Over at Facebook, my friend Matt shared his thoughts on the greatest tv shows ever made. He told those few of us he tagged to share our lists, and since I have a blog and look for excuses to post something on it, I feel like I should share my list to the blogoverse.
1. The Simpsons Forget the fact that it should've gone off the air a few years ago. To me the first few years "The Simpsons" were on the air counted for the funniest television ever produced. The gags came a mile a minute, the stories had heart, it satirized everything. "The Simpsons" have lost their edge, I know it, you know it, but it can't erase the first half that this show was on the air was the gold.
2. Mad Men Easily my favorite show on right now, although I admit I don't watch a lot of television. If there is a debate that television has eclipsed film, I could hold "Mad Men" as an example to that. I intend to revisit the show and have a whole blog about it. I have watched episodes of this show and envied at the writing, how crisp and witty, and subtle it is. It's also a show with lots of style which I love, and the ongoing themes of identity, creativity, and basically gives us what I think is the most accurate portrayal of what the 1960s must've been like.
3. Cheers: This is in my mind the perfect example of the traditional sitcom. YEs it's episodic with a laughtrack, but it remained funny and clever without getting tiring for 11 seasons, even its spinoff "Frasier" seemed repetitive after its fifth season. But I must say the reason I love this show is in its characters, you wanna see what they're up to next. That's basically it.
4. Monty Python's Flying Circus: The greatest sketch comedy show ever produced, five british men and an animator. Basically Monty Python took comedy to weird, wild new territory. It hardly ever made sense, it stayed on the premise of being very silly. When I watch old footage of Saturday Night Live, it doesn't seem to hold up as well, but Monty Python has endured, the movies are pretty funny too.
5. Arrested Development If "Monty Python" were a sitcom, it would probably look a little like this show. The ultimate dysfuntional family, the Bluths left us too soon, we still pray for a movie that will probably never see the light of day. But really has there been a sitcom that has come along since to really surpass this? I didn't think so.
6. Dr. Who Because I'm a big kid, I love "Dr. Who". He along with Superman and Indiana Jones have the ability to make me feel like a ten year old boy when I'm watching them, because what they do is so amazing. David Tennant was the best Doctor in my opinion, however Matt Smith has taken the role on as his own and has done a great job. This is a british show, and over there it's described as a kid show, here it's a science fiction show, which just goes to show, British kids have cooler shows.
7. Extras: Ricky Gervais' second show after "The Office" I kinda liked a bit more. It's a satiric look at stardom, and fame with a lot of fun cameos from famous people, but it's really the story of friendship and the finale of this show was one of the most heartwarming finales I've ever experienced, very underrated in my opinion.
8. MASH: Much like "Cheers" at the top, this was another traditional sitcom which I watch just for the characters. This show went through many changes cast wise, but the constant was Alan Alda who to me made the show what it was in my opinion. MASH still has many emotional hitting episodes that have remained classic to this very day. Like "Cheers" it remained popular for 11 seasons and never really lost its edge. The series finale is still the highest rated program for any series anywhere, so that has to say something.
9. The West Wing Perhaps I have to revisit this show, but I do remember watching it when it was still on television, not wanting to miss a single episode, which is how I feel about "Mad Men" right now. I did stop watching it once Aaron Sorkin left the show, but came back for the last season to see the election with non-other than Alan Alda.
10. Twin Peaks: Who knows what this show could've been had David Lynch just been able to be left alone and do it his way, instead the bosses at ABC wanted him to reveal to the world who killed Laura Palmer, thus killing off one of the most intriguing series ever made. Once Laura Palmer's killer was revealed, everything afterward seemed very anti-climactic, David Lynch lost interest and it went into a creative funk. Still the first half of this series is brilliant, some of the best television I ever seen. In contrast, the last half is almost unwatchable, but fascinating just to see how much a show can derail once it loses its creative focus. Also watch David Lynch's feature film "Twin Peaks: Fire walk with me" which to me is vastly underrated.
Honorable mention: "The Office" (UK and US versions), "Lost", "Rocky and Bullwinkle" (It was "The Simpsons" of the 60s), "South Park", "ER", "Kids in the Hall", "The Muppet Show", "The Daily Show", "The Colbert Report", "How I Met Your Mother", "Columbo".
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