The holidays, the end of the year, the eggnog, and all those general nice feelings in the air call for one of the grand traditions of American culture: Best Of lists. Today, however, here's something at least as fun: the Worst Of. Who doesn't love a nostalgic trip through the truly wretched television of the year?

This was a year without any great network miniseries about storms or asteroids or altered historical events. Remember a few years back, how NBC had Noah getting attacked by pirates? Now that was television. There is also more TV than ever, so there's also going to be a healthy dose of junk, and narrowing this list wasn't so easy, either. It doesn't have room, for instance, for NBC's "The Real Wedding Crashers," and that was some seriously bad watching.

The worst:

1. "The Real Housewives of Orange County" (Bravo). First thing, none of them are real, if you get my drift. Next thing, all of them are self-centered, greedy and mean. They brag that they can be shrewish and vengeful, and this show is like every faux documentary-style reality show following self-absorbed, useless people in gyms, salons and the hills. It sends the message that you get famous by being a jerk.

2. "The Apprentice" (NBC). Speaking of jerks: I used to applaud the raw, free-market, jungle nature of this show, but Donald Trump managed to overcome everything good about it with his relentless and trite self-promotion. He seems to be the horrific boss who wants his employees fighting and miserable so he can manipulate them.

3. "Cavemen" (ABC). The thing is, it's not a truly terrible show, it's just bland and hackneyed. (The original pilot was, indeed, terrible, but it never made the air.) But this gets a spot high on the list because, first, it's a bad idea that ABC should have seen coming, and, also, because it ruined what had been a good series of commercials. I just hope ABC doesn't make a comedy with the little GEICO lizard.

4. "Kid Nation" (CBS). The child labor "controversy" CBS managed to scrape up didn't last, and the show's true, very dull nature came out quickly. I'm sure they're all nice kids, but it felt like a long hour of baby-sitting.

5. "Nancy Grace" (CNN). Grace is merciless to every creature in her path — the accused, the victims, and anyone foolish enough to speak with her. She represents every bad part of our media culture, plus Grace — and CNN — have shown they're willing to do anything to anyone for ratings. CNN should be ashamed. Grace, we know, has no shame.

6. "According to Jim" (ABC). One of the worst things about the writers' strike is, it got ABC running back-to-back episodes of this show. Can we just agree? No more shows about sloppy guys who marry smart, stunning women, then whine at them.

7. "The View" (ABC). In the spring, they were screaming like a cable news show. The only thing missing was the box of four talking heads insulting each other. Worse, though, is "The View's" overall implication that all women are that shallow, petty and uninteresting.

8. "Viva Laughlin" (CBS). Points to CBS for the attempt. Seriously. They took a bold shot. But how could they not know the show was as horrible as it was? How could they not know how horrible the music was?

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