In our last couple of polls, we’ve looked at some of our favorite movies of 2011. Now it’s time to look at some of our favorite new TV shows. Which of these series that debuted in 2011 have you watched and liked?
I’ve put together a big list of dramas and comedies below, but I’m leaving Reality shows out of this. In order to cut down on the number of options, I’ve tried to eliminate shows that have already been canceled. This helped me to weed out a lot crap that nobody watched or cared about (bye bye, ‘The Playboy Club’), but sadly also a few good shows that just didn’t catch on with audiences (‘Prime Suspect’ never got a fair shake).
As readers of this blog know, my favorite show of the year was ‘American Horror Story’, followed closely by ‘Game of Thrones’. I caught some episodes of ‘Homeland’ during a Showtime free preview recently, and that’s pretty amazing too. I’m also a fan of ‘Alphas’, ‘Grimm’, ‘Suits’ and ‘Hell on Wheels’. (That last one got a lot better after a shaky premiere.) On the comedy side, I like ‘Suburgatory’, ‘Up All Night’ and ‘Wilfred’.
You may vote for as many options as you’d like. I’m sure that I’ve missed something, so feel free to also vote Other and tell us in the Comments about shows I forgot. Remember, we’re talking about shows that were new in 2011, not returning series.
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Aaron Peck
The Borgias, Homeland, Up All Night, Suburgatory, and New Girl for me.
JM
These results are very geeky. Where’s the love for ‘Boss’?
Aaron Peck
‘Boss’ is okay. I still haven’t caught myself up. I think I’m on episode four. I think it can be too mean at times. I’m not sure if I really enjoy watching it or not.
JM
Neil LaBute mean?
Fun Fact #68 – ‘Boss’ was created by the screenwriter of ‘Apocalypto.’
T.J. Kats
Horror story, thrones, homeland and up all night.
Aaron Peck
I’m flabbergasted that ‘2 Broke Girls’ has 6 votes. FLABBERGASTED!
JM
’2 Broke Girls’ has a metacritic of 66. I too am in a state of deep flabbergast.
JM
‘American Horror Story’ has a metacritic of 62. I thought you guys were supposed to be able to tell the difference between good and bad…?
Josh Zyber
AuthorMetacritic is not the arbiter of the difference between good and bad.
JM
I thought metacritic only hand-picked the most brilliant critics, in order to have the most accurate ratings?
Ian Whitcombe
There are a number of critics counted by that site have gone on record saying that the numerical scores handed to their reviews are done so arbitrarily.
I believe Metacritic’s stance has been that they are provided with numbers by the individual reviewers.
Prayformojo
Where’s the love for Archer and Justified?
Prayformojo
Nevermind, I am an idiot, those were returning shows.
Andrew Parr
Missing is “Happy Endings,” the only new comedy I started watching this past year.
Josh Zyber
AuthorYou’re right, I missed that one. Looks like I got confused because the show is currently in its second season, so I assumed that the first season had premiered in Fall 2010. However, the show was actually a mid-season replacement that didn’t debut until April of 2011.
That’s what the “Other” option is for, I guess. 🙂
Aaron Peck
Oh, also missing ‘Shameless.’ I would’ve voted for that one too.
William Henley
I voted Hell on Wheels, Once Upon a Time and Pan Am. Terra Nova was a huge letdown. I stuck to it through the end of the season, but I won’t be watching it next season.
Once Upon a Time was a real surprise. I thought the show was going to suck after the first episode, but it has gotten better each episode, to the point that it is now my favorite show of last season.
Pan Am started off great. I got about 6 episodes on the DVR to watch still. Just hasn’t REALLY caught my attention like I thought it would. Its still good.
I have only seen the first episode right now of Hell on Wheels, and really enjoyed it. I have the rest of the season, but I set down to watch the second episode yesterday, and there was something weird going on where the picture and sound would cut out for about a second every 10 seconds or so. Trying to figure out what is wrong, and possibly get the episode from another source if I have to.
I have Grimm recorded too, but I haven’t watched any of them yet.
As far as reality shows (which are not on this list as Josh mentioned, but I thought I would bring it up anyways), gotta love X-Factor. There are several other reality shows that I got hooked on in 2011, but not really sure what started last year. I think Man v Food Nation and The Layover started last year, but not for sure.
Shannon Nutt
Homeland, Game of Thrones, Boss, American Horror Story, and Revenge.
Alcatraz is not on the list, but judging solely on two episodes, I think it’s going to be a favorite as well.