Terry Crews (“Brooklyn Nine-Nine”) as Sgt. Jeffords
Out of all the so-so to abysmal comedies launched this season, the Andy Samberg police laugher improbably has managed to hang around Mama’s DVR, and it struck gold with the high-strung but sweet detective whom Mama previously only knew as The Old Spice Guy. When he’s not avoiding his bully brother-in-law, he’s hilariously screaming about the dangers of SUVs (“They roll! THEY ROLL!”). He is the most unexpected comedy gift.
“The Good Wife” revival
Proof that you can’t keep a good woman — or a quality network drama — down. The Julianna Margulies vehicle made us forget all about last season’s forgettable real-estate struggles and instead blew up the dynamics of this lawyer drama in a fashion not seen since the uprising at McKenzie/Brackman on “L.A. Law.”
I like cannibals?
If you had told Mama that a TV series about the 1990s movie icon Hannibal Lecter would be one of her favorites of 2013, she would have told you to swallow your own tongue. But thanks in large part to creepily delicious Mads Mikkelsen, Mama can’t wait to sink her teeth into Season 2.
Tatiana Maslany of “Orphan Black”
The star of the BBC America series, which tells the story of loner Sarah discovering she’s a clone with identical counterparts strewn across her city, was quite the find. Pulling off multiple characters — all with their own unique personalities and often accents — is a tall order, but this Canadian newcomer proved that she was more than up for the challenge.
“Dallas’ ” farewell to J.R. Ewing
It’s unlikely the revival of the 1980s blockbuster family drama will ever measure up to the original, but the TNT series did produce a fitting farewell to the irascible J.R. Ewing, played by legend Larry Hagman, who died in November 2012. Besides the trip down memory lane with J.R.’s assorted exes and foes, the series used his death to launch a story that honored his legacy: Who really did shoot — and kill — J.R.?