TV Times: Top 15 tv shows of the US 2011-12 season...

Ah the US tv season. Runs from September to May with 36 glorious weeks, yet often shows only have 22-24 episodes. Networks have become far more adapt at filling the gaps with shows (rather than re-runs) to ensure sunny new goodness all year round (and presumably to compete with cable/pay stations who traditionally have shorter but uninterrupted runs of shows). While I await the onslaught of summer television (True Blood, Teen Wolf, Awkward, Drop Dead Diva, DALLAS!!), here are 15 or so of my favourite shows from the past 9 months (not including UK tv. That's a whole different issue)...

Once Upon A Time / Pretty Little Liars / Good Wife / Smash / RuPaul's Drag Race /

• 15 ~ ABC Comedy Block: Bit of a cheat this one, but the group of shows that includes Happy Endings, Don't Trust The Bitch In Apartment 23, Cougar Town, Modern Family and dazpants fave, The Middle are all good for a proper titter. It's like TGIF programming in the middle of the week and thank god they are all returning later in the year (though Cougar Town decamps to TBS. Very funny). My fave of these are definitely Happy Endings and Cougar Town, though I am loving a bit of the Beek in DTTB. One question - should I be watching Suburgatory???
• 14 ~ Desperate Housewives: Perhaps not it's best season ever (those kudos go to it's inaugural run and the fast forward five years giddiness of year 5), but in honour of it's final year the show makes the list for providing me with 8 years of sudsy goodness, hot gardeners, terrible attempts to replicate a decent mystery and uh, John Barrowman tying up the dude from Awkward. The finale was a dream (though still some loose ends - where was Andrew at Bree's trial for example?) but I love a good birth/death scene & the final few minutes were heaven.
• 13 ~ Good Christian Bitches: At least one ABC show with "bitch" almost in the title survived the end of season cull. GCB as it was criminally shortened to was a delightful mix of Desperate Housewives intrigue mixed with Ugly Betty comedy and would have made a fine replacement for the former in it's plum 9pmn timeslot. Sadly it was not to be, but their Jesus The Musical episode will always be a jolly good time...
• 12 ~ White Collar: Sigh. Matt Bomer is fine isn't he? Still, that's not the only reason to watch this twist on the FBI/cop show formula. There's a whole mini universe of characters in this always charming show and I love the constant internal battle Neal has between the seduction of stealing art or the allure of his home made family...
• 11 ~ Switched At Birth: Ooo well done ABC Family (frankly, the new WB. Take that CW) for trying something a bit different with Deaf characters taking the lead in this well written, well executed family drama. Sure it's slightly ludicrous but it's so engrossing that you just accept the world situation the characters live in...

• 10 ~ Ringer/The Lying Game: Another cheat, but following on from doppleganger hijinx in Vampire Diaries last year, tv has embraced the "secret twin" concept for two entirely bonkers shows. Ringer took on a more grown up approach with Sarah Michelle Gellar taking on both leads (and really should have been on CBS), while Lying Game capitalised on it's Pretty Little Liars lead in with some teen capers. Both had enough twist and turns throughout their seasons for a rollercoaster, and both had jaw dropping revelations in the finale. Only one has made it to a second year however...
• 09 ~ American Horror Story: Blimey this really was the anti-Glee wasn't it? Dark, macabre, sexually delicious and often laugh out loud funny, the show had a decent balance of horror, comedy, shock value and mystery swirling through the hallways of the suburban home. A daring finale pitches this show more of a seasonal anthology so I can't wait to see what season 2 brings. Please let it keep the gimp suit!!
• 08 ~ Hart of Dixie: More than any show on television this year, this recaptured the glory days of The WB with it's mix of Gilmore Girls wackiness and Everwood off-kilter locale. Rachel Bilson absolutely shines at what she does and excels as fish-out-of-water in a small southern town. Thank god the network saw the potential in this show as it will be back for year 2. Hurrah times a million...
• 07 ~ Walking Dead: Good God, when this show is good, it's very very good indeed. Despite a slow, studied start to the beginning of the season, there was always a simmering tension running through every scene. Brilliantly, the farm locale with it's expansive outdoors became a claustrophobic hotbed of emotions amidst each devastating & brutal zombie attack.
• 06 ~ Revenge: 2011-2012 may be the best year for new shows since 2004-2005 gave the world Lost, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy and of course Veronica Mars. Revenge suffered only because of badly timed pauses between new episodes - watching in an uninterrupted run ensures that the sudsy drama, icy cool of Emily Thorne and best OTT woman-in-power since Alexis Morell Carrington Colby Dexter Rowan (Victoria Grayson) are enjoyed in the constantly unfolding storyline of double crossing, secrets and lies. How utterly delicious.

• 05 ~ Pretty Little Liars: Who is A? Will Drew Van Acker ever cut his hair>? What shirt and tie combo will foxy Ezra Fitz be wearing this week? These are just some of the questions that have almost 2million Americans talking every morning after the show. There's a lot of murder and intrigue in that little town of Rosewood and those teens have a lot of secrets hidden in their sleek hair dos. It's entirely ridiculous yet utterly utterly compelling...
• 04 ~ The Good Wife: OH please - who wouldn't pick Will over Mr Big??! Under that pristine white shirt is what I can only imagine is a wild man in the sack. And believe me I've imagined it :D Anyway, The Good Wife continues to be one of my very favourite shows on television. The day to day cases of Lockhart-Gardner are almost secondary to the wider machinations of the core cast and what viewer doesn't love the fiery rage of Alicia whenever she is crossed? It's what makes this show so very addictive indeed...
• 03 -RuPaul's Drag Race: Reality competitions rarely make my list, but this is an unmissable corker. A brilliant tongue in cheek take on reality tv competitions that is filled with optimism, heart, self promotion, drama, bitchiness, heels, fishy realness, sickening outfits and a lot of comedy. The finale this year may have been television's most audacious moment. and if you can't love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love someone else??!
• 02 ~ Once Upon A Time: I haven't had two brand new shows take the top two since Veronica Mars & Lost 7 years ago. Once Upon A Time was the more successful take on fairy tale drama this year (though I plan to catch up on Grimm this summer) and had me hooked from the get go. The fairytale flashbacks worked well alongside "real" world drama & the unique take on well known characters just made this whole thing even more pleasing. The finale was stunning...
• 01 ~ Smash: There was no way I wouldn't love this show. As Glee continues to self combust in a myriad of over-reliance on unrealistic song-dance routines, mawkish "issue" driven storylines and over-quick reactions to fan feedback, Smash as a musical tv show was far more realised in the universe it inhabited. The tale of how a broadway show gets made, it was aided by some stunning musical numbers, theatrical drama and character interaction. It didn't always get it right, and the race for Marilyn may have not gone as I wanted (Team Ivy!) but it was always a brilliant way for me to spend 43 minutes of my time. Two facts - Let Me Be Your Star is one of my fave songs of the year and I am utterly totally TeamDev :D