My Top 10: Favorite Posts from Year 1

Today is the first anniversary of the creation of my blog. My traffic has steadily increased over time, so I consider it a success. I've really enjoyed having this outlet to discuss what matters to me in pop culture and I hope to make it another year and beyond. In honor of my blog's first birthday, I thought I'd list my favorite posts since its inception. Some I spent a very long time on, some I loved writing, and others I just think turned out really well (in my humble opinion). But first, I thought I'd also point out which posts got the most love from readers.

Readers' Top 5:

5. My Top 10: Fictional Eateries I want to visit
4. My Top 10: TV Boyfriends
3. "Lie to Me" - a procedural worth watching
2. My Top 10: Phrases in TV/Movies that should be banned
1. Remakes Galore: "Being Human" - the UK original vs. the US remake

I never thought my "Being Human" post would take off quite like it did, but I'm thrilled considering it actually took me a while to write. I'm also glad my top 10 lists are popular because, let's face it, they're more fun to write and more fun to read.

My Top 5:

5. In Theaters: "Toy Story 3" and "Inception"
4. My Favorite Things of 2010
3. In Defense of "Cougar Town" - Why It's Not the Show You Think It Is
2. "Inception" - All you need to know is that you should see it
1. My Halloween Movie Viewing Guide

Of all my posts, I probably spent the most time working on my Halloween movie guide. It took a while, but I worked hard and got it out in time for Halloween weekend and I'm incredibly proud of it. I'm also very proud of my "Inception" preview post. It had a superb cast and crew behind it and it has become one of my favorite movies of all time. I kind of hate this time of year because studios generally refuse to release any movies of quality until summer, which means I don't get to write about movies in theaters as much as I'd like to. I'm also very happy with my first "Cougar Town" post, as almost a year later the show is better than ever and absolutely not about cougars. If nothing else, I've tried to use this blog to dispel myths about this great little sitcom.

Let's hope we get plenty of great movies this year as well as a better fall season of TV. Because barring any unfortunate life events or "Final Destination"-esque death, I'll be here to blog all about it for another year.

Tvgirl's Christmas haul

Among other things, I got a lot of new DVDs this Christmas that have been on my wish list for a while now. I guess I should forget about resolutions for the new year, I'll be busy watching all my new movies and TV shows. Hope everyone is having a great time with friends and family this holiday season! I certainly am.

My Top 10: TV Heroes

It's been a while since I last did a Top Ten list, and everyone loves lists, so I figured I'd focus on the best of the best on TV. We all love a good hero and we know the basic short list for All Time Heroes (Batman, Indiana Jones, Luke Skywalker, etc.). The list of movie heroes is long, varied, well-worn territory, so I'd like to salute my favorite lesser-known TV heroes and heroines. I'm defining a hero through the use of a hypothetical scenario. If the there was some sort of doomsday scenario and the world was in jeopardy, who would I want if I could pick a team of ten people to help avert disaster? Okay, not all of them are heroes in the epic, world-saving sense, but I would want every one of them on my side when I'm in a bad spot. And I'm admitting right now that I am clumping together some related people when they are absolutely necessary as a team. What can I say? My list, my rules.

10. Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"

I'll admit, I'm not a big fan of "Buffy." I find it to be one of the most overrated shows out there. One of the reasons I have a hard time watching it is because of the fact that I don't like any of the characters. Any except Giles, that is (and Spike). I've only gotten four seasons into the show so my love of Giles is based solely on them, but from what I've seen he's the only person on that show who can get anything done. Buffy can kick ass but she's not very bright, Xander's a useless dork, Willow's smart but weak, Anya is a bitchy third wheel, and Angel was a moody miserable stalker who didn't become interesting until he got his own show. Giles, on the other hand, is brilliant and can kick ass if he needs to. The introduction of Wesley improved his image, but I liked him from the beginning. If the world was in jeopardy from supernatural forces, Giles would figure out what was behind it and how to stop it.

9. Malcolm Reynolds (Nathon Fillion) from "Firefly"

This spot would go to River Tam, but she got to be awesome in basically only one episode in "Firefly." "Serenity" is where she shined and if this was a movie heroes list she'd definitely place. But Mal is the hero of "Firefly" that I would want around when the shit hits the fan or any scary monsters are around going "grrr, argh." Okay, he wasn't exactly a hero in the strictest sense of the word, but he was a damn good leader of his little outfit and he did the right thing when making tough decisions.

8. Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) from "Veronica Mars"

Some of my heroes aren't action stars, but they still fit my definition of hero. Anytime someone has screwed you over, Veronica is able to get to the bottom of it - and look great doing it. But more than just super sexy eye candy, she's clever and she knows how to work her appearance to her advantage. While someone like Giles could solve problems with his book smarts, Veronica would fill out the team with her street smarts. She's the kind of girl who could get a criminal to confess without him even realizing it. She's kind of ninja-like in that way.

7. Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) from "Burn Notice"

He's sort of the male version of Veronica, but with much more experience in the professional world of espionage. He's also got that whole MacGyver thing going on which would totally help in my hypothetical doomsday scenario. He also has an ability unlike anyone else on this list to assume false identities for his jobs and that earns him a spot on this list.

6. Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) from "Lie to Me"
He's a human lie detector. What more is there to say? Lightman keeps a strong commitment to finding the truth and looking at a situation rationally. Sure, Dr. House can declare that "everybody lies," but Lightman can tell you who specifically is doing the lying and what about. He backs up his natural skill with years of scientific experience and study, so you can trust him to save the day when your ass is on the line. His expertise with interrogation would stop us from needing a Jack Bauer character to come along and torture an answer out of someone.

5. Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) from "Fringe"

I've raved about Olivia for some time now, so of course she earns a top spot on this list. She's another take-charge lady with nerves of steel who can travel through universes just to help someone she cares about. She can face the strangest of the strange with a level head and still serve justice. I absolutely love her and would have to enlist her in my team of fictional superheroes. (Super referring to their awesomeness, not their comic book based powers.)

4. Sarah Connor (Lena Headey) from "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles"

This might seem strange to put her so high on the list, as she wasn't my personal female hero like Olivia, but she had a lot more to deal with than Olivia did. In a world full of deadly machines, she was truly the unstoppable force to be reckoned with. She combined top-notch combat skills with fierce maternal instincts and I'm sure even the FOX execs who cancelled her show would agree that she would be ideal to have by your side when the world is in peril.

3. The Winchester clan (Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Misha Collins) from "Supernatural"

This is the start of "my list, my rules" because I am counting the next two as package deals. Sam and Dean Winchester with the help of Castiel are quite the team. Sure, they started the apocalypse, but they also managed to stop it, sort of. The self-sacrificing goes beyond what they do for each other and extends to what they sacrifice to help other people. When Dean lives a Twilight Zone version of his life if he wasn't a hunter, he cannot accept a life where others died because he wasn't around to rescue them. Sam agrees that their lifestyle "is unfair, and it hurts like hell, but it's worth it." Castiel rebels against the corrupt establishment in Heaven to try and save the Earth and gives up everything he had to do it. It's a shame the Heaven in the "Supernatural" universe is in such disarray because if anyone deserves it, it's these three heroes.

2. The Torchwood team (Naoko Mori, Gareth David-Lloyd, Eve Myles, Burn Gorman, John Barrowman) from "Torchwood"

Talk about more self-sacrifice in the line of duty. Three out of the original five team members died and Captain Jack Harkness had to sacrifice his grandson to stop a horrifying alien threat. Jack is a dashing hero who can't even die which makes him an incomparable hero. He's smarter and much more responsible than he seems and he picks loyal team members. An immortal ex-Time Agent, a cop, a doctor, a computer genius, and the tea boy who was so much more made one powerful group of heroes. Which is why it's that much more painful that the show insists on killing them off! (Oh, and you're pretty much ensured crisis sex with this horny bunch).

1. The Doctor (David Tennant or Christopher Eccleston) from "Doctor Who"

This is no shocker. The Doctor saves the universe every season and does it without firing a gun or throwing a punch. He'll take care of those damn Daleks every time they come back, he'll stop the Cybermen whenever they reappear, and he'll even burn his own planet out of existence to stop a threatening race bent on genocide. River Song put it best, when she commented that "now and then, every once in a very long while, every day in a million days when the wind stands fair and the Doctor comes to call, everybody lives."

"Lie to Me" - a procedural worth watching

I'm not normally one for procedurals. My kind of show is not the kind that you can drop for several seasons and then pick up again with no problem. I will watch and enjoy them from time to time, though, when I need something to sit back and enjoy without thinking. When you're working hard on something, nothing makes better background noise than an "NCIS" marathon on USA Network which, fortunately, happens pretty much every other day. Even shows I love I tend to eventually tire with if they veer too much into the procedural territory and don't have enough character development or long-term story arcs to keep me interested. A prime example of this is "House," which I loved for the first few seasons. But after they scrapped the original doctors helping House, got some boring new people, then attempted to bring back the originals to no avail, I gave up on the show. By then, you knew what would happen - a few incorrect diagnoses, the one they think is right but isn't, then the one that is after House gets one of his "a-ha!" moments. It is clear, however, that America absolutely adores procedurals. Just look at the ratings something like "NCIS" or "CSI" gets. So it irks me more than usual when I see a quality procedural like "Lie to Me" fly under the radar of the average viewer. This isn't entirely the viewers' fault, as FOX has toyed around with this show for a while, ultimately banishing the rest of its second season to the end of the regular TV season in June. In my ideal world, this would give the show a boost since it has little if any competition now.

"Lie to Me" centers around Cal Lightman, played by Tim Roth, who runs a group that aids law enforcement by using psychology. The concept is mostly why I enjoy this show, as you get tons of fun facts about deception and lies and 'microexpressions.' It sounds slightly ridiculous, but it is based on a real person and a real type of science. Lightman works with Kelli Williams' Gillian Foster, Brendan Hines' Eli Loker, and Monica Raymund's Ria Torres. Mekhi Phifer, of "ER" fame, recently joined the cast as a liasion between The Lightman Group and the FBI. We also occasionally get to see Lightman's ex-wife and his daughter, and family drama and romantic relationships are so much more fun when everyone is skilled at lying as well as detecting lies. The fun, fascinating characters matched with the unique concept make for one worthwhile procedural drama. Also, any person remotely interested in psychology should enjoy this show a lot.

