TOP TEN - DRAMAS (hour long shows)

This weeks top ten list is the top ten dramas on TV. This is an especially thin list when you have my ground rules... 1. No reality and 2. No show I haven't seen yet. I am including Glee even though it is only three episodes in and is more musical comedy than drama. I am also including Mad Men even though the show is a month into the season. Finally, I am including Friday Night Lights even though most of us have to wait till summer to watch.

10. Heroes - I am a sucker. In the beginning I watched to see what happened and was disappointed. Then I watched to see if it could get better and was disappointed. Now I watched to see how bad it could get and it got boring. Disappointed again. I will take bad. Boring is unacceptable. There just isn't 10 good dramas on TV. Everything is freaking reality or the same crime show over and over.

9. Grey's - This show has been getting steadily worse every year since season 2. Since Denny. It just isn't quite as bad as Heroes.

8. Smallville - I have really enjoyed this show for many years. Through budget cuts, network changes, and replacement of nearly the entire cast...and for the most part it held up really well. I will follow this show till the bitter end.

7. House - This show is great. Some of the sharpest writing on TV. My only beef is it is a bit of a downer.

6. Glee - I may have only seen three episodes, but I really love the originality and cast so far. I have serious doubts that it can maintain this pace but I will remain optimistic for now.

5. Gossip Girl - I worry that the show has peaked. Most high school shows don't do well in college. It has been so much fun so far though. I am anxious to see where the show goes.

4. Dexter - I am through episode 4 of season 3 and I have to say that this show is money. The colors, the music, the dark humor...most dark shows are set in LA, in NY, or rural USA at night...dark grey cement and cemeteries or woods. Not Dexter. It is vibrant. It is as much about life as it is about death.

3. Fringe - It was the best new show of last year. It is a tad derivative but I really love the father son duo on the show. I hope the expanding mythology is as big and bold as the characters.

2. FNL - This show makes me want to move to Texas. I think the first three seasons have all been fabulous, with the exception of Landry murdering a guy. The Taylor's are the first family of TV. Riggins is the man. Sarazan is such a good kid. Smash, Jason, the music, the girls...all great. Most sports shows are weak in story and in the sports highlights. This show is the exception that proves the rule. It sucks that I have to wait till spring to watch.

1. Mad Men - I have said this before, but this show puts me in a trance. It is so cool to look at. It brings a flood of nostalgia for a time in which I wasn't even alive...hell my parents were infants. There is something to this show that strikes a chord. Maybe it is comforting knowing how the world turns out. Maybe we wish it still was a little more that way now.

Sorry this was a day late, but between the bad shows I have been watching and the sad state of this list, it took some time to get this together.