MY 50 FAVORITE TV SHOWS - 1-10

10.) THE AVENGERS – I’m specifically talking about the Emma Peel years – Diana Rigg in a catsuit.  The Tara King years were also okay-like The Three Stooges with Shemp instead of Curly.  Classy, far out, Steed and Emma drinking champagne upon the completion of a case.

9.) COLUMBO – The greatest detective in TV history.  An avenging ghost with no family ever shown and an arsenal of mental tricks at his disposal.  The villains were always the super wealthy, the 1%.  A show with a tremendous amount of sub-text and meaning.  

8.) SEINFELD – “No hugging, no learning” separates this from every other sitcom which came before in the 70’s and 80’s.  Pure humor without the moralizing and sentiment which doomed shows like MASH and ALL IN THE FAMILY.  The greatest foursome and the situations everyone can relate to.  Perhaps the most influential sitcom of all time. 

7.) THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES – The crazed surrealism of 60’s sitcoms perhaps reached its peak with this show. Its  incredible insane characters even more memorable because the audience cared about them.

6.) SCTV – SCTV was everything Saturday Night Live was and isn’t – unpredictable, clever, original, continually introducing fresh new comedic ideas.  Under the framework of an imaginary TV network, SCTV created great new characters and wonderful celebrity impressions and put the two together in wacky situations.

 

5.) GET A LIFE – Although it only ran for a season and a half, this show showcasing Chris Elliott’s manboy edginess was the most original sitcom I’ve ever seen.  Elliott’s style honed on Late Night with David Letterman (see below) is about clueless confrontation and exaggerated absurdity.  It worked on this show.  Hard to think of times I’ve laughed more than the “Cousin Donald” episode.  

 

4.) LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN – Letterman totally changed the relationship between the talk show host and the guest.  By making it adversarial, he made the whole show performance art.  By introducing, Chris Elliott and a whole host of bizarre repeated gags and self-aware mockery he created something completely new and gave those of us who hate celebrity culture a new hero to cheer for.  The CBS show is a watered down version of this but still funny in places.

3.) BREAKING BAD – Walter White is possibly the single greatest character in TV history.  Certainly the most complex.  Is Breaking Bad the greatest show of all time as many have said?  I’m not willing to go that far yet.  There are still eight more episodes left as of this writing.  If there are as powerful, as intense, as brilliant as what has gone before then yes.  I’ve written about Breaking Bad more than any other TV series.  If you are interested google my blogname and BB and read.

2.) THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW – We all want to live in Mayberry and it’s a great construct.  Never have life lessons and humor flowed together so mellifluously.  Don Knotts as Barney Fife is the single greatest sitcom character of all time not to mention all the others – Floyd the barber, Goober, Ernest T Bass.  My favorite sitcom.

1.) THE NIGHT STALKER – An odd choice for greatest show of all time I know but the greatest mix of what makes a good TV show for me – elements of horror, humor, drama, and the great Darren McGavin in a role he was born to play. Good writing is the key to good TV shows and it was never better than here.  Wrote more here http://rgdinmalaysia.blogspot.com/2011/12/ranking-kolchak-night-stalker-episodes.html

And http://rgdinmalaysia.xanga.com/666925978/the-night-stalker-as-case-in-point-of-something-being-as-good-as-we-remember/

MY 50 FAVORITE TV SHOWS - 11-20

20.) BANACEK – George Peppard as insurance investigator Banacek’s Polish proverbs peppered these truly brain teasing adventure where the question was how not why.

19.) HOMELAND –A great show-unpredictable plot, multi-faceted characters, constant suspense.  Only reason it’s not higher on my list is it is only in the beginning of its second season.

18.) VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA – This plots quickly changed from black and white terse mini disaster epics to in color full blown flights of fancy with all kinds of bizarre rubber monsters and people in funny monster suits.  Richard Basehart and David Hedison made a good team.

17.) HEROES – The closest a television show has come to getting right the multi-part story arcs of comic books with all the great drama and tragic heroes and villains.

16.) VERONICA MARS – Not only the best non-judgmental rendering of teenage life including sex but also a damn good detective show with very original plotlines. Wrote about this show before here 

 http://rgdinmalaysia.blogspot.com/2012/02/few-thoughts-on-veronica-mars.html

 

15.) THE PRISONER – Patrick McGoohan I have written about before

http://rgdinmalaysia.blogspot.com/2009/01/patrick-mcgoohan-rip.html

.He was never better than in this show in which all of human individuality was in danger of being put away.

14.) THE TWILIGHT ZONE – Wonderful half-hour morality plays couched in horror.   All the best actors of the day appeared on this show. Such great writers including Rod Serling himself.

13.) THE OFFICE – The British version of The Office was so unflinchingly real, it wasn’t so much funny as painful but always rewarding.  Ricky Gervaiz as David Brent is one of the greatest TV characters.

12.) GREEN ACRES – Dazzingly bizarre, wonderfully surreal and filled with odd unique comic performances and characters like Mr. Haney, Hank Kimball, and Eb.

11.) THE X FILES – Sci-fi, good writing, interesting protagonists, and a few weird monsters.  It  was amazing this show kept producing quality episodes for as long as it did.      

 

MY 50 FAVORITE TV SHOWS - 21-30

30.) KOJAK – Interesting storylines with well developed characters plus Telly Savales’s iconic performance made this a truly classic show.  Recently watched some episodes as I was preparing this list and it has aged well.

29.) FAWLTY TOWERS – Basil Fawlty is a great comic creation and John Cleese was always my favorite member of Monty Python.  Bonus points for ending the show quickly not dragging it out for years until it lost all traces of humor (as they do in America).

28.) HAWAII-5-0 – Jack Lord as square jawed Steve McGarrett is one of TV’s great heroes.  Hawaii was the perfect backdrop for his investigations.  Remained fairly consistent for its full 12 year run.  The remake is horrible.

27.) MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS – Rather than the canned repeated lines of post-SNL skit shows, Monty Python relied on absurdity and wit.  Perhaps the cleverest comedy show of all.  Everyone on this show was tremendously talented.

26.) THE ODD COUPLE – An excellent play into an excellent movie into an excellent TV show.  Just as play and movie actors (Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau) had perfect chemistry so did Tony Randall and Jack Klugman.  Great writing on this show as well.

25.) TWIN PEAKS – David Lynch didn’t seem like a great fit for TV but this show worked!  It retained elements of the evening serial ,threw in all manner of surrealist, symbolic imagery and situations, and ended on a cliffhanger.  One of the most original shows of all time.

24.) CRIMINAL MINDS – While the first two years with Mandy Patinkin were the best, the show was still decent after he left.  Rather than taking the easy path of the serial killer of the week, they have really strove for original storylines.  Dr Reid is a great character.    

   

23.) MISSION IMPOSSIBLE – The solid Peter Graves led his team through great twisty storylines.  Supporting cast – Martin Landau, Leonard Nimoy, Barbara Bain, Greg Morris also great.

22.) WILD WILD WEST – The first steampunk TV show.  Highly inventive plots.  Ross Martin as a master of disguise and the always ridiculous Robert Conrad in leather pants.  Great fun.

21.) WKRP IN CINCINATTI – Another fantastic comedic ensemble show with two of the greatest comic creations in sitcom history – Les Nessman and Herb Tarlek.  Also accomplished the delicate task of making us realize the characters care for each other despite their quirks without the show becoming too sentimental (unlike Friends for example- a show that I despise).