I BECAME AN INADEQUATE CRITIC OF TELEVISION the day that The Sopranos first aired.  Over the last decade, “quality” televion has made premium cable channels home.  So while I dabble with cable some (mostly for “genre” television), most of what I watch can be found on the big 3 2/3.

This year’s big cable offerings for me were actually slim: The Walking Dead and Doctor Who.  In 2012, TWD ended its horribly slow second season and entered into a third season that started strong then barely stayed afloat until its mid-season finale.  It’s weird, watching a show where you like hardly any of the main characters.  And as much as I’d hoped to love this year’s five-episode run of Doctor Who, it wasn’t until this week’s Christmas special that I felt the joy and suprise the show usually brings.¹

And so it was network TV that kept my attention this year, and the shows that did that were mostly returning favorites.  I did watch the first season of Grimm over the summer and even caught it’s initial season two mini-arc, but I’ve sense fallen behind without much desire to catch up.  The only other “new” shows for me were FOX’s The Mindy Project, which is slowly growing on me, and NBC’s Revolution, which slowly grew stale on me.²

Three shows kept me on my toes this year, all of them on CBS (eek).  The Amazing Race and Survivor had two great cycles each in 2012 (their fall cycles were especially engaging).  And while none of those I rooted for won this year, they did provide good twists and turns.   The other show in this category for me was How I Met Your Mother, and that because it continues to strike a chord with my current life experience.³

What’s let for me?  The New Girl looks continues to mature well. 30 Rock is coming to an end in January, just in time for Community (the most creative show out there) to return sans its original showrunner.  The Office is on its way out, too.  Glee remains a show with more misses than hits (but with the most chances for hits).  And I’m not all that sure that any spring debuts will catch my attention at this point.

Gosh.  I sound a little down on television in 2012.  Maybe so.  It’s definitely a transition period, especially as NBC loses what in my opinion was comedy gold on Thursday nights (but what was in reality a little-watched block of shows).  Perhaps I found myself reading about TV almost as much as I seemed to watch it.  Andy Greenwald writes about The Walking Dead, NBC’s Thursday nights, and other shows throughout the year, and I find myself appreciating his perspective.  You can read his end-of-the-year thoughts here.  True he talks a lot about cable, but at least half of his top ten are network (plus PBS).  Give it a look.

You can also read through Relevant Magazine‘s top ten in television list here.

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¹  I did give premium cable’s The Newsroom a try, and I quite liked it.  Granted, I’m a fan of almost anything Aaron Sorkin puts to paper and screen.  Unfortunately, only the first episode was available for any kind of download.  Ah well.

²  This was also the case last year with Abrams’ Alcatraz.  Great first couple of episodes, but then it did a slow fizzle.  Revolution could come back strong in the spring.  The question most wonder is this: will anyone still remember that they liked it at all when it returns after a four-month hiatus?

³  Shows I watch but didn’t mention: Downton Abbey (can it tighten things up when it returns in a week or two?), Modern Family (I guess I just take it for granted as I have become a sporadic viewer of the show), Happy Endings (it airs against The New Girl, I think), Sherlock (brilliant acting and directing, but season two paled in comparison to season one), and Big Brother (because that’s all that’s left in the summer).

(image couretesy of smartgeek.com)