BN:  The Brandon Network

Brandon's Best

8-9-07

My 10 Favorite TV Shows of All Time

The inaugural Brandon's Best list will feature, at Ryan's prompting, my 10 favorite shows of all time.  Of course, I haven't seen most of the HBO shows, which I expect will at least put up a good fight for one of the 10 slots.  Also major possible contenders yet to be seen are The Shield, Twin Peaks, Buffy and Angel, and MASH once I finally see the rest of it.  But after developing the list, I came up with and had to include my honorable mentions: 

15.  The O.C. (2003-2007):  Everyone's got their teen soap, and this is mine.  I'm just gonna go ahead and pledge eternal gratitude to Katherine and Katie for getting me to watch it AND go to the sneak preview of Season 2!  It's sad that I had to enjoy Season 4 alone, but it was so worth it. 

Key Episodes:  The Telenovela, The Goodbye Girl, The Ties That Bind, The Rainy Day Women, The Avengers, The Metamorphosis

14.  It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005-current):  It's the rare show that can make your best ever list with just 17 twenty-minute installments, but this is a great one.  Each episode is hilarious, and the show was certainly the best thing on television last summer (an honor which, this year, goes to Weeds).  The characters are basically cartoons, so they get to go ahead and do things that would never happen in real life as long as it somehow satirizes or comments on society in some way.  And my favorite is everyone's favorite, Charlie, who is just too dumb to prevent being manipulated by everyone.

Key Episodes:    Charlie Has Cancer, Mac Bangs Dennis' Mom, Dennis and Dee Go on Welfare, Hundred Dollar Baby

13.  Deadwood (2004-2006):  I need to go ahead and finish this show already.  Also, this show and the two above it are pretty tied in my book, so we'll see how things shake out with more time.  I will say that David Milch is a genius, a literature professor from Yale who is now crafting television stories that feel accurately literary.  The dialogue the guy comes up with is extraordinary, and it's no small coincidence that Deadwood has been compared with Shakespeare's works by virtually every critic. 

Key Episodes:  Here Was a Man, Suffer the Little Children, Sold Under Sin, Advances, None Miraculous, The Boy the Earth Talks To

12.  Weeds (2005-current):  I have loved Weeds from the beginning, thanks largely to Mary-Louise Parker's brilliance.  I'm not surprised this woman has been Tony-nominated many times, and Nancy Botwin has earned her some Emmy and Golden Globe love as well.  She is given a dream role, and her supporting cast never ceases to impress me, particularly Justin Kirk's Andy Botwin and Elizabeth Perkins' Celia Hodes.  I love the confident style of the show, a bit out of reality, almost at the Arrested Development universe, but not quite that far, and always much more inherently tragic.

Key Episodes:  The Godmother, Last Tango in Agrestic, Mile Deep and a Foot Wide, Pittsburgh, Doing the Backstroke

11.  Friday Night Lights (2006-current):  Okay, I love this show but when I made my original top 10 list, L was working her evil Lady Macbeth magic against another show (my #9) in favor of this guy, but upon further scrutiny, I decided this was more accurate.  But for now, FNL is an amazing show with a tremendous cast, and equally powerful writing, direction, and music.  And in case it hasn't been said enough, Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton were robbed of the Emmys which were rightfully theirs--I mean, not even a nomination?  Ridic. 

Key Episodes:  I Think We Should Have Sex, Mud Bowl, State

The Honorable Mentions: 

And now, the official list, 50+ seasons of glory: 

My 10 Favorite Shows: 

10.  Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine (1993-1999):  This is the show I learned the rest of television basics from (see my entry on The Next Generation), especially given the show's proclivities toward story arcs and heavily serialized formatting.  Further, the show being set on a space station rather than an independent vessel gave it an established location for the massive supporting cast to come in and out of, and my love for the ensemble has clear roots here.  But more importantly, this was the dark Trek, the one that tackled politics most heavily, the one that featured a war as its main story for the final three seasons, not surprisingly its best.  The war brought with it a bunch of good character deaths, injuries that were just as startling, subterfuge out the wazoo, crazy galactic alliances, and the best part of all, a resistance movement at its height during the occupation of Deep Space Nine.  I know this isn't true, but it's almost like the opening seasons were to establish the universe and all the major players (both individual characters and alien governments as a whole) to set the stage for the war. 

