The Year in Cheers & Jeers

Here are some highlights from our annual look at the best and worst of the year in television…

Cheers to Academy Awards host Ellen DeGeneres for putting Hollywood royalty at ease while entertaining viewers at home. Whether ordering pizza for the famished audience or getting the stars to pose for a selfie that broke Twitter, Ellen stole the show. Cheers aren’t enough. Give her an Honorary Oscar.

Jeers to Extant for not living up to the out-of-this-world hype. Halle Berry’s first starring vehicle on TV was met with great fanfare this summer. But her series—in which she plays an astronaut who discovers she’s pregnant after an extended solo mission—failed to launch. Bizarre elements like a robot child further muddled the concept, and the buzz quickly crashed down to Earth. Let’s hope Season 2’s takeoff is less turbulent.

Cheers to great, fully realized LGBT characters on Orange Is the New Black (with Laverne Cox), Transparent, How to Get Away With Murder, Shameless, Gotham, Glee, Faking It, Looking…and so many others. Finally, TV has caught on that not everyone is straight, white, or stereotypical.

Cheers to The Walking Dead’s Carol (Melissa McBride), who has evolved from domestic-abuse victim to warrior goddess of the zombie apocalypse. She single-handedly rescued her tribe from the Terminus compound while hewing to a survive-at-all-costs code. Between her and the record ratings, Dead is more alive than ever.

Jeers to TV’s infatuation with rom-coms. The gimmicky Manhattan Love Story was the fall’s first cancellation, and tepid A to Z barely made it to “C” before fading. We understand the desire to create the next How I Met Your Mother, but these series also have to earn our love. Originality would be a start.

Cheers to the “glimmer twins” of figure-skating commentary, fashionista scene-stealers Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir. Though broadcasting on the smaller NBCSN network, the pair received raves for their barbed banter at the Winter Olympics, which earned them a promotion to NBC’s A team after they worked their stylish magic at the Oscars and Kentucky Derby, too. Here’s looking at you, because how could we not?

Cheers to the bonnie of a treat that is Outlander. Lush, lusty, and perfectly cast with Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe as star-crossed soul mates, the lavish, faithful adaptation of Diana Gabaldon’s time-traveling book series was the hottest Saturday night date we’ve had in centuries.