Previously… in Comics

 I haven’t done any blog posts about comics yet. I’m rectifying that now. Time for some comic book reviews! I have no idea if I’m going to do this on a weekly basis. Last week saw Marvel’s Dark Reign really kick into gear. Dark Reign’s flagship title, Dark Avengers, launched. Dan Slott introduced us to the bizarre new team over in Mighty Avengers. Andy Diggle began revealing the new roster of the Thunderbolts. And Matt Fraction gave us a glimpse into Emma Frost’s mindset in the Marvel Universe’s new status quo.

The following books were all released on January 21st. They’re listed in the order I read them. Spoilers will be kept to a minimum.

Thunderbolts #128 (Writer: Andy Diggle, Artist: Roberto de la Torre): In the previous two issues, Diggle did a spectacular job writing the Thunderbolts as Warren Ellis had reimagined them. It was an incredibly dark and intense story that lead to the dismantling of that team’s roster. In this issue, Diggle pulls back the curtain on his team of Thunderbolts. Sadly, judging by this issue, his T’Bolts aren’t quite as interesting as Bullseye, Venom, and company. It’s obviously way too early to start panicking here. Only a fraction of the team has even been introduced. But this group seems to lack much of the personality their predecessors had in spades. I do have to give props to Diggle though for his Obama appearance which both made sense for the story and established Norman Osborn as a lame duck appointment by the outgoing Bush Administration. Dark Reign is all Bush’s fault!

Dark Avengers #1 (W: Brian Bendis, A: Mike Deodato): You ever have a favorite band break up and then the lead singer puts out a solo album? The music sounds similar to that of the band you so loved, but it’s just not nearly as good. That is Dark Avengers. I flipped open this book and it looked remarkable like Warren Ellis’ Thunderbolts. Mike Deodato’s drawing all the same characters: Norman Osborn, Venom, Bullseye, Moonstone. If only the characters didn’t have to speak, because those word balloons pointed at their mouths are not nearly as engrossing. But even if Brian Bendis could channel Warren Ellis perfectly here, I’d still have to question the overall concept. Basically, we have a team of villains dressed up in the costumes of unregistered heroes like Spider-man, Wolverine, and Iron Man. Supposedly in the Marvel Universe, Iron Man is despised for his role in Secret Invasion. Spider-man and Wolverine are fugitives.  Why would Norman Osborn dress up his team like these social pariahs? It’d be like the Democrats trying to win the White House by nominating a George W. Bush clone. It doesn’t make any sort of sense.

Mighty Avengers #21 (W: Dan Slott, A: Khoi Pham): Thank you Dan Slott. Thank you for giving me a classic Avengers title to love. I adore this book. Going into the issue, I knew very little about the new team. I knew it involved Hank Pym and I could see Scarlet Witch and Jocasta were on the cover. That’s it. The roster Slott has chosen, assuming this is the permanent roster, is almost Nextwave insane.  And like Nextwave, it’s also brilliant. The dialogue is tight, often funny, and perfectly in character. While I’ve always felt Brian Bendis has trouble with team books (his best issues of New Avengers always only deal with 1 or 2 members of the team), Dan Slott’s writing shines when the scene is full of costumed crusaders. I do have to say Hank Pym’s new costume is atrocious; I have no problems with his new codename though. 

Uncanny X-Men Annual #2 (W: Matt Fraction, A: Mitch Breitweiser and Daniel Acuna): I’m sure I’m not the only one who was completely baffled by Emma Frost’s inclusion in Norman Osborn’s Dark Reign inner circle. She’s a good guy now! She’s been one of the white hats since the mid-nineties when she mentored Generation X along with Banshee. So while Brian Bendis did very little to justify her place at the table, Matt Fraction has taken up the challenge in this Uncanny X-Men Annual and does an admirable job of explaining her motivation. In addition to learning more about the White Queen’s thinking, we also get insight into her relationship with Namor. Pairing these two together was a genius move on Fraction’s part. Having two of the most arrogant members of the Marvel Universe interact, often through some intense flirting, brings out the best in both characters. I look forward to seeing these characters together more often. The art here is gorgeous. Mitch Breitweiser handles the present, while Daniel Acuna deals with the flashbacks. It’s unfortunate such a beautiful issue has to be marred by a fairly awful cover from Terry Dodson.

