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While 2011 brought us history-making news from around the world, it also brought us some truly spectacular television shows! From quirky relationship-based comedies to supernatural stories featuring some gorgeous vampires, 2011 had some wonderfully stand-out offerings, and you’ll find that Directv is a good way to get the shows you want.

How I Met Your Mother walks a fine line between over-the-top drama and side-splitting hilarity, and this show, now going on 5 years, seems no closer to letting us in on the answer posed in the title. The relationships are growing and changing, and its still anyone’s game.

For the James Bond fan in all of us, there was the animated show Archer, which takes on Cold War espionage and the rules of Mad Men with hilarious results. With co-workers that range from the mildly-deranged to the completely insane, Archer deals with issues as varied as sleeper agents and breast cancer. Whether you’re there for the snarky one-liners, the ridiculous antics of the semi-sociopathic main character, or the rare serious moment, Archer had plenty to offer.

In the fictional town of Bon Temps, humans and vampires live side by side in an uneasy peace. The television series True Blood is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries, by Charlene Harris. After ending its fourth season on a series of cliffhangers, HBO has announced that the show will continue in 2012.

On the dramatic of end things, 2011 saw the emergence of Homeland as a perfectly-acted, perfectly-timed thriller. This show deals with anti-terrorism issues, and in a stunning departure from her previous roles, Clare Danes plays an on-edge CIA agent who is faced with impossible choices.

Game of Thrones, another offering from HBO, introduced a dark edge to the fantasy genre and got everyone interested in the George R.R. Martin series. Whether you are a fan of the books, or you only came to see the blood hit the screen, Game of Thrones offers the watching audience plenty of high drama and fascinating choices. While it took audiences a while to warm to this show, it has a lot to offer if you hang in there.

Storage Wars, a show about investigating the contents of abandoned storage units, has ended its second season and shows no signs of slowing down. This show gives the viewer a voyeuristic thrill and the fun of high-stakes bargaining. There are plenty of interesting things to see and each storage unit opened seems to have its own story.