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Post by grubl on Jan 28, 2011 1:17:54 GMT -5
Put up your list and then we can debate. I have a seperate list that includes news shows (60 MINUTES) variety shows and sketch shows like MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS). It just got too complicated that way. Also, I'm judging the series at it's peak, which I would think would have to cover at least a season. Almost all of these had some down phases, some never recovered (TWIN PEAKS).
JAY D. SHELTON’S TOP 25 TELEVISION SERIES
1. THE TWILIGHT ZONE 2. SEINFELD 3. LOST 4. STAR TREK 5. THE HONEY MOONERS 6. THE SOPRANOS 7. THE PRISONER 8. ALL IN THE FAMILY 9. BATMAN 10. THE SIMPSONS 11. TWIN PEAKS 12. MOONLIGHTING 13. THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW 14. BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES 15. COLUMBO 16. WISEGUY 17. MAD MEN 18. DRAGNET 19. DEXTER 20. SANFORD AND SON 21. THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES 22. BIG LOVE 23. DALLAS 24. CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM 25. TAXI
26. THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW 27. THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW 28. I DREAM OF JEANIE 29. HILL STREET BLUES 30. THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY 31. M*A*S*H 32. SOUTH PARK 33. THE ADDAMS FAMILY 34. THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW 35. SMALLVILLE 36. PRISONER CELL BLOCK H 37. CHEERS 38. LEAVE IT TO BEAVER 39. THE BRADY BUNCH 40. I LOVE LUCY
SHOWS THAT I HAVE SEEN A FEW EPISODES OF AND KNOW BY REPUTATION THAT THEY DESERVE TO BE CONSIDERED, BUT I HAVE NOT SEEN ENOUGH EPISODES TO INCLUDE YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS SEE IT NOW PLAYHOUSE 90
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Post by Derrick on Jan 28, 2011 2:43:29 GMT -5
I think we should do separate lists for favorite news shows, sketch/variety/comedy shows, etc. What else we got to do?
Here's my list of favorites. Mind you, you catch me this time next year, next month or even next week and there's a better than even chance some of these will have moved around or be removed. But for right now here's how it stands:
1.THE TWILIGHT ZONE 2. SEINFELD 3. CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM 4. STAR TREK (TOS) 5. STAR TREK (DS9) 6. I LOVE LUCY 7. THE PRISONER 8. BATMAN 9. BATMAN:TAS 10.THE SIMPSONS 11.TWIN PEAKS 12. IT'S GARY SHANDLING'S SHOW 13. CRIME STORY 14. MARY HARTMAN, MARY HARTMAN 15. THE WILD, WILD WEST 16. COMMUNITY 17. M*A*S*H 18. THE ADDAMS FAMILY 19. THE AVENGERS 20. HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET 21. IN TREATMENT 22. MAGNUM, P.I. 23. DOCTOR WHO 24. MAUDE 25. 30 ROCK
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Post by grubl on Jan 28, 2011 10:18:34 GMT -5
Hey, not bad synchronisity if you consider the number of shows their have been since the dawn of television. Particularly noteworthy is that we line up on numbers 1, 2, 4, 7, 10 and 11. I always took you for a HONEYMOONERS fan. There's two on your list, numbers 16 and 21, that I am not familiar with. Mine also changes often. BIG LOVE has been awful for over a season now. Despite the qualitty of the first three seasons, it is going to drop significantly.
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Post by james on Jan 28, 2011 12:03:40 GMT -5
Here's my list of favorites. 6. I LOVE LUCY Even when I was a kid, watching reruns of I Love Lucy on WNEW (channel 5) at 9am, I could sense that the show looked better than any other 50s television show that I watched in reruns (like, say, Leave It To Beaver or The Honeymooners), though I couldn't explain why. Years later, as an adult, I learned why. Karl Freund, the great cinematographer who worked on Metropolis and some of the best Universal horror films, was hired by Desi Arnaz to design the lighting system for the show. And even now, half of a century later, every episode of I Love Lucy looks fantastic. The story goes that even in 1951, Arnaz sensed the possibility of reruns (even though they did not yet exist, of course), and wanted each show to look as good as possible. Hiring Freund was one way of achieving that. James
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Post by james on Jan 28, 2011 12:08:06 GMT -5
BIG LOVE has been awful for over a season now. Despite the qualitty of the first three seasons, it is going to drop significantly. Ouch, yes. I loved the first three seasons of the show, not only because of the strong writing, acting and directing, but because it's one of the few shows to depict religious belief with any serious depth. Even more, the show examined the differences between sects within religious groups, which is an even rarer subject for films or television. But the 4th and (so far) 5th seasons have been uneven, to be charitable. I think the writers backed themselves into a corner with the story of Bill being elected to the Senate. I'm hoping the show will improve, but I'm not optimistic. James
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Post by Derrick on Jan 28, 2011 14:47:15 GMT -5
Here's my list of favorites. 6. I LOVE LUCY Even when I was a kid, watching reruns of I Love Lucy on WNEW (channel 5) at 9am, I could sense that the show looked better than any other 50s television show that I watched in reruns (like, say, Leave It To Beaver or The Honeymooners), though I couldn't explain why. Years later, as an adult, I learned why. Karl Freund, the great cinematographer who worked on Metropolis and some of the best Universal horror films, was hired by Desi Arnaz to design the lighting system for the show. And even now, half of a century later, every episode of I Love Lucy looks fantastic. The story goes that even in 1951, Arnaz sensed the possibility of reruns (even though they did not yet exist, of course), and wanted each show to look as good as possible. Hiring Freund was one way of achieving that. James I remember reading or watching on TV somewhere that I LOVE LUCY was the first sitcom to be filmed in front of a live audience, something unheard of back in those days. Dunno how true this is but given what I've heard about how shrewd Lucy and Desi were, I tend to believe it. They negotiated syndication deals long before such things were ever expected to be profitable and that enabled them to enjoy residual checks from I LOVE LUCY for decades after it went into reruns.