X-Factor #39 (W: Peter David, A: Valentine de Landro): I’m going to listen to Peter David’s plea on the recap page of this issue and not play spoiler. What I will do is implore you to pick up this issue! From the cover, I’m sure everyone knows this is the issue where Siryn and Madrox’s child is born. And like most of the best X-Factor stories David’s written, there’s a ton of humor, there’s some tragedy, and there’s no big superhero battles. The art is a vast improvement over the last story arc that introduced Darwin to the group. And, yes, there’s a huge twist here. A huge gut-wrenching twist that would be impossible to spoil without just outright saying what happens. Rarely in any creative medium do you have a moment so original, so unique, that your jaw just drops because you did not and could not see it coming. That is what happens in this issue. It’s impossible to over-hype.

Final Crisis: Superman Beyond 3D #2 (W: Grant Morrison, A: Doug Mahnke): The last issue of this book came out roughly forever ago. I don’t know if it was by design or because of delays, but the span between issues means I had no clue what was going on when I started reading this issue. Frankly though, that’s hardly a new feeling for me when reading a book written by Grant Morrison. I did remember enjoying the first issue, even though I didn’t remember what the heck was happening in it, so I decided to pick this one up despite the $4.50 price tag. It’s your fairly standard Grant Morrison issue. There are some great moments and other moments when you inevitably say to yourself, “what the hell was that?” Personally, I’ll be happy if I never have to read another book in 3D again. In addition to having to wear the ridiculous glasses, trying to read word balloons while looking at 3D images is a recipe for a splitting headache.

Trade of the week:
Fables: War and Pieces (W: Bill Willingham, A: Mark Buckingham): I finally got around to reading the latest Fables trade this week. If the title didn’t make it obvious, “War and Pieces” is the final battle between Fabletown and the Adversary’s forces. I loved the Cinderella story that leads into the war. She should really have her own Alias-style secret agent book. The main story, however, I found lacking. It’s anti-climactic, perhaps intentionally so, but that doesn’t make it any less disappointing. I thought Boy Blue’s post-war narration was a mistake. It took all the suspense out of the conflict. The last chapter feels rushed and really could’ve been expanded into an additional issue. There’s one moment featuring Boy Blue towards the end of the story that truly deserves a full page, but receives only a small sliver of one. If there was one aspect of this story that I loved, it was Prince Charming’s arc. Charming is really the star of those four chapters. And his relationship with Sinbad is also a huge highlight.

A Brand New Day

I haven’t posted anything since the inauguration of President Obama and, mostly, I blame that on giddiness. Seriously, I’ve been too happy to type. It’s been difficult sitting still. I constantly want to jump around and do cartwheels. It’s a welcome change from the last eight years.

Anyway, I’m now working on some new blog posts that I’ll have up soon. One on my favorite comic book series of 2008, another one about geeks on TV, and another on the new best night of television. (Not necessarily in that order.)

Also, a big thank you to Brea Grant for posting my speedster art on her blog and linking back here. She is tremendously cool for doing that.

Heroes’ Daphne Artwork

For those who may not know me all that well, over the past few months, I’ve become a big fan of actress Brea Grant (seen below looking adorable):

I’ve become a fan not just because of her work on Heroes and Friday Night Lights, though she’s amazing on both of those shows, but also because she has a wonderful blog that I check out whenever I’m bored at work. She’s a big geek. She reads comic books. She watches sci-fi tv shows. She’s incredibly accessible for her fans and very down-to-earth. She’s an actress you can really root for to succeed.

I had wanted to draw or paint a picture of Brea’s character from Heroes, Daphne, for a while, but I’d been busy and I also didn’t have any great ideas for the composition. I really wanted it to be something awesome. Then last week I started working on a birthday present for a friend of mine. I drew a portrait of her 5-month old son:

 

Yes, he does have that much hair. I actually “cut” it in the illustration because it was just looked too ridiculous otherwise. Before I started playing with his hair, it looked like something out of that faux-commercial from SNL for Baby Trump Wigs. Even with all that hair, he’s still one of the cutest babies I have ever seen. I finished the illustration and I was really happy with it. And once I get my artistic mojo going, it’s hard to stop it. So, of course, that is when the idea finally hit me for the Daphne drawing. This is by far the geekiest piece of art I have ever created and if you’ve seen my portfolio, that is saying a lot.  Here it is:

 

My first idea was to do Daphne, with trademark smirk across her face, running away from Hiro’s outstretched hand. I had had that image in my head for a long time (at least a month or two). It could’ve been cute, but it didn’t blow me away. Then this idea hit me. I couldn’t tell you when, it’s all sort of a blur (pardon the pun), but once the idea of the three speedsters racing appeared in my mind, I knew that’s what I was going to draw. I was super-psyched, and once I found all my reference, it took me about 4 hours to knock it out.

