21 Things That Made Me Happy This 2012 – 2013 TV Season 

Now that all the finales have aired and summer TV has begun, it’s time for me to reflect on the season by remembering some of the positives. We are called TV Goodness, right? Here’s a list of the 21 Things That Made Me Happy This 2012 – 2013 TV Season:

1. Supernatural. The Purgatory scenes. Some of the best stuff this show has given us in a while. Wish they had lasted the entire season eight.

2. Revolution. Learning all about the twisted Miles and Monroe friendship/rivalry. Billy Burke and David Lyons really sold those scenes for me.

3. Scandal. Just everything about it. It’s my favorite new addiction. I went from recording and watching it whenever…to watching and live-tweeting. This is my show.

4. Matthew Perry as Ryan King on Go On. I consider being a fan of this show a privilege. And I loved the journey that Perry took us on. Watching his character deal with his wife’s death was heartbreaking, fascinating and, yes, humorous. It was a joy to see how this series improved steadily from its first episode. Still crushed that it was cancelled.

5. The other Ryan…Ryan Hardy. Kevin Bacon on network TV in Fox’s The Following. He’s pretty amazing on this show. Ryan Hardy is one messed up individual. But I didn’t care. It was fun and scary and thrilling to see what lengths he would go to try to get the bad guy (Joe). I am so excited this series will be back for a second season.

6. Gus on Psych. Dulé Hill has always been good on USA Network’s Psych. But I particularly enjoyed his most recent performances. Gus got a love interest in the form of Parminder Nagra, we saw him at his job, and we got to see him imbibe a lot of food. He was responsible for some of the funniest stuff during season seven.

7. Brad and Jane on ABC’s Happy Endings. My favorite couple on a comedy. It’s so depressing that we might have to do without a Damon Wayans Jr. and Eliza Coupe pairing if another network doesn’t PICK THIS SHOW UP. #SaveHappyEndingsPlease

8. Mindy Lahiri…and her various season one boyfriends. If you’re not tuning in to FOX’s The Mindy Project please, please, please reconsider. Get with the program and catch up over the summer, mmmkay? What I loved even more than seeing how Dr. Lahiri operates at work was getting to see how she functions in her personal relationships. I loved watching her love life unfold before our very eyes. Three guys stand out though. 1. Josh. I loved this guy. I knew he wouldn’t last and while I didn’t appreciate the tool that he turned into I really liked the way he and Mindy interacted. 2. Casey. I never thought this would happen but I totally fell in love with Casey. I love that she went to Haiti with him and cut her hair for him. I never thought these two would work even for five minutes. But they do work. Well, we’ll see how Haiti goes. But Casey the pastor is pretty awesome and is good for Mindy. He helps ground her.  3. Danny. He’s not a boyfriend…yet. However, it was amazing to watch this friendship develop all season long. There weren’t a lot of sparks between Mindy and Danny in the beginning. But by finale time, these two oozed chemistry. I am totally fighting for them to get together…down the road. For now, I’m loving Mindy and Casey something fierce.

9. James Van Der Beek on Don’t Trust the B in Apt. 23. Another disappointment was the cancellation of Apt. 23. But I’m glad I was able to see Dawson Creek’s James Van Der Beek light a fire under his career. This was a very welcome comeback. And I’m looking forward to seeing his next show. The Dancing with the Stars story and James’ scenes with Luther were hilarious.

10. Suits. Suits. Suits. Can’t get enough of this USA Network drama. The action at the end of season two was intense. Gabriel Macht rules my TV world.

11. Homeland. Carrie’s vindication over being right about Brody was one of the most satisfying moments of the TV season.

12. A frequently shirtless Oliver Queen. First I will say that Stephen Amell is hella talented on the CW’s Arrow. I adore this show. I worship the action. I can’t get enough of the character development. The entire cast rocks. But most of all, I love how Oliver managed to be shirtless 2.3 times an episode. The shallow side of me appreciates it much.

13. Matt and Rebekah on The Vampire Diaries. It took Julie Plec et. al. long enough to get them together but when they did talk about traveling the world together in the finale (“Graduation”), I was ecstatic. These two make me happy. What makes me sad is that Rebekah will be off to New Orleans and The Originals when the summer comes to an end. In other Mystic Falls happenings, Klaus telling Caroline he wants to be her last love made me swoon.

14. Grimm. This NBC series is highly underrated and entertaining. But my takeaway from its second season? It’s that David Giuntoli did a fantastic job with developing Nick’s Grimm-tendencies as well as dealing with a fiancée that didn’t remember anything about him. He broke my heart but stayed strong. I’m proud of him. Of course, Nick is in dire trouble right now. “Goodnight, Sweet Grimm” was one of those finales that’s going to make this summer a painful one.

15. Rayna and Deacon on Nashville. I don’t care how their characters ended up at the end of this season. They were my reason for tuning in every week. You can’t buy chemistry like what exists between Connie Britton and Charles Esten. Britton knows how to bring it. She must have figured out how to bottle it up because she had even more of it with Kyle Chandler back on Friday Night Lights.

16. Getting hooked on HISTORY’s Vikings. I was so glad to add this epic new series to the ever-growing list of programs that I watch. My favorite aspect were the relationships — especially the ones between Ragnar and his wife, Lagertha, as well as Ragnar and Athelstan. Would like more Athelstan in season two, however. That’s on my wish list.

17. Dallas‘ John Ross and Pamela. I know what happened in the season two finale, but for now, I’m going to forget all that. I just want to reflect on the goodness that resulted from pitting two bad guys (OK, a bad girl and a bad guy) together. Magic and mayhem. Perfection.

18. The double-episode of Castle “Target” and “Hunt.” We’re used to the drama of Kate investigating her mother’s murder and all that jazz. It’s more rare when Rick is forced to get serious and be the one embroiled in a tense and intense situation like he had to deal with when his daughter, Alexis, was kidnapped. As Castle, Nathan Fillion had to get downright scary when he needed to procure information from a suspect. We saw him scared for his only child, determined to get to the bottom of this on his own and then there was the little matter of meeting his father. I wish we had gotten more father-son goodness and hope that the powers that be at Castle bring James Brolin back in the future. And I know I probably should have gone with all that Beckett and Castle togetherness, but that goes without saying. Much love for this couple.

19. Schmidt and Elizabeth from New Girl. Elizabeth made me forget about Schmidt and Cece. That’s how great this new/old couple is. More Merritt Wever please.

20. Three things from NBC’s Parenthood. Amber and Ryan — and generally being in tears in every episode thanks to Monica Potter’s Kristina and Peter Krause’s Adam. But also, I adored Erika Christensen this season. She rocked it as Julia who struggled trying to balance two (high-maintenance) kids and a demanding job. She seemed more real than she’s ever been. And I loved seeing that.

21. The New York Hawks quarterback comes out with TK’s help on USA Network’s Necessary Roughness. It was one of our Moments of Goodness. TK showed some maturity. It was a big moment for those characters and I loved every second of it.

Other shows that made me happy: Person of Interest, Downton Abbey, Cougar Town, Continuum, The Lying Game and TBS’ Wedding Band. Both Fringe and Leverage also made me happy even though those shows came to an end. Oh and I reserve the right to retroactively place Orphan Black on this list. I haven’t watched it yet but I know I’m going to love it.

I wonder what’ll make me happy this summer?