I realise it may seem a little early to get all "that was the year that was", but this is the second last Tube Ray Army for the year, so let's all hold hands and pump up Auld Lang Syne.

It's been a great year for television in a broader context, even if the HBO/Showtime/Starz (etc) productions - Boardwalk Empire et al - now seem to occupy a sensibility that is so unique and lushly orchestrated it almost seems pertinent to create a whole new genre/medium for them, since calling them mere "TV shows" seems almost insulting.

It remains to be seen whether Australia's burgeoning digital networks will step up to challenge Foxtel's record for producing excellent comedy and drama without a worry about ratings or advertising. 

Locally, though, most of my highlights came from the various disasters of light entertainment, whether it was The Logie Awards, the ARIA Awards, or Ke$ha doing a glitter-spewing lapdance for Kochie on Sunrise.


Why don't we enjoy that again?


Australian drama seemed stuck in a strange grey area between fizzy fantasy and straight adult drama - both the schizoidly zany/madcap Offspring and, to a lesser extent, the far better Spirited, felt as though there were great shows hiding beneath a patina of distancing gimmickry.

And don't get me started on those bastard bubble metaphors on Packed To The Rafters.

But without question the absolute, #1 highlight for me this year was the opening production number of the finale of So You Think You Can Dance Australia (which, thus, leads into the year's lowlight: Ten's cancelling the show in its prime, an unusually callous and arbitrary move for a network not known for its rash programming decisions).



Production numbers are by their very nature usually, well, over-produced and emotionally underfed.

The SYTYCD finale, on the other hand, had it all: emotion in spades (even in spite of its 'home movie' video effects and syrupy music), brilliant choreography, and above all, a tribute to the magic of dance on the big screen, which is - let's face it - why shows like So You Think You Can Dance exist in the first place.

The finale perfectly captured the mythology of dance in cinema with a tribute to all the great dance movies, whether West Side Story, Saturday Night Fever, Grease, An American In Paris or The Red Shoes.

Too often these sorts of tributes pay lipservice only to the obvious choices, but SYTYCD took the brave route of not talking down to its audience, and in doing so, likely sowed the seeds of an enduring love of dance in the viewers - most of whom are so young they wouldn't have even heard of An American In Paris, much less seen it.

That Ten saw fit to cancel the show after such a moment of joyous brilliance seemed bitter in the extreme, but unlike its American counterpart, at least now we can say that SYTYCD Australia left us in its prime.

And we'll always have YouTube.