With each passing year my TV viewing habits have begun to change. I used to watch mostly network shows with the occasional premium cable channel series here and there. In the last couple years it’s been more of the opposite. I watch less and less of whatever the top networks are showing and instead have taken most of my TV viewing pleasure from basic and premium cable channels. Only one show from the big networks makes my Top Ten TV shows of 2012.
The ten shows I’ve picked as best of 2012 arrive on this list in no particular order. They’re just numbered to keep things organized…
- Community – This show is the only network series to make my list and it’s well-deserving. The show has garnered such a huge cult following that seems to confuzzle those who still haven’t jumped on the Community bandwgaon. The show’s hilarious and full of pop-culture and geek culture references that each new episode we see something crazy and new from showrunner Dan Harmon and his crazy crew of writers and and, even moreso, talented ensemble cast. The fact that despite low ratings each season it’s been on the air since it premiered just show’s the power of it’s fans to tell the NBC network to keep the show for another season (maybe another more after this upcoming 4th). Plus, the show has Annie’s Boobs.
- Justified – This was the series that premiered three years ago with a pedigree that most networks would kill to have on it’s show. You had acclaimed tv screenwriter Graham Yost as series creator and showrunner. The show was adapated from a series of Elmore Leonard novels featuring the character of U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (who also had critics favorite Timothy Olyphant in the role). The first two season’s were major hits for the series. This past year’s third season couldn’t match up to the great season 2 that earned Margo Martindale an Emmy for her role as the devious and cold-blooded matriarch of the Bennett Clan, but it did more than hold it’s own by introducing an outsider to the mix of Kentucky-grown characters in Neal McDonough’s Detroit mobster and deviant criminal mastermind Robert Quarles. the interaction between Olyphant’s Raylan Givens, McDonough’s Quarles and Walton Goggins’ Boyd Crowder was some of 2012’s best tv moments.
- Doomsday Preppers – This series has become a sort of guilty pleasure for me, but despite that label it’s also one of the best shows on TV. The premise of the show may sound ludicrous and hilarious at first glance. I mean it’s a series that details in each episode a couple of families who have taken to extremes their attempts to prepare for whatever doomsday will befall in world in the near future. See, it sounds like a reality tv show that’s tailor-made for what elitists would consider the redneck and uneducated section of America. The truth of the matter is that the show’s ludicrous premise also is it’s strength. We may laugh, at first, at the families who have gone to extremes to create survival shelters, home grown food stocks and other means to survive a catastrophe. While we laugh the show does point out that whether a disaster happens soon or later the very survival preparations and techniques these families make become learning tools for the viewing audience. We won’t need to go to such extremes, but the fact that we laugh at these people while we have no clue how to survive when catastrophe strikes means the joke is on us and not on the Doomsday Preppers.
- The Walking Dead – Speaking of doomsday, this show on AMC seems to be the show that, like it’s zombified monsters, survives it’s own producers and writers attempts to kill it off. This year saw the second half of the show’s season 2 minus it’s original creator and showrunner as Frank Darabont was fired. The show continued to pull in great ratings despite being on basic cable and writing that tended to lean towards average with frustrating characters the audience would rather see die than survive the show’s zombie apocalypse. But something miraculous happened this year and that’s the show’s newest showrunner in Glen Mazzara simplified Darabont’s more deliberate and existential narrative style and tone for the show. Under Mazzara the show’s first haf of the 3rd season saw more action and characters actually becoming more complex and nuanced. There’s been less exposition dumps to tell the audience what’s going on. The show has also amped the danger towards the characters as we saw not one but many characters die before the season even hit the halfway mark. The show’s writing still has a ways to go, but no show on TV can match The Walking Dead in sheer tension and watercooler moments that fans (and even detractors) were left wanting more and more everytime a Sunday ended.
- Sons of Anarchy – The show by showrunner Kurt Sutter that was original billed as “Hamlet meets Hell’s Angels” had one of it’s better season in 2012 as we saw the biker gang SAMCRO finally split into two camps. On one side is the former President of the club Clay Morrow (played by Ron Perlman) and newest club President Jax Teller (played by Charlie Hunnam), the son of the club’s original founder John Teller, standing on the opposite side. The show returned to it’s Shakespearean roots in 2012 as we saw Jax try to maneuver SAMCRO away from it’s illegal enterprises and away from the clutches of the not just the CIA, but the Mexican cartels, rival biker gangs and inner-city crime lords. The series saw the departure of a fan favorite character in one of the most brutal and vicious deaths on TV, but also one that was necessary to push Jax into becoming more ruthless and cold-blooded in dealing with his club’s enemies. Sons of Anarchy is also aired on the FX Channel which makes it such a powerful bookend to it’s fellow series in Justified for the basic cable network.