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Post by Derrick on Jan 28, 2011 14:57:56 GMT -5
I always took you for a HONEYMOONERS fan When it comes to classic sitcoms I've always been more partial to I LOVE LUCY or GREEN ACRES (and I can't believe I left it off my list!) than THE HONEYMOONERS. Not that I have anything against it. Matter of fact, I make it a point to watch at least some of the HONEYMOONERS New Year's Day Marathon that WPIX has been doing since the beginning of time, it seems. It just doesn't feel like New Year's Day to me until I've watched some HONEYMOONERS. But as an adult I watch the show and upon seeing the differences in how The Kramdens and The Nortons lived I always have to wonder what the hell did Ralph Kramden do with his money? In more than one episode Alice reports on how much they have in the bank and I don't think it was ever more than 20 bucks. They didn't have a TV or even a radio or any real furniture. In comparison Ed and Trixie lived like royalty. So what the hell was Ralph doing with his paycheck?
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Post by grubl on Jan 28, 2011 17:38:57 GMT -5
I LOVE LUCY was revolutionary in some many ways. More than all else because of, as you said James, Karl Freund (look up his resume on IMDB, if you are unfamiliar with his body of work, this list of classic titles will blow your mind, he directed two classics, as well). On LUCY multiple cameras, close-up to wide shots, were used for the first time.
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Post by Derrick on Jan 28, 2011 17:51:59 GMT -5
I LOVE LUCY was revolutionary in some many ways. More than all else because of, as you said James, Karl Freund (look up his resume on IMDB, if you are unfamiliar with his body of work, this list of classic titles will blow your mind, he directed two classics, as well). On LUCY multiple cameras, close-up to wide shots, were used for the first time. The behind the scenes stories about I LOVE LUCY are very interesting indeed. If you guys have XM/Sirius satellite radio, listen to the Classic Radio Channel to catch "My Favorite Husband" starring Lucille Ball in what was a prototype of I LOVE LUCY. In fact, some of the "My Favorite Husband" scripts were adopted for the later TV show. And CBS did not want Desi Arnaz at all, fearing that audiences wouldn't accept an American (white) girl being married to a Latin (non-white) man. The story I've heard is that Lucy and Desi threatened to take the show to NBC or ABC and that's when CBS finally gave in.
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Post by grubl on Jan 28, 2011 18:03:37 GMT -5
A student just lent me a comprehensive book on the show, but I never got to it and had to give it back. I lied and told her that I read it.
A cool idea for an episode of BETTER IN THE DARK would be to focus on early television mini-universes, before it became so common.
GREEN ACRES, BEVERLY HILLBILLIES and PETTICOAT JUNCTION all existed in the same universe, as did ALL IN THE FAMILY, MAUDE, GOOD TIMES, ARCHIE'S PLACE, THE JEFFERSONS and the short-lived MIKE AND GLORIA (or did I just imagine that one?). I bet we could come up with many more (ADAM 12 and EMERGENCY.\ The HAPPY DAYS universe. MARY TYLER MOORE. BARNABY JONES and CANNON even did a crossover.
