With Lost and 24 ending this past week and the veritable blood bath that was this season’s cancellations with losses so deep that even Law and Order ended its 20 year run, I found myself left unsure of what my favorite show was and that left me in the sort of listless contemplation one only gets when trying to avoid things that actually matter and really suck. So it is with that in mind that I deliver my top 10 favorite TV shows that are currently on the air. I would have gone on to  do a list of least favorite shows but they finally put Heroes out of its misery so that would eliminate eight slots right there.

So to sort out what shows were in my top 10 I first compiled all the shows I like that are currently still on the air. After I put that list together, which had a lot to do with my current DVR settings, I realized that probably the reason I am in desperate need of time at the gym owes a fair amount to how many goddamn TV shows I watch. Thank god they aren’t all on during the same time period in the year like it used to be or I would be in serious trouble.

So after I got that list sorted out I started looking at the shows I watch regularly as opposed to ones that I like but only watch when they happen to be on. Then I took those shows and put them in the general order of priority in which I watch them. This is all very scientific. It also put some awesome shows out of the running. I love Dexter, Weeds and Californication but given that I don’t have Showtime and I have to watch them on DVD…and I am at least a season behind on each…I can’t claim them as favorite shows or I would do more to watch them like ponying up the extra $15 it would be to get the channel. Entourage is in the same boat. I like it but I am two seasons behind and I have HBO. So obviously not my favorite. Then there are shows like 30 Rock, the Office, Chuck and Parks and Recreation which I watch every week and do so with priority but there are other shows I am more invested in and will get to faster. The list I was working off of consisted of 33 shows altogether and I am probably missing some. I am honestly surprised I have time to do anything else with all this TV watching going on. And with that, I give you My Top 10 Favorite Current TV Shows.

10. Saturday Night Live (NBC):

There are a lot of people out there who hate on SNL. Generally, whatever cast was on when you were growing up or first got plugged into it will be your cast and everyone who comes after will suck. The show is a year older than I am and for the majority of those years it has had to deal with being called Saturday Night Dead and the jeers of haters who claim it hasn’t been funny since whenever it was that they liked it and that there is no one at all talented on it. Still, here it is surviving after all these years. It is amazing that a show so apparently consistently bad continues to air and do well. I think the reason for this is that people are full of shit and as much as they bitch they still watch. Even during the dreary Ebersol years we had Eddie Murphy. Sure the show has its ups and downs and not every episode is gold but I think the current cast is one of the best in a long time and there is a lot of talent on display. SNL has been part of my life since my cousin taped over my copy of Robocop with an episode and I saw Hans and Franz for the first time. I still love it just as much.

09. Big Brother(CBS):

I am not a reality show guy at all. I like this and Last Comic Standing and that is about it. Also Celebrity Rehab. But that is it. The thing about Big Brother for me is that I get ridiculously obsessed with it when it is on. Last season, back when I could watch videos at work, I would watch the current episode and then watch past seasons just to get my fix in. This lasted all summer. I have been pretty mellow about it in the off season but it is coming back pretty soon and it will be time to feed the addiction once again. I think this season I am going to start rooting for people I don’t like in the off chance that those I do might actually win in the end. I was okay with last season’s winner but it sucks it wasn’t Jeff and Natalie didn’t deserve second place. Every season I picture myself competing on it. Like probably everyone who watches the show, I think I would do pretty well and I scored high enough on the Machiavelli test to back up that claim but I can never go on Big Brother. My past romantic relationships would make for a nightmare scenario for me when they decide to throw in some kind of people from your past sort of twist. I am way too vulnerable there as there are several choices that would completely ruin my game. Oh well it is still fun to imagine.

08. Modern Family(ABC):

Modern Family took me by surprise. I saw it the first time over at a friend’s house and watched it on the strength of Ed O’Neill. I am naturally skeptical of network sitcoms and at first glance it looked like a pretty standard family comedy and it kind of is but it breaks away from the crowd by actually being funny. Really funny. The tag line for the show is: One big (straight, gay, multi-cultural, traditional) happy family. That about covers it. The family is diverse and the show isn’t afraid to poke fun at the situations that arise from that diversity. What is amazing is that it never feels like it is pandering or going over the top. It stays on an even keel and delivers satisfying and consistent comedy. That it comes from Frasier alums Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd is no surprise when you consider the variety of types of comedy here from slapstick, situational comedy and verbal jokes it all works and works very well. The cast is excellent across the board. Ed O’Neill is great as always and Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell also stand out but it is Eric Stonestreet as Cameron who really shines. Modern Family never disappoints and is not to be missed.

