Overall it seems this was the year that TV finally got some respect. Critics and fans alike flocked to high quality programs they couldn't wait to watercooler about the next day. It's easy to understand why when the experience of a new 24 every Monday kicks the ass of most any movie.

Let's get to it with my favorite shows of 2006, which includes the back half of last season and the first part of this one.

Best TV of 2006
1. 24 - Season Five was when all of America got on the Jack Bauer express. I was glad to be there from the beginning though as the layered world that had been crafted was shattered by the death of a beloved former president and the corruption of the current one. Along the way worldwide destruction was averted (as always) with several key players sacrificed and Jack himself taken prisoner on a slow boat to China in the season's closing minutes.

2. The Wire - 2006 was a year of The Wire for me. After reading constantly how amazing it was, I watched all the previous seasons and the new one, its fourth, within the last 12 months. This is the best way to take in this deep, realistic study of a city's politics, crime and police. Season Four was especially gut wrenching as we saw how the mean streets can turn nice kids into thugs and how good deeds always get punished. I advise everyone to give these four seasons a shot. You've got some time as the final fifth season does not air for another two years.

3. Lost - I know, I know, everyone is picking on Lost now but I am not leaving the island myself anytime soon. The end of last season was completely thrilling with many revelations like why the plan crashed and that there is a real world out there. But most of all, I have come to care for these characters more than any other on TV, except for Jack Bauer of course. Of course I am frustrated like others are about the slow pace of this season so far, introducing too many new characters and not hitting on the big news from last season's finale. But ask me at the end of the continuous run next May how I feel as I believe we are in for some major TV moments between now and then.

4. Battlestar Galactica - I am okay with sounding geekish for praising Battlestar and so should you. With the universe in crisis as a palette, this is an intelligent, poignant and constantly well-acted and written show. I can't think of many films that touch on its grand scale, with humans at the brink of extinction trying to forge ahead.

5. South Park - As long as Matt and Trey keep putting out raw slams against society and pop culture like they have against Warcraft, hybrid cars and My Sweet Sixteen, South Park will always have a place on my Top 10.

6. The Office
7. Prison Break
8. Deadwood
9. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
10. Heroes

But there is an inherent geekiness I do have and its for 007.

With the release of all 20 Bond films as double-DVD "ultimate" editions and of course Casino Royale and all its momentum, I have come to fully realize my Bond, James Bond addiction. Actually I probably figured it out when I was listening to the audio commentary on "Live and Let Die." Like what normal person would do that?

It's always been there in a way. My Dad was a huge fan, so I remember first seeing Moonraker and then listening to his soundtrack records from the early Connery films. I had a Bond trivia book for long car rides and when D&D role-playing was in vogue I of course had the James Bond games. I have been in the theaters opening weekend to see each new film since 1983 and can tell you every villain, plot and theme song along with who directed every one. In other words...GEEK.

But if one has to be a movie geek, this one isn't so bad. After all Bond is suave, well-dressed, saves the world and gets laid a lot.

Brown has a life tailor made for the big screen. There is drugs, sex, run-ins with the law, outrageous costumes, freaky hair and now of course a death to wrap up the story.

Odd or not, I wrote about this almost two years ago, with my choice of Chris Tucker to play the Godfather of Soul. I would amend that list to include some other potentials:

Don Cheadle
Samuel L. Jackson - But only if he can sing
Andre 3000 of Outkast - Although a Prince biopic may be more appropriate
Jamie Foxx - He needs a hit bad since his post-Ray resume is bombed out.
Anthony Hopkins - He can play anything right?

But I ended up watching episodes in the summer and am glued all through this season. Why? Because they are putting the personal drama of Dr. House above the case of the week.

Like this week's show with House after having cheated all his colleagues at rock bottom on the floor in his own vomit. He deserves that. I am starting to love to hate him for all the crap he has pulled. Particularly how he punched Chase, almost cut apart a little girl though a procedure and shows no remorse that his only friend may be sharing a jail cell with him. Yet he remains utterly fascinating and still brings some of the best lines on TV.

