BN: The Brandon Network
Best Everything of Television
This was originally published in my adventures section on April 8, 2007, so it's a little outdated (meaning some of it has changed), but it tries to tackle my favorites of a lot of television categories:
Overall Television Favorites:
Favorite TV Promo: This one for BSG Season 3, no question. Every time I watch it, and I have done so many times since it appeared, I remember what it was like the very first time, the first view of Colonel Tigh missing an eye and a soul, wondering about the fates of all the characters and fearing for Gaius' "Shoot me!" and absolutely loving Laura's condemnation of collaborators and Bill's "I'm going back." I honestly doubt this promo will ever be topped. Producers, that's a challenge.
Favorite Title Sequence:
Such a hard one. For pre-2000s shows,
MASH takes the cake,
and Suicide is Painless as an instrumental is absolutely haunting, and then
appropriately comedic, just like the show. For
modern times, with so many brilliant openings, I'm torn, but probably gonna go
with Battlestar.
I love the music and the drums and the eternal shot of Laura Roslin taking
control of humanity, and the equally powerful image of Six protecting Gaius from
the nuke. But the survivor count puts it over the top for me. My
least favorite part about New Caprica was the missing survivor count.
Runners-up include Firefly,
Friday Night Lights,
Rescue Me,
Scrubs,
The Office (which would
be higher if they'd update the shots of the characters who have all changed
since the pilot),
Angel,
Deadwood, and
Enterprise, and
probably in that order. And if we take out the music, Veronica Mars Season
3 takes the cake. I still love it, but I love the Dandy Warhols' original
version of the song more. Oh, and the Colbert Report has a great intro
too!
Least Favorite Title Sequence: Lost.
Entourage is close. And that's counting all the Star Trek titles where
it's just credited names, views of the ship, and orchestral music.
Top 5 Shows: Arrested
Development and Firefly are tied for first now. Which leaves The Twilight
Zone, Seinfeld and Star Trek: TNG respectively, as the shows that shaped my
childhood and that I will always love above all else (except AD and Firefly).
My next five would probably come from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Scrubs, Friday
Night Lights, Veronica Mars, and Battlestar Galactica, which are just in the
order I thought of them. But just wait until I watch The Wire, Carnivale,
the rest of Deadwood, the Sopranos, and everything else for a more conclusive
list.
Reality Show: Project Runway...nothing
else comes close, not even, sadly, the Beach or the Hills.
Procedural: House, and
that's saying something, because I am really not into procedurals at all.
I like shows that make you earn it, the ones you have to watch every week to
know what's going on. So I guess it's not surprising that I'd pick at
least a quasi-serial procedural over all the crime shows. And while we're
on the subject, I honestly think procedurals should have their own awards
categories, because House as a drama will always pale in comparison to, say,
Friday Night Lights.
Soap Opera: The O.C.
It beat out Brothers and Sisters, Lost, and Heroes, in that order.
Favorite TGIF Show: Boy
Meets World > Family Matters > Sabrina (Whatev, I'm gay) > Full House > Teen Angel > You Wish
Favorite Drama on a Comedy:
Scrubs, easy breezy. Although I can't actually think of another
example. Except Weeds, which I'm still fuzzy on, genre-wise. I guess
since it's a half-hour it's a comedy, but whatever.
Favorite Comedy on a Drama: Veronica Mars, just
over FNL at this point. But wait till the day that Landry mentions
Battlestar (which you know he watches every Sunday), and the tide may turn.
Most Rewarding Show I Stuck With Through the Bad Times:
The O.C. Other nominees may include the Creek, Scrubs (for
Season 2, which wasn't really that bad), Lost, Heroes, Six Feet Under (assuming
it recovers after Season 4), most Star Treks, SNL, and more.
Favorite TV on DVD: I think the Office Season 2
is a really incredible set, and I hope they use it as a template for future DVD
features, for hopefully 30 Rock and FNL. Veronica Mars, I demand some
features! AD and Scrubs also have some good ones, but I still think Office
2 is my favorite.
