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Fellow Blogger and regular commenter Pie Man 70′s done his own TV awards, and it was such a good idea, I thought I’d rip it off.  It helps that I agree with a lot of his choices, thus making it easier to cut and paste most of this post

You can check out his awards here: The Pie Man Television Awards 2009.

The only real rule I’m sticking to is that its focusing on cult/sci-fi/fantasy type TV shows.  The time frame is fairly vague, but pretty much anything in the last 12 months.

Best New Series

There’s been a load of good new shows over the last year.  Sadly most of them are now axed thanks to the recession and the usual keenness of US networks to axe anything that doesn’t have brilliant ratings from the get-go.   I was personally very tempted to give this to My Own Worst Enemy, which is currently airing on Sci-Fi UK and is ruddy brilliant.  However, its still halfway through its run, so in fairness I should give it to a show that’s shown all its episodes.  And this is the first award where I’m in complete agreement with Pie Man 70.

The Middleman

Its difficult to understate just how much I enjoyed this series, and how gutted I was when it was axed. Apparently ABC completely failed to realise what a potential hit they had on their hands and neglected to advertise it. Which has been a real shame, as every review I’ve seen of the series raves about it. Gloriously silly, great sense of humour and visuals and a great cast. Grab the DVDs, buy it on iTunes, pray Sci-Fi UK buy the rights, but see this show.

Best Returning Series

I’ve slightly tweaked the name of this award from PieMan’s version just for clarity.  There were loads of really good returning series this year.  Heroes followed up its slightly lackluster volume 2 with a great volume 3, but volume 4 didn’t click nearly as well for me.  Battlestar Galactica headed towards its finale with confidence, Prison Break delivered a brilliant payoff in its finale that was a real treat for fans following the show from the beginning, Dexter continues to be superb television, delivering a great story every year and Lost continued to be must-watch TV, revelling in its own backstory.  However for me, the ultimate winner has to be:

Chuck

Despite barely escaping cancellation this year, season 2 delivered on everything that made season 1 so popular.  A brilliant sense of humour, great action sequences, a stellar cast and most of all, heart.  Be it Chuck dealing with the carnage his double life causes to those closest to him, the Buymore staff dealing with their latest evil deputy manager, you really care about all these characters.  Cap it off with some superb guest stars, and really, its amazing this show had to struggle for a third season.

Most Improved Series,

This one’s very tough.  Partly due to so many shows getting the axe these days after their first season.  Galactica was a serious contender for me.  I felt that season 3 seemed to lack focus, and I wasn’t hugely impressed with the first ten episodes of season 4.  However the final ten episodes turned everything around and reminded me how much I loved this show.  Ashes to Ashes also improved a lot over its not-brilliant first season.

However for me the winner has to be:

Torchwood

Granted, the time period this is covering is pretty vague, but for me it works for either series 2 or especially series 3.  See the numerous other blog posts about how good series 3 was, but even series 2 was a marked improvement over a ropey first season, dispensing with the almost adolescent aspects in its approach to being the “adult” Who spinoff (a feeling they nailed with the third series), giving us a great new character in Captain John and delivering a great storyarc with Owen’s “death” leading up to his and Tosh’s final sacrifice.

Most gratuitous T&A in a series.

Dollhouse is probably the only other contender in this award, but even it doesn’t match up to the winner:

Knight Rider

Really the only choice.  Its arguably one of the main areas in which the show was misjudged and thankfully calmed down as the show went on.  They were a bit too fond of the gratuitous numbers of women in bikinis in the first half of the season.

The Andromeda WTF is this still running award.

Like Pie Man, I can’t really give this award to anything.  As shows have been axed left, right and centre.  There’s probably a soap opera or something that it applies to, but there’s nothing particularly on my radar for this.   Dollhouse is a potential contender for this next year unless it really blows me away, and Heroes is dangerously close to going off the bubble unless they manage to recapture some of that series 1 magic.

This is going on a bit long, so I think I’ll split it up a bit.  Look for parts 2 and 3 in the near future.

The problem with their being so much good sci-fi around these days, is that I find I hit my “TV saturation point” quite quickly now.   Once I’m religously watching 4 or 5 shows a week, I find I have to start dropped other shows I might be interested in.

This year, one of those shows was Dexter.  Season 1 has sat on my Sky+ since FX aired it, and with me now finding a lull with very few new shows I’m watching every week, and season 2 having just started on FX, now seemed like a good time to blitz the first season.

I’m really glad I did.  This is a great dark show from the states.  It follows Dexter Morgan.  A blood-splatter specialist working for the forensics department of the Miami PD.  However Dexter is also a serial killer.   Adopted by the Morgan family at a young age, has adoptive father and Cop Harry, quickly recognises that Dexter is not like other little boys, and instills in him a code.   He acts normal to hide his true identity, and finds release in targetting those criminals who have escaped the justice system.    However Dexter’s world gets turned upside down when he’s called to the crime scene of a new serial killer on the block.

The joy of this show is the internal monologue from Dexter.   We get to see right inside his head, and his reactions to normal human situations, which he just can’t relate to.  Emotionally the only thing that affects him is murder, and the sight of blood.   This lends itself to some dark comedy throughout the show.

Michael C Hall is brilliantly cast.   He manages to make Dexter likable, when you’re completely aware of just what a monster he can be, and how the “Code of Harry” is the only thing between him and a killing spree.  Its an interesting idea as well, that a police officer would care so much for his son that he would teach him how to avoid being caught, and to focus on those victims where there is a sense of justice to their deaths.

Season one deals with the plot of the Ice Truck Killer, and the cat-and-mouse game he plays with Dexter throughout, which builds through the episodes and reaches a really great conclusion that became gripping TV for me.  Its quite telling that at the start of the series, my focus was on just how damaged Dexter was, and by the end of the season you really feel sympathy for the character.  He’s under no illusions as to what he is, and is leading a life in which he’s trapped by that truth.   He’s not a monster though, and while he may deny it, there’s a core of humanity to him.

Great series.  Really looking forward to season 2.