The best TV of 2012, the worst New Year's Eve, and more this week on The A.V. Club

By Sarah Collins  |  December 28, 2012 | 11:00pm
Aux Features TV

Don’t miss

  • There wasn’t much this week, but what we did have was exceptional, starting with the best TV of 2012. Don’t like what made our list? Check out the ballots to see what almost made it.
  • Because it was such a great year for TV, even a list of 30 shows couldn’t capture all the wonderful things that happened this year, nor could one additional list. We solved that problem with two more lists of the best episodes of shows that didn’t make the cut for the big list. Here’s part one, and part two.
  • It was a great year for television, but there will always be duds. Our worst-TV list makes sure you don’t get too excited about any sort of golden era.
  • And if there is going to be a golden era, Todd VanDerWerff makes the case that it would be for half-hour TV shows, which had an incredible, genre-busting year.
  • Meanwhile, Erik Adams warns that 2013 will be the year television as we know it dies. And with so many huge series finales on the horizon, we’re inclined to agree.
  • This Was Pop collected the best of the Biebers, Minajs, and Ke$has of the world in their annual list of the year’s best radio singles. If you normally try to avoid these sorts of things, consider this your cheat sheet on what you missed in 2012.
  • Sopranos mastermind David Chase talked to us about his new film, Not Fade Away, and what it was like growing up on the fringes of a counterculture.
  • We shared the best non-2012 entertainment that we discovered in 2012 to be fair to the things we missed in prior years. Sorry for sleeping on you, Misfits and Stop Making Sense.
  • Mike Rosenberg of Passenger helped us spread some Christmas Eve hate by explaining why he can’t stand Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On.”
  • Andy Summers of The Police further helped us spread bad tidings by talking about Sting and telling us what it’s like to be ripped off by Puff Daddy.
  • My World Of Flops prepared for New Year’s Eve in the worst way possible, with Katherine Heigl and Jon Bon Jovi.

What are we arguing about this week
Let’s pretend no one is arguing about our best of TV list, and instead point out that before the holiday spirit overtook our delightful Internet community, everyone was raging about this Newswire. If we’re going to yell about something on the Internet, it seems like the NRA’s spokesman blaming violent media for mass shootings is a worthier candidate that a list of our favorite television shows.

This weekend
See: We’d warn you to avoid Parental Guidance, but we know you’ll all be seeing Django Unchained or Les Misérables, if you haven’t seen them already.
Read: Atonement’s Ian McEwan returned with Sweet Tooth, a solid novel, but we’d caution against Nick Tosches’ Me And The Devil.
Listen to: If you haven’t caught up with our list of the best music of 2012 yet, now is a great time to do it.
Watch: If you’ve been avoiding it, consider giving in to Doctor Who already. The Christmas special is really good, there’s an exciting new companion, and it’s all around a great time to jump on the geek bandwagon. Did we mention Ian McKellen voices the baddie?

 
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