Better late than never! In this episode, Jon Carnegie (@jon_carnegie on Twitter) joins me on the podcast to discuss all the great television in 2014. Man, people really liked this one show called True Detective.

Reminder: All episodes are available on iTunes.

Image via Reddit

I swear if somebody tells me that it’s the Golden Age of Television one more time…

Look, I’m not saying that this isn’t an amazing time for TV. All I am saying is that labeling one year as a golden age sets you up for future failure and disappointment. For instance, people who label the 1930s and 40s as the golden age of film completely disregard the amazing work done in later years. Plus, Gone with the Wind is sort of racist and Citizen Kane is kind of boring.

Earlier this year, some critics said the golden age of television was over. Really? Then how do you account for the fact that over half my list is freshman shows? As everything migrates towards cable and the web, TV is changing and currently on a curve of exponential growth. This is my first TV top ten list, because this is the first year that I feel like I watched enough shows that I could list ten and have a few honorary mentions.

It is amazing how diverse this year’s TV selections are. My list contains fantasy lands, New York during multiple different time periods, and a lot of talking animals. I don’t want to say that television is currently better than film, but I understand what the whack jobs who say that are talking about. Without further adieu, here is my list of the ten best shows of 2014:

10. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver In an incredible hot streak that lasted from May through November, Last Week Tonight provided the sharpest political satire on television. John Oliver took on everything from dictators to FIFA and managed to shed light on a lot of stories that actual journalists were doing a terrible job reporting. Oliver’s greatest gift is that he can take complex issues (net neutrality, civil forfeiture) and make them both funny and digestible. Oh, and every once in a while space geckos and supreme court justice dogs appear.

Best Episode: Episode #1.6

9. The Knick While you were busy covering your eyes during every insanely grizzly surgery scene, The Knick was busy closing the divide between film and television. It is an unflinching look at America at the turn of the twentieth century. It’s a history lesson that never feels like one because it doesn’t gloss over the squalor and the prejudice. Every episode is directed by Steven Soderbergh; slums, brothels, and ruptured body parts have never looked this pretty.

Best Episode: Method and Madness

8. Review The premise of Review is simple: a man hosts a show and instead of reviewing art or food, he reviews life experiences. At first, this show is about how far this premise can go before going horribly wrong. But then, around episode three, it becomes something else. Andy Daly turns the character of Forrest MacNeil into a sociopath disguised as a nerd. There is something always so wonderfully playful about Review, even as it dives deep into the darkest depths of the human soul.

Best Episode: Pancakes, Divorce, Pancakes

7. Game of Thrones Game of Thrones has reached that level of popularity that makes you want to punch every person who tells you that you have to watch it. Right now, every person in America (including myself), is that person. Epic in scope and scale, Game of Thrones has earned every bit of its popularity. And while splitting adaptations in half never seems to work (see Mockingjay), season four was only half of a book and yet it felt complete. This season felt the need to kill off as many characters as possible. Hey, anything George R.R. Martin can do to give us constant anxiety attacks.

Best Episode: The Mountain and the Viper

6. True Detective I still have no idea what True Detective is about, and that is precisely the point of it. After months of hype and scrutiny, now is the perfect time to look back and appreciate the sheer beauty and ballsiness of True Detective. It is very easy to get lost in the story, but that is part of the point. While figuring out who the Yellow King is can be fun and all, being just as confused as the main characters are is truly the best way to watch it. True Detective is already an instant classic, with Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey doing the best work of their careers. McConaughey might have won the Oscar earlier this year for Dallas Buyers Club, but his performance as Rust Cohle in True Detective is what he will be remembered for for the rest of his life.

Best Episode: Who Goes There 5. Orange is the New Black Season two of the show that changed Netflix was a vast improvement on a first season that was already very strong. By taking a lot of the focus off of Piper, season two gave us backstories for a lot more prisoners who were just in the background in earlier episodes. We also got to mingle with wardens and security guards much more this season, and we got a larger sense of the history of the prison. It is always nice when a TV show takes time to actually explore the world it inhabits.

Best Episode: We Have Manners. We’re Polite.

4. Kroll Show Season two showed a much more focused Kroll Show. This is not so much sketch comedy as it is a series of overlapping vignettes. From the Oh, Hello guys to Publizity, Nick Kroll has created a genius comedic world in which reality stars and bouncers are the heroes. Recently, Kroll announced that season three of Kroll Show would be its last. This is a show that has had a vision since day one, and the fact that it has already picked out an expiration date shows how committed it is to the promises it once made. Imagine if The Office or The Simpsons did that. The world would be a better place and there would be no Ebola and stuff.

