My Hits List of 2009

There have been a lot of best and worst of 2009 lists floating around and I thought I'll do my own little list. My previous post listed my misses of 2009 and now I give you my hits.

Not sure why I started to watch you but you're actually quite good - The Good Wife

Breakout star in a bad show - Katie Cassidy, Melrose Place

I can't believe you're not watching this - Better Off Ted

You're a star - TNT for picking up Southland

I can't stop watching this scene - Kurt and the football team doing Beyonce's Single Ladies, Glee

Outstanding multi performances - Jane Lynch (Party Down and Glee) and Toni Collette (United States of Tara)

Most improved but I always thought you were good - Parks and Recreation

Your character annoys other people on the show but I think you're brilliant - Sheldon, The Big Bang Theory

Best network manoeuvre - ABC's Wednesday night comedy trio

I can't believe you've left me hanging - Lost's season 5 finale

Best new shows that more people should talk about - Nurse Jackie and United States of Tara

Got cancelled just as the show hit its a storyline high - Dollhouse

Best answer to a question - Quagmire answering Brian's question 'why don't you like me', Family Guy

My Misses List of 2009

There have been a lot of best and worst of 2009 lists floating around and I thought I'll do my own little list. I warn you now, that this isn't your standard best show and worst show list. I've been a little inventive with my awards. I start of with the misses list.

What were you thinking? - NBC cancelling Southland before the new series was aired

I can't believe you're still on the air - Heroes

Hail Mary attempt at more viewers - Claire's lesbian kiss, Heroes

It's not what it says on the packaging - FlashForward. Some billed it as the next Lost, well it's not.

I should really turn it over - The Cleveland Show

Stop and stare moment - Heather Locklear's face. There's something going on that I can't quite figure out.

Biggest waste of an hour - The Beautiful Life

Biggest waste of half an hour - Hank

I like you but I couldn't keep watching your show - Alex O'Loughlin and Alfre Woodard, Three Rivers

Is it you or your character that annoys me - Joseph Fiennes, Mark on FlashForward

Are you trying to kill the show on purpose? - Fox moving Fringe from Tuesday to overloaded Thursday

Do you want people to watch you? - NBC's dwindling primetime scripted shows.

Most obvious outcome in a cliffhanger - Grey's Anatomy with George and Izzie

The CW's New Class

The CW has probably seen some of its best and worst ratings from its freshman shows in the fall season. Out of the three shows, one was cancelled after two episodes and another has been struggling from the start. Where did The Beautiful Life and Melrose Place go wrong and why has The Vampire Diaries flourished for the network?

I’ll start with The Beautiful Life, though I won’t go into it too much or I’ll repeat the same things that I mentioned in a post after the show got cancelled. What was meant to get people excited seemed to rest on three things. The fact it was centred on models, was meant to attract viewers of American’s Next Top Model, the television comeback of Mischa Barton and Ashton Kutcher as co producer.

Unfortunately for this show, that’s where it went wrong. Just because ANTM is popular doesn’t mean people want to watch a drama about models. Too much attention was placed on the fact that Barton was back on TV since her character was killed off in The OC. I don’t think people really cared and it might have actually put some off watching. Then comes to my last point, Ashton Kutcher fans might not want to watch a show that doesn’t actually show him. How much creative control did he actually have? It’s not like he’s a top draw producer/show creator where fans will follow every show they do.

If it wasn't for The Beautiful Life, then Melrose Place would have been the worst performer from the start. MP's ratings haven't been great, stumbling behind 90210; both not being able to surpass 2 million viewers this season. The failures of Melrose Place is sort of similar to why 90210 isn't working. Banking on fans of the original to follow it and forgetting about attracting viewers that weren't fans and keeping them. It was something I touched upon before about TV remakes.

This brings me to The Vampire Diaries, based on a series of books. I'm not too familiar with the success of the books so I can't say that was my reason for watching the show. Three things brought it to my attention; Kevin Williamson, Ian Somerhalder and vampires. Now I shall explain. I'm a Dawson's Creek fan, I've watched Ian on Young American's, Tell Me You Love Me and Lost. I also watched a lot of things involving vampires (Buffy, Angel, Twilight, Moonlight, etc). I think that as characters, vampires are complex and can be a writers dream, if they know what to do with them, other than make them drink blood.

