The Best DVDs of 2008: TV
As readers of this blog know by now, Amazon Movies & TV editors recently gathered to vote for our Best of the Year DVDs. Everyone weighed the options, researched the contenders, and looked deep within their hearts to pick the funniest, smartest, and most insightful entertainment of 2008. Then I moved Mad Men to the top anyway. (Jon Hamm can sell me anything.)
Anyhoo, here are my (with lots of input from my friends) top 10 TV DVDs of 2008. But you shouldn’t take our word for it--TV is a populist art form, after all. Here's what our customers have to say:
1. Mad Men: Season 1 (available on DVD or Blu-ray):
Average customer rating: 4.5 stars
Customer quote: “It would be hard to imagine a more absorbingly intelligent American TV series--in terms of writing, acting, and visuals--than Mad Men... Ostensibly the series is about a group of advertising agency working for Madison Avenue advertising agency, the fictitious Sterling-Cooper, in 1960, during the Nixon-Kennedy presidential contest; yet on a deeper level the show wrestles with much larger questions about the meaning of obsession with having (and marketing) happiness in mid-20th-century America.” --Jay Dickson
2. The Wire: Season 5 (available on DVD as a single season or in the five-season set)
Average customer rating: 4.5 stars
Customer quote: “All in all, the final season of The Wire further proves the frequently mentioned point of just how unbelievably good this show was, and how much of a shame it is that it never achieved the kind of uber-popularity that it deserved compared to many of HBO's other shows. Either way, longtime fan or late newcomer, there is nearly nothing better than The Wire, even to its bittersweet end.” –N. Durham
3. John Adams (currently available on DVD or pre-orderable on Blu-ray):
Average customer rating: 4.5 stars
Customer quote: “I typically do not enjoy programs about American history, especially from the colonial days. This series goes beyond history, however. It is captivating in its psychological depiction of both John and Abigail Adams as human beings.” –-Not Yet a Lemming
4. The Tudors: Season 1 (available on DVD):
Average customer rating: 4 stars
Customer quote: “Yes, there are inaccuracies, as others have pointed out [on Amazon.com]. This is a dramatization and this is elegant popular entertainment. As an armchair historian, in love with the stories of Henry VIII, I find it absolutely gripping. The acting is for the most part marvelous, and the idea of doing these great personages as compellingly attractive people is a brilliant one.” –Anne Rice
5. 30 Rock: Season 2 (available on DVD):
Average customer rating: 4.5 stars
Customer quote: “Watching 30 Rock during its second season was a completely exhilarating experience. It had in its rookie year quickly established itself as the funniest show on TV, but during its sophomore campaign the writing and acting got sharper and sharper with each episode. Next to Arrested Development, I honestly believe that this is the funniest American comedy series ever.” –Robert Moore
6. The Office: Season 4 (available on DVD as a single season or in a four-season set)
Average customer rating: 4 stars
Customer quote: ”If the writers’ strike had not cut [this] season in half then I'm sure it would have ranked up there with Season 2 and 3. Season 4 offered the usual story of the complex relationship between Jim and Pam and also the odd and disturbing at times relationship between Michael and Jan.” –-Jason Orzello
7. Dexter: Season 2 (available on DVD)
Average customer rating: 4.5 stars
Customer quote: “I didn't think the second season of Dexter could even come close to to the brilliance of the first season, but I was wrong. Instead of the Ice Truck Killer, Season 2 begins with the Miami P.D. hot on the trail of another mass murderer dubbed as the Bay Harbor Butcher. Dexter (Michael C. Hall) already knows the identity of the killer right off the bat, because it happens to be him.”—Melissa Niksic
8. Battlestar Galactica: Season 3 (available on DVD as a single season or in the three-season set)
Average customer rating: 4.5 stars
Customer quote: “…the modern BSG is fast becoming for me one of THE greatest works of film making art I have ever had the privilege to witness... To be quite honest, the story line of BSG makes Star Wars seem like a cartoon by comparison...” –-S. White
9. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 3 (available on DVD)
Average customer rating: 4.5 stars
Customer quote: “Tears streaming down my face, fall off the couch, beer through the nose, crude, rude HI-LARITY! If you ain't watching this, get out of your mom’s basement, put down the PlayStation controller and glue your orbs to FX.” –-Carla D. Paschal
10. Pushing Daisies: Season 1 (available on DVD or Blu-ray)
Average customer rating: 5 stars
Customer quote: “Alternately funny and whimsical, Pushing Daisies is a visually-distinctive romantic comedy that encompasses a truly winning mix of ingredients.” –The Masked Reviewer
Morjana on December 22, 2008 at 02:20 AM
I realize I'm very biased (being a devoted Stargate fan), but I've always been impressed with the Stargate DVDs. Almost every episode (SG1 since season 4, and most of SGA) comes with commentaries by the writer/director, an actor (or two [or three]), and sometimes the DOP, or the special effects supervisor. There are featurettes, director's specials of episodes, photo galleries, and more. And moderately priced as well (usually below $30). Plus, the episodes are excellent, popcorn worthy, and hey, there are ten seasons of SG1! Woo-hoo!
