Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Psych makes me absolutely cry laughing most of the time. I think it's a super underrated show. 30 Rock is also a riot. Great characters and writing.

I'll echo LOST, BSG, and Firefly, but only the first 1-2 seasons (with the exception of Firefly, of course). My wonderment over those shows faded drastically past the second season, which was really unfortunate because they started out so strongly. Still love 'em, but they went from "This may be the most amazing TV show in the history of ever!" to "Plot's starting to get pretty weak, guys, let's pick it up."

I haven't seen Six Feet Under, but I hear it's supposedly a spectacular show.

This is tough menu style question.

Contemporary Brain Candy

Having watched enough of "The Office"
I would give it the nod as a well crafted character piece
with ever shifting sands of emotional power relationships
that are modern absurdity but also 90% believable.

Supernatural is pretty stylish and well written with excellent
cheesy humor similar to rubbing a double cheeseburger slowly
up and down the back of your neck. 4.5 Stars

80's Knight Rider

Need I say more.
A talking car that does cool stuff and acts
like its your grandfather who broke out of
the old folks home just to go on adventures.

70's

The show they couldn't make during the seventies.

"That Seventies Show."

Stupid cheesy quirky characters doing
stupid quirky cheesy stuff for twenty two minutes.

60's

Anyone who never saw the seminal show of the
new advent of color television has missed their heritage
their legacy of pop culture symbols and id-lines.

"My Mother The Car" 1965-1966

It doesn't get any cheesier than that.
Followed closely by "Time Tunnel."

I forgot The Avengers & Man From U.N.C.L.E

tiftruitt wrote:Oh, have we moved to cartoons? Nothing beats Rainbow Bright and Jem and the Holograms. Also, does anyone else remember the really creepy Care Bears movie with the demon/damon like child?

OMG!!! Care bears!!!! I was totally sucked into that show!! And, yeah, I remember that one. My daughter actually has it on tape. Well, it was my tape (I'm totally blushing here because it's embarassing to admit to that)

Creepy fact about me: I used to have nightmares and when I woke up, I would sing the Care Bears song to get myself to chill out and go back to sleep. Thank god that was like twenty years ago. I promise I'm not that cheesy now.

Tycoon had a good one too: Married with Children was a classic. But for me, when I was growing up, besides Care Bears, I was a big Full House fan.

I am ashamed of myself - lol ;-)

I don't have any current favorite shows, my T.V. is never on anymore.

~JD

The Wire is definitely the best TV show of all time. Mos def. Probably followed by The Sopranos or BSG or Six Feet Under or Arrested Development.

As far as what's on now, the BSG guys are doing a phenomenal job with Caprica. I really hope a lot of people watch it because it deserves 5 - 6 seasons.

And I can't wait till Treme drops! Simon casted John Goodman in it!

Let me see, that's a tough one. Once upon a time, it was "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "The Bob Newhart Show" (the Chicago based one). I watched them as reruns, of course. I have a soft spot for nice, intelligent people befuddled by the cruelty and foolishness of the real world.

Then in the 80s it was that classic Thursday night line up, which included "Cheers", "The Cosby Show", "Night Court" and so on. So naturally my favorite show of 90s was "Frasier," except in the 90s I didn't have a TV set, so I've only seen it in reruns.

However, for most of that time if you asked me for my favorite part of TV Land, it would be Star Trek, with all its seasonal ups and downs, peaking with DS9, Voyager starting strong and stumbling, and I never got into "Enterprise."

Then, I don't remember exactly when, my brother forced me to watch a DVD of "West Wing," and I was so shocked to like something more than "Star Trek" that I felt it like a punch to my solar plexus. Eventually I watched his entire DVD collection.

So then there was this girl... I had avoided watching "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" for years, because I find the idea of women dating vampires to be (in rotation): icky, anti-feminist, proof that some women will never be happy with actual men so why bother, proof that some women love bad boys so why should we be surprised they're unhappy ... you get the idea.

