December, 2015 Athlete of the Month

November is here.

Cam Newton.  Runners-up: Ben Simmons, Christian McCaffery, Khalil Mack

That's it.  Here's the final list.

January - Marshawn Lynch
February - Malcolm Butler
March - Breanna Stewart
April - Steph Curry
May - Floyd Mayweather
June - American Pharoah
July - Serena Williams
August- Ronda Rousey
September - Jake Arrieta
October - Daniel Murphy
November - Salvador Perez
December - Cam Newton

The 2015 Athlete of the Year is named tomorrow.  

The Top 20 Television Shows of 2015

I do a top ten for each quarter of the year.  Here are the lists.

January-March
April-June
July-September
October-December

And now here are the twenty best television shows for 2015.

1. Mad Men (AMC)
2. Fargo (FX)
3. Veep (HBO)
4. Louie (FX)
5. Better Call Saul (AMC)
6. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix)
7. Please Like Me (Pivot)
8. Broad City (Comedy Central)
9. The Jinx (HBO)
10. The Americans (FX)

11. Casual (Hulu)
12. Master of None (Netflix)
13. Review (Comedy Central)
14. Wet Hot American Summer (Netflix)
15. Inside Amy Schumer (Comedy Central)
16. The Great British Bake Off (PBS)
17. Catastrophe (Amazon)
18. Last Week Tonight (HBO)
19. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (CW)
20. Billy on the Street (Tru)

As mentioned within the quarterly ranking, the two shows I've yet to see are Mr. Robot and Transparent; I'm unlikely to redo the rankings upon watching, but consider that a contributing factor to their exclusion.  This happened in 2014 with Broad City, I edited in my affection for that show after the final rankings.

Edit - I watched both in the first quarter of 2016, Mr. Robot definitely makes the list, Togetherness would be either just in or just out.  Making a Murderer would also be worth consideration.

Mad Men wins; it's a cut above and has been for the duration of its run.  For my money it retires as the greatest television series ever.  I was mildly pessimistic on season one of Fargo, a Coen Brothers show without the Coen Brothers-how good could it be?  It was very good and season two has been better.

I've had a lineal sitcom championship piece unnished on my desk for over a year; Veep is the current beltholder, the best all around 30 minutes on TV.  Louie is the most provocative, and if you scroll down just a tick, the funniest sitcom, it will not surprise, is Kimmy Schmidt.

I was continually surprised by how good Saul was; it's a thoroughly worthy heir to Breaking Bad; Please Like me is the best of the shows you've never watched or heard of; Amy Schumer got all the publicity (and before that, Key&Peele) but Broad City is Comedy Central's best show.  The Jinx had TV's best moment (spoiler alert- of course he did it) and The Americans, while maybe taking a step back this season, is must see viewing.

Tendown, December 13, 2015

203 is here. This is Tendown 204.

1. End Those Muslims

Somehow, he thinks "no, I didn't mean all Muslims, just those Muslims" is a useful response.  Could I say, "end that Christian" in response to the Planned Parenthood shooting?  What if I were the head of whatever the Middle Eastern equivalent of Liberty is and was discussing a US bombing and said "end those Christians?"  Wouldn't the American press call me a terrorist?

2. Every Week Until He Stops - Vote For Bernie Sanders

3. 73 Wins.  Steph. From 3.

4. One Person, One Vote

5. Uh, Mr. Justice?

“There are those who contend that it does not benefit African-­Americans to to get them into the University of Texas where they do not do well, as opposed to having them go to a less-­advanced school, a less — a slower­-track school where they do well,”
6.

7. Trump Isn't an Outlier. He's a Republican.

8.

9. Ted Cruz is the World's Worst Human

10.

And one more...

10 Best Television Shows of 2015 (October-December)

July-September is here.

1. Fargo (FX)
2. Please Like Me (Pivot)
3. Casual (Hulu)
4. Master of None (Netflix)
5. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (CW)
6. Billy on the Street (Tru)
7. You're the Worst (FXX)
8. Survivor (CBS)
9. Project Greenlight (HBO)
10. The Soup (E!)

The show mising here is Transparent, which I haven't gotten to yet, as it came out in the middle of December.  That's going to mean it's missing from the year end list.

Fargo is an easy first place for the quarter; its second season was even better than its first.  Please Like Me is an Australian sitcom; the Adele episode is maybe the best single sitcom episode of the season.  Casual picked up a surprising, but deserved Golden Globe nom. Master of None is part of that group, you could order 2-4 really in any way.  The combination of the musical element and the show being sneaky super dark makes Crazy Ex-Girlfriend a solid 5. No show makes me laugh harder than Billy on the Street.  You're the Worst made a bold choice to take out some jokes in the second season; for me, it didn't achieve that serious/not serious balance as well as does Please Like Me, for example.   Survivor's the best reality competition show ever and remains so today; the current season is in its all time top 10.  The identity politics surrounding Greenlight was as insteresting as the show, those who would otherwise not be so disposed found themselves on the side of the suit looking to constrain the creative type. E! put a bullet in The Soup after 11 years in this incarnation and over 20 since Kinnear's version began.

That's it.  40 shows.  Year end rankings to come.

2015 NFL Supercontest Week 14

Week 13 is here.

In a hard slump. Down to 35-30

Ari -8.5 Min loss
Oakland +7 Den win
Atlanta +7.5 Carol loss
Cleveland -1.5 SF win
SD +10 KC win

3-2
38-32