2007 Year in Review: Television

I'm not a big fan of regular TV. I have a couple of shows that I make sure to catch weekly, ya know when there's not a writer's strike. I don't like reality shows, lawyer shows, doctor shows, cop shows so you can forget seeing American Law & Order's CSI ER Idol, or whatever on my year end list. So here are my top 5 favorite TV shows of 2007.

5. Rescue Me (FX)
One of the few shows that gives you something entertaining to watch during the summer. This year marked the fourth season of Denis Leary's show focusing on the professional and personal lives of a group of NY firefighters. Leary continues to shine on this show as one of the most real and flawed characters on TV. If you haven't seen it, I recommend picking up the season sets on DVD.

4. The Office (NBC)
The U.S. version of Ricky Gervais's classic British comedy is still one of the funniest shows on TV. Season 3 ended strong back in the spring of 2007. However, season 4 started out a little rough when the network decided to stretch the episodes into an hour. The show works perfect in a 30-minute format. The "Branch Wars" episode marked the high point for me when Karen tried to steal Stanley from the Scranton office. Michael's plan for revenge on the other branch office goes horribly and hilariously wrong.

3. Reaper (CW)
Easily the best new show of the fall season for me. When Sam Oliver (Bret Harrison) turns 21 he discovers that his parents sold his soul to the devil. The devil (Ray Wise) comes to visit and begins to employ Sam as his bounty hunter to hunt down souls that have escaped from hell. Sam is joined by two of his buddies, Sock (Taylor Labine) and Ben(Ricky Gonzalez). The show provides plenty of laughs as Sam deals with his commitment to the devil. Ray Wise is perfect as the devil giving him a sly personality with that hidden depth of evil. The CW is still showing reruns of this show on Tuesday nights. Definitely worth your time.

2. Heroes (NBC)
This would have been my favorite show of 2007, but the second season started off really slow. Hiro's (Masi Oka) time travels lasted too long, the Hispanic wonder twins were just awful, and Claire's (Hayden Panetierre) horribly misguided romance with loser flyboy West. The end of season one last spring elevated this show to my favorite show at the time, but the fall episodes did try my patience at times. Luckily creator Tim Kring realized season two was struggling and made changes. The final episodes in the fall put the show back in strong standing for me.

1. How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
This was the one show in 2007 that I watched every week whether it was a rerun or not. I first watched the show last spring with their Super Bowl episode where the group pledged not to watch the game until the next day when they can all watch it together. I was hooked on this clever show about Ted (Josh Radnor) who in the future is recounting to his kids the story of how he met their mother. Ted's friends are a fun bunch of characters especially Barney played by Neil Patrick Harris. I've since gone on to buy seasons one and two on DVD.

Some honorable mentions go to Gilmore Girls on its final season, The Simpsons for making me laugh on the small and big screen, Weeds for Mary-Louise Parker, and G4's Attack of the Show for covering all the things I need to know every weekday.

Next time, more favorites from 2007.