Dearie Awards 2011: Television Show of the Year - MILDRED PIERCE

Who would have thought that a 5 1/2 hour-long remake of a campy 1945 Joan Crawford classic could become compelling television in 2011? Or that Kate Winslet would make the title mother struggling with class issues and a demanding daughter as memorable as Crawford did in her original Oscar-winning turn? While more faithful to James M. Cain's original novel, gay writer-director Todd Haynes made this Mildred Pierce uniquely his own, as well as funnier, sexier and surprisingly relevant to our own class-torn times.

Honorable Mentions:
Ryan Murphy's American Horror Story, meanwhile, was also successful at updating the time-honored haunted house story by adding generous heapings of gore, nudity and Jessica Lange. Our second honorable mention, HBO's Cinema Verite, starred Diane Lane and Tim Robbins as the heads of TV's first reality-show family, the Louds, with Thomas Dekker as their son, Lance, likely the most famous out gay person of the time.

By Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.