Whether or not it was their complete intention, the timing of TVD was impeccable. With the success of Twilight and books being made into films/TV shows, there was a market to tap into. As we all know, things like this don't guarantee success but it did get 4.8m viewers for the first episode. What keeps people watching is the cast, including Paul Wesley, Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder and the excellent writing. The mid-season finale had it all, with an ending that made you want to count down the days until the next episode, to see the conclusion.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not someone who's only exposure to 90210 and Melrose Place has been in the past year or two. I did watch both shows when they were originally aired, though not in its entirety. There's just a big difference in quality between Melrose Place and The Vampire Diaries and the ratings paint the picture. MP seems to lack a meaty storyline and real direction. Bringing Heather Locklear isn't enough, she needs something to work with. There does seem to be a slight improvement and the last episode aired shows it. With the break and Auggie and Violet due to leave the canvas, they have a chance to make creative changes.

A new show will be joining the party in January. Life Unexpected is due to start in January. I'm quietly excited by this and it has the opportunity of being a hit for the network and I hope it is. The older shows like Supernatural, Smallville and One Tree Hill aren't going to be around forever and The CW needs to find its next batch of hits.

The World to Stop Turning

Though I thought the day would come soon, I never thought that the announcement of another soap being cancelled would be this year. As The World Turns has been cancelled by CBS, who broadcast Guiding Light for the last time in September. I've only ever watched a couple of episodes of this so I won't comment on that, but soaps are definitely becoming an endangered TV species.

Originally starting in 1956, the show will air for the last time on CBS in September 2010. This will leave CBS with two soaps and six across all networks. I thought that this announcement would come next year, so it didn't surprise me. What did surprise was the timing of the announcement.

Unfortunately money talks and this will leave many without a job. Soaps are an expensive business and it's been a well documented issue regarding contract negotiations and pay-cuts, amongst the actors. Networks want cheap programmes and this leans towards things like quiz shows.

I guess the next question is, what will be next. I don't think it will be another CBS show just yet. My money is on One Life To Live, though I think All My Children will give it a run for its money.

Fav Scene of the Week 6th - 12th Dec 09

Well I have to say that this choice was a particularly had one to make with many of the shows airing their holiday episode/mid season finale episode. Modern Family was in the frame, which seems to be a regular occurrence. Glee and Community were also a possibility but instead I went for Parks and Recreation.

This show is one of my favourite new shows and the episode as a whole kept me laughing throughout. I picked the scene with Leslie having to deny an affair, on a TV show. There is also a scene with Ron sandwiched in between.

King of the Castle

It seems rare these days for me to be continuously entertained by an hour long show but Castle has managed to do that since the first episode. It uses a notable formula of having a male and female as the main characters with underlying sexual chemistry. It’s this chemistry that helps make this show work; quick wit, excellent writing and a great cast. I, for one, was drawn by Nathan Fillion at first and everything about this show has kept me watching. It isn't just about Fillion, Stana Katic, Seamus Dever and Jon Huertas should also get a mention, as well as the rest of the cast.

What also helps for me is the casting of guest stars, especially the Buffy alumni (it's one of my favourite shows so I love seeing actors from there). More great casting is to come with Alyssa Milano set to appear in January.

The relationship that Richard Castle has with the women in his life is fascinating and also is a testament to the character. He has a great relationship with his daughter and mother and I find his interactions with other females hilarious, especially the flirting with Beckett.

While people are talking about other shows, in terms of why they are struggling with story-lines or ratings, Castle has been quietly building good storylines to keep me entertained. The last episode got 8.4m and though this isn't setting the house on fire, I urge ABC to renew this show.

Fav Scene of the Week 29th Nov - 5th Dec 09

For this week, I have chosen Fringe. This is one of my favourite shows and this episode saw Walter trying to function on his own. I've actually chosen two scenes from the episode. The first is with Astrid and what I loved about it was how caring he was with her. Plus the fact that its taken a while for him to actually remember her name.

The second scene is with Peter and I thought it was heartfelt and funny at the same time. Their relationship is amongst my favourites; it's dysfunctional and there are many answers that have yet to be answered.

FlashForward UK Ratings

The UK might have got the opportunity to see episode 10 of FlashForward, three days before the US but ratings hit a low. According to Digital Spy early figures show that the episode only pulled in 1.98m in its regular 9pm slot, coming fourth in the hour. Over the 10 weeks it’s been on, the show has averaged 2.63m. The second episode gained the shows highest ratings with 3.26m.

FlashForward: Revealed, which included interviews with the show's actors and writers, was shown straight after and only managed 851k. I didn’t watch this myself, as the show hasn’t garnered anymore interest for me to want to sit through interviews.

The show has failed to live up to the kind of buzz that it initially had. The mid-season finale has tried to do the usually and keep people hooked until the show comes back from their hiatus but will it be enough. Co-show runner, Marc Guggenheim departed the show 2 months ago and production was temporarily shut down a couple of weeks ago. We just have to wait and see if there’s any difference to the quality, when it returns.