Initially, I thought about painting it. Sort of a rainbow of speedsters, going from Quicksilver in blue to Daphne in purple to The Flash in red. But I was so happy with the baby’s portrait I had just finished, I decided to stick with graphite for this one too. I think Brea’s likeness is just a little off. Her face is all of an inch and a half by an inch on the paper, so it’s tough to get all the details perfect when you’re drawing something in such a small area. I almost feel like doing a full-sized portrait just to prove to myself I can get it right. But overall, I’m happy with the final result. I love the composition as a whole.

I don’t have a title for it yet. Suggestions are welcome. I could go with something obvious like “Battle of the Speedsters” or  “Race of the Speedsters.” I also like the idea of a caption, perhaps “The speed force is totally overrated” or “… and I’m running in HEELS!”

–Erik

Note: I’ll probably post a link to a larger version of the drawing later. The picture above was taken with my digital camera. I think it will look a bit better when I import it using the scanner. Here’s a larger version: http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=79006421&albumID=1059614&imageID=40386035

George W. Bush’s Not-so-excellent Adventure

Anyone else getting the impression that George W. Bush has finally realized he’s going to go down in history as the worst President ever? Not only that, but with this “Bush Legacy Tour” and his “Exit Interview” press conference, I’m beginning to think he’s trying to model his presidency after the film “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.” He now knows his presidency has been an abject failure, but he’s thinking maybe if he aces the final exam, history will give him a pass. The problem is he doesn’t have a time-traveling telephone booth. Side note: How wrong is it that I can imagine the President of the United States sitting in the Oval Office and actually saying, “Man, I wish I had that magic phone booth, then me and So-crates could fix all this.”

I wonder when the realization hit him? I have a feeling it was on the night of November 4th. Was it the sight of Americans rejoicing in the street after Obama won? Or was it the scenes from around the world with crowds of elated individuals waving American flags and for once the flags weren’t on fire? I’m not sure when the exact moment was that the bubble around him finally burst, but I’m fairly certain it burst that night. It had to show him the American President is not automatically hated around the world. George Bush had not inherited their disgust, he had earned it.

Shortly after election night, the Bush Legacy Tour began. The American people were treated to interviews with nearly every member of the Bush Administration. And each Bushie was doing their best to spin the travesties of the last eight years into something positive. With the tour going about as well as the one documented in the film “This is Spinal Tap” (which staffer delivered the “Stonehenge” moment is debatable), the administration decided to trot out Laura Bush to spew the talking points. She, of course, had the highest approval rating of the bunch. Sadly, not even the First Lady could successfully execute the President’s “Bill & Ted” strategy. Neither the press nor the American people were buying it.

This set the stage for George W. Bush’s “Exit Interview” Press Conference. The President’s demeanor could only be described as that of a petulant child. He would try to make a point, and when the press corps rightfully didn’t buy it, he would throw what resembled a tantrum. But what reaction did Bush expect to get when he claimed his administration’s response to Katrina was not slow? Or when he listed his biggest disappointments in office and he didn’t mention starting the Iraq War, but instead just listed not finding any weapons of mass destruction and rolling out that huge “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED” banner? Apparently, the President had not considered the fact that both of those “disappointments” were entirely avoidable if he hadn’t gone to war with Iraq in the first place. In fact, most of Bush’s regrets revolved around PR. It was as if he didn’t regret any decisions he had made, he just regretted how his administration had marketed them to the American people.

Now I understand a President’s need to try and shape his legacy. Unless you’re a robot or Dick Cheney, you’re going to care what people think of you and how history remembers your Presidency. I can understand why Bill Clinton would fight to frame his 8 years in office as more than a punch line about a BJ and a stained dress. My problem with President Bush is his poor decisions effected more than just him, his administration, and his family. His decisions led directly or indirectly to the deaths of thousands upon thousands of Americans, as well as countless more Iraqis. And when Bush comes out and tries to alter the history of his Presidency like this, I believe it’s an insult to all those who were killed because of his decisions. It’s an insult to the families and friends of all those people who died.

So now that President Bush has tried his “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” strategy and it’s failed, I think it’s time he moved on to “Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey.” That’s right, it’s time for George W. Bush to go straight to hell.

