A bit of change at the top, with Parks & Recreation (Four) capitalising on a brilliant start to its fourth season: any time you have Ron F@%king Swanson dealing with one of his ex-wifes, you’re gonna have a good time. Louie (Comedy Central) also jumps up the rankings: “Subway / Pamela” is one of the greatest half-hours of television you’ll see this year, a beautiful ode to the idea of love from a guy who probably doesn’t think it exists. Southland (One) jumps into the Top 5 after a brilliant third episode.
Agree with my list? Disagree? Post your thoughts below …
| # | LW | SHOW | CH | LATEST EPISODE |
| 1 | 2 | Parks & Recreation | Four | 4×02 “Ron & Tammys” |
| 2 | 1 | Breaking Bad | Four | 4×04 “Bullet Points” |
| 3 | 5 | Louie | CC | 2×06 “Subway / Pamela” |
| 4 | 3 | Fringe | TV2 | 4×13 “A Better Human Being” |
| 5 | - | Southland | One | 2×03 “U-Boat” |
| 6 | 6 | Episodes | One | 1×07 “Episode 7″ (first season finale) |
| 7 | 9 | Supernatural | TV2 | 7×06 “Slash Fiction” |
| 8 | 10 | The League | Four | 2×04 “The Kluneberg” |
| 9 | 11 | 30 Rock | Four | 6×05 “Today You Are A Man” |
| 10 | 8 | Weeds | SoHo | 8×03 “See Blue And Smell Cheese And Die” |
| 11 | - | Forbrydelsen | SoHo | 1×02 “Day 2″ |
| 12 | - | Hawaii Five-0 | TV3 | 2×08 “Lapa’au” |
Dropping Out:
True Blood is off-air during the Olympics (but will be back in the Top 12 after that), while Modern Family (TV3) is done for the year and Castle (One) dropped below Hawaii Five-0 in the procedural race.
Making Noise / Coming Up:
Castle (One) is still sitting just outside the Top 12, while Grimm (Four) is rising up the ranks as well. Not much happening this week in terms of new or returning shows: Hart Of Dixie starts Sunday, marking The OC star Rachel Bilson’s return to scripted TV (TV2), but the rest of the new entrants are non-fiction shows. The week after sees the return of Greys Anatomy and Private Practice (both TV2), the proper debut of The Newsroom (SoHo) and Charlie Sheen’s new comedy Anger Management, followed by new episodes of Cougar Town (both TV2).
Post your thoughts in the comments section!
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(The rankings are put together using an average rating for each show over its past five episodes: every episode is rated out of 10, then the average rating across all episodes is worked out – the shows are then ranked according to their average to date. The episode rating is purely the opinion of Chris Philpott – no input from other critics is used, and information like ratings is not considered. Shows will be considered for the rankings only when they are on the air. Also, non-fiction shows – panel, current affairs and reality shows, for example – are not considered.)
