Allegretto asks:
How about a list of recommended TV shows? Relatively new (or otherwise)? I know you do televisualist, but that’s usually commenting on whatever is on in any given week and it also seems to strive for as broad a scope as possible, it’s not really the same as a “TV you should totally see” list.
True, but the thing about “TV you should totally see” lists is that they end up being sort of redundant. I mean, am I really going to be the umpteenth person to write an article saying “you should really watch The Wire“? I wouldn’t even be the first comics blogger to write that. You need to come at it from an angle that’s at least vaguely fresh, because Entertainment Weekly does a “must watch” list every frigging year.
(Incidentally, you should really watch The Wire. All those people calling it the best show in television history? Are correct.)
So here’s my angle: call it the Baseball Team method. Nine categories, and I’ll name one show for each category.
Sitcom (three-camera)
Sitcom (single-camera)
Sitcom (British)
Drama
Drama (British)
Dramedy
Animated
“Genre”
Wildcard
There. There’s your model for recommending shows from now on. Comedy in three distinctly different styles, none of which is superior to one another – the traditional three-camera setup, the more modern single-camera comedy, and the Britcom, which by virtue of its seasonal length and cultural difference is distinct from either American model. Hourlong drama, hourlong dramedy, and Brit drama are likewise three wholly different beasts. Animated shows and genre shows genuinely differ in production and result from their less flamboyant relatives. And finally, a wildcard slot so if you can’t make up your mind between Buffy and Firefly, you can include both. (Although if that’s your big sticking point, maybe you should broaden your horizons.)
And you can’t pick The Wire, because that is cheating. Also: no Doctor Who, a show that I love but which has been enthusiastically recommended to everybody in the world now.
And my team?
Sitcom (three-camera): Newsradio. Currently available in a “complete series” boxset on DVD that is quite cheap at the price. Newsradio is a master-class in farcical comedy; its character interactions are rich and complex (one could write essays on the odd relationship of Dave and Mr. James), its cast thoroughly skilled and its writing near-perfect. Do not ignore the fifth season simply because of the tragic death of Phil Hartman; Jon Lovitz is an able replacement, the short run of Patrick Warburton as Johnny Johnson is one of the show’s best longer storylines, and some fifth-season episodes are simply brilliant even for one of the best sitcoms ever made.
Sitcom (single-camera): Arrested Development. Which, frankly, almost deserves to be sidelined for the same reason that The Wire and Doctor Who are sidelined, but it’s my game so hell with it. Arrested Development is one of those shows that writes its jokes in layers: the first time you watch it you catch the obvious jokes, then the second time you watch it you start to see the subtler ones, then the third time through you start seeing the cross-references and callbacks to jokes they’ve already written in previous episodes, and so on and so forth because this show was written more comprehensively than any comedy show I can think of.
Sitcom (British): The Inbetweeners. I decided to go with something recent here, although I was very tempted to pick The Young Ones instead – but The Inbetweeners has two things in common with that classic show. Firstly, they’re both very funny. Secondly, they’re both excellent examples of shows that simply could not get made in America. The Inbetweeners‘ central conceit of “these are the normal guys in the middle of their school’s social system, you know, the ones who aren’t total losers but also aren’t cool kids, the ones who just get by” is the sort of thing that American TV – prone to hyperbole as it is – would utterly screw up if given the chance. The Inbetweeners is funny, but it also feels like growing up in a way that many comedies about high school never do, simply because most of us were inbetweeners, when you get to it – desperately trying to get laid and failing, trying to become popular and failing, trying to rebel against the system of popularity and failing at that too.
Drama: Deadwood. David Milch’s three-season Western ran too short for almost everybody’s liking, but it really is magnificent: it’s the story of how civilization is created from scratch, how criminals are often the ones who demand social stability in order to ensure their safety, how law and politics are created and soon corrupted, how corporate capitalism comes to dominate any economic system given the chance. Plus there are cowboys and truly fantastic violence and lots of swearing (which only serves to season the fascinatingly great dialogue) and Ian McShane and Timothy Olyphant basically ensuring their careers forever.
