Best of the 2000s: Movies

Isn't this a little late? Yes. Pretend I'm a contractor for the Big Dig. I'll get the job done, but only several months later and with outrageous cost overruns.

It just popped in my head the other day: I forgot to give my loyal audience my top movies of the last decade! For shame!

So here you are.

10. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006): There were two movies that made it hurt to laugh last decade and this was one of them. Borat's chauvinistic, anti-Semitic, twisted world view dovetails nicely with the seedy underbelly of America. What the movie tells us - through real people - is that plenty of Americans think just like this guy. It felt wrong to laugh at this movie, but laugh I did.

9. Downfall (2004): I've told plenty of people to watch this 2 1/2 hour movie with German subtitles, but no one seems to listen to me. This is far from a popcorn flick, but it contains the best leading role performance of the decade. Bruno Ganz nails Hitler, with his descent into madness, paranoia and depression. His left arm quakes, spittle flies from his mouth and he stalks around his bunker hunched over in physical and mental agony. Little by little, he realizes his dreams for a world empire are crumbling. I saw this movie years ago and his performance still sticks with me.

P.S. If you've ever seen the "Hitler reacts" videos on Youtube, they come from this movie.

8. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004): Endlessly quotable and irreparably silly, this is the best comedy of the 2000's. It's not as sweet as 40-year-old Virgin, but it is funnier. The non-sequiters, the winking parody of TV news and classic inflated male ego humor of Will Ferrell and the gang produces a laugh a minute. That's a comedy's only job.

7. The Departed (2006): Initially, this Oscar-winner left me a little cold. Terrifically entertaining, but not quite as deep as I had hoped. Jack Nicholson phoned in his performance in this one. He wasn't playing Frank Costello, he was playing Jack Nicholson playing Frank Costello. His villain belonged in a comic book. On the other hand, Leonardo DiCaprio proved to me he was much more than the hear throb from Titanic. He outshined an All-Star cast in this Boston mobster epic. I can't say this about many movies, but this remains very re-watachable.

6. Bowling for Columbine (2002): Michael Moore is kind of a parody of himself these days, but he's famous because he makes damn good movies. This was his coup de gras. Using the Columbine massacre as a springboard, he delves into America's crazy culture of gun fetishization, constant fear, paranoia and violence and how this atmosphere contributes to tragic events like that school shooting. Pick apart a fact here or a fact there all you want, the main thesis of the film is correct. The movie works like a great editorial. It has a point to make and it makes it convincingly and memorably.

5. Brokeback Mountain (2005): The movie is a punchline now. Whenever I say I like this movie, I always hear, "Gay! Gay!" Robbed of the Oscar by the much, much inferior Crash, Brokeback Mountain proved to be more than just an ending for a joke. It's a gut-wrenching tale of a forbidden love that came along in a time when homosexuality was hotly debated in our culture and out politics. Through all the bluster surrounding its release, the movie simply showed how two men dealt with their passion for each other and how it wrecked them from the inside. Heath Ledger proved himself a real actor in this one. The last song and image still haunt me.

4. No Country for Old Men (2007): I'll spare you the fancy film buff talk about deep themes and the human condition. This Cohen Brothers film was by far the most suspenseful movie of the decade. Javier Bardem's Anton Chigurh chilled me to the bone as he killed and hunted without one hint of human emotion. Many ripped the ending, and though it was far from perfect, it held true to the movie's purpose. Violence is dealt out in our modern world randomly and unfairly.

3. Kill Bill Vol. 2 (2004): The second in Quentin Tarantino's homage to martial arts films, Kill Bill Vol. 2 is one of those movies that if I happen to find it on a random day, I have to finish it. It has all the Tarantino elements: Random outbursts of violence, long patches of clever dialogue and a diverse cast of morally ambiguous criminals. The scene where Beatrice Kiddo is being buried alive and then calls back to her tutelage under Pai Mai to escape is perfect. Just perfect. This movie has style, sex appeal, violence, witty dialogue, a great revenge plot, Michael Madsen ... what more could you want?

2. Mulholland Drive (2001): Great movies are supposed to be an experience - visceral, emotional, indelible - and this film from surrealist David Lynch put me through one I will never forget. The first time I watched this movie I was with a bunch of friends, who like me were utterly confused and flabbergasted by the ending. I literally had no idea what I had just seen. Usually, I dislike movies that try to be confusing and surreal just for the sake of it, but this one left me feeling more haunted and inquisitive than betrayed or angry. So I read up online about it that night and then watched it again.

I did not get much sleep that evening.

Like a great puzzle, once you solve it, the whole act of putting it together garners more meaning. This is a freakish, burrow-your-soul forray into Hollywood culture. Through all the weirdness - the cowboy, the blue box, the tiny old couple, the monster behind the dumpster, the dwarf in the wheel chair, the Silencio club - Mulholland Drive is a bruised and nostalgic look at how Hollywood seduces and how Hollywood destroys. The final third of this movie still leaves me shivering when I think about it. I usually try not to.

One last thing, Naomi Watts is my favorite actress because of this movie. She pulls off the switch in characters so effortlessly that it amazes me to this day. She's willing to do risque, off-beat roles and Betty/Diane tops them all. Definitely Oscar-worthy. Like this movie. When surreal and ridiculous is done well, it really resonates. Why else would I still remember the very night I first saw it, almost ten years later?