Favorite Cliffhanger: 1)
Lay Down Your Burdens. Humanity has been taken over by cylons, again.
2) The Best of Both Worlds, Star Trek. Captain Picard has been
assimilated. Awesome. 3) Call to Arms, Star Trek: DS9.
They abandon DS9, and it stays that way for a considerable length of time.
That's because Ronald D. Moore knows how to write a good story and maintain
integrity. Take a cue, Lost.
Saddest TV Moment: Rescue Me, Season 2's
penultimate episode, when you-know-what happens. I doubt this moment can
be topped for me in terms of sadness, and it elevated Season 2 to my favorite
season of the show.
Happiest: Maybe Keith Mars being alive,
because I am not ashamed to say I bought his fake-out death.
Favorite Budding Couple:
1) Jim/Pam. 2) Seth/Summer. 3) Mal/Inara. One of my many
favorite parts of Firefly were all scenes between just Mal and Inara, and
Shindig is one of my faves almost solely because of them (and Kaylee of
course).
Favorite Married Couple:
1) Wash/Zoe. 2) Eric/Tami (sorry, but Wash and Zoe are slightly more
perfect). 3) George-Michael/Maeby
Favorite Single Parent: 1)
Keith Mars, biotch! 2) Julie Cooper! 3) Michael Bluth
Favorite Wedding: 1)
George-Michael/Maeby. 2) Turk/Carla. 3) Julie Cooper/Cal
Favorite Credited Character Death:
1) Beaver. 2) Jenn on the Creek. 3) Caleb on the OC.
Favorite Supporting Death:
1) The Rescue Me Season 2 ending I mentioned above. 2) Ellen Tigh. 3)
Aaron Echolls.
Favorite Death of a Character That I
Enjoyed B/c I Hated Them: 1) Johnny on the OC. 2) Marissa on
the OC. 3) Anna-Lucia on Lost.
Favorite Ghost: 1) Lilly
Kane. 2) Brendan Fraser on Scrubs. 3) Jimmy Keefe.
30 Rock:
Favorite Episode: Maybe the Valentine's Day
one. Or the Jenna/Politics one that ends with the swastika fireworks.
Favorite Character: Jenna!
She brought us Muffin Tops
(which is #1 in Israel and #5 in Berlin), the Rural Juror, Urban Fervor, the
Maxim Photo Shoot, and the Osama/Obama mix-up. And she practices Kabbalah,
which combines the coolest parts of Judaism with magic! And all without
being in many of the recent episodes. Bring her back! Second =
Dennis the Beeper King. Third = Rachel Dratch as anyone/Cerie ("When done
correctly, these page numbers should be sequential.")/Kenneth/Liz/Jack/Tracy.
Favorite Couple: Kenneth/Cerie
Favorite Relationship:
Jack/Liz
Favorite Gag: the Snapple
product placement. I wish I had a link to show you.
Battlestar Galactica:
Favorite Season 1 Episode: 33
Favorite Season 2 Episode:
Lay Down Your Burdens
Favorite Season 3 Episode:
Occupation/Precipice (it's a two-parter so it counts)
Favorite All-time episode:
I think 33 still
Favorite Season: 3.0 (as
opposed to 3.5) is the best half-season easily, for my money. And despite
Season 2 having the brilliant Pegasus arc and the brilliant finale, I'm gonna
have to say that Season 3 is actually my favorite season, still, even despite
the uneven ending half.
Favorite Character: Roslin!!!!
Second = Gaius. Third = Sharon/Six/HOTPOLLO/HOTANDERS/Soulless Tigh/Brother
Cavil
Give Him a Spinoff: Doc
Cottle. We'd explore his various adventures throughout the galaxy, being
crotchety and healing the universe, cylon or human.
Favorite Music Scene: For
other shows, I'm not counting scores, just songs, so for this show, I can only
come up with two examples and I love both. For the record, I love all the
scores for this show, too. But anyway, there's the obvious All Along the
Watchtower, and then there's the song Starbuck listens to in her apartment,
which I know is well-known, but I'm not cultured enough to know what it is.