Dramedy: The Unusuals. I know you would’ve expected me to go with The West Wing or maybe Gilmore Girls here, but I’m picking this single-season offering from two years ago which was cancelled far too soon: it’s a great cop show in that it actually shows cops doing everyday cop things. Not just homicides and drug deals and all that fancy stuff; the boring procedural work and routine calls that cops do all the time, except it made them entertaining. Great cast, too: Jeremy Renner right before he got big, Harold Perrineau, Adam Goldberg. A great little single-serving of TV.
Drama (British): Luther. Currently in its second season, Luther is the polar opposite of The Unusuals. Rather than ground itself in the mundane, Luther takes the elements of cop shows and raises them to nigh-mythic levels: Idris Elba’s title character is a bruised and battered angel, his nemesis is all but a Moriarty, his villains are deadly and just dank in a way that is exceptionally pleasing to watch. Luther is grim and serious and it never, ever tries to go for a cheap laugh to deflate itself, and in these days that’s something of a rarity – even when a character in Luther makes a clever quip, the viewer’s response is not to laugh but only to nod intently.
Animated: Eek! the Cat. Probably one of the most absurd and insane kids’ shows to ever air, and indeed often incredibly cynical, but balanced by the protagonist: Eek himself is a genuinely admirable sort of cat, noble and well-intentioned and brave, and his never-flagging good nature makes all the horrible things the show does to him all the funnier for that, making this quite possibly the only animated show to ever truly explore the comic possibilities of martyrdom as opposed to simple violence. The first season is a classic; thereafter it drops off as the show added additional characters like the Terrible Thunderlizards, who weren’t anywhere near as fun as Eek was.
Genre: Farscape. It was a tossup here between this and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and while I think DS9 hits greater heights, i think Farscape is more consistent because it’s a show that finds its voice early on and sticks with what works for it, which is high-quality space opera in the Han Solo end of Star Wars‘ tone. This show made a number of nerd careers, not least Ben Browder and Claudia Black (both of whom went on to work in the Stargate franchise, effectively playing their Farscape characters but with different names), and worked imaginatively with a relatively low budget thanks to the brilliance of the Henson Company’s effects wizards. The ending is a bit rushed, as the show had to compress the planned fifth and final season into a four-hour miniseries, but it still works. Farscape was playing with genre conventions early on and never stopped for its entire run, and its odd quirks (including Harvey, the villain inside the hero’s head) made it all the more unique.
Wildcard: Titus. Christopher Titus’ eponymous comedy, a mix of single-camera and three-camera, was dark. It was very dark. His character’s mother was a violent, paranoid schizophrenic, and the show never lost sight of the seriousness of that fact even while getting maximum utility out of it for comedic purposes by letting Titus both love and fear her simultaneously; his father, played by Stacy Keach (in probably that actor’s best work ever) was a womanizing, emotionally abusive drunk but also a weirdly dedicated father. Titus is one of the most emotionally complex sitcoms ever made; it’s also brutally funny and sometimes uncomfortable to watch. And that is why it is great.
Related Articles
66 users responded in this post
Great idea – but two points before I go think.
First, what about “reality” TV? In the old days, they were called documentary, but even with the new approach of the last decade, there certainly are some that are worth considering outside of the Wildcard. Should the team have a DH?
Second, internet pedantry: the “traditional three camera sit-com” was dead by 1970, most everything was single camera (Beverly Hillbillies, Bewitched, et al). All In the Family brought back the “live” feel of 50’s sit-coms. I like how you refuse to claim that single camera is better than three camera, but still. The best single camera sit-com may in fact be M*A*S*H. The two have always existed together, just waxing and waning in popularity.
Sorry. That’s just a personal bugbear. And has little to do with your discussion. Sorry.
Hee, Titus was best. People just didn’t GET that show.
I take issue with your list though ’cause not enough of it is new. I had a TV ten years ago: now I don’t. I need to know what to watch *now*. I saw that stuff *then*. 😉
Nice idea.
Titus is the only show on there that I haven’t seen, so I guess I should go do that.
I was slightly disappointed in S2 of Luther. Too short, and not nearly enough Ruth Wilson. Still great though.