1. The Dark Knight (2008): The 2000s was a decade for the superhero epics, the comic book remakes, the special effects fantasy extravaganzas. Lord of the Rings. Spider-Man, Sin City. Iron Man. The list goes on. None of them could approach the raw brilliance of this gritty look at the Batman saga. This is more than a superhero movie. Much, much more. It's about terrorism. It's about the roots of evil and chaos. It's about how society keeps chaos at bay while also cultivating it. It's about how bad one has to be to actually do some good.

Batman has always been my favorite superhero. He's a film noir symbol who was always seeped in a more realistic, less idolized world than that of Superman or Spider-Man. This sequel from Christopher Nolan maintained a fierce loyalty to this interpretation. Obviously, we know how that was achieved. Heath Ledger as the Joker.

It's probably the most memorable and impactful character performance since Forrest Gump or Frank Slade. Ledger took the Joker from a cackling cartoon to a full-fledged nightmarish psychopath. Every single second he's on screen you can't think of anything else besides: My God! He's nailing this beyond belief! Just take all his scenes and put them together and you probably have the 11th best movie of the decade.

Besides Ledger's Hall of Fame offering, Nolan gives us an excellent, thought-provoking script and some of the best action scenes in film history. The attack on the Harvey Dent convoy in the streets of Chicago is exactly what an action scene should be.

The one flaw I would point out is the Two-Face subplot, which felt rushed. Besides that, nothing in this movie bothered me, not even the Rachel Dawes stuff. The Dark Knight never bores and never stoops to just another comic book rehash that is supposed to make millions and then go away until the next sequel.

It didn't win the Best Picture Oscar. It wasn't even nominated. It may always been seen as an action movie. That's not fair. Look behind the gloss and the special effects and the entertainment value. There's a real movie underneath, a movie that pretentious art-house fanatics such as myself can debate over while wearing berets and eating arugula.

Missed the cut

25th Hour

The Lives of Others

City of God

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Gladiator

Mystic River

Munich

Memento

Almost Famous

Tune in next week for my best radio programs from the 1940s!

Best of the 2000s: Albums

Before I unveil my favorite albums of this decade, I will give you some songs that missed the cut. I meant to add this to my last entry.

"Kids" MGMT, "Keep the Car Running" Arcade Fire, "Optimistic" Radiohead, "Munich" The Editors, "Tie Up My Hands" Starsailor, "Jesus of Suburbia", Green Day

Moving on ... I know any real list would have Eminem, Kanye West, Amy Winehouse etc.

Again, I'm as narrow-minded as a Tea Partier when it comes to music, though I do appreciate some of the above artists' songs. Also, unlike real lists, you won't see Radiohead here 15 times.

So here's my Top 10, brought to you by WBRU.

10. Good News for People Who Love Bad News - Modest Mouse (2004): An quirky collection of songs, some with a dreamy feel (Float On), some punkish (Dance Hall) and some very understated and folksy (The Good Times Are Killing Me). This collection of songs sounds from another planet, from another time. It's easy to lose yourself in this 16-track behemoth.

Best songs: Ocean Breathes Salty, Dance Hall, Float On.

9. Franz Ferdinand: Franz Ferdinand (2004): While some albums drag, especially towards the end, this one checks in at a scant and rollicking 38 minutes. Right from the catchy "Jacqueline" to the final " '40," you don't have much time to breathe. There are no acoustic ballads or filler tracks to calm things down. These Scots start off running and they don't stop. "Take Me Out" is the masterpiece, but it's not the only notable track. "This Fire" sticks to your brain and "Darts of Pleasure" does the same, the latter containing the album's best lyrics. "You can feel my lips undress your eyes" and "Words of love and words so leisured / Words of poisoned darts of pleasure." These guys came out of nowhere - for me anyway - and I haven't heard much from them since, but at least they left us with this memorable record.

Best songs: Take Me Out, Darts of Pleasure, This Fire, Jacqueline

8. By The Way: Red Hot Chili Peppers (2002): The Peppers eschewed their usual funk stylings with their most pop-friendly, accessible album. The title track gets the adrenaline started but mellow, sad songs mark this album, from "I Could Die For You" to "Tear." They definitely throw in some rockers, like "On Mercury" and my favorite, "Can't Stop." They toss the entire playbook in this one, which sets By the Way apart from much of their work. It's emotional, subdued and some of the songs are downright beautiful. No "Suck My Kiss" or "Give It Away" here.

Best songs: Can't Stop, On Mercury, By the Way, Tear

7. In Your Honor: Foo Fighters (2005): Dave Grohl has said he wants to be remembered for this album. This isn't the best Foo Fighters record - that goes to The Colour and the Shape - but it's their best since Y2k ended the world in 2000. Inspired by his time campaigning with John Kerry in 2004, he penned this double-album, one disc full of rock songs and the other full with acoustic tracks. "Best of You" and "DOA" mark the first side with typical Foo Fighters energy and melody. What really separates this from the rest is the acoustic part. For these hard-rockers to discard the amps and electric guitars and come up with very solid, stripped down songs is a major achievement. The haunting "Over and Out," the whimsical "What If I Do?" and the jaunty "Hard Day in the Sun" highlight the softer side of In Your Honor. It's hard to pull off a double-album, especially these days in ADD nation, but the Foos did it.

