The Strange World of Thomas P. Coombe

The Best TV Shows of 2010

It was a pretty good year for TV, but for me, a bad year for TV watching. I spent the second half of 2010 buried in work, which meant I didn't have much time for this blog. But with the year winding down, it's worth remembering the cream of this year's TV crop, whether I wrote about them or not.

1. AMC -- At least one of this network's program's -- Breaking Bad -- was an obvious contender for the top spot before the year was halfway over. Then came Mad Men's fourth -- and best -- season, followed by Rubicon and The Walking Dead, and by the time November arrived, it became clear AMC was TV's new king of quality TV shows.

No network has had a year like this since 2005, when The Wire, The Sopranos and Deadwood (not to mention Rome, Carnivale, Six Feet Under and Curb Your Enthusiasm) were all part of HBO's line-up.

The Walking Dead proved to be the network's biggest hit so far, a comic book-inspired horror/drama that managed to transcend its roots by the time its six-episode season was over. 

 Rubicon's low ratings, slow pace and complicated storyline pretty much doomed it early on, but it was still fascinating to watch, and heartening to see AMC take this kind of risk, even for just a season. In the end, the show's conspiracy plotline wound up being less interesting than its characters -- the fascinating, funny villain Truxton Spangler justly inspired a fake Twitter feed -- and it's those people, rather than the answers we did/didn't get, that makes me sorry Rubicon won't be returning.

I'd been a little underwhelmed by Mad Men's second and third season, but its fourth was brilliant, taking us deeper into the mind and soul of protagonist Don Draper while also giving us a compelling look at an ad agency struggling to keep its head above water. But put all that aside, and Mad Men rises above most of its contemporaries on the strength of "The Suitcase" episode alone.

The king of the AMC mountain this year, however, was Breaking Bad. In three seasons, it's gone from "interesting" to "must-watch" to "comparisons to the Coen Brothers are not unwarranted."  

In the article I linked to above, TIME's James Poniewozik ties Coen movies like No Country For Old Men and Fargo to some of Breaking Bad's larger themes. It's an apt comparison, but I'll take the connection in a different direction: just as the Coens can jump from No Country to Burn After Reading to True Grit, Breaking Bad can be a different kind of show every episode. One week it's the most tense thriller you've ever seen, another it's a tragic-comedic "bottle show." And it does all of those things well, helped along by a brilliant cast and the most beautiful cinematography on TV. The finest show in production now.

As for the rest...

The Emmys: Filled With Glee. (Tom: Somewhat Pleased)

  Some quick thoughts on the Emmy nominations:

•  I'm not at all surprised at Glee's 19 nominations. It's fairly well-liked by critics, brought something unique to TV, and is hugely popular. But one of the best comedies of the year? Actually, I'd put Glee on the list before The Office and 30 Rock, which had really, really weak years. A better list would've left them off and replaced them with Parks & Recreation and Community, so that the Best Comedy nominees would, you know, actually include the best comedies. (Incidentally, Modern Family is a close third to these shows, and I was happy to see so much of its ensemble nominated.)
•  I'll confess: I'm wayyyy behind on my Friday Night Lights viewing (read: I've seen one and a half seasons). But by all accounts, the show has only gotten better over time, and it would've been clear to anyone who saw only the first few handful of episodes how good Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler were in the lead roles. So it's nice to see them finally being honored for their work. 
• Nominations that made me happy: Aaron Paul for Breaking Bad, Terry O'Quinn, Michael Emerson and Matthew Fox for Lost; Amy Poehler for Parks & Recreation.
• Nomination that surprised me, and made me happy: Martin Short for Damages, a great performance in a little-seen show.
• Omissions which really bugged me: John Noble for Fringe, the fact that  no one Sons of Anarchy or Justified made the cut (thinking specifically of Katy Segal from the former and Walton Goggins from the latter.)
• Who I'm pulling for in the main categories: Breaking Bad, Modern Family, Matthew Fox (for making us like Jack again), Connie Britton, Aaron Paul, Christina Hendricks, Larry David, Amy Poehler, Ty Burrell and Sofia Vergara.

 Tom Coombe

Damages Finale: A Man Has to Be Awful If He Wants To Be Great

 Midway through Monday night's Damages finale, there's a scene where disgraced CEO Arthur Frobisher talks with a woman producing a movie about his life. 

 There's clearly an attraction there, even more so now that she's learned some of his dark secrets.

 "A man has to be awful," she tells him, "if we wants to be great."

 That could be this show's epitaph. 

 As of this writing, Damages' future was up in the air, so this episode had to -- and did -- work as both the season or series finale.

 If it's the former, fine. A fourth season would be a gift, and it will be interesting to see where the show goes from here. And FX used the term season finale. If it had been cancelled, we'd know about it.

 If it's the latter, then Damages went out on the highest of high notes, with a gripping finale that covered many of the series' main themes and storylines as Patty's terrible war of attrition against the Tobin family came to an end. 

Damages: He's A Monkey, Man

  Next week's Damages finale will either mark the end of the third season, or the end of the show itself. 

 The show's future has been up in the air. It might be rescued by DirectTV -- in a deal similar to what NBC does with Friday Night Lights -- but FX's president has pointed out that for all of the critical praise Damages gets, it's an expensive, underwatched show. (And as I was writing this, Variety came out with a report, citing "insiders" who said the DirectTV deal was unlikely.)

 With that in mind, this season's most unusual development -- the return of Arthur Frobisher -- starts to make sense. If you're not getting another fourth season, it's not a bad idea to tie up your longest-running loose plot thread.

