The Americans is one of the shows to be on my honorable mentions list
It’s about that time of year the end of TV season is here.
This year like with the movies I’m going all in on reminiscing on this year in
TV. We start with the fun side of things with my random less serious awards,
then bridge the gap with the shows that just missed the top 10 cut (as there
were a ton of great shows this year) before finishing with the cream of the
crop, the top 10 television shows of 2013. We continue with the shows that just
missed my top 10 this year, a group of shows that unfortunately got caught in a
year of too much good TV. Here they are, in no particular order, my honorable
mentions of 2013.
Girls (HBO)
HBO’s Girls had an equally brave and beautifully funny
season of television as the last, taking Hanna Horvath and her unique group of
struggling friends to even deeper and darker places. It had some great
performances and continued to teeter the edge of dramaty without falling off.
It barely misses my top ten this year because I felt at times the series took
too many diversions, and at times lost a little bit of what the character arcs
were in the middle of the season. That being said Girls didn’t miss by much,
and I’m looking forward to another season come January.
Game of Thrones (HBO)
Game of Thrones continued to truck along with its best
season yet (no surprise considering it covers part the best novel of the series
so far) with big action, great characters, and more solid world building than
ever. It continued to have the problem of leaving certain characters out of
episodes (cue comparisons to the Wire), and no episode in this season ever
reached the focused heights of last year’s Blackwater, but when the show gets a
great plot line, or big moment to chew on it does it better than many shows on
television.
The Americans (FX)
FX’s best new show The Americans played the cold war spy
game from the reverse perspective, that of the Russian spies. The Americans was
a fun new drama that had both an emphasis on action as well as the fake
marriage played out by the two lead characters. Couple that with some really
great acting all around and you’ve got yourself a really good new show with a
chance of making the leap to greatness.
House of Cards (Netflix)
Netflix’s political drama House of Cards made a big splash
in 2013 putting Netflix on the map as a true contender in the business of TV.
It was also was a great looking, well acted show that was exciting and intense
the whole way through. It may have been too fond of itself at times and the
ending left some people disappointed, but House of Cards was a show built for
me (ie politics and shakesperian dialogue mixed together) and when it worked it
worked extremely well.
Arrested Development (Netflix)
Netflix also brought back one of my favorite comedies of all
time this year as Arrested Development aired it’s forth season this year. While the fourth season was mostly hit and
miss, when Arrested Development hit it had many of the funniest sit com moments
of 2013. It may not have been near perfect like the first three seasons but it
still provided great laughs and a chance to be back with some of Televisions
greatest comedic characters.
That’s it for now stay tuned for my top ten television shows
of 2013!
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