5. LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN (NBC) "Paul, I feel like a million bucks!" brayed Our Dave recently; wearing a crisp, dollar-green tie, Letterman was not-so-subtly signaling to all of us Late Nightniks that he is reenergized and relishing his current status as the talk-show host every network wants to sign. Letterman was great as a cranky demon early in the year, nursing his wounds and sharpening his grudges in the aftermath of the Jay Leno — Tonight Show decision; he's exhilarating now, glorying in his newfound power. And no matter what happens, he's too moody, too inherently insecure, to let it go to his choppily cut head.
6. I'LL FLY AWAY (NBC) The characterizations and emotions in this drama set in the late '50s/early '60s South are so finely calibrated that when housekeeper Lilly Harper (Regina Taylor) recently asked her employer, Forrest Bedford (Sam Waterston), for a raise, the nerve-racking suspense generated by this simple but bold request was extraordinary. The only dramatic series on this list, I'll Fly Away puts other serious shows to shame — for the elegant restraint of its actors (there's never a false note struck in Taylor's performance), for its subtle yet frank plots about African-American struggles, for its steamy yet discreet love affair between Bedford and his law colleague Christina LeKatzis (Kathryn Harrold).
7. THE BEN STILLER SHOW (Fox) The year's best sketch-comedy series tackles big, well-known subjects — savaging all of Oliver Stone's movies in five precise minutes, for example — as well as small, obscure ones (this is the only show that assumes grunge-rock pinup Courtney Love is a figure worthy of satiric ridicule). More cutting than Saturday Night Live, the Stiller Show is sneering, mean, supercilious comedy at its best, with a star who's unafraid to make himself look like a vain jerk. No wonder it's sitting at the bottom of the ratings.
8. DREAM ON (HBO) Brian Benben has become the best farceur on television, and this year the R-rated sitcom that folds clips of old black-and-white movies and TV shows into its story lines has deepened its comedy with the increased role for Michael McKean as Benben's boss, the Australian publisher, Gibby. He's a hilariously venal greedhead who brings out the best in our sputtering hero.
9. BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (Fox) No adult who has followed my recommendation to check out this bleakest, artiest of all commercial cartoon shows has been disappointed. Day after day — and now on Sunday nights as well — the Fox version of Batman pulls off a neat trick: It's funny film noir, with uniquely stylized animation that gives the Cowled Crusader an aura of malevolent melancholy.
10. CHEERS (NBC) Last year, Cheers seemed to have run its karmic bar tab to the limit. Now, perhaps invigorated by the fact that this is its last season, the show is swift and funny again. Burning down the bar as a season opener proved symbolic of new heat; rebuilding it was, in retrospect, a sweet joke.
