My Addiction - Part 1
TV: Two little initials; one long-ish word; a huge body of work (lots good; lots more terrible); an entire life's addiction.
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That just about sums it up, but let's have a look through my mind, shall we? (Warning: Enter at your own risk!) This could take a while, so I advise you to bring a packed lunch.
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The reason I held off on this post for so long (some of you may recall me mentioning a few weeks back that I was working on it) was that I'm a massive fan of the shows at the top of this list in particular, and my overseas readers (particularly the Americans, through no fault of their own) may not realise that we see new seasons of these shows anywhere from six to nine months after they do (the plus side is that we see the whole season straight through, without those irritating weeks of repeats, etc, that you guys get all the time, sprinkled liberally throughout each new season). However, this means that when mentioning 24, for example, someone in the comments section might say something like, "Wasn't the ending of the fourth season really amazing when blah-blah-blah happened?" - not realising that they have in fact spoilt the entire season for me, because we haven't seen the ending yet.
However, it was just last Thursday night that the magic of the 24 season four finale aired here in Australia - so I don't have to fear that anyone will (accidentally or maliciously) spoil the show for me now that I've revealed my major interest in it. But if you're reading this froma country that hasn't aired the most recent episodes of the below shows (and you don't want them spoiled for you), read the comments at your own peril. I won't spoil anything in this post, but I can't vouch for seemingly-innocent comments from myself or others that may spoil things for you. You have been warned.
And as 24 is my favourite current show (the only others I love more than 24 are shows that are no longer being made, as you will see momentarily), it was important to me that I waited until after Thursday's finale. But enough chit-chat - let's get started.
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Here are my All-Time Favourite Shows, more-or-less in preference order, although about halfway down I'm really stating to split hairs:
The Muppet Show
Muppets Tonight
Muppet Babies
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Angel
24
Lost
The Amazing Race
Quantum Leap
The Simpsons
Cheers
Frontline
The Late Show
The D-Generation
Fast Forward
Everybody Loves Raymond
Arrested Development
Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Scrubs
The Office (UK)
Kath & Kim
Blackadder
House M.D.
Hustle
Numb3rs
Boomtown
Press Gang
Parker Lewis Can't Lose
Family Ties
A Bit of Fry & Laurie
Fawlty Towers
Duck Tales
Mickey's House of Mouse (plus all Disney-movie-themed animated TV shows such as Aladdin, Hercules, etc)
Chip 'n' Dale, Rescue Rangers
The Magical World of Disney
Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Wacky Races
Will & Grace
Friends
Seinfeld
Frasier
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Last Man Standing
Las Vegas
The 4400
Star Trek: Voyager
Stargate: SG1
Stargate: Atlantis
Desperate Housewives
Becker
That 70s Show
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Charmed
Smallville
ALF
Malcolm in the Middle
The Cosby Show
DeGrassi High / DeGrassi Junior High, etc
Candid Camera / Just For Laughs / Just Kidding / Punk't, etc
NCIS
Alias
The Apprentice
Australian Idol / American Idol
Big Brother
The Dead Zone
The Practice / Boston Legal
The West Wing
Rove Live
Felicity
Sex and the City
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Enterprise
Married ... with Children
The Henderson Kids / The Henderson Kids II
The Girl From Tomorrow / The Girl From Tomorrow II: Tomorrow's End
All Together Now!
The Wonder Years
Roseanne
Gilligan's Island
Batman
I Dream of Jeannie
Bewitched
The Brady Bunch
Murphy Brown
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Knight Rider
Happy Days
The Panel
'Allo 'Allo
Hey Hey, It's Saturday!
It's A Knockout!
