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In one of the truly underrated performances on TV right now, Kyle Chandler stars as Coach Eric Taylor, the head coach of the Dillon Panthers, one of the very best high school football teams in Texas. Taylor is dedicated to the game, but not in the same way that most of the residents of Dillon are, to the point that they often interfere in his job to make their points. Connie Britton plays his wife, Tami, a smart, feisty, sexy, and caring woman who wants to be the best possible mother to her daughter, Julie. In some ways, describing the show does it a disservice. What I can tell you is that the show manages to be more rousing than most sports movies, even when there's no football action. The show's writers have developed all of the characters, from Eric and Tami to the star quarterback and his girlfriend, so well and strongly that all of their pains become ours, and their triumphs are shared. Although it's too late to save it from going to a season 6, "Friday Night Lights" is a great show, and one of many that you probably aren't watching.

9. Veronica Mars

Before she was someone that Jason Segel wanted to forget in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," Kristen Bell became a mini-star on the three-season detective drama "Veronica Mars". Here's another difficult program to describe: if Nancy Drew had to solve her own rape and the murder of her best friend, and she lived in Orange County, California, she'd be Veronica Mars. That plot made up the major story of the first season of this awesome show, which started on UPN and survived for a third season on the newly formed CW. Veronica is supported by her shrewd ex-sheriff father, Keith; her sidekick, Wallace; her ex-boyfriend, Duncan, whose sister was Veronica's dead best friend; and Duncan's crazy friend Logan, who gets closer to Veronica as the series continues.

Created by Rob Thomas (the creator of "Cupid", not the singer), "Veronica Mars" was a show that was always destined to fail, if only because it was on the worst possible network. In its first season, UPN had the great idea of attracting new viewers by featuring a cameo by Paris Hilton in one episode. There were also countless contestants from "America's Next Top Model" showing up, which only caused distractions, not ratings boosts. Still, the show soldiered on, following up on its impressive and heavily layered first season with an equally exciting second season, in which Veronica investigated a deadly bus crash and dealt with a seriously creepy Steve Guttenberg. No joke. "Veronica Mars" was well-loved by geeks aplenty, as such famed geeks as Joss Whedon and Kevin Smith made cameos; still, despite ratings similar to "Gossip Girl", "Veronica Mars" got axed, even on a cliffhanger ending.

8. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Hopefully, I won't end up offending anyone's personal politics with this choice. At the very least, it's hard for me to put this on the list, because of how frequently hilarious this fake news program can be. Of course, for a certain subset of the population, "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" is about as real a news program as possible, despite all of the raunch and nutty humor. Stewart's deadpan delivery always impresses, even if all the jokes don't always work. However, it's worth considering that, when you're working on comedy four days a week, as opposed to 22 half-hours a year, there's always a possibility that every joke won't be the best ever. In the last decade, Stewart has also been aided by a constantly changing group of correspondents, including Steve Carell, Ed Helms, Stephen Colbert, Rob Corddry, John Oliver, John Hodgman, and Larry Wilmore.

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