From time to time, it’s good to get a different opinion on television. Here’s Josh Kurp, a freelance writer whose work has appeared on Nerve and Splitsider.

Sunday marked the season five finale of “Dexter,” and while it hasn’t been as consistent as the Trinity arc last year, it’s been a relatively strong season—except for one character, one character so bad that she has inspired a list of the worst characters on the best shows. These are the people who ruin otherwise great television, the ones that you immediately make you want to kill yourself when you see them on screen.

These rankings are first based off how great the show is, then ordered by how crappy the character is. And, with all due respect to Alex Krycek (“The X-Files”), Janice Soprano (“The Sopranos”), Tara Maclay (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), and Ziggy Sobotka (“The Wire”), we’re only including shows that are still on the air. But don’t worry, those four are all as equally awful as the choices below, if not more so in the case of Ziggy. F*ckin’ Ziggy.

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David Simon, the former journalist who brought “Homicide,” “The Corner,” “The Wire,” “Generation Kill,” and “Treme” to television, has been awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, the $500,000 award given to innovators that is more widely know as the “genius grant.”

“I confess to a feeling that I can only describe as a vague sense of shame,” says Simon on the phone from New Orleans, where he’s in story meetings for the second season of “Treme,” a post-Katrina HBO drama. “It was exacerbated when I went online and looked at the people who’d gotten fellowships in the past. The majority of them are involved in endeavors which are very tangible — efforts to combat poverty or economic disparities, or to improve the environment. And while I think storytelling is a meaningful way to spend your life… it does feel a little bit secondary or off-point. I definitely felt a little sheepish after looking at the list.” [WaPo]

Well, he certainly speaks like a genius. I don’t think I’ve ever talked that long without using the word “awesome.”

Embedded below is video of Simon talking about the honor. While I doubt he really needs a half milly to keep pursuing his craft, I’m glad he got this recognition. The Emmys sure as hell weren’t gonna do it.

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I love David Simon. Not only did he create the best TV series ever made with “The Wire,” but he also captured my experience in Iraq with such alarming detail that I got flashbacks while watching “Generation Kill.” He has an unrivaled dedication to realism in his story telling, and he deflects criticism with a witheringly insightful understanding of his material.

With the first season of Simon’s “Treme” now finished, there are a couple refrains that are common in reviews: excellent music and acting, a plodding pace, and perhaps too much reverence for the culture of New Orleans. Simon spoke to Alan Sepinwall for a lengthy interview at Hit Fix that addresses these criticisms and more. Below are the eight most snobbishly dismissive quotes directed at his critics, with helpful translations:

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Treme (HBO, Sunday) – The first season finale.  I watched the first two episodes, then it got away from me during finals.  I plan on furiously plowing through them on my DVR this weekend to get caught up.  Also being furiously plowed through this weekend: your mom.  OH! (NSFW language).

20/20 (ABC, Friday) – A story about the recent murder charges against Joran van der Sloot.  If I was the prosecutor, my entire closing would consist of, “Members of the jury, his last name is ‘van der Sloot.’  Van der Sloot.  Doesn’t that just sound like a murderer’s name?”

Comedy Central Presents: John Mulaney (Comedy Central, Friday) – Do you have idiot friends who like Jeff Dunham or Larry the Cable Guy?  Make them watch this special.  If they still don’t come around, you have my permission to kill them.

Party Down (Starz, Friday) – From TV Guide: “The gang caters a draft-day party for a star college quarterback, who winds up going unselected.”  Someone owes Jevan Snead a royalty check.

Spike Guys Choice Awards (Spike, Sunday) – Hosted by Guy Dudebro.  If they have an open bar, this could be the Normandy of bros getting iced.

More after the jump, including a sharks and Kardashians (sadly, not in the same entry)

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Here’s part of John Goodman’s appearance on “The Late Show” last night, in which Goodman admits to David Letterman that he was “pushing 400.” I think he means 400 pounds, although you can also infer that he was pushing 400 crullers into his mouth every week. And I think he’d be okay with me making that joke, because he displays a pretty good sense of humor throughout the clip.

Goodman’s weight loss really is startling. He is an absolute behemoth of a man on the first season of “Treme,” and it’s good to see him looking healthier. He and my dad were born in the same year (1952), and my dad’s already had a heart attack without being anywhere near the blob of goo that Goodman used to be. It’s gotta be one of those things where a doctor said, “Uh, you’re going to DIE if you don’t lose weight.” And Goodman took the advice seriously because it’s summer and he’s a celebrity. Dear God, take Kirstie Alley if you must, but let us have John Goodman for a few more years.