Best Songs: DOA, What If I Do?, Over and Out

6. Elephant: The White Stripes (2003): In the annals of album openers, "Seven Nation Army" is near the top. Right away, you know the Stripes are following up White Blood Cells with an album even more diverse, daring and bare. The garage rock tunes still pepper this album, but Jack White slows it down with some slower, even odd tunes, like the final "It's True That We Love One Another" and the piano-tinged "I Want To Be The Boy Who Warms Your Mother's Heart." They don't forget their roots though, which explains "The Hardest Button to Button" and "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself." Jack White is an old-school blues musician who comes up with simple, home-spun lyrics and chords that just thump like a heartbeat. Elephant was universally praised by critics and fans alike - for good reason. It turned the Stripes from niche garage rockers to megastars.

5. Songs for the Deaf: Queens of the Stone Age (2002): Anytime you have Dave Grohl as a drummer, odds are the album will kick ass. He mans the drum kit for this amazing collection of head-banging, mosh-pit rock. It's more than just some songs thrown together; Songs for the Deaf actually serves as a concept album of sorts. It's a car ride from LA to the Mojave Desert where we get to hear the Queens poke fun at the state of radio. It begins with "Clone Radio" in L.A., that proudly says "We play the songs that sound more like everyone else than anyone else." Everything from Spanish stations to college stations appear, adding another level to what is already a great album. "No One Knows," "First It Giveth" and "The Sky is Falling" are some of the standouts. While satirizing the stale, mind-numbing airwaves, Josh Homme and company find the time to add in great song after great song after great song. Not bad.

Best songs: No One Knows, The Sky Is Falling, Go With The Flow, First It Giveth

4. American Idiot: Green Day (2004): Another concept album, but from Green Day? They're used to singing about getting stoned and masturbating. They named an album "Dookie" for crying out loud. The fact they produced a modern-day, suburban America rock opera is one of the biggest surprises of the decade. American Idiot follows the Jesus of Suburbia, a bored, lost and frustrated everyman who runs away from home and falls in love with Whatshername. He also meets St. Jimmy, a self-destructive freedom-fighting rocker who is supposed to represent the Jesus of Suburbia's alter ego. The Jesus of Suburbia medley is beyond great, with Billie Joe Armstrong's best lyrics to date. "I read the graffiti on the bathroom stall / like the Holy Scriptures of the shopping mall." While making an American Beauty-esque critique on American materialism and conformity, Green Days tells this story and, like most operas, it ends in tragedy and loss. Unlike most operas, the music is listenable. The Who would be proud.

Best songs: Jesus of Suburbia, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Holiday

3. Is This It - The Strokes (2001): No list of albums for this decade can ignore this seismic offering from this New York, Emily Schaible-discovered misfit band. While not nearly as good as Nevermind, it had a similar effect on this decade in rock music. While Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit and Korn were dominating the air waves, The Strokes blew everything up. Instead of macho, bloated metal, people started paying attention to alternative bands with tattered jeans, suit jackets over t-shirts and floppy hair. This album lacks any pretension. Simple, groovy, low-key guitar rock, from the huge hit "Last Nite" to the hypnotic "Soma" make up this record. Julian Casablancas growls into the microphone, his voice distorted and probably hung-over. This album kicked off the frenzy for the "The" bands. The Hives, The Vines, The Libertines, even Kings of Leon owe them. This album made alternative cool again.

Best songs: Someday, Soma, Last Nite

2. A Rush of Blood to the Head - Coldplay (2002): These top two albums are in my all-time top five. This album is as close to perfect as an album can be. Reflecting post-9/11 attitudes, A Rush of Blood to the Head begins with the epic piano rock of Politik and ends with a somber and sweet piano song "Amsterdam." I like every single song. Every single one. As you know by now, "Clocks" is the stand-out. But "God Put a Smile Upon Your Face" is infectious while "The Scientist" could make a lesser man cry. The circular guitar and ecstatic vocals of "Daylight" are hard to dislike and the simple "Green Eyes" is enough to make any woman melt. It worked on Gwyneth Paltrow, right? Six years later, I still listen to this album often and I almost never skip a song. This record still stands up as Coldplay's masterpiece. Don't snicker. They've released four albums this decade and all have been good. AROBTTH is more than just good. It's a deserted island album for me.

Best songs: Clocks, Politik, The Scientist, Green Eyes, Daylight

1. Hot Fuss - The Killers (2004): While I love the previous album on this list, I don't think it broke any new ground. This one did. The Killers resurrected 80's synth-rock by jazzing it up with pop melodies and adding sneakily dark lyrics. Fun themes of murder, obsession, helplessness, rage, sorrow and vengeance pop up everywhere. "Jenny is Friend of Mine" has a man confessing to the murder of his sweetheart. "Mr. Brightside" has the man obsessing about his mate girl on him. "Smile Like You Mean It" deals with the break-up. "Midnight Show" deals with the murder. Brandon Flowers shields these dark words with a flurry of pop chords made for radio airplay. It's a delicate balancing act and these Las Vegas guys pull it off brilliantly. It's the one album that I think would make the deserted island list of The Brookline Trio of Jeff, Steve and Zach. The one quibble I have is the final track, but the greatness of what comes before it more than makes up for my distaste. Frankly, I still remember the first time I heard this album. I was laid up after surgery and it was love at first sound. This album just fucking rocks. I don't think I'll ever stop enjoying it.

Best songs: All These Things I've Done, Jenny Was a Friend of Mine, Mr. Brightside, Midnight Show

Whew. This took a while. More than I expected. Here are the albums that missed the cut.

Only by the Night: Kings of Leon

Pearl Jam: Pearl Jam

Oracular Spectacular: MGMT

Audioslave: Audioslave

Hopes and Fears: Keane

How To Build An Atomic Bomb: U2

Best of the 2000s: Songs

Ready for the 2,000th Best of the Decade list?