Regardless, it's beautiful and haunting, even in the scenes with Tigh and Ellen.
So Battlestar's third season seems to have been a massive effort at paring back
the characters. What I love about the first two seasons is that they
established so many characters that by the time we got to New Caprica, there
were so many different people we knew in so many new arenas. Roslin was
just a teacher, Starbuck was in captivity, Gaeta was with Gaius on Colonial One,
Bill/Helo were on one battlestar while Lee/Dee were on the other, etc.
It's like there were so many people we love and all were separated from
practically everyone else, and I revelled in it. Now, we don't have quite
so many characters. We lost Ellen in the most tragic of events, and Duck,
Maya, Jammer, Kat, Three, even Starbuck for a brief while. Zarek's like our next
most supporting character, so methinks he, Cottle, and Hot Dog better watch
their backs. Also, Season 3 introduced us to two already dead characters,
Bill's wife Carol Anne and Starbuck's evil dead mother Socrata, and around that
time, we prepared ourselves for the possibility of the deaths of Tyrol and Cally,
and still further, Gaeta tried to kill Baltar. Despite the seeming
disjointedness of much of the season, it really was all about death the whole
time, building up to the trial and foregone conclusion of death penalty for
Gaius. And the death of Lee to his father. And of Tigh to himself,
as he realizes that his murder of Ellen is even more screwed-up since he's a
cylon after all. And the death of Roslin by cancer. It's weird, and
I'm not apologizing for how the second half of the season was merely great and
not phenomenal, but it's pretty cool to find these little things after the fact
that make you appreciate it all just a little bit more.
The
Creek:
Favorite Season: Second. Such a good
season, each character had a story arc, and Abby Morgan was around!
Favorite Character: Jenn ?
Not really sure. Actually probably Andie, but as for the main five, I
gotta go Jenn, then Me aka Jack/Pacey, then Joey. Not Dawson, not ever, at
least not until he got his hair under control in season 6. OH!
Audrey is my all-time favorite, actually. Particularly during Season 5,
but come on, her meltdown in season 6 is one for the record books.
Favorite Supporting Character: Abby
Morgan, Grams, and Hot CJ who is now on Supernatural.
Favorite Dawson scene:
Dawson, in his car, after his dad died, crying like he's auditioning for Next
Top Model!
Favorite Couple: Easily
Pacey/Andie, and let me tell you why. I wouldn't wish Joey on Pacey.
He's a good guy, and she's a whiny can of crazy that still sorta loves Dawson.
Now, in the finale, it's great, b/c she's grown up a little, but I couldn't put
them as my favorites with the rest of the series in mind. My second is
Jack/David from season 6, and Jenn/CJ but only b/c of CJ.
Favorite Musical Moment: I
Don't Wanna Wait! I honestly can't think of any others, but I do know
there was some Phantom Planet later on and some Jewel/Jessica Simpson too.
Which, ew.
Favorite quote: "If I had
a gun right now, Mr. Peterson would be dead." Followed extremely closely
by "You are extremely sexual." Could Dawson be creepier? Oh, and of
course Dawson's drunken tirade on his sixteenth birthday, if only I could
remember it, but even that gets beaten by Audrey's drunken tirade at Christmas
in Season 6. God, I miss Audrey.
Firefly
Favorite Episode:
Out of Gas. Closely followed by Objects in Space, Serenity, Ariel, Our
Mrs. Reynolds, War Stories, and Shindig which are tied at PERFECTION.
Favorite Character: Tie
between everyone except Jayne, who is second, and Shepherd Book who is dead last
behind Saffron, Badger, and Julie Cooper-Whore.
Favorite Non-crew member:
Saffron. I wish we had gotten to see what happened to her, because you
know she would have shown up again, right before the season finale.
