The Slow Death of Broadcast Television

or The 10 best TV shows of 2011

This list for me kind of marks the end broadcast television, because there are only 2 shows that aren’t from a cable channel and one of them just ended. The main thing that makes cable shows better, more then the better acting, writing and technical aspects, is the shorter seasons. All of the cable shows below had a season between 10 and 13 episodes, this allows for a tighter plot better character progression and less of that boring filler that takes up way to much time and grinds even the best shows to a halt.  For instance take Fringe, this show slowly built it self up to some pretty amazing places last season but in order to fill out 22 hours a season the show now has to put all that interesting stuff to the side to do some boring monster of the week stuff. And its not like the boring monster of the week stuff is all bad, its just not as good as the rest of the show and the pacing is ruined. The shows below know how to slowly build to a amazing climax in a way better then most movies.

	10) True Blood – Not as good as when the show first started, I think are too many people in the cast for its own good. But this show is still a lot of fun, plus some amazing WTF moments.
	9) The Walking Dead – I love zombies. I know most people at this point think they are a little played out, but not me. This is a great story about the end of the world with some really interesting characters. Its about time someone made this show as there is so much potential for some great situations and great tension between characters.
	8 ) The Killing – The entire first season is about one murder mystery. This is a amazing example of why I like cable shows. One story over the course of 13 episodes with great cliffhangers at the end of each episode. This show also has some great acting by the parents of the missing girl that willy help sell it.
	7) Hell on Wheels – Who doesn’t like like a good western? Not only is this show a great western but it also adds in some great racial tension because of the newly freed black slaves that are also working on building the rail road. I cant think of many westerns that have tackled these types of complex issues.
	6) Homeland – I great show about a solider that was a POW for 9 years and now has returned home. The show has this great mystery of is he or isn’t he a terrorist. On his trail is the always great Claire Danes who works for the CIA and is also hiding the problem of being bi-polar. Great acting, writing and suspense. The last episode was phenomenally good.
	5) Chuck – I have just finished watching the final episode of chuck and I can tell you that it was a great ride. This is not one of the greatest shows ever made but it has amazing heart and the cast is full of characters that I have honestly come to love.
	4) Community – Hands down the funniest show on TV right now and the only comedy to make my list. The only place where broadcast television has any merit left is in comedy, but that’s because they aren’t require to have a gripping plot. Lets hope NBC does the right thing and renew this show, because if they don’t then I don’t see any reason to continue watching their station.
	3) Game of Thrones – Finally some one gets it, instead of trying to fit 1000 page epics in to a 2 hour movie why not do 10 hours of incredible TV instead. Lets hope more books are recreated in this style because this show is amazingly good. Great interweaving cast of some truly spectacular characters.
	2) Breaking Bad – Every season this show keeps getting better and better. I cant think of any other show that has consistently improved season after season like this one. For any one aspiring to make movies watch this show because it is technically better then most movies. Plus this season has one of the greatest on screen deaths I have ever seen. I can not wait for the final season.
	1) Justify – What could be better then Breaking Bad? How about my favorite show from last year. Speaking of shows that have gotten better, Justified has also improved. If you want a detailed account of the show look at what I wrote last year and think it became better then that. The main baddy for this year was played to perfection by Margo Martindale who won a Emmy for this role.

Now having read my list I want you to think back to all your favorite shows. What if all the boring filler was pulled out and what we were left with was a much more suspenseful and emotional journey. How much better would those shows have been? Some of the shows that pop to my head are Alias and Lost, shows that wanted to tell a compelling story but failed. I also think back to my favorite show of all time Lexx which had a pretty lousy 20 hour second season and how much better the third season was when there was only 13. What shows can you think off? Post them in the comments below.