by Neena Louise
Worst Actress
Stana Katic, "Kate Beckett", Castle (This
is a fairly decent show, but it would be so much better if Katic took some
acting lessons.)
Best Actress
Tina Fey "Liz Lemon", 30 Rock (I
might be the only one in the Known Universe that really doesn't care much for 30
Rock. Fey is the only reason I tune in at
all.)
Most Overrated Female
Eva Longoria Parker, "Gabrielle Solis", Desperate
Housewives (Longoria
Parker is a decent actress and she's cute, but hardly worth the attention she
gets.)
Most Overlooked Female
Smith Cho, "Zoe Chae", Knight
Rider (The show wasn't
really much, but Cho's witty performance made it worth a look.)
Worst Actor
Bobby Cannavale, "Trevor", Cupid (Cupid was
anything but loveable and Cannavale's ridiculous over-the-top performance didn't
help it any.)
Best Actor
Jonny Lee Miller, "Eli Stone", Eli
Stone (Miller's
"Eli" repeatedly saved this show. Too bad it wasn't enough.)
Most Overrated Male
Josh Holloway, "James 'Sawyer' Ford", Lost (Mumbling
sexily does not an actor make.)
Most Overlooked Male
Jay Harrington, "Ted", Better Off
Ted (Harrington's
strong, yet understated, performance of "Ted" was a nice counter-balance to all
the overacted weirdos.)
Worst-Dressed Female
America Ferrera, "Betty Suarez", Ugly
Betty (Of
course, "Betty's" wardrobe is supposed to
be outrageously gaudy. Trouble is, it's just getting old and stupid. "Frumpy"
would be more appropriate than "clownish".)
Best-Dressed Female
Kaley Cuoc, "Penny", The Big Bang
Theory (Always
young and hip without looking slutty or overdressed. Pretty rare occurrence
these days.)
Worst-Dressed Male
Tim Roth, "Dr. Cal Lightman", Lie
to Me (His
clothes seemed to be too big for him, making him look like that rumpled loser
that was picked on in school.)
Best-Dressed Male
Simon Baker, "Patrick Jane", The
Mentalist (You
don't often see men wearing 3-piece suits anymore. Baker pulled it off pretty
darn well.)
Worst TV Mom
"Christine Campbell", Julia Louis Dreyfuss, The
New Adventures of Old Christine (You
rarely even saw the
kid and when he popped up in the storyline, all "Christine" did was complain
about him and his pesky little needs.)
Best TV Mom
"Regina Newly", Jean Smart, Samantha
Who? (Smart's
"Regina" went from frustrated annoyance to smothering when dealing with her
grown daughter. Like most mothers of adult children.)
Worst TV Dad
"Steve Patterson", Bob Saget, Surviving
Suburbia (Stupid
show wasn't helped by whiney little Nancy-boy "Steve".)
Best TV Dad
"Ted", Jay Harrington, Better Off
Ted (You
don't often see single fathers on television and when you do, they're usually
hopelessly inept. Harrington's "Ted" wasn't.)
Worst TV Kid
"Alexis Castle", Molly C. Quinn, Castle (A
good-as-gold little saint. No 15-year-old girl I know - or have ever known
- is like this.)
Best TV Kid
"Jake Harper", Angus T. Jones, Two
and Half Men ("Jake"
remains the most realistic kid on TV - neither angel nor hellion. I wish more
were like this instead of kids always being portrayed as either Devil Spawn or
Perfect Angels.)
Least Likable Character on a Show
"Renee Walker", Annie Wersching, 24 (Going
from badass to blubbering mess with more or less the same expression,
Wersching's "Walker" was an irritating blight on this season of 24.)
Most Likable Character on a Show
"Walter Bishop", John Noble, Fringe (Sometimes Fringe could
be "whatever", but the affably eccentric "Walter" made it worth watching, week
after week.)
Worst Drama
Crusoe (Visually
stunning with gorgeous scenery even more gorgeous hunky men, Crusoe still
managed to be very boring.)
Best Drama
Cold Case (Finally
back to cases that are actually cold rather than lukewarm. I was horrified when
I heard Cold Case might
be cancelled due to its expensive production costs. Thankfully, it'll be back
for at least one more season).
Worst Sitcom
According to Jim (I'm
flabbergasted that this piece of drivel lasted eight(!) seasons. It's finally
going to that Big TV in the Sky. Thank goodness.)
Best Sitcom
The Big Bang Theory (It
should have been boring by now, since it's pretty much a one-note show, but Bang was
still hilarious.)
Worst SciFi
Lost (This
just gets dumber by the season.)
Best SciFi
Fringe (Yes,
it's a little "X-Filey", but it's such a refreshing change to see weird sci-fi
stories again, rather than stupid trying-so-hard-to-be-cool sci-fi crap like Heroes and Lost.)
Worst Animated Series
Star Wars: Clone Wars (This
is just so wrong on so many levels...)
Best Animated Series
Simpsons (Though
I've never been a big Simpsons fan,
gotta give it props 20(!!) seasons in.)
Most Overrated Series
Lost (I
just plain hate this show. Can you tell?)
Most Overlooked Series
Better Off Ted (Refreshingly
offbeat and funny. Don't know why it didn't get better ratings.)
Worst Writing
Southland (The bleeping of
characters' swearing was extremely irritating. This is network TV, people! If
you insist on having the characters realistically curse, move it to cable.
Otherwise, write it for network TV and stop making our bleeping ears bleed.)
