Week 9 TV Power Rankings

1. (2) “Community” – Yep, that’s right. A new #1 for the first time ever. “Community” sadly doesn’t get the audience it should and I think its had an outstanding sophomore season (unlike “Cougar Town”). This week’s episode did an exceptionally good job at having a mysterious storyline involving night school classes that kept me as intrigued by where it was going as much as it made me laugh. The episode had plenty of references to pop culture throughout, but they weren’t as obvious as other episodes have been. Plus, the pillow and bed sheet fort Abed and Troy made could have been reason alone to elevate this to the top spot for the week. One final note, I read people felt this episode ripped off the J. Walter Weatherman storylines from “Arrested Development” but I didn’t see that at all. Double crosses and triple crosses have been in movies and TV for years, no one show can take credit for that and no show should feel like they’re ripping another off by using it.
2. (1) “Chuck” – Well here we are. Maybe if “Chuck” had tried a little harder this week we wouldn’t be in this situation. In all honesty, this episode wasn’t bad at all. It guest starred Rob Riggle (the cop who lets the kids taser the guys in “The Hangover”) as a spy trying to get Chuck to flash again. The issue is the episode was clearly the beginning of an arc and as such I felt I had to slip it down a notch. When the arc eventually wraps up, I like the chances of “Chuck” reclaiming the top spot again.
3. (3) “Modern Family” – I liked how Manny finally saw in himself how odd his behavior sometimes can be. Don’t get me wrong, he’s one of my favorite characters on the show. I would just think it would be lazy to not have him address how he clearly is very different from kids his age. I know they came close to doing this in Season 1 when he was supposed to hang out with Luke and instead hung out with Claire all day, but I thought this was a lot better. Now I am not saying I want this to happen with all the characters. I don’t need Gloria to all of a sudden notice how she seems to only wear clothes where her boobs bounce all over the place. No, let’s just keep that how it is.
4. (4) “30 Rock” – It’s funny how sometimes shows seem to just take seasons off. Maybe it’s that they tried so hard and came up with a great season, and so they can slack a little bit and it’ll still be pretty good. Who knows? But what I do know is a lot of shows have trouble rebounding from that, like “The Office” and much of this year of “How I Met Your Mother”. This hasn’t been the case for “30 Rock” as I keep being more and more satisfied with what a bounce back season this has been. This week really utilized Jack’s additional duties as Head of Microwave Ovens at GE. While it was a fitting ending to Jack being a member of GE, I am sad to see the loss of an aspect of Jack’s job that had so many potential laughs.
5. (5) “Terriers” – We finally got to see the case that caused Hank to be kicked off the police force and essentially ended his marriage. It was a particularly gruesome case, one that seemed more like something off “Law & Order: SVU” but the payoff of catching the guy was well worth it. Britt’s in a lot of trouble though for beating up Katie’s classmate. It’s going to be tough for the boys to get out of this one. Then again I thought the same thing when Landis died in Hank’s bathtub and that all worked out for everybody. Except Landis.
6. (9) “Boardwalk Empire” – I feel like I am going to be criticized for enjoying this episode more than most because of the action near the end. I realize the character building from the slower episodes that I ranked lower than this paved the way for this episode to be so good. Still, I am gonna ignore that because it makes me look semi-ignorant and just say this show is starting to fulfill the high expectations I had for when it began. I think my favorite part of the season so far was this week when the D’Allesio brother who tried to shoot Nucky asked Jimmy if he was going to kill him for mouthing off and Jimmy said “Well I wasn’t going to but now that you talked me into.” And then shoots him in the head. Awesome. Finally, was I the only one who thought that when Agent Van Alden had his first shot of whiskey he was gonna react like Doc Brown in “Back to the Future III”?
