POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

Since the decade is about to end in a mere few days, I figured this was a good time to document my favorite shows of the 2000's.

As you can see, I skew more toward drama than comedy, but that doesn't mean I didn't have a good laugh in the 2000's. Shows that often had me on the floor include "Arrested Development," "30 Rock" and "Everybody Loves Raymond," just to name a few. With only 10 slots, however, they barely missed the cut.

Anyway, enjoy my list and let me know what you think. What did I miss? What do you agree wth? 

10. Mad Men
Matt Weiner’s sometimes slow but always engrossing take on the politically incorrect 1960s workplace also acts as a history lesson, but minus the chalkboard and musty textbooks. Has there ever been a character as tortured as Jon Hamm’s Don Draper, who hid his troubled past as long as he could until wife January Jones finally learned the truth. Kudos to all the cast, but especially Elisabeth Moss, a woman wanting to move up in the working world and not waiting for a man’s approval to do it.

9. Curb Your Enthusiasm
Only the mind of Larry David could concoct such zany episodes, with the disparate stories all somehow reconnecting 30 minutes later. This last season especially, where he gathered the "Seinfeld" team in a pseudo-reunion, makes one realize how fortunate viewers are to have Larry continually find something that aggravates him. His brilliance is in separating “real” Larry vs. "Curb" Larry,
and making audiences believe they‘re both the same person.

8. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 
Ever since Jon Stewart took over Comedy Central’s nightly "news" show, there’s no way to watch the events of the day and not think about how Stewart and his remarkable team of writers and "reporters" will offer their unique spin. Sure, it leans to the political left — and you’ll enjoy it more if you do too — but that’s only because Stewart and his team find it nearly impossible to pass on such comic giants as George Bush and Sarah Palin.

7. Lost
The shipwrecked island thing has been done before, but nothing like this. Smoke monsters. Ben. The Others. Flash forwards. Hurley never losing weight. Exec producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have created a pseudo-reality where nothing is ever as it seems and manipulations, treachery and backstabbing between friends is as common as a morning shower. And don’t dare miss an episode — what you missed in season 2 could have major implications in a plot development four years later. Can’t wait to see how it all wraps up in starting in February.

6. The Sopranos
For all the mafia rough-housing of the fellas on "The Sopranos," my favorite moments always involved Carmela — the show’s tour de force, Edie Falco. While some were afraid of Tony’s venom, and rightly so, it was Carmela who held the power in the Soprano family. One particular scene stays with me, where she and Tony have a balls-to-the-wall argument and she tells him their marriage is over. There were lots of great characters who hung out in front of Satriale’s pork store — particularly Christofuh, Paulie and Silvio — but it was the Carmela and Dr. Melfi who told the boys when to play nice, or not.

5. The West Wing
I’m still not sure Martin Sheen wasn’t actually the president. Aaron Sorkin’s presentation of the political process was done in such an entertaining style, that it almost made you made wish you had a career in Washington, D.C. Meticulously offering the inner workings of the White House and how those in the Administration sacrificed much of themselves for the benefit of the American people, “The West Wing” was all about public service, and how there are still some politicians who actually care.

4. The Shield
Whether Vic Mackey was a good cop or not all depends on your point of view. He did whatever it took to take criminals off the street, and if that meant killing one of his own or pocketing a few hundred grand along the way, so be it. The series that put FX on the map was superlative in its grittiness in depicting the mean streets of L.A. Michael Chiklis won an Emmy for his work on the first year of the show, and with the addition of such stellar work from little-known actors such as Jay Karnes and Walton Goggins, “The Shield” has set the bar for future cop shows awfully high.

3. Friday Night Lights
Sometimes television gems come along when you least expect them. NBC might have fumbled the marketing opportunities when “Friday Night Lights” first came on the air a few years bck, but the few fans who watched realized they were witnessing greatness. And they still are. Thanks to DirecTV and the fans at NBC who keep the show on the air , audiences have come to love everything about the citizens of Dillon, Texas — its students, coaches, administrators and, most of all, the families that make is home. How Kyle Chandler has not won an Emmy, much not even nominated, is a primetime disgrace.

