Recent generations who have gorged and been bred on overdoses of reality television and an Mtv channel that rarely plays music videos (just what does that M stand for now anyway?) might actually find themselves surprised to know that television was once a valid form of entertainment, thriving in both quality and .... well, actual entertainment. I will admit that I sometimes watch things out of curiosity that is either morbid (American Idol audition shows) or genre specific (The River or American Horror Story). But as I see it television has more so washed up bloated on the sea shore than merely squandered its days or nights napping with fishes.
Growing up in the 70's though I can severely attest that television not only kicked major ass but creatively knocked me off my feet to where I found myself parking ass right down in front of it more often than I probably should have been allowed to. As a young one my theme song was "Let me entertain you" by Queen and it was a ballad crooned to my adolescent thirst loud and clear by such swoon worthy pastimes as books, radios, movie screens and my one time favorite before discovering any of that stuff, the television. What can I say besides that I was a tv baby?
As a tv baby in the 70's I found it , both then and even now, quite stagnating at the amount of quality that emanated from so many of the shows. Well before it would slumber with fishes or be readied for wash up around droll tide it must have been mandatory to merely drink the water and let me tell you there sure was a whole lot of genius breeding magic powers to be found in them waters. What were the best shows on television in my opinion? This could be a game topic stretched into extra innings by far too many variables-
Too many show genres to consider accurately. (Seriously. Wow. Childrens programming, the infamous variety show and the once truly magnificent sit-coms just for starters)
Particular seasons being better than others. (I happen to feel that the first five seasons, and in particular season number two, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer would simply put be one of the greatest shows in the history of television. The last two seasons? Eh, not so much there)
Great shows being among the most short lived. (This list could go on forever as it always seems like a prerequisite of a show being truly great in my eyes that it has to be snuffed out early by executives whose stone written philosophy must have been that it's better to stifle a tasty fart once it has hit air than to allow it to evolve on waves and gets its fresh on)
These are all just to name a few. Back in the golden days of boob tubes there just was so much greatness going on and it's damn near impossible to remember all of it. Hell, even the game shows were great back then. (Paul Lynde for the block, anyone?) Oh, and how about those spin-offs? Come on, you know that even though Happy days and Three's company were so awesome you also felt equally as enthusiastic about Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy, and The Ropers. Don't worry, it's okay ....we'll throw a sand bag over Archie Bunker's place and Joanie loves Chachi while we're reminiscing.
To refer to something as one of the greatest television shows of all time seems like such a bold claim. With enough attitude and alcohol some might even call thems fightin' words. Ah, but it's all just a matter of opinion and the following ten shows are in MY opinion the best that television has ever had to offer. These are acknowledged not only for their greatness but equally for their ability to STAY great until the very end of their run no matter how long or short that run might have been. These are the big ones in my time and the best ones in my book. Though in no particular order as greatness should be more so celebrated than over or underrated.
Oh, and though my preferred era of television will forever be the 70's I tried to look beyond and work around that preference. I can certainly recognize greatness no matter what decade it plopped out of. But I mean, come on ....the 70's just rocked and there are/were too many great shows to be able to namecheck them all. Just a few that spring instantly to mind for me are S.W.A.T., Taxi, All in the Family, Six-million dollar man, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, and Sanford & Son. Not all of these shows stayed around long enough and the ones that did eventually wore out their creative welcome.
So, here they are. The best of the best. According to me. Old or new, they were and still are the ones that made a difference to me most and just as much as they have somehow defined a part of who I am they were best at doing what sadly I feel television does far too little of these days. Entertain.
1) KOLCHACK : THE NIGHT STALKER-
The grand daddy of all shows for me. Though I stated there would be no order of preference here I am gonna bitchslap this one with an exception to the rule clause. I remember seeing the original tv movie when I was about five years old and being frightened into full on bleating and panic induced panty waste mode. But I have always felt like there are two kinds of people in the world. Those who ride the rollercoaster and then get off and find themselves traumatized for life to the tune of nausea..... or me, the other band of misfit who staggers off the ride, vomits intensely and then clamours for another go around. By the time the second made for tv film, The night strangler, came along with a repeat of the first one it was a whole different ballgame for me. I was hooked on horror. Although I was truly saddened when they cancelled the show after only one season. Ah, but what a season it was. This show was way ahead of its time and Darren Mcgavin will forever be my hero. Best show ever for me and not even a horrid 2010 tv revamping nor a proposed Johnny Depp film can tarnish this bad boy.
2) FRIENDS-
A guilty pleasure would imply that one chokes back a gulp of bile and feels a certain sense of displeasure in their declaration of enjoyment. In this sense I harbor no shame in saying loud and clear to anyone that I loved Friends, still do and always will. I will admit that I find it more than a little ironic that I happen to feel so strongly about a show that features as well as caters to a demographic that I openly mock in my writing and wish death upon several times a day. This being yuppie scum. But I recognize heart and soul just as easily as great comedy and this show had it all right to the very end. By the way, I will go on record and claim the Friends spin-off Joey as one of my guilty pleasures.
