TERRY DOYLE/ NICKELODEON/Terry Doyle/ NICKELODEON
Jennette McCurdy (l.) and Ariana Grande are in “Sam and Cat,” one of several effective youth series on Nickelodeon.
Television is one of the great American punching bags.
Who among us has not heard or said, “I can never find anything to watch”?
But that’s not the whole story. So in the spirit of the holidays, let’s give television the gift of a few kind words — not just for its award-winners, but for a small sampling of the reasons that most of us, for all our bad-mouthing, still tune in.
Buddies. Whatever our issues with TV writers, they’ve gotten really good at writing nuanced buddy roles, from Finch and Reese on “Person of Interest” to Neal and Peter on “White Collar,” Jane and Maura on “Rizzoli & Isles” and the ragged-edge alliances on “Sons of Anarchy.”
“Lauren” (WIGS). Jennifer Beals and Troian Bellisario exercise the freedom of a Web-only series, doing a powerful show in eight-minute bursts.
Chiwetel Ejiofor in ‘Dancing on the Edge’
TNT and USA dramas. In some ways, shows like “Suits” and “Rizzoli & Isles” and “White Collar” and “Perception” are the lite version of broadcast dramas. And that’s part of the reason they’re good. They can strip it down to the stories and characters. They also have a sense of humor, making it fun we can all be in on.
Tween shows on Nickelodeon. Sure, shows like “Victorious” or “Sam & Cat” or “Big Time Rush” are deliberately overacted. So what? Regular sitcoms aren’t? They capture what’s fun about an age when a lot of things aren’t.
Turner Classic Movies. They have a world-class library, but they still have to execute, and they do, from silents to having Robert Osborne as the host.
“Downton Abbey,” PBS. My wife would shoot me if I didn’t mention this, but I’d watch it anyway just for the way it looks. And how often do this many characters feel this well-developed?
Raylan Givens. Timothy Olyphant has made Elmore Leonard’s Marshal Givens on “Justified” (FX) into contemporary TV’s version of John Wayne. He’s a little more neurotic than the Duke, but he’s just as funny and in the end he’s just as reliable.
AP
Online drama is provided by Jennifer Beals, right, confronting Troian Bellisario in ‘Lauren.’
Max and Caroline. The constant sex jokes between Max (Kat Dennings) and Caroline (Beth Behrs) on CBS’ “2 Broke Girls” are like the cursing on “Deadwood.” They’re not there to shock. It’s just the language in which the characters deliver a rather sentimental feel-good story about friendship and trust.
James Spader. He’s good in everything and he’s good again in NBC’s “The Blacklist.” He’s got another good partner, too, in Megan Boone.
The family dinners on “Blue Bloods.” It’s so 20th century it’s almost 19th century, but having each show include a four-generation family dinner feels kind of reassuring.
“Archer,” FX. These are good times for animation, and none is funnier than this spy spoof, where everything and everyone is just so wrong.
Short-run series (miniseries) on channels you might not ordinarily think to watch. “Dancing on the Edge” with Chiwetel Ejiofor on Starz. “Top of the Lake” with Elisabeth Moss on Sundance. “Broadchurch” with David Tennant and Olivia Colman on BBC America. Knowing these shows could pop up anywhere makes channel-surfing harder, but the search is worth it.
Poetic dialogue. You can watch “Justified” just to listen to the rhythm of the words. Or listen to Chalky White and Narcisse on “Boardwalk Empire.”
“Mad Men,” AMC. It’s almost inevitable that fans of a great show will say it’s not as good after a few seasons, because they feel like they’ve seen its best tricks. But as “Mad Men” heads to the finish line, we’re just as compelled to see what happens to these characters, and we’ll be just as melancholy when their stories end.
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