This dark medical dramedy was never better as drama or as comedy than when it stared into the eyes of death. Judith Ivey guest-starred as a former nurse dying of cancer who asked her old colleagues for a farewell toast: a glass of champagne and enough medication to kill her. With Edie Falco as the title character a dedicated, overworked and overtired nurse who battles for her patients and cheats on her husband Nurse Jackie emerged as a story of imperfect people trying to do good, even (and especially) when they didn't know what good was. The freshman show was like a hospital Rescue Me, a gallows comedy about professionals bearing up and flipping death the bird. Ivey captured the show's spirit: feisty, profane, defiant and yet when her asked-for death approached humanly afraid. It's not easy to go head-to-head with Edie Falco in anything; Ivey managed to do it lying down.
(Showtime)
The Top 10 Everything of 2009
- Top 10 Albums
- Top 10 Animal Stories
- Top 10 Apologies
- Top 10 Art Exhibitions
- Top 10 Awkward Moments
- Top 10 Best Business Deals
- Top 10 Breakups
- Top 10 Buzzwords
- Top 10 Children's Books
- Top 10 Crime Stories
- Top 10 Editorial Cartoons
- Top 10 Facebook Stories
- Top 10 Fashion Faux Pas
- Top 10 Fashion Moments
- Top 10 Feuds
- Top 10 Fiction Books
- Top 10 Fleeting Celebrities
- Top 10 Gadgets
- Top 10 Green Ideas
- Top 10 Heroes
- Top 10 iPhone Apps
- Top 10 Late-Night Jokes
- Top 10 Magazine Covers
- Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs
- Top 10 Movie Performances
- Top 10 Movies
- Top 10 New Species
- Top 10 News Stories
- Top 10 Nonfiction Books
- Top 10 Oddball News Stories
- Top 10 Pariahs
- Top 10 Pictures of the Year
- Top 10 Plays and Musicals
- Top 10 Political Gaffes
- Top 10 Quotes
- Top 10 Religion Stories
- Top 10 Scandals
- Top 10 Scientific Discoveries
- Top 10 Songs
- Top 10 Sports Moments
- Top 10 T-Shirt-Worthy Slogans
- Top 10 TV Ads
- Top 10 TV Episodes
- Top 10 TV Series
- Top 10 Tweets
- Top 10 Underreported Stories
- Top 10 Untruths
- Top 10 Video Games
- Top 10 Viral Videos
- Top 10 Worst Biz Deals
TIME charts the highs and lows of the past year in 50 wide-ranging lists