So naturally I hope Hugh Laurie wins the Golden Globe next month (especially after the Emmy snubbing).

For his character they eventually have to "normalize" House as he won't go to jail. Maybe rehab and a cutback on the pills, but here's to hoping they don't make him nice all of sudden. We need our SOBs on TV: JR Ewing, George Jefferson, Al Swearengen, Stringer Bell and Dexter.

Today we get a sneak peak courtesy of The Tail Section with a short scene that exposes one of the flight attendants from the doomed Oceanic Flight 815 is in league with "the Others."

Watch for yourself

Either way it's good news for NBC and their comeback year with Heroes proving to be the "It" show of the year with a nomination for Best Series and for Masi Oka ("Hiro"). Also I'm loving the Alec Baldwin 30 Rock nomination. Another new show to feel the Globes buzz is HBO's Big Love picking up a Best Series nod and Best Actor for Bill Paxton. I wish they would have awarded Deadwood and The Wire from HBO instead. Showtime gets into the cable game with Weeds and Dexter. That one will make a lot of the Media Village staff happy.

So let's get to the major TV nominations. Who should win and who was snubbed?

Series, Drama
24
Big Love
Grey's Anatomy
Heroes
Lost

Should win: 24
Snubbed: The Wire

Actor, Drama
Patrick Dempsey, Grey's Anatomy
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Hugh Laurie, House
Bill Paxton, Big Love
Kiefer Sutherland, 24

Should Win: Hugh Laurie (sorry Kiefer but you already have one)
Snubbed: Ian McShane, Deadwood

Actress, Drama
Patricia Arquette, Medium
Edie Falco, The Sopranos
Evangeline Lilly, Lost
Ellen Pompeo, Grey's Anatomy
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer

Should Win: Edie Falco
Snubbed: Mary McDonnell or Katie Sackoff, Battlestar Galactica

Series, Musical or Comedy
Desperate Housewives
Entourage
The Office
Ugly Betty
Weeds

Should Win: Entourage
Snubbed: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Actor, Musical or Comedy
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Zach Braff, Scrubs
Steve Carrell, The Office
Jason Lee, My Name is Earl
Tony Shalhoub, Monk

Should Win: Steve Carrell
Snubbed: You tell me. I'm stumped and need to think on it more b/c there are so few great comedies to watch. Same goes for the next category...

Actress, Musical or Comedy
Marcia Cross, Desperate Housewives
America Ferrera, Ugly Betty
Felicity Huffman, Desperate Housewives
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine
Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds

Should Win: Felicity Huffman
Snubbed: See above category

Supporting Actress, Series, Miniseries or Movie
Emily Blunt, Gideon's Daughter
Toni Collette, Tsunami, The Aftermath
Katherine Heigl, Grey's Anatomy
Sarah Paulson, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds

Should Win: Katherine Heigl
Snubbed: Alyson Hannigan, How I Met Your Mother

Supporting Actor, Series, Miniseries or Movie
Thomas Haden Church, Broken Trail
Jeremy Irons, Elizabeth I
Justin Kirk, Weeds
Masi Oka, Heroes
Jeremy Piven, Entourage

Should Win: Jeremy Piven
Snubbed: Gerald McRaney, Deadwood

These last two are strange because they bridge together a bunch of categories, comedy and drama series with miniseries and TV movies. So lots of people are snubbed. We can live with this as the show would go on all night if they pulled them all apart.

But I guess Annette Bening fits into that category of respected and versatile actor who has an open invite to host. But unfortunately the writers did not know how to turn her into comedy gold. Like real estate agent jokes from the seven-years gone American Beauty was the best they could do?

