1. Buffy, the Vampire Slayer

Season 5 was not the strongest one for Buffy (Season 3 still holds that title) and Season 6 isn’t exactly blowing me away. But Buffy, the Vampire Slayer is back on top of my list for two very specific reasons. Reason One: “The Body”, the single most wrenching, harrowing, touching and real hour of television ever produced. When Buffy (in Sarah Michelle Gellar’s best performance) finds her Mother dead (from natural causes) she and her friends must deal the most tangible and intangible aspects of death. Buffy denies and shuts down, Willow (Alyson Hannigan) struggles to be a best friend even while her own heart is breaking, Xander (Nicholas Brendon) tries in vain to find something to fight. But surprisingly, it is Anya (Emma Caulfield), the 1000 year old ex-demon, usually played as comic relief, who has the most touching reaction. Realizing her own, until now non-existent, mortality, she tries, like a young child, to understand exactly why and even how someone dies. When she realizes that Joyce will never again beable to drink fruit punch, it is once darkly comic and heart-breakingly honest. Reason Two: “One More, with Feeling”. Creator Joss Whedon’s ebullient, innovative musical episode. What could have been an embarrassing farce was actually a brilliantly funny, emotionally fraught tour-de-force trip to Sondheim-land. Cursed by a demon to communicate through song, the gang is forced to give up long-buried secrets and emotions. It could have been a stunt, a fun break from the season’s stories. But instead, Whedon uses the musical form to move every character’s story along and bring new depth to their relationships. What was most shocking of all, however, was the quality of the songs. Whedon may have one hell of a Broadway show in him.

2. & 3. Alias & 24
Alias is a comic book come to life (but in a good way). 24 is living proof that a great gimmick (all stories are told in real time) and a charismatic, oddly sexy ex-Brat Packer can save even the most clichéed espionage story. Both are tense viewing experiences. Both are smart, kicky and often sexy. But where 24 is serious and taut, Alias is a fun rush. Together they are the two best new series of the season.

4. The West Wing
Yep, it’s still good. Is the dialogue becoming a little too Sorkiny? Sure. Could the show use a little less smug and a little more substance? Uh-huh. Do I still watch every week? Hell, yeah.

5. The Simpsons
This show has a permanent berth here. If you don’t know why, well then, go away.

6. The Amazing Race
The question “Well, is it amazing?”. The surprising answer: “Yes, it is.” If someone had told me that I would be glued to a reality show produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, I would have checked her ears for one of Khan’s bugs (Was that reference too geeky? Of course it was. Carry on.) But somehow, either through great casting, a good premise (11 teams of two compete in a race around the world.) or excellent editing, this has become my guilty pleasure of the week. Actually, I’m not that guilty about it. My fantasies about host Phil Keoghan? Okay, I’m guilty about those. By taking real people with, and here’s the key, previously established relationships the show has turned the now staid, seven strangers, reality premise and turned it into something both dramatic (watching a separated color argue, seeing the stains in a mother-daughter bond) and exciting (hang-gliding over Rio, visiting a cave filled with millions of bats). And Goddamn, that theme is infectious.

7. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
See The Simpsons (above)

8. Gilmore Girls
This gem features Sorkin-quality dialogue without the bombast. The story of a mother and daughter (the lovely Lauren Graham and Alexis Biedel) is a small Connecticut town is everything Quality Television should be: funny, sweet but not saccharine, romantic but with a nice, cynical bite to every line. And Liza Weil’s Paris is my new imaginary TV best friend. Love her.

9. As the World Turns

A good soap opera is about romance, period. Everything else is gravy. The only soap right now that really understands this principle is this venerable, nearly 50 year old warhorse. Every story is rooted somewhere in a romance. Most of the year was dedicated to the fall of fashionista Barbara Ryan, first in her affair with a returned Craig Montgomery (played to the hilt by Hunt Block), then to her maiming in a boathouse explosion meant for her nemesis Carly, and now her decimated psyche and attempts at revenge with the help of back-from-the-dead-yet-again sociopath James Stenbeck. But, at every turn Barbara’s arc has been about love stories, with each of her actions spinning out into various tales: Carly and Jack break up and Paul and Rose grow close during Craig’s trial, Barbara’s daughter Jennifer, hurt by her Mother, leaves boyfriend Bryant for his cousin Billy, leading to Bryant’s death, and Barbara’s ex Hal falls for Emily while investigating the explosion. Throughout the year, Colleen Zenk-Pinter’s performance as Barbara has been revelatory, from her misguided love of Craig to the pain of the accident and now in her psychosis. She’s become the character I most look forward to in any scene on any show (Except, maybe, Anya – if only Barbara had a bunny phobia she’d be perfect!). Still, ATWT has been far from a one-woman show. Terri Columbino and Paul Leyden continue to be daytime’s funniest couple as greencard marrieds Katie and Simon. Martha Byrne’s Rose continues to grow in unexpected ways. And in the who knew department, Kelly Menighan-Hensley and Benjamin Hendrickson have an infectious chemistry as Hal and Emily. This is what soap opera should be.

10., 10.5., 10.75. The Bernie Mac Show, Scrubs and Undeclared

Finally, some funny comedies! And, mmm, Charlie Hunnam.

Worst in TV 2001

David E. Kelley

In 1998, The Practice and Ally McBeal shared the top spot on my list. Now, they share the bottom. What was once funny has become cloying and exasperating. What was once dramatic has become overdone and loud. And what can I say about Boston Public? Run, Kathy Baker, run. David Kelley needs a sabbatical. And he needs to stop hiring new actors until he finds interesting things for the ones he already employs.

Dawson’s Creek

Sometime last season, while trying to watch this teen soap (actually calling it a soap does a disservice to soaps. It’s a teen bleach, poisonous when swallowed.) I came up with a theory: maybe this whole show is a joke and I’m just not in on it; there are some smart people working on this show. But, as I watched, trying to find the Rosetta Stone which would unlock the funny, I realized that I was hoping in vain. It’s just a very, very bad show. Each character (especially the titular one) is vapid, self-absorbed and humorless. A good soap is funny and balanced and smart (see As the World Turns above). Dawson’s Creek is none of the above. When Dawson isn’t moping or becoming asininely introspective, he is trying to break up his two best friends because, well, I’ve lost track of why...because the WB says so? All of the fun and freshness has been drained out of this once promising show (right around the time they killed off Undeclared’s Monica Keena). Now, all that is left are a bunch of simpering 19 year olds, tired triangles and one really big forehead.

Reality Rip-Offs

The Amazing Race is, oh, don’t make me say it again, and Chains of Love had a sort of deliciously awful “are they really doing this” kick. But the rest of the post-Survivor crop of clones have been as tasteless and, worse, boring.

General Hospital

Funny, right around the time in the mid-90’s that As the World Turns was finding new ways to suck, GH was producing stellar soap opera. Now, the shoes have definitely changed feet. This year, Executive Producer Jill Farren Phelps and odious head writer Megan McTavish have made just about every mistake a producing/writing team could make. They split up all of the interesting couples, centered the main story on mind control and drugs and brought on a sociopath to terrorize the town who had no shred of humanity or likeability. The fact that he was a dead villain from 1983 that had been cryogenically frozen by his evil Mother and defrosted during February sweeps only added to the horror. While the evil icicle plot was wrapped up quickly after September 11, the damage was done and may be permanent. This once great soap has become improbable, dark and, most dangerous, boring.