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

Character Transplants Needed

The other week, I had a conversation about characters that I found either annoying or boring and could do with a personality transplant (a rewrite would do). So I decided to write them down.

Catherine and Orson from Desperate Housewives. I'm struggling to remember why they are even needed anymore. Catherine is so annoying that she's actually taken over the role of the most annoying character, from Susan. I was actually disappointed that Susan didn't do a better job of shooting her. What was once a intriguing character, Orson has now turned into a bad side show, like his kleptomaniac storyline from last season. Maybe with the plane crash coming, these two can finally be removed from our screens.

Thirteen and Foreman (Foreteen) from House. To put one annoying character with a boring one really made for one of the least interesting couples. Even the break up was boring and left me saying 'so what'. For me, they were in competition for the title with Riley and Jonah from Melrose Place.

Speaking of Melrose Place, Violet is next on the list. You can critisize the acting, writing or both. Whichever way, this character is awful and uncomfortable to watch. I, for one, am happy that the end of this character is near. It doesn't convey crazy very well, just sad and desperate, like Catherine from Desperate Housewives.

Langston from CSI. I'm I in a small minority of people that are not excited by the crossover. I will certainly watch it but if this is the plan to gain back the viewers that have left, then they should have used a different character. Maybe this could be the thing that turns it around for the character and we might get to see more depth. If not, I just feel that Laurence Fishburne should have been given a better character to work with.

Chief Webber from Grey's Anatomy. You just have to watch it to know why. He's going round sacking people and like Derek said, he needs to take some blame for the chaos he's created. I loved Arizona's scene with him on last week's episode.

I'm sure there are more but those are my main ones though Ryan from Three Rivers nearly made the list. I thought I should give it a couple of more episodes.

I Think We Have An Emergency

What can be said about the three new hospital dramas that debuted this fall? Mercy, Three Rivers and Trauma have aired to less than impressive ratings and less than favoured reviews. There was a big gap left in NBC’s schedule after ER ended; it was a mainstay in the schedule for 15 seasons. It puzzled me that NBC went for both Trauma and Mercy but hey, I’m no network exec.

I’ve watched all three of these dramas and in the case of Mercy and Trauma; I’ve already stopped watching them. With Mercy, I lasted 3 episodes and 5 minutes of episode 4. My problem with this show was that I just didn’t care. I didn’t care that one of them had issues since returning from war. I couldn’t sympathise with her or understand her to any extent. I found Michelle Trachtenberg’s character a bore and more annoying than her character in Buffy and I never thought that could ever be possible. I couldn’t find a character to route for and the storylines were boring. The show has been picked up for a full season.

What can I say about Trauma? A quote from my mother sums it up “Trauma is traumatic to watch.” The last episode I watched had someone being electrocuted, another guy’s arm cut off and a guy falling on something that went straight through his body. The show seems to be intent on finding ways to try and gross people out. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t get grossed out easily, I’ve seen four of the Saw films and will watch the latest. I don’t mind watching things like this on film, but I don’t want to see this week in and week out. It wouldn’t be such a bad problem if there was a storyline, some character development, anything to keep people interested. it seems like a mini-movie with no plot and just an aim to see how much they can spend on effects.

News came this week that NBC was to air 13 episodes but it was as good as cancelled. Someone mentioned that it would at least give it time to wrap up storylines, what storylines?

This then moves me on to Three Rivers, which I'm still watching. This is a very slow paced show and even with a storyline about a bus crash, it's still failed to ignite anything in this show. For a couple of episodes, ratings for this show haven’t been helped by extended football games but that is no excuse. The slow paced drama has one thing over the over two - three actors with a fan base. Alex O'Loughlin, Alfre Woodard and Katherine Moennig are probably keeping some viewers watching despite the show itself. In some ways, that's probably part of the reason I'm still watching it. All three of them have been part of shows that I've watched (Moonlight, Desperate Housewives and Young Americans). I feel like I'm waiting for something to happen, I'm just not sure what it is yet.

I have yet to hear of anyone with the opinion that they think Three Rivers or Trauma will get a second season. I'm not looking for an ER replacement, as I stopped watching it for the last few seasons that were aired. I just think that with medical dramas, there should be a good balance between the medicine, the characters, the story within the episode and the story within the season. I don't want a snooze fest either, just a well-written drama.