My Favorite TV of the Decade

Naming my favorite TV shows and characters was difficult, as I think the last decade may go down in the history of television as a time when the entire medium took a big leap forward.  There are shows I deeply love that didn’t make the list, plus great ones I haven’t gotten around to seeing (Battlestar Galactica, The Shield, etc).  Here are the ones that did:

1. The Wire
The first spot on my list goes to the show I consider to be the best drama in the history of television.  It starts off as a compelling look into the drug game from both sides and adds a layer with every season.  By its end, it was an in depth look at how systems fail our society and how some people can pull themselves into a better existence regardless.

2.  The Sopranos
It’s hard to say much about The Sopranos, as so much has already been written about it.  I’ll just say that it was a key factor in raising the bar on what you can accomplish in a TV series.

3.  The Office (UK)
I love the US version of The Office, but as it’s a remake of the UK original, that’s what I’m going with on the list.  It’s documentary format helped drive home the feeling that you were watching real people in a real office.  That helped make it both funny and painful to watch. 

4.  Lost
Years ago, the Zucker-Abraham-Zucker team created a show called Police Squad that was quickly cancelled because the viewing audience wasn’t willing to pay attention enough to catch the jokes.  People didn’t want to have to pay attention to their shows.  Now, Lost has come along to debunk that idea completely.  It hasn’t been a perfect show all along but since they decided on a concrete ending date, the show has become a rare TV drama that has both compelling characters and brain twisting plots.

5.  Justice League/Justice League Unlimited
The Justice League cartoon series, in both its forms, is a criminally under-rated show including in fan communities.  Over four seasons it gave us everything superhero stories are supposed to deliver: compelling characters, wall to wall action, and storylines that go beyond good versus evil. 

6.  Rome
Rome is a series that chronicles the fall of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire.  Even better, it shows us the personalities that shaped and were affected by these great events, from the streets to the palaces.  It made ancient Rome into a living, breathing place.  In other words, it was everything movies like Gladiator fail to be.

7.  Firefly
There’s a reason fans are still upset that the plug was pulled on this show before its first season even ended.  It’s rare that a genre series gets everything so right from the beginning.  Most shows have that awkward first season as they try to get the tone right and discover what characters work.  This one had it down pat in the pilot.  I still miss Mal and the gang.

8.  Extras
Ricky Gervais makes his second appearance on the list with this two-season show.  In it, he plays an actor who starts out as a humiliated extra, only to find fame in the second season.  The problem is, he finds fame by selling out and instead of solving all his problems, his humiliations are now out for the public to see.  Along the way, we get a long list of actors playing egotistical, stupid parodies of themselves.  The Ben Stiller and Daniel Radcliff episodes were enough to immortalize this show.

9.  30 Rock
After a bumpy beginning, this show turned into one of my all time favorites.  It’s probably my most quoted TV show right now (“There’s a whole in my heart, Liz Lemon, and not just from the time I tried to eat a battery”). 

10.  Entourage
This show is a roller coaster, quality wise.  When it’s on, though, it’s on.  If nothing else, the show gave us Ari Gold.  For that, we owe them our thanks.

CHARACTERS

1.  Omar – The Wire’s thief with a conscience.  From his intro to his jaw-dropping death, he never failed to be the standout on a show full of great characters.

2.  Ari Gold – Based on Mark Walberg’s real life agent, Jeremy Piven takes off in the role he was born to play.  He’s a model for channeling your id into success.

3.  Dr. Cox – While JD started to grate on me on Scrubs, Dr. Cox never failed to entertain.

4.  David Brent – Ricky Gervais’ worst boss ever on The Office makes Michael Scott look competent, which is a feat in itself.

5.  Titus Pullo & Lucius Vorenus – This team was my favorite part of Rome.  They were the heart and soul of the series.

Favorite Books of the Decade

Without further ado, here are my favorite Fiction and Non-Fiction books of the decade.

FICTION

1.  The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
I was first drawn to this book by the premise, about two Jewish cousins in 1940s New York who create the comic book hero, The Escapist.  That part is fantastic, as you get to experience with them the excitement of creating an icon in a just-born art form.  What really makes this book great, though, is the scope it takes as it follows the two cousins’ lives through the joys and bitter pills that come with their success.  Plus it’s the only book on my list to win a major award (The Pulitzer), so that’s got to count for something.

2.  Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
I like Lehane’s mystery novels but with this book he branched out further into how the choices we make haunt us and the ones we love.  If you’ve seen the movie and not read the book, check it out as there’s a whole other dimension to these characters you haven’t experienced.

3.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
Most people point to The Goblet of Fire as the book where the Harry Potter series really came into its own.  That is a great book, but I think people underestimate the difficulties of ending a story people have been building themselves up for (just ask Stephen King).  Rowling pulls it off beautifully and the whole thing spools out as a natural consequence of everything that’s built up to it.  Nothing seems phony or forced.  That’s a real accomplishment.

