Catholic Skywalker Awards - Best in Television 2024

 With 2024 coming to a close, it is time for us to choose what the best entertainment of the year was.  And just as the Academy Awards have their "Oscars", so too the Catholic Skywalker Awards have their "Kal-El's"

To reiterate:  the reasons for choosing a Superman statue as it's award, and not something from Star Wars are 3-fold:

1.  The Catholic Skywalker Awards will cover movies, television, and comic books.  Superman is an icon for all three.
2.  The pose he has here, revealing his inner hero, is symbolic of the revelation of truth and beauty that we should find in all good art.
3.  It's a statue I actually own, so I can use this photo on my blog.

And now we here at Catholic Skywalker would like to celebrate the best in Television this year.

There are a lot of wonderful (so I'm told) programs out there that, unfortunately, time has not permitted me to see such as  Shogun or Fallout.

Shows we watch:

DRAMA	COMEDY	REALITY
Will Trent	Bad Monkey	Dancing with the Stars
Presumed Innocent	George and Mandy's First Marraige	Suvivor
High Potential	Nobody Wants This	The Amazing Race
The Chosen	Happy's Place	Welcome to Wrexham
Cobra Kai	Fraiser	The Floor
The Acolyte	Only Murders in the Building
The Rookie	SNL
X-Men '97	Animal Control
Reacher	St. Denis Medical
Doctor Oddysey	Simpsons
Superman and Lois	Man on the Inside
The Penguin	Ted
Matlock
The Irrational
Star Wars: The Skeleton Crew
Creature Commandos
Tracker

DISCLAIMER:

More so than in years past, it has been difficult to find television shows that are not morally compromised.  This is not a new problem.  Television throughout the years has portrayed and promoted lifestyles that are contrary to the Gospel.  Shows like Cheers, Night Court, Friends, The Big Bang Theory, etc have characters living in immoral ways without addressing that context.  This is especially true of the comedies.  In drama, you can deal with the complexities of human sin in a more ambiguous way than in the modern comedy.

That does not mean that just because a show has good morals that it is therefore a good piece of art.  But a show with bad morals makes the show less artistically excellent.  In fact, there are many people who will not engage with any of these shows because of their content.  I am someone who does engage with the content.  Particularly in the area of the sitcom, my choice of the best of the year is not something that excuses the content.  It is a statement of the shows excellence in comparison to the other shows in the category.  And as I said, almost every show has something that is morally compromising.  Therefore, keep that in mind when I am awarding the shows.

Best Drama:

Superman and Lois

From my review:

Of all of the CW DC shows, Superman and Lois always felt the most cinematic.  While there are severe limitations on a series like this, the film makers do great work with what they have.  There is an amazing shot of Superman standing resolute in the middle of the street, with slow-motion explosions behind him that adds such a powerfully dramatic look to the final confrontation.

The performances are generally excellent.  I already called out Cudlitz.  But Tyler Hoechlin (Clark) and Elizabeth Tulloch (Lois) at their best.  Both of them face impossible odds and we can see the full emotional spectrum play out.  In one of the best moments, Superman is losing the fight.  Lois revives him and he finds out that she sent their sons into the battle.  Superman argues with her about how it is his job to protect them, but she argues that he needs their help and that they have to become men now.  My summary does not do justice to all the conflicting emotions of fear, pride, love, and resolve that are all at play in that scene.

And scenes like this highlight the wonderful thematic elements of the show.  The main conceit ("Superman and Lois Lane Raise Teenagers") was always grounded in primal truths about parenthood.  The show asks the question: how do you raise teens to become good people in a fallen world?  By placing it in the context of a comic book story, it elevates the question rather than denigrating it.  It shows that passing on virtue to your children is the most heroic thing imaginable.