 And I'll give them this much: they picked a creative way to do it.

 "OK, so what if Frobisher met this actor, and the actor wanted to make a movie about Frobisher's life, so he started hanging out with him to get into character, and Frobisher got all coked up and told him how he hired an ex-cop to kill someone, and then the actor told Patty Hewes, and then Patty told the DA..."

 Etc. etc.  At any rate, it'll give the show a chance to bring back Timothy Olyphant.

 As far as everything else went, this episode did a really nice job putting together most of the rest of this season's puzzle. We can't see the whole picture yet, but we at least have the corners. 

Damages: Notes From The Underbelly

 After juggling a random pieces the past few episodes -- the return of Arthur Frobisher, Ellen's family, Ellen's relationship with Patty AND the actual main storyline -- Damages finally seemed to get the formula right this week. 

 There was a lot going on: we find out more about Ellen's past, how the Tobins have been hiding their money, and which member of the family is the most evil, plus Frobisher takes off his friend-of-the-earth mask to reveal the monster underneath.

 The only part that really didn't work for me was Patty's reaction to Ellen after their case seemed to fall apart. 

 Don't get me wrong: I believe she'd be angry and unforgiving. What I don't believe is her complete misreading of Ellen: "You're a climber. You're a parasite. And you're ruthless." This just isn't a show where those kind of misunderstandings feel at home.

 Fortunately, Tom Shayes is still around to clear things up...and tell Patty off. He explains why Ellen approached Tessa, and that Patty should be thanking Ellen for rescuing the case. 

 "I lied to you," he says. "Have you ever lied to me."

 She can't really answer that one, and Tom, for once in his career with Patty, gets the last word. He's finally acting like a partner; it would be a triumphant moment, only we know he only has a few weeks to live.

Damages: Family Business

 Damages has held onto its established MO -- show the end result of a crime, then fill in the gaps along the way -- for so long that when the show does something different for a little while, those episodes feel like failures.

 And yeah, last week's installment -- which just about jettisoned much of the season's main story to focus on subplots and interesting yet inessential characters like Arthur Frobisher -- felt irresponsible this late in the game.

 But this week, despite being free of any flashbacks or forwards (unless you count Ellen's dream about her childhood), helped move things forward a good deal, adding new wrinkles to the story, a series of unexpected betrayals and new ways of looking at crucial characters.

Damages: Ms. Hewes, Tear Down This Wall...

  I guess someone at Damages decided "We need to be a character-driven show this week."

 Rather than devote a lot of time with, say, its rather dense murder/fraud conspiracy storyline, the show chose to spend most of its ninth -- out of a total 13 -- week dealing with things like Arthur Frobisher trying to make his movie, Patty's personal life/renovations* and Ellen's sister and her drug addiction. 

 *We get it Damages: Every time the Keith Carradine guy talks about there being something valuable below the surface, he's talking about Patty.

 None of these things did much to really further the plot -- other than maybe Ellen getting closer to Patty by having to ask her for a favor -- but rather served as a reminder that everything comes back to Patty, the spider at the center of this awful web.

 And as much as I like Ted Danson as Frobisher, this week and last week, I wanted more of the Tobins and their world. 

 This week, Joe was absent entirely, we got one scene with Marilyn and her quasi-granddaughter Tessa, and spent most of our time with dull, depressed Carol.

Damages: Frobisher! The Movie

 Ah, Mr. Frobisher. Great to have you back, even if it's hard to tell how you're going to fit into the rest of this season's plot.

 Then again, maybe he doesn't have to. This episode had plenty of plot to go around (especially in those final flashback, back and then forward five minutes). 

 With all that going on, it was nice to check in with the character, who serves as both a reminder of how large Louis Tobin's crime was and an example of how someone could tangle with Patty Hewes, survive (sort of) and reinvent themselves.

 And Ted Danson is such a treat to watch as Frobisher that it's really OK if his biopic storyline never goes anywhere. Actually, it would seem really forced if we found out in two weeks that, say, Frobisher had advised Tobin how to conceal his fraud.  For now, I just want to watch Danson: part philanthropist, part revisionist historian, part businessman.

 In a better world, one where Damages could get the kind of run something like The Shield had, it would be great to see him show up a few times each season just to mix things up.

Damages: My Name is Not My Name

  Ah, much better.

 Last week, I wrote about how my confidence in this season of Damages -- so strong in the first few weeks -- was getting shaky.  But now, it feels like things are back on track.

 It helps that this episode gets Ellen and Patty back together, following a chess match in which new boyfriend Josh and new associate Alex where their respective pawns.

 My guess from a few weeks ago that Ellen would rejoin proved false; for now, it looks like she's a double agent, not quitting the DA's office, but certainly not happy with her boss' less-than-populist approach. (And perhaps a triple agent, given that the flash forwards show her cooking up whatever scheme leads to Tom's death.)

Damages: It's Inconceivable!

 

 "I like where this case is headed."

  -- Detective Huntley

 I wish I had his confidence. Maybe the unease I felt after watching this installment of Damages has to do with the episode itself, rather than the entire case. 

 Maybe it's just frustration: halfway through the season, we still have no real clue how the Tobin case connects to Tom's death.

 Maybe it's that the appearance of one mysterious new character (Zedeck) and the return of another (Decker) wound up feeling kind of lackluster.

 Or maybe it's that this episode kept the season's most interesting players -- Joe Tobin and Leonard Winstone -- off the field for most of the hour.

 With all those complaints out the way, I'll say that "Don't Forget to Thank Mr. Zedeck" offered up at some things to like.