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Post by Derrick on Jan 28, 2011 19:23:27 GMT -5
A student just lent me a comprehensive book on the show, but I never got to it and had to give it back. I lied and told her that I read it. A cool idea for an episode of BETTER IN THE DARK would be to focus on early television mini-universes, before it became so common. GREEN ACRES, BEVERLY HILLBILLIES and PETTICOAT JUNCTION all existed in the same universe, as did ALL IN THE FAMILY, MAUDE, GOOD TIMES, ARCHIE'S PLACE, THE JEFFERSONS and the short-lived MIKE AND GLORIA (or did I just imagine that one?). I bet we could come up with many more ( ADAM 12 and EMERGENCY.\ The HAPPY DAYS universe. MARY TYLER MOORE. BARNABY JONES and CANNON even did a crossover. I always like to play this game with snotty comic fans who only think that comic books have shared universes. Some of my favorites: Thomas Magnum existed in the same universe with Jessica Fletcher (MURDER SHE WROTE) and Rick and A.J. Simon (SIMON & SIMON) In addition, although they were never seen, Magnum mentioned McGarrett and Hawaii Five-O in many episodes. Then we've got Richard Belzer's Detective Munch who has been in no less than nine TV series so we've got THE X-FILES, HOMICIDE, ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT and all the LAW & ORDER series existing in the same universe. Some of my favorite crossovers took place on Dick Van Dyke's DIAGNOSIS: MURDER, of all shows. Mike Connors appeared as Joe Mannix in a couple of episodes. Matlock (Andy Griffith) also made a couple of appearances as did members of the original MISSION IMPOSSIBLE team.
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Post by grubl on Jan 28, 2011 21:13:47 GMT -5
I didn't know about that Belzer character. I only watched THE X-FILES once and never saw any of those others, but that is really cool. A few more:
CHARLE'S ANGELS, VEGA$ and THE LOVE BOAT (I want to throw in FANTASY ISLAND for some nagging reason, can someone confirm or deny that?)
And SEINFELD coexists with that Paul Reiser show.
This all happened within the second season of BATMAN. First, while climbing a batrope, the Dynamic Duo ran into the Green Hornet and Kato poking out of a window and they all seemed to aknowledge eachother as crime fighters. Later in the season Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson and Alfred sit down to watch THE GREEN HORNET on television. Then, later in the season, they run into eachother again, for the first time, and Batman and Robin think that The Green Hornet and Kato are villians. THE ADDAMS FAMILY exists in this universe as well.
Oh! Get this! Through over a decade of one-off crossovers and spin-offs, THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, I LOVE LUCY, THE DANNY THOMAS SHOW, THE JOEY BISHOP SHOW, THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, MAYBERRY R.F.D. and GOMER PYLE U.S.M.C. all coexisted in the same reality.
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Post by Derrick on Jan 28, 2011 22:01:44 GMT -5
I didn't know about that Belzer character. I only watched THE X-FILES once and never saw any of those others, but that is really cool. A few more: CHARLE'S ANGELS, VEGA$ and THE LOVE BOAT (I want to throw in FANTASY ISLAND for some nagging reason, can someone confirm or deny that?) And SEINFELD coexists with that Paul Reiser show. Matter of fact, Richard Belzer is in the Guinness Book of World Records as playing the same character in more TV shows than any other actor. Detective Munch was in all the yearly crossovers HOMICIDE did with LAW & ORDER before moving to NY and L&O:SVU. One of the best crossovers revealed that Munch and Lennie Brisco dated the same woman. Munch has been frequently mentioned but not seen on the British crime drama LUTHER starring Idris Elba as the official contact for Detective Luther's SCU. Munch even appeared in Muppet form on Sesame Street. I want to say that you're right on the CHARLIE'S ANGEL/VEGA$ crossover but I'm not sure. I'm more secure on a LOVE BOAT/FANTASY ISLAND crossover. I'm pretty sure there was one where the stories started on The Love Boat, it docked at Fantasy Island and were resolved there. And I know you're right about the SEINFELD/MAD ABOUT YOU crossover. The Paul Reiser character lived across the hall from Kramer in what would become Jerry Seinfeld's apartment.
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Post by grubl on Jan 28, 2011 22:22:38 GMT -5
Oh, I'm absolutely sure that VEGA$ was kicked off on CHARLE'S ANGELS and that the Angels boarded The Love Boat (on their own show). I just wasn't sure about the FANTASY ISLAND connection, but you confirmed that.
M*A*S*H spawned two spin-offs.
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Post by james on Jan 29, 2011 0:37:13 GMT -5
as did ALL IN THE FAMILY, MAUDE, GOOD TIMES, ARCHIE'S PLACE, THE JEFFERSONS and the short-lived MIKE AND GLORIA (or did I just imagine that one?). There was a short-lived show, Gloria with Sally Struthers. Rob Reiner was on his way to a successful career as a director, so the show' writers devised that Mike had run off with another woman (which seems grossly unfair to the character - did Reiner piss them off or something?). Years later, there was also 704 Hauser, a show set in the Bunker house with a new family. The star of the show was John Amos, so he was in the same universe as... himself (on Good Times). The Jeffersons had their own short-lived spin-off, Checking In. The strangest cross-over that I've heard - some of the characters from Cheers appeared on a first-season episode of St. Elsewhere (some of the doctors stop by Cheers after work). James
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