It's summer. We're past all the season finales. And now that you have a nine month hiatus before LOST returns, maybe you need something to watch on DVD.
And maybe that's why I've been thinking about the top tv shows of all time.
I say "all time," but really I mean the last twenty years, because in the last twenty years tv has given us shows with artistry and complexity and wit, becoming something almost as well worth your time as a well-written novel, becoming key to cultural understanding and relevancy, becoming quality entertainment. Becoming what Dickens' novels, serialized in the newspapers, were to his time.
(Maybe I believe all that; maybe I'm just typing.)
Numbers six through ten, in no order
Slings and Arrows - A largely unknown Canadian series about a troubled Shakespeare Festival and its players. Its hilarious black comedy will make you want to read the plays again.
Battlestar Galactica - Science fiction, set in the future, but posing more relevant questions about modern life than any other current tv show. What does it mean to be human? Should we torture our prisoners? Is procreation personal or political? At its core, perhaps a more conservative show than most, honoring soldiers, sacrifice, and family. (Be ready for lots of "frackin'" language and some video-game-like fight sequences, though.)
Arrested Development - You'll notice my list is mostly hour long dramas, but here's one short comedy to break it up. This show is brilliantly funny.
Project Runway - The only "reality" show to make my list, PR is worth watching because it genuinely honors talent, not showmanship, and watching it makes you want to be creative.
Veronica Mars - I love old film noir. I don't love "Saved by the Bell." If you never saw VMars because you thought it was another tv show about kids in high school being lame, you were wrong. It's more like the recent noir film "Brick" crossed with the seminal tv show "Twin Peaks". It's dark and smart and Nancy Drew, all at once.
Honorable Mention: 30 Rock, for the love of Tina Fey; The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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3 comments:
I guess I will be adding Battlestar Galactica to my Nextflix queue... (Veronica Mars is already there. Elliott is taking a class this summer on Wednesday nights, I think I know what I will do while he is busy...)
Sci-fi is one of those things that I am always afraid to dabble in since people get sooo into it. This is also why I didn't drink coffee until recently. But coffee has turned out to be good so maybe I'll give Battlestar Galatica a try. If you are looking for Dickensian scope and don't mind grit, you might try The Wire.
I tried The Wire, having heard such rave reports of it, and couldn't get into it. If I remember correctly, I felt that there wasn't any character in it that I wanted to root for, and I just need a character to root for. But I may just have given up too quickly. Any other suggestions, from anyone?
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