I thought Farscape was great up until the fourth season, at which point it totally lost me as a fan. Something about that year just lacked the charm and fantastic arcs of the first few years, for me.
Then again, I also routinely cite DS9 as my all-time favourite TV show, so I’m biased.
I love Farscape, and I liked their work on Stargate. But Aeryn =/= Vala AT ALL. I think from her first appearance, they were thinking of going that way, but changed their minds.
While I may slightly disagree with the format (one too many sitcoms; two specific Brit categories may be unnecessary), and be less-than-familiar with a couple of the choices, your inclusion of both The Unusuals and Newsradio earn you a free and total pass.
Two (one more than the other) unsung and oft-forgotten gems that could surprise in so many different ways.
And while DS9 was also one of the singular and formative television experiences of my youth, I have to agree with Farscape beating it by a nose. We recently rewatched the entirety of Farscape on Netflix, and are currently on season 2 of DS9, and the cracks definitely show clearer in DS9.
We recently rewatched the entirety of Farscape on Netflix, and are currently on season 2 of DS9, and the cracks definitely show clearer in DS9.
Well, yes, because the first two seasons of DS9 are the weakest: the show didn’t turn to long-form storytelling until midway through the third season, and that is when it truly came into its own.
(What is Nana Visitor doing these days, anyway?)
Sitcom (three-camera)
Perfect Strangers
Sitcom (single-camera)
Arrested Development
Sitcom (British)
Coupling
Drama
Game of Throne (I would have said the Wire but you’re mean)
Drama (British)
Luther (If I can’t use the Wire, I damn well will use one of it’s stars)
Dramedy
Love Bites
Animated
“Genre”
Farscape
Wildcard
Deep Space Nine
Agree wholeheartedly with 3 out of 4 of your comedy picks — while I enjoy The Inbetweeners, there are quite a few other Britcoms out there which trump it in my book . . . but that’s largely because I sometimes have a low tolerance for awkward humor. Newsradio, Titus, and AD, however, are three of my all-time favorite shows.
I really need to bump Luther up in my Netflix queue — keep hearing great things about it.
I also need to watch the last several episodes of The Unusuals, a show that I hoped and prayed would catch on even as I knew deep-down it would be lucky to air 13 episodes.
Well, yes, because the first two seasons of DS9 are the weakest: the show didn’t turn to long-form storytelling until midway through the third season, and that is when it truly came into its own.
Of course, I totally agree, and I rewatched my VHSes of the series enough times in high school to have most of it committed to memory, but sitting through these first 35 or so episodes is just getting me more anxious to be moving on.
Farscape, despite how completely and frequently that show reworked itself, always had a consistent voice and momentum behind it.
You can tell that for almost a quarter of DS9’s run, they had no such driving force. My teenage sentiment is by no means broken, but it’s definitely been dented a little. Still can’t wait for the Dominion to fully rear their heads though.
While I adore Newsradio beyond all reason, I’d love to see this redone with only single season shows. Get some Andy Richter in there and what not…
No one is picking Babylon 5 for Genre? A pity.
3-Cam: Gotta go with Cheers
1-Cam: Arrested Development
Britcom: Yes Minister (barely nudging out the wildcard)
Drama: Homicide: Life on the Street (unless that’s included in the Wire ban implicitly, in which case Lost or The Shield [flip a coin])
British Drama: Life on Mars
Dramedy: Six Feet Under
Animated: Venture Bros
Genre: Deep Space 9
Wildcard: Blackadder
Composing this made me think that it might be natural to move to a 11- or 12-man team sport and split off pay cable subcategories for Drama, Comedy, and maybe Dramedy.
Woot.
I’ll do my own as soon as I get my life back.
..did…did you even watch both Farscape and Stargate: SG1? The only thing Aeryn and Vala have in common is that Claudia Black knocked it out of the park with both of ’em.
Major agreement on Eek the Cat. I caught it towards the end of its run and loved every bit of it.
Nominations for The John Larroquette Show for Wildcard as well as MST3k.
Also, while I loved The Young Ones I felt there was more comedy Mileage out of Bottom. But I loved both to death. Thank you YTV for not realizing what you used to air late at night.
