As everything's pretty much finale-d, gimme your thoughts on the 05-06 season. Just a rundown of all your shows or the season in general.

I'll start with the comedies...

Though they weren't the comedies buzzed about at the beginning of the season that some proclaimed would revive the genre (My Name is Earl, How I Met Your Mother, Everybody Hates Chris, none of which I latched onto), my trifecta of comedies killed this year: The Office, Arrested Development, and Scrubs all came back as strong as ever - creatively, at least - with The Office cementing itself as a legitimate comedy, Arrested Development just as good in its final season despite the ups and downs of its fate and its shortened episode arc, and Scrubs displaying the best balance of comedy and heart on TV with what I also think are also some of TV's best performances. Naturally, the only people watching these were me and about four of you guys.

Twas a great year for the comedy, I say, and that even goes without mentioning Extras, Ricky Gervais's semi-brilliant Office follow-up, and Weeds, a bit of a Desperate Housewives clone, only not ridiculous.

Low points? Not really. How I Met Your Mother did disappoint me, but I wasn't too broken up about it. I liked the first couple episodes of Everybody Hates Chris but not enough to stick around. And although Earl amused me, I never really found myself laughing. Maybe it'll work for me next year. There are worse comedies (a lot, actually) that could be pulling in good numbers. I guess the only really low point for me would be Desperate Housewives, which I kind of found overrated from episode one and uninteresting and unfunny enough early on this season to stop watching. And I haven't looked back. (I heard the finale was horrific.) Other than that, nothing to complain about, really, in terms of comedy. Strong year.

And besides, in a season that finally takes down Yes, Dear and Still Standing, what's not to like?

Comedies: I came into this season watching only Arrested Development and Scrubs. (I was disappointed by The Office pilot, and didn't watch the first season.) I decided to try How I Met Your Mother, Everybody Hates Chris, and that one about the family of doctors that I can't remember the name of. The only one I kept around on my TiVo for a second episode was Chris, which I'm pretty much bored of now, but still watch when I'm out of shows on the TiVo.

Arrested Development was amazing. Perfect final season, though I wish it hadn't had to end. When Scrubs finally started, it was better than ever. It just went insane, apparently. It levelled out, though, and I would probably rate it behind season 3, but still a decent season. Around the time Scrubs came back, I started watching The Office and My Name is Earl. The Office I fell in love with. I bought the first season and caught up on the second season. Earl, well, it's pretty much another Chris for me.

So I went into the season with two series, and came out with two, so not a bad season.

Dramas: For the most part, a very disappointing season. I didn't find a single new drama to watch. Of the shows I watched (or at least attempted to in some cases) at the beginning of the season (Veronica Mars, Grey's, House, Gilmore Girls, ER, Criminal Minds and Related) I no longer watch ER (the Abby/Luka thing finally got me to give it up), only watch Gilmore Girls on fast forward, only put up with Related for two episodes (I really tried, Mason, I did), watched about half the season of Criminal Minds (I really tried, Inigo!) and suffer through Grey's and House.

Veronica Mars got off to a shaky start this season (thank god the horrible Donut stuff is over), but finished at the top of its game, so it's the only good thing this season. At the beginning of the season, and up until about February, Grey's was my second favorite show on tv. But Denny had to come along and ruin it. I'll still watch, because I have to be able to talk to my friends (which is why I still fast forward through Gilmore Girls) and because I love Sandra Oh and Chandra Wilson, but I don't enjoy soap operas. House has become very formulaic with a few exceptions throughout the season, but not many. It finished well, but that doesn't make up for it.

So, over all, not a good season.