Musically it was also strange as there were two guests, Gwen Stefani and Akon. Leading up the show I assumed Gwen was the main guest with two songs, the second of which being a duet with Akon from her new album. But since Akon has the nation's No. 2 and 3 singles he got equal time. (That's SNL showing their hip, no?) That song "I Wanna Luv You" was severely lacking the smooth verses of Snoop Dogg, as it was just the chorus stuck on repeat for 4 minutes. Terrible. They could have easily found some other homies to rap out a verse or two if Snoop was tied up in jail.

To start I took a small tour of the grounds led by a former Playmate. Saw the exotic birds, Coco the chimpanzee and some monkeys.

It wasn't an official Hef-thrown party but rented out by Axe body spray so the level of celebrity was probably a little off. First I saw Stephen Dorff, a reputed regular. He was short with a real wide head and seemed to be friends with all the bunnies. Then there was a bunch of guys from The Office. The C-level cast from the show, not Carrell or Dwight, but that fat white guy who is lazy, that old pervy dude with the buzzcut and the middle-aged redhead woman who is an alchey.

Even ex-TV stars need love and so there were two randoms from Alias hanging at the outside bar. It was little Marshall, who is really hobbity and the guy who played Sark who bummed my lighter and didn't have an English accent. Later on I saw him with his hand down some chick's backless dress.

As the night went on, we got some bigger stars to appear. Kendra from The Girls Next Door was kicking it in her Chargers jersey with Nick Cannon, star of MTV and the only other guy besides me to wear a tie to the party. Later on Carmen Electra was in his couch area near the dance floor. Then came the biggest star of the night, Mr. Colin Farrell. He was with three of his "boys" who seemed to be random party dudes without much game. Farrell was laid back in jeans and a fisherman hat but with a buzz of girls gathering around him. He disappeared for awhile into the night only to return at closing time. Where do the A-listers get to go at the mansion?

For my take the best celebrity was Trent from Pink is the New Blog. We ran into each other doing a most "touristy" thing, taking a picture of the grotto, and he was very gracious and very cool. He does a good write-up of the party with lots of pictures.

I love the show but this would be the dramatically correct thing to do.

Good stories have three acts and with the fall finale Prison Break is about to enter it's third. Act One was escaping the prison, Act Two was the furious manhunt and now Act Three is bringing down the conspiracy. With Kellerman teaming up with the boys to go after Madame President the end seems in sight. Like within the next 12 episodes. That's all it needs and what a great 12 episodes they would be.

But of course it won't end there. There will be some strange twist leading to an Act Four and more and yeah, I'll keep watching.

BTW, Prison Break is in the news today because of the fatal car accident involving Lane Garrison ("Tweener"). His car hit a tree killing one teenaged passenger. Sad

I couldn't actually recall the actor's name at first. Wentworth Miller, and when I did decided it would just be better if he was named Michael Scofield. Who wants to say "Yeah Wentworth! Way to go on that fall finale"? "Yo Scofield, keep running" is so much better.

But I said nothing. I'm not that lame.

Since then I felt strangely connected with the show and was on the edge of my nerves for the fall finale last night. Of course it was vastly different than my dream, much less of a nightmare than I went through. But it was great and at the end of course completely surprising.

Just when I wondered where the show could go here comes a new direction. The boys and Agent Kellerman versus the president. Kellerman cannot be trusted and deserves a slow death but I was glad to see him on top of his game again. His shooting of Mahone seemed to be the end for William Fichtner's run on the show. Since I was in his head during my dream I am sad for his demise. Here was a guy trapped trying to get his life back and now it's over.

That seems to be the whole point of Prison Break. Levels of levels of people trapped to cover up or uncover some original sin. From Michael and Lincoln as scapegoats chased by Mahone who is blackmailed by Kellerman while he is squeezed by Richard Kim who himself is bossed by a cold hard old white dude. Everyone in that chain just wants this all to go away. What was the spark that started everything? Can it be erased so everyone can go home?

Heavy stuff. And I haven't even brought up T-Bag's double murder spree and Bellick's ironic cruel fate.

