2011年最佳美剧

1. Breaking Bad (AMC) Vince Gilligan's drama stars Bryan Cranston as Walter White, a high-school science teacher turned crystal-meth manufacturer — not a character with whom you'd normally empathize. But Cranston, as Bianculli said in a review that aired March 19, 2010, "commits so highly to [his] role that [he] not only wins our sympathy, but disappears within the part." Bianculli notes that Gilligan has said from the start that he wanted to take Walter White, and viewers, on a journey, following the central character as he changed from meek hero to forceful villain, and this season certainly delivered on that promise.

2. Homeland (Showtime) The first-year drama stars Claire Danes as a CIA agent who suspects a heroic American POW is actually a double agent for al-Qaida. What makes the drama so unusual — and so good — says Bianculli, is that viewers at home are initially unclear about who is telling the truth. "It's so rooted in character," he says, "that I love this show."

3. The Good Wife (CBS) Bianculli says both the acting and writing really work on this CBS legal drama, which stars Julianna Margulies as a litigator attempting to rebuild her reputation after her husband lands in jail on corruption charges. And this season has amped up the emotional stakes for Margulies' character Alicia as she navigates work — and a new relationship.

4. Modern Family (ABC) Bianculli says he continues to recommend the family comedy for Wednesday night TV viewing. In a review from September 2010, Bianculli applauded the series for creating a sense of "risky creativity" — one that ended up being rewarded, both with solid ratings and at the Emmys.

5. Justified (FX) Timothy Olyphant plays Raylan Givens, a U.S. marshal transferred from sunny Miami to his former home in the backwoods of Kentucky. In those Kentucky hills, Givens encounters a slew of unsavory characters, including Mags Bennett (Margo Martindale), the moonshine-making matriarch of a law-defying hillbilly family. In a March 2010review, Bianculli said that the show "pulls off that same tricky balancing act of mixing tense drama and low-key comedy, often in the same scene."4. Modern Family (ABC) Bianculli says he continues to recommend the family comedy for Wednesday night TV viewing. In a review from September 2010, Bianculli applauded the series for creating a sense of "risky creativity" — one that ended up being rewarded, both with solid ratings and at the Emmys.

6. Dexter (Showtime) Michael C. Hall, who played the uptight gay undertaker on HBO's Six Feet Under, stars as Dexter Morgan, a forensics expert whose specialty is blood-spatter analysis. He helps solve murders as a member of the Miami Police Department, but also harbors a deep secret: He's a serial killer who channels his murderous impulses by hunting down other serial killers. In areview that originally aired on Sept. 24, 2010, Bianculli said the show is "one of the most inventive and exciting shows on TV," one that explores "twists with breathtaking imagination."

7. American Horror Story (FX) The series was created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, who previously worked together on Glee. The central story has Connie Britton and Dylan McDermott moving into a house where the previous tenants were found dead. Bianculli says it "may be the scariest TV show" he's ever seen, and it leaves him thinking about the characters long after he's turned off the TV set.

8. Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO) The eighth season of Curb saw Larry David moving from Los Angeles to New York for several episodes. It's "one of the funniest and [most] daringly different shows ever made for TV," wroteBianculli in July 2011.7. American Horror Story (FX) The series was created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, who previously worked together on Glee. The central story has Connie Britton and Dylan McDermott moving into a house where the previous tenants were found dead. Bianculli says it "may be the scariest TV show" he's ever seen, and it leaves him thinking about the characters long after he's turned off the TV set.

9. Louie (FX) Comic Louis C.K. plays a divorced father of two struggling to balance his comedy career with his duties as a single dad. This season racked up honors from Time Magazine and GQ, as well as from Bianculli, who called it "ambitious" in his 2010 summer TV guide.

10. True Blood (HBO) The HBO vampire series created by Alan Ball is a soap opera, pure and simple, said Bianculli in a review that aired originally on June 9, 2010. "Or more accurately, it's a soap opera, impure and complicated." The show's constant plot twists — and the regular introduction of new characters — keep Bianculli hooked. And "for a safe, long-term investment in pop culture's fascination with the paranormal, I say take your money and let it ride on vampires," he said last May. "They're undead in more ways than one — every generation, they always seem to earn a brand new life.

As always, Bianculli had trouble limiting his list to just 10 shows. His honorable mentions includeRescue Me on FX, The Walking Dead and The Killing on AMC, Boardwalk Empire and Treme on HBO, Men of a Certain Age from TNT, NBC's Friday Night Lights and 30 Rock, Showtime'sEpisodes, and Damages on DirecTV.

He also highlights several nonfiction broadcasts and documentaries, including HBO's George Harrison: Living in the Material World, the Science Channel's Idiot Abroad and three documentaries on PBS: Prohibition, America in Primetime and American Masters: Woody Allen.