Really, for me, the past season or two has been dissapointing.
Dramas surrounded by buzz like Greys Anatomy and House have never impressed me, too formuliac. I don't want to sit down and watch a tv show every week that doesn't care that much about the before and after, I want to be head over heels gripped by whats going on, left on the edge of my seat and gripped with desperation for the next episode to arrive NOW. I have never felt that way with these shows. Old shows are slipping in terms of quality and some of the best comedies and dramas on the air bowed out this year with little more than a whimper in the ratings. Indeed, I've only been watching a select few shows (Scrubs, Desperate Housewives, Alias) with any regularity. I declined to watch season two of lost so far because I know how this story goes. I don't know the mystery behind the island of course, but I do know that without JJ Abrams, a show like Lost can get, well, Lost very quickly - and I was never as attached to the drama as I have been with his other creation. Still, I will enivitably catch up with some of this season and return to Lost in the near future.

Desperate Housewives is a show I expected to be horrible this season considering the typically melodramatic word from over the pond. Not so, every episode has been entertaining and engaging. As it is, Desperate Housewives is a great soap opera. Yes it's getting a little repetitive and could do with a large missle attack on Wysteria Lane, but these are characters who are funny and interesting and even just them doing what they do best is worth watching.

Alias, Of course, was the most significant show on my viewing schedule. Without it I feel lost and empty.
With it, I had no need to watch any other TV show. Alias provided me with a daily fix of TV entertainment greater than anything I'd ever been given before or have been given since. No matter how many fans of particular other shows might dismiss it as inferior, Alias has always been much smarter than anything else on television. The show managed to avoid crashing and burning when JJ Abrams left season 3, yes it entered a period of mixed up storylines, but it emerged beautifully season 4 and provided reinvention after reinvention with the same core characters driving the narrative on. When Alias ended, it ended at its best. It's last 8 episodes were arguably the shows best single run ever.


In all, A very weak season largely due to the departure of some of my old favourites, and the shows replacing them on the buzz charts being bloated, overhyped and dissapointing messes.

Overall, for me it was an incredibly uneven year. Not one show delivered consistently great quality.

Grey's Anatomy came close but completely fell apart in the last 4 or 5 episodes.

Desperate Housewives was on average below par but had quite a few stand-out episodes that really saved it from going down the hill.

Lost started off at its best, slowed down, and then ended just as good as it started.

Rescue Me also started with its best and delivered consistently until the shift in the show's direction at the very end.

I didn't watch Arrested Development consistently but the last few episodes were priceless.

Alias started off okay and turned into the most boring and tiresome it's been and then totally revamped and revisited its glory days till the very end.

So, very mixed and frustrating season for me

Well, my schedule has became both more busy and less in this year over last. On one hand, because of KJ, I've dropped shows like Two and a Half Men and How I Met Your Mother because I've gotten too wrapped up chatting on here. Also, because of soccer practice and movies adding to that, watching all my shows has become a difficult. Because of overlaps and such, I've also had to drop The OC and The Apprentice, which wasn't a shame because I was at the point where I didn't like those shows anymore anyways. I've discovered the wonders of the torrent this year, and have had to use it multiple times on Lost, AI, and some more. Still, I have a direct 5 or so shows that I attach to more than any other: One Tree Hill, Lost, AI, Survivor, The Amazing Race. I only have my 2 non-reality ones that I am attached to, and I am content with them. Next year I may add Veronica Mars to the list as well if my crappy Canadian channels broadcast it. With the ratings, I've spent the entire year tracking One Tree Hill and it's quest for Season 4 survival. My fandom for it has increased this year, in a lot of ways thanks to the internet fansites and such I learned to interact with and visit constantly this year. Overall, it was a satisfying season, if as stressful one. The campaign of the last couple months has been streneous to my mindset to say the least, always on the brink.

It was indeed an unimpressive year for dramas.

Lost started huge, with about two or three episodes that I thought rivaled the best of season one. But with the introduction of new characters that were initially interesting but gradually wore and big character arcs without resolution or follow-up, the season really started to spin its wheels, and tuning into Lost on Wednesdays almost became a bit of a chore for me. It also ended big, but it was really too late too little.

