2003 Octy for Television
A lot of TV shows came and went in 2003, but the Runner up for the Octy is Scrubs. Easily one of the funniest shows on TV, and the 2002/2003 season was the high point of the show so far. Scrubs combines a well rounded cast with some really good sitcom writing and presents the whole thing a little off kilter. At any moment in a given episode a character might just break out into a song and dance number or careen into a bizarre fantasy sequence. It was only Just nudged out for the Octy by: 24

Yup, season two of everyone's favorite realtime crime/political/action drama gets the Octy for TV in 2003, even though I didn't watch the show until a few months ago on DVD. The first season was ground breaking and nail-bitting, and the second season was bigger, faster, more action packed, and kept you guessing until the very last episode. I highly suggest checking out the first two seasons on DVD. Just be sure to clear your schedule as the show is seriously addictive, and once your through the first disc, you'll have a hard time stopping.

And now, the 2003 Octy for Film!
It was shaping up to be a pretty tight race coming into october, but then Return of the King came out and blew everything else out of the water. And so the 2003 Film Octy goes to Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King. I'm not sure what to say other than RotK exceeded all of my very high expectations, and there is really no way it wasn't getting the Octy this year. Which made the runner up honor the really tough race. On the one had you have the larger-than-life high seas adventure of Pirates of the Caribbean. Pirates was an instant classic for me and one of those rare movies that I never get tired of watching. But there was also the quite tragedy of Lost in Translation. Bill Murray and Scarlet Johansson were both gave remarkable performances from a very original and markedly un-Hollywood script by Sofia Coppola. Two movies that couldn't be more different, and either of them good enough to take the Octy in a year where there wasn't the grand finale of Lord of the Rings. So one of them gets the runner up, and the other an honorable mention. Take your pick.

Tomorrow, the long awaited Octy for Best Album in 2003!