The 13 Most Anticipated Movies and TV Shows of 2011 -- Dixon's Picks

As 2010 wends its way to its eternal pasture, we can reflect on the movies and television we so hotly anticipated back in the early suckling days of this year. Some, like Toy Story 3 and The Walking Dead, turned out even better than we had hoped. Others, well, others were Alice in Wonderland. But like Charlie Brown, we can’t help but line up in front of the football again and again, each year, because maybe this time will be different. Here are my picks for the 13 Most Anticipated Movies and TV Shows of 2011.

X-Factor
Simon Cowell’s new TV venture has a lot riding on it. Will people really watch two very similar talent shows? Will it outperform American Idol? Will Paula be there? Either on the panel or wandering around the parking lot in a ether-soaked daze, I mean.

Skins
MTV imported this bleeding-edge teens-behaving-badly show from the UK where they can freely curse, drink, drug and screw their limey brains out on TV. But MTV has to deal with the hordes of American busybodies and schoolmarms who flipped their collective shit when they saw a split second of a black nipple. Can MTV produce a show that’s true to the raw teenage experience while still selling ads for Coca-Cola and XBox?

Shameless
And its kissing cousin in filthy behavior is Shameless, another Brit import, which follows the Gallaghers, a dirt-poor family that shows the Bundys what it’s really like to be a dysfunctional family that nevertheless loves each other. The original launched James McAvoy’s career, and the American version has the advantage of both being on Showtime (swear away, bitches!) and having some real acting firepower in the form of William H. Macy and Joan Cusack.

Parks and Recreation
The Amy Poehler-led mockumentary was MIA for the Fall season but is off the bench come January 20th. Combined with 30 Rock, the Office and Community, NBC’s Thursday night is trying to re-establish itself as the premiere place for laffs. I’ll just be happy to get some Pawnee-love back in my life.

Game of Thrones
The Pacific and Rome showed that HBO handles big-screen style spectacle just as well the more mundane adventures of city-bound shopaholics. But in Game of Thrones, HBO takes on a beloved fantasy epic that’s equal parts Sopranos and Lord of the Rings. But if there’s a network that’s equal to the challenge, it’s HBO. Well, maybe also Showtime. Probably AMC, too. But HBO’s still good!

Episodes
Much like his fellow Friend Lisa Kudrow’s The Comeback, Matt LeBlanc’s new show spotlghts the absurdity of Hollywood and how hard it is to get your concept past the guardians of middle-of-the-road mushheaded network executives. But extra points for LeBlanc to playing himself, desperately scratching around for his own comeback.

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