Top 10 TV Shows of 2007

10. The Office

One of the few shows left on TV that actually makes me laugh. Jenna Fishcer is her own star of the show as Pam. Instead of watching Grey's at 9 on Thursdays, America should be watching this. But can we get rid of those over-played hour long episodes please?

9. Gossip Girl

Sex, dirty martinis, pot smoking during leisurely walks through Central Park, bulimia, suicide attempts, affairs. While it remains to be seen if Gossip Girl will take the plot plunge "The O.C." did after its first season, the first half of the season is a completely fresh look at the teen drama.

8. 30 Rock

A refreshing sitcom with a spot-on cast and fantastic writing makes this show more quirky and unique than any other on TV.

7. Desperate Housewives

After the creative slump that was the second half of season 3, and all of season 2, Housewives proved in season 4 that it wasn't just one good season a few years ago. (That was really confusing.) All I know is that this season, besides that lame tornado finale, was really great.

6. America's Next Top Model

I'm addicted to this show. I dont care what anyone says about models. Top Model has brought us some of the most interesting characters on reality TV in the last few years and I'lll say it.
From autistic model Heather, to last seasons runner up Natasha, a Russian girl who married an older American just for a chance at modeling, to Red Bull stealing Bre with that cute-as-buttons voice. Not to mention the inevitable countless fights that take place. God help me if Saturday rolls around and theres a marathon on VH1 or MTV, I'll park myself on the couch alllll day. This show is FIERCE.

5. Pushing Daisies

The new ABC curiosity that goes where no television show has dared go before; or perhaps lack of daring and more because it probably just never occurred to anyone to mix children's fairy tales with violent murder mysteries. Nobody, it seems, except Bryan Fuller. One of the strangest, quirkiest shows in memory. Of course, that almost certainly dooms it to swift cancellation, but hey, you gotta take the good with the bad.

Picture this, if you can: Ned is a boy who discovers he has the strange ability to bring the dead to life with a single touch. Unfortunately, a second touch then renders them dead again, permanently. Which sounds bad, but not as bad as the alternative: if Ned doesn't re-kill them within 60 seconds, some random, luckless soul in the vicinity will have to fill the void by dropping dead instead.

Now, fast forward 20 years and we have the show: Ned is an introverted recluse obsessed with pies, who uses his pie making craft from within a pie-shaped shop called The Pie Hole. He only uses his power for good - that is, for the good of his wallet, as he and his business partner, detective Emerson Cod, cash in on rewards by animating the dead just long enough to get them to spill the beans about their murderer's identity. Add to this curious mix Technicolor sets, semi-immortal dogs and a world populated with the sort of oversized caricatures worthy of Tim Burton and Roahld Dahl, with every adult a bag of nervous twitches and crazy eye patches. All of this presented to you with the help of a creepy narrator.

In total, then, for anyone who remembers being a kid with fondness, and doesn't mind a little dark humor mixed in with their darker humor, Pushing Daisies is such a refreshing show that forces me to still believe in TV. Turn this show into your own fairy tale.

4. Heroes

Even though critics bashed season 2 like a bully bashes a fat kid's confidence, I sort of embraced the darker side. While I completely agreed that those God damned Mexicans needed to die immediately, I don't think season 2 was nearly as bad as it was made out to be. I loved the rest of the additions to the cast and completely enjoyed Matt having a much larger role. People complain that Claire's story is basically a rehash of season 1, well, shes only 17, she dwells and what 17 year old would completely come to terms with a life such as hers in one year? Plus there were some pretty fucking brilliant episode in the bunch. Save the writers, save the show. Muahaha.

3. Ugly Betty

While other shows suffered the inevitable second season slump, Ugly Betty was better than ever. One of the most well put together casts in recent memory. Amanda and Mark are the new Jack and Karen. It irks the fuck out me when people peg this is a family type show, clearly they haven't seen a single episode. There's not one single weak link in this cast. Justin trying to be more like his dead father, Wilhelmina tanking Mode, HIlda grieving over the loss of her fiance, Henry as Betty's dorky boyfriend, Claire Meade as Mark's witty- chain smoking mother. It's just a perfect cast. Fans of "Will and Grace" should have embraced this more sarcastic, more human, and slightly funnier show from the beginning.

2. Lost

Lost's third season had a rocky start and suffered from raising far too many questions while resolving very little - A complaint that the show has garnered quite frequently. But something changed halfway through the season. Suddenly, it seemed like the writers and producers had been listening to fan concerns as they successfully resolved many lingering plot points and gave us a renewed interest in the series' core mysteries.

