Monday, June 2, 2014

Best & Worst Of The 2013-2014 TV Season

By Anant Mathur (June 2, 2014) 

It was a year which took us on a season-long journey of Barney and Robin's wedding on How I Met Your Mother. A year when we said goodbye to Dr. Cristina Yang on Grey's Anatomy. A year filled with lots of new shows (most of which were canceled by the end of the season). A year with the controversial season finale of How I Met Your Mother. With the 2013-2014 season coming to an end, we can now separate the winners from the losers. Sadly, like last season, this year too there were more losers than winners. 

The new show Chicago PD turned out to be quite a gem. I was surprised that the show was actually well written - the cross-over episodes with Chicago Fire were brilliantly executed. The success of Arrow last year and Marvel's Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. this year has spawned many more comic book adaptation for the 2014-2015 season - these include the upcoming Flash spin-off from Arrow, Gotham (a Smallville-esque version of Batman), DC Comics' Constantine and Marvel's Agent Carter with Hayley Atwell reprising her role from the Captain America movie franchise. 

Once Upon A Time In Wonderland had the potential to be a great show but it lacked what Chicago PD did so well - cross-over episodes and guest appearances with Once Upon A Time - I have no clue why this wasn't done, at one point the lead characters end up in Storybrook (the fictitious town in Once Upon A Time) and still there was no interaction with the lead characters - it ended up hurting the show and probably caused it's demise. Mind Games was an interesting idea but just didn't have the audience to keep going, the same goes for Almost Human and Intelligence. No doubt, Matthew McConaughey, left the biggest impression on everyone this season with his hit show True Detective. His portrayal of Rustin Cohle is sure to earn him many awards. After his memorable performances in 12 Years A Slave, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and as Khan Noonien Singh in Star Trek: Into Darkness, Benedict Cumberbatch returned brilliantly in Season 3 of Sherlock.

Out of all the shows which were on TV in the 2013-2014 season, below are some of the ones I watched 'till the end of the season (or 'till the show got cancelled) and feel are the best or worst of the year:

Best NEW Drama
1. Chicago PD
2. Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
3. Almost Human
4. Intelligence
5. Mind Games



Best Actor in a NEW Drama
1. Matthew McConaughey (Rustin Cohle, True Detective)
2. Jason Beghe (Hank Voight, Chicago PD)
3. Clark Gregg (Phil Coulson, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
4. Karl Urban (John Kennex, Almost Human)
5. Steve Zahn (Clark Edwards, Mind Games)

Best Actress in a NEW Drama
1. Sophia Bush (Lindsay, Chicago PD)
2. Minka Kelly (Valerie Stahl, Almost Human)
3. Jessica De Gouw (Mina Murray, Dracula)
4. Marg Helgenberger (Lillian Strand, Intelligence)
5. Megan Boone (Elizabeth Keen, The Blacklist)

Best Drama
1. Person of Interest
2. Chicago Fire
3. The Good Wife
4. The Following
5. Dallas

Best Actor in a Drama
1. Jim Caviezel (John Reese, Person of Interest)
2. Josh Charles (Will Gardner, The Good Wife)
3. Patrick Dempsey (Dr. Derek Shepherd, Grey's Anatomy)
4. Kevin Bacon (Ryan Hardy, The Following)
5. Mark Harmon (Leroy Jethro Gibbs, NCIS)

 
Best Actress in a Drama
1. Monica Raymund (Gabriella Dawson, Chicago Fire)
2. Stana Katic (Det. Kate Beckett, Castle)
3. Julianna Margulies (Alicia Florrick, The Good Wife)
4. Jennifer Morrison (Emma, Once Upon A Time)
5. Tracy Spiridakos (Charlotte "Charlie" Matheson, Revolution)

Best Supporting Actor in a Drama
1. Michael Emerson (Harold Finch, Person of Interest)
2. Taylor Kinney (Kelly Severide, Chicago Fire)
3. David Ramsey (John Diggle, Arrow)
4. Jon Seda (Antonio Dawson, Chicago PD)
5. David Lyons (Sebastian Monroe, Revolution)

Best Supporting Actress in a Drama
1. Amy Acker (Root/Samantha Groves, Person of Interest)
2. Marina Squerciati (Kim Burgess, Chicago PD)
3. Elizabeth Henstridge (Jemma Simmons, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
4. Katie McGrath (Lucy Westenra, Dracula)
5. Lauren German (Leslie Elizabeth Shay, Chicago Fire)

Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show
1. Arrow
2. Grimm
3. Beauty & the Beast
4. Once Upon a Time
5. The Walking Dead


Best Actor Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show
1. Stephen Amell (Oliver Queen, Arrow)
2. David Giuntoli (Nick Burkhardt, Grimm)
3. Jay Ryan (Vincent Keller, Beauty & the Beast)
4. Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester, Supernatural)
5. Ian Somerhalder (Damon Salvatore, The Vampire Diaries)

Best Actress Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show

1. Kristin Kreuk (Catherine Chandler, Beauty & the Beast)
2. Jennifer Morrison (Emma Swan, Once Upon a Time)
3. Tatiana Maslany (Sarah Manning/Cosima Niehaus/Alison Hendrix/..., Orphan Black)
4. Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen, Game of Thrones)
5. Ginnifer Goodwin (Mary Margaret Blanchard/Snow White, Once Upon a Time)

Best TV Detective
1. Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock)
2. Matthew McConaughey (Rustin Cohle, True Detective)
3. David Tennant (Alec Hardy, Broadchurch)
4. Woody Harrelson (Martin Hart, True Detective)
5. Poppy Montgomery (Carrie Wells, Unforgettable)

Best Villian
1. Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Alexander Grayson, Dracula)
2. Rebecca Mader (Wicked Witch, Once Upon a Time)
3. Juan Pablo Di Pace (Nicolás Treviño, Dallas)
4. Emma Rigby (The Red Queen, Once Upon a Time In Wonderland)
5. Robbie Kay (Peter Pan, Once Upon a Time)



Best NEW Comedy
1. The Millers
2. Trophy Wife
3. The Michael J. Fox Show
4. Friends with Better Lives
5. The Crazy Ones

Best Comedy
1. How I Met Your Mother
2. Big Bang Theory
3. Last Man Standing
4. Modern Family
5. 2 Broke Girls

Best Actor in a Comedy

1. Jim Parsons (Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory)
2. Tim Allen (Last Man Standing)
3. Johnny Galecki (Leonard Hofstadter, The Big Bang Theory)
4. Michael J. Fox (Mike, The Michael J. Fox Show)
5. Charlie Sheen (Charlie, Anger Management)

 
Best Actress in a Comedy
1. Kat Dennings (Max Black, 2 Broke Girls)
2. Kaley Cuoco (Penny, The Big Bang Theory)
3. Cobie Smulders (Robin Scherbatsky, How I Met Your Mother)
4. Zooey Deschanel (Jessica Day, New Girl)
5. Malin Åkerman (Kate Harrison, Trophy Wife)

Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy
1. Neil Patrick Harris (Barney Stinson, How I Met Your Mother)
2. Simon Helberg (Howard Joel Wolowitz, The Big Bang Theory)
3. Jason Segel (Marshall Eriksen, How I Met Your Mother)
4. Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family)
5. Kunal Nayyar (Rajesh Koothrappali, The Big Bang Theory)

Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy
1. Cristin Milioti (Tracy McConnell, How I Met Your Mother)
2. Mayim Bialik (Amy Farrah Fowler, The Big Bang Theory)
3. Alyson Hannigan (Lily Aldrin, How I Met Your Mother)
4. Jennifer Coolidge (Sophie Kachinsky, 2 Broke Girls)
5. Kaitlyn Dever (Eve Baxter, Last Man Standing)

Best Series Finale
1. How I Met Your Mother
2. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
3. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
4. Revolution
5. Warehouse 13


Why is this still on (surprisingly these low rated shows earned a second season):
1. Elementary
2. The Neighbors
3. The Carrie Diaries
4. Seed
5. Hannibal

Worst New Shows of the year, so glad these got cancelled:
1. Sean Saves The World
2. Rake
3. Lucky 7
4. Bad Teacher
5. Super Fun Night

How did this get on television:
1. Killer Women
2. Welcome to the Family
3. Ironside
4. Hostages
5. We Are Men

Shows with Promise but didn't get picked up or renewed by the network:
1. Mind Games
2. The Michael J. Fox Show
3. Growing Up Fisher
4. Friends with Better Lives
5. The Crazy Ones

A good Concept gone horribly Wrong
1. Once Upon A Time In Wonderland
2. The Assets
3. Back in the Game
4. The Tomorrow People
5. Mixology


DISCLAIMER:
Please remember these are TV show that I watched based on my personal preferences and this post should not be misinterpreted as official results or facts regarding TV shows released in the 2013-2014 season.


© Anant Mathur. All Rights Reserved.