TVSquad

I figured I may as well make this list before I food-punish myself into a turkey-flavored coma this Thursday. It's true, television has gone through its ups and downs in the past year. A bit of residual anger still bubbles within me when I think of Jay Leno shuffling not-so-subtly around Conan O'Brien or the fact that I'll never be as daring or funny as the writers behind Peep Show, but Thanksgiving is not meant for dwelling on silly things like that (it's what the rest of the year's for). Let's review my list of a few (TV-related) things that I'm thankful for, and then I promise I'll let everyone leave and stuff their faces.

Community: I've liked this show since the pilot and I'm thrilled to see it taking off. In the beginning, I enjoyed its snappy dialogue and overall attitude, but feared that it wouldn't find a direction until NBC got impatient and chopped it from the schedule.

Thankfully, Community is already starting to find its path and develop a really strong identity. Plus, the ensemble cast is ridiculously great. Except Britta. We can get rid of Britta.

30 Rock: I feared for 30 Rock through most of the last season. The non-stop guest stars (um, stunt casting) made me cringe, regardless of how much I liked the actors in any other context. This season has brought back an old spark though, and I'm so, so pleased. Even when other parts of NBC's comedy line-up let me down, I know I can rely on this show for consistent laughs. Also, 30 Rock convinced me to stop disliking Tina Fey. My friend, let me assure you, that was no easy task.

The Venture Bros.: Some supernatural entity or person with pull in the industry needs to get VB an award nomination, doubly so since Family Guy was up for an Emmy. I could go on and on about this show. Well, I suppose I have, via my weekly episode reviews, but I really can't say enough about how much I appreciate this program.

Way to raise the bar for all other [adult swim] shows, cartoons, comedy writing, television in general. I've also been lucky enough to speak to people that have or currently are working on VB, and it's amazing what they have to say. It's like they're fanboys or fangirls for the show they work on, and that's beautiful to see. In fact, that's kind of the reason why I've never applied for an internship to the show, even though it was a very real possibility; I'm convinced I'd be a little too thrilled to work there everyday. For now, I'll just enjoy from afar and spare the VB creative minds from most of my creepiness.



Mad Men costume designers: Thanks for making sweet, mid-century love to my eyeballs for about forty minutes every week.

Charlie Day: Consistently my favorite performer on It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. He's so off-the-wall in the way he delivers his lines and his physical comedy, his work is unlike any other actor's on television right now.



The Interweb: Sometimes I can't help but stop and marvel at how amazing the Internet is (this generally occurs a few moments before I am stuffed into a locker). Not only do I get to blog here, but I get to stare at the endless snark on Oh No They Didn't! and interact with all the other pop culture nerds on Twitter. Also, no show or oddly specific commercial is too obscure for me to find online. Thank goodness for the Internet. And thanks goodness for you, dear reader. Happy Thanksgiving.