List of 10 Favorite TV Seasons (or: what i would take to a deserted island if i was given a limit)

As someone who owns over 150 seasons of TV on DVD (and has watched many more than that), coming up a list of favorite TV seasons is like choosing your favorite foods - there are some constants, but it often changes week to week. Nevertheless, I'm making the effort here to come up with a list of my favorite television seasons. Not episodes (though I may do that at some point), but entire seasons. I'm also limiting myself to one season per show, because the list definitely wouldn't be as varied if I could do multiple seasons of the same show.

WARNING: There will probably be spoilers for each season. Just FYI.

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LOST - SEASON ONE

Lost's first episode is one my favorite pilots of all time. That opening sequence - in which Jack stumbles onto the wreckage of Oceanic 815 and rushes to save as many lives as he can - is gripping and movie-like in its quality. Jack's speech to Kate about conquering fear by counting to five while she stitches him up is one of my favorite scenes of the series. And then afterwards, we're introduced to the weirdness of the Island they're on when while sitting by campfires, they first hear the roaring noises of the Smoke Monster and Charlie utters a deeply sarcastic "terrific" before we break to the first commercial break.

That opening pretty much tells a new viewer what they should expect from Lost: A plane crashed on a deserted island. There are dozens of survivors, each with their own backstory, and they're going to have to figure out how to survive together. Oh, and there are some really weird things going on in that jungle. (Seriously, weird shit.)

Each episode of the season provided the audience with more mysteries about the Island and its inhabitants, and each episode made us care more and more about the survivors of Oceanic 815. It's just so well done. Plus, it's also fun to watch now and nostalgically remember the days when our biggest question was "What's in the hatch?" or "WTFPOLARBEARS?" Oh, how young and innocent we were.

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BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER - SEASON THREE

While Buffy's second season definitely had the best storyline of the show's run (hello, Angelus), the show's third season was its best overall effort. It introduced so many characters that became Joss Whedon classics: Faith, the slutty slayer with anger issues, Wesley, the pansy ass watcher who would transition to an ultimate badass on Angel, and Anya, a tactless former demon who provided much-needed comic relief in the seasons to come.

The main storyline of the third season, in which Sunnydale's major (who makes to-do lists that schedule meeting with boy scouts right after becoming invincible) plans to become a demon at the High School graduation, is weaved skillfully all through the season, and provides both tension and hilarity throughout. The Major is such an unusual villain - he chastises his minions for cursing and spreading germs while planning the killings of hundreds of people. The third season also includes the heartbreaking storyline of Angel returning from hell, only to realize that staying in Sunnydale with Buffy will only hurt them both in the long run. Thus, the spin-off Angel was born.

While the story arcs of the third season are fabulous, there are also amazing stand alone episodes that make this season Buffy's best. The Wish, in which Cordelia wishes up an alternate universe in which Buffy never came to town, is a favorite of mine. Lover's Walk, in which Spike returns to Sunnydale drunk and pathetic after losing Dru, and Doppelgangland, in which Willow's leather-wearing slutty doppelganger from 'The Wish' shows up, are both classics. And if The Prom doesn't make you break down and cry, well, you're not human.

The third season was also Buffy's last at Sunnydale High. Once the show left the school and its never-ending 'high school is hell' metaphors, it was never quite as good. Plus, the high school library was the show's best hangout, and I missed it when it was gone.

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VERONICA MARS - SEASON ONE

The first season of Veronica Mars plays out more like a novel put on screen than a television show. The season long mystery of Lilly Kane's murder is the overarching mystery that gives her Veronica both her drive and vulnerability. Each episode also has a great standalone mystery in which Veronica puts her detective skills to use in the most fun and witty way possible.

The characters in Veronica Mars are fabulous (with the possible exception of Duncan - so much possibility, and yet so boring) - Veronica and her fabulous Dad, Wallace the best friend, Weevil the bad boy with questionable ties to Lilly, and best of all, Logan Echolls, the "obligatory psychotic jackass" with hidden depths.

Kristen Bell and Jason Dohring really shine in this first season, and the resolution of Lilly's murder is so satisfying. The show's second and third seasons never quite reached this level of greatness. I just hope that one day Rob Thomas is able to make that Veronica Mars movie - I really want to see FBI!Veronica one day.

