Twelfth Day of TV Christmas- Twelve Eps of Gangsters

In a new tradition here at the Pool, as both a way of summing up the year in television and celebrating the holidays, we will be releasing the first Twelve Days of TV Christmas series leading up to the day where I hope to receive multiple DVD box sets of my favorite shows. Whereas the Poolies celebrate the best television of the season by a number of voters, the Twelve Days of Christmas is my attempt at giving credit to the top series of the year by me and only me. Having said that, a couple of my favorite shows have been left off the list for a multitude of reasons. In the case of Chuck and Justified, it's mostly because I couldn't fit them into a numbered slot as well as some others. With Sons or Always Sunny, I just wasn't as happy with their respective seasons in 2010. So without further ado, here is the Twelfth Day of TV Christmas. Feel free to sing along.

On the twelfth day of Christmas my tv gave to me...twelve eps of gangsters, eleven family members, ten weeks a fighting, nine flashes sideways, eight minutes breathless, seven kids a studying, six deads a walking, five deeeaaad rapiiiiists, four ad partners, three Jo Bros, two Terriers, and a paper boss in Scranton, PA.

So this is it, Christmas morning. And how better to celebrate than with the final day of TV Christmas. Earning recognition today for its performance in 2010 is HBO's Boardwalk Empire. The complaints that I have heard about the series are that it was slow, confusing and there were too many characters. My response to that is that the two shows that are currently thought of as the two best dramas in the past decade, The Wire and Mad Men, started out much more guilty of that. I literally couldn't keep going with The Wire after four eps because it was so slow. With Mad Men I never stopped, but I wasn't enjoying it the pace was so slow. The first season of Boardwalk was not anything like those. It is a slower pace than some other shows, but it definitely kept my interest throughout. I got excited to see what Nucky, Jimmy, and the crew were going to be up to form week to week. A great start to what should be an epic series over the next half a decade.

Eleventh Day of TV Christmas- Eleven Family Members

In a new tradition here at the Pool, as both a way of summing up the year in television and celebrating the holidays, we will be releasing the first Twelve Days of TV Christmas series leading up to the day where I hope to receive multiple DVD box sets of my favorite shows. Whereas the Poolies celebrate the best television of the season by a number of voters, the Twelve Days of Christmas is my attempt at giving credit to the top series of the year by me and only me. Having said that, a couple of my favorite shows have been left off the list for a multitude of reasons. In the case of Chuck and Justified, it's mostly because I couldn't fit them into a numbered slot as well as some others. With Sons or Always Sunny, I just wasn't as happy with their respective seasons in 2010. So without further ado, here is the Eleventh Day of TV Christmas. Feel free to sing along.

On the eleventh day of Christmas my tv gave to me...eleven family members, ten weeks a fighting, nine flashes sideways, eight minutes breathless, seven kids a studying, six deads a walking, five deeeaaad rapiiiiists, four ad partners, three Jo Bros, two Terriers, and a paper boss in Scranton, PA.

Since the days of TGIF there has not been a family sitcom that has gotten me excited. By the end of 2009, and then throughout 2010, ABC's Modern Family has changed that. The eleven members of the Pritchett family tree - that's Jay, Gloria, Manny, Phil, Claire, Haley, Alex, Luke, Cam, Mitchell, and Lilly - have earned a spot in the best of 2010. The mockumentary style is nothing new after watching The Office for many years now, but the people at Modern Family have managed to make it work magically once again. As has been said many times before, the numerous dynamics that can be created with this large group make for new hilarious situations every episode. Whether it was Cam and Gloria at the Mexican restaurant, Manny and Claire chatting about kids, or Phil and Jay trying to get along, the strange relationships that make up this modern family have proven to be one of the funniest shows on television.

Tenth Day of TV Christmas- Ten Weeks a Fighting

In a new tradition here at the Pool, as both a way of summing up the year in television and celebrating the holidays, we will be releasing the first Twelve Days of TV Christmas series leading up to the day where I hope to receive multiple DVD box sets of my favorite shows. Whereas the Poolies celebrate the best television of the season by a number of voters, the Twelve Days of Christmas is my attempt at giving credit to the top series of the year by me and only me. Having said that, a couple of my favorite shows have been left off the list for a multitude of reasons. In the case of Chuck and Justified, it's mostly because I couldn't fit them into a numbered slot as well as some others. With Sons or Always Sunny, I just wasn't as happy with their respective seasons in 2010. So without further ado, here is the Tenth Day of TV Christmas. Feel free to sing along.