In music, the 2000s could not - and did not - live up to the high standards of the 1990s. That doesn't mean there weren't some great songs. Below I'll list my favorite songs of the past 10 years. Be prepared for me to miss something. I did a list of Best Comedies and forgot Arrested Development. Epic FAIL! Also, my tastes in music aren't the most eclectic in the world. I know that. Live with it.

And if this were Rolling Stone, I'd put Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen all over this list. They're legends, I get it, but how relevant has their new music been this decade? Not much in my eyes. Another thing ... if this were Rolling Stone you'd see 10,000 comments below crying "Where's The Comatorium Emporian of Wounder Seals? Their debut album "Whispering the Heart" is the best of all time!! You sell out!"

With that out of the way, here are my Best Songs of the 2000s.

15. World Wide Suicide - Pearl Jam: Again, if Rolling Stone can put Bruce and Bob on their lists, I can include PJ. They came back to life in 2006 with their eponymous album and this was the first single. A rollicking song that brought back angry Eddie Vedder as he rants against George Bush and the war in Iraq. "Tell you to pray/while the devil's on their shoulder." The guy writes great lyrics and it was nice to see him dip back in the well of angst one last time.

14. Soul Meets Body - Death Cab For Cutie: Not much to say except this is one great melody. A great, great, great melody. "I know our filthy hands can wash one another / and not one speck will remain." "If the silence takes you / then I hope it takes me too." Oh, those boys in Death Cab! They're so sensitive! Every now and then they produce a very good tune as well.

13. Ocean Breathes Salty - Modest Mouse: Another song dealing with death and the afterlife. While "Float On" was the big hit off their album "Good News for People Who Love Bad News," this is the best song. Far and away. My favorite line: "You wasted life, why wouldn't you waste death?"

12. Bedshaped - Keane: Did you hear? Keane is a rock band without guitars. It's true. This song, moody and atmospheric, almost seems as if it's rising to heaven. I don't know how to write about music like Jeff Schaible, so I hope that makes sense. Here's my take: Great song. Fun to listen to. It's good. I like it.

11. Cochise - Audioslave: I remember first hearing this song and wondering how Chris Cornell and the remaining members of Rage Against the Machine would sound and not being disappointed. While some never accepted this band, their first album holds up well, beginning with this ear-scratching opener. When I'm pumping iron in the gym, I like to put this on the ol' iPod. A great workout song.

10. 1901 - Phoenix: I can't stop playing this song. I just can't. It's so damn catchy and original. The lyrics are vaguely historical and the music very modern and electronic, but not too electronic. They performed on Letterman and this song sounded exactly the same live. It was amazing. Who knew the French could rock out? And yes, I first heard this on the car commercial. I'm not proud of it, but that's what happened. All that matters is I found it. And now I can't stop replaying it.

9. Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand: Sometimes when pitchers are yanked, you can hear this song blaring in the stadium. It doesn't have anything to do with baseball, but the title is a perfect, if accidental, fit. This guitar lick that starts at 55 seconds is the best of the decade. Impossible not to remember.

8. Beautiful Day - U2: A sentimental choice. They played this song during halftime of the Pats-Rams Super Bowl and from then on it became the soundtrack to all the highlights chronicling that momentous game and that shocking season. This is standard U2 fare, but any song that immediately turns my mind to that season gets a place on this list.

7. 3 Libras - A Perfect Circle: Melancholy. Sad. Sorta beautiful. Not what you usually expect from the lead singer of Tool, but then this was not Tool. A violin and soft guitar lead to a powerful chorus where he repeats "You don't see me." Appropriate, since this song came out during my high school years. A really solid song that the decade has forgotten. That should never happen to song as great as this one.

6. The Widow - The Mars Volta: My musical tastes don't align much with The Mars Volta and their prog-rock, but they cut a very radio-friendly tune here. Echoing Led Zeppelin, The Widow contains a fantastic chorus and a great guitar solo and freaky lyrics to go with them. I don't think this ever received huge air play, which I'll never understand. This should have been on of the biggest rock hits of the decade.

5. Banquet - Bloc Party: A very enigmatic song, but entirely original and catchy like you wouldn't believe. Those British rock bands know how to write great 3-minute tunes that burrow into your brain. "Turning away from the light / Becoming adult / Turning into my soul." No idea what this means. Who cares? I know I love a song that whenever it comes on my iPod shuffle, I never EVER press fast-forward. This is one of those songs.

4. Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes: One of the best rifts in rock history. I'm not kidding. Even the Grammys couldn't ignore this song. Famous for not having a bassist, The White Stripes create a rift that sounds like bass, but Wikipedia tells me the sound is actually a semi-acoustic guitar run through an octave pedal. Wikipedia also informs me Jack White used to call the Salvation Army the Seven Nation Army. Thanks, Wikipedia. And thank you, White Stripes. You even have soccer and college crowds singing this song in stadiums.

3. Change (In the House of Flies) - Deftones: This might be the oldest song on the list, all the way from the Year 2000. Some songs rock and some songs ROCK. This one ROCKS. I can't imagine what it must be like to hear live. It has to be ear-splitting, with Chino Moreno screaming his lungs into shards and the guitars and drums blasting away. The lyrics mean nothing to me. It's just one of those songs that make you want to turn up your speaker to 11 so all your neighbors can bang on the ceiling with their broomsticks for you stop.