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ANGEL - SEASON FIVE

While I have a huge soft spot for the first season of Angel, I think it's fifth season is its best. The gang working at Wolfram and Hart provides a great season long story, and the addition of Spike to the cast provided endless comedy. Episodes like Smile Time, where Angel becomes a puppet, are comedy classics. The fact that the next episode made me cry like a baby (A Hole in the World) is a true testament to Whedon shows - you can cry with laughter one week and with anguish the next.

Amy Acker's turn as Illyria is one of the show's best storylines (almost quite as good as the Angelus storyline on Buffy), and the consequences Fred's death (and Ilyria's birth/rebirth) have on Team Angel are so interesting to watch. One downside to this season is David Boreanaz's hair (seriously, ugh) and his knee injury that led to the weight gain (still super hot, but definitely a low point before he lost it all and became Booth on Bones).

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BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - SEASON TWO

Ah, the good ol' days, back when we were sure Ronald Moore knew what he was doing! (j/k, kinda) The second season of BSG is by far its best - it opens with a bang (Papa Adama has been shot by Boomer!) and ends even bigger (a timejump to the future!). In the interim we get awesome episodes like Downloaded which give us a little bit of Cylon POV and great plotlines like the introduction of the Pegasus. We get to meet the Caprican resistance (oh, Hot Uncle Cooper from One Tree Hill, we welcome you!) and Apollo gets to angst all over the place. It's a great season.

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THE OFFICE - SEASON TWO

Anybody who tells you the Office's second season wasn't its best is lying. Every episode is hilarious, the Jim/Pam dynamic is at its most wonderful/addicting/painful, and every character gets a change to shine. The season's finale, Casino Night, is my favorite episode of the series. Who else wishes that they still opened up each season with another edition of The Dundies?

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THE O.C. - SEASON ONE

C'mon, you guys all remember how much we loved this show in its first season. Seth Cohen made being a nerd cool, the term Chrismukkah was coined, and we were all guilty of saying "Welcome to the OC, bitch!" at least once. It was fun and fabulous.

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ALIAS - SEASON TWO

This season of Alias is SO GOOD. We've got Phase Two, the show's post-Superbowl episode that rocked all of our socks and was a complete gamechanger. Sydney and Vaughn finally converted all their UST into RST, but not before we get to spend the first half of the season yelling "just kiss her!" at the TV a few dozen times. Plus, we get tons of fun spy missions (with clothes and accents to match!) and great moments between the Spy!Family of Irina, Jack and Sydney. And that finale? I still remember sitting in front of my TV for a good ten minutes in complete shock after that aired.

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GREY'S ANATOMY - SEASON TWO

I think the second season of Grey's is the best example of a good primetime soap opera. Every character in the huge ensemble cast is fun to watch, the storylines are addicting, and we end up really caring about what happens in each relationship. AND. This is the season that brought us Addison Montgomery and Denny Duquette, and the classic finale montage set to Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars." Sometimes soap operas really are the most deliciously fun thing to watch.

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FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS - SEASON ONE

This is another first season (like Veronica Mar's) that feels more like a novel put onto screen, it tells such a complete and fulfilling story. The thing about Friday Night Lights that makes it different than other TV shows is that it feels so real. The people may be prettier than normal, but they act like people we know and talk like people we know and the sets look like real places (probably because they film completely on location). If you don't fall in love with Matt Saracen and Jason Street and Coach and Mrs. Coach, you have no business watching television.

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I'll probably edit this later for mistakes (too lazy to reread right now), so my apologies if they're everywhere.

a tiny bit of backstory & LOST! (or: omg how the hell do you KNOW that?)

Among my friends, I am often known as the go-to source of television knowledge. In the blogosphere I'd maybe rate a 3 out of 10 on the scale of TV nerdiness, but in my inner circle? I'd definitely take the high score.

I've been watching television like it's a class I'm getting a grade in since sixth grade when I first got hooked on the WB's Tuesday Night Dramas, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dawson's Creek. One show became an absolute favorite that I can talk about for hours (seriously, hours), and one I only watched sporadically after its second season. I'm pretty sure most of you can guess which is which.

Due to this twelve year habit, I'm pretty good at remembering, analyzing and (sometimes) predicting television. This is particularly handy with Lost, a show that expects its viewers to remember a huge amount of plot, sweeping in both its scope and depth. The show has had 28 series regulars (yes, I counted) over six seasons, and has had countless storylines filled with a dearth of information you're often asked to remember years later.

This is where I often come in handy to the more casual fans. I'm like a less factual - but more immediate - version of Lostpedia, where fans can go to have their Lost questions answered. An example:

Question: Who the heck is this weird lady at the temp agency asking Locke what type of animal he is?

