They're both Big Ten schools

I was going to cobble together a Ten Best Movies of 2006 — but it's been kind of an off-year, and I don't think I saw 10 new films worth mentioning. Casino Royale, The Departed, An Inconvenient Truth come to mind, but after that?

TV has been another matter, though — possibly one of the best years in television since the mid-80s NBC lineup of Cosby-Family Ties-Cheers-Night Court-Hill Street Blues? The early-90s peak years of Seinfeld, Simpsons, SNL, Letterman, and Conan? At any rate, the pickings have been good this year, so here's a crack at the ten standouts:

1. Battlestar Galactica
Who would've thought? It took the show two full seasons to really find its swing, but on the heels of the best cliffhanger since Bobby Ewing showed up in Pam's shower, the writers of this show stepped up and gave this (vastly underrated) cast some amazing material to kick off season three. And with Deadwood now off the air and Lost running in circles, their timing couldn't be better.

2. Deadwood
Oh Al, we hardly knew ye. Three 12-show seasons just barely scratched the surface of what this show could have been, had HBO let it live and breathe. Sanfansisco cogsuggers.

3. House
Admittedly, the current season has been its weakest so far, but the show's still as addictive as those Vicodin tablets Hugh Laurie keeps popping (and this from a guy who dislikes medical dramas immensely). Like other successful character-driven shows (Cheers, Friends), the show's strength lies in its six central characters — and it weakens when recurring “guest” characters intrude upon their circle (like last year's Sela Ward and this year's David Morse).

4. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Underrated and much-maligned, this post-Heroes gem survived cancellation and lives to fight again in 2007. Maybe too many people were (inexplicably) expecting another West Wing from Sorkin, or maybe a show about liberal Hollywood comedians just confuses and confounds the Red-Staters... but I say SCREW THEM. They got the president and the war they wanted (and deserve). Well, this is the show I want. And deserve.

5. Smallville
Don't know how many times I decided this show was just too lame to keep watching. Still, I kept coming back, sometimes out of nothing more than habit. This year, after five seasons of crawling along in first gear, the writers finally took some bold steps — killing off one of their best characters, giving Martha something to do besides look worried, and letting more than a couple of supporting characters in on Clark's secret (the fact that Lois is practically the only one left who doesn't know is actually pretty comical). If nothing else, I salute them for finally letting the show gather some momentum. What's more, they've thrown in a lot of love notes to comic-book fans: guest appearances by Green Arrow, Brainiac, and Martian Manhunter, a peek inside the Phantom Zone, and — slated for 2007 — a fledgling Justice League.

6. Heroes
I'm still not as sold on this one as the rest of world seems to be, but I give Heroes very high marks for sheer potential. One hopes they've just been patiently laying the groundwork for a truly epic series — but in 2007 they'll have to prove (to me, at least) that they're selling something more than snake oil.

7. How I Met Your Mother
The sit-com is not quite dead. This show didn't quite grab me in its first season, but Maus loved it and so it stayed in the Tivo cue. Now, I have to admit I'm enjoying this Friends-wannabe, for two reasons: 1) the lead character, Ted, is no longer the whiny, depressed loner he was last year, but actually a funny guy; and 2) Doogie. Neil Patrick Harris carries this show with his hilarious self-involved womanizer Barney (think Dan Fielding in his late 20s). And Mother makes a great 30-minute appetizer before the heavy 2-hour Monday night main course of Heroes and Studio 60.

8. Star Trek - 2.o & “Redux”
In 2006 we were treated to two new variations on classic Star Trek. First, G4 barreled through the entire series in just 14 weeks with Star Trek 2.0, featuring aggregated series-long stats like “Torn Kirk Shirts” and “Scotty Doubtful” and “Uhura Undie Shots” — plus a real-time “Spock Market” which let the geeks at home invest in all the show's characters and technologies (Spock's stock tanked when he got court-martialed for mutiny, Scott's went wobbly when the transporters shorted out, and McCoy's took off after he cured the Horta).

Then, Paramount remastered and enhanced the original series for re-release, with better sound, more vivid colors, and new CGI effects. Unlike George Lucas, they did all this with reverence and respect for the original material, slipping in the new stuff gently and seamlessly — better views of the ship, more convincing backdrops, planetary details like clouds, rings, moons, etc. They even fixed it so the Gorn could blink. Both of these enterprises were a welcome twist on a very old favorite.

9. Big Love
I would've put Rome in this slot, but it occured to me that Rome wasn't on at all in 2006. Such is HBO's development schedule. So at least they gave us Big Love to fill in the empty space. It's about Mormons! And home-improvement stores! And nosy neighbors! Sort of a Desperate Housewives with just one husband. Maybe. I kind of forget — it's been a while since it was on and for all I know the second season won't come around until 2011.

10. Ugly Betty
Yep, it's pretty funny. And charming. And catching. America Ferrera's Betty Suarez has to be the best new character of the year. And Salma Hayek's cleavage should earn two Golden Globes for best supporting character.

And then there's Lost. Possibly the most aptly-named show of the year. It's off the list for 2006 only because I'm not convinced it's going to be able to return to the fine form of its first 1 1/2 seasons. I would love to be proved wrong. So, the show will have my undivided attention when it starts up again next February.

Honorable mentions: Boomerang is coming up in the world, with classic old episodes of SuperFriends, Fantastic Four, Batman, and Justice League Unlimited, all with no commercials (with the 10 minutes left over at the end of each half-hour, they show a long-in-the-vault cartoon — an old Teen Titans, or Aquaman, or even an old Fleischer Superman short). BBC America's Green Wing is nothing short of milk-up-your-nose funny (we're seeing the show two years behind its run in England, so technically we've been enjoying good TV from 2004). And on Maus's behalf, I must also tip my hat to Grey's Anatomy and Gilmore Girls, if only because they make my wife so happy.