07. Parenthood (NBC):

Parenthood is the second attempt at a series based on Ron Howard’s ensemble film of the same name.  I have loved the movie since I was a kid although a more recent viewing clued me in to the fact that there was a lot going on in it that I completely failed to relate to when I was younger. The new series features a very impressive cast including Craig T Nelson, Peter Krause, Lauren Graham, Dax Shepard, Erika Christensen and Mae Whitman just to name a few. The show does not do what the last one did by remaking the movie directly but rather features a different family, the Bravermans. They are a lot like the film’s Buckman family with analogs to most of the characters but they are still fresh and go in their own directions. The plots similarly share some throughlines with the film but generally find their own footing and go their own way. This makes for a unique and familiar feeling all at the same time. The performances are tremendous across the board and really helps bring home the ample amounts of drama and humor on display. The family struggles with realistic issues in realistic ways. They don’t always fight and they don’t always get along but they generally all love each other feel very real. That is probably the biggest distinction between the show and the movie. While the film characters felt real in their own way, the family was much more combative and didn’t really seem to like each other all that much. Here they are close and there is a lot less acrimony. Every episode of this show has been better than the last and the way that it can make you laugh one moment and have you on the verge of tears (or if you are me and are what my friend Katie refers to as a ‘squish pot’ well over the verge of tears into ‘like a little girl with a skinned knee’ territory) is truly amazing. Just a great show and I can’t wait to see what is coming next.

06.Burn Notice (USA):

A few years ago Burn Notice would have been closer to the top. The show is still great but the formula it has developed has started to drag it down a bit. Following the adventures of Michael Westen (Jeffery Donovan) after he is fired or ‘burned’ from his job as a spy, the show has settled in to a comfortable pattern of Michael taking on whatever case the week has to offer while trying to find out who burned him and how to get back in. Given this formula with little change up, I would have lost interest a long time ago if the show were so damn good. Jeffery Donovan is terrific as Westen. He can change accents and demeanor at the drop of a hat and his prowess in martial arts on the show is awesome. The choreography here is truly impressive as it is one of the few shows that displays what real fights between the highly trained would look like. The supporting cast never fails to impress. The great Bruce Campbell shines as Sam Axe, Westen’s friend and former operative and Gabrielle Anwar as Michael’s on again off again girlfriend and former IRA explosives expert is spot on with her ability to be both vulnerable and capable of kicking massive ass at the same time. Also her abs are incredible. The show is funny, clever, well acted, well plotted and exciting. This is kind of amazing since it has been doing the same thing for three seasons and is renewed through at least six.  The formula may grow stale eventually but so far the show remains consistently great.

05. Community (NBC):

When I saw commercials for Community I thought it looked great. I liked the concept of following characters at a community college and I liked star Joel McHale from the Soup. Then I started watching it and was mildly amused and thought it paled in comparison to Modern Family. Everyone around me kept going on about how great it was and I just wasn’t seeing it. I liked it okay but it didn’t seem like anything special really. Then somewhere in there it started getting really funny. I am not sure if it was that I just needed time for the characters to grow on me or if I wasn’t paying enough attention before but it went up in my estimation from okay to fucking fantastic. The show does a lot of things that should annoy me and is one of two shows on this list that is like that. I should really hate how self referential it is and how general proud of its cleverness it seems but it manages to pull it off so effectively that those things don’t annoy me at all. It walks that line like a tightrope walker and never falls off either side. The characters are wacky and over the top but they just work. It is also really nice to see Chevy Chase be funny again. I’ve missed him.

04. Justified (FX):

When I saw this show had to do with law enforcement and had Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins in it I was interested. When I found out it was a show about Elmore Leonard’s US Marshall character Raylan Givens I was completely sold. Raylan is one of my favorite of Leonard’s characters and Olyphant is the perfect guy to play him. The show really captures the spirit of the characters and Elmore Leonard’s style perfectly. He doesn’t have anything to do with the writing of the series but the writers obviously really get him and it comes through on the show, particularly the snappy dialogue and sometimes complex schemes. The show doesn’t move super fast and it isn’t as intense as something like the Shield but it is very surefooted in where it wants to go and to really establish Raylan and his relationships. The supporting cast doesn’t get a huge amount of attention here as Raylan is really the main focus but he is a strong enough character to carry the weight. One of the interesting things about the show is how it manages to make Raylan a fish out of water in his own home town. He’s been living in Miami and gets sent back home to Kentucky after shooting a ‘gun thug’ at a hotel after a classic ‘you have 24 hours to get out of town’ scenario and while he is familiar with the people and the landscape he really isn’t of that world anymore. It is an interesting dynamic and I am very happy it has been renewed. Also William Ragsdale from Fright Night has a recurring part and that is awesome.