- South Park – Matt Stone and Trey Parker continues to insult all and everyone. The show benefits from this and it hasn’t changed in 2012. The show looked to be slowing down after an uneven 2011, but came back strong in 2012. There’s nothing else to be said other than a show that can come up with an episode that has Honey Boo Boo and Michelle Obama in the same episode and make it all come off as hilarious and thought-provoking deserves to be on everyone’s top ten tv shows of 2012.
- Deadliest Catch – Discovery Channel’s long-reality series about crab fishermen in the dangerous waters of the Bering Strait and the Arctic Circle continues to be one of the best reality series on TV. It’s simple premise of just showing the rigors, dangers and the toll the job of crab fishing in the Arctic Sea continues to lure fans old and new alike back to the series each new year. It’s definitely a show that puts down anyone who thinks they have a hard job. Nothing is harder than a job these men do where every moment can literally be the moment that something will happen that will take their life. It’s must-see TV (well except for Lisa Marie with the pitching ships and heavy seas and stormy waves).
- Boardwalk Empire – The show that details the rise and fall and rise again of Atlantic City’s man behind the scenes Nucky Thompson during the 1920’s continues to be one of TV’s best shows and continues HBO’s almost two decade of fine, quality original tv programming. We find Steve Buscemi in fine form as the corrupt city treasurer Nucky Thompson whose actions in season 2 creates major ripple effects for 2012’s season 3. While the latest season wasn’t on the same level as 2011’s season 2 it’s uneven slow burn for most of it’s season 3 run culminated in a bloody and tense-filled affair as Nucky’s penchant for surviving leads to an almost Michael Corleone-level of retribution by season’s end.
- Game of Thrones – George R.R. Martin. A Clash of Kings. Three baby dragons. Peter Dinklage. Arya and Stannis Lannister. Battle of Blackwater Bay. Neil Marshall. Sexposition. Ice zombies. Nothing else need to be said. One of the best shows of 2012, if not, the best show of 2012 period.
- Archer – The most out there and down right funny show on TV in 2012 was the FX Channel’s animated series Archer. It’s a an animated series that spoofs the spy franchises like James Bond, Man from U.N.C.L.E. and the like, but also being one of the raunchiest shows on TV and making it all come off as hilarious. Whether it’s the title character’s child-like behavior despite being the show’s top spy or the pyromaniac and autoerotic-fixated agency secretary Cheryl, the show’s cast of characters are all so memorable that the show doesn’t even need to have celebrity guest stars to try and pull in viewers, but they do it anyway with one being Burt reynolds himself playing as himself and bringing back memories of why Burt was considered the “star’s star in his heyday””. The man is just smooth as velvet and cool as ice.
So, these were my Top Ten shows on 2012. The FX channel definitely made it’s mark by getting three shows into the list with HBO running second with two. I know there’s a major omission of Breaking Bad in this list, but I thought the new season (really just the first half of the final season with the second half due later in 2013) was a letdown after blockbuster of a season 4. It seemed more like a first half that was table-setting for what looks to be the show’s final 8-episode this year to put the show to bed on a blaze of glory.
Through the Shattered Lens 
Do you watch every episode of all these shows? Where do you find the time?
When I think about it, there were a fair few things that I watched on television when I was a child–not anymore, though. These days I’m into nostalgia television. I can’t get enough of “The Twilight Zone”.
I’m happily out of touch with what’s on the box these days, although I will say, I’m surprised that “South Park” is still on the airwaves. You know how back in the 1990s, if you loved ABBA, people laughed at you for being stuck in the ’70s? Same thing goes for “South Park” in the 2010s and people being stuck in the 1990s.
(Being a fan of “The Twilight Zone” doesn’t make you stuck in the 1950s–it just basically means that you really are stuck in “The Twilight Zone”).
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I have to speak up in defense of South Park. Much as the Twilight Zone remains universal, so does South Park. And, unlike a lot of shows that started many, many years ago, South Park has consistently adjusted to the times and therefore, it remains just as relevant today as it was back in the 90s.
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I find time when I’m not working, working on the site, watching films or going out. I usually sleep around 3-4 hours a day during the work days and make up the rest on weekends. I actually watch less things than Lisa Marie who I know watches more films and probably more TV than I do. Plus, I have a DVR so I don’t have to literally watch the episodes when they come on.
I’m with you on South Park if you said it the last couple years, but the show tend to have up and down seasons and in 2012 it was definitely an up season for the show. You’d be surprised how much more interesting stuff is on TV now than before. I can easily say that the shows I’ve mentioned, especially the drams are better than most films that come out mainstream, indie or foreign. That may souond like hyperbole but it doesn’t change the fact that more and more established film actors, directors and writers are actually doing some of their best work on basic and premium cable channels than on film.
