I was whole-heartedly leaning towards Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and then the producers ruined the show by first never knowing when it would be on and secondly by jumbling the cast every other week.

Ever since Vincent D’onofrio took his lighter load they have added a second team to the list of which has included Chris Noth and more recently Jeff Goldblum, who I do like as a cinematic actor, but his part on CI is horrible; he plays a terrible cop this show has never been the same.  D’onofrio is still as great as ever, but the shows unpredictablity make trying to find an episode much to difficult, is it on USA or NBC?  When is the season?  You never seem to know, sometimes it’s just there.  Shame on the producers I say.

SVU has been a solid show, but I have to tell you I am not a fan of Chris Meloni’s character, the arrogant, self-centered and usually hypocritical detective really makes me want to shut the show off, or just cheer that one of his oft wounded segments becomes a fatality, as for the rest of the cast I love ’em.

But on to my pick, the Original.  Law & Order had a bit of soul-searching after Jerry Orbach left the show trying to find the right replacement for his character.  The first duo of Jessie Martin and Dennis Farina was not bad and kept me tuned in, but Martin’s pairs following were not quite meshing with his style.  After Martin’s departure I thought the show was done with but then they brought in comedian Anthony Anderson who plays anything but humorous and the show was kicked back into high gear.  Anderson was perfect because his comedy skill carry over well to give him a convincing cynical side that was lost with the departure and passing of Orbach.   The potential loss of S. Epatha Merkerson’s character to cancer who be a terrible hit, but like always this show seems to roll on.

Honorable Mentions:

First of, Big Bang Theory just came too late for me to pick it in good faith as the Best of the Decade.  But only 3 seasons in this is the one show I can not miss and reruns are nearly as enjoyable.

4 geeks + 1 Hot Chick = Funny

Sounds like a familiar formula to a boatload of 80’s movies, yes it does.  But done in a much different style.  The humor is not a crude and the geeks really have back up, their lines are written with assistance from a real physicist who gives their statements depth and reality.  Not that this give the show any scientific merit, but when the lines sound convincing it make it much more believable than gauging their “intelligence” based on glasses and a pocket protector.

The other shinning light is each characters’ nuance.  Sheldon is OCD to the point of ridiculous and his social skill leave nothing but milk squirting from my nose.  Howard is the womanizer who has no business anywhere near the opposite sex.  While Raj just can’t plain speak when women are present.  The only seemingly normal one of the bunch is Leonard who by comparison is 007 of the nerd world.

If this show popped up 2 or 3 seasons earlier into the decade I can bet it would have won out my pick

Other Honorable Mentions: House, Rescue Me, Mythbusters, NYPD Blue