2. All These Things I've Done - The Killers: Could easily be No. 1. It starts with a single keyboard note and then the organ sounds and Brandon Flowers appears and then the drums and then the rolling guitar lifts you off. The Killers know how to build up a song (see Jenny was a Friend of Mine). What starts a slow soliloquy turns into a sing-along and, most famously, a church choir singing the lyrics The Killers are most famous for: "I got soul, but I'm not a soldier." This song has it all. And it's perfect. I wouldn't change a thing, a single note.

1. Clocks - Coldplay: I wrestled with this one. Clocks wins out because I've never heard a song quite like it. I'm a sucker for great piano rifts and this might be one of the best I've ever heard in a pop/rock/alternative song. The lyrics generally allude to time winding down ("Confusion never stops / closing walls and ticking clocks"), but as with most of the entries on the list, the words pale in comparison to the arrangement. Dreamy and trance-like, the piano, the repetitive drum and the muted guitar flow together on a cloud of melancholy. (How's that for a Rolling Stone-esque sentence?) If I could ever learn one instrument and one song on that instrument, I would learn this one. Imagine just plopping down on any piano and letting this rift go ... I'd be the coolest person in the room.

I bet you have many problems with this list. Please, be my guest and do your own. I'm feeling kind of lonely in the blog world lately. What's keeping you away? Jobs? Relationships? Please.

I'll be back soon with my Best Albums of the 2000s. There will be more buzz for this than the final season of Lost.

Best of the 2000s: TV Dramas (5-1)

The conclusion of the list that has captivated America.

5. Lost (2004-present): Has any show in the history of humanity engendered so much talk, so many theories, so many websites, so main brain-hurting treatises?

The story seemed so simple at first. A plane crashes on a deserted Pacific island, leaving the survivors to fend for themselves in an unknown land. Like Gilligan's Island right? Not at all.

Where to begin? The Others. John Locke's miracle recovery. The Jack-Kate-Sawyer triangle. Flashbacks. Flashforwards. Jacob. The Swan. The Dharma Initiative. Constants. Time travel. It's impossible to sum up this show for a non-believer. Sometimes watching it feels like homework. You have to remember a tiny detail from Season 1 for something in Season 5 to make sense.

Nonetheless, it's fascinating, expertly crafted and thought provoking. John Locke and Ben Linus are two of the best characters of the decade. And don't forget, this is a show - at its core - that is about the redemption of troubled people getting a new start on a mysterious island.

It will come to and end next year in what is sure to be one of the most hyped series finales we've ever seen. The pressure on the writers will be enormous because we've been along for the ride for many years and there are many, many questions yet to be answered. I'm confident Lost will deliver. They've done it so far.

Best episode: Season 3 "Through the Looking Glass" This episode blew me away. I was literally on the edge of my bed by with my jaw hitting the floor by the time Jack was screaming to Kate at the end, "We have to go back!"

4. The West Wing (1999-2006): While George Bush did ... what George Bush did, we had a parallel president on NBC in the Bill Clinton model who was intellectual and surrounded by selfless public servants. A fairy tale? Not exactly. Just a brilliant and sometimes awe-inspiring show that made politics exciting and noble in age when it was anything but.

Martin Sheen completely dominates as President Jed Bartlett, a very moral, intellectual, moderate Democrat with his senior staff, led by Leo McGarry. Famous for its rhythmic, rapid-fire dialogue, the West Wing felt like something that was above normal network TV. It was art at it's best. In one of my favorite all-time scenes, Bartlett is in the National Cathedral after burying a lifelong friend during a political crisis that threatens his administration. After the church is cleared, he stares up at the stained glass window (the eye of God) and angrily rants in Latin. There were no subtitles. This show respected the audience. It knew that you didn't need to understand what he said. It was a man speaking to God and we shouldn't hear it. We just knew he felt betrayed. It's a brilliant, brilliant Hall of Fame scene. I command you to take three minutes and watch it if you've never seen it. Even out of context it should still impress.

It's unfair that Aaron Sorkin wrote many of these episodes by himself. How does one guy have so much talent? The first four seasons were as good as it gets. Seasons 5 and 6 suffered after Sorkin left the show, but Season 7 rebounded nicely. When I watch the news, I think there's no way I'd ever want to work in politics. When I watch the West Wing, I dream about it a little bit. In the end, it always came down to the writing and acting. A perfect mix for a show I refused to watch when it was actually on TV because I didn't get it. How foolish I was. Thank goodness for DVDs and Netflix.

Best episode: Season 2 "Two Cathedrals"

3. The Sopranos (1999-2007): Many consider this the top show of the decade. Perfectly reasonable. This show made HBO and brought the mob mystique down a level.

You must know about the show by now. It's about a New Jersey crime family led by Tony Sopranos. Tony is going through a mid-life crisis and needs to see a therapist. For the duration of the series, these sessions laid the foundation for a massively complex and fascinating psychological examination of a guilty, conflicted sociopath. The Sopranos depicted the mob as just another facet of a deteriorating work force, like auto manufactures. Except these guys are violent psychos feeling the heat from all directions.

James Gandolfini's performance will be remembered years from now. He probed every square inch of that character. He could be ferocious, cavalier, frantic and charming in just one episode. He deserves every plaudit he's received. He wasn't alone as great actor, though. The Sopranos was gifted with tremendous talent in that area. They make the episodes entirely re-watchable. Since every major character on that show -every single one - was a pretty despicable human being, it's a miracle the show was so popular. It's a testament to the actors and the writing.

