The Best Television of 2007
by Brian Tallerico

2007 could be politely described as a transitional year for most of the television networks. After years of watching their ratings dwindle off to the cable competitors, the big four seemed to find a way to bring them back by providing some of the best entertainment in the history of the medium (yes, the primes of 24, Lost, and Arrested Development deserve that kind of praise). Then the floor dropped out when the networks started losing ratings to... well, themselves.

All of the networks have tried to build programming for the coveted 18-49-year-old demographic and then watched as that same demo started downloading and recording their programming instead of watching it live; the only way that still matters to networks. In a world where people watch Family Guy on their iPhone and record a whole season of House on their DVR, the networks need to figure out what's next, and they need to do it soon. It doesn't help that, after a few amazing years of breakthrough hits, this season hasn't really provided any. Networks have confused efforts of trying to find the next Heroes or Lost with doing something new.

Heroes and Lost worked because they weren't like anything else on TV, so why try and copy them like so many fall programs did? It's produced as weak a crop of new shows as we've had in years. Of the 30 best programs on TV listed below, only four debuted this fall (although FX's Damages could technically be called a new show, too). That's a pretty shocking percentage, especially when you consider Tony Soprano is gone, Jack Bauer produced his worst season ever, and no one seems able to produce the next Lost or Heroes.

Where does TV go from here? The most interesting story on a network-wide level has to be the fact that the guard is changing. NBC, a network in disarray just a few years ago, tied FX for the most shows in our top 20 this year and is currently doing comedy, as a network, better than anyone. Just a few years ago, HBO and FOX garnered all of the headlines, but they combine for three shows on the list, one of which isn't even on the air any more. Seemingly, they're both networks in crisis. Going the other way are Showtime and FX, the two networks with the most interesting programming of the year. Will they keep up the pace and be the "it's not TV" of the new era or will they succumb to the quality drain that seems to have accompanied the advent of downloading and DVRs? Who knows? All we know now is what happened in 2007 and here's the best of the best.

Honorable Mentions: The Amazing Race (CBS), American Dad! (FOX), House (FOX), Prison Break (FOX), The Riches (FX), Robot Chicken (CN), Samantha Who? (ABC), Scrubs (NBC), The Simpsons (FOX), and Survivor (CBS).

20. Family Guy (FOX)
19. Brotherhood (SHO)
18. The Closer (TNT)
17. The Office (NBC)
16. Heroes (NBC)
15. Top Chef (BRAVO)
14. Damages (FX)
13. My Name is Earl (NBC)
12. Rescue Me (FX)
11. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX)

10. Aliens in America (CW)

"Dude, have you met Raja? Of course he's not gonna sell kids beer. He closes his eyes when the married couple kisses in that diamond commercial." - Claire Tolchuk, "Help Wanted," 10.29.07

The best new comedy of the year is also the show on this list most likely to join the next "brilliant-but-canceled" marathon. The ratings are shockingly low. If it was on any network other than The CW it would have been canceled long ago. Why aren't you watching? Unlike most of the fall offerings, several of which started strong and immediately got stale, Aliens in America has gotten richer every week. Do you think it's just stereotypical "whites vs. Muslims" comedy? It's far from that. The writing on Aliens in America is clever enough and the cast is good enough that the fish-out-of-water central concept of a Muslim foreign exchange student trying to survive in the Midwest could actually be taken out of the show and it would still make this list. The high school comedy is some of the richest since Freaks & Geeks and the Midwestern family dynamic is as pitch perfect as the prime of Malcolm in the Middle. Aliens in America is one of the few shows on this list that feels like it could actually move up next year. If it's still on the air.

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