This is true, even when the odds seem impossible.  To the show's great credit, Clark and Lois are not perfect Mary Sues who always get it right.  They are flawed, but their flaws are always grounded in one of their good qualities.  In the above example, Clark desperately wants to be a good father.  Men know in their bones that a good father will do everything he can to protect his family, even if it means he has to die.  But because of this, he is sometimes blind to the fact that he is not as strong as he used to be and that he has to accept help from his children.  How often do we see this this struggle play out in our own family dynamics as the years go by?

All of the stories with their plot-threads and themes find a good resolution in this finale.  But it is the 10-minute epilogue at the end that casts this finale into the stratosphere.

The pilot episode began with a prologue, narrated by Clark.  The finale ends with an epilogue narrated by him as well.  The symmetry of it is quite beautiful.  And here is also where the finale sets itself apart.  Most finales end with an ellipses, where you leave the story open to imagined further adventures.  

This finale ends on an exclamation point.  This is the definitive end to the story.

But even more than that, the show brings the focus back to what is at the heart of the story.  The big superhero flights of fancy are only there to protect the core.  CS Lewis wrote about the state and he said this:

“The State exists simply to promote and to protect the ordinary happiness of human beings in this life. A husband and wife chatting over a fire, a couple of friends having a game of darts in a pub, a man reading a book in his own room or digging his own garden--that is what the State is there for. And unless they are helping to increase and prolong and protect such moments, all the laws, parliaments, armies, courts, police, economics, etc., are simply a waste of time.”

The point Lewis is making is that all of the extraordinary powers should be at the service at ordinary life.  Superman and Lois uses all of its spectacular super powered adventures to remind us that the true meaning of life can be found.  And above all there is a focus on love.

I remember a story about St. John the Apostle.  Whenever he would give a homily, he would always preach about love.  When someone confronted him about why he was always preaching about love and John replied, "Because that's all there is!"

Superman and Lois reminds us about this truth.  There is something deeply profound about how the show sums up everything here.

And so we will end with the final words of the show:

And suddenly it came to me, what life is all about. Joy, hope, forgiveness, wonder, friendship, family, love... it was all because of love. It’s the thing that makes love worth living. Do everything you can to find love, to give it, to hold onto it, because life, it goes by so fast.”

Runners-up

-The Chosen

-X-Men '97

-Presumed Innocent

-The Penguin

Best Comedy

A Man on the Inside

I was not expecting this show to be as good as it was.

The concept of the show was simple: a lonley widower answers an ad in the newspaper from a private detective to go undercover in a retirement community to solve a theft.  There are several ways the show could have played out.  But above all, A Man on the Inside focused on the very human foibles, relationships, and challenges of growing old in America today.  While I am not what you would call elder, I am probably on the back half of my life.  So thoughts about the future, aging, and retirement are often on my mind.  And as I get older, I can relate to how many of the people in the show are feeling: the world they grew up in has passed them by and they are doing their best to get along in modernity.

What could have been a show that was scathing and cynical or overly maudlin instead told the story with a mostly light touch but it knew exactly where to insert the weight of heavy emotion.  The entire cast was wonderful and you get to see some real acting veterans like Sally Struthers, John Getz, Veronica Cartwright, and Stephen McKinley Henderson shine in their roles.

And while the show would sometimes touch on sad topics like dementia or abandonment by children, it never lost its playful humor.  And because of that, when the season was over, you felt better for having watched it.  

Runners-up

Only Murders in the Building

Bad Monkey

Simpsons

Frasier

Best Actor in a Drama

Colin Farrel - Penguin

I am not exaggerating when I saw that Farrell's performance as Oz Cobb is nothing short of astonishing.  He completely disappears into the part and I don't just mean because of how he carries his body underneath all of that makeup.  I am truly amazed at how he speaks with the cadence of a Cagney-esque mobster without it ever once feeling fake or contrived.  As I wrote in my review:  I couldn't take my eyes off of him.  He reminds me so much of Robert DeNiro in The Untouchables.  He carries in him the same intelligence and menace, but he also lets you behind that danger to see a real character underneath with just enough humanity to make us emotionally invest in him despite his crimes."

