The TV Set: 2012 In Review Part Two

THE VOICE OF REALITY

While reality TV has pretty much given way to 'competition programs' on the free-to-air networks, subscription TV has a plethora of old school reality tales. There's celebrity fly-on-the-walls and Real Housewives franchises plus programs dedicated to both hoarders and hillbillies. But the biggest freakshow on earth is the one dedicated to paranoid conspiracy theorists, Doomsday Preppers (Nat Geo).  For every wingnut planning for the Obama-led collapse of the economy (ending in looting and rioting) there's a loony plotting a solar flare bug out (looting and rioting ensues as well). But amidst the role-call of obsessive characters (one dad of three regularly undertakes mock attacks on his unsuspecting family to test their preparedness) there's shooting lessons, food preservative tips and lots of renovating of bunkers.

Away from the headline-grabbing Big Brother and My Kitchen Rules, The Amazing Race (Seven) and Project Runway (Arena) continued to deliver quality competition productions. The Australian versions of both shows even managed to up the ante on their respective formulas, despite the distracting nature of Runway mentor Alex Perry's twitching nipples.  The future of TAR Aus is in doubt as Seven are instead touting the return of The Mole in 2013 – no word on whether TAR host Grant Bowler will get his old Mole gig back.

Alternate realities: Bargain Hunt Australia (Lifestyle Home) – we were all over thrift shopping long before Macklemore; Go Back To Where You Came From (SBS) – who knew Imogen Bailey could be the voice of reason?; Baggage (LifeStyle YOU) – a dating show so off-the-chart that it's hosted by Jerry Springer (the UK version is a more lavish and camp affair with Gok Wan – c'mon UKTV, you can fit that in).

GEEKILY ACCLAIMED

The Walking Dead

US cable dramas delivered as expected. We sat through Game Of Thrones (Showtime) willing The Imp to survive every violent battle and back-stabbing he encountered; we fretted the fate of LaDonna's bar in Treme  (Showcase) - while empathising with those neighbours' noise complaints; we teetered on the edge of morality with Raylan in Justified (FX); and we wondered if any mechanical work ever got done at the Teller-Morrow garage in Sons Of Anarchy (Showcase).

And, shows that had taken dips in previous years got back to business: Breaking Bad (Showtime) gave up on arthouse gimmicks (it's taken two years to shake off the 'fly in the lab' misfire) and got back to wreaking damage – we await a big payoff in the finale; The Walking Dead (FX) also returned to action after a season of talking on a farm – and we discovered that the real threat to survival is mankind not zombies; Mad Men (Showtime) landed a new star in Don's uptown apartment – with set dressing like that it's no wonder their US network can barely afford other productions.

Finally, the preternatural action of Supernatural (Eleven) hasn't let up for seven years and switching grumpy Bobby for resurrected vamp Benny has given the show enough legs to get it through its planned ten-year arc.

A PACK(ER) OF LOCAL SHOWS

Puberty Blues

Puberty Blues (Ten) was astonishingly good. How many of us tuned in to the debut ep for a nostalgic surf through Chiko Rolls, Saturday nights at the Surf Club and listening to The Ferrets but stayed for the charm of the drama? Was anyone else knocked for a six when sweet Pam Knight delivered that nasty racist slur in the season final? With Tangle (Showcase) gone after its open-ended finale, an encore season of Blues will need to carry the torch for fleshed-out characters and quality scripts.

SLiDE (Fox8) may not have been re-commissioned but it provided us with a much needed local take on the post-Skins, hedonistic teen genre. And we got to see Kimberly Davies playing a hooker.

Oh yeah, Howzat did a good line in mo's and short shorts.

BRIT-FIC

The Fades

Brits provided us with more solid supernatural story-telling. We were two years late getting one-season wonder The Fades (UKTV) but it's always worth waiting for a good apocalypse. Skins' Joe Dempsey made a chilling end-of-times villain and Daniel Kaluuya nailed the nervy saviour sidekick routine (which he put to use in his co-star gig in Johnny English Reborn). Guaranteed weeks of ash-strewn wasteland nightmares.

