It was the best of TV, it was the worst of TV. We presented the tube to you throughout the year, but as 2006 draws to a close, in the spirit of those bests and worsts, we wanted to list the TV moments that impressed us the most and outraged us the most.
One of the interesting things about TV is that often our worst moments can translate into our strongest moments on the tube. This was certainly the case in 2005, when the nation's darkest hour, the Katrina tragedy, translated into the best and most informative news coverage since 9/11.
On TV as well as in the Gulf (if not Washington), Katrina spilled over into 2006 (the St. Charles streetcar, the oldest continuously running line in the nation, just started running again on December 20). And where the Katrina spillover happened, TV once again presented its finest hours.
In columns like this, we are supposed to save the best of the best for last. But TV has tainted us — immediate gratification is the watchword of the tube. Ipso facto: We have several bests of the best for 2006. HBO has long been the place to turn for TV we should be seeing everywhere. This season, Showtime tried to edge HBO out of the top spot and nearly succeeded with shows like Dexter. Nearly, but not quite.
The HBO documentary When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, directed by Spike Lee, was not only Lee's best work, it was HBO's best presentation of the year. If you haven't seen this brutal glimpse at the destruction of one of the most beautiful cities in the country, see it. Lee addresses not just what was lost, but the compounded tragedy of how it will never be regained because President Bush and his cohort simply turned their backs on New Orleans. The underlying racism and classism are unmistakable, and reflect an ongoing chasm in this country between black and white, rich and poor.
The extraordinary complement of people who stayed to rebuild are the heroes of the piece. It's gut-wrenching and anger-inducing and just plain fabulous. Lee's Requiem does what all requiems do: it elegizes and it mourns. But it also proffers hope in the people of New Orleans. It was the best offering on cable TV in 2006.
Katrina also provided the best moment on network TV in 2006. Aaron Sorkin wowed us for seven unforgettable seasons with The West Wing, which weekly allowed us to imagine what it would be like to have a thoughtful, humane president in the White House again. (You know, a President like, say, Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter, who would have been in New Orleans with the Katrina victims, not playing X-Box and reading the sequel to My Pet Goat while a city drowned and people wallowed in their own excrement screaming into the TV cameras for help that never came.)
Sorkin debuted one of the most anticipated and little-watched shows of the 2006 fall season, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Every week as we caught the smart dialogue, the political undercurrent, the stellar acting (give Matthew Perry his Emmy now — he is so past Friends ), we never failed to ask ourselves, "Who is watching this show?"
Not too many people, as it happens. But Studio 60 clings to life and may very well be the best show you are not watching. So tune in. And check out the Christmas episode, which is still available at the Studio 60 website in its entirety (episode 11) and will make a devotee out of you, too.
This was our very favorite TV program of the year. Not only does Matthew Perry make the best case for Christmas ever, not only does Ed Asner give the cameo of his life, but the show's finale, with New Orleans musicians playing over a montage of the city then and now is so extraordinary, so deeply, un-manipulatively moving, it will take your breath away. Because you will be sobbing, unabashedly, as we were. But then, we used to live in New Orleans. In the Ninth Ward.
There were other extraordinary TV bests. Every episode of The Wire, another reason to watch HBO. And the only queers of color on TV, apparently. The Wire is available on DVD and is worth the price tag. Deadwood was another best.
We had our network faves, as well. We adore Heroes, a show we previewed half-heartedly pre-season and with which we fell instantly in love. For fans of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer who have yet to find a place to light, this is it. "Save the cheerleader, save the world" is the mantra for 2006-07.
There were the oldies but forever goodies, as well. ER came back. Strongly. Beautifully. John Stamos gets the same Emmy as Matthew Perry for his role as Dr. Tony Gates. He, too, is so past his sitcom days. We have also loved the low-key storyline with Dr. Greg Pratt's (Mehki Phifer) brother being gay. Pratt is such a homophobe, and the episode where he comes home early to find his hunky brother wrapped in only a towel with another young man, also only in a towel, was excellent. Nothing was said. Pratt just ordered his brother out. Then ran after him and brought him back, suitcases and all. No dialogue, just music, because these are guys who can't talk to each other. Superb.
