Check out all our lists for BuddyTV's Top 7 of '07 to relive the best and the worst of the year in television.
John Kubicek ranked Damages 2nd. He says...
No one is more surprised than I that when I put together my top shows of 2007 list, the FX drama
Damages not only made it, but came in as the second best show of the year. When I first saw the pilot, I was instantly in love with the complex tale of a ruthless corporate lawyer named Patty Hewes (
Glenn Close) trying to take down rich CEO Arthur Frobisher (
Ted Danson). From the start, the two were engaged in combat, a real life chess match in which their friends, families and associates are all merely pawns.
The brilliance of the first season came in the way it played with time, telling Hewes' battle while also flashing forward six months when meek, fresh-faced associate Ellen Parsons (
Rose Byrne) is accused of murdering her fiancée. The mystery of who killed him, why Ellen is covered in blood, and what this all has to do with Hewes and Frobisher is one of the many joys of
Damages.
As vindication of my love for the show,
Damages recently became the most nominated television series at this year's Golden Globe awards, scoring nominations for Drama Series as well as individual acting honors for Close, Danson and Byrne. Indeed, Close gave yet another brutal and raw performance, as she did when she appeared on another great FX series,
The Shield. Danson, most often associated with his great comedic work, gave the performance of his career as a desperate man eager to hold onto his glory. The fact that the show ran at the same time as the newest season of
Curb Your Enthusiasm, in which Danson played a comedic, exaggerated version of himself only served to prove how great his work in
Damages really is.
The ultimate reason
Damages was one of the best shows of the year was the finale. It wrapped up all the major storylines, provided answers to all the big questions raised, but at the same time, it set up a fresh and intense dynamic for the future, which was later sealed when FX picked the show up for not one but two additional seasons. And if those two are anything like the first season,
Damages is well on its way to become one of the all-time great shows on TV.
(click here to read John Kubicek's complete Top 7 list)
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(Image courtesy of FX)