This year since April alone there have been almost 10 films with cutesy animals or inanimate objects brought to life through celebrity VO's. We've had barnyard animals, bugs, cars and even whatever gets Flushed Away in the toilet.

What makes less sense to me is which ones are hits and which ones fail. Now that there are more of them, some just don't catch on with the public, like last summer's The Ant Bully.

Films Since April 2006/Earnings
Happy Feet $42MM to date
Flushed Away $48MM to date
Open Season $83MM
Cars $244MM
Over the Hedge $155MM
Ice Age: Meltdown $195MM
Barnyard $73MM
The Ant Bully $28MM
The Wild $37MM

To me they are all the same and I can't imagine how a kid would discern between them all. Don't parents just line up their brats on opening weekend no matter if its a ferret or sea monster that Robin Williams is voicing this time?

I'm just extra pissed because the great new James Bond picture fell to kiddie fare. But making $40 million is one of the best openings for the 007 franchise and opens the door to many more.

Since the escape from Fox River prison these are questions I have pondered but they finally dealt with it on this episode. Michael admitted to his "sin of righteousness" in thinking everything was okay as long as it helped to save his brother. Does that include letting T-Bag get back on the streets? Or letting injured men die as he was clearly conflicted on what to do once that thug got shot.

The rest of the show also dealt with choosing between right and wrong. Kellerman did not want to kill Sarah where in the past he would have no problem dispensing with someone in the way like her. Agent Mahone is grappling with his tie to the conspiracy as he once was a good guy agent and family guy and would like to return to that. Lincoln Scofield doesn't want to leave his son as his father did him, but he has to in order to keep him out of harm's way.

One person who remains without compunction is T-Bag who took out ex-guard Roy Geary. There the ambiguity lies with us. Do we cheer T-Bag's latest killing? Are we fans of murderers and what does that mean if we are? Ask the Dexter fans.

Prison Break remains interesting for these reasons. The "bad" guys are cool and the "good" guys are crooked. Actually it's more complex than that, not black & white, which makes for good drama and characters in my book.

So yes it has been too long since I put out a mix. A lot has changed since then -- the shorter days, the browner leaves, a new congress and 50% less K-Fed. New music though has been a constant for me and now it's time to share.

Download it here!

Starting with a great Killers track that for some insane reason is not on Sam's Town. Aside from "When You Were Young" it is my favorite new song from them. Then we have the return of The Shins going back to more trippy sounds on their upcoming album Wincing the Night Away, which I prefer over the easy listening vibe they got into after becoming Zach Braff's favorite band.

Then I got my hip hop, which I am sure doesn't work for everyone. But you can't dispute Nas as an MC even if he thinks "Hip Hop is Dead." I follow that up with his wife Kelis for some R&B to blend into the Justin remix (I know there are haters of this song!) and onto Snoop Dogg, Akon and friends with the clean version of this.

Some new indie bands to note this month are The Blow, Roman Numerals, The Legends and Honeycut. All very different but with elements of electronica and synth pop that I like a lot. This sound of "now" is rooted in the 80s but through these artists sound pretty fresh to me. The whole thing ends with a synth instrumental that actually is from the early 80s, a film soundtrack I think.

On this mix there happened to be a lot of female singers. There is Kelis, Siouxise with a great old track featured in the new Marie Antoinette film, The Blow, Brazilian Girls and Sasha Dobson (KCRW track of the day).

Download (Zip file)

The Killers - All the Pretty Faces
The Rapture - Gotta Get Myself Into It
Honeycut - The Day I Turned to Glass
Titan - Bonanza Edomex
Nas - Hip Hop is Dead
Kelis - Trilogy
Justin Timberlake - My Love (Oakenfold Radio Edit)
Snoop Dogg - I Wanna Luv You
Siouxsie & the Banshees - Hong Kong Garden
The Blow - Pardon Me
Roman Numerals - The Rule of V
Deftones - Cherry Waves
Brazilian Girls - Last Call
Sasha Dobson - Without You
The Legends - Disco Sucks
Emerald Web - Refraction