In case you haven’t noticed, it has been an extremely slow day in an extremely slow week for cultural news (blame it on the fact that most publicists get Christmas to New Year’s Day off). Luckily, we just stumbled upon an exciting gem — Michael Ausiello’s last-minute best of TV 2008 list on EW.com. It’s just in time and it’s chock full of surprises! And shout outs to The Shield! And Ugly Betty! And there’s no Tina Fey anywhere! It’s crazy! (Sorry, too much caffeinating in preparation for tonight’s festivities.)
Before we spoil all the fun, check out his expert picks, along with our common man commentary in bold, after the jump.
Best Drama Series: The Shield Runners-up: Friday Night Lights, Lost, Gossip Girl, Mad Men, True Blood, Life on Mars, and Eli Stone It has always been a solid series, and it just ended, so we’ll give you this one. We’re happy that you threw a bone at Life on Mars (seriously people, watch it!), but Gossip Girl (which we watch, so it’s not like we’re judging) feels out of place on this list.
Best Comedy Series: Chuck Runners-up: Little Britain USA, The Big Bang Theory, The Office, Pushing Daisies, 30 Rock, Ugly Betty, How I Met Your Mother, and Family Guy Awesome. Now people will finally start tuning in to this show. Seriously, it’s like The O.C. meets Alias and features some of the smartest writing on TV. How good does that sound? Re: The Office and Ugly Betty, we can’t help but think you might be remembering these shows as they were, not as they are now.
Best Lead Actor in a Drama: Michael Chiklis/The Shield Runner-up: Kyle Chandler/Friday Night Lights Meh, more honoring The Shield. What about Jon Hamm? Michael C. Hall?
Best Lead Actress in a Drama: Connie Britton/Friday Night Lights Runner-up: January Jones/Mad Men Not much to say about this category — although we prefer January Jones.
Best Lead Actress in a Comedy: Kaley Cuoco/The Big Bang Theory Runner-up: America Ferrera/Ugly Betty No Tina Fey? There must be a story here.
Best Lead Actor in a Comedy: Jim Parsons/The Big Bang Theory Runner-up: Zachary Levi/Chuck Obviously we must listen to our parents and start DVRing The Big Bang Theory.
Best Supporting Actor in a Drama: Walton Goggins/The Shield Runner-up: Michael Emerson/Lost What, no Ed Westwick?
Best Supporting Actress in a Drama: Lisa Edelstein/House Runners-up: CCH Pounder/The Shield and Leighton Meester/Gossip Girl We like Lisa Edelstein. This is a good pick.
Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy: Neil Patrick Harris/How I Met Your Mother Runner-up: Michael Urie/Ugly Betty Go Doogie! We’ve loved you since Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog. Side note: Did anyone really like Ugly Betty this much? Even when it was good?
Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy: Amy Ryan/The Office Runners-up: Ana Ortiz and Vanessa Williams/Ugly Betty Amy Ryan is fantastic. We know some people found her match up with Michael Scott over the top, but it was the best thing about the current incarnation of The Office.