And he never cheats the character.  He is evil down to his core and he never lets you forget it.  The glimpses of humanity and sympathy that the brings to the surface are real, but they only serve to remind you that even evil people are human in the end.

Runners-up
Jake Gyllenhaal - Presumed Innocent

Tyler Hoelchin - Superman and Lois

Jesse L. Martin - The Irrational

Jonathan Roumie - The Chosen

Best Actress in a Drama

Christin Millioti - Penguin

From my review:

"Millioti is fantastic as well.  She doesn't try to be a hyper-masculine girl-boss that stands toe-to-toe with Oz.  But her menace is horribly believable.  This is very hard to achieve.  I remember when I watched The Last of Us and Melanie Lynskey was the leader of an an insurgent army.  She would boss around men twice her size who cowered in front of her, but it rang false and artificial.  Because of that, I couldn't buy into the story.  But Millioti brings a simmering insanity boiling under her calm surface.  She is scary because she is a crazy person backed by violent men and dirty money.  On top of that, she is as smart, if not smarter than Oz and Millioti knows exactly the right buttons to push to keep us on edge."

As the show kept pushing forward and the layers of her character were peeled away, you could see all the emotional scars that eventually made her into who she was.  And Millioti was every bit the acting powerhouse as Farrell, which is why their rivalry on screen was electric.

Runners-up

Kathy Bates - Matlock

Elizabeth Tulloch - Superman and Lois

Ruth Negga  - Presumed Innocent

Katlyn Olson - High Potential

Best Supporting Actor, Drama

Michael Cudlitz - Superman and Lois

From this blog:

"I will admit that this choice is very fresh, but I could not help being overwhelming impressed with it.  Like Shea, he plays a little older and more experienced that Superman.  But he also carries with him an incredible physical presence.  There is a scene in the final season when Superman confronts Luthor on the road.  Lex gets out of his car and walks up to Superman and stares him down in a heated confrontation.  What was amazing was that you could see how Superman was intimidated and it was absolutely believable.  Cudlitz was able to show a rougher, less-refined side of Luthor, but he seamlessly transitioned into the corporate titan.  Everything about him embodied the best (or if you will "the worst") in Lex Luthor from the comic books."

Runners-up

Peter Sarsgaard -  Presumed Innocent

Joey Vahedi - The Chosen

Bill Camp- Presumed Innocent

Rhenzy Feliz - Penguin

 

Best Supporting Actress, Drama

Deirdre O'Connell - Penguin

What could have been a simple character performance about a mother with dementia, O'Connell add so much more anguished depth to the part.  She is not only someone whose mind is slipping away with age.  She is also going insane in the same way as Lady Macbeth: she has compromised with real evil and her soul is paying the price.  But her fragile mental state and her helplessness often obscure her complicity.  All of this is played to perfection by O'Connell.  She is someone who knowingly allowed evil into her life for her own gain.  She sold her soul and you can see in O'Connell's performance that in return for that bargain, she never reaped any benefit.  

Runners-up

Amy Bailey -  The Chosen

Elizabeth Tabish -  The Chosen

Chase Infiniti- Presumed Innocent

Philippa Soo - Doctor Odyssey

Best Actor, Comedy

Ted Danson - A Man on the Inside

I am not exaggerating when I say that this might be Ted Danson's best performance.  While he will never create a character as iconic as Sam Malone on Cheers, Danson has maintained an incredibly impressive career with shows since like Becker, The Good Place, and Mr. Mayor.  

But A Man on the Inside lets Danson show off his absolute range as an actor all while maintaining a sense of class and dignity that makes him feel like an elder-statesman of television.  

All of his acting decisions feel like they come from the truth of the character.  He is playing the spy and he is so giddy at this role that he cannot help let that enthusiasm leak out in improper ways.  He is alternately a fish-out-of-water and then a man whose found a new family.  As he comes to really connect with the people in the retirement community, Danson shows us non-verbally how much his deception is getting to him.