7. (7) “Sons of Anarchy” – Finally a little bit of closure to wrap up this uneven season. But there are still two episodes left and as much as Jax says he’s done listening to his father from beyond the grave, I’m sure the love letters stuffed in his bag will bring it all back again. I will say this, Salazar should kill Tara. It’s the only realistic thing to happen, but I know it won’t. I don’t want Tara gone, but she killed the guy’s girl and he has a gun and they are in the middle of nowhere. Come on.
8. (11) “Fringe” – Uh, oh. Peter knows he’s been sleeping with Fauxlivia, what’s gonna happen? The real shame will be if when Olivia goes back to her own world she gets rid of her red hair. That look is working for you girl!
9. (8) “Walking Dead” – Much better than the previous two. The only reason it slipped was because of how good the shows in front of it all were. I am very excited for these last two episodes.
10. (6) “The Event” – Here’s the deal, I don’t care about Sean and Layla. So when the plot deals with them I zone out. Plus, we found out early on in the episode that the VP was behind the assassination attempt and we knew Hal Holbrook was bad already too. So this “backstory” episode that was so supposed to reveal so much did nothing for me.
11. (14) “How I Met Your Mother” – I will never ever tire of Robin Sparkles. Nor will I ever complain about Nicole from the Pussycat Dolls being around. However, it was a bit of a stretch that she was from Canada, yet was living in New York as the organist for the Rangers. They have hockey teams in Canada, a lot of them.
12. (12) “Family Guy” – This week’s laugh out loud moment was when Brian leaves Stewie to take a cab and Stewie sees he has no money. He then says, “Well at least it’s not raining” and some guy runs up and stabs him. Typical NYC.
13. (13) “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” – Two back to back very strong episodes are keeping this from falling any lower. I feel like the show could do every episode focused solely on Charlie’s warped mind and I wouldn’t grow tired of it. Denim chicken is a sweet band name by the way.
14. (10) “The Challenge: Cutthroat” – This season isn’t going as well as it started as it has hit quite the lull. But Boston’s own CT is on next week! I will work you son!
15. (15) “The Office” – Ryan’s idea was actually not bad, but obviously he doesn’t have the work ethic to follow through on it. Dwight’s whole hay ride shenanigans weren’t funny and I guess the best part of the episode was Horn-Rimmed Glasses Guy from “Heroes” being Angela’s new love interest.
16. (16) “Cougar Town” – Eh, as previously stated this show’s not having the sophomore season I wanted or expected it to. I really don’t like Travis and I think that’s what is affecting my fondness for the show. I don’t see how these people like him. I know two of them are his parents, but even still, he sucks.
17. (17) “Raising Hope” – I do like this show, I do. There’s just not a whole lot to say about it and I run into this problem every week. It’s about a 6 or 7 every week, so if you are looking to kill 22 minutes (you should own a DVR at this point, you’re not Amish) every week then here you go.
18. (18) “Glee” – I have to admit, Gwyneth Paltrow REALLY impressed me. I was fully expecting all her scenes to be cringe-worthingly awkward, but she did a real good job and clearly has a stage presence I didn’t think she had. I still dislike a vast majority of the characters and now only enjoy about one song an episode.
19. (19) “Survivor” – How is Dan still on this show???? I gotta think if he makes it to the final three you’d have to vote for him simply because he literally “survived”.
20. (20) “Parenthood” – Why was Joel the director of a play his daughter wasn’t even in? I hope I missed that part because if I didn’t that made ZERO sense.
21. (21) “The League” – I think this will be the last season I watch this show
22. (22) “Running Wilde” – Wasn’t on

