TV’s 13 biggest surprises this season

1. Murder Inc.

➣ Zoe Barnes, “House of Cards” 

➣ Will Gardner, “The Good Wife” 

➣ Jerry Grant, Jr., “Scandal”

On “House of Cards,” Zoe Barnes, the intrepid reporter played by Kate Mara, was beginning to connect the death of congressman Peter Russo to her ex-lover (and now vice president), Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey). Underwood had to act fast to stop her. Luring Zoe to a subway station with the promise of giving her some information, Underwood first convinced her to delete his contact info from her smartphone. Then he beckoned her behind a partition — and pushed her into the path of an oncoming train.

On “The Good Wife,” the courtroom murder of attorney Will Gardner (Josh Charles) by his own client stunned audiences and exposed the loveless marriage of Alicia and Peter Florrick (Julianna Margulies and Chris Noth). Will’s death robbed his business partner, Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski), of a trusted associate; his special investigator, Kalinda Sharma (Archie Panjabi), of a friend, and Alicia of a fantasy — that she might have the guts to leave her husband.

When Jerry Jr. (Dylan Minnette) stood behind his dad, the president (Tony Goldwyn), on “Scandal,” it seemed like a routine campaign appearance. Then the kid started bleeding and collapsed onstage as his mother, Mellie (Bellamy Young), stood by helplessly. The boy died at the hospital, the victim of Rowan Pope’s (Joe Morton) insane scheme to become head of black ops again and punish Fitz for robbing his daughter, Olivia (Kerry Washington), of her youth.

2. 'True Detective'

Who knew HBO’s “True Detective” would be one of the most captivating shows of the year?

Credit the sizzling collaboration of writer Nic Pizzolatto and director Cary Fukunaga, who demonstrated conclusively that TV is now surpassing movies in creativity and cinematic artistry — star Matthew McConaughey described the taut thriller as “like a 450-page film.” Credit the partnership of McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, the former who seemed an entirely different man than the cheeseball we remembered from “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” and the latter pulling off a more restrained but equally haunting performance as the slightly saner of two cops grappling with demons both personal and external.

In doling out existential dread alongside its straight-up serial killer chase, this brilliant and confounding show made eager detectives of us all.

3. Awards shockers

➣ Jeff Daniels

➣ ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’

The nominees for the 2013 Best Actor in a Drama Emmy read like a Murderer’s Row of today’s best TV actors: Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad”), Damian Lewis (“Homeland”), Jon Hamm (“Mad Men”) and Kevin Spacey (“House of Cards”).

For good measure, Hugh Bonneville (“Downton Abbey”) and Jeff Daniels (“The Newsroom”) also made the cut. So that sound you heard when Daniels’ name was called was every lover of quality television gasping at once. “The Newsroom” is deeply flawed and hotly debated, and Daniels’ performance, while solid, is fairly one-note.
Similarly, when “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” won a Golden for Best Comedy Series, people’s jaws hit the floor.

4. Pharrell Williams

After more than two decades writing and producing megahits for Jay Z, Beyonce, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake, Pharrell Williams is done being second banana — or what he calls “the guy standing next to the guy.”

Two of 2013’s defining hits — Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” and Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” — were co-written and -performed by the endearingly cocky singer known for his mountie’s hat and light falsetto.

In January, Williams stopped the show at the Grammys, performing with Daft Punk and Stevie Wonder. And he wowed the jaded crowd at the Academy Awards with his Oscar-nominated song for the sequel to “Despicable Me,” “Happy,” now sitting atop Billboard’s Hot 100 for eight straight weeks.

The performance had so much infectious energy that front-row nominees Lupita Nyong’o and Meryl Streep just had to shake their booties.

5. The collapse of 'American Idol'

The 13th season of the once mighty “American Idol” has been the most unlucky.

For the third straight year, the show has lost 20 percent or more of its target young adult audience and one of its primary sponsors, AT&T. And this despite the fact that Fox has thrown an insane amount of cash at the show: Returning superstar judge Jennifer Lopez reportedly makes $15 million. So does host Ryan Seacrest.

And the new set? Cost upward of $5 million. But shining stars and shiny sets can’t camouflage the wrinkles on this aging giant.

6. Marvel’s ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’

Despite Marvel’s talent for producing high-energy action-packed films, this show has been bogged down with sluggish action and tepid story lines.

A recent tie-in with the new “Captain America” film led to some renewed interest, but Marvel can’t release a blockbuster every week, and a Spider-Man tie-in would seem desperate.

From here on, “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” must show that it can offer big action and sizzling story lines without assistance from its big screen big brothers.

7. 'Broad City'

What began as a Web series by a pair of Upright Citizens Brigade alumni has evolved into a hilarious Comedy Central hit that’s been championed by one of the hottest names in comedy. “Broad City,” which stars its creators Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, has been called the anti-“Girls” for the way its 20-something leads never fail to imbue their predicaments with maximum laughs.

That the series is executive produced by Amy Poehler gives it more than just cachet, as the “SNL” and “Parks and Recreation” star has directed and appeared on the show as well.

