Cue the pomp and the circumstance, it is time to pay tribute to the outstanding freshman of TV’s class of 2010. Full of bright eyed enthusiasm and a backpack full of hopes and dreams, these new characters invigorated the television landscape with their fresh faces and rookie gusto. It was a particularly good year for newbies, including a number of wonderful ensemble casts, but what follows is the best of the best. At least in this scholar’s humble opinion.
Sue Heck of The Middle (ABC)
Did you see Sue limping around the track in the season finale? How about when she got her sweater stuck on her braces? Or maybe the skinny jeans episode? Cause if you did, you are laughing your you know what off right now. A fun look into a typical midwestern family, The Middle‘s middle sibling Sue is a trainwreck of social awkwardness pulled off to perfection by Eden Sher.
April Ludgate of Parks and Recreation (NBC)
Now I know April first appeared last year (season one) on Parks and Recreation, but this season was when the writers let her break out and take on a bigger role. Her text book teenage indifference to everything and everyone (except Andy) makes me yearn for the days of doing nothing at the mall with my best friend as we made fun of every passer by. Between her dry sarcasm and her gay boyfriend’s boyfriend, April is one of my favorite characters on TV period.
Modern Family….
all of them! (ABC)
Modern Family, where do I start? Is it Manny Delgado, the cherubic self assured renaissance kid? Or maybe Cameron, Mitchell’s outgoing partner who apparently is, among many other talents, a trained clown. But then I thought about how much I loved Gloria and her crazy Colombian ways. But you know what? It’s all of them! The whole cast is terrific, each actor slipping effortlessly into their role and the group meshing together into something magical. Even the baby Lily is too adorable not to love!
Antoine Batiste of Treme (HBO)
It’s hard to pick just one member of this tremendously entertaining and toe tapping ensemble drama from HBO and The Wire creators David Simon and Eric Overmyer. Steve Zahn was literally born to play Davis McAlary, a DJ/musician who worships at the altar of true New Orleans music and John Goodman is terrific as the cranky pundit of New Orleans, Creighton. But every week, after I get past singing along to the best theme song on TV today, I can’t wait to see what is up with my favorite trombone player Antoine Batiste. Maybe it’s because we both own King bones, maybe it’s because we both hate paying cab fare, or maybe it is our similarities in build i.e. we both love New Orleans food. I’m sorry, I lost my train of thought, does anyone have a bag of beignets handy?
Raylan Givens of Justified (FX)
I’m just going to assume you all watched the greatest drama of the last two decades? No, not Lost. I’m talking about Deadwood and finally someone figured out how to put Timothy Olyphant back into cowboy boots without seeming like they’re typecasting him. Okay, they are typecasting him, but who cares! Based on a character from a couple Elmore Leonard novels, Olyphant is terrific as Givens, a conflicted man out of time who still enjoys taking the law into his own hands. Catch up if you haven’t on Justified, you won’t regret it.
And that’s my dean’s list for 2010. You may now move your tassels to the right, or is it left? Just move them some direction and then throw the whole hat in the air already! I wish all of you the best in overcoming your inevitable sophomore slumps. H.A.G.S.!!!
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