And that about wraps up this year’s Favorite Television of 2011 list! I hope you enjoyed my unnecessary, obsessive ranking of TV shows! And that you didn’t have too many complaints.. (I probably should have thrown 30 Rock, Homeland, and Portlandia in with the Honorable Mentions at the very least, oops)

In case you missed any, you can see all the posts right here and here’s a quickie list:

1. Breaking Bad & Parks and Recreation
2. Justified & Louie
3. The Hour
4. Friday Night Lights
5. Doctor Who
6. Game of Thrones
7. Bored to Death (RIP)
8. Community
9. Life’s Too Short
10. The Good Wife
Special Place of Honor: Steve Carell
Honorable Mentions: Curb Your Enthusiasm, Downton Abbey, Work of Art

2011 was a very good year for television, guys. And with Mad Men & Sherlock coming back, 2012 should be just as great! 

Favorite Television of 2011 - #1 (Drama): Breaking Bad

Nothing even came close to Breaking Bad this year. The sheer amount of intensity in the last ten minutes of Crawl Space alone nearly melted my computer screen (and made it physically hard to breathe). Anything I say here will only be redundant as everyone has only heaped praise on it, but to those of you who have not watched it yet - it’s not bullshit - this season really was one of the greatest in television history.

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Favorite Television of 2011 - #1 (Comedy): Parks and Recreation

Parks just continues to have the best cast of characters of any current comedy, and continues to use them perfectly. This show is just so good-hearted and sweet, and more consistently hilarious then everything else on TV. Not to mention it gives the best advice: TREAT YO’ SELF.

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Favorite Television of 2011 - #2 (Drama): Justified

This show made the biggest leap up the list since last year, and for good reason. Is there a cooler dude on TV than Raylan Givens? Is there a better foil for him than Boyd Crowder? Were there better guest performances this year than Margo Martindale & Jeremy Davies? Hell no. It’s very easy to forget that at its’ very basic level, this show is a cop procedural. Because it’s so, so much more.

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Favorite Television of 2011 - #2 (Comedy): Louie

Completely ridiculous, brutally honest, and incredibly funny all at once, this is easily the most creative show on television, mostly because it’s the only show that’s allowed to be truly what the creator wants it to be. So thank you, FX, for being the coolest network around, and thank you, Louis CK, for not being afraid to be your genius self.

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Favorite Television of 2011 - #3: The Hour

I think people have a tendency to write this show off as a British Mad Men rip-off, but it is so, so much better than that. Sure, it shares a lot of similarities (the clothes! the drinking! the smoking! the sexism!) but they are in setting only. I find The Hour endlessly more entertaining and the characters much more fascinating (and why isn’t Ben Whishaw in all the things?!) The pace is faster and the wit is sharper, and I am totally in love with this show.

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Favorite Television of 2011 - #4: Friday Night Lights

I think you know my feelings on this show. Series finales tend to not be that great (whether they’re creatively lackluster or if its just because we’re sad to see them go) but this one was. I think it’s a testament to the characters and the world that this show built that there were literal tears on my face when Jason Katims and Kyle Chandler won their Emmys this year. This is a show I’m truly going to miss. Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.

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Favorite Television of 2011 - #5: Doctor Who

I don’t know if you can tell, but I really like Doctor Who, guys. Even though this series wasn’t really my favorite (the Doctor’s death plotline got a little convoluted and the last episode was a bit anticlimactic), ‘The Doctor’s Wife’ is easily my new all-time favorite episode. And when it comes down to it, there’s really not another show that inspires the kind of giddy happiness you get when you realize it’s Saturday and you’ve got a new Who to look forward to (or when you’re infinitely more excited for the Christmas special than you are for Christmas itself!)

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Favorite Television of 2011 - #6: Game of Thrones

This show surprised the hell out of me. I was raised on fantasy epics, so in theory this should have appealed to me, but it was pretty far down my list of new shows to watch this year. But people kept talking about it so much I decided to check it out and I immediately fell in love and have been devouring the books - I just finished Storm of Swords (George R.R. Martin reeeeally likes killing off main characters, doesn’t he?). Winter is here!

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Favorite Television of 2011 - #7: Bored to Death

I’ve already said this a couple times, and I will say it a couple more: this is the most underappreciated comedy on television. Its ratings are dismal, critics don’t seem to feel one way or the other about it, and hardly anybody ever talks about it. But it is funny, guys. And the people involved are so talented and wonderful it makes my heart sad to see it go unrecognized. Snap out of it, people! Watch this show!

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Favorite Television of 2011 - #8: Community

There’s a bit of a dark cloud hanging over this one, I’m afraid, but I’m holding out hope that NBC is just evening the playing field after making Parks & Rec sit out half a season last year. Even if the worst should happen, at least we’ll have the comfort of knowing it went out at the top of its game. Its absurd, hysterical game.

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Favorite Television of 2011 - #9: Life’s Too Short

Despite my growing aggravation at everything Ricky Gervais says or does (we get it, Ricky… atheism! Golden Globes! The original Office is better! WE GET IT!), at the end of the day, he (and Stephen Merchant, of course. Let’s not forget about Stephen Merchant) still know how to write painfully funny TV shows. Life’s Too Short is basically Extras Pt. 2, but Extras is one of my favorite comedies of all time, so that’s okay with me. And they’ve been using the celebrity cameos (especially Liam Neeson and Johnny Depp) so brilliantly. Get off your soapbox, Ricky, and just keep making great television please!

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Favorite Television of 2011 - #10: The Good Wife

While the end of last season was amazing, this season got off to a bit of a slow start, but the last few episodes have been redeeming themselves, reminding me why this show is one of my favorites. I mean, what’s better than Alan Cumming going up against Amy Sedaris in a fight for the food pyramid?! My one request: more Diane please!!

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Favorite Television of 2011 - Special Place of Honor: Steve Carell

The Office hasn’t been on my top list since roughly season 4, but it’s always been reliably better than most other shows out there. And a large part of that was the sheer brilliance of Steve Carell as Michael Scott. The Office is still chugging along without him (and chugging along pretty well, considering), but it burns just a little less brighter. And his last episode was a perfect, tearjerking way to send him off. We were all Pam, chasing him down in the airport, trying to get in just one more moment.

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Favorite Television of 2011 - Honorable Mentions: Downton Abbey, Work of Art, Curb Your Enthusiasm

Curb just kept being Curb (how it’s still not run out of steam at Season 8 is beyond me) and Downton was soapy and engrossing (even if it was a little ridiculous at times - I’m looking at you, Matthew Crawley storyline) and Work of Art is the only reality show that I can’t bear to miss. All three of these shows were great this year, and missed out on the top ten by thismuch. 

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