What's Your Favorite Television Show? - Cable

Honorable Mention: Leverage which had its last show on Christmas Day, and Merlin which also ended on the BBC on Christmas day.  (If you're watching Merlin in the USA on SyFy, you still have one season left.  Enjoy.)

News - done funny:
The Daily Show is the classic example of watching a comedy show to learn about the news.  I find the show more relevant since working at a Jewish organization becuase I understand even more of the jokes.  The Colbert Report is the slightly less classy younger sibling of the Daily Show, although just as awesome.  This clip is my favorite thing that Steven Colbert has done.  I don't actually get the Comedy Channel anymore, but I enjoy watching these shows on Hulu.

Which Aaron Sorkin Show am I watching: The Newsroom is a behind the scenes look at what is basically CNN.  I love Aaron Sorkin.  I think I love him a little too much because I can tell which of his material is recycled at this point.  I didn't think I'd like watching a behind the scenes news show telling me news story from two years ago, but I've found some of the stories really engaging.  The Newsroom is on HBO.

Best show from our neighbors to the north (that's Canada for all the geographically impaired Americans out there): Continuum is a Canadian TV series that had its first season last year.  I think in the US it will eventually air on SyFy, but I'm not clear about air dates.  This show is totally a SciFi.  I'm finding the characters and their back stories quite engaging.  I'm finding the science/tech part not so distracting I can't enjoy the story.

Best Cop Show: Psych.  If you haven't seen Psych yet, I mean, come on.  The basic premise is a guy with eidetic memory fakes being a psychic to get out of trouble and winds up consulting with the police department to solve crimes.  And it's hilarious.  This guy who takes absolutely nothing seriously shows up every day to work with people who take things waaaay too seriously.  Hilarity ensues.  Also, this is on a cable network, but is about to reach 100 episodes.  Does that mean it will be sold in syndication to other cable networks?

My other favorite sci-fis - you knew any list of cable TV shows was going to be heavy on Sci-fi right?
Warehouse 13 finds a good use for US Secret Service agents, to track down artifacts that do bad things to people.  And to keep it all secret.  As with all good Sci-fis, it's really about the characters.  I can't tell you who my favorite is because I like so many of them.
Alphas technically takes place in the "Warehouse 13 Universe" but is it's own wild can of worms.  I don't know the story of the X-Men, but I think this is similar.  Outcasts from society because of unusual abilities make friends with each other and try to help the world.