How so? Because they had the chance to be different? Or controversial? Rather than give the award to the clear cut winner.

I agree thats not the best way to argue your point 95% of the time, but in the case of where you have Breaking Bad as a candidate, a show that a multitude of critics have called the best show of all time and/or appears on almost every Top 5 list, it comes across more as an act of defiance.

I can't necessarily speak to the show that won (I haven't even remotely heard of it), but 20 years from now when AV Club sees that they DIDNT give the final season of Breaking Bad the Best TV Show of 2013, they will be ashamed of themselves.

11 of them I have no knowledge of, yes. And of the ones I have seen, I'm not sure they would make it into my Top 10.

This is an atrocious list in my humble opinion. Half of these I haven't even heard of and I see a new film every week. Just the simple fact that The Counselor is even on this list pretty much invalidates it. That movie was one of the worst of the year (would have worked much better as a novel).