On the tenth day of Christmas my tv gave to me...ten weeks a fighting, nine flashes sideways, eight minutes breathless, seven kids a studying, six deads a walking, five deeeaaad rapiiiiists, four ad partners, three Jo Bros, two Terriers, and a paper boss in Scranton, PA.

After struggling through the most recent season of Survivor it has become more and more obvious how great Big Brother is. The ten weeks of arguing, game playing, and back stabbing we were witness to in 2010 are definitely worthy of recognition. Unlike Survivor, Big Bro doesn't depend on its cast to have a good season. The Nicaragua version of Survivor has failed mostly because there were no interesting contestants, but over the past few seasons of Big Brother, there have been times where I found nobody compelling and still really enjoyed the season. 2010 was highlighted by a Guido and a couple of juice heads, and I'm not talking about Jersey Shore. Enzo, Hayden and Lane, or the Brigade as they liked to call themselves, created an unstoppable alliance at the very beginning of Big Brother, and stayed strong until the final three. It truly was one of, if not the best alliance I've witnessed on reality tv. Congrats to the three of them, Hayden for winning, and CBS for continuing to put on a great show three days a week every summer.

Ninth Day of TV Christmas- Nine Flashes Sideways

In a new tradition here at the Pool, as both a way of summing up the year in television and celebrating the holidays, we will be releasing the first Twelve Days of TV Christmas series leading up to the day where I hope to receive multiple DVD box sets of my favorite shows. Whereas the Poolies celebrate the best television of the season by a number of voters, the Twelve Days of Christmas is my attempt at giving credit to the top series of the year by me and only me. Having said that, a couple of my favorite shows have been left off the list for a multitude of reasons. In the case of Chuck and Justified, it's mostly because I couldn't fit them into a numbered slot as well as some others. With Sons or Always Sunny, I just wasn't as happy with their respective seasons in 2010. So without further ado, here is the Ninth Day of TV Christmas. Feel free to sing along.

On the ninth day of Christmas my tv gave to me...nine flashes sideways, eight minutes breathless, seven kids a studying, six deads a walking, five deeeaaad rapiiiiists, four ad partners, three Jo Bros, two Terriers, and a paper boss in Scranton, PA.

It has been over half a year since Lost aired its series finale, and my love for the show, the final season, and the finale itself has not changed. The season did everything I could have asked of it. Was it as good as say seasons four or five? Maybe not, but it was so much more epic. Every episode I watched, I knew everything was that much more important. Kate's last ep, Hugo's last ep, the deaths of many main characters. There are many people out there who complained about it for God knows why, but the final season of Lost and especially the finale worked like gangbusters. They hit every emotional note I needed, and answered or failed to answer anything I cared or didn't care about. As much as people hated on "Across the Sea," it, along with "Ab Aeterno" answered everything I needed on Lost. As the 2010 version of Lost went along, we watched as nine of our favorite characters flashed "sideways" as we called them, into a purgatory like world. These sideways flashes were ruined for some once the big reveal came around, but I enjoyed them more once I realized what was going on. All in all it will continue to be my favorite television show of all time.

Eighth Day of TV Christmas- Eight Minutes Breathless

In a new tradition here at the Pool, as both a way of summing up the year in television and celebrating the holidays, we will be releasing the first Twelve Days of TV Christmas series leading up to the day where I hope to receive multiple DVD box sets of my favorite shows. Whereas the Poolies celebrate the best television of the season by a number of voters, the Twelve Days of Christmas is my attempt at giving credit to the top series of the year by me and only me. Having said that, a couple of my favorite shows have been left off the list for a multitude of reasons. In the case of Chuck and Justified, it's mostly because I couldn't fit them into a numbered slot as well as some others. With Sons or Always Sunny, I just wasn't as happy with their respective seasons in 2010. So without further ado, here is the Eighth Day of TV Christmas. Feel free to sing along.

On the eighth day of Christmas my tv gave to me...eight minutes breathless, seven kids a studying, six deads a walking, five deeeaaad rapiiiiists, four ad partners, three Jo Bros, two Terriers, and a paper boss in Scranton, PA.