Favorite Western Moment:
Mal shooting that agent in the pilot with the preacher behind him and the saloon
girl up above. Most western moment that wasn't set in a saloon ever.
Friday
Night Lights:
Favorite Episode: Hmm...I Think We Should
Have Sex, Mud Bowl, or State.
Favorite Character: God...
Um, Tami Taylor for being perfect always. Second = Coach Taylor.
Third = Tyra/Landry/Matt/Street/Smash/Riggins/Mrs. Smash/Buddy Doucheity/Outcast
Lyla/everyone else
Favorite Couple: Eric/Tami
Favorite Scene: The Parade
of Glory in the finale. Glory, I tell you.
Favorite Storyline: Tami/Tyra's
relationship
Favorite Musical Moment:
Devil Town in the Parade of Glory by some guy named Tony Lucca. Runners
up include Ryan Adams' Political Scientist (which prompted me to finally
download the rest of his albums), Trail of Dead's So Divided, Lady Marmalade,
and the Kingsmen's Louie Louie in the pilot! Great usage for a classic
song.
Miscellaneous (aka Shows that aren't important enough to have their own section):
Favorite Entourage member: Ari, but strictly
out of the entourage, Drama. Oh, and Julie
Cooper-Nichol-Cooper-Roberts-Maiden Name.
Favorite Heroes Hero: Nathan, at
this point. I don't really like most of them, though. Claude's a
contender. And Ando and Hiro. They better not give Ando a power
ever.
Favorite House Character:
House, then Cuddy, then Wilson.
Favorite House Episode:
Three Stories. Brilliance, especially given the limitations of a
procedural.
Favorite Lost Castaway:
Desmond, then Juliet. Out of the traditional lost crew, I'd go Locke,
especially now that he's E-vil. Sorta. Although Kate and Sayid have
been impressing me lately, and almost everyone else (except the people we never
see (and probably for that reason) like Sun/Jin, Hurley, and Claire), is
impossible to like. Out of the tailies, Bernard, any day. And Libby,
I guess.
Favorite Lost Season: 1?
Really just the first half, which ended with Charlie getting hanged and
miraculously resurrected. It's like they've been trying to kill him off
this whole time.
Favorite OC Season: 1,
then 2, then 4, then 3, but don't take that to mean season 4 isn't good, because
it is great, I just happen to also really love season 2.
Favorite OC kid: Seth, even through the
annoying self-involved time at the end of season 2. Summer is second.
Then Anna. Then Taylor. Then Zach. Then post-Luke's dad's gay
Luke. Then Kaitlin. Then Alex the lesbian. Then Ryan.
Then DJ. Then pre-Luke's dad's gay Luke (this isn't about his dad, but
remember how he got all outcasted after that and then became just the funny
friend that tags along? yeah, good times). Then Marissa. Then
Oliver. Then Paris Hilton. Johnny didn't even make the cut.
Nor did Eddie or Teresa. Or Lindsay. Hahaha, Lindsay! I forgot
about her. So did the writers, thank god.
Favorite OC adult: JULIE
COOPER 4 LIFE!!!! God I must
own this show.
Favorite OC musical moment: The Season 1
finale...glory incarnate. Seconded by the Spiderman kiss to Champagne
Supernova. And then the coffee cart Patrick Park. OH! And the
finale finale with Patrick Park. And the reprise of Hello Sunshine in
Season 4. You know what, I need to give this more thought, so see below
for a special OC list.
Favorite OC Couple: Seth/Summer
circa Season 1. Honestly, one of my favorite tv couples ever. After
that it got a little annoying with the Zach/Alex thing, but I stood by them b/c
obviously Seth was going to end up with Summer. And then Season 3 came
along and, oh yeah, Seth and Summer are characters. I was so focused on
these random kids named Johnny and Chili and Volchok of all things. I'm an
idiot showrunner. And then Josh Schwartz came back and said Seth + Summer
= the reason people watch this show, and they will be together and take their
relationship further! Which, yay, but by that point, Julie Cooper owned my
world.