Eek himself is a genuinely admirable sort of cat, noble and well-intentioned and brave, and his never-flagging good nature makes all the horrible things the show does to him all the funnier for that, making this quite possibly the only animated show to ever truly explore the comic possibilities of martyrdom as opposed to simple violence.
The same could be said of one Cowardly Dog named Courage.
If you can get through “The Terrible Thunder Lizards”, the last season of “Eek! the Cat” is really funny, mostly because of the addition of “Klutter”.
“Look sharp, boys! Some of our garbage is making a break for it, what say!”
I haven’t seen the Inbetweeners, but it’s hard to believe anything could be better than Coupling for this category.
Thank you for remembering Titus. One of the greatest shows ever!
Ok here’s the list:
Sitcom 3-Cam: Gotta agree with you on Newsradio
Sitcom 1-Cam: Ditto Arrested Development
Britcom: Blackadder
Drama: Eh, I’ll be trendy and say Game of Thrones
British Drama: Sherlock, but only because it’s the only one I’ve seen in ages (really need to check out Luther, you folks aren’t the first people to say so…)
Dramedy: Dexter (ok maybe I’m stretching the definition a teensy bit)
Animated: No question, Venture Bros.
Genre: Again no question, DS9
Wildcard: Justice League/Justice League Unlimited
And yes, Titus was awesome.
I love your recommendations, but I gotta say that lumping all of animation into a single category rubs me the wrong way. Can you really tell me that, say “Invader Zim” and “Daria” should be evaluated in the same category? It would be like having a category where I was forced to choose between “Newsradio” and “Babylon-5”. The two shows are so different it’s pointless to have them in a single category.
But then I’m an animation nut and I probably watch far more animation than I do any other kind of tv these days, so I suppose I’m biased.
Firstly, Pop POP!
Secondly, THE UNUSUALS!!!! SO MUCH YES.
Man, Imshan made me watch all of DS9 this year – I’m sorry, but that show is full of suck. Not 100% suck, but there’s a LOT of suck, including every intimate relationship cooked up. Ew, ew, ew. You’re scaring me about our upcoming Farscape watch.
As for Nana Visitor, she died of cancer in BSG…
That seems like rather more sitcom categories than necessary. But then I don’t like many sitcoms.
I was about to ask if Louie was on that list of “everyone recommends it all the time,” but it actually doesn’t fit that well as a sitcom, does it?
So, I am surprised here at some of the things that haven’t been named… so here goes.
Sitcom, 3 camera- Big Bang Theory.
Single Camera- 30 Rock. Way better than it ought to be.
BritCom- Red Dwarf.
Drama -Well, it is tough to know what to call “drama” these days, but I guess I would go with Veronica Mars, since it is awesome and doesn’t really fit anywhere else.
BritDrama- Merlin, if it counts.
Dramedy: Since I count Veronica Mars as a drama (that happens to be funny), I am going to have to go with Weeds.
Animated: Samurai Jack.
Genre: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Arguably not genre, but instead drama or dramedy, it has both monster of the week aspects and seasonal Big Bads which hasnt been equalled in Urban Fantasy/Sci Fi to date.
WildCard: Stargate SG-1. This show knew how to do action, some comedy, and didn’t try to take itself too seriously.
Why does almost no one else ever remember Homicide Life on the Street? I can honestly say that no other has captivated me like that show did. When it aired I was in awe of the episode where Pembelton has a stroke, and next season he has to work to be funcitional. Also Richard Belzer.
Snake: I didn’t count it because of the ban on the Wire.
# categories AND a wildcard spot for “sit-coms”, and no place for sketch comedy?
You forgot ________!
My picks:
Sitcom (three-camera) – Newsradio
Sitcom (single-camera) – Parks and Recreation
Sitcom (British) – The Thick of It
Drama – Breaking Bad
Drama (British) – Our Friends In The North
Dramedy – Gilmore Girls
Animated – Futurama
“Genre” – Angel
Wildcard – Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace
I’ll try to make a point not to repeat any of your recommendations:
Sitcom (three-camera) – Barney Miller, to be honest I don’t really know how to discern the difference between 3 camera and 1 camera so I went back in time to be sure.
