Series of the Year

6 24 Fox
The drama's best season yet saw toxin attacks and shocking deaths (oh, Edgar!), assassinations and Agent Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) at his most earthy (the Western-style cowpoke shirt helped). But the real action went down within the twisted confines of the president's inner circle. As a petulant bully-weakling of a Commander-in-Chief, Gregory Itzin was more fearsome than any of 24's terrorists. And Jean Smart rose to the occasion as his unhinged but ultimately steely wife — presenting a dazzling portrait of a (First) lady.

7 The Office NBC
Were it not executed with such care, The Office could be one of those smug, dorks-are-cool shows: Mock the guy who does Jell-O shots, herald the guy who makes fun of the guy who does Jell-O shots. The Office, however, manages to deride idiot manager Michael (Steve Carell) without entirely damning him. It's a crafty dissection of prejudice, rudeness, and selfishness, coming from fairly good intentions and a deep fount of neediness. But The Office is even better as a comedy about connections: Some are missed (the lame joke, the fizzled-out proposition), but just as many are made (a daylong game of jinx, a funeral for a bird). Never has workplace networking been so awkwardly amusing.

8 Broken Trail AMC
Horses twitch and sway like schools of fish; breath turns to ice; old men mutter words that are more consolation than courtship: ''I'd pay $40 to watch you hang your laundry all day long,'' Robert Duvall's weary cowboy says to a fallen woman. Walter Hill's Western follows Duvall and his nephew (Thomas Haden Church) as they drive their horses to market in the dwindling days of the 19th century — along the way they grudgingly, then fiercely, come to adopt five Chinese girls being sold into prostitution. Broken Trail is about decency, kindness, and the hard choice of right over wrong, filmed with a beauty and scope usually reserved for theaters. Hill (The Long Riders, The Warriors) has created the most gorgeously straightforward Western since Unforgiven.

9 Dirty Jobs Discovery Channel
This election year featured endless talk about the minimum wage and the dying middle class. But no series really brings that home like Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs. An easygoing and respectful show, Dirty sends unassuming host Mike Rowe out to do the work we need done but rarely dwell on. Wrangling hogs, banging railroad ties, shucking clams, or fixing machinery in the poo-covered tunnels of a sewage-treatment plant, Rowe is a curious, hardworking, and charming guest. To watch him gently coax a reticent ironworker into chatting with him is to realize how patronizing most TV journalists are. To watch these people do their demanding, dirty jobs is an inspiring reminder never to complain about your own.

10 Heroes NBC
American mythology at its purest. Regular people (a nurse, a schoolgirl, an office worker) discover extraordinary powers (flying, regenerating, bending time) and are called forth to serve a greater good. In the spirit of American individuality, they must accept the gifts that make them different. But in the spirit of American modesty, they must also cooperate: One guy's gifts work only when he channels them from another hero, while the villain steals powers he hasn't earned — definitely a no-no. This comic-book story is expertly acted, thickly moral, visually lush, and more entertaining than a dozen popcorn superhero movies put together.

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