Forced to write a year-end, best-of-TV story a year ago, I gave you my Top 5 Reasons I Hate Doing This.
No. 5 on the list was, "I'm afraid I'll forget something." And I did. No sooner had the story been published than I realized I'd forgotten to include "The West Wing," which wrapped up a spectacular final season in the spring of 2006.
It's not on anymore, so "West Wing" can't make this year's list. But here's an extremely belated nod to a fantastic show.
As for this year's list, I have to add one to my Top 5 Reasons I Hate Doing This. (1) There are too many good shows to narrow it down to just 10; (2) I think it's kind of stupid to compare soaps and dramas and comedies and talk shows and animation and sports; (3) The end of the year is the middle of the TV season; (4) My obsessive-compulsive tendencies kick in and I agonize over what's No. 8 and what's No. 9; and the aforementioned (5) I'm afraid I'll forget something.
Now, there's (6) The ongoing writers' strike is depressing those of us who love TV.
Or maybe I'm just depressed because so many shows on my Top 10 list a year ago took nose dives in 2007. No. 3 "24" went down the drain; No. 2 "Grey's Anatomy" has struggled mightily; and — dare I say it? — even No. 1 "Heroes" seems to have lost some of its magic.
But there's still a lot to love on the tube. And my list isn't one of those pompous, artsy rundowns of the classiest, most prestigious shows — although some of them fall into that category. Once again, these are shows I really look forward to watching every time they're on, shows that I record, shows that I watch with my family and friends, shows that we talk about after they air.
If you toss in the honorable mentions (see Reason No. 1), some are shows that I wish I had time to watch more often than I do. Others are old favorites past their prime, but I'm still watching.
Plus, I'm going to expand the Top 10 list to a Top 15 list this year because ... well, it's my list and I can do whatever I want. (And I've been struggling to cut it to 10 because of that whole obsessive/compulsive thing.)
Here goes:
1. Pushing Daisies: This was the scariest new show this fall — the pilot was so fantastic it seemed impossible subsequent episodes could come close to matching it. But they exceeded expectations. "Daisies" is funny, charming, goofy, heartfelt and gorgeous to look at.
2. Desperate Housewives: In its fourth season, this show is the best it's ever been.
3. Ugly Betty: This show was great when it started and has only gotten better. It's fun to see a show that's not afraid to go over the top and still is so fantastically heartfelt.
4. Heroes: OK, maybe it's not as good in the first half of Season 2, but it's still a great show.
5. Big Bang Theory: The funniest sitcom to come along in years — too bad we got so few episodes because of the writers' strike.
6. (tie) Brothers & Sisters and Dirty Sexy Money: The former show grew on me so much that I almost couldn't wait for episodes of "Desperate Housewives" to end so "B&S" would begin. And this fall we got a second show from the same producers, and it's developing into something similarly addicting.
7. The War: This is what Ken Burns does best — tell a big story by telling small stories. That viewers could find themselves tearing up about the deaths of young Americans after more than half a century says it all.
8. Battlestar Galactica: You can't really judge where a show is going to fit into television history while it's still running, but I'm guessing this one will go down as one of the best sci-fi series ever. And you don't have to be a sci-fi fan to be a "Galactica" fan.
9. Planet Earth: Yours truly uncharacteristically gushed all over this Discovery Channel documentary series in my review — but it really was, um, spectacularly spectacular.
10. Big Love: Controversial? To some extent, sure. But the second season of this show about polygamists living in Utah was better than the very good first season — and it relied on characters and storytelling, not the kind of nudity and foul language that's the norm on HBO.
11. How I Met Your Mother: As opposed to the more trendy half-hour comedies, this one has never quite gotten the credit it's due. But it has great characters, it's inventive in its storytelling, and it's FUNNY. Which a lot of alleged comedies are not.
12. Friday Night Lights: It's the best family drama on TV, hands down. 'Nuff said.
13. Supernatural: One of the best shows you're not watching — and I know you're not — this show is scary, exciting, fun and funny.
14. Gilmore Girls:This nod is more for the show's body of work over seven seasons than for Season 7, but I can't let a show this special go without putting it on the list.
15. (tie) Rescue Me, Damages, The Riches, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The Shield: OK, this is a way to cheat and put more than 15 shows in a top-15 list, but it's also a way to salute the FX network for its incredibly high batting average — just about every original series on the channel is of superior quality.
Honorable mentions: "Amazing Race," "Andy Barker P.I.," "Boston Legal," "Chuck," "The Class," "Clatterford," "The Colbert Report," "The Company," "CSI," "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," "Dexter," "Gossip Girl," "Grey's Anatomy," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," "Late Show with David Letterman," "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," "Lost," "Mad Men," "The Mormons," "My Name is Earl," "Mythbusters," "The O.C.," "The Office," "Reaper," "Robin Hood," "Scrubs," "The Simpsons," "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," "Supernatural," "Survivor," "30 Rock," "Torchwood," "The Tudors," "Two and a Half Men" and "The Wire."
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com