There are plenty of people who don’t watch television because they don’t think there is anything good on television. They don’t like procedurals because they are tired of cop shows and they don’t like the dramas because you have to watch them from week to week; the storyline is so intertwined with each episode. When they do watch comedies, they watch The Big Bang Theory or Two and a Half Men, both of which are horrendous, but what they don’t know is that some shows are having their best season ever, or they are rebounding from a horrible previous season.

I’ve got nine shows that are worth watching this season, a few that have become a waste of DVR space, and a couple that are on the cusp of good and bad with some really good storylines and some really Titanic ones all in the same season. Today, we’ll look at 4 shows that have been or were amazingly good this season.

9. Castle – I’m not going to deny that I love Nathan Fillion. To do so would be egregious and seriously wrong. Ever since Firefly, I’ve been a big fan and I think that he walks that line of silly and serious with the stride of a genius. Although I didn’t take to Stana Katic  immediately, the writers and directors have done great things to make her character appear softer, more comedic, as well as large and in charge. Detective Beckett is a role model. Also, despite how unlikely it is that this character could actually exist as a real teenager, Castle’s daughter is one of the best parts of the show. She is so refreshing and I love seeing her on-screen. Don’t get me started on the dynamic duo that is Detectives Ryan and Esposito. While they started out as shallow characters, the writers are doing more to flesh out the type of cops they are. Their partner chemistry works really well together and as a duo, make excellent straight men. Castle’s mom, with tiny hints to who she was versus who she wants to be now, is a welcome relief on the show. I enjoy seeing her trying to conquer aging like she’s conquered every other thing in her life. Her character feels real and for that, I appreciate the way she’s written and the way Susan Sullivan acts her. Last but not least, my favourite Medical Examiner (other than Cam on Bones) on television is Lanie. Tamala Jones’ no nonsense approach to Lanie’s character helps me enjoy every visit to the dead body because it usually means visiting her. The sly way she flirts with Castle and the very open way she communicates with Detective Beckett makes me appreciate the dialogue written for her and does a better job of explaining the character than even a description could. In other words, this season of Castle rocks!

8. Leverage – Even without Sophie (and I missed the constant presence of Gina Bellman), the cons were grander, the jokes were funnier, the connecting moments were nearly flawless and I think I fell a little bit more in love with this cast. Watching Nathan disintegrate, going back to drinking, but still be frakkin awesome. It was also great to watch the team looking out for him while being the exceptional thieves they are. This show is VERY unrealistic and I love that about the show. It’s a weird thing to say, I know, but I love the hacker who can do anything with electronics and has tried to. I love the strong man who can control himself. I love the self conscious, daredevil, risk-taking thief with a heart of gold. I love the grifter, both of them, who can sell any unbelievable story. And I love the head guy, who comes up with the cons and makes them all work. The crew works unbelievably well together and the moments of comedy are laugh out loud funny. I love the hints of romance between Hardison and Parker, I love watching Eliot beat the shit out of someone, I love when you think the con has gone wrong only to find out they were prepared for it all along. I even like the perennial bad guy, Mark Sheppard as Sterling, Nathan’s arch nemesis. That’s right, if you do a show about getting even, you gotta have an arch nemesis. I love it. The writers who came up with this idea, the team that picked the cast, the direction the cast takes their characters in – it blows me away, it’s so fun! Thank you, creators and writers of Leverage!

7. Psych – I thoroughly enjoyed this season of Psych. The writers have finally found the right balance between the characters. While Shawn Spencer’s character is still over the top, James Roday plays him with a subtlety that is decidedly sweet. Also, making more use of Dule Hill’s Burton Guster was a wise decision. Dule imbues the role with just enough skepticism to make his character believable and just enough silliness to make him the perfect match for Shawn. The fallibility of Shawn’s deductions have been heartening. More things for him to try to get out of, more ways for him to be wrong and let the others around him help, mainly his father and the police. Also, the frequent mention of The Mentalist made me laugh, mainly because they realized that they were doing the same show in different ways. The writers definitely don’t take themselves too seriously and the actors followed suit, making this the best season yet.

The list continues tomorrow, but I want to know what have been your favourite shows this season that, based on the writing, are shows that should not be missed?

The main reason I like Eureka is the characters. The stories are only so-so. Crazy theoretical experiments are interesting and what not, but watching Sheriff Carter with his above average common sense working with above average individuals who can sometimes not see past their knowledge.