Key Episodes:  Duet, The Visitor, Call to Arms, A Time to Stand, Sacrifice of Angels, Tears of the Prophets, The Siege of AR-558, What You Leave Behind

9.  The Twilight Zone (1959-1964):  L tried to convince me this isn't as important to me because I don't talk about it too much and it doesn't affect my daily life at all.  Little does she know I watch it fairly often on Sci-fi at nights, and the only reason I don't talk about it more is the same for Star Trek:  I'm a pretty huge trekkie, I just don't have anyone to talk about it with.  That sounds kinda sad...I have friends!  Guys?  Back to the subject at hand, in twenty years, I bet Twilight Zone will be in one of my top two slots.  Because I've always loved it, rarely are the episodes completely disengaging, and by the time I've seen them all (right now I've seen about a third), I have a feeling I'll view the entire series as a masterpiece.  As it is, what I've seen constitutes a masterpiece, and Rod Serling was one of my first heroes on this site for a reason.  There's also a reason William Shatner, George Takei, James Stewart, and pretty much everyone else fought to be on this show...multiple times. 

Key Episodes:  Time Enough at Last, The Monsters are Due on Maple Street, The Howling Man, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

8.  The Office (2005-current):  One of the most consistent shows on television, The Office is the show I look forward to most every week.  It always brings on the funny, and if we're lucky, we get a little extra giddy with Jim/Pam or tragically awkward Michael.  Another reason the Office made it onto my list is the wealth of supporting characters, from my favorite, Toby, to Kelly to Jan to Angela.  I'm so pleased with NBC's decision to up the episode order and give them five hour-long episodes this year, because even their hourlongs are entertaining the whole way through. 

Key Episodes:  The Fire, Casino Night, Gay Witch Hunt, Benihana Christmas, The Job

7.  Battlestar Galactica (2004-2008):  About to begin its final year, I have no doubt in my mind that this show will end in glorious genius.  I found the miniseries intriguing but merely good, and the first season sort of upheld that belief.  The finale was great, however, but at the time, I wasn't that into second season's opening.  The arrival of Pegasus got me hooked though, and from about that time onward, the show was delivering A+ episodes every week (the best being from Downloaded through the first half of the third season).  I stand by those episodes as being my favorite series of episodes of any show ever, that's how much I loved New Caprica and its fallout.  And now that we're almost done, rewatching the old episodes has been highly enjoyable and proven that I was too quick to assess those earlier installments.  The characters are all so well-developed (except Cally, though I do think this Tyrol thing will be good for her as a character), and the story arcs are so engaging that this show has been appointment TV since I caught up to new episodes.  As people have a habit of killing off my favorite characters (JKR!!!!), I fully expect Roslin to bite the big one as the sciptures say but I refuse to think about it. 

Key Episodes:  33, Pegasus, Downloaded, Lay Down Your Burdens, Occupation/Precipice, Unfinished Business

6.  Veronica Mars (2004-2007):  My loves for film noir, high school, awesome names (Veronica Mars, Dick Casablancas, Vinnie Van Lowe, and the all-time favorite, Amelia DeLongpre), and supporting characters came together in a single show in 2004.  I didn't watch it then, of course, because I had Katie nagging me to do so, which quickly escalated into me being bound and gagged at the Wards' with my eyes pulled open Clockwork Orange-style forced to endure the misery of the first 15 episodes or so with nary a Mountain Dew in sight.  Subtract the torture aspect, and the show is pretty amazing.  Kristen Bell has a billion prospects now, rightly so given her two-time BTA-winning performance as the title detective.  I agree there were some missteps (aren't there always?) but on the whole the show was always entertaining.  The finale really hammered home the brilliance of the show's writing, Bell's performance, and the noir atmosphere, and forever earned the CW and Dawn Ostroff positions in Hell, assuming the universe is ultimately just.  Nevermind that Ostroff was a huge supporter of the show and kept it afloat for three years.  Anyway, Rob Thomas left Miss/Guided due to creative differences (which everyone should know after Thomas left the Creek means RT wanted the show to be brilliant but the producers disagreed), and is now set to work on Big Shots which will soon be canceled (god-willing).  Bell is done filming her Judd Apatow movie (I KNOW!!) Forgetting Sarah Marshall and turned down Broadway offers.  I hear she's in the running to play a recurring role on Lost, but in the mean time, I'm seeing a perfect opportunity to avenge the purging of Neptune, CA with Veronica Mars: The Movie, particularly given the lack of any prospects for the show's other stars (excepting Tina Majorino, whose season of Big Love has already been filmed).  I think I can assure producers that ticket sales by Katie Jernigan alone will make the CW execs cry themselves to sleep, and I'm pretty sure I can match hers.  Which reminds me, I used to have a thing about liking VM more than Katie which annoyed her to no end...what the hell, let's bring that back. 