Sitcom (single-camera) – Community, Best. Sitcom. Ever.
Sitcom (British) – The IT Crowd, too many other people said Coupling
Drama – Justified, just an outstanding show all around
Drama (British) – Wire in the Blood, it was close but other people gave Sherlock props and it’s only been around 1 season whereas WitB has been phenomenal for 5 or 6.
Dramedy – Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it had to go somewhere
Animated – Avatar The Last Airbender, I could kill M Night for what he did to this franchise
“Genre” – Fringe, this show only gets better season after season.
Wildcard – Supernatural, not because I’m a Sam girl or a Dean girl or a Wincester but because it’s the only television show that reminds me of the best of Vertigo comics in their heyday.
I loved your Unusuals rec. What a great show. It was only on for a few episodes butt I miss it.
I wanted to give special mention to Misfits. A show I caught on download because of recommendations from UK friends and was blown away. I honestly think it’s my absolute favorite super hero show ever.
I don’t really watch that much TV, so I can only nominate My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic for Animated and The X-Files for Genre.
Just limiting myself to animated cartoons featuring cats as main characters, I’d take Garfield and Friends over Eek! the Cat without having to think hard about it.
So how do you feel about Community?
I would be adding my own “But you forgot…” but realized the term “best” isn’t used to describe these shows, so I guess you’re allowed to not include others.
That said, where’s The Prisoner??
What does “Genre” even mean? Is it just code for sci-fi?
Sitcom (three-camera) – Taxi
Sitcom (single-camera) – Community
Sitcom (British) – Fawlty Towers
Drama – Lost
Drama (British) – Moffat’s Sherlock Holmes
Dramedy – West Wing
Animated – Justice League Unlimited
Genre – Supernatural
Wildcard – House
I have no problem choosing The West Wing for either Drama or Dramedy (probably closer to Dramedy, though), with the caveat that we agree that Seasons 1-4 are what we mean when we say The West Wing. I know the show gets a lot of love, but it deserves the love.
Completely second Newsradio, which coincidently is up on Netflix Instant Queue at the moment (whole series, too, which is strong). Arrested Development is also an inarguable choice, but just for the sake of argument let’s also include Community.
As far as animated goes, its such a wide-open field that you can choose from about a half-dozen titles without thinking: Eek! the Cat, Freakazoid, the entire Bruce Timm catalog, Samurai Jack, or even anime titles, if that’s where your taste runs (mine doesn’t).
No love for Burn Notice?
Farscape. It’s worth watching just for Rygel.
@TA: Yeah, “genre” is pretty much code for “science fiction or fantasy”. In other words, pretty much anything from Star Trek to Xena to Lost in Space to Game of Thrones. I’m not sure exactly, but I think the term came from the fan press in the 70’s and 80’s.
Titus was so far ahead of its time the world still isn’t ready for it. (Same goes for The Unusuals.)
I never really got into Farscape. Probably because we didn’t get Space in our area ’til about halfway through the show’s run, and I had trouble following the plot. I get the feeling that if I’d caught it from the start, I’d have loved it, though.
Anyhoo, since everyone else is giving their picks….
Sitcom (three-camera): Newhart (especially after the third season, when they really started delving into the sheer insanity of the town’s residents), with WKRP in Cincinnati a close second.
Sitcom (single-camera): Made in Canada (a hilarious skewering of the entetainment industry, and the second-funniest thing Rick Mercer’s ever done (second only to the Doris Day poll)), barely edging out Community.
Sitcom (British): Fawlty Towers (hands down the best British comedy ever made), with The Office a distant second.
Drama: Law & Order (Especially the Noth/Orbach/Waterston years.)
Drama (British): Cracker (I liked the American version too, but it wasn’t nearly as good)
Dramedy: M*A*S*H (I know you said hourlong dramedy, but screw that! No show blended comedy and drama better than M*A*S*H, and you can’t tell me differently)
Animated: The Tick (Pitch-perfect skewering of the superhero conventions)
“Genre”: Babylon 5 (But only because I’m counting the series as a whole. DS9 was better towards the end, but the first two seasons were hit-and-miss. If I was counting the best single season, Heroes and Sliders might make a solid case, too.)