Now renewed for a second season, “Broad City” joins Andy Daly’s darkly funny “Review,” “@Midnight,” “Inside Amy Schumer” and the can’t-return-soon-enough “Key & Peele” in giving Comedy Central the strongest and smartest roster of series in the network’s history.

8. The Colbert announcement

We all knew David Letterman would retire one day. And sure, we knew that Comedy Central’s late-night darlings — Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert — had been oft-mentioned as likely successors.

But after years of NBC’s extended Jay Leno drama — finally resolved this year with the ascension of multitalented YouTube staple Jimmy Fallon to “The Tonight Show” — we never expected it to happen like this: Letterman announces his retirement during his own show, after the news, of course, first leaks on Twitter. Then, after just one week of wild speculation, Colbert is named to the job. No muss, no fuss. CBS CEO Leslie Moonves, we salute you. That’s exactly how to handle a late-night transition.

9. The decline of ‘Duck Dynasty'

Not so long ago, all anyone in TV could talk about were the sky-high ratings achieved by A&E’s “Duck Dynasty.” 

Last fall, the show’s Season 4 ratings were second only to AMC’s runaway hit “The Walking Dead” among adults 18-49; it was the most watched reality show in cable history. In less than one year, the series’ ratings dropped nearly 30 percent to 6 million viewers from 9.63 million after Season 3 and 8.4 million after Season 4.

What went wrong? In December, patriarch Phil Robertson gave an interview to GQ that was perceived to be homophobic, causing A&E to suspend him for nine days. The show returned for Season 5 on January 15, but the perception stuck, with ratings off steeply. Still, “Duck Dynasty” is headed into production on Season 6.

10. The rise of Robin Wright

We started watching Netflix’s “House of Cards” to see how Rep. Frank Underwood would spin his wild manipulations to get what he wanted. We stuck around because of Golden Globe-winner Robin Wright’s mesmerizing performance as flinty ice-queen Claire Underwood.

While Frank is certainly scary — and, oh yeah, a two-time murderer — Claire is terrifying. She’s also stunning, with never a hair, an eyelash or a button out of place. Tom Broecker — who’s also costumed “Saturday Night Live” and “30 Rock” — designs wardrobes for the Netflix drama.

Along the way, Broecker fell in love with dressing Wright, putting her in all the usual suspects: Prada, Gucci, Armani, Yves St. Laurent, Ralph Lauren and Narcisco Rodriguez. It’s meant to feel like perfectly tailored armor, and it does, but it’s also made us fall in love with Wright — the one to beat for this year’s Best Actress Emmy.

11. Horror is hot

Who knew we all wanted to be scared out of our minds?

Horror films that explode onto the scene and make tons of money are nothing new, from “The Blair Witch Project”’s $141 million in global box office back in 1999 to Naomi Watts’ “The Ring” raking in $129 million in 2002, “Paranormal Activity” racking up $108 million in 2007, and, more recently, “The Conjuring” earning $137 million in 2013, according to IMDb.com.

Translating that kind of scary success to TV is tougher, but with the boundaries between film and TV becoming increasingly fuzzy, horror series have found a home on many networks. AMC’s zombie drama, “The Walking Dead,” continues to blow ratings records out of the water. Ryan Murphy’s “American Horror Story” — which just finished its third season — remains a draw, and Fox’s “Sleepy Hollow,” which is more supernatural than scary, managed to become one of this fall’s very few hits. The genre-hour came out of the box so strong that Fox renewed it for Season 2 less than three weeks after it premiered.

Still, including horror elements often isn’t enough. ABC’s “The River,” from Oren Peli, premiered in spring 2012 and immediately flopped. Netflix’s werewolf thriller, “Hemlock Grove,” is one of the few Netflix originals not to get much traction.

12. Isaiah Washington

This one qualifies as a big surprise, and something “Grey’s Anatomy” fans thought they’d never, ever see: the return — if only for the May 1 episode — of Dr. Preston Burke, played by Isaiah Washington.

Washington, you may recall, was dropped from the ABC hospital hit in 2007 over a homosexual slur — specifically, to castmate T.R. Knight, who is gay.

But now, with the imminent departure of actress Sandra Oh, who plays Dr. Cristina Yang, creator Shonda Rhimes has found the perfect hand grenade to detonate during Yang’s exit: Bring back Dr. Burke, the brilliant heart surgeon who left her standing at the altar.

Washington says he’s been instructed “not to talk” about the invitation to make this important guest appearance. But he told “Access Hollywood” that he was “blown away” by the script and “sated” by the story line reuniting the old flames.

13. 'Game of Thrones'

Could you ever imagine this scene on television: A man rapes his sister next to the body of their son, who has just been killed?

That’s what happened on taboo buster “Game of Thrones,” when Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) forced himself on Cersei (Lena Headey)after the death of Joffrey (Jack Gleeson).

Clearly, the Red Wedding and the Purple Wedding were just the beginning of the shocks the writers of this show plan to give its loyal fans.

— Written by Paige Albiniak, Larry Getlen, Deborah Starr Seibel and Sara Stewart