Sometimes a best episode of the year amounts to a best scene of the year, and that certainly influenced my thinking here. There are maybe a half-dozen Parks and Rec episodes I might have put on this list (“The Debate,” “Win, Lose or Draw” and “Halloween Surprise,” to name a few). But when I think of the show’s past year, I can’t not think of the image of Leslie Knope and her campaign team, at the nadir of her city-council run, walking slowwwly across an ice-skating rink to the tune of Gloria Estefan’s “Get on Your Feet.” It’s a slapstick moment worthy of I Love Lucy, but the image — Leslie supported by her hapless but loving crew, including Ron Swanson, bearing an incontinent three-legged dog — also gets at the heart of the show: friends who will bear any indignity to help, because they believe in one another.
Arts & Entertainment
Thanks for liking TIME’s Top 10 Everything of 2012 List. Like TIME on Facebook now for more breaking news and current events from around the globe.
6. Parks and Recreation, “The Comeback Kid”
Full List
Top 10 Nonfiction Books
- 10. The Black Count, Tom Reiss
- 9. The First Four Notes: Beethoven’s Fifth and the Human Imagination, Matthew Guerrieri
- 8. People Who Eat Darkness: The True Story of a Young Woman Who Vanished from the Streets of Tokyo — and the Evil That Swallowed Her Up, Richard Lloyd Parry
- 7. Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child, Bob Spitz
- 6. Wild, Cheryl Strayed
- 5. Are You My Mother?, Alison Bechdel
- 4. My Friend Dahmer, Derf Backderf
- 3. Far from the Tree, Andrew Solomon
- 2. The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Vol. Four, Robert A. Caro
- 1. Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944–1956, Anne Applebaum
Top 10 Fiction Books
- 10. This Is How You Lose Her, Junot Diaz
- 9. Where’d You Go, Bernadette?, Maria Semple
- 8. NW, Zadie Smith
- 7. Building Stories, Chris Ware
- 6. The Casual Vacancy, J.K. Rowling
- 5. The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There, Catherynne Valente
- 4. At Last, Edward St. Aubyn
- 3. Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, Ben Fountain
- 2. Bring Up the Bodies, Hilary Mantel
- 1. The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
Top 10 Movie Performances
- 10. Jennifer Lawrence as Tiffany in Silver Linings Playbook
- 9. Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens in Lincoln
- 8. Vanessa Paradis, Café de Flore
- 7. Denzel Washington as Whip Whitaker in Flight
- 6. Denis Lavant as the Actor in Holy Motors
- 5. Matthew McConaughey as Joe Cooper in Killer Joe
- 4. Rachel Weisz as Hester Collyer in The Deep Blue Sea
- 3. Clarke Peters as Da Good Bishop Enoch Rouse in Red Hook Summer
- 2. Quvenzhané Wallis as Hushpuppy in Beasts of the Southern Wild
- 1. Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva as Georges and Anne in Amour
Top 10 Best Movies
Top 10 Worst Movies
Top 10 Plays and Musicals
Top 10 Songs
- 10. Can, “Graublau”
- 9. The Belle Brigade, “No Time to Think”
- 8. Pussy Riot, “Putin Lights Up the Fires”
- 7. Nicki Minaj, “Roman in Moscow”
- 6. Skrillex, “Bangarang”
- 5. Parquet Courts, “Master of My Craft”
- 4. Taylor Swift, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”
- 3. Carly Rae Jepsen, “Call Me Maybe”
- 2. PSY, “Gangnam Style”
- 1. Usher, “Climax”
Top 10 TV Episodes
- 10. Breaking Bad, “Fifty-One”
- 9. Awake, Pilot
- 8. The Good Wife, “Another Ham Sandwich”
- 7. Mad Men, “At the Codfish Ball”
- 6. Parks and Recreation, “The Comeback Kid”
- 5. Girls, “The Return”
- 4. Homeland, “Q&A”
- 3. Game of Thrones, “Blackwater”
- 2. Community, “Digital Estate Planning”
- 1. Louie, “Daddy’s Girlfriend, Parts 1 and 2”
Top 10 TV Series
Top 10 Viral Videos