Week 8 TV Power Rankings

Couple notes

"Eastbound and Down"'s season ended, so it's gone

"Hawaii 5-O" is gone too because I never got around to watching it

1. (1) “Chuck” – Wasn’t on
2. (2) “Community” – It had the potential to claim the top spot for at least one week with “Chuck” not on, but sadly it couldn’t capitalize. I thought the episode had a decent enough premise that kind of gotten taken too far and it was one of the rare times I didn’t like Abed commenting on the episode as if he’s aware it’s a TV show.
3. (3) “Modern Family” – Wasn’t on
4. (5) “30 Rock” – This show is really firing on all cylinders was again. I know I said a few weeks ago that Kelsey Grammar’s appearance on the show might have been my favorite guest star of the year. Well, John Slattery from “Mad Men” blew him out of the water. Great episode and the show’s very worthy of being in the top 5 in the rankings.
5. (4) “Terriers” – The show’s been leading up to Gretchen’s wedding and I thought they did a really good job of the wedding always being present without anyone really interacting with it. If that makes sense, probably doesn’t but none of you watch this show anyway so who gives a sh*t?
6. (9) “The Event” – It’s gotten to the point where I almost feel guilty for how much I trashed this show during its first few episodes. It has made an amazing comeback for me and I thought the backstory on the Director of National Intelligence made the character infinitely more interesting and likeable. It’s becoming a much more character driven show and not so reliant on “The Event” which I think is a good thing.
7. (7) “Sons of Anarchy” – This season has been subpar and I want to think it’s because Season 2 was so good that nothing could compare. But I don’t think that’s the case. I think this slow has just been slow and dragged out the Abel-kidnapping storyline too much. I’m at the point now where I just want the last two episodes to be here so I can hope Season 4 is an improvement.
8. (6) “Walking Dead” – Continuing to fall here. Third episode was by far the weakest one as there were only two zombie deaths and very little action. I also thought the reunion of Rick and his family was poorly done and I felt very uncomfortable through most of it. Only three episodes left, so I am sure there is more action coming up, but the show needs to pick it up again if it wants to remain in the top 10.
9. (12) “Boardwalk Empire” – Jimmy’s back in AC and after the G man killed the witness he should have Van Alden off his ass. Good stuff, now let’s get Chalky White on the screen again and we’re in business.
10. (11) “The Challenge: Cutthroat” – To tell you the truth, I watched the newest one two nights ago and now I don’t even remember what happened this week. I know Brandon lost and so did Melinda. And Chet got sent home because he got a concussion. So the Red team lost three people that week. Sucks to be them.
11. (17) “Fringe” – This has probably been the best season yet and I think had it ranked so low for too long. My apologies. I know this show isn’t for everyone, but if you’ve ever been a fan of it, I’d suggest coming back because it’s at its peak right now.
12. (18) “Family Guy” – Two straight weeks of me gasping for air at a joke during the episode. This week was when Lois knocked out the girl and pulled her head up to say, “No matter what you do for the rest of your life, you’ll always be garbage.”
13. (13) “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” – Probably the best episode of the season if only for the extended clips of their movie “Lethal Weapon 5”.
14. (15) “How I Met Your Mother” – Much more of a classic HIMYM with everyone dealing with some pretty heavy things. Like Barney finding out who his dad is, Marshall realizing he has chosen financial stability over his ideals, and Ted possibly falling for the woman’s who trying to ruin his life. Plus all the monocle jokes were fantastic.
15. (8) “The Office” – I think I might hate this show. I really do. It’s Dominique Wilkins on the Celtics. You’re excited because it’s his last go (like Carell’s), but he really doesn’t have anything left (like Carell’s effort this year) and you get aggravated because you think of what he use to be but isn’t anymore (like Season 2). Plus the other Celtics were just as unlikeable as Jim and Pam are.
16. (16) “Cougar Town” – Wasn’t on
17. (19) “Raising Hope” – It is what it is. Just a straight 6 or 7 every week.
18. (20) “Glee” – I like this show less and less every week. It really is what Kelly on “The Office” said it is, irresponsible writing. Storylines and character arcs go nowhere.
19. (22) “Survivor” – Hahaha, suck it Marty
20. (24) “Parenthood” – Better. I will say I wouldn’t mind if the Lauren Graham character left the show though. I don’t liker he one bit.
21. (21) “The League” – Not a great episode and I don’t find Pete’s thinking he can get hot women to be believable at all. He’s a dumpy looking dude who dresses like crap.
22. (23) “Running Wilde” – Yeah they just need to cancel this show already. Tough break Will Arnett, but I’ll still tune in to whatever you do next, that’s my loyalty level to the Bluths.