Key Episodes:  An Echolls Family Christmas, A Trip to the Dentist, Look Who's Stalking, Not Pictured, Spit and Eggs

5.  Scrubs (2001-2008):  Scrubs has had some of the best seasons in sitcom history, namely the odd ones, but what I love most are what are probably considered the throwaways.  The one-off quotes Elliot says about her crazy past ("I lived with the Babcocks for two years.  They didn't have a lot of rules, though.  They were really old and thought I was a ghost.") or even JD's hilarious self-involvement ("I could hear the pain in my best friend's voice, and I could feel how little I cared.").  Then there are the random bits that happen once but always make me laugh, like making fun of Grey's Anatomy, the Dr. Acula footage ("Dr. Acula, don't...stop!"), or Elliot and the smoothies.  And lastly, the running jokes:  the Janitor's vendetta with JD, Dr. Cox's rants, the Todd's questionable private life, Kelso's relationship with his wife, pretty much everything about this show.  Sure it gets cheesy, but I watch it all the time (twice on weekdays) and it still makes me laugh.  P.S.  I think by the end of the show's run, they will have referenced every sitcom in history and probably a lot of the other shows as well...I may start a list and keep it updated here.  Yay or nay? 

Key Episodes:  My Old Lady, My Occurrence, My Screwup, My Way Home, My Lunch, My Musical

4.  Star Trek:  The Next Generation (1987-1994):  Perhaps not the best show by any technical standards (writing, acting, directing), it nevertheless makes up for it in imagination.  TNG (all Star Trek series are acronymed for ease of reference) is one of the first shows I ever watched (along with the original Star Trek), every day in syndication, new episodes every week, classic Trek every weekend on late-night.  I not only loved the universe of Star Trek, but the show taught me all the television basics.  Serialized storytelling, cliffhangers, returning guest stars, recurring characters in general, two-parters, etc.  To this day, TNG has some of the best cliffhangers.  It seems like every showrunner in television today was in some way associated with Star Trek.  I think TNG (and the other Trek incarnations for that matter) is perfect for kids, especially given its seemingly limitless supply of episodes (178 over 7 seasons) and the fact that children are rarely discerning enough to notice the corny dialogue. 

Key Episodes:  Q Who?, Yesterday's Enterprise, The Best of Both Worlds, Cause and Effect, I, Borg, Lower Decks, All Good Things

3.  Seinfeld (1990-1998):  The show that most influenced my early adolescence, Seinfeld is also one of the most consistently entertaining shows ever to air.  Add to that it ran for 9 years and you've got yourself a bona fide masterpiece.  So many of my favorite shows die young, which is especially frustrating for someone who grew up watching shows that ran for 7-9 years and had 25 episodes per season at least.  It's pretty impressive that Seinfeld reruns are still so hilarious, and it's comforting to know that I can still quote quite a bit of them.  For those interested, my favorite is Elaine, and I aspire to become J. Peterman. 

Key Episodes:  The Chinese Restaurant, The Parking Garage, The Contest, The Soup Nazi, The Bizarro Jerry

2.  Firefly (2002):  There was a time ("There is a gene!") recently where I had this as probably my number one, but only because I hadn't seen AD in a while.  Lately I've seen it a bit more and eternally love everything about it.  But second place is very close, as Firefly is phenomenal and tragically underseen.  Joss Whedon (as recently as Comicon a couple weeks ago) declared that he's still leaving room open for more sequels, so I am thrilled about that.  But what I love about the series is that it takes its time peeling the layers of its characters, and yet by the first episode you have a really good feel for everyone already.  Also, so much planning went into the universe that little mentions in one episode can be further examined later on, and my favorite episode Out of Gas details how the crew came to be as it is.  Firefly is a masterpiece, fifteen episodes and a feature film that are way above pretty much everything else on television.  Even though it was cancelled early on and got low ratings that year, it was clearly ahead of its time as a forerunner to the golden age of television drama we are in today, a television climate especially accepting of science-fiction stories. 

Key Episodes:  Serenity, Our Mrs. Reynolds, Out of Gas, War Stories, Objects in Space

1.  Arrested Development (2003-2006):  Currently my favorite show ever, Arrested Development features so many different types of comedy, there's always something that'll make you laugh.  I had a theory that each of the 9 cast members did different types of comedy, you know, Lucille with biting sarcasm, George-Michael with earnest awkwardness, Tobias with all the physical comedy, GOB with the stupid humor, etc.  And practically no line goes by without a joke, be it obvious, a self-reference, or innuendo.  This is also probably the only show with such brilliant wordplay, even the corny stuff (puns and whatnot) gets a laugh.  Most importantly, however, Arrested Development, for its brief three years, was a mirror held to society discussing everything from the War in Iraq and Christianity to its own impending cancellation. 

Key Episodes:  Motherboy XXX, Notapusy, Development Arrested

My 10 Favorite TV Shows

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