Best of the iDecade: On TV

American Idol

An out-of-the-gate sensation when it premiered in the summer of 2002, Idol -- based on the similarly successful Brit series Pop Idol -- rerouted the path to music-biz stardom through Everytown, U.S.A. and, against all odds and predictions, actually produced some of the decade's biggest recording acts, including Kelly Clarkson, Chris Daughtry, and Carrie Underwood. The franchise's northern upstart, Canadian Idol, was successful on a smaller scale, running for six seasons. But CTV put the show on the "hiatus" shelf in 2009 because of revenue and ratings concerns, and its future remains uncertain.

Corner Gas

In 2004, Canadian television did something that had never been done, and that many TV watchers figured might not ever be done -- produced a homegrown situation comedy that was successful, immensely popular and actually laugh-out-loud funny. CTV's strategy was shrewd, and a rarity in the TV biz -- it bought a funny idea from a funny person (Brent Butt), and then stayed out of the way and let the comedians handle the comedy.

C.S.I.:

Crime Scene Investigation

While it's true that Law & Order and its various spinoffs set the blueprint for police procedurals during the 1990s, there's no disputing the influence of C.S.I. on prime time's cop-show component. The original C.S.I. debuted in 2000 to immediate acclaim, and by the 2002-03 season was the top-rated show on TV. Two spinoffs -- CSI: Miami (2002) and CSI: NY (2004) -- followed the game plan precisely with equally successful results, and a handful of other current cop shows, including Without a Trace, N.C.I.S. and Criminal Minds, exist solely because of C.S.I.'s success.

The Daily Show

with Jon Stewart

When Jon Stewart eased into the chair vacated by former host/anchor Craig Kilborn in 1999, The Daily Show was a fringe-y cable comedy show known for its smart-alecky attitude and wisecrack humour. With Stewart at the helm, the nightly fake newscast became one of the most insightful and brilliantly, comically critical voices on the American political landscape.

Extreme Makeover:

Home Edition

Some might consider this an oddly lightweight entry in a best-of-decade list, but the simple fact is that Extreme Makeover: Home Edition's debut in 2004 sent the entire reality-TV genre spinning in a new and unprecedented positive direction. Before EM:HE, reality shows focused mainly on exploiting and humiliating their subjects (remember such tawdry titles as Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?, The Swan and EM:HE's plastic-surgery-promoting predecessor, Extreme Makeover?). After Home Edition's arrival, networks and producers shifted their focus toward more upbeat, life-affirming fare.

The Office

As Brit-based paper-company manager David Brent, writer/producer/performer Ricky Gervais raised the art of cringe humour to a new level; when BBC's The Office was adapted for U.S. television, former Daily Show staffer Steve Carell infused Dunder Mifflin boss Michael Scott with a distinctly different but equally off-putting kind of awkward. The combined might of their cubicle-confined comedy connected with audiences in a way few other sitcoms could during the past decade.

The Sopranos

Daring, dark, profane, explicit, unapologetically violent and brilliantly cast and written, this HBO series set a new standard for TV drama when it premiered in 1999. While it was proving that cable networks provided creative possibilities that commercial broadcasters couldn't embrace, The Sopranos also forced mainstream TV writers to aim higher in order to keep pace with Sopranos creator David Chase's inspired work. After The Sopranos, HBO and U.S.-cable competitor Showtime became favoured destinations for TV writers; by the end of the decade, lesser U.S. cable outfits such as FX (The Shield, Rescue Me) and AMC (Mad Men, Breaking Bad) were also major players in original-series production. Oh, and that cut-to-black ending to The Sopranos' series finale? Brilliant, and perfect.

Survivor/The Amazing Race

Survivor's 2000 premiere was heralded by some as the arrival of a new wave of "unscripted" television and criticized by others as the back-stabbed demise of prime-time civility; whichever is more true, there's no disputing that the show drew huge audiences and became the water-cooler topic of the early 20-naughts. The enlivened reality/competition genre got an even bigger boost from The Amazing Race's arrival a year later; when reality TV was finally admitted into the Emmy Awards fraternity, Race simply went on to win every single reality/competition prize the TV academy has handed out.

TV Tech: Digital TV/High-definition TV/PVRs/Streaming video

Covering the TV industry was a daunting task during the first 10th of the 21st century; it seemed as if every year brought more changes than the medium's previous five decades combined. TV transmission went digital; TV production went high-def; TV programming became accessible and downloadable online; TV series became DVD-box-set collectibles; TV viewing habits (and advertising-revenue balance sheets) were changed forever by the evolution of the Internet and the arrival of personal video recorders (PVRs).

Writers' strike

The strike by the Writers' Guild of America that shut down the U.S. television industry for 100 days from November 2007 to February 2008 didn't just derail a TV season, it altered the way Hollywood develops and produces pilots and series, and precipitated a major redefinition of the financial model that drives the TV biz. The result: fewer pilots, fewer scripted shows in prime time; five nights a week of Jay Leno at 9 p.m. on NBC.

brad.oswald@freepress.mb.ca

The why?Decade on TV

Stuff that annoyed the heck out of us early in the 21st century:

Paula Abdul -- Week in and week out, American Idol's loopiest judge kept finding newer, flimsier ways to say not very much at all, and then ego-tripped her way right out of a job.

Fox News -- For most of the 20-naught decade, the "Fair and Balanced" U.S. cable net was merely the refuge for right-wing ranters; after a Democrat won the White House, the whole place went flat-out conspiracy-crazed squirrelly.

Nancy Grace -- Smug, shrill self-righteousness, thy name is Nancy. The cable-news equivalent of fingernails on a blackboard.

John AND Kate -- The pursuit of small-scale fame hit a new low when these two reality-TV misfits dragged their eight kids through that shameful marital meltdown.

David Brent and Michael Scott -- Unlike everyone else on this list, the bosses of The Offices on opposite sides of the pond rubbed us completely the wrong way for all the right reasons. Blissfully annoying fun.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 19, 2009 C2