The one strike against this show is obvious. The series finale was a disappointment. Knowingly artsy, it played around with the audience. The final cut to black was just not befitting a show of that caliber. It deserved a better send off, but still does not detract from this great all-time series

Best episode: Season 3 "Employee of the Month"

2. The Wire (2002-2008): The great American novel of our time.

It's Charles Dickens for 21st century America, chronicling the lowest of the low on the gang-infested streets of west Baltimore to the levers of power in city hall and the police department. The Wire was a searing portrait of a crumbling American infrastructure. It had no famous actors. It was one of the only shows on TV to have a majority black cast. It was shot in Baltimore and it unfolded with the pace and detail of an epic novel, not a TV show. So you understand why it's not as well known. A pity, because it was greatness. Pure greatness.

Unflinchingly realistic, The Wire was always a tragedy of an America who's prime had long passed. This show's main character, Jimmy McNulty, did not show up in Season 4. What other show could pull that off? They did because the character was the decaying city. Not to say that Omar and Bunk and Stringer Bell (the best villain of the decade) were forgettable. They were anything but that.

I give a lot of credit to this show. What other entity really cared to follow inner-city schools? The death of working-class jobs? The true tragedy of drugs on African-American communities? The fall of the newspaper? All these vital sociopolitical developments usually reserved for shows on PBS no one watches came to light on a fictional HBO program. It truly performed a public service while giving us one of the best American series of all-time.

Best episode: Season 3 "Middle Ground"

1. 24 (2001-present): Are you surprised? I doubt it.

This isn't the best acted or best written show in history or even the decade. So how can I rank it No. 1? Because TV is supposed to entertain and no show has been as entertaining as 24. The hardest thing to do is comedy. The second hardest thing to do is a good thriller. It's tough to keep today's audience in suspense, but 24 still does, eight years after its debut.

24 came along at an opportune time. We just got hit with 9/11 and terrorism suddenly became the foremost issue in the country. Along came a show on Fox that dealt with just that topic. As we tried to hunt down real terrorists, we had Jack Bauer kicking ass. Even as a liberal, there's a part of me that hopes we have a guy like him on our side. He acted out our revenge fantasies as we never really got it in real life for 9/11.

Kiefer Sutherland carries this show. It would be just average without him. When it careens into the ridiculous as it often does, he always grounds it right back. Other characters helped, too. Tony Almeida, George Mason, Michelle Dessler, Charles Logan and Chloe O'Brian to name a few. They keep the suspense at almost unhealthy levels, with a great assist from the show's famous calling card - it's real time element. It provides a constant feel of doom just around the corner. That's what a ticking clock always does.

I'll never forget watching the first season as a freshman in college. I had never seen a show like it. Real time. Complicated plot pieced together episode by episode. And a main character who takes the good parts of James Bond and makes him more interesting. The season finale shocked me like nothing I saw before or have seen since. It was a kick to the stomach when Jack found his pregnant wife dead just before the episode faded to black. At that time, what other show would do that? Kill off a main character so brutally? They all do it now, but not back then. They took a gigantic risk and it paid off. It meant that anytime a character was in trouble, he or she could actually die. Hence the suspense.

24 is not as good as it used to be, like any show that goes on into its sixth or seven season. That said, no show is as fun to watch. None. And isn't that the point?

Best episode: Season 1 "11 p.m.-12 a.m." The greatest hour of scripted television I've ever seen.

Best of the 2000s: TV Dramas (10 through 6)

I watch too much TV. I admit this. However, it makes me more than qualified to list the best dramas of this decade. For the record, shows like Mad Men, Deadwood, Damages and Alias just missed the cut. It was tough to whittle this down to 10.

10. Six Feet Under (2001-2005) -- The only television series that really -- truly -- dealt with death. The despair, tragedy, confusion and even humor of death arose throughout this series, brought to us by American Beauty and True Blood honcho Alan Ball. This HBO drama chronicled the Fisher family, led by free spirit and narcissist Nate, who returns to his family-run funeral home after the death of his father.

At the beginning of almost every episode, Six Feet Under showed the death of the Fishers' new client. The manner or the ramifications of that death often interwove with the problems of the family, like closeted homosexual and control freak David, repressed mother Ruth and angst-ridden teen Claire. This show, more maturely and more accurately portrayed death than any TV series that's ever aired. The melodrama grew much too heavy at times, but the great acting and the deep themes always came through. It gets extra points for having perhaps the greatest series finale I have ever seen. It made me ... emotional.

Best episode: Season 5 "Everyone's Waiting"

9. Dexter (2006-present) -- Another Michael C. Hall show. So convincing as David Fisher in Six Feet Under, he effortlessly portray likable serial killer Dexter Morgan on the show that made Showtime a serious network. He's creepy. He's unnerving. He's many things, but what makes Dexter Morgan such a fascinating character is that he's a psychopath who mutilates his victims (always criminals who have gamed the system and need to be punished in his eyes) and then treats his girlfriends kid's like his own. As hard as he tries, he actually does have sincere human emotions. His urge to kill is insatiable.

Dexter is a one-man show. There are other redeeming characters, especially Dexter's sister Debra and foil Doakes, but they are Dickie Simpkins and Luc Longley and Dexter is Michael Jordan. It's a great character study that also mixes mystery and the macabre to become one of those shows you just can't stop watching once you start. Hall's performance in every episode is the main reason, especially his droll and often darkly funny narration.