I really had no place to put it, but Breaking Bad needed to be recognized for its outstanding performance in 2010. The episode titled "One Minute" was filled in tv time by multiple minutes of excitement, hence the "eight minutes breathless." Watching as our boy Hank hung on for dear life as the crazy Mexican brothers attempted to murder him horror movie style, was absolute brilliance. Not only was the ending to that episode so great, but looking back on it, the entire season was fantastic. At the time I didn't think that great of it, but after watching how disappointing some of my other favorite shows have been, Breaking Bad needs to receive credit for showing up to play this year. Other than "Fly", which some critics are touting as a great episode but in reality was God awful, every ep brought excitement and drama. It won't be back until this summer, so we have to wait a while to get Walter, Jesse and the gang back in our lives.

Survivor Finale- This One's For The Boy

Spoiler alert...Below are a few thoughts on last night's finale of Survivor: Nicaragua. So watch the ep and reunion show, toot your own horn for being smart, then read what I have to say.

Let's start with the first immunity challenge. Fabio won his second straight after starting way behind, but it was Probst's terrible running commentary that had me excited. T-time, who has never watched Survivor, immediately commented on how awful Probst was after only 45 minutes of action. I was never more proud of him. At the first tribal Jeffrey was up to his normal antics as he led the contestants with his prodding questions. Pretty soon we're going to get to a point where Probst is saying things like, "I've been following the cameraman around and this is what Sash has been saying about you behind your back."

So after Dan went home on a four to one vote, the finale four contestants did the old "rights of passage" deal. This is one of my favorite parts of Survivor because it is so darn awkward when they have to say something about each of the contestants that they previously voted out. Every time it is something like, "oh this person was a good competitor," or "this person was fun." Give me a break. How about when they got to Shannon, Sash speaks out and says, "this dude was a real a hole!" That would have been awesome.

We get to the next and final immunity challenge and it is Fabio's stack of coins that begins to wobble first. He gets his act together long enough to take down his third straight immunity challenge and guarantee himself a spot in the final tribal council. What I don't get is why he has all of the power. If he wanted to vote out Holly, and got Sash to go along with him, why couldn't Holly and Chase have voted for Sash and forced a tie? I mean maybe in the end, they all wanted Holly gone, but it doesn't explain why they make it seem like Fabio had absolutely all of the power. It's not whatever he says goes at that point. But what he said did go, and Holly left on a 3-1 vote.

So then we have the final tribal, where none of the three contestants embarrassed themselves by being God awful at explaining why they should win, but no one really did a good job at convincing anybody either. If I had gone into that final chat with an idea of who I wanted to vote for, there's no way it would have changed after their answers.

Although I hated Chase so much before this event, why on Earth would he ever chosen Marty for the question of who won the "dumber than a bag of hammers" award? You could easily pick one of the other two people you're fighting against, and instead you choose someone who could be voting for or against you? Chase had no chance of getting Marty's vote anyway, but still a really dumb move.

Between Jane, Dan, and maybe a couple others, I got really mad. You are there to ask questions so that you can make a better decision on who should win, not air your grievances. This isn't a Festivus dinner.

Did that crying gag win Fabio some votes? I'm not sure, but he definitely got some of the jury members in an emotional state just before it was time to cast their votes.

And in the end it was 5 votes for Fabio, 4 for Chase, and 0 for Sash. Once again, the best strategic player went down the tubes, and like Russell last season, got absolutely no votes. What is wrong with this game when you can't back stab your way to the final and still get a couple of votes. It wasn't like Sash was a jerk the whole time, he just broke a bunch of alliances and back stabbed. I will never get why Chase got four votes and Sash got zero. Who likes Chase?

Speaking of ridiculous popularity. How does anyone watching this show like Jane? When Probst referred to her as a popular contestant I got extremely angry that Jeff and CBS don't understand what people like. When I later found out that she not only won the fan vote for favorite player, but won it by the largest margin ever, I absolutely lost it. Jane was one of my least favorite Survivor players ever, and definitely the worst of this season. The lesson to be learned here is that people of America have terrible taste. I guess this is why I don't like most people.

