My Top Rated Shows Watched in 2009

Sister-in-law Shirley suggested I do a year end piece on my top ten or on academy award style winners. I still have Siskel & Ebert lists that Shirley sent me each year, going back at least to 1992, on which I periodically check off my viewing. A personal list of favorites of an individual, like Siskel or Ebert, is helpful if you are familiar with the tastes of the individual. Lists and winners determined by group voting, like the academy awards, are less specific guides, but I still consult them for leads to movies to investigate.

NPR did a fun piece this morning about the academy best movie category being expanded to ten films. Seems they want to make sure enough blockbusters are being promoted to help sell tickets and also to pump up the ratings for the academy awards TV show.

I don't go to theaters to watch movies. What I watch comes from Netflix and the public library. I like a variety and have lots of historical interest in movies. During 2009, I watched 420 DVDs, in 17 different genres, in 17 different languages other than English, released in years from 1924 to 2009.  I rated them for myself as explained elsewhere in this blog. Below is a list of the dozen top rated ones, rated 3.7 or above. When I compiled the list from my database, I was surprised to see that eight are documentaries and only one of the 12 is from before 2000.

Scottsboro: An American Tragedy. From PBS American Experience in 2000, excellent documentary on this fascinating case from the Jim Crow era.

John Adams. The 2008 HBO miniseries on our second President.

Anne Frank: The Whole Story. From ABC in 2000, this drama tells the story of what happened to Anne after their hiding place was discovered.

Beyond Belief. Documentary from 2006 about two 9/11 widows who travel to Afghanistan to meet with widows there.

What I Want My Words To Do To You. Documentary from 2003 about a writing program for women prisoners who read from their writing and have them performed for other inmates by professional actresses.

Freedom Writers. Drama from 2007 with Hilary Swank as a teacher inspiring at-risk students to keep journals about what violence does to their lives.

War Made Easy. Documentary from 2007 about how in the last 50 years American Presidents have propagandized us into wars.

Bigger, Stronger, Faster.  Documentary from 2008 about the pressure of sports and competition and steroids.

Cats of Mirikatani. Documentary from 2006 about a Japanese artist who was visting America at the time of Pearl Harbor and the bittersweet life he has led since then.

Leila. A drama from Iran in 2000, telling the story of societal pressures on a couple having difficulty conceiving a child.

October Road - Season One.  Drama series from ABC in 2007 about an author returning to his small town roots and confronting old friends upset aboout how he portrayed them.  This is an example of a good one season series that became grossly inferior in its second year.

Frost-Nixon.  The documentary of the original interviews from 1977.

How about letting us know what shows you watched in 2009 that you rated tops?