This is gonna be a bit weird, since the year kinda rides over 2 seasons (most shows start in the fall). Even though there has been significant strides towards providing better content on the big networks, HBO still reigns supreme

TiVo has really helped me keep up with my favorite shows this year. I've watched an obscene amount of VH1 shows with the stupid commentaries, and some pretty bad reality TV as well. This year I've also started watching the Charlie Rose Show and Comedy Central's Daily Show with Jon Stewart but I don't keep up with them very well


2004-2005 season
The Wire (HBO) had an outstanding season all all around, a huge build up to the finale and I've read, possibly the show's conclusion.

ABC kicked some major ass with new entries Lost and Desperate Housewives, excellent writing. Jack And Bobby (WB) started off really good but things settled a bit (not as exciting). Joey (NBC) is a pretty safe new show to watch. Arrested Development's (Fox) 2nd season is actually a lot better than the much heraled 1st one

I've held the same high level of interest for Everwood, Gilmore Girls, One Tree Hill, and The OC (which has a pretty cool Flash website)

The West Wing lost many hardcore fans last year after Sorkin left but it has managed to stay interesting for me. Wells and the new folks are trying to transition the show the same way they did ER when some of the cast moved on, this year focuses on what happens as Bartlet is on the way out of the White House.

On MTV, I've been keepin tabs on Laguna Beach (which had the best theme song ever, okay maybe not), The Real World Philadelphia (the cast kinda sux but it's still watchable) and the Battle of the Sexes II. I've pretty much stopped watching music videos (meaning no BET anymore)

Smallville has been falling off, there's this ridiculous storyline with Lana and I'm not diggin the spiritual stuff that is goin on in the Smallville mytho. My interest in Scrubs and Will and Grace has declined though I still find those sitcoms pretty solid. ER was a big revelation last season but started off lukewarm for me. I'm watching The Mountain but it really hasn't been that good

Scheduling conflict is preventing me from watching new eps of Everybody Loves Raymond and My Wife and Kids (another way to say I've lost some interest in them)

In 05, new episodes of Alias and 24 are pretty anticipated


2003-2004 season verdict
The gem of last season was definitely The Sopranos (HBO), they had some great episodes, major changes and mucho actions (last season didn't have enough people getting whacked)

Gilmore Girls had a very solid season, I'm not sure if I have a crush on Lorelai or Rory, I'm not in a hurry to find out

The Real World San Diego (MTV) is really nice and fun to watch, you don't need to commit to it or anything, it's on all the time. It's pretty addictive, last few eps I watched were damn funny actually... ah pretty people, that are kinda crazy, u basically can't go wrong

I got sucked in late for One Tree Hill (WB), a high school/basketball teen drama, very WB (from the people who brought us Smallville).. the main kid Chad Michael Thomas had been bouncing around a few shows but this one seems to stick.. the main girl lead is actually a former MTV VJ, quite interesting.. I wonder what makes them decide to set those shows up in these small towns (a la Dawson) but this small North Carolina fits well. It's a bit all over the place, the kid reads a lot and plays basketball, the girl is an artist who listens to indie rock... jocks and cheerleaders but the whole thing is done well

Scrubs (NBC) was largely overlooked because I suck, this show is now 3 season strong and soo damn funny. It may not attract mass appeal because the humor is too quirky. Scrubs was created by Billy Lawrence who worked on Spin City

ER had a big revival season with new characters and I've always liked that Carter kid. I wonder if the show has been this good and I have just been dismissing it..

I really dug the Chapelle's Show on Comedy Central, there were some really awesome sketches, the show worked better on DVD since there was no bleepin. Some skits were a bit too weird though, this kid is crazy

The Shield's (FX) 3rd season was still good though it did not particularly excite me

Deadwood (HBO) has a real slow build up but it paid off nicely, some of the costumes and other historic elements were really top notch. It made me watch a western, which I think is sayin a lot

I discovered Family Guy through the DVD sets released, Fox is actually bringing the show back in 2005 based on how well the DVDs are doing. I had seen a couple of episodes but the DVDs really solidify this show as one of the smartest and funniest.. it reminds me of Scrubs (or rather Scrubs used some of the concepts) when it goes off into some funny flashbacks/fantasy sequences.. good stuff

I had a bout of crazy addiction to almost any Food Network shows for a few months, it was really bad


Didn't make the cut
2004 had a lot of casualties, but the 2 below I will miss

Line of Fire (ABC) followed a FBI taskforce working on organized crime, it was a good look at how far a broadcast network could go with some Sopranos-type storylines, it focused on both sides of the law.

I was confident about how good Wonderfalls (Fox) was based on 2 episodes (was sadly cancelled after 4), the writing and the wit on this show was spectacular, one of the creators Bryan Fuller also worked on an equally charming show called Dead Like Me (Showtime).. a shame really, the show and its unaired episodes found life on DVD


A moment of geekness
Oh yeah, there was an almost life changing article on how to use bittorrent and RSS syndication to replicate the season pass feature of Tivo. Engadget later on picked up the story (then original article got hammered so bad I had to use the Google cache to access it). Basically some sites publish RSS feeds of shows released on the internet. Using Azureus with an RSS plugin, you can automatically match shows you want to download. If I didn't have Tivo, that woulda probably rocked a lot more. I do use it to help with scheduling conflicts but it's not as convenient, end up watching on the computer