BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
A few weeks ago the magazine “Entertainment Weekly” put out an awesome issue of “Top 100” lists. They covered movies, albums, books, and television shows. The list that stood out to me most was their Top 100 TV list. They had a pretty decent list. Some shows I loved were low and some that I didn’t care for were high. Before I could get my panties in a bunch over it and start bitching about it, I took a second to realize it was all subjective. It’s just someone’s opinion. It’s not gospel. I figured that ANYONE can make a list if they want to.
Today, I’m ANYONE!
I’m NOT going for a “Top 100”. That’s just a bad idea. I’m going with a “Top 10”, which is crazy hard to pull off if you’ve seen as many television series as I have. I’d love to include a few mentions and shout outs to shows that I’m always going to be a fan of. I grew up on “Growing Pains”, “Boy Meets World”, and “Saved By The Bell”. I have seen and enjoyed more episodes of “Full House” than I have spent minutes with most family members. The four shows I just mentioned are especially important to my childhood, but then I hard time not including Conan on this list. I could have went with “Late Nite”, “Tonight Show”, or his current variation “Conan”. The title of the show never mattered. Conan O’Brien has been one of the most consistently positive figures I’ve had the pleasure of watching for the past two or so decades. I wanted to include some guilty pleasures like “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” or “Entourage”, but they didn’t make my cut. Same goes for “Californication”, “Dexter”, “Psych”, “Peep Show”, “True Blood”, and a few others. All VERY high on my list, but they just weren’t top ten worthy. Here’s what I dig…
10.) THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW
Apple sauce. This show paved the way for tons of shows that I love. The “backstage” atmosphere of a comedy show was done with Dick Van Dyke, but this was cutting edge. It put HBO comedy on the map and without it I doubt 30 Rock, The Office, or about half of the laughs we’ve gotten from TV over the past fifteen or so years. Hey Now!
9.) THE WEST WING
This is the political system that I think we’d all love to believe was real. It’s an idealistic and liberal approach to the highest office in America. I learned more about the American political system from this show than I did in high school. The cast here was great and Sorkin’s writing was at its best.
8.) THE WIRE
This is one of the coolest crime shows of all time. It’s often said to be one of the best shows ever and white nerds LOVE it. But no one ever really says why. The thing about this show was the layers. It’s one big look at the cause and effect of crime, poverty, and bad luck. Over the five seasons of the show we systematically see how all of the dominos fall and in what direction. It’s got great content on top of the narrative, but I think the show’s true appeal was the amazing performances.
7.) BREAKING BAD
Meth! There aren’t many shows as intense as this. I’ve never watched a show that literally made me jump up from sitting down Indian style to on my feet jumping up and down. There was one key scene in the middle of this series that did that for me. On top of that one moment, there are MANY moments that put you in the shoes of the main character. You’re part of their ride and want to cheer them on but it gets harder and harder as the time goes on. I can’t think of any television show as enthralling and as gripping as this one.
6.) CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM
I liked Seinfeld like everyone else, but this was better. Larry David is one of the funniest men of all time. He is a product of the old school comedy of Mel Brooks, but he puts a modern twist on it. He’s not a clown, but he’s probably this era’s Groucho Marx or W.C. Fields. He is THAT great.
5.) MASH
If you don’t like MASH you’re an asshole. Alan Alda and the gang put out like a decade of great television when television sucked. Sure some sitcoms were “pushing the envelope” to get laughs and “make points”, but this show was legit. It didn’t make a point, it made you experience something and come to your own conclusion. It’s probably one of the first shows to get into the grey area of storytelling on TV. This show was a rollercoaster of greatness.
4.) SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
Without Saturday Night Live, the world would suck. The original cast, the Farley era, the Will era, and even the recent Digital Short era are all stand outs. SNL is like pizza and sex. Even when it’s bad, it’s good. There aren’t many shows trying to put out live, often topical content in a platform like this. Others have tried and failed. SNL is an institution that anyone in comedy or entertainment aspire to be a part of or guest appear on. I can’t think of how many times I said my goal was to be on SNL to say “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” as a child. As I grew older, my obsession grew. SNL is like the Oz of comedy. Sadly, I keep clicking my heels and I’m still stuck in Indiana.
3.) THE SIMPSONS
This is the best sitcom, cartoon, and comedy show of all time. Hands down. I know it’s cool to say “it’s been funny since…”, but that’s just stupid. The older shows are classic, but if you’re not too jaded to give the new episodes a chance you’d learn that they’re still putting out a handful of NEW classics every year. The characters, locations, stories, one-liners, and obscurities from this show are embedded into pop culture. I could have put this as number one and not missed a blink, but I wanted to stick with my own personal favorites.
2.) WWE RAW
If you’re not a long time wrestling fan then you don’t understand. If you weren’t watching wrestling before, let’s say 1999, then your opinion on wrestling is kind of unneeded. If you have no structure of the history and can’t tell that you’re being fed the same storyline from 1993 then you’re not a “smark”, you’re a mark with the internet. WWE RAW has been on my television since the early 90’s. Every Monday night… it’s there. Some periods of time are shit compared to glory years, but it’s still there. I can hate wrestling at the moment and want to stop watching all together, but there is an instinct that makes me automatically reach for the remote on Monday.
1.) SIX FEET UNDER
This is my list and this is my favorite show of all time. There is no other show to affect me the way this show did. I not only connected to it on a creepy deep level, but it inspired and brought out a lot inside me that I wasn’t expecting. The show’s drama and acting is the best of probably any show. The casting was AMAZING for this show. The writing was great. You follow the loving, but dysfunctional real family through their lives and funeral business over a few years. It’s the surreally real aspects of the show that leave your jaw agapped and your heart dripping with genuine emotion. I’m not an overly macho guy. I’ll beat you up if needed, but I won’t shy from crying at a movie or show. Hell, there’s that Futurama episoe with the dog that makes me cry. But the last four or so episodes of this show brought me down like playing a game of Jenga on the Tilt-a-Whirl. It’s not just one big sappy emotional ride. You get to experience a lot with this show, internally and externally. They say ‘death is but a whisper’, but if this show is anything close to what that death’s whisper represents, at least it’ll be a sweet one.
What would be YOUR “Top Whatever” list?!
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