We had other loves: Craig Ferguson, the guy whose humor and intelligence keep us up at night to watch him on CBS' Late, Late Show. Jimmy Kimmel, whose humor often lolls in the gutter, but we don't care. (His clips of the year in review alone were priceless.) Keith Olbermann, another reason to have cable (if only as an antidote to Fox News). ABC's Boston Legal, which has the best writing, acting and couple — James Spader and William Shatner — on network prime time. BL also has the best, most consistent commentary on the Bush Administration. And Candace Bergen. And regular queer storylines. We adore BL .
Oprah ode
No best-of list would be complete without the most influential woman in America, Oprah. We just can't help wondering why she has managed to do more for Katrina victims than the federal government. Not only donating $10 million of her own money, but building homes and continuing to highlight the issue by sending reporters Lisa Ling and Anderson Cooper to reveal what was unknown to the rest of the nation. The shame of it all.
One of the things Ling revealed was that the trailers Rosie O'Donnell had provided and fully outfitted for children to learn in, with computers and books, were not allowed to be used because of some FEMA rule. Oprah, Ling and Rosie got that fixed in a hurry. Despite FEMA. They are among our TV bests. How could we not love Ling's bravery in going to some of the most dangerous places on earth to get stories about women's lives? And how could we not love Rosie for turning The View into something to watch?
Oprah continues to enlighten her audiences about issues that matter. She hasn't forgotten AIDS, either in America or Africa. She hasn't forgotten violence against women, here and abroad. She hasn't forgotten how kids get bullied in school, or molested. She hasn't forgotten queer kids. She has brought each of these issues to her vast audience this season. She is a perennial best.
Grave concerns
The worsts are another story, both easy and problematic. The absolute, tragic worst on TV in 2006: news coverage of the war on Iraq. Neither network nor cable was up to the job of calling it like it is, "grave and deteriorating." What TV news did with Katrina they have utterly failed to do with Iraq.
Sure, there were the heartwarming stories on NBC about the families of soldiers in Iraq. There were the heartwarming stories on ABC's Nightline about the injured coming back from devastating amputations, shrapnel wounds, head injuries and burns. There were the heartwarming stories by Katie Couric on CBS about the wives of soldiers.
Memo to the networks: War is not heartwarming. It's bloody, revolting, stomach-churning and harrowing. If you aren't presenting it that way, then you aren't doing your job. If you aren't asking the hard questions in the press conferences, you aren't doing your job. If you don't call the politicians on their fouls, then you shouldn't be covering the game. Why are we still not seeing the coffins of the dead?
There was a sad passing this season on TV: Ed Bradley, stalwart figure on CBS for 40 years, died of leukemia. Bradley was a reporter in Vietnam (as was his colleague, Dan Rather, given the unceremonious boot from CBS for trying to oust Bush from the White House). Bradley told the story of the real war, and got wounded in the process. No sugar-coating, nonsense or pandering. He was one of the bests of any given year on the tube. But he also stands as a reminder to other correspondents of what reporters should be doing about Iraq. Bradley never backed down. He took people to task. Somebody send some old tapes of his interviews around to all the networks so they can see how it's done. Better yet, get Lisa Ling and Anderson Cooper out there. Far and away, TV news coverage of the war on Iraq was the worst of the worst in 2006.
Other worsts are unsurprising, yet despicable nonetheless. There was Mel Gibson, who although he provided unlimited fodder for late-night jokes with his anti-Semitic tirade, got an easy pass when grilled by Diane Sawyer and Jay Leno, who both deserve slaps for not calling him out. Michael "Kramer" Richards, whose meltdown on David Letterman might have surpassed his original racist rant, also hasn't had his feet held to the fire. George "Macaca" Allen, whose career rightly went up in flames when YouTube and Nightline showed his racist ranting up-close and personal, lost more than the election — Gibson and Richards should be held to the same standard.
