The Spraylist 2005: TV Show Of The Year

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It’s just over halfway through our look back at the best goings-on of 2005. As it’s Thursday, this means a) we’re already bored of our Christmas presents, b) we’ve eaten so much cheese that we’re now spectacularly constipated and c) we’re looking at the best TV shows of the last year.

Later on in the day, we’ll be asking others what they thought of the telly this year, but for now it’s down to the hecklerspray writers to share their thoughts on TV05…

Chris Lake, CEO, hecklerspray
The Sopranos, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Dragon’s Den, South Park, quiz shows that don’t suck.

Stuart Heritage, editor, hecklerspray
Dick And Dom In Da Bungalow is the Sex Pistols of
Saturday morning children’s television. It’s full of so much frantic
energy that it’s more like an extended Vic And Bob episode than a
traditional kid’s show. In the space of a single recent episode, things
were held up by some people singing a Serge Gainsbourg song, Toadfish
from Neighbours insulted a man who could juggle golf balls, and the guy
who tutored my dissertation was unknowingly subjected to a game of
Bogies. If Ministry Of Mayhem is a young vicar desperately trying to be
cool by talking about Daniel Bedingfield a lot, Dick And Dom In Da
Bungalow is your little brother, still trashed from his alcopop bender
the night before. And your parents probably hate it, too. Perfect.

C J Davies, writer, hecklerspray
Okay, okay, so Peep Show is suffering the third
series curse of being - whisper it - Not As Good As It Used To Be, but
this still remains the crowning jewel of 2005 TV Brit-comedy
(honourable mentions also go out to Extras and Nathan Barley, shows
which in no way deserved the critical slating they got from certain
quarters). Peep Show remains sublime: a perfect and hilarious
encapsulation of the general petty crapness of modern life. Oh, and
Lost is pretty good too, but – quite frankly - that whiny blonde
incest-girl is really starting to piss me off.

Chris Laverty, writer, hecklerspray
Here’s where I choose Curb Your Enthusiasm, or
something else worthy like that. Except that I won’t be. Instead – and
at risk of being brutally murdered by every other member of the
hecklerspray team - I will be picking Joey. Why? Really…why the fuck?
It was funny and optimistic (even if the ratings weren’t). That’s a
quality you can’t underestimate when scanning the TV guide to see yet
another show described as ‘challenging’ or ‘biting’. It wasn’t genius,
of course it wasn’t. But it did make me laugh every time it came on.
Remember when you used to let Friends do that, before you became all
artwank?

Shawn Lindseth, writer, hecklerspray
Best TV show of the year is none other than
Arrested Development, for their brilliant work in ‘05.  The proof’s in
the pudding, and the pudding’s as follows: A spectacular battle between
a man-mole and a spaceman rampaging through a miniature Japanese town,
retarded girl not knowing she’s retarded until someone tells her, and a
beautiful woman walking across the liquidy surface of a swimming pool.
This show keeps getting better. Imagine for a moment, if NBC picked it
up and put it after My Name Is Earl and The Office. I know, it keeps
me up nights too.

Dd W, writer, hecklerspray
Peep Show. The small amount of time I’ve spent in front
of the telly meant I missed half the decent shows, and was left sifting
through the crap and reality TV that’s taking over our screens. I just
wanted something simple yet clever, that made me laugh.  So now, when I
need a quiet Friday night in, I watch Peep Show. The awkward geekiness
of Mark – who’s such an old Nana, and smarmy Jeremy - the big kid with
delusions of rock stardom, have me laughing out loud every time. The
cynical inner monologues are spot on. They even took toilet humour to a
new level when Mark got caught sitting on the loo with no door to hide
him, and a house full of people watching. Cringeworthy comedy clearly
is the way of the future.

Nick Levine, writer, hecklerspray
Extras. For the Les Dennis episode alone.

Joanna Sim, writer, hecklerspray
Lost is by far the best TV show
this year, if only because I’ve never before turned down a night in the
pub in favour of attaching myself to the sofa so as to bagsy the best
viewing place – and that’s a full 24 week commitment. I know that Jack
and friends aren’t going to get off the island anytime soon – more
because there’s another series to come more than anything else – but I don’t
care, I’m more interested in when Hurley is going to actually lose some
weight, the boy’s been living on mangoes for weeks now.

Jack Johnson, writer, hecklerspray
Bodies is mind-blowing. It just shows how
Casualty and Holby City are no more than tatty little soaps. The series
reminds me a lot of Cardiac Arrest, this programme that used to be on
BBC One in the mid-90s. It also had that gritty NHS feel where
everything always goes wrong. It is simply impossible to not have a
hospital programme without delving into the politics and misjudgements
of senior management.

Later, all our new friends pick their TV shows of 2005. But now we want to hear what you have to say on the matter. Leave your ideas on the best TV shows of the year as comments below…