Fantasy Scores

Brigade Grenades

Sash- W14 (92), W15 (106), Votes (-4)= 194
Chase- W14 (92), Votes (-4), W15 (106)= 194
Dan- Votes (-16)= -16
Jill
Jane
Finale= 372 Total= 2028

Studio Flow CEO

Shannon
Fabio- W14 (92), Im (40), W15 (106), Win (121)= 359
Kelly P
Jimmy T
NaOnka
Finale= 359 Total= 1200

The Full Schilling

Jimmy J
Benry
Kelly B
Alina
Holly- W14 (92), Votes (-12)= 80
Finale= 80 Total= 823

Power Bottoms

Brenda
Marty
Tyrone
Yve
Wendy
Total= 188

Seventh Day of TV Christmas- Seven Kids a Studying

In a new tradition here at the Pool, as both a way of summing up the year in television and celebrating the holidays, we will be releasing the first Twelve Days of TV Christmas series leading up to the day where I hope to receive multiple DVD box sets of my favorite shows. Whereas the Poolies celebrate the best television of the season by a number of voters, the Twelve Days of Christmas is my attempt at giving credit to the top series of the year by me and only me. Having said that, a couple of my favorite shows have been left off the list for a multitude of reasons. In the case of Chuck and Justified, it's mostly because I couldn't fit them into a numbered slot as well as some others. With Sons or Always Sunny, I just wasn't as happy with their respective seasons in 2010. So without further ado, here is the Seventh Day of TV Christmas. Feel free to sing along.

On the seventh day of Christmas my tv gave to me...seven kids a studying, six deads a walking, five deeeaaad rapiiiiists, four ad partners, three Jo Bros, two Terriers, and a paper boss in Scranton, PA.

All I want for my seventh day of Christmas is Jeffrey, Troy, Pierce, Annie, Abed, Britta...and even Shirley; the seven kids from our favorite Greendale Community College study group. Community is the next series to earn the recognition for its performance in 2010. Although the start to its second season has been a bit disappointing, you can't argue that the second half of last year's first season was absolutely fantastic. All of these community collegers, besides Shirley at times, has been awesome. Between the mafia/chicken strips episode and the paint ball episode, they concocted two of the funniest half hours on television in 2010. While they have pretty much failed to recreate these epic moments with attempts like the astronaut and zombie eps, they still make me laugh on a regular basis, and that's all I can ask for.

Sixth Day of TV Christmas- Six Deads a Walking

In a new tradition here at the Pool, as both a way of summing up the year in television and celebrating the holidays, we will be releasing the first Twelve Days of TV Christmas series leading up to the day where I hope to receive multiple DVD box sets of my favorite shows. Whereas the Poolies celebrate the best television of the season by a number of voters, the Twelve Days of Christmas is my attempt at giving credit to the top series of the year by me and only me. Having said that, a couple of my favorite shows have been left off the list for a multitude of reasons. In the case of Chuck and Justified, it's mostly because I couldn't fit them into a numbered slot as well as some others. With Sons or Always Sunny, I just wasn't as happy with their respective seasons in 2010. So without further ado, here is the Sixth Day of TV Christmas. Feel free to sing along.

On the sixth day of Christmas my tv gave to me...six deads a walking, five deeeaaad rapiiiiists, four ad partners, three Jo Bros, two Terriers, and a paper boss in Scranton, PA.

On day six of this TV Christmas season, we at the Pool recognize AMC's The Walking Dead. After absolutely bombing with Rubicon as the stations first attempt to add to its dynamic duo of Mad Men and Breaking Bad, they came through in spades with The Walking Dead. It was only a six episode first season, hence the "six deads a walking," but it was fantastic. From the start, this series had me hooked. The pilot was riveting, and the quality maintained throughout. Although Alan Sepinwall blatantly disagrees, I believe the short first season was a blessing in disguise. They were able to get their story across without any filler. As much as I would have loved to seen a 12 episode season, each of these six eps packed a punch, and I think we were better off because of it. The finale, in which the gang of Zombie killers came into the CDC building and then fled it, was a perfect example of where they could have dragged it out but didn't. Sepinwall wanted that episode to be extended to a about three or four eps. Really? You wanted them to sit around that cave for three episodes...doing what? They celebrated, they learned how the zombies are re-born, they got sad, and then the building blew up. All of which were done succinctly and beautifully. It was a great first season and I am definitely looking forward to the second.