I cannot claim I had a chance to watch everything I wanted to, nor gave every show enough viewings to truly decide on its merits. But in a very busy year of new shows, I did a fair amount of viewing and this list may help others to pick and choose among the enormous selection of shows (not including those programs from prior years that continued to keep our attention in 2014, such as Sleepy Hollow, Vikings, The Fosters, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and The Blacklist from last year's list).
Science Fiction/Fantasy: In this category, my favorites were The 100 and The Flash. While The CW's The 100 started out slow, it picked up speed and characters as it rolled along, and the second season exploded with intriguing characters and multiple story lines. The CW's The Flash started out fast (pun intended) and never stopped. But unlike Gotham, it has heart with a very likeable Barry Allen played by Grant Gustin. Runner ups include Showtime's Penny Dreadful, which had just the right mix of monsters, and ABC's The Last Ship, though the ending indicates this show may be heading in a new and strange direction.
Historical Fiction: My clear favorites here were Outlander and Turn. Outlander on Starz was a beautifully filmed story that brought the Eighteenth Century Highlands alive and shared the customs of the time, even if time travel is a little out of the ordinary. AMC's Turn did not need any such twists to be a fascinating view of Colonial America at the time Long Island was occupied by British troops. My runner-up is the Discovery Channel's Klondike and its tale of man's inhumanity to man (as well as Nature's inhumanity, if you forgive the expression) for a few pieces of gold.
Family Shows: My surprising favorite here was Fox's Red Band Society. I did not expect the story to be so interesting (I mean it was Chicago Hope with nothing but kids), while the acting and plot kept the show lively and unpredictable. Unfortunately, Fox ended the show after 10 episodes and has yet to show the remaining three. Very odd treatment, yet Fox has a tendency to do this (as you will see in the next category). Runner up position goes to Amazon's Transparent, a family show that hopefully does not represent too many family since the combination can be explosive.
Comedies: Sadly my two favorites, Fox's Enlisted and Surviving Jack, were both cancelled before being given a fair chance (the Fox website does not even acknowledge the existence of Surviving Jack). And while it seemed like Enlisted might find life again under a new parent, it never worked out. This is a loss for all TV viewers. The runner up for me was The McCarthys, where we see John Ritter's son take on his dad's comedic role and Roseanne's Laurie Metcalf become the central mom for once.
Drama: In this category, both Fargo and The Affair were the clear winners. FX's Fargo was a brilliant take-off from the movie, but it created a set of characters and chilling scenes that are forever memorable. Showtime's The Affair gave us a new way to see a story, from two perspectives, and kept us guessing all along as we watched the tortured characters. The runner-up is HBO's Looking, a show that relocated Girls in San Francisco and told the tale of friendship from a whole new angle.
Science and Documentary: Showtime's Years of Living Dangerously was my favorite here, a scary story about the changes happening in the Earth's environment and its impact on its inhabitants today and tomorrow. A must see. Runners-up in this category are PBS's The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, which shows all of us what leadership can be, and Fox's Cosmos, a series that fell short of the original but luckily it was supported in a time where science is not on the front burner (if it can be found in the kitchen at all).
It was a good year in television, and one that will be hard to match in 2015. That said, this year may have a few surprises in store as well. I will discuss that in upcoming postings.
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