Best Episode: Sponsored by Stamps

3. Broad City Finally, a TV show about broke New Yorkers who don’t live in unrealistically huge apartments. Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer’s popular web series was adapted into a half hour show by Comedy Central in what is arguably the greatest achievement in the network’s recent renaissance. Broad City is often described as a female Workaholics. A more accurate comparison is to Louie. While a lot of the humor is broad (that’s a compliment), Broad City typically borders on surreal. On any given day, you can get your dreams crushed and still do something amazing. Broad City is hilarious, heartfelt, and relatable on so many levels (running to catch a train at Grand Central; trying to get people to come to your art exhibition).

Best Episode: Destination Wedding

2. Fargo A televised adaptation of a Coen Brothers classic sounds like a bad idea waiting to happen. Hollywood is a town that is filled with bad ideas, but it is good execution that makes all the difference. Less a remake and more a continuation, Fargo flawlessly imitates the voice of the Coen Brothers. It is an acting tour de force for everybody involved (especially Allison Tolman and Colin Hanks). While it is an hour long drama, I am going to go ahead and classify it as a dark comedy. Fargo creates fanboys where you didn’t know they existed. You know how comic book fans get so psyched whenever a Captain America movie references Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or something else in the Marvel universe? That is exactly how I felt whenever Fargo made a reference to A Serious Man or No Country for Old Men. This is brilliant fan fiction for cinephiles.

Best Episode: Who Shaves the Barber?

1. Bojack Horseman I have spent the better part of the past few months trying to convince people to watch Bojack Horseman. A normal reaction I get is, “I couldn’t get past episode one.” To that I say, “seriously, just be patient.” Bojack is both everything I have ever wanted from a TV show and everything I thought a TV show like this could never give me. If you haven’t watched Bojack, it’s about a washed up 90s sitcom star (Will Arnett), who just so happens to be a talking horse, and his attempt to make a comeback. Think of him as a much more despicable version of Valerie Cherish.

In the world of Bojack Horseman, talking animals co-exist with humans, and nobody questions this. While the animals wear clothes, drive cars, and get married, the tortoise is still slow and the dog still loves to chase the mailman. For years, I have fantasized of an animated show like this. So, watching this show was partially like seeing my dreams come true. The biggest miracle that Bojack pulls off is matching silliness with sincerity. Bojack is a serious study of depression, and the best portrayal of loneliness I have ever seen.

Among the many great portrayals of Hollywood that I can think of, few of them do this good a job of showing a town where perhaps everybody is working real hard to hide a deep pit of sadness in their life. In just one season, this show has established a singularly unique and dark point of view. Oh yeah, and there’s also a running gag where three kids are standing on each other in a trench suit, and nobody catches on. Bojack Horseman expresses all of the feelings, and tells all of the jokes, that you always wished you did.

Best Episode: The Telescope

Honorable Mention: The Mindy Project- This is the show I most look forward to watching every week. This smart and hilarious workplace comedy is the closest thing network television has to 30 Rock right now. Plus, Chris Messina’s glasses are the funniest prop on all of television.

Other Contenders: The Comeback, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Rick and Morty, Mad Men, Louie, Veep, Silicon Valley, Bob’s Burgers, Parks and Recreation, Inside Amy Schumer

Still Haven’t Seen: Transparent, Hannibal, You’re the Worst

“Well actually, the best TV show of the year is Serial” -The idiot you’re never going to invite to any of your dinner parties ever again

Pictured: Dr. Tim Whatley and Elaine Benes

Well, the Emmy Awards happened again tonight.

My thoughts are about as predictable as most of the winners. In a year of excellent new shows, the common theme was to tread the same ground. However, that is not saying that some of those winners were not deserved.

Overall, with a great host and some memorable moments, the Emmys reminded me why TV is so great right now, and why film needs to catch up. However, many of the winners last night did not reflect the greatness of television right now. Hold the phone, you’re telling me that an award show is out of touch with what is popular and innovative right now? I don’t believe it.

Without further adieu, here are the highlights and lowlights of last night’s ceremony:

Seth Meyers As expected, Seth Meyers gave a fantastic monologue that makes me miss his presence on Weekend Update and also makes me wish I put in some effort to watch him on Late Night. NBC must be pretty chill, because he mostly just made fun of their poor ratings (30 Rock is over, so somebody has got to do it). Meyers also spent most of his monologue reminding everyone that network television still exists. Speaking of which…

Network vs. Cable vs. Streaming The big theme of the night was that network and cable are now just pawns in a game that will one day be dominated by streaming. Voters decided to teach Netflix a lesson, as they walked home empty handed. Yeah, how dare they take risks and try and elevate the format!

