TIME’s James Poniewozik recently posted a list of the top 100 TV shows of all-time. In honor of the interest some in my household have in the 59th annual Emmy Awards (which were given out tonight), and in my Bruddah's new TIVO blog, I offer this response to Poniewozik's list.
Of Poniewozik's 100, 15 are shows I have never heard of or know very little about:
1. The Abbott and Costello Show
2. An American Family
3. Brideshead Revisited
4. Buffalo Bill
5. The Ernie Kovacs Show
6. Felicity
7. The French Chef
8. My So-Called Life
9. Playhouse 90
10. The Prisoner
11. Rocky and His Friends
12. See It Now
13. The Shield
14. The Singing Detective
15. Wiseguy
33 More are Shows I Have Heard Of or Know About, But Have Not Seen
1. 24 2. Alfred Hitchcock Presents 3. Battlestar Galactica 4. Buffy the Vampire Slayer 5. The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite 6. Cheers 7. Dallas 8. Dragnet 9. The Ed Sullivan Show 10. Freaks and Geeks 11. General Hospital 12. The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show 13. Gilmore Girls 14. Hill Street Blues 15. Homicide: Life on the Street 16. The Honeymooners 17. I, Claudius (The first episode of this one has been sitting on top of my DVD player for several months now) 18. The Larry Sanders Show 19. Lost 20. Married... With Children 21. Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman 22. Pee Wee's Playhouse 23. The Real World 24. Roseanne 25. Second City Television 26. Sex and the City 27. Six Feet Under 28. Soap 29. SpongeBob SquarePants 30. St. Elsewhere 31. Taxi 32. What's My Line? 33. Your Show of Shows
I Have Seen Bits of 6 Others (Just Enough to Know I Don't Want to See Any More)
1.American Idol
2. The Beavis and Butt-Head Show
3. King of the Hill
4. South Park
5. Survivor
6. The Wire
28 Others Merit:
a) Shrugs of Indifference;
b) Double-Takes (How did that get on this list?); or c) Shudders of Regret (once upon a time, in the early- and pre-cable days, there wasn’t a lot on TV)
1. 60 Minutes
2. ABC's Wide World of Sports
3. All in the Family. Never got a single chuckle out of this classic, but I like imitating Edith singing the theme song, "And you know who you were then!" I like Meathead much better as a director.
4. Arrested Development
5. The Bob Newhart Show. The apartment Bob and Carol lived in—at 5901 N. Sheridan—is not far from our Chicago home.
6. The Carol Burnett Show
7. A Charlie Brown Christmas. I prefer the claymation Rudolph and Kris Kringle specials.
8. The Cosby Show
9. The Day After
10. Gunsmoke. I don't think I could bring myself to watch another episode of this.
11. Late Night with David Letterman (NBC). During my first couple of years at TCU, I appreciated the way Dave’s bizarre silliness contrasted with Carson’s chuckling schtick. Later I found Dave to be mean, annoying, and not funny. That’s where I am now.
12. Leave It to Beaver . Eddie Haskell was the best part of the Beaver.
13. The Mary Tyler Moore Show
14. The Monkees
15. Moonlighting. It's hard to believe now, but there was a time when Bruce Willis was a fresh and appealing personality.
16. MTV 1981-1992
17. The Odd Couple
18. The Oprah Winfrey Show. I’ve actually enjoyed the couple of visits I’ve made to Oprah’s teleworld.
19. The Price Is Right. Shudders. Bob Barker may visit my nightmares tonight. For what's it's worth, I preferred Monte Hall's Let's Make a Deal.
20. Sanford and Son. Shudders. But the wreckage of Fred Sanford’s living room has become my go-to image when I get disgusted with the mess at my house.
21. Sesame Street
22. Star Trek . Ick. Can’t stand that theme music.
23. The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Shudders.
24. The Twilight Zone. I know I've seen a couple of these episodes. I wonder if they were as good as Mystery Playhouse Theater on the radio . . .
25. Twin Peaks
26. The West Wing. Entertaining, but it glorifies the Oval Office a little much for my taste (I don’t want to sympathize with the guys in that room).
27. WKRP in Cincinnati . Huh?
28. The X-Files
Not all of the remaining 18 would make my Top 25 All-Time List, but many would and all of them have been good to me.
1. The Daily Show . It took some time for John Stewart to grow on me. I credit Jack for getting this one onto our DVR schedule.
2. Deadwood. I still haven't seen Season Two, but I hope to.
3. The Dick Van Dyke Show. My favorite episode: "It May Look Like a Walnut." Bizarre and wonderful. I learned how to do the Ostrich from watching an episode guest-starring Jerry Van Dyke.
4. Friends. I have a conflicted relationship with Friends. I don't know what I like about it. I don't see my values in it. But I can't deny that it is easy to watch and it sometimes strikes me as funny. Maybe a "best lines" list would help me . . . The only funny moment I can think of now is Ross imitating the sound he imagines a dinosaur once made. (I can't stand Ross's son and have always thought Joey was the weakest Friend).
