A White Day After Christmas 2010

It’s snowing!  And… I’m probably still going to work tomorrow.

I was watching “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.”  TMP never gets much credit, but the more I watch it, the more I feel sentimental about it.  My comments about it, some years ago now, remain pretty much the same.  However, after watching the end again, I felt moved about (spoiler alert!) Kirk’s declaring Decker and Iliya as “missing” rather than dead.  In a way, they had evolved and V’ger – hopefully! – learned about the concept of love, not just humanity’s unstable emotions and free will.

It’s intriguing that V’ger’s evolution was due to ex-lovers, who regretted not staying together – and who remain together in another way.

Oh, and those elements of The Next Generation:  the theme song and… well, Decker was a lot like Riker (while Kirk is so NOT Picard, he had to accept Decker), not to mention how the Decker-Iliya relationship was the root of the Riker-Troi relationship.

And, Spock – well, he keeps trying to deal with logical vs. the illogical – and seems to finally reach some kind of acceptance of these things that are actually already deep in himself.

And, McCoy – sometimes, there’s something very cool about him being the only one who can call Kirk on his bullshit: McCoy is the one who has to tell Kirk that he was wrong for undermining Decker and to point out the danger to Decker for choosing to stay with V’ger.  The triumvirate of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy was maintained, though, and the movie ends with hope for what else is out there.

Come to think of it, TMP came off as a mix of The Original Series and TNG, and it then makes sense for why/how TNG developed as it did.

I checked out others’ top 10 or ten worst of 2010 tv.  Check out the top 10 list of Time’s James Poniewozik (the blog post explanation vs. the Time.com feature version of the list; Poniewozik also has a top 10 episodes list, separate from the best series of 2010).  Poniewozik also has his 10 worst of 2010 and his 10 best performances of 2010 (the Emmies don’t quite cut it, I do say!).  Critic Alan Sepinwall divvies up his list for new vs. returning stuff.  Entertainment Weekly’s Ken Tucker actually has a top 20 list (but he divided it up accordingly with a top 10 and another 10).  Critic David Bianculli directs us readers to his list via the NPR website (so we get to listen to him too).

My personal notable TV 2010 list would be less exciting than a lot of other lists, since I’ve drastically cut tv viewing this year for various reasons and primarily because I’m such a PBS snob.  But, I came up with the following as making it on my list.  In no particular order:

1. “Lost” final season – what a season of tv for 2010.  I think FC and I probably blogged all we had to say about it this year.  (I’ll at least link to my comments on the series finale).

2. “Fringe” – pursuing the alternate universe arc made the season exciting indeed.  Anna Torv as two Olivias was quite the acting feat.  John Noble as two Walters was also amazing – sadly, he didn’t get nominated for the Emmy for it, but that was terrific.

3. Craig Ferguson and his (didn’t make it on tv/but smuggled on YouTube) Doctor Who opening. (I’ll link to EW’s Ken Tucker’s blog post about it; good stuff…)

4. Baseball: The Tenth Inning – the extra inning episode covered the harsh 1990’s and 2000’s of baseball.  Ken Burns didn’t ignore the steroids scandal, the strike, and the impact of 9/11/01.  But, he was clearly a Bosox fan.  Oh well!

5. Macbeth – Patrick Stewart as Macbeth!  Kate Fleetwood as Lady Macbeth!  That was amazing tv! (yes, making up for my not being able to see the show when it was in Brooklyn, which FC blogged about seeing).

6. Hamlet – David Tennant as Hamlet!  Patrick Stewart as Claudius!  That was amazing tv! (which I blogged about a little)

7. new Sherlock on Masterpiece Mystery! (which I already blogged about)

8. Jon Stewart and the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear on The Daily Show.

9. Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show last episode (see my comments here).

10. Community – this is turning into my favorite show this year.

Other personal tv notables : “Justified”; “Archer” (ridiculously sick and funny); the Winter Olympics in Vancouver; “Law and Order” – the final season.  Oh, and I’ll give “Hawaii 5-o” some credit, although I haven’t really caught it since the series premiere.

Must 2010 go already?