Louie
Is it a comedy? Is it a drama? Really, each episode of Louis CK's intensely personal FX show is more like an essay: a set of anecdotes, vignettes, stand-up routines and outtakes that add up to a reflection on what it means to be human. Death, war, divorce, masturbation, parenting, unrequited love — no subject was beyond the reach or ambition of this stunning series. In its second season, Louis CK's confidence as a director, writer and performer elevated this low-budget DIY series to the best thing on TV, unlike any show current or past. Louie can swing in a scene from raunchy hilarity to holy-crap wisdom because what Louis CK ultimately is after is not laughs or tears but intensity. This is the TV series as worldview, an R-rated meditation that lets the viewer see life as something ridiculous, terrible and beautiful. (FX)