In retrospect, 2009 was a pretty darn good year in television.

I wouldn't have said that five months ago when I first viewed all of the pilots for the new fall season and was waist-deep in manure like "Eastwick" and "Melrose Place."

But as you can see on the cover of today's Mix section, I listed my 10 favorite shows of the year, and it turns out there were plenty of diamonds to behold.

So, thank you, AMC for dazzling seasons of "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad," to the makers of "Glee" and "Modern Family," and to HBO for its continued support for another engrossing season of "Big Love."

Will next year be as good? I hope so, or paramedics might find me dead in my family room in a pool of my own nervous sweat.

Hopefully, the TV gods will read this, because I have some demands for the new year. Here is what I want:

» Make "The Office" hilarious again. The workplace comedy has taken too long of a vacation from being funny over the last couple seasons.

» I want more "Glee" NOW -- not in April, when it's scheduled to return after a four-month hiatus.

» Transfer "Jersey Shore" and its room-temperature-IQ cast to "Louisiana Shore," where hopefully they'll get eaten by alligators. Never mind that the gators will probably spit them back out from the bad taste of all that hair gel.

» Make "24" good next season (after seeing the first four episodes of the new year, I just might get my wish).

» Get Kate Gosselin a new hairstylist. And somone pleeaaasssee ring her and Jon's "15-Minutes-Are-Up" bell.

» Slip Adam Lambert salt peter before his next TV performance.

» Para-drop Lou Dobbs in Guadalajara to test out his survival skills for a new reality show.

» Start filming "Big Love" in Utah instead of in California because our local film industry desperately needs a series based here. We have plenty of polygamists who can be extras, too.

» I want someone to magically lower my ever-rising cable bill. Perhaps to a figure more akin to the gross national product of Japan instead of the GNP of the European Union.

» Stop making movies based on TV shows (and no, that doesn't mean they should make more TV shows based on movies).

» And someone please stop all Utahns from applying for reality shows. I need a break from reporting on their exploits.

Vince Horiuchi 's column appears Fridays. He can be reached at vince@sltrib.com or 801-257-8607. For more television insights, visit Horiuchi's blog, "The Village Vidiot," at blogs.sltrib.com/tv/. Send comments about this column to livingeditor@sltrib.com.