BEST NEW SERIALIZED TV SHOW PREMIERING IN 2011
1. Game Of Thrones (HBO) — The serial that kept giving! Thrones was an overarching thrill ride with more twists and turns than a roller coaster. The show wasted little time developing its massive ensemble into characters we cared about, while making a fantastical world believable and scary.
2. Homeland (Showtime) — The second best new serial of the year can rightfully feel aggrieved at not getting top spot. In the end there were a few glaring conveniences which denied Homeland victory, but take nothing away, the show gave us an engaging story, fantastic characters and wonderful performances.
3. Once Upon A Time (ABC) — Credit where it’s due, three months ago we didn’t expect OUAT to get anywhere near this list. While we still have reservations, the show’s dual world approach along with its lip-gloss application to classic fairytale characters, has a certain kiss-worthy appeal. I could personally do without the overly sentimental and sappy aspects of OUAT, but overall we feel that it’s been a fun story with the potential to get better.
4. American Horror Story (FX) — The closed-ended nature of the first season isn’t to everyone’s taste (and the camp is split on the show’s inclusion here), but there’s little doubt the show brought something fresh and provocative to the game in 2011.
BEST CLIFFHANGER/MOMENT IN A SERIALIZED TV SHOW IN 2011
1. Fringe, Peter Bishop vanishes. So much of the third season hinged on how the show would address the central conflict and bridge us to the fourth season, it needed something big that felt both organic to the story while taking things to a new level. When Peter Bishop blinked out of existence having just saved the two universes and seemingly learning an important lesson in the process, it ticked all the right boxes and made anything (even a reset) seem possible!
2. Breaking Bad, Gus paying you back & Fring gets his face-off..literally. Gus finally came back all guns blazing after 20 years to take out the cartel and avenge his friend, his honor and dignity from the mighty drug lord, Don Eladio. What seemed to be a call for conformity and peace between the two drug turfs, turned out to be a meticulous master plan led by none other than the stone-cold crazy terminator that Gus Fring was. Equally as satisfying was the climax of his journey — his bell-dinging, face-splitting demise which brought the house down and sent us to our feet in applause and mourning.
3. Game Of Thrones, Viscerys gets gold-plated. It still makes us wince — not just the shocking moment when Khal Drogo crowned Viscerys with molten gold, but the cold, detached reaction of his ‘beloved’ sister and leader of the baby dragons, Daenerys.
4. The Walking Dead, Shane goes Barnageddon. An exhilarating yet soul-destroying moment that almost..almost redeemed the endless search for a girl no-one cared about until she became a barn-dwelling zombie.
5. Breaking Bad, Walter White, “buried” in the crawl space. Walter signed his death warrant when indirectly warning Hank about the take-out; unfortunately his wife had spent most of his drug money with which he wanted to disappear; so he was left bewildered and on the verge of losing his sanity, lying in his crawl space, laughing like a maniac. With the camera zooming out upwards in a symbolic moment, the good-old Walter White, teacher and husband that we were familiar with, was ‘forever’ sealed in his crawl space; terminated. From that moment, there was only Heisenberg left around to deal with the consequences.
PERSON OF INTEREST Renewed For Season 2
TERRA NOVA: Season 2 Decision Delayed Until 2012
ONCE UPON A TIME: The Comprehensive Character Guide
SHERLOCK: Reichenbach Fall -- Explained
FRINGE OBSERVATIONS: 4.22 Brave New World: Part 2
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ONCE UPON A TIME OBSERVATIONS: 1.22 A Land Without Magic
ONCE UPON A TIME OBSERVATIONS: 1.21 An Apple Red As Blood
FRINGE OBSERVATIONS: 4.21 Brave New World: Part 1
ONCE UPON A TIME OBSERVATIONS: 1.20 The Stranger
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Ha, Carrie Mathison has a way with words. She’s my Seriable hero for 2011. And, if that line you quoted didn’t endear her to all (especially Virgil), this no-audio GIF shows my favourite Carrie line of Season 1. And how about the hand gestures to back it up?
I’m in love…again.
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“Some of serialized TV’s most interesting characters are those who are questionable in their actions (think Carrie Mathison, Walter White, Walter Bishop, etc), but Lori is a rotten character who only exists to be rotten. Watching Lori play between Rick and Shane, wish her son dead, and squat down in a field of melodrama, was a life-bar-sapping experience.”
LOL. I couldn’t agree more.
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Since I don’t watch some of the shows, I can only vote for:
BEST SERIALIZED TV CHARACTER 2011
Eddard Stark. For the reasons already written.
WORST SERIALIZED TV CHARACTER 2011
Lori Grimes. For the reasons already written. It’s very difficult to know why she is there, she doesn’t influence in positive or negative way the moral compass of Rick (or anyone else). Not fault of the actress, though.
BEST NEW SERIALIZED TV SHOW PREMIERING IN 2011
Game Of Thrones. With some very low points, already characteristic of HBO productions, but in general a good adaptation of the first book.
American Horror Story. I liked this one, but for me one season is enough.
BEST CLIFFHANGER/MOMENT IN A SERIALIZED TV SHOW IN 2011
FRINGE.
BEST SERIALIZED TV SHOW OF 2011
Game of Thrones.
MOST DISAPPOINTING SERIALIZED TV SHOW OF 2011
Torchwood: Miracle Day. For the reasons already written. Sadly.
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