NBC’s ’30 Rock’ most inspired sitcom in years despite stars’ troubles

If there's any common thread running through the best TV series of 2007, it's this: They're all scripted.

That doesn't mean having somebody to tell reality stars what to say. These are actual writers, slaving away at their laptops, for days on end.

So let's look back and celebrate their best work, while hoping they come in off the picket lines soon. Otherwise, next year's Top 10 may have to include "American Idol," "Big Brother" and, God help us all, "The Singing Bee."

1. "30 ROCK," NBC -- You have to hand it to Tina Fey. Saddled with troubled co-stars -- Tracy Morgan wearing a court-ordered alcohol-monitoring bracelet and Alec Baldwin fresh from calling his 11-year-old daughter a "thoughtless little pig" -- she went out and made her behind-the-scenes look at NBC the most inspired sitcom in years. Her bosses at the Sheinhardt Wig Company should be proud.

2. "FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS," NBC -- After a phenomenal first season, the small-town drama has to be penalized for trying to be something it's not: popular. The ratings-challenged series went a little "Melrose Place" this fall with its sex-and-murder story lines. The characters are still some of the best on TV. But last season, they didn't feel like characters at all. They just felt like people.

3. "HOUSE," Fox -- Traditional wisdom -- and more than a few fortune cookies -- will tell you not to mess with success. So you had to be concerned when the producers demoted half the cast in May. But the "Survivor"-style tournament to replace his diagnostic team was yet another stroke of the good doctor's genius. Cutthroat Bitch and Big Love, you will be missed.

4. "LOST," ABC -- Jack, Kate and Sawyer got away from The Others, but they couldn't escape criticism from whiny fans who started demanding answers. (You have to wonder what show they've been watching if they actually expected to get them.) But with one quick jolt in the season finale -- if you've avoided it this long, I won't ruin it for you here -- nearly every misstep was forgiven.

5. "THE OFFICE," NBC -- Jim and Pam finally got together, and Michael and Dwight showed flashes of humanity. But the four 60-minute episodes that kicked off this season were just too long to enjoy. (That's what she said.)

6. "HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER," CBS -- The rest of the comedy's ensemble is starting to come into its own, but Neil Patrick Harris' Barney is still the catchphrase-spewing, horny nougat at its center. "Female acrobats from Montreal," he promises in one episode. "We are gonna get Cirque du So-laid." Lines like that are slowly becoming legen -- wait for it -- dary.

7. "DIRTY SEXY MONEY," ABC -- Who'd have guessed you could include two Baldwin brothers on any Top 10 list other than "Most Famous Baldwins"? But Billy -- sorry, William -- turned heads as the darling of the obscenely rich Darling family. The only subtle part of this bitterly funny soap opera is the love affair between his senate candidate and the transgendered Carmelita.

8. "DAMAGES," FX -- Glenn Close, Ted Danson and friends combined to make the year's twistiest, turniest whodunit. The time-jumping legal thriller played out like a John Grisham tale, back when that was something to aspire to.

9. "WEEDS," Showtime -- The high times were over as suburbia's favorite pot-slinging soccer mom got in way over her head. Still, there was plenty to laugh at in between the drive-bys, hostage taking and the whole town going up in smoke -- literally, instead of the show's traditional Cheech and Chong way.

10. "CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM," HBO -- Just call him Senor Winces. After seven seasons of "Seinfeld" and five of "Curb," you'd think Larry David would have run out of ways to make viewers squirm. After all, he has made more people uncomfortable than Hot Pockets. But he was back in rare form this season, stumbling into race relations by adopting a family of black hurricane victims named, naturally, the Blacks. It was all pretty, pretty, pretty good.

Contact TV critic Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com or (702) 380-4567.