5. I Love Lucy . I loved Tennesse Ernie Ford's guest appearance.
6. M*A*S*H. Most memorable final episode (Hawkeye and the chicken strangler).
7. Monty Python's Flying Circus. Maybe better in memory than in actuality and I never liked the cartoons.
8. Mystery Science Theater 3000 . I haven't seen many of these, but the ones I've seen have been very good (though I don't care much for the spacecraft set-up scenes).
9. The Office [American] . I credit Lisa and Melissa for getting me to give this one a second chance.
10. The Office [British]
11. Prime Suspect . I look forward to seeing the last episode (which Helen Mirren won an Emmy for this year).
12. Roots . I don't think time has been kind to Roots, but it was great in its day. As was the Emmy-winning The Holocaust, starring James Woods and Meryl Streep (first time I'd seen her), which came out one year later.
13. Saturday Night Live
14. Seinfeld. This is another one that had to grow on me. I was originally turned off by the fact that the studio audiences thought Kramer's entrances were so hilarious.
15. The Simpsons
16. The Sopranos
17. SportsCenter
18. The Super Bowl (and the Ads) . My interest in the Super Bowl as an "event" (and not merely a football game) probably peaked some time between Super Bowl XIV (1980) and Super Bowl XVI (1982). Dallas Cowboy appearances on Monday Night Football have probably meant more to me over the years.
Other Shows That Would Have to Be Considered for My List
1. Da Ali G Show.
2. Northern Exposure.
3. Lou Grant.
4. The Andy Griffith Show. I spent a lot of afternoons with Andy, Gilligan and the Clampetts, but only Andy has survived the test of time.
5. Warner Brothers cartoon half-hours. I especially like the ones that feature caricatures of Hollywood celebs like Bing Crosby, Peter Lorre and Humphrey Bogart. Daffy Duck's my favorite featured character (I love the way he uses a kiss as a weapon and closes some episodes by going crazy and hooting off into the distance).
6. The Flight of the Conchords. It's young, but I'm digging it.
7. Ebert and Roeper.
6 comments:
I loved the Lucy episode where she and Ethel stuffed chocolates down their dresses at the chocolate factory. I hate to admit it but I watched a lot of the shows you didn't like. But I especially enjoyed the "Andy Griffin" show especially with Don Knotts. I'll think about the others later. Love.
dang, how do you remember all this stuff? I know what you need to do for the rest of your life. rino, you need to be a librarian or a county clerk, or a museum curator.
Carolyn, Don't hate to admit it. You are one of the better persons I have ever known. In my eyes you can do no wrong. If you want to watch shows I don't like, I will buy you a TV set to see them.
Yes, Flight of the Conchords, both Offices and Da Ali G Show! Definitely check out more MiSTi3K, too!
AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!
I do not think you understand TV. There are shows that stick with you (like The Cornfield episode of The Twilight Zone that STILL scares the willies out of my entire generation, which is NOT your Dad's generation, and the merry-go-round horse in a mirrored box from Night Gallery). Rod Serling was an early incarnation of Stephen King, as was Alfred Hitchcock before him.
All In The Family was the first show to deal with PMS, menopause, and rape honestly. Archie was a bigot so crass that everyone began to admit there was a lot of bigotry going on. I think this is a very significant show. So was I Love Lucy. Cubans often have a black African heritage, so some considered the show racially heretical. Then, Lucy was the FIRST pregnant person on TV. She made it OK to mention your pregnancy (even though you still quit working as soon as you started showing). Cher, years later, made pregnancy potentially glamourous, and working with your ex-spouse without warping the kids a possiblilty.
The FIRST interracial kiss on TV was between Captan Kirk and Lt. Uhura.
Looking at my writing tells me that this is a generational thing. I got suspended in time and don't really HAVE a definitive generation, having older parents and siblings. I was raised to depend on someone else, and ended up supporting my first husband. TV widened some horizons.
Oh, just hand me the remote. Andy Griffin is about to come one . . .
I have seen bits of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and enjoyed it. I have seen an occasional episode of Cheers, didn't particularly like it. Same with Roseanne. I liked Hill Street Blues, but maybe just because it was post-bedtime tv and the theme was great. I love Homicide and watch it in reruns still. Really like Lost. Have enjoyed my wife's love of Sex in the City. I think I liked Charlie Brown better than the others, which always seemed "old". I liked the Cos, though I can't watch it now. I really liked Moonlighting, though I suspect it did not age well. I really miss the old MTV that showed music videos. I could even settle for bringin back Night Trax of Friday Night Videos. I'm shocked that Mr. Griffin didn't make the list. I also enjoy Star Trek, probably more now than then, though I still remember the night in Wichita Falls when I convinced the house to watch Star Trek instead of MASH and then felt guilty about it. I don't think I asked for that again.
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