Wildcard: Kids in the Hall, just barely edging out Monty Python’s Flying Circus (Mainly because you don’t have a slot for “sketch comedy”)
Finally! Someone else recognising The Unusuals as a fricking awesome show that deserved more than one season. And Luther is, as the kids say, amaze-balls.
Out of series I only watched the first time, I’d nominate Duckman as the animated series I should watch again and see if it holds up.
Eek! was one of my favourites though.
Most of my favorites have already been mentioned, but I’m surprised at the lack of love for The Simpsons (perhaps just too obvious like The Wire). I mean seasons 2-9, of course, though there are occasional flashes of brilliance in later years. Frankly, I thinks it’s the best television comedy, live or animated, period. Time Magazine called it the best TV show of the 20th century, after all.
My wildcard nomination is the short-lived Fox Network show Profit. Aired only in the 1996 season, it was ahead of its time with a dark protagonist and twisted world view – very influential on later shows like The Sopranos, Dexter, and The Shield.
So, if you think that ‘The Wire’ was such a great show, do you agree with the U.S. Attorney General that it should return for a sixth season (or a movie)? Because he’s half-jokingly requested for that to happen.
There’s an episode of Eek! The Cat where Eek! somehow gets stuck on a rocket with chimp astronauts. Disaster happens, of course. And throughout the episode, Mission Control members debate over “telling Eddie”. “We gotta tell Eddie! He’ll know what to do!” But there are consequences to telling Eddie, it’s implied. It might be bad. And Mission Control gets more and more freaked out, as the monkey pilots are incapacitated, Eek has to steer the rocket, and imminent doom is predicted. “We can’t hold out any longer, WE’VE GOTTA TELL EDDIE!” So the fearful mission control guys push a button. lights and an alarm go off and on. A large steel door at the back of the control room opens. then another door opens. then another. Then another. A ramp extends out.
In wheels a small man in a wheelchair, with an extremely large head and a thoughtful look. The Mission Control dudes breathlessly explain the entire situation to him.
Eddie thinks about it. He thinks about it. “Eddie,” they ask, “WHAT SHOULD WE DO?”
Seconds pass. Agonizingly long.
Eddie finally answers:
“I think those monkeys are GONERS.”
Then he leaves.
THAT is how you build a joke, people.
No love for Lost or Game of Thrones? Both are vying for my Drama slot.
Again, Sherlock is great, and well worth watching.
I’d give a recommendation out of nowhere of the British version of The apprentice, which I’ve really got into of late, and I’ve heard is much different (read better) than the US version, mainly due to not being hosted by a bell-end.
I’m trying to choose shows that haven’t been mentioned, so people can track them down.
Sitcom (three-camera) – The Golden Girls
Sitcom (single-camera) – The Micallef Programme (Australian)
Sitcom (British) – Miranda
Drama – Changi (Australian mini series set in a POW camp in WWII)
Drama (British) – Apparitions (basically The Exorcist the series)
Dramedy – Not an hour long but Daria. (For an hour long, the D’Onofrio episodes of Law and Order: Criminal Intent)
Animated – Boondocks
“Genre” – Alias
Wildcard – Newstopia (Aussie news parody. Sublime.)
“and no Doctor Who”
=(
I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.
@CB: He’s not forbidding Doctor Who, he’s stipulating it. Doctor Who goes without saying, so don’t waste a slot saying it.
For cartoon, I’d submit HARVEY BIRDMAN, ATTORNEY AT LAW- once it got rolling, it was as funny as anything I’ve ever seen. (Steven Colbert- castmember AND fan- said that every other show aspired to “laughs per minute”, but HB-AAL aspired to “laughs per SECOND”. He weren’t wrong).
Pushing Daisies really needs to be on the list somewhere.
@Mark “My wildcard nomination is the short-lived Fox Network show Profit.”
Holy crap. Profit is my all time favourite show. Nobody ever talks about it, and I definitely wasn’t expecting to see it mentioned here. Some aspects haven’t aged well (particularly the CG sequences), but overall I think the series was ahead of its time. Jim Profit remains my favourite bastard, and I see shades of him everywhere on TV now, from Don Draper to Jack Donaghy.