Answer: Ooh! She was also that psychic who Hurley's dad paid to tell him he wasn't cursed in the season three episode where we see the meteor hit Hurley's fast food joint.

See? I'm just full of random (and mostly useless) knowledge.

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For the first four and half seasons of Lost, I pretty much watched it alone. During the first season I managed to hook quite a few people, and my freshman dorm had a few Lost viewing parties. But somewhere between late season one and early season two, I became a viewing party of one. (That sounds way more pathetic than I intended.) During season four my roommate Ashley started watching with me occasionally, and I tried (probably unsuccessfully) to explain the show to her.

But in the early 2009, it seemed like everyone I knew started to catch up with Lost. My roommates started to marathon the show, and other mutual friends started watching too. By the time 316 aired (the sixth episode of the fifth season, where the Oceanic 6 come back to the Island), we were having viewing parties. It was pretty awesome.

Now, it seems like Lost is everywhere in my life. Every week I'm inundated with friends' status updates on facebook and gmail about the most recent Lost episode, and every Tuesday night a group of us get together to watch and then discuss that night's episode. It's almost like a weekly class, where we have 42 minutes of source material that we then discuss in detail.

What did we learn this week? Were any answers revealed? Did anyone come up with any new theories, or did anything revealed in this episode negate any preexisting theories? How about the characters? Where do we think they're going? We go into the minutiae of the show, and that's when my obscure knowledge and obsessive TV memory often come in handy.

With only ten more episodes left in the final season, we're all getting a little anxious about the ending. Will we be satisfied? Will our favorite characters live through it? Will we FINALLY get answers to all those questions Lost so faithfully doles out every week?

Some people are pessimistic about it. We're already eight episodes in, and many think not enough has happened and that there are way too many questions left. Some of that dissatisfaction is (I think) a result of many people catching up with the show via dvd marathons. To those who watched the first four seasons on DVD and started watching live within the last year or so, things can seem to move pretty damn slowly. When you're able to watch a single season in a week, you can bypass the slower episodes quickly, and you don't have to wait around for the story to continue. Watching only one episode every week is a vastly different experience.

I caught the pilot episode of Lost in July 2004 (illegally downloaded the leaked version of the pilot, HEYO!), so I've watched every single episode live, and I remember how painfully slow the starts of season two (the Tailies didn't join up with everyone until episode 8) and season three (Sawyer and Kate were just leaving Hydra Island in episode 8) seemed at the time. (To be fair, season six is going to be six episodes shorter than seasons two and three.)

But still, I tend towards optimism where this show is concerned. (And in general. Optimism is kind of a default state for me. Thus the title of this blog.) Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse (the showrunners) are very involved with their show's fandom, and they know how crazy obsessive many of their fans are. I'm sure they're going to write the finale to primarily satisfy themselves, but they're not walking into this blindly. They know the expectations. They also know that this final season can't just be a dumping ground for answers - it's got to be about the characters. And that's what these first eight episodes have been about in my opinion. This season has greatly mirrored Lost's first season in that each episode has specifically focused on one character, oftentimes with their season six episode mirroring their season one centric. (Like when Jack comes upon the caves in his S6 episode and reflects on finding his father's coffin there in his first S1 episode. Plus, the Alice in Wonderland allusions and the omnipresent daddy issues that are always there in Jack episodes.)

Since I care more about the characters than the mysteries in Lost (though I find both areas fascinating), I've thoroughly enjoyed the first eight episodes. But I am looking forward to the inevitable confrontation between the two groups (Team Jacob and Team Man in Black (MIB)). Hopefully next week's episode - a Richard centric, heck yes! - will get that ball rolling. Since I'm fairly certain they're going to use Richard's backstory as a way to also give us background on Jacob and his nemesis, I expect that after this episode the writers will then be able to really kick start the drama between the two teams because we'll better understand the true nature of the conflict.

(I hope.)

Plus, I really want the two groups to meet up because I'm eager to see the reunions between Jack and Claire ("Hey Claire, guess what? We're siblings!) and Jin and Sun, who have been separated FOREVER. Literally, other than the Jacob!flashback to their wedding last year, they haven't shared one scene in seasons five or six.

So yeah, lots to look forward to in this final season. I hope it lives up to expectations, because I really want to be able to rewatch the entire series one day and be fully satisfied with its conclusion.