Top 5 Television Shows of the Decade

The year ended last night. Which means it’s time for stuff like Top blah blah blah of 2009. However, this isn’t the end of just any year, it’s the end of a decade. Which means Top blah blah blah of the Decade. I am not immune to rankings. I enjoy it. Ask me what my top 5 anything is and I’ll tell you. Top 5 Candybars you say: Three Musketeers, Snickers, Milky Way, Kit Kat and Hershey’s Chocolate Bar. Boom. Top 5. Done.

Well below is a look back at the decade in television with my Top 5 Television Shows of the Decade. I only chose 5 because 10 is too easy. I’m not the Oscars. I actually struggle with my choices.

1. The Daily Show (1999-2009) It’s sad when a comedian who started his television career on MTV asks better questions than half the journalists working today. Although he masks his commentary in jokes, Jon Stewart is able to say exactly what all of us are thinking, although funnier. We should all thank him and the powers that be should also thank him for disarming us with his humor. If he hadn’t been there for us, more than likely anarchy and Martial law would be part of our daily life. So to Jon Stewart I say thank you for talking me down with your fart and dick jokes.

2. The Colbert Report (2005 to Now) Some of you may be wondering why I include The Colbert Report if I have The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Aren’t they the same? If you are asking that, then please send me your name and address so that I can slap you across the face. These two men are anything but the same. One was born of the other but Colbert is definitely his own man. Colbert has created a character that if we didn’t know he was being funny we’d probably think he was for real. He has a unique ability to recreate the antics of Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly while simultaneously throwing a few jabs at the other news pundits.

3. The Wire (2002-2008) I’ve never loved a character more than I love Omar Little. He’s the Robin Hood of Western Baltimore. He steals from the hoods and keeps it for himself but he never hurts an innocent. The Wire is the flagship in HBO’s armada of groundbreaking shows. HBO being the only place for anyone to truly take a chance anymore. And The Wire was the best at doing that. On the surface it’s a show about Baltimore police and their never-ending struggle to take down the bad guys. But as the show unfolds we see that everyone is complicit in the downfall of the city from the cops to the schools and right on through to the mayor’s office. It’s a chess game with the pawns dying for kings that are never seen. There has never been better television writing. If you’ve missed it, you’re going to die a sad person.

4. Mad Men (2007-Now) I just feel cool when I watch Mad Men. When I’m hanging with Don Draper I finally get the feeling of what it must have been like to be one of the cool kids in school. To be prom king and all that. Although set in the ‘60s the show is not about the period of change that was the ‘60s. It’s about a group of people living during those changes. Shows like this seem to focus too much on the time period and not enough time on the people in it. Mad Men doesn’t.

5. Deadwood (2004-20006) The western genre was all but dead when HBO brought Deadwood on the air. Surprisingly this was anything but a western. The generic western archetypes were pushed out of town by David Milch and his posse. (Sorry I couldn’t resist a good old fashion western cliché.) The dialogue was straight from Shakespeare, littered with f-bombs. The richly created and acted characters brought this show to a level in just three seasons that other shows never accomplish in ten.

Runner’s Up: 24, Arrested Development, The Sopranos.

Tell me what’s wrong with my list. Did I miss something? Do you have a better list?