Red Dwarf
The Brittas Empire
Charles in Charge
Diff'rent Strokes
Get Smart
Drop the Dead Donkey
Big Train
The Sketch Show
Dead Ringers
Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge
Coupling
Mad About You
The Two Ronnies
Alas Smith & Jones
Yes Minister / Yes Prime Minister
Mother & Son
The Norman Gunston Show
Micallef Tonight
The Micallef Program / Programme / Pogram, etc
Full Frontal / The Big Bite
Hamish & Andy
The Vicar of Dibley
Men Behaving Badly (UK)
The Late Show with David Letterman
Neighbours
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To whoever it was that I tipped Neighbours as being number 200 on my list of all-time favourite shows, I clearly over-estimated after all. At a quick count, it appears to be somewhere around the 120 mark. Still, I trust the point has been made.
In Parts 2 and 3 of this post (which will come over the next week or so), I will turn my attention to why I'm such a rabid fan of television, and what it is about it (and the above shows) that captures my attention so. As I've said before, it's not so much that I'm simply a lazy couch potato; I actually consider it a hobby and an art form that I study in great detail. More on that to come.
For now, feel free to pick at the above list if you wish, or suggest shows I may have missed. It's possible I missed some, although overseas readers may have to bear in mind that not all shows you see are screened here in Australia.
And I hate Survivor. Sorry, but I do.
posted by BEVIS @ 8:39 am
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22 Comments:
You missed FIREFLY! Also can't believe you ranked "Cheers" a good twenty places over "The Office". We can talk Buffy fandom (Fandom level 3: convention league fan yet slightly uncomfortable around fans of levels 1 & 3) at your closest convenience. Favourite episode?
After a recount you ranked Cheers 9 places over The Office.
Good to see Scrubs up there. Also good (better even) to see someone so proud of their TV watching. We're still trying to get over the misconception that TV is for collapsing mindlessly in front of whereas films are for serious art. So respect.
In answer to your question, Fluffy (not that you asked me) favourite Buffy is that inseparable three-peat in Season 4 of "This Year's Girl", "Who Are You" (Buffy and Faith swap bodies) and "Superstar".
Peter.
(Level 4 fan - employed by organisations to give papers on Buffy yet not "fannish" enough to escape rabid heckling from level 1 and 2 fans because I said I couldn't be arsed watching season 7).
Love, love, LOVE that you even know what House, M.D. is!!! I talk to people here and they're like . . what? who? what channel? It is the BEST show. Though, I really wish they would get off his love life and focus on the medical drama and the witty comments.
Also, NCIS!
And, now, my dear Bevis, I bow to you. Champion of all that is BlogOlympics, Master of the Rock, A God among Men, A Crushing Opponent, King of ALL he surveys. You are what I aspire to be. You are the wind beneath my wings.
I'm going to get off my knees now because the maid doesn't come until Thursday and I am uncertain of what just crunched beneath me.
YAY; Press Gang!
Sorry Bevo, not a fan of 24 myself. Many of the others I also rate highly. Can't say much about the Buffy and Angel series' as I have yet to really be engrossed by them and would now be a good time to ask if could borrow them one day?
At least you haven't listed Miami Vice, which is what I am having inflicted on me at the moment (sorry Logan). I am also not looking forward to either Season 1 or Season 2 of Starsky and Hutch, but I am getting into Doctor Who now that I am used to better special effects and don't have to hide behind the couch any more like I used to.
Fluffy, 9 is pretty much 20, so fair enough. :) And I actually haven't seen Firefly yet, so I can't comment. (I intend to see it - and then the Serenity movie - but I have to get my hands on a copy of the series first. Joss can do no wrong, so I'm sure I'll love it.) I've always been a massive fan of Cheers, and The Office (brilliant though it is) sometimes grates with me. Perhaps it's because it hits a little too close to home for me as a Union Delegate at my workplace, but I can't watch more than one episode of The Office at a time (whereas, for example, I can watch half a season of Cheers without tiring of it). But you will note that The Office is still high on my list - it's a ground-breaking show in many respects (although in other respects, I feel that Australia's own Frontline team did it first). As for my favourite Buffy episode, I'd prefer to dedicate a whole new post over to that topic. It'd be another huuuuuuge one!! Plenty to say about it.
Bring on the fandom discussion!
