Filed under: TV Shows | Tags: arrested development, pushing daisies, top list, firefly, wonderfalls, the tick, battlestar galactica, gilmore girls, extras, undeclared, freaks and geeks, coupling, best tv shows, best of television, millennial list
Despite my best efforts to not sink into lethargy and dribble away my better-spent time watching television, I can never seem to pry myself away from the glittering glisten of a shiny new season box set. And thus, I’ve frittered away countless days watching season after season, series after series, pining for the quell to a confounding cliffhanger or unanswered quandary. But alas and alack, not all of those questions could be answered. Nay, many of my favorite shows are among those that have lived and died in the 2000s, and so – ah, yes – they shall be chronicled in list form.
10. The Tick (2001-2002)
This quirky brainchild of a half-baked show, spawned from the cult comic book created by cartoonist Ben Edlund (and, inversely, a short-lived animated version), garnered less than a few rave reviews from the critics. However, a dutiful crew of bandies have kept the legend alive, making sure that a blue body-suited Patrick Warburton (perhaps better known in the Seinfeld universe as Puddy the face-painter) made it to DVD.
09. Wonderfalls (2004-2005)
The wonderfully pretense-free Wonderfalls operated on its own oddities, condoning the likes of apathetic twenty-somethings in less-than-turbulent times. Protagonist Jaye – a likably dispicable underacheiver with a penchant for talking to inatimate objects – somehow begs the audience to cheer for her through her trials and tribulations of mediocrity. Think Dead Like Me’s George Lass with a bit more wit and it’s clear to see why it’s a tragedy that this little engine that didn’t feel like it never stuck.
08. Coupling (2000-2004)
It’s no wonder creator Stephen Moffat employed his own wife in order to write this hilariously uncomfortable British romp of a sitcom, nor is it a surprise; Coupling thrives off the chemistry of its quirky components – why, couples, of course. It’s Ross-and-Rachel riddled with sexcapades and stickiness, all topped off with quick writing, dry wit and a hideous laugh track. Perhaps America just wasn’t ready.
07. Firefly (2002-2003)
Take Joss Whedon, Nathan Fillion, and experimental spaghetti sci-fi and throw them into a kettle-drum of a spaceship. Add a few felonies and that Whedon whimsy to the mix and you’ve got a cult classic that never deserved (though, understandably got) the axe. At least those fine folks in following managed to snag a DVD release, complete with four never-aired episodes the ‘verse just couldn’t do without.
06. Undeclared (2001-2002)
It’s surprising to learn that two – yes, TWO! – of Judd Apatow’s star-studded series perished before season two renewal, perhaps because, well, no one was actually a star just yet. After the untimely demise of the exorbitantly clever, bleak, and nostalgic Freak and Geeks in 1999, Apatow employed the help of a few familiar faces and chronicled the lives of many an awkard college freshman in the incredibly enjoyable and under-appreciated Undeclared.
05. Extras (2005-2007)
Ricky Gervais’s cringe-fest chronicling the pathetic happenings of hapless movie extras made us all appreciate a bit of unadulturated dry humor. Juxtapose Extras‘ brilliance with the tongue-in-cheek laugh-track-ridden show-within-a-show our protagonist unwittingly creates, and you’ve got a hideously hilarious gem (riddled with the likes of many a self-effacing celeb).
04. Gilmore Girls (2000-2007)
Say what you will about the apparent chick-fest that is Gilmore, but don’t you dare glare at those gleaming smiles and frothy-colored DVD cases and judge this series by its cover. Truly, not many more shows pack the heft, heart, and hilarity this one so earnestly offered up before we sadly had to bid adieu to our favorite dysfunctional family (that somehow, seemed to function just fine).
03. Pushing Daisies (2007-2009)
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, Daisies didn’t deserve to go. However, cancellation upset was no stranger to the talent behind this lush and lovely dramedy, as former Wonderfalls alum – Bryan Fuller and Lee Pace – bled their hearts into this little ditty as well. But it’s condolence enough to have those two fateful seasons archived in bursting, blooming box sets, as this ever-resting series is a simple joy to obsessively rewatch.
02. Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009)
There are no casual BSG fans. Nay; to know Galactica is to love it, and to love it is to live it. There’s nothing about this show that doesn’t catch you and keep you, love you and leave you. Alright, so I’m being ridiculously dramatic, but it’s perhaps warranted – and this not-so-guilty-pleasure has its cultish following clamouring for more. So if you can swing the ridiculous overpricing of the multiple half-season DVDs, you might just understand what everybody’s frakking about.
01. Arrested Development (2003-2006)
I don’t mean to be bold, but there are few things that will ever be able to stack up to the likes of AD. From the lunacy to the brilliance, the quirky to the questionable, the innuendos that stretched the seasons to the incessant pop-culture references, nothing can compare to the odd integrity of it all. And perhaps that’s exactly the way it should be. Rest in peace, Bluths, if you can.
Filed under: Movie Reviews | Tags: 2000-2009, best movies of the 2000s, decade, millennial, son of rambow, top films, top list
As I stoked through the ash and rubble of a plethora of naively nostalgic millennial lists begging to define this decade’s most contrived/artistic moments, I thought to myself, “I, too, can be prematurely trite and naive!” And thus, I delved into work, dutifully posing my new kitten in textbook-pensive sleeping position upon my stomach and donning my uber-geek-chic glasses that are just slightly too large for my face. I began typing in Murder-She-Wrote fury, stopping only to argue the semantics of the decade’s epoch with Boyfriend (“There was no year 0, therefore, a decade ranges from 01-10!”). And thus, I have conjured the likes of my ultimate list of films that shaped this decade: My Y2Kate. And while I’m big-headedly naming things after myself, I’ll subject you to my scroll, derived deep from the depths of my sacred Netflix account. The envelope, please:
About a Boy (2002)
Almost Famous (2000)
Adaptation (2002)
Amelie (2001)
Batman Begins (2005)
Before Sunset (2004)
Born into Brothels (2004)
Capote (2005)
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Gangs of New York (2002)
Ghost World (2001)
Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Goodbye, Lenin! (2003)
Half Nelson (2006)
High Fidelity (2000)
Hustle & Flow (2005)
In America (2002)
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Kill Bill (Volumes 1 & 2) (2003-2004)
The King of Kong (2007)
Knocked Up (2007)
Lars and the Real Girl (2007)
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Lost in Translation (2003)
Love Actually (2003)
The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001)
Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005)
Millions (2004)
No Country For Old Men (2007)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
Old School (2003)
Once (2006)
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
Persepolis (2007)
Pieces of April (2003)
The Prestige (2006)
Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
Rachel Getting Married (2008)
The Royal Tennenbaums (2001)
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
The Squid and the Whale (2005)
Son of Rambow (2007)
Stranger Than Fiction (2006)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
Up (2009)
Waitress (2007)
Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
The Wrestler (2008)
Honorable Mentions: Sin City (2005), Moulin Rouge! (2001), Superbad (2007), Adventureland (2008), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), The Departed (2006), Big Fish (2003), Children of Men (2006), Spellbound (2002), Slumdog Millionaire (2008).
…What might be yours? Join the self-important party!