2. Deadwood
The term genius shouldn’t be thrown around loosely, especially when it comes to television. Yet, David Milch’s vision of those ebullient gold rushers settling into camp in the Black Hills of South Dakota, circa 1890, was mesmerizing at every turn. While Milch’s dialogue was Shakespearean in its verse, the actors who delivered it captured the spirit of the words brilliantly. Kim Dickens, W. Earl Brown, Timothy Olyphant, Paula Malcomson and, especially, Ian McShane as Al Swearengen brought so much life to their characters, it was as if viewers were allowed to go back in time and see how this country was shaped … one whiskey shot at a time.

1. The Wire
Simply put, there has never been, nor will there ever be, a series as good as David Simon’s “The Wire.” The way Simon and his fellow creatives were able to capture the ills of a metropolitan city on the decline — Baltimore, in this case — through its drug pushers, police, mayoral office, school system and newspaper was to watch Picasso and Michelangelo paint. Impossible to pick a high point from five seasons, many will offer the tragic destiny of the corner boys in season four, yet how does not one single out Bunk, Avon, Prop Joe and, of course, Omar. When asking folks about “The Wire,” the response was often, “Yeah, I’ve never watched, but I hear it’s great. I need to get that on DVD.” Yes, you do. Now.

Stephen Colbert the thesp-comic loves TV Christmas specials. Never missed 'em when he was a kid: Andy Williams, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, "A Charlie Brown Christmas," "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer," "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," etc.

TV's Stephen Colbert is a reverent Christian and, of course, proud foot soldier in the war on Christmas, fighting the scourge of "happy holidays" and "season's greetings" in public schools, department stores, city halls and wherever else the PC police may patrol.

Put the two sides of Colbert together, throw in seven original songs, a few pounds of fake snow, six notable guest stars and -- shazam! -- you've got a very funny Christmas spesh. "A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!" bows Sunday at 10 p.m. on Comedy Central.

"We tried to make it strangely sincere, but also sincerely strange," Colbert says.

"The Colbert Report's" frontman is always raving about "how there's a war on Christmas and we've got to do something about it. So how would he fight the war on Christmas? He'd have a Christmas special," Colbert explains.

Unlike the Democrats, "The Colbert Report" had plenty to crow about this past week.

Fresh off of its Peabody win, "Colbert" demonstrated its anything-but-faux clout in the contempo political landscape, drawing brief appearances by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and a sit-down with Michelle Obama. How desperate are these candidate for the approval of "Colbert's" youthful affluent/educated/urban hipster (dare we say elite) aud? Really desperate.

For "Colbert," the show's weeklong stand in Philadelphia (aka the special "Doritos Spicy Sweet Pennsylvania Primary Coverage From Chili-Delphia -- The City of Brotherly Crunch!" edition) added up to the most-watched week in its two and a half years on the air. An average of 1.5 million viewers tuned in Monday-Thursday -- not bad for 11:30 p.m. on cable. It averaged a winning 1.8 rating with the men 18-34 that Clinton, Obama or McCain would love to see in their column on Election Day.

Most important, Stephen Colbert was on fire, taking the foul air out of the gaseous pre-primary atmosphere in Pennsylvania by skewering what the show aptly dubbed "Democralypse Now: The delightful dismemberment of the Democratic hopescape!"

"Shameless!" Colbert inveighed in one of his commentary segs on Obamamania. "Scoring political points using footage of Hillary being booed for scoring political points using comments Obama made to score political points. Who does he hope he is?"

On Friday, Comedy Central was kind enough to send along a highlight reel for the week:

And since they did the same for "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," what the heck, give it a spin. Stewart was in fine form too. On Thursday he added his pointed critique to the chorus savaging the perf of moderators Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos in Wednesday's Democratic debate on ABC.

"The first hour of last night's debate was a 60-minute master class in questions that elevate out of context remarks and trivial, insipid miscues into subjects of national discourse ... which is MY job!"

Stephen Colbert comes across as so comfortable in the skin of his "Colbert Report" arch-conservative pundit persona that it's easy to forget he's playing a character that has been developed by him and the writer-producers on his Comedy Central skein.