03. Glee (Fox):

This is the second show on the list that I would hate on paper. If you told me about the show without me every having seen it I would have gone out of my way to avoid it. In fact had it not been for Jane Lynch being on the show and my girlfriend sitting me down in front of it I probably would have done just that. This show kind of mystifies me. I don’t care for the occasional use of auto tune and I would normally run screaming from the songs and dance numbers, particularly the dreamy ones where they walk through school singing, but the show is just so damn good. I am not sure how they do it, be it magic or some kind of unholy Faustian deal but they manage to be the most upbeat mean spirited feel good drama comedy I have ever seen. In fact it might be the only one. It is enormously funny, especially when Lynch’s cheer leading coach Sue Sylvester is unleashed in all of her psychotic glory. The show is equal parts sad and uplifting and feels hopeful while exploring all of the insecurities of adolescence and adulthood alike. It is poignant and touching without being cloying and cliche and bubbly and theatrical without inducing nausea and vomiting. It also assembles one of the most tremendously talented casts I have ever seen. Not only are they good actors but all of them do their own singing and dancing and no one sucks. Seriously, it is a pretty big deal for me to sit and think that a Halo/Walking on Sunshine mashup is awesome as opposed to clawing my eyes out after securing the earplugs. This show makes it work by doing it so well. I also find myself really relating to teacher Will Schuester as opposed to the kids, particularly during the first half of the first season. His marital issues really hit home with me and are a good indicator of how this show works. There is something in it for everyone and it can hit you emotionally just as hard as it can hit your funny bone. And it will do it almost simultaneously. I don’t think I have ever been so moved to tears before being thrown into a fit of laughter so quickly and completely. Glee does a lot of things and it does all of them very well. It is really kind of incredible.

02. True Blood (HBO):

After the travesty of the Twilight series and the string of copycats and coattail riders it is nice to see some real vampires for a change. Based on the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mystery series by Charlaine Harris, True Blood offers up the question of what would happen if Vampires were real and told the world about it. Rather than focusing on this event in a large scale global way the show focuses on a fictional small Louisiana town and mind-reading waitress Sookie Stackhouse’s experiences. It has been two years since the Vampires came out of the coffin as it is called and Sookie meets her first one in Bill Compton, a Vampire from the civil war who has come to reclaim his family home after his last descendant passes. Sookie and Bill find themselves in a relationship, driven at first primarily because Bill is the one person who’s mind Sookie can’t read. The backdrop of vampire related murders in the small town grows into a full blown mystery and the first season was off to a running start. The series, created by Six Feet Under’s  Alan Ball, follows the general plotlines of the books but goes about it in its own way. Where the books are told from Sookie’s perspective, the show opens the proceedings up to the supporting characters and really fleshes the stories out. The second season went its own way much more than the first did which is nice if you have read the books as you have a general idea what to look forward to but still not know exactly what to expect. Again, the cast is wonderful and really brings the characters to life. Of particular note are Ryan Kwanten as Sookie’s brother Jason and Alexander Skarsgard as vampire sheriff Eric Northman. Jason is very simple if not outright stupid and Kwanten plays him fearlessly without the need to let the audience know that he, as an actor, is not stupid. This make Jason a delight to watch and much more authentic. Eric is hands down my favorite character in the books and on the show and Skarsgard nails him perfectly with just enough sarcasm, humor and menace. He can also bring hardcore emotion as he handed in one of the most moving and powerful scenes on television in season two. True Blood mixes mystery, horror, sex, humor and social commentary into a compelling pastiche that makes it painful to wait a week to get to the next episode.

01. It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (FX):

After Arrested Development, Sunny is far and away my favorite American comedy show of all time. It is mean spirited, vulgar and wrong on so many levels but it is always hilarious. None of the characters on the show, which follows four friends who run a bar in south Philly, can even vaguely pass for decent human beings. They are as selfish as they are delusional and the exploits are always misguided attempts to only serve themselves. The story lines are batshit crazy and always shocking and hilarious. This is a show that I couldn’t wait to watch on DVR the morning after I worked but rather would track down online the night of and then watch it again the next day. The number of notable quotes from this show is staggering and if they were delivered by less talented performers who were less willing to go all the way they would fall flat. The cast is absolutely unafraid to portray such awful people and it is that commitment to how far they need to go that really sells the show and pushes it over the top from just some guys trying to shock to being truly hilarious. I am not sure how many more seasons Sunny will run but I hope it is a lot. It isn’t to everyone’s taste but for those who are plugged in to it, there is just about nothing better. And for the record, I’m into it.