Modern Family Just a few short minutes after Bryan Cranston encouraged everybody to take more risks, Modern Family won the Emmy for Best Comedy for the fifth time. Modern Family was once a great show that is now past its prime. The fact that it wins every year makes me dig deep into the conspiracy theory handbook. As Matt Zoller Seitz said, “Modern Family has dirty pictures of everyone in the Academy.” Sure, you could debate whether or not Orange is the New Black is a comedy, but like it or not, it was far and away the best show nominated for Best Comedy this year. I am starting to realize that the Emmys might not know anything about comedy.

Billy Eichner It wasn’t all bad news for comedy. The amazing Billy Eichner got to showcase his talent with a special edition of Billy on the Street. It is so great to see how far he has come. He deserves all the success he gets.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus & Bryan Cranston They are the king and queen of television.

Fargo It is a shame that Allison Tolman, Colin Hanks, and Billy Bob Thornton went home empty handed. However, I am thrilled that Fargo won Best Miniseries. It is my favorite show of 2014 so far. Fargo did exactly what the film version did: showed me that the world is a horrible place, yet it still managed to warm my heart. For the first time ever, I actually gave a crap about this category. The Coen Brothers might not pay attention to the Emmys, but I hope they know that Noah Hawley did them proud.

Best Joke You Didn’t Hear While engaging in awkward yet endearing banter on stage, Woody Harrelson told True Detective co-star Matthew McConaughey that “[he's] grateful that [McConaughey] got all the plagiarized lines.” This is in reference to the recent controversy surrounding the authenticity of True Detective. The line didn’t get too big of a laugh, but it was a great little bit of self-deprecating humor.

Best Gaffe: Gwen Stefani referred to The Colbert Report as “The Colbort Report” (with “report” pronounced properly). On a scale of 1 to Adele Dazeem, I give it a 7.

Cary Fukunga: Bro of the Century Fukunga’s win for Best Director for True Detective was well deserved. The guy became a sort of star in a very short period of time. It doesn’t seem like Hollywood has gotten to him yet because holy crap, what a bro. He seems like a way less competitive version of Otto Rocket. After the show, Fukunga reportedly called some friends and asked if they wanted to catch some waves at Pismo Beach.

Film: A lot of jabs were made at the expense of movies tonight. Fair enough. However, TV should be nice. Without film, there would be no TV. There would be no Louie, True Detective, or Fargo. So maybe the popcorn is overpriced, but hey, it’s a great excuse to leave the house. Now, give us Matthew McConaughey back.

Broad City You’re still the winner in my heart.

This article is based on a TV show that I actually watched. The names and events reflect what I actually saw.

The best drama that I have seen on television so far this year is the one that I expected to actively dislike. Instead of trying to simply imitate its source material, Fargo went in a completely new direction. It kept all of the darkest elements of the original Fargo while weaving together a completely original story. It is a triumph.

While Fargo is its own entity, it also does Joel and Ethan Coen proud. The Coen Brothers have such an original voice that it seems nearly impossible to replicate it. Yet, Noah Hawley somehow managed to do this. The Coen Brothers Universe are the kind of people who base stories off true events that never happen and adapt movies from novels that they have never read. Fargo does just the same, and it has a blast messing with our heads.

What Fargo made me realize is that everything the Coen Brothers does definitely exists in the same world. It is a singular universe that I may just enjoy more than, say, the one created by the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. While Fargo goes its own way, it also references films of Coen Brothers past, and connects itself to their universe many times over. Like Deputy Molly Solverson would do, its time to create a crazy web of conspiracies. Here is every Coen Brothers reference that I could find in FX’s Fargo:

Based On True Events- At the beginning of Fargo the film, the audience is informed that what they are about to see is based on true events. This has become a very famous inside joke, as Fargo is completely fictionalized. You can see this same warning at the beginning of every single episode of Fargo, and it is stretched even further (letting us know that the characters are also real). Once you know that none of this is real, the disclaimer becomes hilarious.

The White Russian- The Dude’s drink of choice is referenced in the pilot when Lester walks into a bar offering the drink as a special.

Front of the Car- One distinct characteristic of a Coen Brothers film is a POV shot from a car’s front windshield. Off the top of my head, I can remember seeing it in Blood Simple, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, and Inside Llewyn Davis. There were plenty on the show.