Week 7 TV Power Rankings

One note, "The Challenge: Cutthroat" was added

1. (1) “Chuck” – What was billed as the best episode of the season kinda fell flat for me. I think it had to do with my expectations being so high for it. I still thought it was a really good episode, but I think I liked the season premiere better. Guest star was Timothy Dalton who was James Bond in a couple movies, and was the grocery store owner in “Hot Fuzz”.
2. (2) “Community” – When Troy entered the secret garden and saw the bright light I thought what he found was going to be a lot better than a trampoline. However, the payoff of the gardener being a racist at the end was well worth it. The storyline with Abed becoming a “mean girl” didn’t really do much for me. Neither did Hilary Duff as a costar, I think we can now safely say her poor acting skills is why she wasn’t bigger.
3. (3) “Modern Family” – I will say this now, I don’t like the idea of Phil’s business getting so bad he might lose his job. I don’t really wanna watch if that happens. It would just be too depressing because it’s not like it’s a job he hates and then he’s gonna become something that will make him happier. Also, did anyone else notice Haley’s hair was changing length throughout the episode? Lazy writing last week, lazy editing this week.
4. (5) “Terriers” – One of the most touching stories surrounding a murdered transvestite stories I have seen in a long time. I know I say it every week, but it will really be a shame if this show doesn’t get a second season.
5. (6) “30 Rock” – I thought this was another great episode that has continued this season’s return to the quality of Season 1 episodes. Jack telling Jonathan he had to cut off Jack’s pinky and bring it to his lawyer in order to be his mentee was one of the funnier interactions the two have had in a while. Jack’s phone call to Liz’s dad was also classic and I really enjoyed his identifying himself as a “corrupt cop, and my brothers are corrupt firemen.”
6. (4) “Walking Dead” – It was nowhere near as good as the pilot, but I think I still might have had enough of a Halloween hangover going to still be amped for watching zombie killing. This week’s episode didn’t disappoint with one dead guy getting an axe right to his head. Next week’s should be very interesting as the Sheriff should be seeing his son and wife, and his best friend who’s been nailing his wife, in the woods, from behind, count it!
7. (7) “Sons of Anarchy” – A lot more action than there has been in the past few episodes which was good to see. However, just as Jax is looking like he’s close to getting his kidnapped son back in Ireland, his pregnant girlfriend gets kidnapped back home. Let’s finish one thing at a time please, this season’s been exhausting.
8. (8) “The Office” – I found myself comparing this episode to the Wedding from last year and I think that is a bit unfair to this episode. While it wasn’t nearly as strong as the wedding (which was the best of last season), it wasn’t terrible either. I liked the people who only came to the after-Christening for the food, and I really liked the whole sequence with Toby not being able to enter the church (although why didn’t he have an issue going to Pam & Jim’s or Phyllis’ weddings??) and then asking God why he is so mean to him.
9. (9) “The Event” – Wasn’t on