Favorite OC special episode:
Drunk, klepto Marissa!
Favorite Studio 60 Episode:
the Pilot, which I maintain has not yet been bested in quality.
Favorite Studio 60-ite:
Jack, easy. Give him a spinoff. Amanda Peet can come too.
Top 10 OC Music Moments--the show that pretty much put musical montages and indie rock/pop on the television map deserves it's own list of music moments, because there are about one great music uses per episode.
10) Kreuzberg by Bloc Party - The ending of
the one before the finale, which acts as sort of the ending of the season.
Everyone survived the earthquake, even Kirsten's baby, and they all leave the
hospital together, never more thankful to have each other in their lives.
9) Move On by Jet - It
seemed surreal to me, and I think the song sorta does that. It's when
Seth, Ryan, Marissa, and Luke show up at school. Luke's become an outcast
since his dad is gay, Marissa's still the girl that OD-ed in TJ, and Ryan just
did something else to endear him with the locals. They talk about how much
school's gonna suck, and Seth says "welcome to my world," and I fall in love
with them all.
8) A Bad Dream by Keane -
We find out that Summer, who seemed the strongest, is the one most affected by
the death, and Julie tearfully reveals that she visits Marissa's grave every
day.
7) Fix You by Coldplay -
So not a fan of the group or song, but on the OC, it worked. It was during
Caleb's death, and Julie's heroic "CAL!" and Ryan and Marissa dancing at prom
and Kirsten going for the vodka. Just like Leahanne.
6) Running up that Hill by
Placebo - The opening of Season 4 catches us up with Ryan, Sandy, and
most tragically, Julie. Kaitlin's even worried about her, which endeared
me to Kaitlin for the rest of the season, and the song set the stage
brilliantly. The best thing Marissa ever did was die.
5) Champagne Supernova by Matt
Pond PA - The Spiderman kiss, Marissa comforting Ryan in the rain, Sandy
returning to Kirsten. It was all just beautiful.
4) If You Leave by Nada Surf - I think Anna's
departure in Season 1 is one of the best scenes of the show, and the song
enhanced it incredibly.
3) Life's a Song by Patrick Park
- The finale montage. Expertly done (except they forgot about Kirsten)
scene that will stay with me for a long time.
2) Something Pretty by Patrick
Park - After I gave it more thought, I realized that this scene and song
are really favorites of mine, except for the obvious number 1. Plus, it
introduced me to Patrick Park.
1) Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley
in the Season 1 finale.
Songs that almost made it were the Tally Hall cover of Smile Like You Mean It, which occurs just after Seth "finds out" about Taylor's potential pregnancy, and the Syd Matters cover of Hello Sunshine, when Summer comes to Seth in the airport, and they both return to the Seth/Summer of season 1. Also, the Pogues' Love You Till the End, Brandtson's Earthquakes and Sharks, and Ryan Adams' Wonderwall.
EW just had what should have been an amazing
article, which was subtitled: "You might think Betty, Lost, and
Grey's are great shows, but our critic begs to differ." She made some
interesting points, first tackling Lost, citing the ever-tiring "endless
questions, no answers in sight" argument. It's true, but it's a stupid
time to be making that argument, because Season 3 has shed way more light on the
mysteries that Season 2, and I, for one, appreciate the producers correcting
their mistakes and at least trying to throw us a bone while still preserving the
mystery. No, my big problem with Lost is almost entirely in the writing.
Of course, the characters are hardly likeable, which probably explains why my
favorites are the two newest, Desmond and Juliet, but even that has to do with
the writing. For one, people don't talk like that, even stranded on a
desert island. Not everything is grand, melodramatic, and
universe-altering. People are not that okay with guns, not in general.