Best episode: Season 1 "Born Free"

8. True Blood (2008-present) -- Here's Alan Ball again, this time with a show that couldn't be any different than Six Feet Under. The biggest watercooler hit for HBO since The Sopranos, True Blood is classic Southern gothic and vampire camp. It follows Sookie Stackhouse and Company in a backwater Louisiana town as vampirea are "coming out of the closet" now that a synthetic blood drink called True Blood means they don't have to hunt people anymore. Yeah, some parallels to gay rights in this show, but such deep themes take a back seat to plain supernatural fun. This is the most screwed up show I've ever seen and nothing comes close. From constant sex scenes, gory, bloody violence and more than a few WTF? moments, True Blood is like a comic book serial, always ending on a cliff-hanger.

Humor can turn a good drama into a great one and True Blood has plenty of that, mostly from awkward vampire Bill Compton, idiot brother Jason Stackhouse and the flamboyantly gay and totally awesome Lafayette Reynolds. No character is wasted and no moment is boring. You'd have to be a corpse not to find this show entertaining. What it lacks in the usual HBO depth it more than makes up for by just being damn fun to watch.

Best episode: Season 2 "I Will Rise Up"

7. Friday Night Lights (2006-present): For such a sports-crazed society, there aren't many successful, scripted sports-themed shows (besides Indianapolis Colts games). FNL isn't the best television show in the country right now because it's about football, but because it is amazingly authentic. Where it could fall into traps with high school cliches like jocks and geeks and stern teachers, it gives us fleshed out, endearing characters of every stripe. Smash Williams is cocky, but he's a nice kid with the weight of an entire family on him. Matt Saracen is shy and introspective, yet he is the star quarterback. There's not a single solitary character you can't root for in some respect. Everyone has faults. Everyone has redeeming qualities and FNL applies this to everyone in the show.

The reason it's No. 7 on this list, besides the facts mentioned above? It has the best couple on TV. Forget Ross and Rachel or Sam and Diane. Eric and Tami Taylor have the most believable relationship I can remember seeing. It's what I imagine any successful marriage to be like. They push each other's buttons. They have their fights. But they always support each other, through the travails of his football team to raising a teenage daughter. Coach Taylor has more than one kid in a sense. He's the father for all the players on his team and often goes out of his way to help them, hiding his sensitive side with a gruff, no-nonsense demeanor.

Not enough people watch this show. It's good for an entire family and it really is a brilliant snapshot of small-town American life. As I've said before, it's the best TV show currently on the air.

Best episode: Season 1 "Blinders"

6. The Shield (2002-2008): The show that put FX on the map.

This decade will be known for the relevance of the anti-hero. Don Draper from Mad Men is described as an anti-hero. He's got nothing on Vic Mackey. The fascist leader of a Los Angeles strike team, Mackey kills, bribes, beats, cheats, steals and breaks every law imaginable ... all while wearing an LAPD badge. Taking on the gangs of the fictional and hellish Farmington district, Mackey only cares about getting the bad guy. Laws, constitutional rights and common morality don't matter much.

This dearly departed program never took an episode off. Michaek Chiklis nails the brutal ferocity of Mackey while making the viewer somewhat understanding of why he is the way he is ... because there's no other way, not in the gang-infested areas of L.A. Opposite the extra-legal strike team were two law-abiding, smart and troubled detectives who turned out to be two of the best characters on the show -- Claudette Wyms and Dutch Wagonbach. They served as a perfect counterbalance any time Vic planted evidence on a guy or shot a fellow cop.

The intensity grew season by season, helped by appearances from Glenn Close and Forest Whittaker. By the final seventh season, you knew there was only one way for this to end for Mackey and his crew and it wasn't good. It sure was fascinating to watch. You can't get more intense than this, folks. The final few episodes of the series were bone-chilling.

Best episode: Season 5 "Postpartum"

Best of the 2000s: TV Comedies

The 2000s are coming to an end. Well, most people think that. There are those who say the decade ends after 2010 since there was no year 0, but does anyone consider 1990 part of the 1980s? No.

So in terms of pop culture, a decade that brought the world the presidency of Incurious George, Facebook and the rise-fall-rise(?) of Britney Spears is near its completion. This means endless "Best of the Oughts" series in every newspaper, website or VH1 program you could ever want to see.

Well, I'm about to beat them to the punch.

Yes, I have calculated my best-of lists and over the next few months I will unveil them, covering movies, television, music and more. Let's start with the best television comedies from 2000-through 2009.

Too early? Perhaps. But this first list has very little chance of changing the rest of the year. No new comedy can come out that will supplant the following 10. My only steadfast rule is the show must have more than one season. So, without further rambling, I present to you ...

Top 10 TV Comedies of the Decade

10. The Colbert Report: Former Daily Show correspondent Stephen Colbert nails this sly, hilarious send-up of uber-conservative talk shows like Bill O'Reilly's. He plays the role so perfectly that many Republicans actually thought (and might still think) he's one of them, which explains why he was invited to host the White House Correspondents Dinner three years ago. It's satire in its purest, most cutting-edge form.

9. Late Night with Conan O'Brien: On the strength of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog's visit to the Star Wars premier, this absurdist late, late night talk show makes the list. There were no limits to how absurd and random this show could get, from the Masturbating Bear to the Jewish Turtle Riding the Mechanical Bull to the Walker Texas Ranger lever. It had the comedy of a couple of college kids high on pot and Fritos thinking up non sequiturs in a dorm lounge. More than once this show made me laugh so much I lost my breath and cried.