If Scorsese, Michael Mann, Van Sant, etc…will actually “slum” it on TV then that says more about the quality of TV as it currently stands than whether the film industry these days is all about rehash and no originality. TV has in the last couple years become a new outlet for “Serious” filmmakers and actors to stretch their ability to reach an audience that is actually smart, discerning and wanting quality stuff on the small screen. Yes, that sounds difficult to accept with such shows as Honey Boo Boo and the flood of reality tv shows (though I wouldn’t put down reality tv shows on this site if you know whats good for you due to a certain individual), but then again those shows are not produced by the auteurs and masters in film.
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Reality TV is very underrated. The Scorseses of tomorrow are working in the reality TV of today. 🙂
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Well, I shall refrain from saying anything other than yes because whoever films the footage on the Deadliest Catch have to be very creative to make every scene that looks like something already seen in previous episodes still feel new, tense-filled and dramatic. 🙂
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Firstly, I just KNEW that Lisa Marie would speak up in defence of “South Park”.
But I’m safe over here on the other side of the world.
I haven’t watched “South Park” in many years. When I did watch it, ’twas funny to an extent, albeit in a very lowbrow manner (much like “Beavis and Butthead”). But heavens above, did it get stale quickly. “Beavis and Butthead” knew when to quit. Now, you may well enjoy “South Park”, but I don’t think that it justifies a run of 15 years. Every now and again, I hear people talk about what happened recently on “South Park”, and it doesn’t sound any different to what they were doing 15 years ago
“Offending everybody” is actually rather pointless–by offending everybody, you don’t actually stand for anything yourself, thus making your point of view irrelevant.
“The times” haven’t really changed since 1997. People are actually less discerning now that 15 years ago, which explains how “South Park” and numerous other cartoons have stayed on the air for such a long time. Also, with more channels than ever before, you’d have to be doing pretty badly NOT to keep your show on the air for a long time.
Another show that has overstayed its welcome is “The Simpsons”. Say it with me: “The Simpsons” has been on television for 23 years. Repeat it if it didn’t sound absurd the first time.
Comparing “South Park” to “The Twilight Zone” is so outrageously blasphemous, I can’t even bring myself to respond to the remark, except to say that few shows are as universal as “The Twilight Zone”, and “South Park” isn’t one of them.
You might be interested to know that when “South Park” first appeared on Australian television in the late 1990s, it was screened on SBS. To draw you a picture, SBS was for many years a commercial free station (except for the occasional slot in between shows) and was (and still is) a channel that caters largely to people who are from non-English speaking backgrounds (I guess you could call it a little bit PBS-ish in a way). SBS did “serious” television (foreign language arthouse films, straight-faced documentaries, etc) for “serious” viewers. So imagine what “South Park” looked like when it first appeared. The irony is that it did a huge rating for them (by SBS standards).
I guess if you’re only sleeping three to four hours per day, that’d explain how one could watch so much television. But honestly, television is so bad these days. Not even the wrestling is any good. I miss the days when really good wrestling was on the television.
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The thing is this, I don’t know what sort of shows they show over there in Australia and you don’t live in the US so you can’t possibly know what shows they have on here outside of the really popular ones. I mean have you even seen the one’s I mentioned outside of South Park which you seem so fixated on. Have you watched Sons of Anarchy? How about Boardwalk Empire or Deadliest Catch or even Justified?
Yes, South Park has been on for many years, but tdoes longevity mean a show loses any sort of relevance or even quality. That’s like saying does Scorsese or Woody Allen or Michael Haneke or Werner Herzog stop being good filmmakers because they’ve been doing it for so long and because they’ve had missteps since.
I know you’re passionate about what YOU think is good or not. That’s understandable and it’s your opinion. But when you give reasonings to why you say what you say they come off less a criticism about the quality of the shows and more of I don’t like them and they’re bad because everyone else likes them thus they must be too mainstream and not for the serious audience. You’re frustrating in that you disagree with people for the sake of trying to disagree.
Now, if you’ve seen what I listed beyond South Park and actually watched them beyond an episode or two then I’ll take your commentary with some seriousness other than that I will just say that you don’t have a leg to stand on outside of that it’s your opinion based on incomplete information.
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I agree with you about the Simpsons. Totally overrated. Though the worst cartoon ever remains the Family Guy.
As for Beavis and Butthead, they’re back! New episodes are being produced even as I type this. 🙂
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Porn, porn, porn, porn, porn, burritos, porn, porn, porn, porn, porn, porn, old people, porn, porn, porn…
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“The thing is this, I don’t know what sort of shows they show over there in Australia and you don’t live in the US so you can’t possibly know what shows they have on here outside of the really popular ones.”
