Staff Picks: All We Want For Christmas Is...

Happy Holidays TVRage readers! I hope you are all cozied up in your Christmas jammies, with your closest family and friends, spending this holiday season by exchanging gifts and love. Here at TVRage we spent a lot of time thinking about what it is we want most for Christmas this year. Being the raging TV addicts that we are, of course, we have just a few requests for Santa. Dear Santa, this year for Christmas, TVRage wants…

Allyson Koerner:

All I Want for Christmas Is More Time to Watch TV (and Michael Weatherly Under My Tree):

Dear Santa, besides wanting you to deliver Michael Weatherly (above) Ian Somerhalder, Stephen and Robbie Amell, Simon Baker and every amazing, gorgeous and talented actor to my doorstep, I'd like you to work your magic by extending each day by a few hours, or add another day to the week, or maybe slow down time, or stop time completely, so I can watch every single TV show I'm missing out on. Don't we all wish there were more hours in the day? Well, rather than wanting more hours to get work done, I want more time to watch TV. Come on, Santa! I still have yet to watch an episode of 'Breaking Bad,' 'The Walking Dead,' 'Fringe,' 'Sons of Anarchy,' 'Scandal,' 'Sherlock,' and so many more! Please, won't you let me do what is technically my job and let me have more time to watch the fabulous world that is TV? I'd appreciate it very much if you could make my wish come true. And, yes, I've been a very good girl this year (except for throwing an expletive here and there when a show didn't go my way), Allyson.

Rachel Anne:

Dear Santa, I know you have been making a list and checking it twice. I hope on your second perusal of the list you didn’t notice those few times I swore at my television and went to bed way past my bed time. This year for Christmas, I would like to ask you to bring me more exciting shows with smart writing and dynamic characters. 2013 was undoubtedly a great year for television. We saw ‘Breaking Bad’ come to an end, with some of the best writing I have ever seen. This series kept you glued to the edge of your seat and left you with the feeling that you were a part of something truly great – a little piece of television history. Binge watching episodes of ‘Breaking Bad’ felt good, it felt right. It was almost like spending 14 hours glued to my television in my pajamas was what I was born for. On top of this, networks like Netflix hit us full force with the renewal of ‘Arrested Development,’ and the introduction of some fantastic new original programming, with ‘Orange Is the New Black’ and ‘House of Cards.’

On the other hand, 2013 also continued some disappointing television trends. Santa, I am getting tired of sitting down to some of my favorite shows to be underwhelmed with sloppy writing and predictable outcomes. Why do so many excellent television shows get so lazy? The cliffhanger endings just for the sake of a cliffhanger, the unnecessary drama, the endlessly frustrating love triangles, and the all-around just bad writing. Some shows seem to have been bigger offenders than others this year. I’m looking at you, ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ and Shonda. Not every character needs to have a near death experience, a crisis in their marriage and a case of OCD. I’m a gal who likes to not only be entertained by her television shows, but challenged, excited and impressed. These lousy attempts at shock value and getting a cheap laugh from the audience just aren’t working for me anymore.  So, Santa, this year I would like the great new series’ and excellent writing to keep on coming. If you have any extra coal, make sure to stuff some in the stocking of some of those terrible TV offenders. You know who you are…

Kelly Schremph:

I don't know about you guys, but I've been extremely good this year (paying for parking tickets is optional, right?) and am more than ready to collect my usual bevy of Christmas treats from ole Saint Nick. This year, I would like to submit a request that 'Happy Endings' be brought back to the small screen. The series was unjustly canceled earlier this year, which has since sent many dedicated fans into an unhealthy depression. (Seriously, guys, I've been drinking so much NocheTussin lately, it's insane and probably extremely bad for me.) The show has so many more seasons of hilarity to give and it just seems such a shame that we're all missing out. So please, Santa, make the TV-powers-that-be realize the error of their ways and bring this lovable gang back into our lives. 'Arrested Development' did it, so why not 'Happy Endings'? (FYI, there's an extra batch of cookies in it for you, if you make this happen.)

