Let’s celebrate what did work this past year and wish for a more diverse 2012. This year’s standouts, in alphabetical order:

Zooey Deschanel, New Girl: The sitcom hasn’t lived up to its promising pilot episode, mostly because the male characters are unremarkable, but Deschanel’s quirky charms are irresistible. Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones: His Shakespearean-trained skills are put to towering use, playing a dwarf warrior who makes up for his lack of size with wit and romance. Bradley Cooper has nice hair, but for my money, Dinklage is the sexiest man alive.

Giancarlo Esposito, Breaking Bad: Esposito gave to TV’s best drama, a formidable, unpredictable villain who gives you goosebumps every time he saunters into a scene. His final moments gave more nightmares than the Kardashian wedding. Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: It’s easy to forget that Lange is one of our finest actors until she creeps into a scene on this fright factory and nails the kind of chilling, over-the-top character that Bette Davis and Joan Crawford did in their later years. Whatever happened to Baby Lange? She got better, that’s what.

Oliver Platt, The Big C: This year, it’s time to praise her acting partner for the kind of hilarious, heartbreaking turn we've taken for granted from Platt. Time to finally give the big guy an Emmy. Emily Van Camp, Revenge: The fact that the former Everwood star has a good-girl smile makes her all the more delicious and deadly, a conniving force who could destroy an entire town with an innocent giggle and a flip of her hair.

The women of Boardwalk Empire: If last year was all about men behaving badly, this one was for the females, most notably Kelly Macdonald, Gretchen Mol and Julianne Nicholson, all delivering mesmerizing, double-barreled performances. No wonder the second season exceeded the first.