4.  The Road by Cormac McCarthy
I couldn’t emotionally distance myself from this book.  As the father and son make their way across the dangerous highways of America after an un-named apocalypse, I kept picturing the boy as my son, Ben.  I think that speaks to how deeply affecting this story is. 

5.  Empire Falls by Richard Russo
Miles Roby is flipping burgers at the Empire Grill.  He’s been doing this for 20 years, having given up his ambitions for much else.  His ex-wife has left him for the local owner of a fitness club and he has a hard time communicating with his teenage daughter.  I know this all sounds pretty standard, but this book has a level of heightened reality that I can’t quite pin a good description on.  It makes the book way more interesting than the set up implies and it was one of the most pleasurable reads of my life.

6.  The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem
Speaking of heightened reality, Lethem’s book about growing up in NYC in the 1970s rides the fine balancing act between realism and fantasy unlike any other book I’ve ever read.  It starts out as an engrossing story of Dylan and his friend Mingus as they come of age in Brooklyn.  Then they start flying.  When you’re reading it, it sounds like the most natural thing in the world.  Hats off to Lethem for pulling it off.

7.  Thunder City by Loren D. Estleman
For the final book in Estleman’s Detroit series, he takes us back to the beginning.  1908 to be exact as Harlan Crownover joins forces with Henry Ford as he makes his third run at starting up an automobile company.  The forces that align against them include other car companies, Harlan’s own father, the political establishment, and another force that was just coming into being: organized crime.  A great look at the beginning of the city and industry as we know them today.

8.  The Hot Kid by Elmore Leonard
Elmore Leonard + depression era bank robbers + depression era lawman = Dan happy.

9.  Little Scarlet by Walter Mosley
This, in my estimation, is the best book from what I call the second wave of Easy Rawlins mysteries.  The Watts Riots have just happened and the racial tensions present in all the Rawlins stories have bubbled over.  Plus, Easy is involved in a mystery more engaging than any other since Devil in a Blue Dress.  A great entry in one of my all-time favorite series.

10.  The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
This book turned out to be a whole lot better than I was anticipating from the concept.  For as “out there” as that concept is, the book is rooted in compelling characters and unlike many other time travel stories, all of their actions and the consequences of them make sense. 

NON FICTION

1.  John Adams by David McCullough
I’ve read a lot of biographies of our founding fathers and this is the most compelling one I’ve ever picked up.  Not only did McCullough revive interest in Adams, he saved his reputation from character judgments still hanging over him from as far back as the election against Jefferson.  A great book I recommend to anyone looking for a human view of the events that formed our country.

2.  The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome  by Susan Wise Bauer
This is the first book in Bauer’s ongoing attempt to tell the story of human civilization up to the present.  When you’re covering this much ground, it’s hard to not sound like a textbook but Bauer’s wit and storytelling style keep this an engaging read throughout.  I also love that she isn’t afraid to use tradition to fill gaps that we will never know the full story of. 

3.  Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
This is the story of the Chicago World’s Fair and how it transformed that city and created new dreams for our nation.  It’s also the story of a serial killer who was operating in and around the fair at the same time.  The Fair portion of the story is what really held me and introduced me to one of my heroes from history, Daniel Burnham.

4.  The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America’s First Superhero by William Kalush and Larry Sloman
Few people had lives as interesting as Houdini’s and I don’t know that anyone has told the story of that life as well as Kalush and Sloman.  My wife bought this for me, thinking I might be interested in it, and it led to a brief obsession with its subject. 

5.  Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis
If nothing else, this book will make you shake your head every time someone complains, “this isn’t what the Founding Fathers would’ve wanted.”  When you read this vibrant a telling of the personalities and opinions that went into making this nation, you have a new appreciation for what it takes to get a whole new society started.

My Favorite Movies of the Decade

Since everyone is doing their favorite lists of the decade, I figured it was time to man-up and do mine, starting with films.  I think a key distinction of my list is that I’m calling it a Favorite list, not a Best list.  These aren’t necessarily the greatest artistic achievements of the decade.  They didn’t all break new ground or redefine film as we know it.  They’re the ones I love the best and that’s the only criteria I’m going by.

Oh, and there are eleven of them, not ten.  I couldn’t decide what else to knock off and it’s my blog so, hey, it can be eleven if I want it to.

1.  Children of Men
I don’t think there was another film this decade that said as much about humanity as this one.  It also happens to be incredibly entertaining.  I was so tense the fist time I saw it my hands sweated until the credits rolled.  Alfonso Cuaron presents us with a near future where no babies have been born for over eighteen years.  Clive Owen ends up trying to shepherd the first pregnant woman in a very long time to meet scientists who will study her in an attempt to save mankind.  In the meantime, he has to protect her from the right-wing authorities and left-wing rebels who can’t think beyond their causes to the good of humanity.  The concept could overwhelm the story but never does.  Alfonso Cuaron directed it with a confidence that’s rare in movies from any decade.