Artwork and Stuff

Working on a few new blog posts, might have a new one up by the end of the night, but what I wanted to point out now is I added “Artwork” and “About Me” tabs to the blog. I posted a bunch of my favorite pieces under “Artwork” and you can find links to my Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter under the “About Me” tab.

That’s all for now.

My Favorite Wii Games of 2008

2008 was not the strongest year for Wii. The second half of the year was practically a barren wasteland when it came to first party games (that means games developed by Nintendo, for those who aren’t huge video game geeks). But there were still some very good games and I was able to put together a list of nine games (sadly, not ten) that I really enjoyed.

1. Guitar Hero: World Tour: Sometimes ignorance is bliss. Never having played Rock Band, I don’t see the flaws in GH:WT that others seem to. While I do have issues with some of the song selections ( acoustic “About a Girl” from Nirvana doesn’t scream Guitar Hero like “Heart-Shaped Box” or “Rape Me” would’ve), but, overall, I find the game incredibly addictive. Plus it’s the first game that allows you to save downloadable content to an SD card. With the Wii’s severely limited storage capacity, that’s a huge deal. Since the game was released in November, I’ve already downloaded at least ten songs, including ones from Blind Melon, the Smashing Pumpkins, R.E.M., and Nirvana.

2. No More Heroes: No game is more fun for the first two hours than No More Heroes. NMH oozes style with it’s hilariously cheesy cut-scenes, over-the-top violence, pixelated blood, and retro-gaming menus. It does get repetitive after a while, but all beat-’em-ups do.

3. Wii Fit: I had a tough time placing Wii Fit on my list here. It was always going to make the list, but where to put it? It’s not really much of a game. It’s more of a workout tool. That being said, for someone who rarely exercised before Wii Fit, this game made exercising fun. At least, for a few months anyway. And even when you get bored with the exercises, it’s still useful to check your weight and see how much you’ve lost or gained.

4. de Blob: If you eliminate the controls from the equation, de Blob might be my favorite game of the year. It’s graphical style is perfectly suited for Wii. The presentation is top-notch. The concept and gameplay is quite original. And the game has a great sense of humor. In de Blob, you control a blob of color who’s tasked with painting the town red, blue, green, or any other color really. You jump from building to building bringing color back to a currently black and white world. You have to transform landmarks like the “Church of Inktology” back to their original designs (often art galleries, radio stations, etc.). The problem with all of this is the developer decided to map the most crucial control in the game to a waggle. That’s right, to JUMP you shake the Wii remote. It’s idiotic, completely unintuitive, and for some players, it will be a deal breaker. It’s such a shame. But if you can get past that one moronic control choice, the game is a ton of fun.

5. Okami: Released on PS2 a couple years ago, Okami made perfect sense as a Wii port. The gameplay involves painting attacks with a brush. Controlling the brush with the Wii remote feels very intuitive (much more so than controlling it with an analog stick). The game borrows heavily from the Legend of Zelda franchise, but brings enough original ideas to check it out. Plus, if you’re going to be a clone of any game, being a Zelda clone ain’t a bad thing. The game does have a few false endings which will make you scream, “Wait! There’s more?!” Graphically, the cel-shading is beautiful and ideal for Wii.

6. Super Smash Bros. Brawl: Nintendo’s first venture into the online arena, SSBB was almost everything you’d want in a sequel: more characters, more stages, more modes, more items, more of everything really. The biggest problem with the game is the online mode. SSBB is a game that requires some precision and it’s online mode is a lagfest. Nintendo tried to minimize this issue by allowing gamers to see the connection speed of their competitors and let the gamer decide if they wanted to join a match with someone with a questionable connection speed. But even when you had 4 players with perfect connections, there was still a lag of a half-second of so. This being said, there are very few games with more fun local multiplayer modes. So invite your friends over to play, but don’t fight your battles online.

7. Lego Batman: If you like Legos and you like Batman, you will like this game. If you don’t, I don’t want to know you. Lego Batman is not revolutionary in any way. The developers really haven’t improved the formula much from the Lego Star Wars games. And it’s ludicrous there’s no online co-op mode. But it’s still Lego Batman. And that just makes it inherently awesome.

