The year 2004 may not have been the most memorable TV year in recent decades, but it nevertheless inspired its share of memories. Here are 10 “bests” from the year in TV:

1. Smartest college student: Rory (Alexis Bledel), of the once-again addictive “Gilmore Girls,” settling into life at Yale, where she’s foundering and finding herself, just like a real, normal undergraduate.

2. Smartest teen: Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell), center of a well-written, well-plotted detective mystery, anchored with by a swell cast with lots of potential.

3. Best departure: Tom Brokaw’s graceful, understated, no-big-deal conclusion to an astonishing NBC run, a great contrast to Dan Rather’s cloudier, ongoing exit scenario.

4. Best new character: The title role on “House,” portrayed by Hugh Laurie, a physician who’s cranky, unsympathetic, dogged in the scientific pursuit of his craft, ailing himself and flush with acidic putdowns (“Humanity is overrated”).

5. Best surviving sitcom: “Everybody Loves Raymond,” still funny, surprising and keen; its stalwart ensemble and their well-established shtick are lovable indeed, all in a time of dwindling returns (“Will & Grace”) and numbingly bad newcomers (“Center of the Universe”).

6. Most lovably dysfunctional family: “Arrested Development.” It’s hard to pick our favorite character, but we love Jessica Walters’ ice maiden mom, David Cross’ deep-in-denial and never-nude wannabee actor, Will Arnett’s pompous and attention-starved magician and Michael Cera’s nervous, apologetic teen.

7. Most lovably dysfunctional workplace: The hospital on “Scrubs,” a zany locale where the art of healing routinely flirts with a perverse, unintentional and inept flirtation with euthanasia. Heather Graham was a surprising plus early on as a psychobabbling, ditzy, meddlesome therapist.

8. Best onscreen chemistry: Kevin Hill and George, his gay nanny. UPN’s “Kevin Hill” has yet to reach its potential, but the most heartening development in this tale of a bachelor father working at an all-female law firm is the deepening relationship between Hill (the outstanding Taye Diggs) and his acerbic, uncowed helpmate (Patrick Breen).

9. Best comeback: ABC gets this handily, thanks to “Lost, ” “Desperate Housewives” and, to a lesser extent, “Boston Legal.” Add to that the ratings growth, rare for reality TV this season, of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” and the solid performance of “Wife Swap” and you have a network on an upsurge.

10. Best reality TV moment: Ami Cusack, a master manipulator who thought her all-female coterie was completely under her thumb, realizing at a pivotal Tribal Council that her power block was disintegrating and she no longer controlled the game.