The best TV of the year:

1) "The West Wing" (NBC) The classiest adult series on network TV won a ton of Emmys in 2000 -- a mandate for bookish yet straight-shooting President Jed Bartlet and his great honkin' liberal Democratic visionary White House. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to live inside my TV for the next four years.

2) "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (WB) The 1999-00 season started sluggishly, with Buffy and her pals adrift after high school. Then came "Hush," gay Willow, the Initiative, Buffy asserting her independence from pseudo-dad Giles, Giles falling into a midlife funk and Spike with a V-chip in his head. The 2000-01 season started oddly, with the arrival of Dawn, the little sis we never knew Buffy had. Then came the revelation that Dawn is a humankind-saving energy force made flesh and wrapped in an ancient "veiling" spell that makes everyone blind to who -- or what -- she really is. Of course Buffy doesn't really have a sister whom we never saw or heard about for the past three years! Now we get it! Brilliant!

There were also juicy plot turns like Buffy's mom's brain tumor, Buffy getting heavily in touch with her kick-ass maternal side, goody-goody Riley walking on the wild side, Giles finally getting out of the house and Spike wandering around in a lovesick funk over Buffy. I will never question Joss Whedon's storytelling sense again. He knows where he wants "Buffy" to go; we just have to shut up and enjoy the ride.

3) "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (HBO) Remember back when "Seinfeld" ended and I said there'd never be another show like it? OK, so I was wrong. "Seinfeld" co-creator (and inspiration for George Costanza) Larry David took the irony-laden, intertwining plot structure of his old show and put his unlovable self at the center. The result was a screamingly funny (improvised) black comedy about a disagreeable, peevish man who courts disaster with every ill-chosen remark and self-serving action.

Whenever Larry does someone a bad turn, he gets screwed over. Whenever Larry tries to make things right, he gets screwed over. Whenever Larry's just walking down the street, minding his own business, he gets screwed over. As he did on "Seinfeld," David makes you a firm believer in instant karma. Set in suburban Los Angeles, "Curb Your Enthusiasm" takes the nastiness, neuroses and pettiness of "Seinfeld" to new levels of absurdity, demonstrating how little it takes these days for seemingly normal people to blow up and melt down. This was the best new show of the season. And the scariest.

4) "The Sopranos" (HBO) OK, so it didn't have the giddy, ba-da-bing momentum of Season 1, but it did have James Gandolfini grinning like a grizzly bear as he presided over two executions, showing us the cold darkness of Tony Soprano's heart. And Edie Falco's Carmela shedding her last illusion about the "sanctity" of her marriage, subtly making the decision to stop trying to save Tony's soul. And the Janice and Richie Show. And Big Pussy sleeping with the fishes -- literally. "The Sopranos" is still a feast for viewers who like their dramas spicy, raw and marinated in dread. Mangia!

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