Howard Chaykin says the best thing he ever wrote in his life was the script for an unfilmed episode of PROFIT.(And he openly holds most of his tv work in contempt.)
@Davinder: Nice to see someone else likes Jim Profit, the first literal MF’er character on prime time TV that I know of.
I like to compare the show to the movie Being There. Both have main characters who were raised by watching TV all the time. The difference is that Chancy Gardner is a product of the vast wasteland of 1960s TV and so is an empty husk that anyone can project their desires onto and be satisfied. By contrast Jim Profit is a product of the violent amoral TV of the 1980s and so is a psychopath.
@Mark: When Profit aired I remember loving the novelty of the show’s protagonist also being the main villain. And unlike later series, like Deadwood or Dexter, say, where villainous leads are made more palatable by introducing characters who are even more unsavoury, Jim Profit was always the most evil character in each episode. The show’s creators somehow even made you root against a character like Jack who was virtuous almost to a fault.
@drmedula: I just went looking for information on that Chaykin script and learned that David Greenwalt, who was a producer on both Profit and Angel, tried to arrange for Adrian Pasdar to appear on Angel, possibly as one of the Wolfram and Hart senior partners, at which point my head exploded from all the awesome.
Okay, guess I have to post my own picks. But I’m going to limit it to shows that haven’t been mentioned yet (more than once).
Sitcom (three-camera): Hands down, Seinfeld. The single greatest sitcom to ever air, IMO. But since it’s such a pervasive cultural phenomenon, it’s an obvious choice. Night Court would be my second pick.
Sitcom (single-camera): Community is well-covered, so I’ll say Andy Richter Controls the Universe. Honorable mention to Action, with Jay Mohr.
Sitcom (British): Spaced. Can’t believe no one mentioned this yet.
Drama: Rome, as all of HBO’s other awesome shows have been mentioned several times. But I gotta mention Sons of Anarchy too. It’s Hamlet with an outlaw biker gang.
Drama (British): Life on Mars.
Dramedy: Sports Night.
Animated: Can’t decide between Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. The first features the best characterization of Aquaman EVER and the second is Marvel’s version of JL/JLU. It’s that freaking good. If you can excuse the crappy theme song, anyway.
“Genre”: I’ll second the vote for Misfits. Best live-action superhero TV show ever.
Wildcard: Two anime shows, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex; and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Western animated shows very rarely match the sheer epicness, engrossing storylines, and complex character development of their Japanese counterparts. I’m not an anime freak by any stretch of the imagination, but these two shows blow away anything, no matter the language of its intended audience.
“Genre” can mean not only sci-fi/fantasy, but can encompass western/crime/romance/horror, and probably a couple of others.
So, maybe I’m not up on my TV theory, but what is the stylistic difference between three-camera and one-camera shows? I understand the technical differences – one-camera means you’re shooting new takes for each shot, which gives you a chance to tailor the lighting and such – but I don’t see how that difference is worth bucketing TV shows by. It feels like sorting TV shows over whether their special effects are CG-based or created in reality – a distinction without a difference to the average viewer.
Couple of days late, MGK, but I have an answer to your Nana Visitor idle question. Few days ago I caught a glimpse of some probably appalling daytime television, down here in Australia- some farm show. It starred Nana Visitor.
The only thing I could think was ‘how the mighty have fallen’.
[that said, a quick glance at Wikipedia shows that this show itself ended in 2008; so I suppose her career is now a mystery]
You are a whole mess of smart people. A lot of blasts from the past–Profit, John Laroquette Show, and all of them really excellent suggestions.
How about (Ed Asner’s) Bronx Zoo? I recall it as being fantastic.
Nana Visitor played the mother of Jason Vorhees in the new Friday the 13th that came out a couple years ago. And I don’t watch Family Guy, but I heard she did some voices for them for a while. Other than that… [checks IMDb] …well, not much.
I find the complete lack of Battlestar Galactica selections interesting.
Very pleased with the lack of Sopranos though. Possibly the most overrated show ever.