5. The Venture Bros. – Every season, I feel like they can’t possibly top themselves. And every season, Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer raise the bar all over again. 2010 brought some truly lunatic ideas to the Venture family, including voyages inside Dr. Venture (both literal and figurative), a gladiatorial arena for sidekicks, supervillain tryouts that included the much-loved Brick Frog and a couple of new characters who combined caricatures of LBJ and Lady Bird Johnson with a satire of the 80s fantasy film LadyHawke, Robot Bo Duke, and prostitute assassins mutating into savage fly creatures at a home-school prom. But as much fun as the over-the-top action scenes and twisted sexuality are (the season premiere featured the Monarch singing a tender love ballad about his desire to somehow impregnate his jet glider), there was some wonderful character work. An entire episode was devoted to Doc’s psychic map, which was both hilarious and tragic and turned Dr. Venture into one of the most fully-realized characters on television. Dean left the safety of home to intern for a super-scientist in New York, and Hank lost his virginity in one of the funniest and most disturbing episodes of the series. And in the absolutely perfect one-hour season finale, the most cynical show on TV revealed a big, idealistic heart beneath the surface. A series that gives us a character like the Phantom Limb could survive for years on being funny and exciting, but Venture keeps giving us reasons to care about the characters, whether it’s Brock Samson making hard choices about the woman he’s loved for years or whether it’s Gary (formerly Henchman 21) coming to grips with his best friend’s death, Venture Bros. had as much real emotion as it did punching. And brother, there is a lot of punching on this show. By the way, when this season ended, Adult Swim hadn’t committed to any further episodes, but last week Jackson confirmed on his blog that the final credits were accurate and that The Venture Bros. will return. Breathe easy, folks.
While I stand by my Top 10, I actually feel bad about Eastbound & Down and Louie not being on it! They are both so fabulous. And I know how much I’m missing out by not watching Breaking Bad…I will just have to hibernate with the DVDs one of these days, although it sounds like I may end up suffering from clinical depression if I do that.