His Charles plays true to his age, holding his deepest emotions as close to the vest as possible, especially with his daughter.  But when the dam finally breaks and Danson lets loose the torrent of pain and guilt that has built up, it is so powerful that you forget that this iconic comedic actor has such incredible dramatic skills.  

As I said, I think it is Danson's finest performance.

Runners-up

Vince Vaughn - Bad Monkey

Kelsey Gramar- Fraiser

Adam Brody - Nobody Wants This

Steve Martin - Only Murders in the Building

Best Actress, Comedy

Kristen Bell - Nobody Wants This

This is a show that I do not like.  Despite that, Bell does a fantastic job as Joanne, the mature-content podcaster who falls for a rabbi (Adrian Brody).  Even though the show itself ultimately fails because of the content, the performances helped me stay on through to the end.  

Bell is incredibly unlikeable at the beginning of the series.  Her personality is so abrasive and off-putting, but Bell infuses her with just enough humanity so that you can see why Brody's character would be interested in her.  As the show goes on, you can feel Joanne get more an more overwhelmed by entering uncharted waters.  Not only has she never had a successful romantic relationship but she is an outsider to her boyfriend's community.  You can see the small moments of growth in Bell's performance as Joanne opens herself up and makes herself more vulnerable.  And this makes every hurt and setback all the more painful.  And all of this Bell does with her trademark charisma and charm.

Runners-up

Natalie Martinez - Bad Monkey

Selena Gomez - Only Murders in the Building

Allison Tolman- St. Denis Medical

Emily Osment- Georgie and Mandy's First Marriage

Best Supporting Actor, Comedy

Rob Delaney - Bad Monkey

I am always fascinated when I watch a story where someone loses their soul by inches and degrees.  And you can see this in the very underrated Bad Monkey.  Delaney's character is a fantastic foil to Vince Vaughn's protagonist Andrew Yancy.  Where Yancy has such a firm moral code that it has cost him dearly in his personal and professional life, Delaney's Christopher has such a weak and flexible moral code that his lets himself be manipulated into worse and worse crimes.  

What is so fascinating is that Delaney plays Christopher mostly as a banal, inoffensive dorky dad.  THis show is a comedy and his performance is actually often very funny.  Yet his evil does not feel false.  Delaney shows us how small compromises by weak men slowly turn them into monsters.  When realization does finally wash over him he is so broken down by everything he has done that Delaney is still able to make you feel sorrow for his sorry state.

Runners-up

Nicholas Lyndhurst - Frasier

Martin Short - Only Murderers in the Building

Stephen McKinley Henderson - A Man on the Inside

David Alan Grier - St. Denis Medical

Best Supporting Actress, Comedy

Meredith Hagner - Bad Monkey

Where other actors in Bad Monkey like Vince Vaughn and Rob Delaney add layers of nuance and moral complexity to their characters, Meredith Hagner's Eve Stripling is pure evil.  And Hagner bites into the role with such ferocity that you can believe that she could manipulate so many people into horrible evil.  

The performance works so well because Hagner gives you no humanity to hold onto so she has to draw you in with her wicked charisma.  Her Eve is not as smart as she thinks she is.  But she is smarter than most people think, so she takes advantage of how they underestimate her.  That is why you can see the intense fear in her eyes over Yancy, who can cut through her act and see the villain that she is.  Hagner is almost a breath of fresh air in that she lets you feel good about hating her because all of her humanity is stripped away.  The audacity of her wickedness not only is shocking but is oddly funny, which strikes just the right comedic tone.

Runners-up

Veronica Cartwright - A Man on the Inside

Stephanie Beatriz - A Man on the Inside

Wendi McLendon-Covey - St. Denis Medical

Justine Lupe- Nobody Wants This

Stay tuned for the Catholic Skywalker Awards for Best Movies of 2024