Gobble This: Top 12 TV Turkeys of 2010

Another year of TV is almost done, and for the most part (at least the first half) shaped up to be one of the best in recent years.  However, there is always something disappointing or downright bad in TV, so here are 12 things that let me down, made me mad or had me reaching for the remote.

12. 3D TV –Not to say 3D is always bad, there is a place for it and 3D gaming sounds like a good use for the technology but it has a long way to go before being a worthy addition to the living room.  Between the dearth of 3D programming and the expensive glasses you need for it to work, 3D TV’s just come off as something used by doofuses with too much money.

11. The Office’s “The Banker” episode – No doubt even hardcore fans of The Office have to acknowledge the show has fallen from its glory days of the second and third seasons, but I don’t think they thought the writers would be this desperate to do an unapologetic clip show in 2010.  The Office’s audience is hip enough to dismiss that instantly, especially when shows like The Simpsons did post-modern clip shows 15 years ago or their own fans make better montages and put them on YouTube.  They could’ve done something clever or meta with a clip show, considering the long-forgotten-but-still-used-as-the-show’s-narrative-foundation documentary conceit.

10. Snubbing Jay Pharoah on SNL – Judging by how much airtime the new cast members of Saturday Night Live get, you’d assume the break out star was Vanessa Bayer, who is fine, but those watching the show know the true break out is Jay Pharoah.  Pharoah is perhaps the best impressionist the show has seen since Darrell Hammond, uncannily mimicking Will Smith, Denzel Washington and Jay-Z.  Unfortunately he is barely on the show outside of a bit on Weekend Update.  This guy needs a “Lazy Sunday” style breakout.

9. The pacing of the final season of Lost – Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed the final season, and its finale was extremely satisfying, but man, it was the least consistent of the seasons at a time when it needed to be.  The first half was slow, testing the patience of fans over a controversial subplot that felt like a waste of valuable time, then with a third or so left, the pace kicked in and suddenly big character moments, some of which were building for seasons, took a backseat to momentum.  That’s not even counting that about a quarter of the regular characters were given nothing to do (what exactly was Ilana’s purpose anyway?)  For a show that prided itself in its character development this was a disappointment.  Luckily they pulled it together, but I can’t help but wonder what the season would’ve been if they tightened the pacing of the first two thirds, had the Desmond episode earlier or maybe had an episode or two in the end to give those later character moments time to breathe. 

8. Caprica – Call it a swing and a miss. The show had a great pedigree from talented writers, stellar production values and a top notch cast. It had interesting ideas about social networking and our online identity. So why was it so boring? Fans expected something like Battlestar Galactica, but instead got was a scattershot of subplots that had little in common and wound up thrown together in an awkward fashion. Moore and company are trying again with Blood and Chrome which while may be fan service hopefully can deliver on the captivating drama Caprica lacked.

7. Chuck and Sarah on Chuck – Chuck, the cult action-spy-comedy, has quickly fallen out of favor with me. There are several reasons, from the revolving door of indistinguishable, boring antagonists to the show’s need to change but never willing to stray too far off the status quo. Most annoying, is how they completely botched the romance between leads Zachary Levi and Yvonne Strahovski. The two have great chemistry, but ultimately have fallen into the same pratfalls that happen to many TV romances, often straining believability. They weren’t intimate because…the writers didn’t want them to and when they got together, they had them bicker because that’s how the will they or won’t they cycle works. The Jim and Pam romance on The Office is proof that you can write a romance that develops over time without a bunch of ridiculous drama and it still be compelling (The Office’s diminishing returns stem elsewhere). If only Chuck’s writers would be willing to challenge themselves to find the story in them being together and happy.

6. glee’s tribute episodes – Like any good musical, when the numbers on the increasingly erratic glee are in service of story or character, it works. However, the show’s growing use of tribute episodes, featuring songs centered around an artist or musical, throw any sense of character or story continuity out the window in pursuit of sucking up to the specific artist. The Madonna episode was serviceable to be fair, but the Britney Spears episode was the epitome of lazy writing, using the same device to set up shot for shot do overs of Spears’ music videos. Then there was the Rocky Horror episode, which tried to tie in to the show’s theme of the outsider, then backpedaling over a major reason why one of Rocky Horror’s characters was an outsider.

5. V – Had I seen Outsourced or $#!+ My Dad Says, I probably would count them, but I can’t judge stuff I haven’t seen. So I have to go with the show I watched every episode of, the horrendous reboot of the cult 80s alien invasion saga. Like every failed Lost clone, the characters were morons in service of lazy writing, the character development was paper thin and the cast was at best worthy of much better material (poor Elizabeth Mitchell). Somehow they avoided the axe, but when it comes back—whenever that may be—how can they fix it, and will anyone be watching if they do?

4. The 2010 Academy Awards – I’m sure I could do a whole list for the snubs the Emmy’s committed, but instead I’ll focus on the other lame awards show I watched. This year’s Oscars proved to be especially useless outside of commentary on Twitter. On top of the interpretive dances they can’t seem to understand no one likes (which cut Best Original Song performances, a far better use of airtime), there was the blatant pandering to tweens, that rude woman who interrupted her co-winner because they hate each other and meaningless montages. The most egregious infraction was barely acknowledging the achievements of Lauren Bacall, Roger Corman and Gordon Willis, who were among the winners of various lifetime achievement awards, making them stand in the audience and bow rather than take the stage. Besides the stupidity of not having at least Corman and Bacall give speeches, the Academy created some unintentional irony: celebrating cinema’s rich history, but snubbing those who made it so.

3. Dana Walsh on 24 – While some may go with the amnesia plot or the cougar, this character’s storyline is without a doubt the worst thing the show has ever done. Her story, involving a fake identity, a redneck ex-boyfriend trying to rob something or other, took up so much time and went nowhere. What makes it the worst is how it wasted Katee Sackhoff, fresh of Battlestar Galactica. She deserved so much better. At least she got a couple paychecks for her trouble.

2. The fall 2010 season – It may be the worst season since the strike season of 2007-2008, with non-starters like The Event & Undercovers, mediocre McShows like Hawaii 5-0 that became huge hits and gems like Terriers or the quickly yanked Lone Star that go unwatched. It’s hard to believe a year ago there were two break out hits in Modern Family and glee. If there is any silver lining, it’s that some great, but under watched shows like Community are getting a pass when they would probably be cancelled in a more competitive year.

1. Jay Leno and NBC – A complete disaster for nearly everyone involved: The Tonight Show as a franchise means nothing to anyone under 35, Jay Leno took a guy’s dream job and wrecked a network’s schedule all in one season and NBC, once a dominating force in TV, is in a distant fourth among network TV stations. How could it not be number one?