Kaluuya played it straight in the Black Mirror (SBS) futuristic fable anthology, so vulnerable and desperate that he almost took the limelight off the infamous pig-fucking scene. Almost.

Cast shake-ups didn't detract from Doctor Who (ABC1) – however the post-Ponds Xmas special was patchy at best  – or Being Human (ABC2). The latter actually finding a new lease of after-life and giving us the world's only werewolf with puppy dog eyes (Michael Socha). Super-antihero drama Misfits (ABC2) has also been hit with a major cast overhaul. Quick rewrites to cover their first major loss this year were evident, hopefully the Misfits team have taken their time to get the new stories back to the brilliance of the first seasons.

Sherlock (Nine) crept up. Having initially dismissed it as another Robin Hood/Merlin-style update (pretty cast, ugly scripts), it instead acted as the perfect apology for the Guy Ritchie big screen Sherlock shames.

CARTOON TIME

Bob's Burgers

Whether it's Kristen Schaal's hyper-overactive characterisation of young Louise Belcher or John Roberts matter-of-fact Belcher matriarch, the voice work in Bob's Burgers (Eleven) makes this animated family instantly relatable. And, their Dog Day Afternoon homage was a stand-out.

Over-taking Bob in cult status was Adventure Time (Cartoon Network), the fantasy romp through unicorns, princesses and the Land Of Ooo is manic yet playful. With the familiar voice of Joe DiMaggio (Futurama's Bender) as the shape-shifting dog Jake, you can pretty much guarantee that many a mushroom has been consumed to heighten some viewers' enjoyment.

Seems odd that the likes of South Park, Futurama, Robot Chicken, American Dad, Family Guy and The Simpsons are now the establishment. But still looking good for their ages – has Homer Simpson had work done?

YOU'RE ONLY LETTING YOURSELF DOWN

Homeland

'Hate-watching' is the new 'guilty pleasure'. You loved the show when it first started and even though you know it's lost its way you just keep watching.  2012 was a bloody bad year for TV vampires. But no matter how excruciatingly stupid True Blood (Showcase) got and no matter how repetitive and convoluted The Vampire Diaries (Fox8) got, it was hard to look away. Part of the year was spent screaming at Alcide to escape Sookie's clutches and take up stripping full-time. Weeks were also wasted tracking who was on who's side in Mystic Falls before just giving up and switching attention to hoping someone would stake Elena.

Homeland didn't seem to jump the Iraqi until midway season two but once Saturday Night Live spoofed Carrie's ugly crying and Brody's ever-shrinking lips, suddenly Quinn and Saul became the new focus. But then they gave Dana more to do than just stretch the arms of her cardigans and next thing we were in the middle of a Beverly Hills 90210 B-plot.

How I loved to get sucked into the weekly liberal agenda of The Newsroom only to be left smashing couch cushions as everyone in this media organisation started behaving like they were reading from the last page of old Party Of Five scripts.

How disappointing to see the entire Copenhagen Police Department make all the same mistakes they'd made with their previous major investigation. But I stuck with Sarah Lund all the way to the very bitter-taste-in-the-mouth conclusion of The Killing season two. Lund wasn't just lacking her signature jumper, she was lacking the ability to spot a serial killer right under her frost-bitten nose.

Angry Boys, Anger Management and the easily-angered Luther were easy to give up on. But US genre shows weren't so easy to shed. Ringer (Ten) was the Buffy fan's Revenge – it set out to achieve a B-movie/primetime soap vibe and maybe in the end did its job too well. But we do need more Sarah Michelle Gellar.

The producers of supernatural police procedural Grimm (Fox8) created the Revenge fan's Buffy. Seems Portland has as many criminal beasts as it has hipsters. But while the monsters make for interesting characters, Grimm's humans struggle to offer a good argument for survival. But hey, it's monsters.