8. Curb Your Enthusiasm: Seinfeld on steroids. All the awkward social faux-pas of your normal British comedy with the "what's the deal?" vibe of Seinfeld, Larry David's show is the funniest HBO has ever had. The true achievement is you're not thinking "damn, this is a Seinfeld rip-off." Curb takes what made Seinfeld the show of the 1990s and takes it to new, more profane and obscene levels. Susie Essman is the true star. No one cusses with as much ferocity, and elicits as many laughs in the process, as she can.

7. Real Time with Bill Maher: Imagine if the participants on Meet the Press could drop F-bombs and say what they truly felt? Throw in a comedian who has never been afraid to push boundaries and, like magic, you have the best political talk show in America. Bill Maher cuts to the bone and in a time of madness and idiocy in D.C., he makes me laugh and even open my eyes a bit. Thank goodness, because he certainly helped me get through the Bush years and even under Obama, he has not lost anything on his fastball.

6. South Park: This show never seems to go away. I remember when it was the brash, disgusting new kid on the block in the late '90s. Now it's sort of a grandfather, setting the stage for similar cartoons that followed. It hits and misses, but when it hits, it hits hard. The Scientology episode, the Woodland Creatures episode, the "They're takin' our jobs!" episode highlight a consistent run for this lovable bunch of allegorical cardboard cartoons.

5. The Office (American): I never thought this show could succeed the way it has, giving the huge shadow it's British forebearer casts over it. The Office proved me wrong because it brilliantly Americanized what made the English version so good. They hit a home run on the Jim-Pam dynamic. They scored one of the funniest characters of the decade in Dwight Schrute. They don't waste any characters. And, while often hilarious and quotable, it always has a heart, which puts it a step above most.

4. 30 Rock: The funniest scripted show on television right now without a doubt. The jokes come firing at you like machine gun bullets and it can be a challenge to get them all, but the reward is great. Jack Donaghy. Liz Lemon. Kenneth Parcell. Tracy Jordan. Jenna Maroney. The main characters all have something to offer and some of the best lines I've ever heard have come from them, especially Jordan and Donaghy. The laughs come from the shortest, most benign asides. They come from background noises, like the radio station announcing a tornado in Detroit by saying it put out three fires. If I can re-watch an episode and still laugh like I did the first time, I know I have a keeper. This is one of those shows.

3. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: What would we do without Jon Stewart? I shutter to think of an American media landscape without him. While so-called journalists swallowed everything D.C. fed them the past several years, debasing their craft to horrifying levels, Stewart cuts through with the truth. And in most cases, the truth is funnier than fiction. No one is better at pointing out hypocrisy, be it our own as a people or from politicians and media. The fact this show does it four days a week and the fact that it elevates our national discussion on issues makes the Daily Show one of the more important and trend-setting programs of the decade. And it's a potent farm for comedic talent, from Colbert to Steve Carell, Rob Corddry and Ed Helms.

2. The Office (British): Many of the scenes in this show were so painfully awkward to watch, I laughed in self-defense. The important thing is I laughed. The laughs came often for a show that perfectly dissected Western Civilization's dissatisfaction with the modern workplace, but this was more than just a comedy. The romance between Tim and Dawn is one of the best, most tightly written ones I've ever seen. I rate this Office better than its American counterpart because it's unflinchingly realistic. It never betrays the fact that its a mockumentary and that the people in it are, at the end of the day, ordinary. The American version veers into absurdity and while it's funny, it's not realistic. Gareth could be a real person. Dwight could not. Michael Scott can get annoying at times and unrealistically stupid and foolish. David Brent, on the other hand, is one of the best characters in television history.

That's why this show is No. 2. Ricky Gervais is so freaking perfect in this role I'm still amazed by it, and the show ended a few years ago. He doesn't make you hate the character, which is a no-no for comedy. Ultimately, he makes you feel pity for him. He's so desperate to be liked that he'll do almost anything. We've all met people like that, though they rarely sail into Brent territory. As good as Carell is, Gervais' performance is the gold standard. It's up there with Mary Tyler Moore, Dick Van Dyke, George Costanza or Archie Bunker in my mind. He was that perfect.

1. Family Guy: Little characterization. The plot never matters. You'll never cry or feel for the characters. All you'll do is laugh your ass off for 22 minutes. A comedy, above all, is supposed to make you laugh. It doesn't matter how. Family Guy has made me laugh more than any show I have ever seen and nothing comes within 500,000 miles of it. Nothing.

This show will go anywhere. It will cross the line, draw a new line and then cross that one, too. It's absurd. It's biting. It's smart. It's sophomoric. It's been described as the Simpsons on acid -- which is fair. Stewie Griffin is a wholly original character, one of the best cartoon characters of all time. Brian is great. He's a dog, but he's the one you relate to most. Chris has his moments. Meg is the punching bag. Lois is Marge Simpson with an edge. And Peter Griffin is dumb and fat. They're all great, but it's the secondary characters that separate this show from the pack. Quagmire. Adam West. Cleveland. Dr. Hartman. Tom Tucker. Carter Pewterschmidt. The list goes on.

This show will do anything -- ANYTHING -- to get a laugh. And you have to respect that. While it will never gets emotional like The Office or enlightened like the Daily Show, it gets me laughing like nothing ever has. It's provided me an endless array of quotes I use way, way too often. And the biggest reason it's numero uno on this list? I can watch an episode for the 10th time and crack up throughout the episode. It never, ever fails. Case closed.