Chief among those "Colbert Report" truthiness-deciders is Allison Silverman, who was upped last month to exec producer of the show along with Colbert and Jon Stewart. Silverman, whose resume includes stints as a writer-producer on "The Daily Show" and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," has worked closely with Colbert during the past two years to fine-tune the character that walks a fine line between arrogant jerk and arrogant-but-lovable-jerk. (And arrogant-but-lovable presidential candidate as of Oct. 17, so long as those pesky Federal Election Commission rules don't drum him out of the race.)

"In the beginning we were conscious that he could turn out to be a real jerk of a character, and we still think about it a lot. We've always wanted him to be arrogant and willfully ignorant, but not someone you'd just hate," says Silverman, who joined "Colbert" shortly after it was picked up to series in 2005. "A lot of times it's all about the tone. Sometimes he'll do something that comes off as too repugnant. He'll say the exact same things but change the tone just a little bit and it makes all the difference."

Some Emmy tidbits I really should have written up Sunday night before going off to parties:

Consistency, thy name is David Chase. "It's open to interpretation," the "Sopranos" creator said backstage at the Emmys when asked, inevitably and more than once, about the series' famed blackout finale. In a convoluted way, after being pressed by multiple questioners, Chase seemed to say that he knew in his mind what happened to the family, but he had no intention of sharing it with the intimate room full 200 or so reporters. Chase did say that he'd had the notion to take the show out in the way that he did for a long time....

Earlier in the night Alan Taylor told us backstage scribblers that Chase was pleased by the fact that even members of "Sopranos'" production crew debated what the finale really meant. Chase wanted it to be something people would chew over and talk about, Taylor said...

And as for the Emmy snub of James Gandolfini after the tour de force he turned in? Paulie Walnuts had his back, backstage on Sunday. "I think it was a shame. He should've won tonight...but we won all around (for drama series)," Tony Sirico (pictured right) said. "We've been honored. I speak for Jimmy when I say he can handle it." .....

America Ferrera was such a doll in the backstage quip room. She displayed her usual humility and gratitude for the career-making break that "Ugly Betty" has been for her. And she's happy that her star turn has come on a show that is light and frothy on the outside but meaningful on the inside, where it counts, by challenging the conventional notions of beauty and body image for women.
"It's fun and it's funny and entertaining and I feel so incredibly blessed," Ferrera said. "To be acknowledged for it, to know peep are watching it and enjoying it -- it's just a dream for me. This is what I have wanted to do since I was 5 years old. It just reassures me in the power of dreaming. Now I can set my (career) heights even higher." And she was channeling the self-assured Betty Suarez when a questioner tried to pry into her love life. "I don't talk about my personal life. Thank you," she said in a Betty-esque polite-but-firm tone....

Don't ask Terry O'Quinn what's going on in "Lost" in its upcoming fourth season, because he doesn't know. Is John Locke really Jacob? Is he going to somehow kill Jack? Will he ever get near a shower again? I'm telling ya, don't ask because Quinn doesn't know. (And no, winning an Emmy doesn't entitle him to a few free plot points.) Backstage after his win for supporting drama actor, Locke showed off his hot pink shirt and black tie with glittery rhinestones. When asked, Quinn admitted that early on in the show's run he would go on the Internet to see what the fans were speculating about the Deeper Meaning of it all and where the castaways were headed. But not any more. "I'm sated," he said....

Sally Field was feeling strong, confident and not ready to suffer any cliches on Sunday. She made fast work of a question about actresses of a certain (out-of-the-demo) age enjoying a renaissance on cable ("The Closer," "Damages," "Saving Grace," etc.) and why aren't there better roles for women in features and blah blah blah...."I don't listen to any of that stuff. You guys are the ones who are listening to that," Field shot back.

Where fore art thou, Oscar? Jon Stewart had a cheeky response for the reporter who just had to know what it meant to him to be asked to host the Academy Awards a second time. "Whatever emotional hole I had in my soul vanished at that moment and I was complete," he deadpanned. "That's why I decided to do it."...

And thus brings to a close this inaugural edition of live blogging at the Emmys. I'd be remiss without giving a special thank you to the shooters of WireImage, who moved Emmy photos lickity-split last night and thus livened up this blog considerably. Honorable mentions go out to Steve Granitz, Jeffrey Mayer, John Shearer, Jeff Vespa and Todd Williamson.