Best TV Shows of 2009
Ranked by our critic's grades, best first.
CommunityA sitcom whose default setting is formal experiment, and it still lands the feeling underneath.Read the review
Eastbound & DownDanny McBride built a monster with a mullet and then refused to let him learn a single thing, which is exactly why it works.
Modern FamilyFive straight Emmys for a show that stopped growing halfway through, and a cast good enough to carry the rest.
Parks and RecreationSweet, sturdy and endlessly quotable, but it trades its bite for warmth once Pawnee stops being the joke.
The Good WifeThe network legal drama that played like cable: a scandal-hit political wife rebuilds her life in a Chicago law firm, written with wit, nerve and a deep bench.
Better Off TedTwo seasons of corporate satire sharper than anything else on network television, cancelled immediately.
GleeA high school musical that became a pop phenomenon; the numbers and the cast stay terrific long after the writing loses its way.
The Vampire DiariesPlot delivered at a rate no other network drama attempted, and almost nothing underneath it.