My
Favorite TV Shows!
by
Kristin Battestella
I
hope you’ve all enjoyed our Anniversary Countdowns!
When
drafting all I
Think, Therefore I Review’s Tenth Anniversary Top Ten Lists, however, I realized that some of my
favorite shows are actually programs I’ve never reviewed. To
rectify the lack of favoritism, here’s a bonus countdown of My
Favorite Television Shows!
Ironically,
you can click through to read full length and by season reviews of
these Honorable Mentions, which have
been reviewed at I
Think, Therefore I Review:
Now
then, here they are – I think. Lists such as these are always
subject to change! I mean, there are still Are
You Being Served?, The Sopranos, Rome, Frasier, Dallas, V,
and Seinfeld
but
I digress.
My
Ten Favorite Television Shows!
10.
Hornblower
– C.S. Forester’s novels are also some of my favorite books, eva!
This
1998 – 2003 series of television movie productions from A&E
were not always perfect adaptations, for the later two fold
Lieutenant
Hornblower
with inserted characters cheating on the literary mysteries were not
as close to the written source as the
original Midshipman
film
quartet
was.
Seriously, fight me on the “Who pushed Captain Sawyer” debate.
That
said, the
seafaring revolution, continental action, naval battles, dynamic
storytelling, and spirited lead Ioan Gruffudd (Fantastic
Four)
combined for some damn fine award winning period drama that remains
timeless entertainment. In today's era of franchise everything, the
only real trouble with this series is that A&E went to crap and
never finished bringing the entire novel canon to the screen. I
protest!
9.
The Twilight Zone
– I used to stay up late at night and watch Rod Serling's 1959-64
classic on my giant little thirteen inch television set back in the
days when we only had five channels and PBS would play the National
Anthem before shutting off at 2 a.m. Maybe it is easy to say a child
would be surely shocked by all the speculative twists and moral
ironies from the boob tube's infancy. I thought this was such heavy
stuff that didn't deserve to be on in the wee hours when no one would
see it. Granted, there is a certain nostalgia that comes with the
dated technological aspects and early television production – the
word 'robot' was mispronounced and airplanes were afraid of stop
motion dinosaurs. However, thanks to advanced storytelling and
innovative television techniques, the perennial episodes herein
remain provocative science fiction for a reason. My favorite has
always been “The Invaders,” but recently, I've been leaning
towards “The Howling Man,” and “The Monsters are Due on Maple
Street” is as timely as ever.
8.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
– I have actually reviewed this 1997-2003 series in lengthy detail,
albeit stopping and starting on a marathon or two during the show's
weaker plots and dated flaws when not raving over “The Body” and
“Once More, with Feeling.” However, through all the good and bad,
proms, high school, college, vampire boyfriends, dark magic, death,
and kid sisters, this remains an empowering paranormal package with
groundbreaking television moments today's audiences might take for
granted because they live in a post-Buffy,
girl
power world.
7.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show – Indeed this award
winning 1970-77 series is a show that never fails to put a smile on
my face. If I go a week or two without catching a television airing,
I get an itch for a witty, nostalgic Mary fix. While it is
easy to cite “Chuckles Bites the Dust” or “The Last Show” as
must see favorites – and with very good reason – I find myself
often quoting charming moments per episode, like when Sue Ann forces
everyone to sing Christmas carols for her premature holiday feast in
“Not a Christmas Story” or when cranky boss Lou Grant takes half
the veal prince orloff and has to put it back in “The Dinner
Party.” When Mary's mother says “Don't forget to take your pill”
in Season Three's “You've Got a Friend,” both Mr. Richards and
Mary both answer, “I won't!”
Hehehe. It's that kind of pushing the envelope wink that keeps on
giving. Ironically, I didn't like this series as a kid.
However as I've gotten older, the groundbreaking sophisticated comedy
and progressive characterizations have only gotten better thanks to
the well balanced sentimental, then toeing the line statements, and
forever laugh out loud hysterics.
6.
The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross – I’ve been
watching this cathartic PBS and art instructional essential for
thirty years – but I could not paint if my life depended on it no
matter how effortless, gentle, and heartwarming our gnarly, tree
hugging, animal loving teacher. Today's audiences have made Bob Ross
a mellow pop culture icon, perhaps for the implied, grass-esque,
counter culture undertones or the humorous “beat the devil out of
it” two-inch brush cleaning. Every episode has a pretty picture
wrapped in charming witticisms to get you through your day –
unless, of course, Bob goes through all the trouble of making a
beautiful, unusually shaped print in an oval and then sticks a giant
tree out of the frame! If you haven't seen The Joy of Painting,
no one can really explain it to you, because it isn't about the
landscapes, wet on wet technique, and the artistically controversial
use of oils with acrylic gesso so much as the “happy little
clouds,” Pea Pod the Pocket Squirrel, and being blessed by a friend
and told to have a good day before being reminded that we need
darkness in order to see the light – both on and off the canvas.
5.