3) SOUTH PARK-
This show works on so many levels that it's hard to capture it all in a brief synopsis. It's arguably the crudest,rudest and most hilariously vile show of all time, animated or otherwise. Beyond the laughter though viewers will find a heart blackened so thick that it could be mistaken for a lump of coal. Throw in a message at the end of every show and you have television perfection. All this while being socially relevant. What is not to love about that?
4) THE BRADY BUNCH-
Come on now, has any show ever captured the cheese and cracker ass white bread of 70's suburbia anywhere near as close as this one? I think not. Though we would all love to forget cousin Oliver we are permanently in debt to the clan that always seem to roller boogie down and then land bell bottom up with a smile. Besides, call me sentimental but I sure did love it when Sam the butcher would bring Alice the meat.
5) CHAPPELLE'S SHOW-
A lot of shows take comedic brilliance and mix it up in a cauldron with racial stirrings with results that are not merely simmering but boiling over. Dave chappelle did it all with the subtlety of the Rodney King beatdown video and the street riots it incited. No other show has ever taken such an unflinching gawk at stereotypes and bad blood types and made it so damn hilarious and yet thought provoking. More than just being ground breaking entertainment this was a show that was needed. Both then and now. Where are ya, Dave? Please come back and school us upside the head with your funny bone. We miss that shit.
6) CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM-
What Larry David has done with Curb your enthusiasm is somehow manage to take the morbid curiosity appeal that we all get from gawking at car wrecks and capture that into a half hour comedy show. Though I was never much of a Seinfeld person I find this chapter in Davids career catalogue to be most enjoyable. I don't know how he does it but somehow Larry and his band of show business fruits and nuts manage to make things like racial tensions, death and even being handicapped laughable. Though sometimes the show makes me cringe despite this not at all being an easy task. You go Larry. Rock on with your wrong self.
7) MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS-
If I could credit one show from my youth that would jumpstart my addiction to horror it would be Kolchak: the Night Stalker. If I could give silly nods at one show for making the most of my bizarre sense of humor and starting me young it would have to be this one. You either get it or you don't. I did and still do. I remember being like seven years old and left to fend for myself in my parents bedroom with their television on a Saturday night. This was where and when I discovered the original pranksters. Laughing my head off I drew my parents into the room to see what was going on. After a few minutes of watching the Python they left the room shaking their heads, clearly not getting it.
8) TWIN PEAKS-
I have a theory about the career of David Lynch. Nobody understands what he does and even then half the time I don't think he understands it himself. He probably tosses stuff out of his head sometimes just to see what kind of reaction he will get and the meaning audiences will take from it. Then he probably scoffs at their theories with a shit eating grin. He makes movies that are so vivid and colorful they jump right off the screen and skullfuck your senses without having to resort to a gimmick as shameless as 3-d. He turns out paintings that are brilliant in both their ability to inspire awe as well as head scratching. This sounds to me like a guy who was born to do tv.
Sure, I had no idea what I was watching. But as with Lynch's music, paintings and films I loved every bit of it. I still do on repeated viewings despite not understanding it any better with time. Visually stunning to the point of eye biting along with having a superb casting cocktail equally rationed of unknowns and screen veterans this show was poised to be quietly ground breaking from the inside up before it met its ultimately and undeserved death grip. The saddest thing about it was that we never got to see where it was really going and feel the full brunt of just how weird David Lynch can do television. Had the show survived longer than two seasons we might have seen where it was going, but I highly doubt we would have known where we were at even though we were standing in it like freshly plopped turd droppings straight from the tubed boobed ass.
9) ODD COUPLE-
I know it seems sinful to say that one prefers the remake to the original. But in this case the bells rang loud and true for me. I grew up on Felix and Oscar. But this was my Felix and Oscar. Tony Randall and Jack Klugman. I liked the movie and all. I even saw the play on Broadway with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick and loved that as well. Nobody .... but NOBODY could honk quite like Tony Randall. These two guys were the perfect knuckleheaded duo. Like Frick and Frack. The clean and the dirty. Maybe I was always just impartial because I saw these two do it first. Never assume that the original will always be the best though. After all, as Felix says .... you know what happens when you assume. Whatever the case I loved this show from beginning to its drastically premature end.
10) THE FLINTSTONES-
So many great classic animated shows. Jetsons. Scooby doo. Fat albert. But if I am gonna pick just one and stick with it I have to head to Bedrock for the original kings and queens of the stone age. There was never a party more rocking than Fred driving around town on his bald feet. Whether cruising with Wilma,Pebbles and Dino or kicking up dirt with Barney and The Great Gazoo a blast from the past all the way into the living room was guarenteed.
In the "why couldn't they have just let it rest?" department I am going to credit Beavis and Butthead. No show lampooned mentally null and void youth better than this one. When it ended I have to admit that I screamed and begged for its return. So what happened? They brought it back for more in all of its inferiority. Be careful what you wish for people. You just might get it. Except that when you get it, you won't exactly "get it."
There you go. My favorites. I'm sure that I am forgetting a few and as stated before there are many shows that I loved particular periods of. But these are the ones I consider to be the best all the way to the end. The leaders of the pack. From bottom to top. Cream of the crop. The head of the heap. The tip of the iceberg. Top shelf on the top of the world. My world. I was a tv baby once and these shows were the kings of my world. Mike's world. Just call me Mike TV.
***Original post date 5/21/2012***
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