2014 - All the Other Shows I Watched

It's the end of another year and, despite not comfortably matching up with the TV calendar, I again feel compelled to offer my thoughts on the best of 2014 on TV. My giant ass list of movies is a little intimidating, so I like to break up the TV shows into more digestible parts.

Now, I want to make something clear. This is the list of my favorite shows of the past year. It's not the shows that I objectively think were the best made. It's not the shows I'm most likely to watch again or buy on DVD. It's not even the shows that I'm most likely to recommend to other people. I made the list almost entirely by asking one question: What would I regret not seeing the most? I have them ranked or ordered, but trust me, it's a fluid list.

By my count, I've watched 47 shows that aired in 2014. That's a lot. I can't really downplay that. I've probably lost friendships and countless hours of daylight to keep up with these, so I'd like to give them all their due and also explain why they weren't considered in my upper-tier of shows for the year.

Top 10
Next Top 10
Everything in Between
Bottom 10
10 I Didn't See

[Roughly order from most enjoyed to least]

Modern Family

It barely made my top 20 last year and fell out barely this year despite stringing together a very strong group of episodes this fall. TV has been too strong this year. Make no mistake, I'm more excited for Modern Family right now than I have been for a couple seasons.

The Big Bang Theory

Another one to barely make the top 20 last year and barely miss the cut this year. BBT is what it is by now. I'm not sure what it can do to move higher in the list.

New Girl

Season three ending rather weakly with Jess and Nick's relationship ending with a fizzle. This season, they've given into being a joke machine first and foremost which has worked really well.

Orange is the New Black

I want to like this show the way other people do but I just don't. It's beyond me, I guess. Don't get me wrong though, I happily watched it all, it's just a middle rung show for me.

Agents of SHIELD

Pretty much since "Seeds" the show has been as good as I could hope it would be. The tie-in to The Winter Soldier was incredibly effective and season two has hit the ground running. Alas, the only thing holding it back for me is the limit of how much I enjoy this kind of show in general.

You're the Worst

It started as that show to watch because I was already watching Married and ended as the much stronger of the two. Something with the tone of that hour of TV never settled with me, but this is definitely one of those shows that I know a lot of people who would enjoy it if they watched it.

Archer

Yet another show to fall from last year's "Next 10" list that also had no appreciable decline. I can't say how much of this is me wanting to recognize new things. This season took a big and refreshing detour but was still the show we know and love.

Arrow

I caught up on this in a whirlwind this fall and have no sense of when what episodes aired. Season two as a whole was very strong, especially toward the end. It's dropped dramatically this fall (Not sure how much blame goes to The Flash). That leaves it somewhere in the muck as far as year end rankings go.

Blackish

Freshman comedy series that's likely to move up. It's still finding its footing so far. It's good to be reminded how much I like Anthony Anderson though.

Sherlock

God, was that this year? Three episodes and all in the winter. Let's just be thankful that I remembered to get it on the list. In all seriousness though, "The Sign of Three" was fantastic, but the other two episodes were only ok.

Looking

I'm not going to lie, I had a real hard time switching gears from Girls to this when I watched. I'm glad it's going to have a second season to follow Patrick, Augustin, and Dom.

Girl Meets World

Look, it's not a great show. If measured against other shows fairly, it would still rank higher than Mulaney, but it would be in the ballpark. Luckily, this plays into nostalgia and that is a powerful force that makes bad thing seem good, broad jokes seem clever, and broader performances seem appropriate. I sing along to the opening theme song every week. How are you going to beat that?

How I Met Your Mother

Can the final slap, "How Your Mother Met Me", and the completely satisfying end to the "Gary Blauman" episode make up for Robin floating away on a balloon and killing the Mother? Short answer: No. Long answer: Well, I already wrote it once.

The Bridge

This show got way better than I was ready for. The first season was really just a serial killer revenge story with a great atmosphere. Season two had The Wire-level build and payoff. I didn't watch it closely enough early, so when things really got going, it lost me. Rating it this low is on me.

Halt and Catch Fire

It spent too much of the first season pretending it was more of a prestige show than it was. Once it moved past that and just turned into a show about a couple outsiders trying to break big, I really started enjoying it (I mean, my favorite episode I repeatedly described as 'a caper'). I'm not sure I need a second season but as a single season it was solid. 

House of Cards

Complex is not the same as smart. Intricate is not the same as well-crafted. It wants to be Mad Men and falls closer to Scandal. If it just leaned into that, I'd probably appreciate it a lot more.

Suburgatory

RIP. This was the biggest afterthought of a season that I watched. It was a dead show walking when it premiered and ABC burned it off as such. There were some good moments and it certainly had an interesting ending. In the end, after the initial concept, it never figured out what it was about.