Star Trek: The Next Generation – I had to seriously
consider if I like this 1987-1994 follow up more than the Original
Star Trek. This first sequel series in the long running
franchise takes everything that made the Original's serious science
fiction for adults and runs with it thanks to Sir Patrick Stewart's
diplomatic Captain Picard and in depth storytelling developments
regarding the Klingons, Q, and The Borg. One never has the sense that
we are watching a very special episode wrapped in science fiction
allegory, but every hour provides a memorable nugget – which is
difficult to do in a weekly series without seasonal arcs or ongoing
storylines and underdeveloped female characters. Thankfully, timeless
episodes such as “The Measure of a Man,” “Sarek,”
“Yesterday's Enterprise,” and “The Inner Light” raise the
emotional genre stakes while early dated episodes and now
technological errors don't interfere with an always at the ready
marathon. Whenever this is on television, I have to stop and see what
episode it is – even with commercials because, “There are four
lights!”
4.
The Golden Girls – With different family members,
inconsistent plot points, and a house floor plan that never makes
sense, the continuity of this amazing eighties staples is bemusingly
nerve-racking. Did a misprint make Angela Angelo? How could Miles be
a professor all those years but really be in the Witness Protection
Program? How did they exit their kitchen in the back to get to the
garage in the front? Nonetheless, there are a select few people with
whom I can carry on entire conversations in Golden Girls
references. The comedy writing for Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, and Sophia
remains top notch, and each episode has a quote for any situation, be
it “From the pit of my stomach to the porcelain of the bowl...”
and “The moon is hanging awful low in the sky tonight, isn't it,
Busty?” or the now ironic “Who do you think you are, Donald
Trump? You don't own this casino!” I never get tired of watching
the progressive topics of “Sick and Tired,” “Adult Education,”
or “Isn't It Romantic?” and the taut humor is largely handled by
the four leads by letting the chemistry and wit play without
resorting to any gimmicks. Well, except for the murder mystery in
“The Case of the Libertine Bell,” but “Look fluffhead, why
should I deny being in denial? I never said I was in denial. You are
the one who said I was in denial, and don't you deny it.”
3.
Dark Shadows – As if there was any doubt of my love
for this gothic soap opera complete with bad sets, flubbed dialogue,
borrowed plots, and hokey special effects! Chuckle all you want, but
this fly by night sixties production remains spooky thanks to
paranormal storytelling, complex time travel, an entire company of
supernatural characters, and a morose atmosphere that's been oft
imitated but never equaled. At over 1200 episodes, this is a massive
viewing undertaking, but you can click through to some of my in depth
critiques on vampire Barnabas, werewolf Quentin, governess Victoria
Winters, and pesky witch Angelique.
2.
Homicide: Life on the Street – “Ho, ho, Homicide.
Our day begins when yours ends.” This 1993-99 critically acclaimed
but should have won more awards series loosely tied to the Law &
Order franchise is unlike any
other cop show before and maybe since thanks to intimate camera
angles, jump editing, a decidedly Baltimore feeling, and the simple
notion that solving the case is both the biggest and least important
thing for these quirky, struggling people in blue. The shootouts,
corruption, violence, racism, sexism, abuse, religion, and social
commentaries are tackled with season arcs, multi part episodes, and
state traversing crossovers as well as with one kill, shows that
never leave the squad room, or hours with just three men in an
interrogation booth alone. On a whim I reviewed Season Four and have
notes for other years, but to every person who inquires about the
often forgotten yet increasingly timely and sometimes disturbingly
prophetic Homicide, I
merely implore them to watch the first thirteen episodes. If “Night
of the Dead Living,” “Black and Blue,” and “Three Men and
Adena” don't captivate you, nothing will. And that's before
“Crosetti,” “Hate Crimes,” “Sniper,” “Justice,” “For
God and Country,” “Narcissus,” and “Subway,” but I'll stop.
After all, “You go when you're supposed to go, and everything else
is homicide.”
1.
Blake’s 7 – Avon, Servalan, Orac. The
Liberator. In speaking of my favorite television shows, anybody who
knows me probably would have immediately mentioned this somewhat
obscure 1978-81 British science fiction serial, because once seen,
this is a series you will never forget. Granted, that's partly
due to the bad seventies costumes, hair curlers for weapons, upside
down special effects, and not one but three characters that
are really just flashing lights. I kid you not. Likewise memorable in
these fifty-two hours, however, are the SF with a capital SF
allegory, loyal versus amoral characterization and interplay,
commentaries on drugs, technology, or totalitarian regimes, and
downright Shakespearean designs on what is at it simplest just meant
to be Robin Hood in space. The score and opening title sequence are
also sweet! I grew up taping this series with my dad off PBS
late at night, and those videos are pretty worn out now. Yeah, they
had British accents, but I was more awestruck that people didn't
speak with this kind of sophistication anywhere else on television.
“They murdered my past and gave me tranquilized dreams!” “Avon,
for what it is worth, I have always trusted you from the very
beginning.” Sniff! Ironically, series star Gareth Thomas found the
plots increasingly hokey, but I can't think of any other series that
so effortlessly handles how inaccurate its title became as an
integral part of the series thanks to stunning teleplays such as “The
Way Back,” “Star One,” “Rumors of Death,” “Sarcophagus,”
“Terminal,” “Orbit,” and of course, “Blake.” As cryptic
as that sounds, anyone who has watched this series knows exactly what
I mean. Honestly, the only thing lacking in this excellence is a
proper North American release.