Carter, his daughter Zoe, his sister Lexi, Fargo, Jo, Henry – this is the real Eureka. At the end of the first half of this season, Sheriff Carter had been fired from his job by the DOD. We start the second half with a robotic Sheriff who finds himself dealing with a gravity issue. Carter, unable to leave without at least solving this one problem, ends up showing the robotic sheriff that, although he was built for the job, he wasn’t built for the job. Lexie struggles with the concept of giving birth to twins and is faced with an even bigger problem when the father of the babies shows up in Eureka (I thought it was a secret town – although they did put up a trespasser warning). Fargo deals with his attraction to Jo but ends up falling for another woman and Carter realizes something much bigger than p-branes is up with a 3 time Ph.D. friend of Allison’s, Dr. Tess Fontana, shows up in town.

Carter always has to be out of the loop. I don’t know why the town doesn’t just let him in. He’s been good at solving problems and figuring things out. I think Henry’s friendship helps him get more information. I wonder if “The Signal”, this new possible threat, is actually going to be contact with aliens…

Possible V/Eureka collaboration?

Nah, I think V has a better budget, especially judging by “the blob” episode.

I’m enjoying Eureka this season. Not because I’m finding Carter’s eyes to be brighter and prettier, but because I’m glad they’re giving him another love interest. I hope they are. The connection between him and Allison is definitely a friendship one. I like this new girl, Tess. She’s smart, but level-headed. I like the juxtaposition of brains and mouth. Smart-mouth girls reminds me of someone I know…

Anyway, do you think “the signal” is benign or a threat?

Mary McDonnell has brought The Closer up to a whole new level of drama. The writing and cinematography of the show makes us believe this little world of Priority Homicide Major Crimes Division exists.

This show still has the ability to put us in the shoes of the characters. I remember the first season. I was amazed at the process of integrating the members of the team under Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson. Watching that first season, the discord that turns into loyalty, helps you understand why that loyalty is so fierce now, to Johnson as well as to each other. Now, four seasons later, we get that TNT really means it when they say “We Know Drama”.

Over the course of this season, we’ve lost Sgt. Daniels (who made a lateral/upward move, leaving the department – and the sordid affair with Sgt. Gabriel – behind) and gained Detective Mikki Mendoza. Deputy Chief Johnson lost Taylor as an adversary, but gained McDonnell’s Captain Raydor. Raydor is Chief Johnson, but for civilians. And in this show where we’ve been trained to be on the side of the cops, Raydor is the bad guy, always getting in the way, always slowing down a thorough examination of the evidence. But in the end, she is right too. Raydor has lost her two bouts, so to speak, with Deputy Chief Johnson, but not for nothing because we continue to see, over and over again, that this type of oversight is needed, even if not in the Major Crimes Division. Soon, if the story goes the way it’s supposed to go, we’re going to see an episode where Raydor is right and I think it will be interesting to see how this relationship between the two stubborn women will change. Even though they didn’t use Gina Ravera as much as they should have, I miss Daniels. I remember the episode where she and Brenda get into a gunfight all of a sudden in the parking deck, the camaraderie they felt as women and police officers. I really wish they could have explored that aspect of their relationship.

I know the McDonnell storyline has the potential to touch on those aspects of female officer camaraderie as well as to what extent we protect our own. It’s not just a police story, but a family story. We know who the bad guys are, but sometimes we see that, in order to get her conviction, Brenda has to treat them in a way that she is not always comfortable with. And even within the family, we find that we do not always like the people we are with. The Division took a hit when Daniels left and they all blamed Gabriel. That puts a strain on a family like none other.

According to Wikipedia, this season is about change. I have a strange knot in my stomach that we are going to lose someone. I keep thinking it should be Fritzy. I like him for Brenda as a character, but on his own, he’s nothing to me. I think it should be Fritzy, but I’m afraid it’s goingto be Provenza for real this time. God, that would be awful. I would cry in real life for that one.

So, for the rest of you Closer fans, what is your favourite or least favourite part of this season? What “change” do you think is going to happen to affect our team?

I just found out why I didn’t watch season one of Raising the Bar. Mark Paul Gosselaar’s hair. God, that rug was awful! I remember watching the first episode and I spent the whole of that episode bitching about his hair. Did you see it? It was… my god… there are no other words for it. Awful. I didn’t even care what the episode was about. All I cared about was that moment when Gosselaar turned the corner and he had a fresh cut.

I do remember feeling that normal sense of anxiety I feel when I watch law shows, when someone is being screwed and they are innocent. In this episode, it was a hockey mom altercation where the richer, pettier mom wouldn’t drop the charges because her feelings got hurt, putting a single mother in a quandary as to how to take care of her son while she was in jail (she couldn’t pay the $1000 bail). The other unfair case was about lawyers going after a barber shop owner as a drug dealer when he didn’t know his nephew was storing drugs in his couch. I hate it when I hear about someone innocent going to jail or being mistreated by the law.

Almost as much as I hated Mark Paul Gosselaar’s long hair.