2.  The Lord of the Rings
I’m at a loss to say much more about these movies.  I mean, who hasn’t seen them?  What I think I love most about them is that for all the high-tech wizardry, they still feel like they’re happening in a real world.  Armor is gritty with dirt in the seams and every orcs’ face is unique and detailed.  Peter Jackson’s attempt to keep a fantasy world “realistic” is a technique that was pioneered by George Lucas in the original Star Wars movies, but forgotten by him for the prequels.

3.  The Dark Knight
Recently, Kevin Smith was asked about doing superhero adaptations, to which he answered something along the lines of, “What’s the point?  It’s not like I’ll make something better than The Dark Knight.”  Christopher Nolan pushed the superhero genre up to a level that will be hard to hit anytime soon.  This is the first superhero movie to truly stake out the costs of doing the right thing and how difficult it is to even know what that is.

4.  Eternal Sunshin of the Spotless Mind
I’m a fan of movies written by Charlie Kaufman and this is my favorite.  As “out there” as the concept is, it’s rooted in a story of failed love that’s as convincing as any I’ve ever seen.  And it ends with the idea that real love is always worth experiencing AND remembering, even if it ends in heartache.

5.  Wall E
I’m probably the only one of my friends that will put this movie on their list and I’m comfortable with that.  The fact is this movie is like a master class on cinematic storytelling.  It also stars the most likable protagonist ever put on film. 

6.  Anchorman
The funniest, most quotable movie of the decade. 
“I don’t know how to put this, but I’m kind of a big deal.”
“I love lamp.”
“I hear their periods attract bears.”
“It’s made with bits of real panther, so you know it’s good.”
I pretty much laugh through the whole thing.

7.  The Bourne Ultimatum
Thank god someone knows how to make action that doesn’t involve blowing up the planet.  The movie, and Bourne himself, moves like a shark from the start to the finish.  Paul Greengrass shows he’s the only director in the world who can do the whole “shaky cam in the middle of the fight” thing without utterly confusing me.  It worked against him in the second Bourne movie, but really paid off here.

8.  Spider-man 2
Though it’s been recently dethroned as my favorite superhero movie of all time (see #3), this movie still delivers the goods.  It can be corny, but proudly wears its heart on its sleeve and I love it for that.  Again, it’s another movie that explores the personal cost of living a life of responsibility, though the right thing to do is clearer than it is in Nolan’s Gotham.  Plus, Raimi’s action scenes are bursting with energy in a way only he can pull off.

9.  High Fidelity
I’m always a little sad at the end of this movie because I feel like I’m saying goodbye to friends.  The characters are the types of people I’ve known all my life.  Rob, played by John Cusack, is true to many guys in the world who toe the line of emotional maturity, but have never had the guts to cross it.  When this came out, I heard a lot of people saying they didn’t like it because he was such a jerk.  I think if many people took a step back and looked at themselves or the people they know, we’ve all done things that could get us classified the same way.  This is just that rare movie presenting a non-idealized character and I think that’s part of the reason I love it so much.

10.  Casino Royale
After years upon years of waiting, Eon Productions finally delivered the James Bond movie I had been waiting for.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

11.  The Squid and the Whale
This movie is an examination of the ramifications of parents’ selfishness on their own children, especially when it comes to divorce.  Jeff Daniels plays the type of self-involved ass I’ve spent my life trying to avoid, though I can’t stop watching him in this.  Noah Baumbach could also teach classes in storytelling efficiency.  There is not one wasted second in the whole movie.

So those are my picks.  Agree?  Disagree?  Do I have no taste whatsoever?

Re: Twilight

I watched Twilight tonight with Beth.  Before experiencing any of this phenomenon I’ve been careful not to pass judgement.  After all, how can I rip on a straight-up girl’s fantasy when I’ve spent many an hour reading about men in tights beating the bejeezus out of each other?  If I felt no shame playing to the 13 year old boy in me then I wasn’t going to look down my nose at women doing the same thing.

Then I saw it.

I’m going to set aside the fact that this is a badly directed and performed movie.  And when I say badly, I mean awful.  Alright, I said it and it’s time to move on to what really bothered me.

Is this really what many women fantasize about when they’re thinking about love?  I ask because I didn’t see love in this movie.  I saw co-dependency, obsession, and a teenage girl with serious emotional problems.  When she’s in the hospital and Edward tells her that she should stay away for her own safety, she had a mini-melt down that for me was the scariest thing in the movie.  This isn’t love.  This is grounds for being medicated.  I feel sorry for anyone who thinks this is what love is all about.

Also, for a story that’s “sex free” there was sex all over the place.  Sure, no one has actual sex, but the plot revolves around predatory men “smelling” her and then wanting to have her one way or the other.  And the part where he has to suck on her open wound and yet have the willpower to stop before it’s “too late?”  Vampires are all about sex and there’s nothing anyone can do about it, not even a faithful Mormon.

So there it is.  I’ve said my piece.  I may be baffled by it, but I promise I will still not look down my nose at Twilight fans.  I love Conan the Barbarian and god knows that’s full of unhealthy ideas.  Plus, I know too many women I like and have respect for that love it. 

I feel compelled to note here that the baseball scene was one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen.