Eric DeggansWow. That's such a daunting task. Reminds me of the first question everyone asks me when they hear i'm a TV critic: "What's your favorite TV show?" And I have so many, that often I can't give a coherent answer. Anyways, here's my stab at it.
1. The Nat King Cole Show
I've only seen this one in archival footage and documentary tapes. Still, the sight of a suave, talented Cole trading vocal and piano licks with the likes of Mel Torme and Peggy Lee was an amazing source of pride -- especially in 1956, eight years before black people would gain the federally mandated right to vote in all states. And watching cole prove that h was more than just a slick baladeer with performances that revealed his true singing and piano playing prowess -- well, that was just icing on the cake.
2. The Richard Pryor Show
Another series that didn't last long, this was ribald comic Richard Pryor's reward for acing a stint hosting Saturday Night Live. Despite repeated inteference from the censors -- Pryor appeared in one sketch nude with his, um, "naughty bits" removed to symbolize what censors were doing to him -- it was incredibly funny, hinting at the comic feast to come when TV let comics such as Arsenio Hall and Chris Rock mine black culture to fuel their shows.
3. Saturday Night Live
I remember stumbling on this show during its second or third episode, clicking channels late one saturday night while my mother lay sleeping on the couch. It reminded of thedays when I'd smuggle a Richard Pryor or Redd Foxx record into my room, turning down the volume so my mother couldn't hear the profanity-laced comedy routines. This was rock 'n' roll sketch comedy, weaving rock culture, stoner culture, college culture and New York culture into a potent stew that was irresistible for a fan of zietgist-tapping pop art. Even at a young age, I could tell this was something new, dangerous and fun.
4. The Sopranos (first season only)
Watch these 13 episodes and you see creator David Chase's complex vision fully realized -- a textured, darkly comic drama about a Mafia capo forced to realize the mother he adores is his worst enemy. No other storyline mined since has presented the same level of drama and artistic fulfillment, making you wish Chase had folowed his first instinct and let Tiony kill his mother at the end of the first season's final episode.
5. Good Times (first season only)
Yeah, Jimmie Walker's J.J. character was a coon in teenager's clothing, but John Amos and Esther Rolle's depiction of hard working, project-living parents in Chicago's South Side reminded me of a dozen families I knew growing up in my own ghetto home in Northwest Indiana. Put simply, Good Times was the first time I saw a family on TV that looked like the ones I knew (my father wasn't in my home, so it wasn't like mine). They had money troubles, worried about getting and keeping jobs, fretted about racism and struggled with the knowledge that so many were doing so much better than they were. Then Amos left the show and it turned into "the J.J. Hour" - destroying a powerful program.
6. Don Kirshner's Rock Concert
Kirshner was a record executive with severe stage fright -- Paul Shaffer's dead-on impression of his deer-in-the-headlights delivery of band intros during an SNL Blues Brothers skit remains a classic -- who somehow managed to offer the hippest late night music showcase of the late 70s and early '80s. I remember being glued to a live performance of "Message in a Bottle"-era Police, The Specials, Earth Wind and fire knockoffs Cameo, and many other bands years before MTV would make such appearances routine. For a young music fan, watching Kirsher's show -- before he began letting disco bands lip synch performances -- was like mainlining musical ecstasy.
7. The Twilight Zone
For a young fan of science fiction and comic books, this was heaven -- a TV show that took all those storytelling techniques seriously and weaved compelling, classic tales out of them.
8. Roots
It made me angry for weeks, mostly because it made real how my ancestors were stripped of everything that they had -- their homes, family, heritage and self-respect -- forced to a new land where they would be treated like animals for the rest of their days. It was a potent lesson in the facts of slavery, exposing exacly how it all unfolded in a way that viewers could never forget.
9. Seinfeld
For me, one of the best TV comedies ever - capturing the dysfunction of late 20h century urban life with spot-on accuracy. Of course, it didn't start out that good and its final season was a mish mash of efforts to keep a fading franchise alive. Still, when it was good, it was among the very best at lapooning self-obsessed urban dwellers.
10. The Simpsons
Blessed with a cast that never gets old and a concept that never tires, his animated family has been skewering pop culture for 13 seasons - always a step ahead and a cut above.
Eric Deggans is media/TV critic for The St. Petersburg (Florida) Times.
----- Laurel Krahn
1. Homicide: Life on the Street
It's the Best Damn Show On Television. Plenty of critics have raved about it, yet it never received a single Emmy nomination for Best Drama (there's really no better proof that the Emmys are seriously screwed up). You've probably heard that it's a brilliant drama about homicide detectives, life and death, all sorts of deep stuff. What is often overlooked is that the show is often incredibly funny. Well written, well acted,well directed . . . just plain well done. You can't beat the first three or four seasons, after that the show slid downhill a bit, but still had some darn good episodes and moments, too.
2. China Beach
Lots of people would have you believe that television is the worst bit of pop culture, a corrupting influence, or just plain crummy. These people haven't watched Homicide or China Beach. Whenever you see a storyline on Homicide or China Beach that seems far-fetched or overly melodramatic, those usually turn out to be the plots based on true stories. This gem is too often overlooked when lists like this are made.
3. The Dick Van Dyke Show
Lest y'all think I'm all about drama, I've got a soft spot for sitcoms. And is there a better sitcom than this one? Didn't it make you want to write for a TV show? And wish your friends were as witty as Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam? I still aspire to throw parties as cool as some that Laura and Rob threw. And wish my pals and I could throw together a kicky variety show for every major holiday. A timeless classic, too. They avoided topical humor and pop culture references enough that this show works well year after year (lesser sitcoms end up quite dated).
4. Star Trek
I almost forgot to list this. Shameful, really. I know the episodes by heart, I've been to Star Trek conventions, I've read a lot of tie-in novels, I've collected books and posters and other stuff relating to the show. I can tell you the episode titles and obscure facts. I allegedly gave up my obsession with the show a decade or more ago (I've only seen a handful of episodes of Enterprise, a season or two of Voyager). And yet my knowledge of The Original Series remains with me, I think it always will (live long and prosper). Can't beat the chemistry of the original crew. I love the good episodes and lovingly mock the bad ones.
5. The X-Files
I hate how it ended. But wasn't it a fun ride? I love Mulder and Scully (and Skinner, the Lone Gunmen, Krycek, et al). They're just fun to look at and think about, really. Icons. The only fanfic I read? It's about this show. And there's some good stuff (No, really! I blush to admit it, but it's true). So much promise in those early episodes, in the early seasons. In an alternate universe, maybe it ended better. Of course the nifty thing about this series is that it works on a variety of levels. Some fans watched for the relationship between Mulder and Scully, others for the Monster of the Week episodes, others for the "mythology" episodes (the wacky ongoing story that got so messed up), and others for the funny episodes. Or maybe for all of it, really. The episodes by Darin Morgan alone would bump this show onto my list.
6. Hogan's Heroes / Get Smart
I always think of these together for some reason. Maybe it's the gadgets. As a kid, I became obsessed with both shows because of the cool gadgets. I wanted to be suave like Hogan or cool like 99, but somehow suspected I'd always be a bit more like Maxwell Smart. Preposterous and silly shows? Maybe. It doesn't matter because they're so very funny.
7. Late Night with David Letterman / The Late Show with David Letterman
Dave has made me laugh for years and years and has influenced my sense of humor in ways I'm sure I don't even realize. He's the king of late night, as far as I'm concerned, if one really has to crown one. Not that I didn't like Johnny, I just relate to Dave far more.
8. NewsRadio / Sports Night
My picks for the two best half-hour series of the last decade or so. They both have great ensemble casts. Both shows reference pop culture a whole lot, in witty ways. Both shows featured wordplay heavily at times, but also weren't afraid to go with flat out physical humor.
9. Buffy The Vampire Slayer / Angel
I tried to resist, but the cute dialogue and the epic themes drew me in. The Buffy episode "Once More, With Feeling" (the Buffy musical) is one of my favorite hours of TV ever. Other episodes of both series? Right up there. I'm a pushover for a good mix of comedy and drama, for series with characters that grow and change over time.
10. Magnum, P.I. / Moonlighting / Remington Steele
These shows are the reason I grew up wanting to be a private investigator. These shows were mostly fun fluff, but fluff that was a cut above the rest of the action/adventure dramas. Like the best shows, the reason they're classic has a lot to do with cast chemistry. Even when the writing wasn't as good as it should be, I still wanted to watch these characters interact. Classic banter. And bickering. From time to time Magnum did more serious episodes and those worked better than anyone could've expected.
Laurel Krahn writes about TV almost every day at tvpicks.net, even when she'd much rather be sleeping (or actually watching TV). She owns props that were featured prominently in one of her favorite episodes of Homicide: Life on the Street. Not that she's obsessed, no not at all.
----- Tim Grierson
In my young life, one thing is clear: I haven’t watched enough television. This list proves it. Forget favorite shows -- I’ll give you my 10 favorite TV moments:
1. The 2000 Presidential Election coverage
Exhilarating live drama. Back when we thought these things were real.
2. The 9/11 coverage
Whatever I say here can’t mean as much to you as where you were, who you were with, what you were watching, and what the hell you were thinking.
3. David Letterman’s first episode on CBS
It’s not called Late Night anymore, got it? It’s Late Show now. Dave’s suits are gonna start looking better, too. And, for a little while, this show is gonna be the best damn thing on TV. But then the universe’s cosmic normalcy will take over. And then Jay Leno will overtake him in the ratings.
4. “I Do, Adieu,” Cheers
Season five. Episode 26. Instead of going through with the wedding, Diane leaves Sam to finish her book. She swears she’ll come back. He knows she won’t. And a new generation’s Casablanca is born.
5. “Homer’s Phobia,” The Simpsons
Season eight. Episode 15. Homer’s afraid John Waters’ homosexual kitsch dealer is giving Bart gay. One of the best satires on homophobia ever presented on prime time. Even better, it originally aired two days after Valentine's Day.
6. Game Six, 1985 World Series, St. Louis Cardinals vs. Kansas City Royals
His beloved Cardinals try their hardest not to choke away a series that’s theirs for the taking. Then, umpire Don Denkinger blows the call at first. At age 10, the boy watches his team collapse in front of him. The phrase “life isn’t fair” suddenly becomes concrete, makes sense, stings like hell.
7. Nirvana gets its own Unplugged on MTV
Kurt Cobain sings “Where Did You Sleep Last Night.” Nobody in his fan base has ever heard the song before. But it scares the hell out of them. A few months later, his suicide seemed like the only way to top this performance.
8. “Performance Artist,” The Larry Sanders Show
Season two. Episode 14. Everything you need to know about late-night talk shows and shamelessly self-promoting “shock” artists.
9. “The Finale,” Seinfeld
Season nine. Episodes 179-180. Comforting evidence, on a colossal must-see level, that this show could suck hard. And we Frasier fans aren’t gonna let you forget it.
10. Charlie Rose
Who’s he got on tonight? I dunno. Probably somebody good, though.
Tim Grierson is editor of The Simon, a weekly online publication of culutre, politics, and humor.
----- Brian Lewandowski
Is it possible to choose 10 television shows that are my favorites of all-time? Thankfully I can pretty much rule out anything from the last 2 or 3 seasons. Anything in the 50s or 60s, I can’t really comment on since I was either just a twinkling in my parents’ eyes or a useless diaper filled wombat. So maybe this “all-time” thing should be “my-time.” Anyway, here they are:
1. Family Guy
Any animated series that sneaks in things about how much the Yankees suck is all right in my book. As an added plus, I swear that Peter is modeled after Boston Mayor Tom “Mumbles” Menino.
2. Match Game
I BLANK this show so much that I would watch it while BLANKING your BLANK. Long live Charles Nelson Reilly….he is still living isn’t he?
3. Coupling
This BBC classic is what “Friends” should be. People who actually work day jobs, drink beer and have real issues about sex and..um…well…sex…and they are not afraid to say “penis.” Are you? I’m not. Penis. There I said it again….
4. No Soap Radio
The whole series from 1982 seemed to be based on the different floors of a seedy Atlantic City hotel. I recall one episode where an overstuffed chair was eating the guests. It was captured, put on trial and sentenced. A newspaper headline read “Chair to Get Chair.” I swear that this was on the tube waaaaay before my first hit of acid.
5. The Muppet Show/Sesame Street
How much of my adult life was influenced by these shows? Just about everything… although I still don’t tell anyone about my invisible “Snufalufagus.” Sesame still rocks but I will someday take out Elmo with a baseball bat.
6. Monty Python's Flying Circus
Say no more! Say no more! Nudge. Nudge. Know what I mean?
7. Taxi
I remember thinking when I was little that Danny DeVito looked just like freakin’ Rhea Perlman…and then what did they do? They got married. No wonder Andy Kaufman killed himself.
8. Becker
In direct contrast to CBS’ “Ebweebudy Wuvs Waymond” this show is not friendly and lovable. Ted Danson is an ass. Ted Danson is Dabney Coleman’s Buffalo Bill. Me like.
9. Charlie’s Angels
Farrah! Farrah! God, I loved Farrah! When I was younger I had a box where I stored every picture I could find of her. Ya know something though? She never wrote me back when I requested a pair of her panties…
10. Twin Peaks
Every week I would watch and think how much I would like to bang Sherilyn Fenn like a screen door in a windstorm. Then the weird music would start, a backwards talking midget would appear…and somehow I would lose the urge.
Brian Lewandowski is a somewhat former stand-up and media writer who has a penchant for being opinionated, often daily, often at brianlewandowski.com. He occasionally interviews celebrities of some sort at Hideedee.com.
----- Billy Ingram
My top ten favorites of all time, off the top of my head and in no particular order are:
Amos and Andy
Great cast and hilarious plotlines that are still being recycled. TV's firstgreat sitcom.
The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour
I love everything about this show, especially the musical arrangements.
Lost in Space
Could not get enough of Irwin Allen when I was a kid. Still love it.
Dark Shadows
If I start watching, I'm hooked. Dr. Julia Hoffman was excellent.
Green Acres
Funny!
The Simpsons
The best show ever.
The Sopranos
Thrilling! World class actors and twisty scripts.
The Lucy Show
Light and breezy and it reminds me of being home sick from school.
The Carol Burnett Show
"Eunice, get a grip on yourself!"
Playboy's Penthouse
Finest jazz and Be-bop performers, along with the top comics of the early-sixties beat era.
Billy Ingram is the creator of TV Party! and the author of the book TV Party!
----- Adam Finley
It would be easier for me to come up with ten of my favorite ways to have someone vomit directly into my mouth than it would be to come up with ten of my favorite television shows. Nevertheless, it is my duty as an Internet writer never to question the delusion that everyone cares deeply how I feel about things. Therefore:
1. Mystery Science Theater 3000
MST3K might easily be dismissed as a quirky sensation with a cult following, but beneath the oddball humor, barrage of pop culture, and inspired ineptitude is an important message about creating something on your own terms. Fortunately, it worked, but these rare gems don’t materialize too often.
2.The Simpsons
I’ve discovered that recent episodes of The Simpsons need time to simmer. My initial viewing of an episode is often much worse than my second or third viewing of the same episode once it has gone to syndication. Those who say The Simpsons is nothing compared to what it was ten years ago would be wise to try this technique. You’ll realize it hasn’t become less intelligent, just more familiar.
3.Sifl and Olly
Sock puppets, Civil War corpses, lunch boxes with zebra brains inside them, flatware confused about its sexual orientation, and good old fashion rock and roll. This show was crescent fresh.
4. Strangers With Candy
You know, that short-lived Comedy Central series about the frumpy fortysomething high school freshman/whore/drug addict/racist? I have all the episodes on tape if anyone wants to borrow them.
5. Home Movies
A crafty wiseacre of a cartoon about a boy who makes movies with his friends. Packed with double the daily recommend allowance of irony.
6. Space Ghost: Coast-to-Coast
And of course there’s Cartoon Planet, The Brak Show, Sealab 2021, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and the rest of that “Hanna-Barbera re-imagained by chemically-imbalanced animators” clan, but Space Ghost started it all. He taught me that a shark’s reproductive organs are made from M-80s, and it is for this reason alone I tune into his show every week.
7. Politically Incorrect
It was like a McLaughlin Group that didn’t take itself seriously.
8. Mr. Show
One of the most brilliant sketch comedy shows ever conceived, and arguably too good for television.
9. The Adventures of Pete and Pete
Before Nickelodeon became an outlet for booger jokes and slapstick sans substance, there was this show, which had lots of booger jokes and slapstick melded with an actual love for its characters. Pete and Pete, a series about two brothers with the same name, demonstrated that you could be wacky and irreverent without being dumb.
10. The Muppet Show
I have a friend who considers me his “go to” guy whenever he needs a bit of Muppet trivia. It’s not a full time job, but it’s an invaluable service, kind of like driving a tow truck.
Adam Finley is typing this completely barefoot.
----- Diane Werts
In no particular order:
Barney Miller
Always funny, but actually a keen little drama of human behavior, too, with its weekly cross-section of criminals, victims and oddballs crossing paths with lower Manhattan’s 12th precinct detective squad.
Bakersfield P.D.
Another set of even stranger cops and even stranger citizens, in desert California. Men aren’t from Mars but some other galaxy in this sweet little dramedy: Three exceedingly codependent male cop partnerships touch on matters of race, gender, good/evil and workaday relationships.
Star Trek
THE original smart sci-fi show, creating foreign worlds that reflect clearly on the social and personal issues of our own Earthbound one. And just rollicking good tube fun.
Farscape
The SMARTER sci-fi show, taking the action out of the futuristic realm and making it contemporary, not to mention state-of-the-art technically. With its Earthling star lost in space alongside fugitive aliens, everybody’s utterly alone in the universe, trying to make their own distinct agendas jibe with their sense of responsibility and connection to others. Kick-butt babe aliens, too!
Honey West
Where I got my start on kick-butt women. Anne Francis plays a sleekly independent evening-gowned PI who brings down bad guys with karate before heading home to her pet ocelot, Bruce, and a long hot bubblebath. The life every girl should lead.
The Dick Van Dyke Show
Just the best sitcom ever. The first real adult look at both marriage and career, but never heavyhanded and just as happy to get laughs with some good old-fashioned slapstick.
Due South
Utterly unique cop hour partners a Canadian Dudley Do-Right mountie with a streetwise Chicago cop for weird professional action and stark emotional character study. Great use of mood tunes from the cool likes of Sarah McLachlan.
South Park
Talk about unique. Where the heck did this come from? Distinctively animated Colorado small-town fourth-graders encounter aliens, Jesus, Saddam Hussein and everybody else in creation, which would be hilarious fun even if it weren’t in the service of some of today’s most wickedly pointed topical satire.
Nothing Sacred
Bringing holy issues down to human scale, this tale of an activist Pittsburgh parish priest (Kevin Anderson) essentially got run off the air for being too good at pinpointing what really matters. Compassion. Hope. Openness. Forgiveness. Doubt and faith. Everything but sanctimoniously parroting the rules of the righteous who claim to speak for God.
ER
Structurally, it’s just a great construct in terms of setting, pacing, character, and even when some episodes wobble a bit, it’s never less than the ultimate sort of entertainment network TV can deliver.
Diane Werts writes about TV for the New York daily newspaper Newsday. She just finished a two-year term as president of the Television Critics Association, and is a charter member of the Emmy panel at the awards site www.goldderby.com.
----- James Norton
1. The Larry Sanders Show
All the behind-the-scenes viciousness of show business, and twice the humor. Larry Sanders featured tight writing, great timing, and a neurotic main character who engaged your sympathy while struggling to stay atop his fundamentally messed-up world. A little Sopranosesque in that regard, but with more digs at entertainment industry insiders, and fewer bloody mob hits.
2. Aqua Teen Hunger Force
It's an elegant concept: a team of anthropomorphized junk food gets into nutty mishaps. A lazy, malicious, easily distracted milkshake, an incredibly stupid but good-natured meatball, and an all-powerful, totally streetwise packet of french fries interact, have adventures, and basically go nuts.
The good episodes are also dangerously funny.
Coming out on DVD this November, so there's no excuse to miss it.
3. Twin Peaks
David Lynch at his artistically-weird-but-deeply-meaningful best.
4. Law & Order
Anything you can watch for four straight episodes is really more of a clinical addiction than a television show, but Law & Order still qualifies for this lilist. At its best when it probes the gray areas of the law where subjective human input is necessary for a verdict (as opposed to the episodes involving idiotic, "I ate too many low-fat Twinkies so I went nuts and stabbed her" insanity defenses) Law & Order is great at pointing out the gaps between the legal code and personal morality.
A note to Law & Order fans: See Crimes and Misdemenors if you're into Waterston and Orbach.
5. The Simpsons
Saying The Simpsons is one of your favorite shows is like saying God is your favorite Christian deity. Oh, you like The Simpsons? How remarkable! You don't say!
Still: It's probably the most nuanced and complete catalog of modern American culture ever created. And, yes, it's hilarious.
6. Northern Exposure
For its first couple of seasons, Northern Exposure was one of the best comedy ensemble shows on television. But as its quirky characters matured and deepened, the show grew into one of the best dramas on TV. Then it jumped the shark (the "bubble boy" episode, if I recall) and drowned. But when Northern Exposure was good, it was very good indeed.
7. Cheers
I'd stopped watching Cheers for about 10 years. Over time, the show faded from memory, and I recalled it as just another solid, run-of-the-mill comedy.
Revisiting it after all these years, however, I found that the writing is incredibly tight, the actors are amazingly light on their feet and the show just hums with vibrancy. The best episodes are comedy steamrollers.
Don't knock Cheers. Ever.
8. The Family Guy
Many comedies push the boundaries of acceptable humor. The Family Guy shattered them, regularly, and in jaw-droppingly offensive ways. Fortunately, its sense of comic balance was impeccable.
9. The Sopranos
All good gangster stories seem to operate on a voyeuristic principle: You get to see all the wonderful perks of being part of organized crime, as well as all the horrific downsides. The Sopranos' Jersey setting makes it easy to click with its well-developed characters, and it has an evolving storyline that just won't quit.
10. Samurai Jack
Almost certainly the most artistically amazing animated program to air on television. Though the storylines often have predictable (or childish) aspects, the show has moments of real grace, imagination and intelligence.
James Norton is editor of Flak
----- Bob Sassone
1. The Dick Van Dyke Show
2. The Simpsons/Warner Brothers cartoons
3. The West Wing/Sports Night
4. Seinfeld/Newsradio
5. The Twilight Zone
6. David Letterman (all three shows)
7. The Andy Griffith Show
8. Mystery Science Theater 3000
9. Magnum, P.I.
10. Boy Meets WorldBob Sassone can't believe he left off this list Star Trek: The Next Generation, Private Eye, The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., Kate and Allie, The Odd Couple, I Spy, Stingray, The X-Files, Ed, Alias, The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson, Breakfast Time, and Guiding Light 1980-93.
Go back to Professor Barnhardt's Journal