Best Writing
The Big Bang Theory (I
don't know how the writers kept managing to come up with new - and funny -
geekalese without it becoming tiresome, but they did.)
Worst Host/Narrator
Donald Trump, The Celebrity
Apprentice (I don't know
if it was Trump's massive ego or the trademark-but-getting-old bad hair, but
this season's Apprentice got
increasingly difficult to watch whenever he was on. "Blowhard schnook" was the
word that kept coming to mind.)
Best Host/Narrator
Phil Keoghan, The Amazing Race (Keoghan
always managed to be kind and gentle to the overwrought contestants. Couldn't
have been easy when some were so obnoxious you just wanted to bitch-slap them.)
Worst Newscaster/Reporter
Chris Hansen, Dateline (Hansen
has lost so much credibility, he's only worthy of an exploitative tabloid show.)
Best Newscaster/Reporter
John Quinones, What Would You Do?,
as well as many other reports on ABC (Quinones always reports both sides and, no
matter how potentially exploitative the subject matter, manages to keep the
drama to a minimum.)
Worst News Magazine
20/20 (Dateline's
crown is taken for the very first time. Once a can't-miss Friday night staple, 20/20 became
more Dateline-ish
every time I watched it.)
Best News Magazine
60 Minutes
 |
Two really messed
up little girls |
Worst Reality Show Series
Living Lohan (Two
words: train wreck.
Not only is Dina Lohan the Worst Mother in the Universe, but daughter Ali is
the most spoiled, obnoxious, whiney, talentless brat in the Universe. It all
makes sense, now, why Lindsay Lohan is so screwed up.)
Best Reality Show Series
There aren't any decent voyeuristic reality series on network television any
more. Switch over to cable and you'll have a bonanza!
Worst Reality Game
Dancing with the D-List...er, Stars (I
fail to see the appeal in this and am baffled by the continued high ratings. I
really like dance - So You
Think You Can Dance is
a summer can't-miss - but these no-name has-beens didn't even qualify as stars,
never mind dancers.)
Best Reality Game
The Amazing Race 14 (Fourteen
editions in and Race still
has it. From the hilarious cheese-chasing in Switzerland to Evil Deaf Guy, Race seems
to improve with age - as was proven by its repeated top-20 finish. Hard to
believe it was once on the verge of cancellation.)
Worst Reality Villain
Luke Adams, The Amazing Race 14 (One
of the most vile, spoiled, whiney brats I've ever seen - and he's a grown man! I
guess we were supposed to feel...well, something for
him just because he is deaf, but with mama always leaping to his defense when he
didn't deserve it, and him deftly lying right to her face, I just felt repulsed.
Not at all a good role model for the deaf.)
Best Reality Villain
Benjamin "Coach" Wade, Survivor
Tocantins (The
biggest pathological liar Survivor has
ever had. A complete weirdo phony that you could truly love to hate.)
Worst Game Show
Opportunity Knocks (No,
it doesn't.)
Best Game Show
Jeopardy
Worst Score
Lost (It
was just the same nails-on-the-chalkboard supposed "music" over and over again.
A score is supposed to be a subtle background enhancement, not a glaring source
of irritation.)
Best Score
Cold Case (Now
that it has gone back to cases that are actually cold,
the music was a pleasant walk down memory lane.)
Worst Theme Music
Lost (Unimaginative
and stupid.)
Best Theme Music
The Big Bang Theory (Catchy
Barenaked Ladies tune has the inherent ability to get stuck in your head and
repeat repeat repeat rep...)
Worst Newcomer (that hasn't been cancelled)
Gary Unmarried (Most
new series this season had a swift demise. This piece of crap should've been one
of them, but, alas, it'll be back.)
Best Newcomer (that hasn't been cancelled)
The Mentalist (Going
back to the typical police procedural format, I expected this to be dull. But
the outstanding cast - not to mention Simon Baker's irresistable puppy-dog eyes
- made it one of the better dramas on network TV.)
Biggest Decline in Quality
Heroes (Confusing
and boring. I stopped watching a few episodes in.)
Most Improved in Quality
24 (Yes,
the season finale was lame, lame, lame -
in every way imaginable - but Day 7 was still a vast improvement over the
abysmally insipid Day 6.)
Worst Network
NBC (For never giving a series a chance to find an audience.)
Best Network
CBS
Worst Commercial
Shamwow. The pitchman (Vince Shlomi) is even more annoying and condescending
than the screaming Billy Mays (Oxi Clean, etc.).
Best Commercial
Sprint's first "Now Network" commercial. I especially liked the Twitter segment
with the birds chirping "me me me me" and the narrator proclaiming "26% of you
viewing this have no idea
what that means."
Biggest Stinker of the Season
Sit Down, Shut Up (Oh,
my, what a piece of crap. I had high hopes for this, given its cast, but its
cancellation after 4 episodes pretty much says it all.)
Trend of the Year
The swift death of the majority of new series and the rapid decline of once-hits
(Heroes and Prison
Break, for
example). Is network TV on the outs?
Least Magical Moment
Jack Bauer's (Kiefer Sutherland, 24)
supposed regret and repentance on what might or might not (obviously not,
since 24 will
be back) have been his deathbed. Gaggable and cringe-worthy.
Most Magical Moment
Gil Grissom's departure from CSI.
And not because it was "sweet", but because it was "good riddance" (and I never thought
I'd say such a thing about William Peterson's "Grissom"). Am I the only one who
found the whole Gil/Sara (Jorja Fox) thing totally euwwwww and
was relieved to see it over??