Yesterday I paid homage to what I think were the ten best shows of 2010. Today I’m looking back on my favorite TV moments of the past year. While the best shows list was nice and orderly and numbered, this one is a bit more nebulous: although I’ve selected ten TV moments, I’ve chosen not to number them or give them a specific order, because honestly, it’s just a pain in the ass that doesn’t really matter, and everyone’s gonna squabble over the list anyway.

So let’s do this. For those of you who are months or years behind on your television viewing, please note that this list contains spoilers for “Lost,” “Sons of Anarchy,” and “Mad Men.” Oh no! My spoiler alerts have spoiled the top ten list! SPOILER SPOILER ALERT!

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The video above is a compilation of Taylor Swift acting surprised at awards shows that was created by Rich Juzwiak and posted on his blog, fourfour (a Warming Glow favorite). Juzwiak was contacted by “Tonight Show” staff, who asked for permission to use the clip. Juzwiak assented, provided that he and Kate Spencer of TheFabLife.com were somehow credited.

On Monday night, Swift was a guest on “The Tonight Show,” where Jay Leno brought up the subject of her success at awards shows. He then introduced the clip by saying, “We put together a little montage of you being surprised.” Watch the video:

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Check out *this* clown.

Never mind that Jay Leno and David Letterman’s shows start 35 minutes after Conan O’Brien’s new show, and never mind that TBS will be happy with Conan regardless of his ratings, and never mind that a new show’s much-hyped debut is bound to perform well against those in mid-season form, because I’ve got oversimplified eye-catching headlines to write: OMG CONAN BEAT LENO AND LETTERMAN IN THE RATINGS!!!1!!

Conan drew a 2.8 rating. Tonight a 2.7. Late Show with David Letterman a 2.5. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon a 1.2. Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson a 1.4.

These are shaky local market household ratings, but they do suggest good news for O’Brien. Households tend to indicate how the race among total viewers — Leno’s strong suit — will turn out. But 18-49 — which tends to be O’Brien’s strength — is the more important demo. If O’Brien’s total viewer number is on par with with Leno’s, he stands a fair chance of beating Tonight among young adults. [THR]

The lesson, as always, is IGNORE THE DETAILS AND PAY ATTENTION TO ALL CAPS! Context is for pussies.

Anyway, if you missed last night’s show, I’ve got the delightful cold open embedded below, and you can read a detailed and measured recap at The A.V. Club. Cliffs Notes version: nothing groundbreaking, but an enjoyable and high-energy show. That’s good enough for me, but I’m sure someone out there will be happy to piss in my coffee. “He didn’t even, like, transcend the genre, man.”

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Vanity Fair has an excerpt from Bill Carter’s new book, The War for Late Night, about NBC’s Jay Leno/Conan O’Brien boondoggle in the winter of 2009-10. Most of the excerpt is stuff you already know if you followed the endless stories in the news cycle last winter, but there are some behind-the-scenes details that are particularly intriguing. Carter’s research (fairly) points the fault less at Jay Leno and more at NBC execs Jeff Gaspin and Jeff Zucker, while coloring in the story with details like this:

Finally [Conan] did have something he really wanted to say, something that was all but burning a hole in his chest. “What does Jay have on you?” Conan asked [Gaspin and Marc Graboff], his voice still low, his tone still even. “What does this guy have on you people? What the hell is it about Jay?”

Neither of the NBC executives had an answer and cast their heads down. Conan thought they were working at looking sympathetic, following some lesson that had been taught at corporate school.

That’s just one of the goodies. For Jeff Zucker sounding like a complete A-hole to Conan’s agent Rick Rosen, read on.

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Good news and bad news everybody.  Good news first – get my hopes up, Hollywood Reporter:

“The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” is pulling a smaller number in the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic than when Conan O’Brien hosted the show last year.

In fact, this summer is the lowest-rated “Tonight” on record, though such feats have become increasingly common on broadcast across the board.

Oh, thank God.  America is finally coming to its senses.  I hate this asshat so much.  Hey have you heard about this?  Did you hear about this?  YOU’RE RUINING A PRECIOUS TELEVISION INSTITUTION AND GETTING WHAT YOU DESERVE YOU UNFUNNY, BACKSTABBING PISSPANTS.  HAHAHA.

Oh, wait.  I said there was bad news, too.  Well, after reading that Leno is having the worst summer in the history of “The Tonight Show,” the news would have to be pretty damn bad to bring me down.  You know, something crazy.  Like, despite these horrible ratings, he’s still beating Letterman or something. (*chuckles to self at the hilarity of the mere idea*)

Even with the reduced rating, Leno is back to beating his top rival, CBS’ “Late Show With David Letterman,” by a healthy 22% in both metrics. (Ed. – total audience and 18-49 demo)

(*bangs head on wall for 45 minutes*)

Guh.  Look, I love America.  But this is the problem with democracy and a society based around freedom… even dipsh-ts get a say in things.   I’m not saying I’m fully advocating for a revolution where we install a single, tyrannical leader, but if this hypothetical tyrant was Team Coco, I’d at least go to one of his speeches.

Seriously, though.  This is depressing, and I need some cheering up.  Let’s see what I can do about that.  Read the rest of this entry »