Assuming you’re even a semi-regular reader/listener, my Top 10 TV Shows of 2012 list probably isn’t a mystery to you at this point.
My Top 10 list was part of HitFix’s First Annual Critics’ Poll and then Sepinwall & I went over both of our Top 10 lists in our Best of 2012 Podcast on Wednesday.
So you know my Top 10 and you’ve heard me discuss it, but you’ve never heard me do voiceover for my Top 10 list over the terrifically edited clips courtesy of our ace HitFix video team!
As I said on the podcast, No. 1-8 was pretty solid. I knew the eight shows that were guaranteed placement in my Top 10. The last two slots? Well, that’s a bit more slippery. I’m absolutely happy with No. 9 and No. 10, because they’re two of my favorite shows, but if No. 11-15 from my Second 10 had taken those slots? That would have been fine, too. In fact, the shows in my Second 10 are pretty near-great themselves and I’ll post that list next week, probably. Hell, the shows in my “Honorable Mention” field that’ll accompany my Second 10 are very good as well.
I say this every year and it’s always true: If anybody tries saying, “There’s nothing good on TV” or “TV is crap” or “All there is on TV is bad reality,” they’re morons. I don’t know if the top tier of scripted television is as good as the “Golden Age” folks like to talk about, but in terms of sheer volume of reasonable quality? I’m not sure things have ever been better.
A case-in-point would be my No. 3 show. Not only did it not make a single other Top 10 in the HitFix Critics’ Poll, but I’d wager that 85 percent of my colleagues never watched a second of it and at least 40 percent of them didn’t know it existed. And it’s GREAT.
So give my Top 10 video a watch. I’m not listing the shows here in text form, but I’ll do that when I post my Second 10, plus it’s available on the site elsewhere. This post is for the video.