HBO photo: John P. Johnson
If the blog is reading particularly lame lately, my excuse of the week is that I’ve been buried in end-of-the-year projects, including, but not limited to, the year-end 10-best lists that we post every year on time.com. And this year, there are going to be more than ever! Lists upon lists upon lists! It’s going to be all Redbook up in here!
For TV, I’m going to be ranking the best new and returning shows of 2007 separately. One list I passed on doing–but that, time permitting, I’ll do at Tuned in after the dust clears–is a list of the best TV episodes of 2007.
I’ve been jotting down a list of the top of my head the past few days, and what’s struck me is the number of episodes that come from shows I wouldn’t put on a top-10 series per se. For instance, it probably will not surprise you that John from Cincinnati will not make my 10-new-shows list; but the Sermon at the Motel episode (“His Visit: Day Five,” if my math is right) was certainly one of the best hours of TV in 2007 by me. Likewise the pilot of Reaper.
And the list goes on, but I’d rather hear yours. What were your favorite single episodes of TV shows in 2007? You can list 10, or 5, or 1, or 50–we’re tolerant here at Tuned In. I’m especially interested in what you thought were great episodes of series that were not as great overall, but again, the field is wide open. (When Alan Sepinwall polled the best TV shows of the year a little while ago, many of his commenters suggested single episodes instead, if you care to compare notes.)
Let’s make it interesting, though, and say you can’t name more than one episode of any single show. Applied to Mad Men, that rule just about breaks my brain. But if it’s easy, it ain’t a good list! Let the battle begin!