Brianne Hogan:

This year for Christmas, I want Santa to bring me more series focusing on strong, multi-faceted, funny and dynamic women. And, oh yeah, I want them to be written by women, too. 

Much has been said about 2013 being a good year for women on television. The estrogen-heavy 'Orange Is the New Black' was all we talked about this summer. Kerry Washington and Tatiana Masley turned in stellar performances in 'Scandal' and 'Orphan Black,' respectively, all season-long. Then there's the old standbys like Anna Gunn from 'Breaking Bad' and Claire Danes in 'Homeland,' who were, of course, brilliant. But those shows are sometimes too dark for my taste, and frankly, I'm kind of tired of seeing women being portrayed as "messed up" or "broken" all the time. 

I want to see women funny again, but not "dumb funny" or "sexy funny," like we often see onscreen now ('Mom,' anyone? '2 Broke Girls'?). I want strong funny. I want 'Murphy Brown' funny. I want 'I Love Lucy' funny. Shows that starred flawed, funny ladies, which were written by women. 

Murphy and Lucy weren't afraid to fall on their faces, sometimes figuratively, sometimes literally. They weren't afraid to be human or unlikeable, but, at the same time, they could also deliver a damn good punch line.

Nowadays, I see these qualities in 'Veep' and its star Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Edie Falco in 'Nurse Jackie' and sometimes in Mindy Kaling on 'The Mindy Project.'  But we need more. Because, despite what Christopher Hitchens and his henchmen might say, women are funny. And we're smart. So, let's showcase both.

Thanks, Santa. 

Anthony Marcusa:

If only there were a platform for peculiar, cultish, subversive comedy that features a man and his robot friends making fun of bad movies. Oh wait, there is Netflix!

And thus we’ve the marriage that fans of the beloved and enduring ‘Mystery Science Theatre 3000’ can embrace. Yes, the brilliant minds behind the long-running '90s series are still working hard, producing ‘riff tracks’ and taking the show on tour, but the TV show could still have life.

Originally on Comedy Central and later on Sci Fi, ‘MST3K’ would find a great home on Netflix, where users can watch at their leisure and the show doesn’t need to conform to specific formatting. In fact, Netflix has already aired new ‘MST3K,’ sort of. Twice in Season 4 of ‘Arrested Development,’ exclusively on Netflix, ‘MST3K’ popped up, with cameos and new riffs by Joel Hodgson and Trace Beaulieu.

So please Santa, or Reed Hastings, please bring back Crow T. and Tom Servo and all the hysterical brains as soon as possible – there are so many terrible movies out there!

Michael Stevenson:

Santa is many things. He's a jolly old toymaker with an impossibly large sack. He's the world's greatest home invader, stealthily breaking into millions of occupied residences every single Christmas Eve. He's also someone who enjoys tracking the sleeping patterns of children. Santa is indeed a very complicated man, with nobody really understanding him besides his woman. Most of all though, he's a bringer of gifts and fulfiller of wishes, both large and small. To that end, here are three TV related presents I would love to find under my tree:

1. A renewal for 'Haven': The fourth season of this Syfy original series was perhaps the best written yet, and it would be an absolute shame to end things on such a terrific cliffhanger. This is the first time I can ever recall 'Haven' not being renewed before the end of its current season.

2. Better ratings for 'Hannibal': This NBC series turned out better than I could have possibly imagined, with Mads Mikkelsen inhabiting the role of Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter as if he had been put on Earth to play the part. If 'Hannibal' keeps earning 0.9s, the second season will be its last.

3. A new horror/sci-fi anthology series: I was overjoyed when The CW announced a reboot of 'Tales from the Darkside,' only to have my hopes dashed when it was made clear that the show would not adhere to the classic "new story every week" anthology format. I really believe that the anthology genre could make a comeback, if someone would only do it right. The world needs another 'Twilight Zone,' 'Night Gallery,' or 'Tales from the Crypt.'

Happy Holidays, from everyone here at TVRage!