Ah, the new year. A new start, new goals, and new episodes and season springing up all over the place. While a lot of shows don’t come back until next week (or the week after), we here at SPJ managed to catch some TV rays in-between eating, napping, and opening presents.

So here’s what we thought about TV during our hiatus and beyond–tell us what you thought in the comments!

Ellen

Will Vinton’s A Claymation Christmas
Despite the fact that my parents have every cable channel known to man, plus every HD and movie channel, I didn’t watch a lot of TV over Christmas. Between catching up on blockbusters (yay Sherlock Holmes, boo Avatar) and studying the inside of my eyelids, I only had time for the essentials — and it just wouldn’t be the holiday season without this bizarre 1987 Christmas special featuring bantering dinosaurs, Quasimodo and the California Raisins. Shorts of ice-skating walruses and angelic children decorating a sparkling tree set to Christmas carols are knit together with the “humorous” stylings of Rex and Herb, a Bert and Ernie-esque duo who bicker in a manner that went way over my childhood head. It’s confounding, and I laugh straight through it every year (including the vintage ’80s commercials on our staticky VHS copy). Make sure you catch this Claymation magic next year.

Robert

Band of Brothers
It’s been several years since I’d seen this HBO miniseries, but revisiting it again recently brought back all the great moments I’d enjoyed about it including a few new ones. What was most surprising was seeing so many faces that hadn’t quite hit their stride yet back in 2001, like Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead), Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica), Neal McDonough (Boomtown) and Damian Lewis (Life). I don’t know if there’s anything that can be said about it that hasn’t been already, but Band of Brothers is one of those TV events that only comes around every once in a while–and with World War II ever-fading into history, may not happen again. Still, there may not be any better portrayal of the camaraderie and relationships that can form on the frontlines of war, and now that you can marvel at it on Blu-ray, it’s truly an experience to behold.

Dennis

The Real World, “Looks Can Be DC-ving”
This is the true story (sorry, I couldn’t resist) of eight strangers (yeah, they added an extra stranger a few seasons back, this still hasn’t stopped every new cast from wondering “so they’re eight of us?” when they’re all in the door) picked to live in our nation’s capital and, maybe not be as drunk and disorderly as recent casts? Seriously, I was surprised at how tame this season premiere was, comparatively speaking to recent casts. No hot tub threesomes, no alcohol poisoning hospitalizations. There was a serious discussion (albeit a bit uneducated) about the existence of God. There’s a bisexual girl who used to belong to a cult, a vegan conservative who looks like the lost child of Candace Cameron, and hell, even the show’s pretty boy, one of The Real World now requisite Abercrombie himbos has bisexual, (or, if the season preview is any indication) maybe-gay baggage.

I’d almost say The Real World might be getting back to its roots, but the cast admitted on the weird weekly after-show (what is there to talk about by the time of the reunion episode anymore?) that their hot tub experience was just edited out of the show, and the show’s kooky conservative cartoonist, Andrew is shown (probably while intoxicated) falling and being hospitalized later in the season. Still, I’ll settle for at least saying it has the potential to be the most watchable season in a few years.

Better Off Ted“The Great Repression”
Now onto the best TV comedy you’re not watching, and probably never will watch considering it’s about to get (bad office workplace pun alert!) canned. I checked Ted out last season and despite my love of Portia de Rossi, and appreciation of Andrea Anders  and Jay Harrington (even if they were on Joey and the Coupling remake), I didn’t give it much of a chance. Yet, like a glutton for TV misery, upon hearing that ABC was burning off the episodes through the TV viewer-free holiday season, I checked back in and I’m happy I did. The most recent sexual harassment-themed recent episode, which aired on New Year’s Day had me actually guffawing a few times. The most amazingly obscure quote of the night goes to Anders’ character: “I don’t want to lose this job. What am I supposed to do? Go back to Wisconsin and work in the cheese mines. After I made that big speech and threw down my cheese shovel and stormed out!” I’m going to miss this show. I look for TV love in all the wrong places.

Scrubs “Our New Girl-Bro”
ABC also appears to be burning off the ninth season of its (though two seasons ago, NBC’s) medical comedy, maybe having realized that writing a series finale for the show last season but then still bringing it back this year, just with James Franco’s little brother and a bunch of other new faces, perhaps wasn’t a good idea? Now I haven’t watched Scrubs consistently in years. I enjoyed it enough when it first debuted during the stale Friends end years, where Must See TV had laid down and let CSI and Survivor run over its corpse, but since other funnier shows showed up on the landscape I’ve mostly passed over it. And yet, this episode I checked out during The Great New Year’s Day ABC Laughter Burnoff of 2010 was halfway decent and reminded me why I ever watched in the first place. And maybe a cast change-up isn’t so bad. While this episode features the return of Scrubs 1.0 star Sarah Chalke (unfortunately now recurring), it’s actually Zach Braff-free. Quick, someone cue The Shins to signify my excitement over his absence!

One Life to Live, “Because The Night Belongs to Us”
Hey look, it’s the gayest thing to hit soap operas since the thespian brother of that guy from Scrubs showed up on General Hospital to make inadvertent bedroom eyes at mobsters: Daytime TV’s first gay sex scene.

CNN New Year’s Eve Live! With Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin
Having the unfortunate distinction of having the worst cold/fever thing in the history of the world and my life on New Year’s Eve, I was able to watch the entire CNN New Year’s Eve telecast with Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin. While I probably would’ve preferred getting out of my pajamas at some point, if I had to spend the night with any TV personalities, I’m happy I chose these two over (shudder) Ryan Seacrest or (double shudder) Carson Daly. Kathy spent all night freaking CNN censors out that she might curse (and maybe she let one slip), while Anderson looked on, alternating between giggling and squirming. Oh right, and at some point Anderson did an impersonation of Cher calling into C-SPAN. If swear-scared CNN fires Kathy next year, I won’t know what to do with myself to ring in 2011. These two started the new year off happy indeed.

Zoe

Modern Family
I caught up with the season thus far as part of my attempt to both waste time on the airplane and get involved in the, apparently, raging Community v. Modern Family debate. I have to say, while I suppose the fact that it took me this long to watch it aligns me with the Community camp, I enjoyed Modern Family enough to continue watching the season, especially when it comes back on the 6th. Like too many of the new shows, enough to enjoy, not enough to blow me away, yet. Fingers crossed for the new year.

Dexter, “The Getaway”
Since Dexter has been my hobbyhorse of complaining (shhh, that made sense) for the season I figure I’d give it some praise here: the finale has probably suckered me in for the fifth season. Overall, a way too dull, way too predictable, way too uninteresting season, but the finale did it right, showing what Dexter can, could, and used to be, when the writers actually put the time to, if not have things make sense, at least have them be driven and entertaining.

I did like Rita, though. One of the few!