This season is easily broken down into two separate parts; the first six episodes that aired before an eight week hiatus and then the rest of the season. Even though the first six are considered part of the third season, they feel much more like a prologue. Very little time is spent with the survivors on the beach and the main focus of the story is Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Sawyer's (Josh Holloway) imprisonment by the Others. These episodes did have their moments (fish biscuits anyone?) but ultimately they felt like one big tease with very little being resolved and more answers surfacing. Sounds like typical Lost, right? Well it seemed at the time that fans had had enough as ratings began to slip and a backlash against the series began mounting. I was even prepared to throw in the towel, and thats saying alot. ABC appeared to be losing faith in their show as they shifted Lost to the ten o'clock timeslot and away from the ever so popular American Idol. This is when everything changed.

The best way to describe the show's resurgence in season three's second half is to look back at an article I read on IGN in November of 2006. IGN TV published 50 Lost Loose Ends and to be honest it wouldn't have been surprising if I could have come up with 50 more. Out of those 50 loose ends, around seven have been answered. Now that may not seem like a significant amount but when we are dealing with subjects such as the origin of Locke's (Terry O'Quinn) paralysis, "Why do the Others want children?" and the radio tower, it's hard to be disappointed. On top of that, there were several more loose ends dealt with in a significant capacity and numerous other mysteries explored that weren't even on the list. Not bad for a show that is often criticized for not delivering answers.

The second half of the season also featured some of the show's best episodes to date. Including the brilliantly told "Flashes Before Your Eyes", which is an interesting twist on Lost's somewhat stale flashback scenario. Other episodes like "The Man from Tallahassee" and "The Brig" answered long asked questions while "The Man Behind the Curtain" and "One of Us" gave us a much needed back-story on both Ben (Michael Emerson) and Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell). Really, the only weak point of the final sixteen-episode run would be "Stranger in a Strange Land", an episode that primarily focused on the origins and meaning of Jack's tattoo. We still don't really understand the significance and we're not too sure if the writers do either as they never bring up the subject again for the rest of the season. Even "Expos¿", an episode that featured fan-hated Nikki (Kiele Sanchez) and Paulo (Rodrigo Santoro), told an interesting "Twilight Zone" style story and we couldn't be happier with the conclusion. They died, cause they sucked, to put it bluntly.

If you were to suggest that the theme for season one was man vs. the unknown and that season two's was man vs. machine (the button), it would be fair to suggest that the theme for season three is man vs. man, as the main core of the season deals with the survivors of Flight 815 dealing with the Others. There is a constant power struggle between the two groups and the narrative frequently shifts back and forth from the Others camp to the survivor's beach. Intertwined throughout, are personal struggles for several of the characters in both camps and we realize as the story pushes forward that even though they are enemies, their survival appears to be dependant on each other.At the core of this struggle is Benjamin Linus, and it would be a sin not to mention Michael Emerson's fantastic performance as the enigmatic leader of the Others. He never once falters in portraying a creepy and unnerving nemesis for the survivors of Flight 815 and in particular, John Locke. Terry O'Quinn puts in an equally inspired performance and every time these two appeared on screen together, you knew something special was about to happen. Other standout moments are Locke seeing Jacob (creepy as fuck), Jack and Kate's one moment of acting in 3 years when they are sitting on a chair saying goodbye in otherville, plus Juliet and Desmond and are awesome.

The others, fish biscuits, Ben and Juliet and Jacob added up to a worthwile season, perhaps even topping season 1

1. Brothers and Sisters

While it's always fun to watch a bunch of people stuck on an island being chased around by black smoke. Its slightly more refreshing to watch a show with no gimmicks. Pretty much every program I mentioned on this list has some sort of gimmick attached to it in some form. Brothers & Sisters is the one show that seriously reaffirms my belief in TV. It pretty much reinvented the family drama by dealing with a perfect mix of real issues mixed with witty authentic banter. Come to think of it, everything about this show is authentic and that seems to be the perfect word to describe it. From its actors (Rachel Griffiths and Sally Field) to its storylines (Justin's drug addiction, Sarah's pending divorce, Kitty's black sheep Republican ways in a family of Democrats), not to mention the ballsy choice to have 2 main characters (Kevin and Saul) be gay. If there's one show that really strikes a note with me this year, its Brothers & Sisters. The toss up between Lost and this to be at number one was ultimately determined by the fact that Brothers & Sisters relies on the art of storytelling and acting more heavily than any other show on the list. And that is to be commended in a tv world full of gimmicks.