Peter, if you haven't been bothered to watch season 7, I question your total commitment to being a Buffy fan (I don't heckle you as such, but I question your commitment). Thanks for the props re: Owning up to my hobby. There are some truly brilliant pieces of televisual art out there. Scrubs is one of them, despite many looking at it and making the mistake of thinking that it's a mindless wacky sitcom - but closer inspection / further investigation reveals that it's much more than that, and is actually very well put together. And the three Buffy episodes you mentioned are definitely among the finest. (But none of them is my top pick - stay tuned for more!)
MeghansDiscontent, House M.D. is a great show. The station that airs it in Australia has been giving it major press, so it's well known here. Plus, seeing Hugh Laurie (who we all know as a British comic actor from Blackadder, A Bit Of Fry & Laurie* and so on) playing an American (and knowing that so many Americans didn't know he wasn't an American) amuses us as a nation. We're still about two episodes from the end of season 1 down here (last week we saw Dr House take Dr Cameron on their 'date'), but I get the impression that it's pretty well-liked by anyone who's seen it. (I might be wrong on that score, but I've only heard people who've seen it say good things about it.)
Also: Arise, fair challenger. You have done very well and there is no shame at all in coming second. (Think of all those other losers you still bested!) Come, dine with me on the table of success. Just sit a little to my left, that's all. The centre of the spread is for me.
* Oooh! I forgot to put A Bit Of Fry & Laurie in my list! I'm going back to add it in now. Same with Parker Lewis Can't Lose. I can't believe I forgot that one! I grew up emulating him!
Gun Street Girl, Yay!
Sheriff of Nothing, it can't stress you out if you don't watch it - so clearly you do. I'm not going to resort to violence (even though you asked so nicely!) when you obviously do such a great job of putting yourself through intense, self-imposed punishment (by which I mean that you continually watch a show that gives you such stress-related issues!). :)
I'm already having 24 withdrawals and can't wait until season 5!
Riss, I would have listed Doctor Who as well, if I could restrict it to the newer seasons that started last year and not the preceding series. But I know I'll make many enemies saying that, so pretend you didn't read anything!
You're perfectly welcome to like whatever you want - and sure, you can borrow Buffy & Angel sometime. :)
Logan's favourites are not on my list.
I take your questioning, Bevis, and defend myself by saying that, no matter how fannish a fan is, they are only a fan because certain elements of a show/film/whatever resonate with them. If that resonance disappears, then to keep watching despite boredom/irritation, well, it's boring and irritating. And it kind of flies in the face of what I think being a fan's all about - the passionate yet critical engagement with a show.
For me, Buffy wasn't as fun any more. Whether that was a shift in the show or a shift in me, who knows? Maybe one could argue that the greatest act of a fan is to let go...
I'm looking forward to the Buffy post. And again; Scrubs = awesome.
Beautiful summary of fandom, Peter! Excellent! (You'll get no arguments from me - I was talking in terms of rabid fandom only.)
I can't say exactly when the Buffy post will come, but it'll be one day soon.
Bevis, great list, how do you remember them all?
I'm going to digest this monterous list and compile my own, hope you don't mind. There is a lot of commonality so it just saves me having to remember all the ones I would have ordinarily forgotten.
I'm going to call this list the "Compare my viewing habits to Bevis" it could actually be a meme.
Don't let them make you feel defensive about Cheers. I'm a fan as well and consider it very underrated. Not as flat out brilliant as some on your list, but an excellent example of the American model (ie large writing staff, large number of episodes) at its best. Its strengths include very well handled long arcs, making characters likeable while (usually) avoiding schmaltz, and complex character dynamics (ask yourself who is at fault in the Sam & Diane relationhsip? Complex question). Plus, unlike some more brilliant shows that are actaually hard to watch (The Office, Fawlty Towers), it's a great comfort show - warm and familiar. It's easy to be dismissive of that, but it's a big part of what we watch TV for.
OK, been through your list and come up with some additions.