10. (15) “Eastbound and Down” – See, now this is what I wanted. I get the idea of the journey throughout this season makes the return all the sweeter to watch. But I just felt like 2 or 3 of the Mexico episodes could have been taken out. I was so happy to see all the characters from last season again, and loved the scene with Cutler and Kenny in the car before he found April. HBO has picked it up for another season which would be at the least a year away, but I am hoping it won’t be all about Kenny in Myrtle Beach and then have him return to North Carolina for one episode again.
11. (X) “The Challenge: Cutthroat” – It was requested this show be added to the list, and I actually kicked myself a little for not adding it on my own sooner. So far it hasn’t been an all-time Real World/Road Rules Challenge, but there have been some great moments. The Vinny/Big Easy Gualag was riveting. There were too big die each player had to be on. They had to roll it, without touching the ground, onto a square with the number five facing up. Now as they are doing this, they cut to one of those candid interviews and Brad says something to the effect of, “I’m looking at both these guys and they are both so locked in and concentrated and you can tell things are about to get dicey” DICEY! I swear I don’t think he meant to say it either! Highlight of the season for me so far.
12. (10) “Boardwalk Empire” – Jimmy Darmody is heading back to AC. I have to admit, at this point I only really care about Jimmy and Chalkie so this makes me happy. I feel like the characters who aren’t constantly around Nucky don’t get as much attention and this will allow for more time spent on Jimmy.
13. (11) “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” – SNL cast member Jason Sudekis guest starred this week as an old member of the gang who had been kicked out. Literally, they kicked him out of a moving car. Had some funny moments and Charlie’s job interview was a highlight, as was Newsradio’s Dave Foley’s appearance as the principal. Still, this season is continuing to be a disappointment for me and this show might just be past it’s prime.
14. (12) “Hawaii 5-O” – I didn’t watch it. Don’t really care that I didn’t, nor do I plan to rectify that situation. Next week’s looks good though, I’ll watch that.
15. (13) “How I Met Your Mother” – I always think it’s stupid when “The Simpsons” Treehouse of Horror episode is on after Halloween, so I have to say the same about this week’s HIMYM. Now that’s out of the way, I didn’t really think this was a particularly strong episode either. I like Will Forte, and liked the first time he was on the show. I just didn’t like it the same this week. And I didn’t think you got a severance if you’re fired from your job due to incompetence?
16. (14) “Cougar Town” – I like anytime a show does an homage to “The Usual Suspects” and I thought it did it very well in this week’s episode.
17. (17) “Fringe” – It’s nice to see the kid who played Iceman in the “X-Men” movies is still acting, and he even has a twin who acts too!
18. (18) “Family Guy” – When Peter, Joe and Quagmire drove past Meg and her friends and yelled out “Ugly bitches!”, well that was about as hard as I laughed all week.
19. (16) “Raising Hope” – Wasn’t on
20. (19) “Glee” – Wasn’t on
21. (20) “The League” – Taco bringing a real gun to use as a starter’s pistol was pretty funny. I think he’s the only character I like. Fear Boners is a very good fantasy team name as well.
22. (22) “Survivor” – I feel like every week you can definitely see who’s going to get voted out about 20 minutes before the show ends. There are no real surprises this season and that’s why it’s so low here.
23. (21) “Running Wilde” – Wasn’t on
24. (23) “Parenthood” – Wasn’t on

