2008 ALF CUP AND ABBIE AWARDS RESULTS

The big news: Holy shit! We had another split this year...

The 2008 ALF Cup champion is: THE WHITEST KIDS U'KNOW

L-R: Darren, Sam, Trevor, Zach and Timmy are ALF Cup champs

However, the Abbie Award for Best Overall Series went to early season juggernaut DEXTER.

Dexter racked up 8 weekly wins during Weeks 6 thru 17, building such a huge lead in the points that it stayed in 1st place until Week 34, an amazing 17 weeks after ending its spring run on CBS. And it added 8 more wins in the Abbies, including Best Drama Series, Best Rookie Series, and Best Theme Music.



Series star Michael C. Hall, who practically carried the show singlehandedly with a Dahmer-like, creepy-yet-charismatic performance, snagged 4 more Abbies for the series: Most Valuable Performer, Best Drama Series Lead Performer, Best Overall Lead Performer, and Best Rookie Performer.

WKUK, in addition to the ALF Cup, took home 6 Abbies, including Best Comedy Series, Best Comedy Series Ensemble Cast and Best Overall Ensemble Cast. Episode 205, which included the 'Whale Tail' sketch (and 3 other skits that made my top 10 list), won Best Episode, and 'Whale Tail' itself won Best Segment and Best Catch Phrase ("Holy shit!").

SWINGTOWN, originally a CBS summer series, didn't score until late in the year after a marathon on Bravo, finishing 73rd in points, but surprisingly won 4 Abbies thanks to co-star Miriam Shor. Shor had me completely fooled in "Hedwig And The Angry Inch", and she was an absolute hoot as Janet Thompson, winning Breakthrough Performer, Best Drama Series Supporting Performer, Best Overall Supporting Performer and Best Character.



(Here's hoping Bravo or some other cable network picks up Swingtown for a second season. A show about swinging couples could get away with a lot more on cable. If the show does return somewhere, I also hope they can write the daughter out of the show or re-cast the role with a girl who doesn't look like the Cryptkeeper!)

Among other multi-Abbie winners:

IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA collected 3 Abbies: Best Sitcom Series Ensemble Cast, Best Song ('Day Man') and Most Boinkable Performer (Artemis Pebdani).

FAMILY GUY, the 2006 ALF Cup champ and runner-up last year and this year, got 2 Abbie wins: Best Animated Series and Best Animated Series Performer (Seth MacFarlane).

TESTEES picked up 2 Abbies for Best Sitcom Series and Best Sitcom Series Performer (Steve Markle).

6 shows won 1 Abbie each: CORNER GAS won Best Sitcom Series Supporting Performer (Eric Peterson), THE SHIELD won Best Drama Series Ensemble Cast, MYTHBUSTERS won Best Information Series, THE RICK MERCER REPORT won Best Comedy Series Individual Performer (Rick Mercer), THE HENRY ROLLINS SHOW won Best Information Series Performer (Henry Rollins), and INSIDE THE ACTORS STUDIO won Best Information Series Guest Performer (George Carlin).

Other highs and lows of the 2008 ALF Cup season worth some honorable (or dishonorable) mention:

The Shield series finale: Early reports were that this would be a very satisfying curtain call. It wasn't. It was supposed to tie up all the loose ends. It didn't. Vic ends up with a desk job? No huge reward or punishment? Nope, he just packs his gun at the end and, like the shark that series creator Shawn Ryan describes him as, keeps on swimming. Meanwhile Ronnie takes the fall? Ouch! Also I really wanted Vic to kill Shane (but I guess he did indirectly). And why couldn't we find out that the ol' cat-strangler Dutch was himself a serial killer all along?

Royal Canadian Air Farce's Final Flight: Class all the way. Bringing back Dave Broadfoot for the finale, Ron Maclean firing the last shot from the Chicken Cannon (right after they took a parting shot at the CBC), and a singing Peter Mansbridge (Yikes!). Congrats to the former ALF Cup champ on a great run, you guys will be missed.

Robot Chicken Star Wars Special II: I love the bit with Darth and Lando ("This deal's getting worse all the time!" "And here is a unicycle!...")

Testees: After a slow start, this show found its footing with a string of instantly classic eps, including the amnesiac pals being convinced by an angry neighbor that they're a gay couple, a HAL-like vacuum cleaner taking them hostage, and one where they are super-glued together face-cheek-to-ass-cheek. Judging from some of the sight gags in the gay ep and the glue ep (among others), the two stars of this show must be really good friends!

Rick Mercer in zero gravity: To my knowledge, the first and only person to do a flying carpet sight gag on a vomit comet. A weightless and priceless moment. An open suggestion to Rick: you should go back up on that thing with some Diet Coke and Mentos and see what happens.

Corner Gas runs out of gas: A strong spring/summer run in the standings putted down the stretch on fumes, partly because the new-to-me eps ran out, but mostly because of that ep where characters used a telescope to watch a meteor shower, which is sort of like taking a shower with a squirt gun. On the bright side, the bit where Hank explains his plan to foil the Tax Man was a fantastic piece of writing.

WKUK's Opus Part 3: A great bit in a 4-part sketch that otherwise would have made my countdown of a few weeks ago. "People like YOUUUUU..."

Some other songs that lost out to "Day Man" but deserve props: Family Guy's "I Like Farts", American Dad's "When I Was His Alien", and 2 WKUK rap songs, one about getting high with dinosaurs and one by a changed Hitler who's now down with the Jews.

David Letterman vs John McCain: Letterman's "Need a ride to the airport?" will go down as one of his career highlights and one of the greatest moments in late night talk show history. (And perhaps the deciding moment of the election?)

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Still to come: SOTY, the Elite 11 (or Ducksoup Dozen), football fashion report and more 2008 wrap-ups!