Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
A look back
Recapping the best and worst of TV in 2015
Where has 2015 gone? It seems like only yesterday we were ringing in the new year with Ryan Seacrest in Times Square, watching the ball drop and belting out “Auld Lang Syne.” Now, it’s time to do it all over again, but not before taking a trip down memory lane to recap some of this year’s best and worst TV moments.
In a year that has seen some serious highs and lows, it’s tough to pick a place to begin — from new shows such as “Empire” and “Better Call Saul” making good first impressions, to series such as “Parks and Recreation” and “Mad Men” saying goodbye, quite a lot has happened on television since Jan. 1.
Perhaps, then, it’s fitting to start at the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards, which aired in September — the one night a year when television’s best gather to celebrate the cream of their own crop. It was then that Oscar- and Golden Globe-nominated actress Viola Davis took home an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role in ABC’s “How to Get Away with Murder,” becoming the first black woman in the ceremony’s history to win the prestigious award.
That same night, actor and comedian Tracy Morgan (“30 Rock”) surprised everyone with his first public appearance since a tragic car accident in June 2014 put him in an eight-day coma and left him with traumatic brain injuries.
The 2015 Emmys also served as the icing on the cake for triple-threat writercomedian-actress Amy Schumer. This year alone, she premiered her first film, “Trainwreck”; released a new comedy special, “Amy Schumer Live at the Apollo,” on HBO; was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people; and took home an Emmy for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series for her Comedy Central show “Inside Amy Schumer.”
Two other comedians who were making waves in 2015 were longtime “Late Show” host David Letterman and 16-year “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart. Both stepped away from their desks for good (the former in May and the latter in August), leaving behind some enormous shoes for their successors to fill. It marked an end of an era for the two comedians who were pillars of their respective genres — Letterman revolutionized modern late-night talk shows, and Stewart turned satirical news into a comedy staple.
It wasn’t all “out with the old” in 2015, though. We were also introduced to a ton of new programming as networks and cablers continued to vie for viewership.
It’s no surprise that CBS did well this year, having capitalized on its beloved NCIS franchise with a New Orleansbased spinoff starring Scott Bakula (“Quantum Leap”). What did surprise us this year was Fox’s “Empire.” The series debuted in January with Taraji P. Henson (“Person of Interest”) and Terrence Howard (“Hustle & Flow,” 2005) headlining, and it took only 10 days for the network to order a second season, which premiered back in September.
AMC also (unsurprisingly) hit it out of the park in 2015 with its “Breaking Bad” spinoff, “Better Call Saul,” starring Bob Odenkirk (“Nebraska,” 2013). The series notched four Emmy nods and took home both of the Critics’ Choice Television Awards for which it was nominated, with critics praising Odenkirk and Jonathan Banks (“Airplane,” 1980) for their portrayals of the eponymous Saul (a.k.a. Jimmy McGill) and Mike Ehrmantraut, respectively. (Season 2 premieres Monday, Feb. 15, on AMC.)
Of course, for every great series there are two or three downright disappointing ones, and there’s no better example of this principle than season 2 of “True Detective.” Next to a widely acclaimed first season that picked up four Golden Globe nominations, five Emmy wins, another six Emmy nominations and countless other nods and wins, the second installment of the anthology series paled in comparison. It still received some positive reviews, but came nowhere close to matching the previous success of the show.
NBC had to deal with a surprising dud as well, after its A list-laden miniseries “The Slap” — based on the Australian show and novel of the same name — did not go over well with viewers or critics. Despite a roster than included Uma Thurman (“Kill Bill: Vol. 1,” 2004), Zachary Quinto (“Star Trek,” 2009), Thandie Newton (“The Pursuit of Happyness,” 2006) and Peter Sarsgaard (“Green Lantern,” 2011), the drama flopped and was quickly forgotten.
We also bade farewell to some great shows in 2015. Though it petered out towards the end of its run, “Two and a Half Men” said goodbye after 12 years on the air. Also bidding us adieu this year were Emmy- and Golden Globewinning Amy Poehler sitcom “Parks and Recreation,” long-running police procedural “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” critically acclaimed neo-Western “Justified,” critical darling and cable juggernaut “Mad Men” and Tyra Banks-hosted reality series “America’s Next Top Model.”
The television world is always an exciting place to be, and the frenzy and excitement of this exceptional year will, without a doubt, continue into the new one. As we look back fondly at 2015, the next chapter in television history is about to begin — what treats are in store for us in 2016 remain to be seen.