Week 6 TV Power Rankings

Couple notes:

"Jersey Shore" is off because its season ended
"The Walking Dead" makes its debut
A bunch of shows weren't on because of the World Series

1. (1) “Chuck” – Still remaining at the top and even more likely to stay after I heard how next week’s episode is the best of the season. Guest stars from this week included Linda Hamilton from “The Terminator” and Robert Englund a.k.a Freddy Krueger
2. (3) “Community” – Last week I said this show would need to step it up in order to continue staying above “Modern Family”, and it did that 150%. I was wary when I heard they were doing a zombie themed episode as the show usually stays within reality. However, I was very pleased with the reasoning for why the students acted like zombies and even happier it didn’t turn out to be someone’s dream. I’d put this episode right behind the often mentioned paintball episode as my all-time favorites of the show.
3. (4) “Modern Family” – It’s really a shame “Community” did such a great Halloween episode because “MF” was also so good it deserved to move up in the rankings. Cam dealing with his past Halloween made me laugh the whole time. I thought Mitchell going down the pipe was really good as well. The only thing I didn’t care for was I felt the storyline about Gloria’s accent was something likely to happen in a show’s first season and almost seemed like lazy writing to bring it up now.
4. (X) “Walking Dead” – Here’s the deal. The rankings are based on the full season, and so far we only have the pilot of this show to go on. I realize a show about zombies isn’t for everyone and could easily get repetitive quickly. Having said that, I thought this was one of the best pilots I’d seen all year and that’s why I ranked it this high. Not sure if you saw my preview on The Alt Tab or not, but I was very excited for this show and it did not disappoint. Will it continue to rank this highly throughout its six episode season is another question?
5. (4) “Terriers” – Another solid episode and I am really enjoying how Britt’s old criminal lifestyle keeps interfering with his attempt to go legit. I didn’t want him to meet up with Hank, become a PI, and then never be dragged into his old ways again. Plus, I liked the furthering of the story between Katie and her professor, and especially Hank’s warning to the professor at the end. Great show, too bad no one watches it.
6. (6) “30 Rock” – Wasn’t on
7. (5) “Sons of Anarchy” – So they finally got to Belfast and what happens? Just more waiting around. I’m really hoping the way this season ends will make all the dilly-dallying throughout this year worth it. I’m hoping that, not expecting it.
8. (12) “The Office” – This was a fantastic episode. The first part was great with what Stanley wouldn’t notice and it reminded me so much of when they were able to get Creed to eat the potato without him noticing in Season 2. The Michael/Darryl and Jim & Pam/Danny storylines were kind of eh, but as I long as I get some Todd Packer in me I am a happy fan. I read about and agreed with the surprise there wasn’t some type of Packer & Danny interaction about potential competition between the two.
9. (13) “The Event” – Well look at this little engine that could. A couple weeks ago this one was in the 20’s and I was hoping it would be cancelled so I could get my time back. Let this be a lesson to all shows to always keep after it, it being my approval. The main complaint about “Lost” rip-offs has been too much focus on the mysteries and not enough on the characters. I thought this show fell into some of those traps early on, but has rebounded nicely and made a lot of these characters VERY interesting. The scenes this week of the federal agent’s past and him seeing the elderly woman he abandoned years ago was probably the best stuff the show has done this far.
10. (8) “Boardwalk Empire” – This show is kind of falling back into an old issue with me. I appreciate the detailed work that goes into the writing, the acting, the costumes and sets and the historical accuracies. I realize this is a good television show, one that will probably win many awards. I just can’t find myself super excited to watch it every week and if it weren’t for doing these rankings I’d probably save a bunch and knock them all out in a row over a weekend.
11. (7) “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” – This has been a disappointing season of “Sunny”. I had high hopea for the Halloween episode though. I had heard it had been screened at this year’s Comic Con and was received very well. I found it to be okay, but nothing special. The McPoyle’s presence is always funny and I was genuinely grossly amused at Dennis being the father of Dee’s baby. However, I thought the retelling of the night would be a lot funnier and I share the same level of apathy towards finding out who the father really is as the guys on the show did.
12. (9) “Hawaii 5-O” – This week was about surfing. The guy who played Ryan Atwood’s dad and Hercules was on it. Check out the picture on his IMDB page. That is classic!
13. (11) “How I Met Your Mother” – I didn’t really care for the baby talk episode. I find baby talk annoying. I didn’t like the way Barney looked in Marshall’s flash forwards either. Should “Lost” get credit for the term flash forward, because I never remember hearing it until the “We have to go back!” episode?
14. (14) “Cougar Town” – Still a disappointing sophomore effort from this show, but this episode was better than the past few weeks had been. Always nice to see Dr. Bob Kelso from “Scrubs” appearing someplace else too.
15. (16) “Eastbound and Down” – Getting back to where I like it and I am hoping next week we get to see April, Cutler and Kenny’s brother and family in the season finale. Oh and Cleg, he might be my favorite drug addict/dealer on TV right now.
16. (15) “Raising Hope” – I feel like this show’s kind of hit that rookie wall, but I also feel like it’s a little too soon for it to be doing that. I am going to keep watching because I like it, I just don’t laugh at it often.
17. (16) “Fringe” – Wasn’t on
18. (18) “Family Guy” – Wasn’t on
19. (19) “Glee” – I thought the Rocky Horror Picture Show themed episode was pretty good. I still think this season has been pretty mediocre.
20. (20) “The League” – Ghost Monkey would be a kickass band name. And the part about letting Ruxin set Pete’s lineup was one of the better fantasy related bits they’ve ever done. I think that’s totally something I’d be super confident about at first and then slowly drive myself crazy over throughout the week, and be inconsolable for months if I lost.
21. (21) “Running Wilde” – Wasn’t on
22. (22) “Survivor” – Smart play by Marty and where the tribes are merging next week he might be able to stay in the game a little longer. I also think if you played a drinking game where you drank every time someone said the word “game” on the show you’d be pretty effed up by the end.
23. (23) “Parenthood” – Better, not move up the ranks better, but better nonetheless.