Lorne Malvo- Malvo is perhaps the most Coenesque of all the characters in Fargo. Malvo is a cross of Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men and Leonard Smalls in Raising Arizona. Like these two characters, Malvo’s motives and morals are questionable. What he does value most is survival, and he will kill anybody who stands in his way, whether you are a cop or an innocent bystander.

Lester Nygaard- Lester is clearly the Jerry Lundergaard of this version of Fargo. Initially, Freeman played Nygaard as a William H. Macy imitation but deviated as the season went on. Like Jerry, Lester is a timid man who is stuck in a dead end job. Unlike Jerry, Lester got to prove he was much more than just that. He was also a half-decent liar who just wanted to get revenge on everyone who ever wronged him.

Molly Solverson- Molly is obviously the Marge Gunderson figure here. She is a pregnant cop who is a whole lot smarter than her co-workers. She’s a dynamite detective in a Minnesota Nice world.

The Rich Man’s Parable- In one episode, Gus’s neighbor tells him the story of a rich man who killed himself because he discovered that he alone could not solve all of the world’s problems. The moral of the story is, well, you can’t solve all of the world’s problems. This is the kind of lesson the Coen Brothers would love to teach in their films. Also, this parable is shot and told similarly to the story of The Goy’s Teeth from A Serious Man, complete with characters mouthing the words of the narrator. There’s something very Jewish about it. I don’t know, I can’t explain it.

The Briefcase- Creator Noah Hawley confirmed that Fargo the TV show and Fargo the film take place in the same universe. This was apparent in a flashback from 1987 when Stavros Milos found the briefcase of money buried in the snow not long before then by Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi). Marge Gunderson warned us all that nothing good would come of that money. Too bad Stavros wasn’t around to hear that.   

The Ducks/Former Cop Backstory- This is just a minor detail, but Lou’s Coffee Shop is covered in duck decor. Maybe this is just a symbol of The North Star State, but I believe that it is a montage to Norm’s duck paintings from the film. While making the film, the Coen Brothers had Frances McDormand and John Carroll Lynch (who played Marge’s husband Norm) come up with a backstory for the couple. They came up with the idea that Marge and Norm met on the police force but one of them had to quit once they got married. Marge was a better cop, so Norm decided to quit. I always thought that backstory was cool, and should have been made into a prequel. Luckily, Gus and Molly’s storyline was basically that. (Information via IMDB’s Fargo trivia page)

Knudsen- One of Molly’s fellow officers working in the Bemidji Police Department goes by the name of Knudsen. In The Big Lebowski, it is briefly mentioned that Bunny Lebowski’s birth name is Fawn Knudsen. Fawn is originally from Moorhead, Minnesota, a town that is not too far away from Fargo, North Dakota. If only the characters of Fargo could share some of The Dude’s zen attitude, then maybe less people would have ended up in wood chippers and frozen lakes.

Band of misfits. Image via Business Insider

Okay, so being negative about awards is fun. But I got that out of my system yesterday. So today, it is time to be nice.

Luckily, there is a lot to be nice about, because Emmy voters did a pretty good job this year. They didn’t do the best that they could have. On that note, can somebody please photoshop a picture of Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer holding Emmys?

Anyway, if you look close enough at the nominations, you will see that this year’s lineup does as good a job as possible at reflecting the incredibly diverse array of programming that makes up the current golden age of television that we are living in.

For this, I have decided not to include shows like Game of Thrones, Louie, or Breaking Bad. While their inclusion makes me happy, their nominations were foregone conclusions. So instead, let’s focus on some of the people and shows that might not have expected to heard their names called yesterday morning:

Adam Driver (Girls)

In a sometimes inconsistent season of Girls, Adam Driver was the most consistently good part about it. While his character is incredibly unpredictable, you know that (most of the time) he does things because he actually believes in them. Even if you hate Lena Dunham, he makes the show worth sticking around for. With Inside Llewyn Davis last year and Star Wars down the road, Adam Driver is about to explode. We don’t even know what we are in for.

Fargo

I haven’t finished Fargo yet (I have just one episode left), but that has been enough to tell me that this is one of the most unique new shows on television. Given that this is a miniseries, we will have to see if we get anymore of it (or, for that matter, if any one of these characters will make it out alive). Fargo is a pitch perfect black comedy that manages to be the best imitation of the Coen Brothers I have ever seen. Among the many great things about it, there is a tracking shot in it that rivals the much more well known one from True Detective, as well as incredible performances from the likes of Billy Bob Thornton and Allison Tolman.

Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live)

Kate McKinnon is not the first SNL performer to be nominated for acting. However, this occurrence is few and far between, and you have to be really good to bring what are supposed to be two dimensional characters to life. McKinnon can do everything from flawless impressions (some of the best include Justin Bieber and Jemima Kirke) to original characters (Olya the Russian Villager). She is the show’s current answer to Kristen Wiig. And like Wiig, McKinnon will find success in her career long after she leaves Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center.

Key & Peele

There’s a lot of weird, yet awesome, sketch comedy happening on TV right now (see: Kroll Show, Comedy Bang! Bang!). Key & Peele does the typical sketch comedy formula well while maintaining its own unique voice. They can execute simple ideas like The East/West Bowl as well as odd ones like Mr. T PSAs. While it didn’t get the nomination for Best Variety Show, a nod for writing is nothing to complain about, even if it doesn’t quite acknowledge the visual genius and directing choices of the show.

Silicon Valley

Sometimes, it is hard for a freshman show to get much attention, but Silicon Valley knew exactly what it wanted to be from the beginning. Silicon Valley is the satire of the modern tech world that I didn’t know we needed at this moment. It has a perfect ensemble that helped bring perhaps the greatest dick joke in the history of television to life. While its cast members were unfortunately overlooked by voters (especially Thomas Middleditch and the late Christopher Evan Welch), it always makes me happy to see Mike Judge get rewarded, given that many of his past projects were overlooked upon initial release.

Image via ScreenCrush

Today, the common wisdom is that television is so much better than film. What people fail to mention is that TV wouldn’t be where it is today without film.

That being said, TV is getting inspiration from just about any source it can, and lately they have been turning towards older movies. Bates Motel and Hannibal, which are still running strong today, made headlines when they debuted last year. This past Wednesday, Fargo premiered on FX and accomplished the nearly impossible task of replicating the unique tone and style of The Coen Brothers.

Turning a movie into a TV show used to be viewed as a poisonous idea (anybody remember My Big Fat Greek Life?), but now it has become a popular practice filled with rewards. TV shows adapted from movies work when they take what they have been given and craft it into something new. Don’t try and rewrite history: have the series take place in the same world as the given movie, with an unspoken awareness that this movie and the events that took place in it actually happened at some point in either the past or future.

As much as I would love to rant against this trend as a killer of originality, it just seems pointless. It is easier to accept that some stories will just be told over and over again in different forms because that is how storytelling works. Besides, given the liberties they take, Fargo and Bates Motel might as well be separate stories. The truth is that familiar brands sell.

So instead of fighting against this trend, I will embrace it. Here are a few films, new and old, that could make great TV shows:

Chinatown

As long as they can find somebody else as good as Jack Nicholson to play Jake Gittes, then I would be on board. Los Angeles in the seedy 1930s is interesting enough for one film. I can’t even imagine the possibilities that backdrop could lend for television. Sure, the characters in Chinatown are incredibly memorable, but there is a lot you can do with that setting.

Ghostbusters

There has been plans for a third Ghostbusters movie for way too long now. Ivan Reitman and most of the stars have no interest in the project. Instead of trying to ruin a classic, they should just start from scratch with a new series. This could either be a prequel or a loosely based adaptation with completely different characters. I could see Jake Johnson, Damon Wayans Jr., and Adam Pally in the leading roles. There are endless possibilities with this idea. There are a lot of ghosts out there, or so I am told.

Hot Fuzz

Here is another action comedy with a lot of potential for new stories. Hot Fuzz might have been more fitting as a movie, given that it is all about a love for movies. Yet, I would enjoy seeing Simon Pegg and Nick Frost back together on the small screen with Edgar Wright at the helm (the three of them first collaborated on Spaced).

In Bruges

The ending of In Bruges doesn’t necessarily leave a lot of room for more stories from these characters. You could say the same thing about Fargo though. An In Bruges TV show would be amazing if it could recapture the sardonic and hilarious tone of the source material. Bruges is a tiny city filled with possibilities. The only issue would be finding somebody who could drop an f-bomb as elegantly as Ralph Fiennes can.

This Is the End

It is about time the Apatow Gang came back to TV. No matter how big of movie stars they all become, the small screen will always be there for them. It would just be fitting if the likes of Seth Rogen, James Franco, and Jay Baruchel just played themselves, given as it is hard for me to separate them from any character they play. That’s not a bad thing. This is about as close as I can get to reviving Freaks and Geeks without creating a Frankenstein monster from pieces of a long cancelled TV show.