Meg on December 22, 2008 at 09:18 AM
This post is completely confusing. So if these are "your" picks, why dress them as customer picks? People expect at least a smidgeon of personality from best of lists.
GW Crawford on December 22, 2008 at 01:03 PM
I guess the geek humour of Big Bang Theory is too intellectual/nerdy for you? And what of My Name is Earl, one of the most consistently funniest shows? And, although staffed with Scientologists, never promotes or pitches that ideology. And, best of all, no smarmy Alec Baldwin
It appears your list biases towards dramas with only 3 comedies (The Office, based on how many times I laughed, is most definitely NOT a comedy)
Suzanne Hawthorne on December 22, 2008 at 01:03 PM
I'm with Morjana here...Stargate SG1 was a must-watch sci-fi series, especially with Richard Dean Anderson as the irreverant, wise-cracking Col Jack O'Neill. Sadly, when he left, the series was not as much fun, although still eminently watchable because of the rest of the ensemble cast: Amanada Tapping (Samantha Carter), Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson), Christopher Judge (Teal'c) and Don S. Davis (General Hammond). Wow. What fun.
Dave S. on December 22, 2008 at 04:49 PM
Stargate SG1, while undoubtedly the best show ever about Canadians infiltrating the United States Air Force, is nonetheless too silly and hackneyed by far to be on a "year's best" list. Dumb fun when it's good, dull seen-it-all-before when it's not. The "Wormhole X-treme" episode was the best in a "it's funny because it's true" way.
Griff on December 23, 2008 at 07:41 AM
Don't forget the freshman series "Life." Excellent drama, terrific acting from Damien Lewis.
Vic Mackey on December 25, 2008 at 12:55 AM
The Shield?
Vic Mackey on December 25, 2008 at 12:56 AM
The Shield?
Vic Mackey on December 25, 2008 at 12:56 AM
The Shield?
Vic Mackey on December 25, 2008 at 12:56 AM
The Shield?
Vic Mackey on December 25, 2008 at 12:56 AM
The Shield?
توبيكات on December 25, 2008 at 01:01 AM
goood
Fat Jim on December 25, 2008 at 02:49 AM
I vote for "The Office". It is my first choice.
ed on December 25, 2008 at 04:10 AM
At what point did the office become a comedy? It was in it's original british form quite possible the weakest comedy ever written but the american series just pees all over the format and somehow makes it worse.
ozzy on December 25, 2008 at 04:53 AM
none of the top viewed shows on television are in it. even if you include the special features, the quality of the matters the most. majority will not agree with your choice.
E on December 25, 2008 at 06:36 AM
Ozzy, top-viewed doesn't mean best.
Hugo Reyes on December 25, 2008 at 06:59 AM
How is Lost not on this list? Season Four of Lost came with awesome packaging (who didn't love the in-flight safety manual?) and TWO discs of bonus material. If that's not good enough to make the list, then you need to been more keen on entertainment materials.
Paul Yoon on December 25, 2008 at 01:10 PM
I am so glad to see Pushing Daisies on this list. It's a beautiful show, and I'm so sad that it's been cancelled. However, kudos to you for putting "It's Always Sunny" and "30 Rock" on this list too.
Great list.
uhg on December 27, 2008 at 09:09 AM
Life, my name is earl, the big bang theory are all cookie cutter shows that bring barely anything new to the table and typically you have the last 15 minutes figured out 10 minutes in. That's probably why he didn't include them.
Dexter and the Wire are in a completely different league than those shows.
تحميل الصور on January 28, 2009 at 06:00 AM
How is Lost not on this list? Season Four of Lost came with awesome packaging (who didn't love the in-flight safety manual?) and TWO discs of bonus material. If that's not good enough to make the list, then you need