Sayid and Sawyer maybe, but how Juliet, a scientist who's devoted to her sister
became not only an action hero in the way of running and shooting guns, but also
a master manipulator worthy of the CIA is beyond me. That's the biggest
problem, the lack of realism. I'm all for suspending disbelief for the
smoke monster and the polar bears and all the weird island stuff, that's what
draws me in. But for that to be the case, the situations, the characters,
and the dialogue has to ring true, and it hasn't from day one. The
flashbacks have sucked since the first 11 episodes, so I won't bother beating
that dead horse, but I will say they've gotten a little better this season.
On to Grey's (and I assume Betty, which I've only seen 1 episode of), again,
people don't talk like that. Not only that, but here's the opening line of
Grey's Anatomy:
"They say a person either has what it takes to play, or
they don't." Wow, that was so not as brilliant as it thinks it is.
Which is another problem I have with Lost, but we're on Grey's now. I
mean, seriously, the introduction to the series is that pretentious piece of
unsubstantial garbage? Of course America eats it up. I wouldn't care
if it were funny or just fun, as all the critics seem to think it is, but every
episode I've seen curbs the funny in favor of some melodramatic crisis.
I'd even be okay with the patient-as-a-metaphor conceit if it were used as well
as Scrubs, and if the show focused on the comedy. In fact, it really
should change formats to a comedy, because the critics rarely hail its dramatic
chops. Also, I'm so sick of people saying that the actors on these shows
are so amazing. They're not, with a few exceptions. From what I've
seen of Grey's, which is very little, so whatever, Chandra Wilson, TR Knight,
and Sandra Oh seem to have what it takes, but they're also all cliches.
Lost is filled with cliches though. Btw, can someone please tell the
castaways to stop crying all the time. My point is, these shows are most
certainly entertaining (for some...not so much for me in the case of Grey's),
but that doesn't make them great, and it certainly doesn't make them
award-worthy. I love the OC but I'm not touting it as the best drama on
television (mainly b/c it does comedy way better...sound familiar?).
And I'd like to add Heroes to the list, although I haven't met anyone who actually thinks this is a great show. It's turned into a real soap opera, as Lost did for much of season 2, and it's really annoying. And as always, it suffers from "people don't talk like that" syndrome. My other big problem is the "people don't act like that" syndrome, which plagues Lost as well and stems from the writers writing the characters rather than letting the characters act naturally. Which sounds pretentious and like I'm talking about the craft, but it was just the first thing that popped to mind to describe it. Now on to the other shows.
The Office:
Favorite Season 1 Episode: Diversity Day
Favorite Season 2 Episode:
Casino Night
Favorite Season 3 Episode so far:
Way too hard to decide at the moment
Favorite Character: Toby, then
Kelly, then Jim. Honestly, Jim is probably my favorite, because we get so
much of him relative to Toby and Kelly, but I just love every scene those two
are in.
Favorite Couple:
Ryan/Kelly, sorry Jam, you're my real favorite, but Ryan/Kelly are just too
hilarious.
Favorite Cold Open: The
one with Dwight crying
about Jim being gone.
Favorite Jim/Pam Dwight prank:
The fax from the future. Second = CIA mission. Third = Pam making
him run laps. Although, now that I think about it, the day where they
recap all of Jim's old pranks on Dwight is amazing. Jim Halpert made me
hit myself in the face with my phone. Today I came to work and found a
bloody glove in my desk. Jim Halpert tried to convince me that I killed
someone last night. I think he may be the real killer.
Favorite Michael mistake:
Marking his Asian girl at the Christmas party.
Rescue
Me:
Favorite Season:
2, then 1, then 3, which would have been
great if the finale hadn't been one big cop-out.
Favorite Character: Now it's Sean, but it changes a
lot. Mike's adorably naive, which I love, Tommy and Janet are just crazy
and perfect for each other, and Lou is so wonderful. He's probably my
second actually. And the Chief deserves special mention for being so
affecting and competent. Oh, and I almost forgot Johnny Gavin, and also
their dead cousin who is awesome.
Favorite Musical Moment: All the Wild Horses,
followed by Coldplay's Don't Panic.
Favorite Couple: Sean/Maggie.