Alias' final season had its fun moments, but any real semblance of it being the drama that I once thought was the best on TV was gone by the disappointing finale. A weak season, creatively speaking, with a really simplistic ending to what were some very complex familial relations. Even the fun stuff like the Syd double felt tired, like we'd seen it before.

I only saw a few episodes of Grey's Anatomy this season. The bomb episode worked for me. The finale, not so much. It's probably not enough for me to judge the show as a whole, but from what I did see, I just couldn't connect with any of the characters and found a lot of them to be downright obnoxious. I realize that Grey's is not ER; it's a romantic comedy in a hospital, not a hospital drama. But whereas ER is very fluid, Grey's feels calculated to me, like the writers are striving for wit and maybe a little too successful.

And speaking of ER, I still think it's a solid show, but I've really lost touch with it. I think what's lacking from the show is a central character around whom the show centers its emotion. For a while that's been Abbey, and while I still think Maura Tierney is great, they're not doing enough with her character. I'm a longtime ER fan and I'll stick with it to the bitter end, but for the sake of the show, they need to bring in someone interesting.

The only other drama I watched a lot of last season but dropped this year was Boston Legal, which fell into Housewives territory of getting unwatchably ridiculous.

I saw a few episodes of Veronica Mars (from what I can remember, all were a bit meh). But I didn't see enough to judge the season.

So yeah, all in all, a bit of a letdown.

That's not to say there weren't a couple bright spots.

Six Feet Under ended its five season run in late August. Albeit not perfect, the final season was hugely affecting, killing off its main character and eulogizing him in the show's final three episodes, all of which elevated dramatic television to a new level for me. Not to mention the show, about death, flash-forwarding to the deaths of each of its principal characters. It might be forgotten come Emmy time, but there are performances in these episodes that I just can't imagine the Academy ignoring come nomination time.

Huff also finally returned in March after a year and a half hiatus. Though ignored by everyone except me and the Emmy voters, its second season, still running, has been fantastic so far, also with some powerhouse acting and some fixes to some of the faults that hindered the first season.

And finally, Big Love, which started out a bit rough, has become an extremely watchable light drama. Probably won't gain any Emmy attention (not even sure if I'd award it anything), but it's probably the drama I have the most fun watching on TV.

This year saw a resurgence for the TV sitcom after years of being near death. With The Office and My Name is Earl. Earl was hit and miss, some episodes were not as funny as they should have been, but it periodically was very funny and charming and got decent ratings with no laugh track. The Office took some time for me to get into because I didn't like the first 6 episodes last year all that much, but I gave it more chances and fell for it, the show had the best and most consistent season of any show I watched this year, ranks up there with Lost's first season. This year was the first time for me that any good sitcoms were on the air since the late 90s when Seinfeld was still around and Friends was still going well. They got back by slowing things down and getting away from the "anything goes" quality that came to dominate sitcoms.

As to dramas, 24 had an improved year, more entertaining than previous seasons which I couldn't get into. It was helped a lot by guest stars and by a change in presidents from the politically correct oh so good Palmer to the conniving Logan. Lost started out interesting, then took some strange and unpleasant turns, it was up and down all season, sometimes good as with Maternity Leave and other times showing signs of bad writing. But near the end of the the season it started getting steadily better and finished with a great finale. For now it seems back on track. House had a pretty good season but the show suffers from some of the same arrogance of the main character, always trying to prove how smart it is with medical jargon which can distance the show from the audience. The formula it uses also became more apparent. The highlight of the season in hindsight was the episodes focusing on Wilson and House's friendship, it added some needed humanness and gave us another set outside the hospital.

One surprise was the new show The Colbert Report. It came out of nowhere and for me took over the time that I used to use to watch The Daily Show, which I dont watch much anymore.

I don't think even Comedy Central expected Colbert to make the splash that he did, from "truthiness" to that little thingy he did at that Republican... thingy. I think he's become almost as bankable as The Daily Show itself.

He's even one of the Time's 100!