Another worst: The endless attention to Britney's underwear and K-Fed's being dumped.
Then Fox sank to an all-time low by touting a book by O.J. Simpson, titled If I Did It. When Geraldo Rivera and Bill O'Reilly threaten to quit over the sleaze factor, a new bottom line has been reached.
Sadly, Oprah made our worst list for her pandering to O'Reilly when she had him on her show, and for her lack of support for Frank Rich when she had him on her show.
Also on our worst list: Series cancellations by networks that leave the viewer hanging. We loved NBC's smart and complex Kidnapped . After a few episodes, viewers complained that the show was too complicated (don't even try to watch The Wire, then). NBC pulled the show from its weekly prime time slot and dumped it in the Saturday night graveyard. Then NBC decided even this lowly TV hell was too exalted, and suggested that viewers watch the wrap-up online. Boo, hiss.
ABC did the same thing with The Nine, another superb show with great acting, but too complex for most viewers. Now ABC claims it will be back to wrap the show up, but we'll believe it when we see it. If the shows are already in the can, preview them. Stick them on Saturday night if you must, but where viewers can access them. Watching TV online or via podcast is not fun.
We hate to mention our final worst, because it's so painful: the Bianca/Zarf storyline on All My Children. We love Bianca, daytime's only dyke diva. We love how AMC has developed her character over several years and kept her a primary figure, even after Eden Riegel left the show for a year to pursue other career opportunities. We were overjoyed when Riegel finally won a much-deserved Emmy. Most of all, we loved how she never played straight. Ever.
We like Jeffrey Carlson's portrayal of Zarf, the 21st-century version of Ziggy Stardust who is AMC's soon-to-be-revealed-to-be-transgendered character. What we do not like is Bianca and Zarf as a couple. Many viewers think AMC is jumping the shark with Zarf's character. We agree. But more's the point, we find the storyline offensive.
Here's why: Most transgendered folks are not gay or lesbian, they are transgendered. It's different. It's being one gender in the body of another. While it is true that some transgendered people become queer when they reassign their gender, it's not the norm. This means that the average non-San Franciscan viewer will see the Bianca/Zarf relationship as an effeminate man with a woman. Period. Not two women together, but a man and a woman together. A straight couple. Not queers.
We resent AMC taking daytime's only lesbian character, who has never been allowed to have a girlfriend for more than five minutes, and having her kiss a man on screen and deliver lines like, "When I look at you, I see myself."
No, you don't, Bianca. You see a British rock star who looks like Michael York in Cabaret with eyeliner and pink lip-gloss. Can someone explain to us why Zarf is British and has a British accent when he told Bianca he grew up in Indiana with a steelworker father? Plus, Zarf is now a suspected serial killer. Can you say Basic Instinct, emphasis on the stink? This was the worst queer storyline on TV in a season when there were a lot of bad queer storylines and closeted queer characters.
Give Bianca a girlfriend. Give Zarf a sex change. And then, maybe, talk to us about a love affair. But not before.
Finally, the best TV feud of the year evolved out of the Miss USA flap last week. Miss USA Tara Conner was caught drinking and "lustily" smooching with Miss Teen USA Katie Blair. Donald Trump fired Conner. For the drinking, not the smooching. Then he let her come back if she cleaned up her act, but not before publicly humiliating her. Rosie took umbrage with The Donald's sanctimonious behavior on The View (doing a hilarious imitation of Trump), and Trump fired back, calling her fat and ugly, and attacked her for being a lesbian.
We love Rosie and we loathe The Donald. How many millions did he donate to Katrina recovery? We love that she took him on and has become the self-proclaimed protector of queer closet cases (first Clay Aiken, now Miss USA). We knew when David Letterman quipped, "President Bush acknowledged that the war in Iraq is not going well. It looks like Miss USA isn't the only one who's sobered up" that this one had legs. The Donald says he's suing Rosie. Rosie says bring it on. Round two is in the offing since Miss Nevada was just caught smooching girls as well. Who knew the pageants were a hotbed of lesbianism?
Happy New Year! And do stay tuned.