Saturday Night Live:
Host: Ben Affleck probably
All-time Favorite Male Cast Member:
Mike Myers, but don't quote me on that. Kevin Nealon was pretty awesome,
Dana Carvey is obviously a contender, Phil Hartman who I almost forgot about,
and then there's Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan... In a few years, I may be
ready to say that Will Ferrell is officially > Mike Myers, but for now, I'm
keeping it.
All-time Favorite Female Cast Member:
I think the women of SNL have recently (2000s) overtaken the men, as none have
been less than great since Molly Shannon, who I'd argue was good at best.
Other than Tina Fey, I'd say my favorite girl is Cheri Oteri. But again,
Ana Gasteyer, Maya Rudolph, Amy Pohler, Rachel Dratch, and Kristin Wiig are all
so great.
Weekend Update
Anchors: Tina Fey/Amy Poehler--Jimmy Fallon was close, but Poehler's way
more natural
Commercial: Trilocaine.
Wish I had a link to it, but apparently no one but me and Ryan recognized the
glory of Trilocaine. Although in reality, my favorite commercials were
probably the series of What Happens in Thailand ads from the other time Ben
Affleck hosted. Which, sadly, I also can't find a link to the video for,
but here's a
transcript with screencaps. .
Most Surprisingly Good Host:
Britney Spears
Favorite Recurring Sketch:
the Clinton Administration. I mean, three-way phone-calls between Clinton,
Monica, and Saddam? Genius. Plus John Goodman as Linda Tripp!
Such good times.
Favorite Will Ferrell Character:
James Lipton, but it's an extremely close call because everything Ferrell
touched turned to gold.
Chris Kattan & Cheri Oteri:
That couple that would get all aroused by things like buying a car and stuff.
Adam Sandler: one of the
Gap girls--"You belt it, then you sinch it."
Mike Myers: Linda Richman,
host of Coffee Talk, my favorite part of the early 90s SNLs.
Dana Carvey: The Church
Lady, of course, and as for impressions, Ross Perot just over George HW (who I
absolutely love, btw, which is my way of sort of pre-apologizing for my later
diatribe against his son).
Least Favorite Cast Members:
Chris Parnell, Horatio Sanz after like two years or so, Kenan Thompson (though
I'm warming up to his Virginiaca character), and Jimmy Fallon who wasn't funny,
professional, or intelligent, but was kinda cute so they kept him around for
years in the shadows of the true greats like Will Ferrell, Cheri Oteri, etc.
So I was going to
put this with one of the above, but it deserves its own paragraph. My
favorite part of SNL has always been the political stuff, until the
politically-inept current cast. Weekend Update always has some Daily Show-ish
type stuff that almost always has at least one gem that gets me laughing
hysterically, but I'm mostly talking about the sketches with the presidents or
the press, especially Geraldo and anything that happened during the Clinton
Administration. I would argue that SNL hasn't had a funny Bush sketch
since Will Ferrell left.
In fact, my basic problem with current SNL is
that they are not cutting-edge any more. The most recent episode had a
sketch about Abu Ghraib, which was how long ago? I mean, come on, I want to see some making fun of
Deal or No Deal or Don Imus. As one of the only shows that is produced
within a week of world events, it'd be nice to see them take advantage of this
like they had always done prior to like 2003. That said, I actually think
this is one of the strongest casts in a while, with only one weak link being Kenan. I absolutely love Andy Samberg, Kristen Wiig (yes, I'm aware I've
spelled her name two different ways now, I'm covering my bases), Maya Rudolph,
Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, and Jason Sudeikis. Will Forte, Fred Armisen, and
Darrell Hammond earn their keep. And Kenan is only entertaining with
Virginiaca. Seth Meyers is only on Weekend Update, and while I like him,
he's much better in sketches. But my point is that they actually have a
very strong cast, which just goes to show how strong Tina Fey's writing had been
that the show gets a better cast and still goes downhill. Still, I think
it's on its way back up, especially with the Lonely Island Crew aboard.
One request though: Replace Kenan with Jorma from Lonely Island!
