4. Heroes: OK, maybe it's not as good in the first half of Season 2, but it's still a great show.

5. Big Bang Theory: The funniest sitcom to come along in years — too bad we got so few episodes because of the writers' strike.

6. (tie) Brothers & Sisters and Dirty Sexy Money: The former show grew on me so much that I almost couldn't wait for episodes of "Desperate Housewives" to end so "B&S" would begin. And this fall we got a second show from the same producers, and it's developing into something similarly addicting.

7. The War: This is what Ken Burns does best — tell a big story by telling small stories. That viewers could find themselves tearing up about the deaths of young Americans after more than half a century says it all.

8. Battlestar Galactica: You can't really judge where a show is going to fit into television history while it's still running, but I'm guessing this one will go down as one of the best sci-fi series ever. And you don't have to be a sci-fi fan to be a "Galactica" fan.

9. Planet Earth: Yours truly uncharacteristically gushed all over this Discovery Channel documentary series in my review — but it really was, um, spectacularly spectacular.

10. Big Love: Controversial? To some extent, sure. But the second season of this show about polygamists living in Utah was better than the very good first season — and it relied on characters and storytelling, not the kind of nudity and foul language that's the norm on HBO.

11. How I Met Your Mother: As opposed to the more trendy half-hour comedies, this one has never quite gotten the credit it's due. But it has great characters, it's inventive in its storytelling, and it's FUNNY. Which a lot of alleged comedies are not.

12. Friday Night Lights: It's the best family drama on TV, hands down. 'Nuff said.

13. Supernatural: One of the best shows you're not watching — and I know you're not — this show is scary, exciting, fun and funny.

14. Gilmore Girls:This nod is more for the show's body of work over seven seasons than for Season 7, but I can't let a show this special go without putting it on the list.

15. (tie) Rescue Me, Damages, The Riches, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The Shield: OK, this is a way to cheat and put more than 15 shows in a top-15 list, but it's also a way to salute the FX network for its incredibly high batting average — just about every original series on the channel is of superior quality.

Honorable mentions: "Amazing Race," "Andy Barker P.I.," "Boston Legal," "Chuck," "The Class," "Clatterford," "The Colbert Report," "The Company," "CSI," "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," "Dexter," "Gossip Girl," "Grey's Anatomy," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," "Late Show with David Letterman," "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," "Lost," "Mad Men," "The Mormons," "My Name is Earl," "Mythbusters," "The O.C.," "The Office," "Reaper," "Robin Hood," "Scrubs," "The Simpsons," "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," "Supernatural," "Survivor," "30 Rock," "Torchwood," "The Tudors," "Two and a Half Men" and "The Wire."

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com