8. Mario Kart Wii: While Smash Bros. was Nintendo first online game for Wii, Mario Kart was Nintendo’s first successful one. Mario Kart Wii does nothing to try and reinvent the franchise and the battle mode is a little weak. But its online mode is very well done. The interface is nice, the way the players are introduced with the spinning globe is very cool, and the gameplay never lags. The reason the game isn’t higher on my list is simple: the blue shell. Those who’ve played any Mario Kart know what I’m talking about. In Mario Kart, blue shells are the cheapest of cheap items and in Mario Kart Wii they come up way too much. So much so, you almost don’t want to even try for first place until the final lap (blue shells hit the racer in first place and cannot be blocked or avoided). And the inclusion of blue shells in coin battles was just an insanely stupid idea.

9. Boom Blox: Created by EA and Steven Spielberg, Boom Blox is like a game of reverse Jenga. Instead of trying to build the tower up, you try and knock as many blocks off as you can. If you’ve finally tired of Wii Sports and you’re looking for a good casual game, this is it.

Midseason Report Card: Heroes

HEROES

SYNOPSIS: The first half of the season was devoted to the Villains arc which meant every character had to use the word “villain(s)” at least one time. A bunch of new character were introduced and then all were promptly killed by the arc’s end, other than the speedster Daphne. Sylar went from bad to good to bad again. Hiro lost his powers. Peter lost his powers, then got them back. Nathan turned evil in the last episode. Peter and Nathan’s father turned out to be alive; now he’s dead again courtesy of Sylar. Parkman and Daphne were/are fated to be together. Ando developed the ability to strengthen others abilities (which had to be disappointing for him). Suresh offered more over the top narration while he broke out in scales. Claire yearned to be more than a punching bag. And we learned artist Isaac Mendez managed to release more work after his death than Tupac.

WHAT WORKED: Sylar’s journey was fun. I enjoyed the Elle/Sylar Bonnie and Clyde dynamic for the short time it lasted. The character of Daphne (played by Brea Grant) was a breath of fresh air and was smartly introduced as part of Hiro’s story. The Hiro/Daphne arch-nemesis relationship was hilarious in the early episodes of the season, but sadly not explored enough for my liking. Adrian Pasdar (Nathan) and Jack Coleman (HRG) made the best of the material they were given.

WHAT DIDN’T WORK: Let’s start with a quote from showrunner Tim Kring:

“I was primarily fascinated by the origin story. Once the original story is over, and the character has no more questions about what’s happening or existential drama, then the questions become just about plot, and then it becomes harder for me personally to connect to.”

That’s not exactly encouraging if you’re a fan of Heroes or, I imagine, if you work on the show. The showrunner admits he’s bored with the story he’s telling, it’s hard to provide much harsher criticism than that, but here are a few things that bugged me. Over the top dialogue was given to actors who simply couldn’t pull it off. Zachary Quinto (Sylar) can deliver any cheesy line you give him, but others in the cast will make you laugh or cringe with similiar material. The romantic relationships all felt very forced and weren’t given enough time to develop properly. You should never tell your audience two characters are fated to fall in love. It almost guarantees a backlash from fans. The writers just lucked out that the Daphne/Matt relationship wasn’t a total disaster (largely due to talent and likeability of the actors involved). Interesting newer characters were killed while played-out characters from the original cast lived and continued to bore.

HOW TO FIX IT: Get rid of Kring and put Bryan Fuller (creator of the brilliant but canceled “Pushing Daisies”) in charge. He was one of the main reason season one was so good. And his absence was one of the main reason season two was so awful. Recently, Fuller rejoined the Heroes staff as a consultant.

Focus more on Peter Parker and less on Spider-man. The human element of the heroes is what the audience really connects to.

Don’t be afraid to kill some of the original cast. I know some characters are probably untouchable (Claire, Peter), but there are others who could get the ax in favor of some new blood. Is there really much left of Suresh’s story to be told? And while I love Greg Grunberg (Matt Parkman on the show), wouldn’t it be all poetic and twisted if he died in Daphne’s arms after he had that vision of Daphne dying in his arms?

GRADE: B-

My Favorite Television Shows of 2008

While I was hesitant to put together a list of my favorite films of 2008 because I haven’t seen nearly enough of them, I have no such qualms about posting this corresponding list of my favorite television shows of the year, as I watch way too much TV. The one show you will not find on this list is Mad Men. I hate Mad Men. I think it’s the most overrated show on television. Also, there are some SPOILERS AHEAD if you aren’t caught up to the most current episodes of these series. And with that, here’s my list:

1. The Shield: My top two show are both police dramas, but could not be more different. The Shield may be a fantasy compared to the hyper-realistic The Wire, but, damn, if it isn’t compelling. The Shield ended it’s 7-year run with a bang. In Vic Mackey’s quest to remain out of prison, he managed to throw away everything and everyone he cared about. Mackey finally confessing all his sins was the best, most powerful scene of 2008. And if you want confirmation that the Emmys and Golden Globes are total embarrassments at this point, look no further than their refusal to nominate Walton Goggins for best supporting actor. His performance as Shane Vandrell, this year especially, was always enthralling. 

