Year in Review: TOP 10 BEST TELEVISION SHOWS OF 2006
What wowed the masses and had us crying for more. Check out our list and see if you agree.
By PETER BROWN, Associate Editor
Published 12/27/2006
While the year was filled with great dramas on the negative side were all the craptacular reality shows that flooded the airwaves. So without further ado, here are iF Magazine's Best and Worst of Television Shows in 2006.
The Top 10 Best Shows of the Year:
1) 24
(c) 2006 Fox Television
Moving to a format where there are no repeats was one of the best moves ever made by the producers of 24 as well as Fox – and something that is now being heavily copied in more than a few ways by other television networks. But what really made the series stand out in 2006 was its ability to keep you on the edge of your seat for 24 straight weeks and never let up. Jack Bauer going after the corrupt President of the United States while being hunted by numerous bad guys just made the season a step above everything else on television.
2) BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
(c) 2006 NBC/Universal Television
It takes balls to take a popular show such as BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and ground it (literally) at the end of the second season and then spend the first half dozen episodes on New Caprica under the law of the Cylons. Plus, tackling the touchy subject of suicide bombers and insurgency is never an easy thing to do in modern times but the show did a great job with it crafting a tale of people willing to do anything to fight against their mortal enemies while not losing the intelligence that made this show so special in the first place.
3) HEROES
(c) 2006 NBC Television
The best new show of the fall television season by far (and one of the few not hit by some sort of cancellation or the dreaded “hiatus”) has done a great job building its characters while not giving away too much to the audience. HEROES isn’t close to being a Justice League with the good guys and bad guys still being shaken out and probably won’t be for a good deal of time. For those expecting a SUPERMAN type series, they were in for something oh so much better with mysteries galore even with half the season already over.
4) PRISON BREAK
(c) 2006 Fox Television
At the end of the first season, the most obviously titled show on television had done exactly what it suggested, but as a series set almost exclusively inside a prison, how on Earth would the show continue to be the same after breaking out? The answer is that it wasn't going to be the same show instead becoming a completely separate, better animal with so much more available to the series than ever before, albeit the title no longer making a heck of a lot of sense. With some of the best twists of any series this side of 24, PRISON BREAK continues to prove that with good writing and a strong cast, an improbable series can still beat the pants off most other television offerings.
5) DEADWOOD
(c) 2006 HBO Television
Proving that good things are never meant to last, the final season of HBO’s DEADWOOD left so many unanswered questions that it would take the length of this entire article to explain them all. The Wild West show was an amazing drama with strong characters and compelling storylines that left many viewers wanting more and more. Season three ended with one of the best performances of the year by Gerald McRaney and his portrayal of evil philanthropist George Hearst. Emmy forecasters please take note.
6) CSI
(c) 2006 CBS Television
The best crime drama on television continues to deliver into the end of its fifth season and at the beginning of its sixth. The show took a different direction in season six with a serial killer who leaves exact replicas of his work in the form of small scaled down models. It is an eerie storyline that looks to be continuing throughout the year and a different change of pace for the show. Plus, it looks like they may be backing away from the Grissom/Sara relationship deal leaving it to the background rather than giving it to us in our face.
7) JERICHO
(c) 2006 CBS Television
The surprise of the fall season is this story about the end of the world after nuclear bombs are exploded across the United States. A small town in Kansas must fend for itself against outside aggressors, misinformation, lack of communication with the outside world and, of course, themselves. Skeet Ulrich stars as the lead who is as mysterious as the event that is happening all around them. While I could do without the adult contemporary music that ends each week, the show is solid and an enjoyable jaunt week after week.
8) THE OFFICE
(c) 2006 NBC Television
Having dispatched with comparisons to the BBC version and now able to stand on its own, one of the best sitcoms on television has steadily built an audience by giving them the goods in terms of crazy antics but in addition building a romance between two of the stars of the show only to have it ripped apart and maybe put back together again. Add to this the awesome Webisodes and extras found on the Web site after each show, this series really is looking after its audience which is always a good thing. Plus, need we mention Steve Carroll is the main star?
9) FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
(c) 2006 NBC Television
A series about a small Texas football program that is so much more than just a show about football. One part teen drama, one part sports show and two parts just great, realistic drama, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS is one of the best shows of the season most people are not watching mostly because they probably consider it a sports program. But much like the another critically acclaimed yet poorly watched show, SPORTS NIGHT, you get so much more than any normal, average dramas.
10) STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP
(c) 2006 NBC Television
Yeah, it is a bit of a lecture-cloaked-as-a-drama but when head honcho Aaron Sorkin is coming up with more amusing bits than the sketch comedy show it is parodying in SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, something is either right with this series or very wrong with the latter. Maybe a bit of both here. The show captures what would happen if SNL was still important in today's society, which it isn't, but hey let's just "pretend" it still is and go from there.
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© (c) 2006 Sci Fi Channel
James Callis and Tricia Helfer in Torn from BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
