The New York Daily News selects "Documenting the Face of America" for top ten list (PBS).
"Documentary TV at its best, revisiting the photographers hired by the government in the 1930s to take a picture of America."
The year's best shows and TV moments
BY DAVID HINCKLEY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Monday, December 29th 2008, 10:22 PM
It's easy and fun to dismiss all television as trash, and there's certainly enough junk so that after one or two Budweisers or Red Bulls, the argument looks tempting.
It's just not true. Here, in no particular order, are some of the best reasons to have watched TV this year.
Shows
1. "Mad Men" (AMC). So maybe the audience includes more critics than regular people. But this time the critics are right. A beautifully subtle show, rich in nuance, acted wonderfully, and every bit as much about today as it is about the 1960s.
2. "The Wire" (HBO). A complex, brilliant drama about people whose lives erase any easy notions of good and bad.
3. "In Treatment" (HBO). Maybe the best shrink drama ever, as Gabriel Byrne and a half-dozen clients shadowbox with one another and themselves.
4. "The Mentalist" (CBS). Proof the broadcast networks can still create solid entertainment with a simple premise: A man helps cops solve cases with his ability to observe.
5. "Friday Night Lights" (DIRECTV/ NBC). Yes, they're really old for high-school students. So what? The dramas of Dillon, Tex., are full of jagged edges, like life.
6. "30 Rock" Only inside the media biz is this show canonized. It's still the funniest sitcom on TV, and Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey are as good as advertised.
7. "Documenting the Face of America" (PBS). Documentary TV at its best, revisiting the photographers hired by the government in the 1930s to take a picture of America.
8. "iCarly" (Nickelodeon). A lot of shows for kids and 'tweens are surprisingly smart. This is about the smartest.
9. "In Plain Sight" (USA). Cable has a lot of TV's best dramas, and if this one isn't better than "Damages" or "Breaking Bad" or "Saving Grace," Mary McCormack as a cop with problems gives it an edge.
10. "Black Magic" (ESPN). Dan Klores visits basketball at black colleges in the days before integration. Poignant, funny, revealing.
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2008/12/29/2008-12-29_the_years_best_shows_and_tv_moments.html