2. The Wire: This is kind of unfair. Over the past year, I’ve watched all 5 seasons of The Wire. So it’s hard for me to separate season 5 from the first 4. That being said, I did love season 5. And it was great to see Clark Johnson in front of the camera again.

3. Pushing Daisies: I’m not a big procedural fan, but those that I do love have two things in common: serial elements/overarching stories and an interesting hook. Pushing Daisies has both of those things in abundance. When Pushing Daisies premiered, I think everyone thought “Oh, it looks like Tim Burton made a TV show.” But it became something truly original and unique. And while it certainly wasn’t for everyone (as evidenced by the ratings), television will be less without it. Pushing Daisies had it’s own weird, color-saturated, storybook universe, and I savored every minute I got to spend in it.

4. Battlestar Galactica: They find earth… and it’s irradiated wasteland! Humanity is screwed! Even if you’re not a sci-fi fan, Battlestar always brings great human drama.

5. The Daily Show/The Colbert Report: In an election year, the combo of TDS and TCR are a must-watch every night. Colbert was especially good playing a conservative commentator trying to (poorly) contain his disgust for John McCain.

6. The Office: I think the debate is over. The UK Office may have been the first, but the US Office is the better series. It’s in it’s fifth year and so far this season has been it’s best. I watch every episode twice (thank you DVR) because the first time through I’m constantly laughing so hard that I miss some of the dialogue. They also get major points for managing to put Jim and Pam together without ruining the show.

7. Lost: Lost’s had some hiccups over the years, but the major flaw was always that the flashbacks were rarely as interesting as the story on the island. This season the writing team fixed that problem by switching from flashbacks to flashforwards. Was this season perfect? No. But it was pretty close and had a very satisfying season finale.

8. The Unit: Have you ever thought, “Ya know, I love 24, but it’s not intense enough for me”? Then “The Unit” is the show for you. David Mamet and Shawn Ryan, creator of The Shield, week in and week out deliver some of the most edge-of-your-seat action of any show on television. It’s almost like a realistic version of The A-Team. It’s sad that this show gets lost among all of CBS’s procedurals.

9. Fringe: Halfway through the first part of this season, I was afraid Fringe was in danger of already becoming a parody of itself. Every week it seemed Walter Bishop’s past was somehow tied to another freaky-deaky case in the present and Joshua Jackson’s one-liners were getting lamer and lamer. But then the writers seemed to recognize the flaws and fixed everything. And the “fall season finale” was the best episode yet. Easily the best new show of the season.

10. Countdown with Keith Olbermann/The Rachel Maddow Show: Again, in an election year, you need some political shows. To borrow a metaphor from John McCain, when you need an axe and a scalpel, Olbermann and Maddow are the perfect combination. Olbermann is, not surprisingly, the axe. He can be hot-headed and often over-the-top, but his special/campaign comments over the last two weeks of the campaign did a great job of pointing out the hypocrisy of the McCain/Palin ticket. Maddow would then be the scalpel. She’s incredibly smart. She lets her guests talk, but then is always ready to throw the counter-punch when they finish a point. She has a love of politics that is infectious and really was the breakout star of this year’s election coverage. In a lot of ways she reminds of Tim Russert. Granted, unlike Russert, she wears her political leanings on her sleeve, but she just comes across as a nice, genuine person and you never feel like she’s trying to beat up on guests who are on the opposite side of an issue (unlike so many others in cable news). Also, unlike some other liberal commentators, when she’s disagreed with Obama, she’s really gone after him.

11*. Friday Night Lights: FNL would be competing for a top 5 spot on my list, but I just haven’t seen enough episodes from 2008 yet. I’m a little over halfway through season 2 on DVD and I haven’t seen any of season 3 since I don’t have DirecTV. That being said, I can’t just throw it in the Honorable Mention category. It’s just too good. If there’s any show that is guaranteed to make you swell up with emotion, it’s Friday Night Lights. It may be the only show on this list that’s made me teary-eyed at any point.

Honorable Mention: Chuck, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, 30 Rock, Burn Notice, House, Life, The Ultimate Fighter, Psych, Top Chef, The Soup, Smallville