Quotable:

"In cooking, as in all the arts, simplicity is a sign of perfection." - Curnonsky

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas


From my blog to yours, I wish all my faithful readers, friends, and family a very Merry Christmas. Thanks for your support and love!

My gift to you during this wonderful time of the year is my Top Four TV Shows of 2008:

1. Mad Men
What AMC's brilliantly seductive period piece is selling, I'm buying. "It's like looking into something very deep," says one of the show's admen about the modernist Rothko painting haning in his boss' office. Same could be said for this series, which weaves Beat poetry and new Wave cinema into its irresistible soap opera. My No. 1 show two years running is basic cable's first ever best-drama Emmy Champ. Mad Men is a sophisticated and emotionally complex character study of '60s mores and (often bad) manners. As office intrigue collides with domestic drama 9the collapse of Don and Betty Draper's seemingly picture-perfect marriage), no one's American dream is safe.

2. Lost
TV's greatest escape was trippier than ever in its comeback fourth season, a thrill ride of heart-wrenching flashbacks and flash-forwards - sometimes within the same episode -that had me on the edge of my seat while reaching for my tissues as Sun lost Jin, Desmond found Penny, and Jack and Kate left Sawyer behind. And the island? Vanished into thin air! Can't wait to see them try to top that. ABC's Lost is my "constant."

3. Masterpiece
PBS' long-running literary anthology, re-branded and revitalized at age 37, more than lived up its revered name with some of the year's most spirited, enthralling entertainment. Some were labeled "Classic," such as the lovely cycle of Jane Austen remakes, followed by the heartbreaking WWI docudrama My Boy Jack, with Daniel Radcliffe as Kipling's ill-fated son, and, most memorably, the delightfully captivating Cranford miniseries, starring Judi Dench as a village spinster. And then there were bold "Contemporary" masterpieces, like the gripping, high-tech, paranoid thriller The Last Enemy. Masterpiece is the TV equivalent of curling up with a great book.

4. Friday Night Lights
My favorite bailout of the year? Direct TV's rescue of this sublime drama about a small town with a giant heart and the football team that embodies its dreams and values. The third season provides poignant closure for several beloved characters while deepening my affection for those staying in Dillon, Texas, nurtured through good and bad times by the coach and his wife. They're champs in my book.

Seasons Greetings.
Pam & Earnhardt

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