That’s absolute crap.
I can very easily flip that around and say that because you don’t live in Australia, you’ve no idea how Americanised our television “culture” is down here, which is precisely the case.
What was that you were saying about opinions and beliefs needing some type of foundation? I see.
What shows do they show in Australia?
Basically everything you’ve mentioned.
Plus a lot of the more “obscure ones” as you’d say.
Australia has so many freakin’ channels these days, even the more obscure American television shows get a run down here.
Even “TNA Impact”, which rates HORRIBLY in the United States (we’re talking under a 1.0 rating here) is shown ad nauseum.
Gee-zus, even “Men of a Certain Age”, which lasted the proverbial blink of an eye before getting axed, made it onto Australian TV.
In fact, a great deal of less successful shows end up on Australian TV. It’s pretty much always been this way, but now with so many cable/digital channels, even moreso.
As a child, I recall watching “Misfits of Science”. Do you recall “Misfits of Science”? Most people don’t, and it lasted on US TV about as long as laughter for a Jimmy Fallon joke. A whopping 16 episodes were produced. But it still made it onto Australian television back in the 1980s.
A lot of American shows these days are shown “hot off the dish”, less than 36 hours after they’ve screened in the United States. The days of waiting six months for TV shows to screen here are by and large a thing of the past. Australia isn’t as backwards and isolated as you’d like to believe.
We have FX, Fox8, the Discovery Channel (along with its numerous variations), MTV (plus several variations), MusicMax, Channel V (more music), Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2, Fox Sports 3, ESPN, ESPN 2, Turner Classic Movies, Eurosport, Fox Classics, Crime and Investigation, Stvdio, SoHo, The History Channel, The Biography Channel, Nat Geo, Nat GeoWild, Lifestyle, LifestyleYOU, Fox News, CNN, BBC, the Comedy Channel, Nickelodeon, Nick Jnr, Cartoon Network, Bloomberg, CNBC, SF (Sci-Fi channel), UKTV, 13th Street, 111, Al Jazeera, not to mention the five main free-to-air channels, PLUS their various offshoots…
…and that’s just the shortlist.
They even show that programme where the guy and his old man buy and collect antique firearms from the Civil War and stuff. Plus we have a jillion different cooking shows, collectible shows, gardening shows, everything from Toddlers and Tiaras to Kylie Kwong fucking around in her kitchen. You name it, we’ve got it.
“Sons of Anarchy” is one of THE most popular shows in recent times down here at the moment, ditto “Boardwalk Empire”, and I believe that “The Walking Dead” has gained some popularity (considering it’s advertised all over the place). “The Deadliest Catch” and ALL of those types of shows are readily available on cable TV.
If I were “arguing for the sake of arguing”, I’d run down EVERYTHING on your list. That’s NOT what I’m doing. The other shows that you’ve mentioned are (relatively speaking) “recent” shows. I’m not “fixated” on “South Park”. But I am genuinely surprised that it’s been around for 15 years, that’s all. It stood out from your list for that reason. And I provided some “background” as to how the show was received Down Under because it was one of the odder instances of programming that I’ve seen. “South Park” on SBS is like Charo on “Masterpiece Theatre”. I figured someone would find some amusement in that.
If you like “South Park”, good for you. That’s why you like chocolate ice-cream and I prefer strawberry: because we’ve both got shitty taste. Viva la difference.
If you’re so paranoid that you perceive harmless observations as the conversational equivalent of being greeted with torches and pitchforks in the middle of the night, perhaps you ought to try sleep more than three hours per night. Believe me, I give (and take) much harsher critiques than anything mentioned above. Oddly enough, nobody else seems to have a problem with this. I guess folks ’round deez parts are made o’ sterner stuff.
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And yet you still haven’t said if you’ve even seen the shows I mentioned. If you have actually seen them and think they’re crap then guess what I’ll actually take that as an informed criticism.
My deal is that you lump everything together without even saying you’ve actually seen it. I never said anything about the state and quality of Australian tv because, as I mentioned, I don’t know enough of it to criticize it.
Since you say the same shows we show here in the US also airs in Australia then I go back to my initial point of whether you’ve actually seen the shows I listed outside of ad time to say whether they’re good or not.
As for being made of sterner stuff you’re still able to comment correct. I can take criticism when I know someone knows what they’re talking about instead of just saying “tv today sucks” then say nothing whether they’ve actually seen any of it.
I mean if you want to debate the quality or lack of the shows I mentioned or you have a list or examples of quality TV that don’t get enough appreciation I’m more than willing.
I may not know everything that’s on TV but I watch enough that I have an insight to the media. And no I don’t watch just US shows, but British, Canadian and Asian.
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