MythBusters.
Dr Who (Tom Baker, John Pertwee years).
Welcome back Kotter.
Not the nine o’clock news.
The Sopranos.
Survivor.
Petrocelli.
Cop Shop. (my grand fathers favourite show)
The Curiosity Show.
Animaniacs.
South Park.
The Footy Show. (AFL)
Homicide – Life on the street.
Columbo. (just one more question sir)
6 feet under.
Please sir.
Mind your language.
Clokeeeey, I remember them all because I've always been fascinated by television as a medium, and saw it as way more than an idiot box for entertainment purposes only. And no, of course I don't mind where you take this idea. Go for it. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts. :)
Sheriff of Nothing, you make me laugh! I trust you will sleep well now that it's over (for six months, anyway!).
SBR, good to hear from you again. You're right about Cheers, plus the innocent stupidity of the Coach / Woody characters always tickled my funny bone. :) It also has one of the best laugh-per-minute ratios of any sitcom ever (genuine laughs; not canned laughter).
Clokeeeey (again!), looking at your list, I'd want to swipe Not The Nine O'Clock News and Animaniacs for my own list, but the rest you can keep. I either don't know the shows in question, or didn't think much of them. Remember, though: It's all a matter of personal preference! But I love that you felt inspired enough to write your own list!
At some point today (or maybe tomorrow) I hope to post Part 2, which will focus briefly on the shows that I really really really don't like.
You know how I feel about Arrested Development.
Same goes for Drop the Dead Donkey, Press Gang, Alan Partridge, and Degrassi.
Love them all.
But you didn't mention This Life - one of the greatest ever British shows.
Incidentally, have you ever seen Shooting Stars or Never Mind The Buzzcocks?
I think you might like them.
Bevis, You need to tell me that you know about mythbusters and south park. Which shows are you not familiar with?
Don't worry, I know them very well. In fact, there was a time where I thought South Park was clever - but I grew out of it after a year or so (I promise I don't mean that to sound patronising!).
If a show don't make it to either of my lists, I generally just don't have much of an opinion on it either way (or it's possible that I haven't heard of it, although frankly this is far less likely). The only ones you mentioned that I'm not overly familiar with are:
Petrocelli
Please Sir
Mind Your Language
... and even then, I've heard of the last two.
Plus, although I know of it, I never once watched an episode of:
Homicide – Life on the Street
Although I kinda loved The Guardian, so maybe I should have included that in there somewhere ...
Magical_M, I've never heard of This Life, Never Mind The Buzzcocks or Shooting Stars. Are you making them up? If so, you have totally fooled me! :)
I may very well like them, especially if the last one has anything whatsoever to do with Dancing with the Stars and a shotgun.
(Oh boy, I really hope it does!!)
Not making them up! They're all British shows... I believe This Life was shown over here on the ABC. Group of mid-20's lawyers sharing a house. Kind of a London version of Secret Life of Us. Jack Davenport and Andrew Lincoln were two of the main stars.
Spicks & Specks (ABC) has stolen their entire premise from Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and I believe S&S is a much poorer version, even though I watch it every week. Sean Hughes was one of the team captains on NMTB and it was hosted by Mark Lamar. Who was also a team captain on...
Shooting Stars, which is described by the announcer as "a celebrity game show" and hosted by Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer. Its also where Matt Lucas from Little Britain first came up with the Margery Dawes (Fat Fighters) character. On SS, Matt played "the man who keeps the scores, George Dawes" and his mum (Margery) would make occasional appearances.
Hell funny.
But almost impossible to describe.
You just have to watch it.
They do very odd things.
Yes, they certainly sound like the kinds of shows I'd enjoy! :)
Off-beat humour rocks!
Bless your cotton socks, Cotton. I mentioned Futurama in a later 'part' of this multi-post, and another reader insisted that I give it another go.
I'm hopeful that a friend of mine who has them all on DVD will feel generous (and trusting) enough to loan them to me so I can reassess the show for myself. :)
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