First of all, I am fully aware that most of the items on my list are not new to 2010. I am hopelessly, embarrassingly behind in my popular culture consumption. And I blame Netflix. I spent 6 months this year watching all 9 seasons of The X Files rather than anything contemporary. There is a post waiting to happen on how this rapid-fire viewing changes the show (Here's my opening line: The X Files premiered 18 years ago-HOLY CRAP I AM SOOOO OOOOOOOLD!. Like it?) but I couldn't quite bring myself to add the best television the mid-to-late '90s had to offer to my best of 2010 list.
So here we go, in almost no particular order.
SuperWhy! - This PBS Kids show premiered in 2007, but we just started watching it this year. Initially, I didn't like it. In each episode, the four heroes (Wyatt, Red, Princess P, and Alpha Pig) have to solve a problem by entering a story (usually a fairytale or fable of some sort) and changing it. This offended me. The story is what the story is for a reason! If you change the story to remove the central conflict then it...isn't an interesting story anymore! But, whatever. I've lightened up. I guess being able to change the story demonstrates understanding of the message the original story is trying to get across. Fine. Also, Zachary loves this show. He and his friend Kaden play Wyatt and Alpha Pig (Zach is Alpha Pig) and run around saying "I have the power to READ!". Interestingly, SuperWhy!'s creator? Angela Santomero who is also responsible for Blue's Clues Zachary's favorite preschool show ever ever ever.
How to Train Your Dragon - Probably because I just never see "grown-up" movies anymore, How to Train Your Dragon and Toy Story 3 were the best movies I saw this year. I didn't include TS3 on this list because it was exactly as good as I expected it to be - which is very very very good. HtTYD, I thought, was every bit as entertaining as TS3. It was funny, touching, action-y, and had a really good story. And dragons. I like dragons, so...yeah. It seems like the quality of films coming out of Pixar has taken attention away from the fact that lots of places are making excellent animated movies these days. Maybe someday I will write my controversial (or maybe not so controversial) post: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was better than Up.
Squared Up - Tomato Nation has been around about as long as the internet but new this year was Squared Up an occasional column on baseball that is some of the best sports writing I've read.
Monkey See - In an example of how time flies, I could have sworn NPR's pop culture blog Monkey See (which I've been reading since it began) was new this year. Actually, it premeired in August 2008. Sigh. This blog is written by Linda Holmes whose recaps of the first 12 seasons of The Amazing Race for Television Without Pity were so brilliant that I looked forward to them more than the show itself. Here are some Monkey See highlights:
The Double-Edged Sword of Devotion.
The I Will If You Will Reading Project. - Twilight and Moby Dick.
and the best new thing out of Monkey See this year....
Pop Culture Happy Hour - This weekly podcast made me bring my iPod out of retirement. Forty-five minutes of hilarity each week. I listen while I am walking and people who see me probably think that I am crazy because of the laughing.
Sanctuary - Look for a post soon on how this silly little show from Syfy completely won me over this year. I promise that it will be more than: Henry. Henry. Henry. Henry. Henry.
The Passage - What do you mean you haven't found time to read this 800 page, post-apocalyptic, sorta-vampire novel yet? I am disappointed. This book is super scary with a twisty plot and cliffhanger ending (its the first of a planned trilogy). It is simply entertaining.
Sherlock - Speaking of entertaining. This BBC series (which aired here on PBS's Masterpiece Mystery) was the highlight (media-wise) of 2010. It is a 3 episode long (each ep is 90 minutes), modern-day Sherlock Holmes story. Which, I admit, sounds like it could be truly awful. It is not. It is cleverly written, well acted and beautifully shot. I've seen the whole thing 3 times and now that my DVD set has arrived I will watch it again (and probably again and again and again) - with the scenes that PBS cut! Its not perfect. The plot of the second episode is a huge drag and it hints at problems with writing women and people of color. But by the time you get to that point you'll probably be so overwhelmed by the charm of this series that you won't care too much. There are 3 more episodes planned for 2011 so lets hope that they can fix their few problems and deliver an even more mind-blowing television experience.
