This year brought so many promising new shows: 2014 was the year of “True Detective,” “The Honorable Woman,” “Fargo,” “The Affair,” “Olive Kitteridge” and “Silicon Valley,” among others.
But there were also older shows that either stayed the course or somehow climbed their way back from a dip or even total eclipse – notably “The Comeback,” starring Lisa Kudrow, an HBO comedy that was canceled in 2005 after one season and then resurrected in November.
These are a few old shows that found new vigor in 2014 and deserve another look – and also a few that don’t.”Homeland”
This Showtime espionage thriller seemed destined for irrelevance after Brody (Damian Lewis) was finally killed at the end of Season 3. Season 4 has so far turned out to be remarkably vital and exhilarating without him, this time by pitting Carrie (Claire Danes) against a beautiful, deceitful Pakistani intelligence officer, Tasneem (Nimrat Kaur).”The Good Wife”
Once Will (Josh Charles), Alicia’s illicit love interest, died at the end of Season 5, this sexy CBS courtroom drama seemed as if it might droop and wither, but, instead, the sixth season steamed with almost madcap energy, mixing Alicia’s newly fledged political campaign, a war of the roses between Alicia’s new firm and her old one, and the legal travails of Cary, her legal partner. Alicia isn’t quite so good anymore, and that makes “The Good Wife” all the better.”Law & Order: SVU”
This NBC ripped-from-the-soap-opera perils of Olivia (Mariska Hargitay) – psychopath rapist-stalker, tortured love affair, new baby – that took up so much air last season finally died down, and this season, the show’s 16th, the detectives got back to sex crimes clef, including a Ray Rice-inspired episode about a star sportscaster who was seen on a surveillance camera punching out his wife.”The Mindy Project”
It doesn’t matter that Mindy Kaling’s comedy on Fox is in its third season and still not a hit, because it keeps improving with age. It has grown from a one-comedian showcase into a very funny ensemble effort, thanks in part to the addition of Adam Pally in Season 2 and jokes about Kaling’s alma mater, Dartmouth.”Episodes”
This comedy on Showtime, too often overlooked, follows the bewilderment of two British TV writers stuck in Hollywood creating a series for Matt LeBlanc, who plays a diva version of himself very convincingly. Not many shows set in the entertainment industry can sustain the conceit, but this is one that got even better in its third year.”Veep”
While “House of Cards,” the Netflix phenomenon, showed its weaknesses this year, HBO’s “Veep,” the other most cynical show about Washington, got stronger in its third season. The scene in a restroom in which Selina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and her assistant, Gary (Tony Hale), discover that she is going to become president and dissolve into uncontrollable laughter was one of the great comic moments of 2014.”The Americans”
Set in the Reagan era, this FX series is nearly as deceptive as KGB agents posing as an suburban American couple: In its second season, “The Americans” proved to be a drama about love, family, friendship and mistrust disguised as a Cold War thriller.”Jeopardy!”
This game show celebrated the 50th anniversary of its debut (broadcast on March 30, 1964), and proved it can still not only stump viewers but also surprise them. That’s not just because the host, Alex Trebek, briefly regrew a mustache after 13 clean-shaven years, but also because some contestants showed they could still rile an audience. This year, it was Arthur Chu, who introduced a blitzkrieg style of gamesmanship that provoked a cyber hate-fest.
