Best TV shows of 2009

I set Evey up at the drawing board with me the other day. She had all her colors and a coloring book, I had my drawing paper and pens. I had a blank sheet of paper. I asked Evey what she wanted me to draw.

She looked around the room for an idea, spotted the flatscreen, then she said, “Draw a TV.”

I didn’t want to draw a TV, and I thought that was a silly idea, so I said, “That’s a weird thing to draw.”

I started sketching a cartoon idea I had in my head. The first panel is a drawing of me in a dentist’s chair. Evey asked me what I was drawing. “That’s me,” I said. “That’s Daddy.”

Evey looked at me and said, “That’s a weird thing to draw.”

***

OK, here’s my list of best TV shows I watched in 2009.

I did watch a lot more TV this year then in previous years. I think this is 1) because I’m getting old and lazy; 2) I’ve got two nice TVs now, which makes watching TV more enjoyable; 3) There were actually some good shows on the telly this year.

Let’s have a look:

6. Flash Forward – Wow, I want to love this show but it’s killing me. I’ve never been good with “suspension of disbelief.” Even if there are flying robots or something… I mean, I believe that there could be flying robots. But when a human character doesn’t do something that any human would do in the same situation? I have a problem with that. Regardless, this show manages to keep me and Adro around with the cliffhanger at the end of each episode. We’ll probably see it through, just to see how it ends.

5. The Middle – I didn’t like this show much at first, but it’s grown on me. I like the dad best. It’s set in nowhere, Indiana, and I like that. I think the kid characters are fairly realistic, and I like that. There’s no Michael J. Fox from Family Ties or Will Smith from Fresh Prince of Bel Aire. I believe that any of those kids could be real kids.

4. The League – Neuty suggested this show, and I caught on late. But like I told him, “Man, I wish we wrote this show.” There’s not much I’m qualified to write about (like, uh, turfgrass) but I think with a 24-pack of beer and a few stacks of notebook paper, something like “The League” could have come out of our heads, eventually. The show follows five guys around who are all in the same fantasy football league. Dick jokes ensue. How can you not like this show?

3. How I Met Your Mother – Lervik got us into this one. Doogie Howser’s character, Barney, is awesome. That guy has the comedic timing thing down. Who would have thought he’d turn out to be such a funny actor? I also like how the stories tend to intertwine, a little bit Seinfeldian.

2. Modern Family – So happy to see Al Bundy make a comeback. There are things I don’t “get” about this show – where does all their money come from, who exactly is filming this documentary, where did the baby go – but the stories and characters are great. I also like it that usually there’s some message about family at the end. The gay couple are my favorite, followed by Al and his hot wife. I don’t like the young Eddie Munster dad because he’s such a weasel, but maybe I’ll come around on his character eventually.

1. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia – Easily the best show on TV. This show is so wicked and subversive. I love all the characters and I can’t wait to see what they’re going to do next. The characters are one step above cannibalism, that’s how awful these people are. Actually, they did consider cannibalism in one episode, so strike that – these people are as base as cannibals. I love how each episode has a theme, and then you just watch the sheer terror unfold. This is another show that I wish I could write, but dammit, I’m not that evil… or cool.