The series finally came back with a new episode Monday night, which featured a guest appearance by Jason Dohring, who viewers might possibly recognize as Logan Echolls from the criminally overlooked drama "Veronica Mars." Dohring played a serial killer who Lightman encounters while giving a lecture at a university. When Dohring's character challenged Lightman's observations about Richard Nixon's "I am not a crook" speech, I assumed at first that he was joining the show and I had just not heard about it yet. I thought he would be another 'natural' like Ria Torres who would butt heads with Lightman. But instead, he was a psychopath who was torturing and killing women. I think Dohring completely pulled this off. I always thought (well, at least for the last season of "Veronica Mars") that he seemed like a guy who could snap at any moment. He plays the arrogant, charming, damaged psychopath very well. Many mind games ensue and Lightman eventually gets him for his crimes after he gets himself kidnapped. That was the only moment in the episode that was a little awkward for me, when Dohring's character finally captures and waterboards Lightman. It was glossed over so quickly that it was over by the time you realized what was happening. I liked the twist of him getting captured, but it felt very rushed. Perhaps they could have cut a little from Loker and Torres' B-story about a teacher who claims to have seen a UFO. On the plus side, we did get to see yet another military character played by Glenn Morshower, the go-to guy for military roles. To "24" fans, he's best known as Secret Service Agent Aaron Pierce. The first episode back was a fine return to form for the show, and I'm really looking forward to next week's episode, where it looks like Lightman's checkered past comes back to haunt him in a big (read: explosive) way.

For any interested person, the first season is out on DVD and the rest of Season 2 is probably available online somewhere. The pilot would be best to start with, obviously, and it showcases lots of fun deception tips. My favorite thing "Lie to Me" does, which they do in the pilot, is when they show a character making some expression and then pictures of famous figures pop up with the same exact expression. It mixes psychology and history, and I just love it. There are many other great episodes to check out, which feature hostage situations (and those always make for riveting TV), poker tournaments (with deception experts, so it's not as boring as real poker tournaments), a harrowing trip to Afghanistan, plenty of psycho killers (Qu'est-ce que c'est? Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba...), undercover operations, and conspiracies. Also, the show gets extra brownie points for actually bothering to have a theme song and opening sequence. That's a dying art in television that they really need to bring back.

Tis the Season - More Shows Renewed, Cancelled

It's that time again! That nervewracking time of the year as we creep closer and closer to upfronts where the networks have to announce their fall schedules and decide what stays and what goes. I'm happy to announce that I've had some luck with my bubble shows this year. I'm also happy to announce that I officially love Michael Ausiello (but that's nothing new!)

(Ausiello is keeping a great Bubble Show Scorecard here. I think his version is the best as it's the most up-to-date.)

In his column this week he filled us in on when each network has their upfront presentation:

• Monday 5/17 - NBC and FOX
• Tuesday 5/18 - ABC
• Wednesday 5/19 - CBS
• Thursday 5/20 - The CW

But, onto the good news/bad news segment! "V" was renewed, much to my delight. I think the show still has potential, unlike "Flashforward," which was just cancelled. "Flashforward" was an epic disappointment for me this year so I'm hoping "V" will make up for it by returning strong next season.

Also cancelled by ABC were "Romantically Challenged," (which I hardly remember hearing about), "Scrubs," and "Better Off Ted." I'm glad "Scrubs" is finally retiring; it really wasn't the same show, just the same title. And I'm unsure about "Better Off Ted." I heard from quite a few sources that it was good, but I never watched myself so all I can do is offer my condolences to any "Ted" fans.

"Human Target" and "Lie to Me" were both saved, despite every site talking about saving one or the other. Well, unofficially saved so far, but I'll trust Ausiello with this one and take the victory. "Human Target" seemed like a fun enough show and I checked out a few episodes, but I'm a "Lie to Me" girl all the way. Any show that teaches me how to detect lies is a winner in my book.

But the best news of all? "Chuck" was finally, officially renewed. And we didn't even need a giant Subway campaign this year, so yay for us.

This has been a crazy season: "Lost" is going away forever, "24" the television series is ending (personally, I am totally ready for some "24" movies), "Supernatural" got renewed despite its intention of ending this season (and ending the season with a very series finale-y episode), "Fringe" got renewed without too much last minute drama, "Southland" got the life it deserves on TNT, "Burn Notice" was renewed through, like, 2035, and who knows what the hell is going on with "Heroes." (I'd take another season. Even though I hate this concept, it's the perfect definition of a 'guilty pleasure' for me.) [Update: "Heroes" is dead. Finally. It's still sad remembering your glory days though.]

I'll probably post something else about the new fall pilots when we get closer to fall. There are so many right now that still have such fluid concepts and casts at this point that I don't bother to brush up on them until later. So for now, I'm going to celebrate the renewal of the shows I've been cheering for all year.