Members of the McKinley High School Glee Club, from left: Jenna Ushkowitz, Cory Monteith, Amber Riley, Lea Michele and Chris Colfer.
1. Glee (Fox, Global) Proof that U.S. network TV, for all its faults, can be abidingly original and endlessly creative. Born out of the American Idol culture, and a hybrid of high-school drama and musical, it soared from the start. Sharply defined characters, a fine sense of smart humour and a tone that is feel good without being fatuous, its utter audacity is admirable. Even better, it was an almost-instant hit and appealed to both kids and adults. One of the finest creations of network TV in ages.
2. Battle of the Blades (CBC) The simplest of ideas: NHL lunks meet figure-skating champs. And it worked superbly. Much of it was grin-inducing, especially the puns and patter of Ron MacLean and the feigned hostility between the lunks. But it proved that CBC can create and air populist TV that grips the national imagination. Its old-fashioned quality set it apart.
3. Being Erica (CBC) Back in January, this is what CBC thought was a big hit - a wonderful, bittersweet series that reminded us that TV shows about single women could be more sophisticated than Sex and the City . Then, somebody seemed to forget what made the show glorious and it wobbled this way and that. It found some footing late into the second season and was saved by persistently fine performances from Erin Karpluk as Erica Strange.
4. Corner Gas (CTV) Good to the last. It has become a cliché to say that the show changed everything in Canadian TV, but it's true. Here at last was a 100-per-cent Canadian hit comedy that owed nothing to U.S. network TV, that drew viewers, and that became beloved. Remarkably, its finale avoided the standard pitfalls. In the end, it turned out that Brent (Brent Butt) had a thriving sideline as a standup comedian, which was true to the show and to life.
5. True Blood (HBO) Further proof that television can easily outpace film for cleverness, wit and originality. While the vampire craze caused by the Twilight movies at first made sense only to adolescents, True Blood strutted onto the air with an adult swagger. Dead sexy, funny and often sublimely satirical, it's the best twist on soap-opera shenanigans since Twin Peaks. Even the opening credits are worth watching week after week. And Bill and Sookie (Stephen Moyer and Anna Paquin) are the cutest couple in TV.
6. Mad Men (AMC) This season began in a subdued manner, but then the writers took advantage of multihour storytelling, and it exploded to life. Don Draper's crises became less important, and the larger picture emerged - one involving fear of the past, fear of change and fear of unfettered truth, as Mad Men dwelt on the Draper marriage, the Sterling Cooper firm and the ceaseless anxiety of the early 1960s. There wasn't a single false note or gratuitous moment. As ever, the season-ender left viewers hungry for more, and the best ensemble cast on TV was superb.
7. Modern Family (ABC, CITY-TV) The top new comedy of the season, by a hair's breath. ( Community is very smart and funny, but not as inventive.) A faux documentary, it engaged from the beginning, slowly revealing that a disparate group of characters was, in fact, all one modern family. Sarcastic as all get out, it was uncannily real from the get-go, and very funny. Sprawling across generations, it often hinted at feel good, but pulled back to its sarcastic centre. A standout is Ed O'Neill ( Married … With Children ) as an appalling but likeable older guy coping with a young trophy wife and far too many relatives.
8. Dexter (Showtime) Just when you think a great show has diminished in power, it can bounce back. In the previous season, melodrama was accentuated with Jimmy Smits playing a threatening presence, and Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) getting married and becoming a father. But the inclusion of John Lithgow as an especially vile serial killer/family man was a stroke of genius. The tension was sublimely taut this season; the finale was the gobsmacker of the year.
9. Nurse Jackie (Showtime) A series that turned the traditional medical drama on its head. Jackie (Edie Falco in a virtuoso performance) is a tad complicated. "What do you call a nurse with a bad back? Unemployed," Jackie said in the first episode. Then it emerged that Jackie had a dependence on various drugs and was regularly having sex with the hospital pharmacist, while hiding the fact from him that she's married. Jackie's vicious sarcasm to doctors and her raw manipulation of patients were breathtaking. A weakness is the occasional venture into sentimentality, but the defining tone is stark and tough-minded.
10. Lost (ABC, CTV) A comeback from lost-in-obscurity mode to mess-again-with-viewers'-minds mode, but, you know, in a good way. Time and rationality were suspended as key characters emerged from a fog of obfuscation to be better defined. While much was surface creativity, the reinvention of the show epitomized the strengths of the weekly TV format and underscored the undying devotion of some viewers to endless imponderables.