Scrubs:
Favorite Season 1 Episode: My Occurrence
Favorite Season 2 Episode:
My Fruit Cups, but it's definitely not on par with these other season's bests
Favorite Season 3 Episode:
My Screw-Up
Favorite Season 4 Episode:
My Best Moment, a little cheesy, but it's Christmas
Favorite Season 5 Episode:
My Way Home
Favorite Season 6 Episode So Far:
My Musical
Favorite All-time Episode:
My Occurrence. The photos, the Guided by Voices, the Brendan Fraser...it's
just all so moving.
Favorite Season: Hmm...1,
3, 4 or 5. Take your pick, they're all genius. Actually, 3 is the
most cohesive as a season, building up to Turk/Carla's wedding, and it includes
Michael J. Fox and Brendan Fraser's return, so I'll go with that.
Favorite Character: Elliott. Then
Kelso. Then JD/Turk/Carla/Jordan/Molly/Keith/Todd/Ted/Laverne. If
you'd asked me during season 1, it would have been Dr. Cox or the Janitor.
Favorite Couple: Dr.
Cox/Jordan.
Favorite Relationship:
Janitor/JD
Favorite Musical Moment:
Other than the Guided by Voices in my fave episode, I'm going with Hallelujah in
My Old Lady. Runners up include all Joshua Radin, all Keane (Everybody's
Changing and A Bad Dream), Boston's More Than a Feeling (for the air band
rendition), and Polyphonic Spree. And NOT Colin Hay. At all.
Favorite Song from My Musical:
1. Guy Love. 2. The Turk/Carla Tango.
Favorite JD Fantasy: My
Life in Four Cameras sitcom
Favorite JD Quote: "I do
have three questions, though: Why do you hate me when I show you nothing
but love, who's gonna tell my mom, and what am I supposed to do with 10,000 John
Dorian Chief Resident business cards?!"
Favorite Janitor Prank:
The accent day, with Klaus and Nigel. "What's up, your bum?"
Favorite Dr. Cox rant:
"Listen, you should go ahead and enjoy this while you can Bobby, because if your
evil genie actually does grant your wish and I disappear, the only person you'll
have left to contend with around here will be yourself, and when you really get to know that
person...oh dear God you'll scream so loud that Satan will wanna rip up the
contract you signed at birth just so he can get some sleep."
Veronica
Mars:
Favorite Season 1 Episode: A Trip to the
Dentist
Favorite Season 2 Episode:
Not Pictured...then Plan B.
Favorite Season 3 Episode:
Spit and Eggs
Favorite All-time Episode:
A Trip to the Dentist..iono, it's so close with Not Pictured for me.
Favorite Season: 2, so
far.
Favorite Couple:
Mac/Beaver fo life! Adorable till the end...or very
close
to the end
anyway. And yes, I've had my fill of Logan/Veronica for a while, thanks.
Favorite Relationship:
Keith/Veronica
Favorite Moment: Veronica
finds out for sure that Keith is her biological father
Favorite Character: After
Veronica, I'd go Keith, Cliff, Lilly, Aaron, and everyone else.
Favorite Mystery of the Week:
Donut Run, if that counts.
Favorite Musical Moment:
Mike Doughty's I Hear the Bells. Runners up for me are the Perishers'
Sway, Fatboy Slim's Right Here Right Now, Cotton Mather's Lily Dreams On, and
Embrace's Ashes. But there are so many others too.
Weeds:
Favorite Season: 2, but it's not something I
feel adamant about.
Favorite Character: Nancy,
obvi. And then Kat! And Andy, Celia, Conrad, Silas, and Shane.
Favorite Couple: Nancy and
her husband, the dead one, not Agent Wonder Bread. I loved those home
videos.
Favorite Music Moment: Get
Set Go's Die Motherfucker Die.
Favorite Storyline: Kat's
arrival, hands-down. "KAT!" "You lost your cat?" "Heart hug."
And the script for Permafuck.
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