'Tis the season of reruns, so LA TV Insider Examiner should have a lot of time on our hands, right? Wrong! 'Tis (also) the season of reminiscing, and that is exactly what we're going to do this week...take you down the short memory lane that was 2011. We will bring you our favorite interviews from the past year, as well as our favorite television shows (new and returning), favorite guilty pleasures, and maybe even a few surprises along the way.
Best TV Moments of 2011 - (in no particular order)
- Gloria tries an American accent/Luke freezes a wad of money in a block of ice in Modern Family’s “Halloween” and “Hit and Run” episodes, respectively. They say the devil’s in the details, and it really is the little things that make Modern Family so laugh out-loud funny at times. When Jay (Ed O’Neill) makes fun of Gloria (Sofia Vergara)’s accent one too many times in the second season and she decides to adopt an American manner of speaking, she creates a whole new meaning to “Welcome to your nightmare, ha ha ha” that will never not be funny. And then there’s young Luke (Nolan Gould) who says some of the dumbest, and yet at times most profound, things. In this third season episode, he literally freezes his savings account because he hears a lot of talk about “liquid” versus “frozen” assets on the news. These were big laughs that caught us completely off-guard because they came from such simple, everyday moments.
- Abed delivers a baby in the background of Community. In “The Psychology of Letting Go,” Abed (Danny Pudi) was mysteriously absent. Well, not so much absent as pushed to the background. He who had become the central character in many regards, bypassing Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) as the glue that held the study group together, was not getting a time out so others could shine but instead taking part in the most involved of the series’ to date subplots and Easter egg moments. Community layers its comedy so thickly that if you freeze frame any given scene, you’re bound to spot more jokes hidden in the set decoration and props, but this time around an entire storyline about Abed’s relationship with a young pregnant woman barely came to light. First she thought he was the dad, but by the end of the episode, he was gently delivering her baby in the back of a truck in the campus parking lot. And so began the idea that Abed has a ton of secret adventures-- more than we might imagine of which include sex!
- Tom Walker is still alive...for a few episodes anyway, on Homeland. The minute it was revealed that Sergeant Brody (Damian Lewis), a POW who though he had killed his friend an fellow soldier while in captivity had not, a lot of things changed emotionally for him but clicked into place for us as an audience. Suddenly we saw the bigger picture-- where the focus was going to go while the "sleeper" Brody still carried out his plan devoid of eyes on him. We were itching for those two to come face-to-face again, and we finally got that tense moment in the season finale, "Marine One." This show is the gift that keeps on giving.
- Alicia and Will finally give into each other on The Good Wife's second season finale. Or do they? "Closing Arguments" ended with a steamy but somewhat awkward sequence as Will couldn't get his hotel room key to work. It was cute, and fans who wanted them together from the start cheered, but for us it held much more weight because it also set up the rocky road to follow if and when they sealed the deal (which they ultimately did).
- Dean and Sam have to act (Supernatural, “The French Mistake”). We’re a sucker for great actors pretending not to know how to act, and in Supernatural’s meta-meta-almost-a-bit-too-meta-even-for-us episode of the sixth season, Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) and Sam Winchester (Jared Padalecki) got zapped to an alternate universe where they found themselves as actors named Jensen and Jared on a TV show called Supernatural that was all about the lives of Dean and Sam Winchester. Sound crazy enough for you? Thrown into a scene, the guys had trouble with dialogue, deep gravely voices, hitting their mark, knowing where to look, and knowing what to do with their hands. Watch the scene (or the episode, really) out of context, and you will think the show is completely insane. But this was one for the true fans, and that was part of its charm.
- The entire “Mein Coming Out” episode of Happy Endings. Between Penny (Casey Wilson) trying to get on-board with dating a guy who’s last name is Hitler and Max (Adam Pally) going through his circle of female friends to try to find a new beard when his parents come to town, there was a lot of wacky hilarity to be found here, but what really worked to win me over to this show was the heart that came out in the end when Max finally opened up about who he really is, and another friend stepped up to be there for him in a new way.
- Tyler transforms on The Vampire Diaries. True, this first happened at the tale end of last year, but the biggest moments happened as he got more and more comfortable with his true self. In fact, we would argue that the biggest moment of that show was when he showed his mother (Susan Walters) what he really was in "The Hybrid." His motives were pure-- not to upset her or exert his own power over her, but because he wanted her to stop looking at and treating Caroline (Candice Accola) like she was a monster when he was the same. Or perhaps worse. It was a dark and beautiful moment made even more special by the turn he took when Klaus (Joseph Morgan) got ahold of him.
- April and Andy get married (Parks and Recreation, “Fancy Party”). Around this time last year we just wanted April (Aubrey Plaza) and Andy (Chris Pratt) to be a couple, and they delivered more than we could have expected, jumping right into newlywed weirdness. Their wedding was as unconventional as their relationship, but ridiculously sweet at the same time. Besides, they inspired Ben (Adam Scott) and Leslie (Amy Poehler) to start their own relationship, and we're even more grateful for that!
- Sheila (Callie Thorne) gives the best drunken toast we have ever seen at the Rescue Me wedding in “Vows.” That episode as a whole was a stand-out, and personally the way we choose to remember the series, but there isn’t more we can say about that toast because the words were often gibberish but it was the sentiment and the delivery that was just so perfect.
- Matt Saracen proposes in front of the Alamo Freeze (Friday Night Lights, “Always”). We admit we cringed a little when Matt (Zach Gilford) dropped to one knee with his nervous self outside the soft serve ice cream shop he spent his high school years working in, but in truth the moment was so perfect, so fitting for his relationship with Julie Taylor (Aimee Teegarden), it really couldn’t have been written any other way. We hope today they are finally married and their loft is full of his artwork.
What did we leave out? Sound off in the comments below!
And in the spirit of giving for the holidays, we're going to leave off the "worsts" but you can probably imagine what we consider those, since there are some shows we just never, ever write about!
What a year 2011 was! Thanks for joining LA TV Insider Examiner this year for television news, reviews, and interviews. We are already planning some big things for 2012, including more advance reviews of the mid-season programs, some exciting interviews and features, and of course, live, breaking TCA coverage. Make sure you're subscribed to this page and following us on Twitter so you stay up-to-date with all of the TV news!
Comments