The Year In Television Part 2

2011 had several great moments that I myself found to be entertainment gold. Here is the second half of the list. Again, they are in no particular order.

14. While growing up I spent a lot of time with my grandmother and I remember us watching Erica Kane along with the rest of her friends (as well as enemies) from Pine Valley on a soap opera called All My Children. This year AMC closed down production as the show was cancelled. I will remember seeing the final episode of the show because I watched it in a hospital room with Denise (my better half) right after having her left knee replaced. The episode featured many returning faces as well as a surprise cliff hanger. While it is still in doubt if we will ever go back to the small Pennsylvania town to see what happened after the gun shot, I’m sure that if we do, right after we find out if the bullet found it's target, Erica will announce her 137th engagement.


15. During 2000 a new summer replacement show aired. The show was called Survivor and Richard Hatch was the first ever winner. 11 years and 22 seasons later Survivor: Redemption Island saw the return of fan favorite Rob Mariano. Rob currently holds the record for most days spent on Survivor and is also married to Amber Brkich, another Survivor contestant and million dollar winner of the “All Stars” season. After his fourth try, Rob was declared the sole Survivor and won the million dollar prize. He was also the winner of the fan favorite vote which got him an additional hundred grand.


16. On a show called American Horror Story, one of the characters is Moira who is played by two different actresses; one older (around 50-ish) and the other version a younger 20-something. Men are the ones that see her as the young and seductive red-headed maid. One man decides he wants a tour of the house to see if he wants to buy the place. Moira, not wanting the house to be sold, uses her womanly ways to dirty talk the man into letting her give him oral sex. Yeah, go ahead, twist my arm. A few moments into it and she bites off his penis. Ouch!


17. During the 2011 Golden Globes host Ricky Gevais raised both eyebrows and ire with some of his comments during the show. Most people, including me, actually liked him. It was the “political correctness” police, who basically hate everything, that were up in arms about it. How much did the Golden Globes people like him? He’s coming back for 2012.


18. Cantankerous news writer and reporter Andy Rooney did a feature on 60 minutes called “A few minutes with Andy Rooney” for over 30 years. On October 2, at the age of 92, he called it a career. One month later he called it a life. While I was never a fan of his, or 60 Minutes for that matter, I can appreciate his contributions to the media no matter if I agreed with his opinions or not. While not without controversy, one other thing he wasn’t short on was respect in and out of the newsroom. Rest well you miserable bastard.


19. Getting a mention on this list is difficult enough. Getting on it twice should be damned near impossible. Not for The Walking Dead, though. Earlier I spoke about them shooting and nearly killing a child on the season two premier episode. At the mid-season finale (where did this horse shit idea come from? A finale in the middle of a season? Is this LOST‘s fault?) they did it again. Sophie, the daughter of one of the other survivors of the show had been missing for most of the season. In the "mid"- season finale they find her. Turns out she was holed up in the barn with a bunch of other walkers. Seems the writers found a successful way around that “you can’t show children getting killed on your television program”. Kudos to you, you sick demented fucks, I loved it!


20. Season 6 of Dexter, the serial killer series on Showtime starring Michael C. Hall features The Doomsday Killer storyline. The episode A Horse Of A Different Color featured the very creative move by killer Tom, er Colin Hanks. The victims bodies were chopped up and then sown back together but not to their original parts. Then they were super glued to the saddle of horses and rode into town representing the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The show continues to come up with new and creative ways to kill people even if it doesn’t always hit on all cylinders.


21. Yes, I watch The Jersey Shore on MTV. Now before you start calling me a douche-bag and sending off hate mail, let me tell you I watch it in spite of myself. I often feel like I need a shower after watching it. Also coming from someone who lives in New Jersey and has been to the Jersey Shore more times than I can count I have that interest in the show as well. Let me say that these a-holes and ho’s do not represent the people I know that live in Jersey nor do I see them at the shore I go to. Maybe I’m just not lifting up the correct rocks but either way, this show has me hooked. A report earlier in the year claimed that Mike The Situation had to be rushed to the hospital after getting in a fight with Ronnie and being knocked out. All of the action was of course caught on film and would be shown during the fourth season of the show. Finally, on a special Jersey Shore episode that aired right after the 2011 VMA’s we were to get the entire story of how Mike ended up on the wrong end of a Ronnie bashing. The fight finally began and right there in living color I saw The Situation get knocked out! By a wall and by sheer stupidity. Nice going jackass!

22. Also leaving the boob tube this year was Regis Philbin. The talk and game show host, actor, author, singer, personality holds the Guinness Book Of World Records record for most hours spent in front of a television camera. The 80 year old decided to call it a career after completing 50 years of television. Nothing but respect for Reeeeeeeeg. If he ever decides to come back to TV in a reduced roll I hear that 60 Minutes has an opening.


23. The Walking Dead wasn’t the only show to get a double mention on this list. True Blood also did it twice. Eric, as I mentioned before was suffering from amnesia. Not only could he not remember anything but his personality changed as well. Enough that Sookie, who mostly hated the undead Viking before he lost his memory, began to fall in love with him. The sexual tension had built up between these two for so long that it was almost anticlimactic but it was the biggest “Finally!” moment since Sawyer and Juliet remembered each other in the flash-sideways world of LOST.


24. Boardwalk Empire, the prohibition era drama on HBO starring Steve Buscemi has always been on my radar as "must see TV", albeit dimly. The storyline between Nucky Thompson (Buscemi) and his leading henchman Jimmy Darmody (who at times looked up to Nucky as a father figure) seemed to take a turn for the better when Jimmy offered to make amends for almost getting Nucky killed earlier in the season. Jimmy, along with myself, falls for Nucky’s plan to assassinate him for his part in trying to overthrow Nucky’s leadership of Atlantic City’s underworld. Michael Pitt, who played Darmody often stole the scenes he was in, even with mob veteran actor Buscemi. Now I'm left wondering about the direction the show will take in season 3 without the presence of one of my favorite characters on the show. Strong move though killing off the second biggest characters on the show. Seems like an even stronger move than when they killed off Big Pussy on the Sopranos.


25. Even though I couldn’t have really given less of a shit about it, I felt I would be remiss if I didn’t include Miss Harpo herself on the list. In a year that saw the departure of both Andy Rooney and Regis Philbin, ABC’s daytime programming lost it’s cash cow when Oprah said goodbye to her show. After 25 years at the top of the ratings and becoming the first ever (and only) female black billionaire she decided to hang it up. Literally going out on top and one thing I can say always pops into my mind when I think of Oprah Winfrey is one word “Class” even if at times it all seemed over done and over the top.



And that wraps up the year that was 2011. With 2012 looming over us I hope TV continues to wow, shock, surprise, and above all else, entertain us.