Television in the '00s

[jlh]

As always I've been entertained by the best-of-the-year and best-of-the-decade lists that have been rolling out over the past six weeks or so. I'm not going to make a list of films or music, having consumed such a small portion of either of them. But television is a different story. So in alphabetical order, the ten shows I most enjoyed watching in the '00s.

• American Idol. I've spilled a lot of ink on this one-you're either on the train by now, or you're not.
  
• Avatar the Last Airbender. I ripped through the first two seasons on DVD on bad days, accompanied by quantities of donuts, and the combo always made me feel better. The finale was great, but I'd already gotten everything I needed in "The Boiling Rock."
  
• How I Met Your Mother. I've talked a lot about this show as well, so let's just say it's the only currently running show I own DVDs of.
  
• The Mole (first season). Ruined me completely for The Amazing Race. Hosted by a post-Channel One pre-CNN Anderson Cooper, who when I asked him if there was any truth to the rumor that the brainy puzzles of the first season had been dumbed down for the second, said "Of course not!" in a tone that really meant, "Of course they were; this is television." And so they were, and so the show was cancelled. But the first season? Amazing.
  
• Project Runway. I'll let them have one bad season; everyone gets one. They gave me Tim Gunn after all, so they deserve a little break. And they introduced us all to the beauty of competency porn.
  
• Sex and the City. To me it's not about sex, or Jimmy Choos, or fabulous parties, but about how women are friends today. And for that, I love it.
  
• Six Feet Under. It had its bumpy moments in the middle to be sure, but overall it managed the trick of letting the characters be unlikeable without making me detest them or the show. It had one of the best final episodes of any television show, ever, and one of the best couples of television history in David and Keith.
  
• So You Think You Can Dance. I believe in the dance, and so does the show. The love of the craft and the entertainment of dance seeps into every single frame-for all his grouchiness, you know it's a labor of love for Nigel, which keeps him from being the mean judge he sometimes tries to be.
  
• Top Chef. More competency porn with a smoking hot bear of a head judge who champions simple New American cooking and appreciates fine French technique, who sees skill as a way to better cook from the heart. I love Padma and Gail, but it's Colicchio's mentoring and his stature in the industry that keeps the young chefs and the established guest judges coming back season after season.
  
• Veronica Mars (first two seasons). I just saw the little 20-minute piece they filmed of VM at the FBI, and it made me ache with missing her. Those first two seasons-has there been anything better?

There are plenty of things I still need to see-the rest of Deadwood and Freaks and Geeks for starters, plus Wonderfalls-but this is a list I can stand behind.

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