I only mention all that because this new friend was a "Love me, love my Vampire Slayer" sort of girl, and I want you guys to understand how pre-disposed I was to dislike BtVS, and then to discover that I liked it was a shock. Not a "West Wing" shock, but a surprise nonetheless. I kept renting Whedon's TV shows by the season and watching them in two day marathons, wondering how on Earth did the fans watching the original broadcasts stand waiting another week to find out what happened next. So while I'm not going to say one of his shows is the best of all time (even if I think "Firefly" could have been a strong contender, because his first seasons are always his worst and when I think of how good that first season was...), I will say Whedon is the only TV writer whose name I've bothered to remember.

Honorable mentions go to "Six Feet Under," "Dead Like Me," "Big Bang Theory," "Burn Notice," and a slew of British sit coms like "Yes, Prime Minister" and "As Time Goes By" which are all great shows, but heck, I feel like I watch too much TV just writing this post.

Toss up between Arrested Development and Lost.

Also, anyone remember Sports Night or NBC's not-hits Manimal and Misfits of Science?

Bear in mind that I haven't had a television for ten years or more. I do check out DVD episode sets from my local library and watch them on my computer.

Best comedies ever: SEINFELD and ALL IN THE FAMILY. Both had top notch ensemble casts and play-quality writing. Both hold up over time. Third place to THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, on the strength of Don Knotts and Griffith's camaraderie.

Best dramas: LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE and THE WALTONS. Sorry, I'm not into hospital shows, courtroom shows, or police shows. Third place to CHINA BEACH. No one did beautiful angst like Dana Delany -- yow.

Best variety: THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW, THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS SHOW, and THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW.

Best animated: THE FLINTSTONES and THE SIMPSONS.

Honorable Mentions: Star Trek; The Man From Uncle; Cheers; The Nanny (season 2); That Girl (season 1); Hart to Hart (season 2); The Cosby Show; The Honeymooners; Saturday Night Live.

30 Rock, Modern Family, Arrested Development.

The first series of Veronica Mars was amazing, also.

Sports Night! Yes! And I don't even like sports much. Again, it's Aaron Sorkin. When can we get him to write a new TV show?

Best TV show of all time?

Without a doubt, CHARLIE JADE.

Nothing else comes close. Sadly, it only lasted one season, but I wonder if further seasons would have dwindled in quality. This one season is absolute perfection and it can never be tainted by poorer subsequent seasons -- so there is an upside to a cancelled show.

Somewhere far far far behind it are:

- CORNER GAS
- DELTA STATE
- STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE
- FIREFLY
- FUTURAMA

Okay, I bowed to the pressure from all you lovers of The Wire and rented the first three episodes. We'll see how it goes.

Ink wrote:Okay, I bowed to the pressure from all you lovers of The Wire and rented the first three episodes. We'll see how it goes.

I told my husband the other day: "I think if you get, say, 20 American people between the ages of 20 and 40 in a room, and one person so much as even whispers the words 'the wire,' you'll get at least one person jumping up to crow, 'OHMYGOD THAT'S THE BEST SHOW EVER!!!!'"

I used to grumble about that person.

Now I AM that person.

(And my husband is the one who's grumbling about it. I will make him a convert yet!)

Anyway, hope you enjoy those first three eps, Ink! It really only took 1 or 2 for me to know that I was going to be following those characters for all five seasons.

Ink wrote:Okay, I bowed to the pressure from all you lovers of The Wire and rented the first three episodes. We'll see how it goes.

You'll love it Ink. Great show, great writing. My favorite is the epsiode partially written by Richard Price, the "goodnight moon" remix scene is great. Can't remember which season it was though.

My favorites would have to be:

The Wire
The Office
Entourage
True Blood


In that order. This is only for dramatic shows and comedies and certainly does not consider things like Sportscenter, NFL Countdown, Jim Rome is Burning or any other sports/news related programming.

SCTV

case closed
*THWACK*

next case, please.