Steve’s Top 10 TV Series of all Time - Part 1

[Original Post 12/8/06]

What makes a TV series a candidate for this list? First of all, it’s “Steve’s” – it’s mine. So clearly, the series has to have these attributes:

1. I saw it.
   
2. I enjoyed it, a lot.
   
3. I remember it (especially while I’m creating the list.
   

Point 1 means I won’t be considering some shows that many people would put on the list. The Sopranos may top some lists, but I didn’t see it.
Same goes for Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Seinfeld gets excluded for a similar reason. I’ve seen some of it, but I have not even seen half the episodes, and I rarely watched it during its first run. [After seeing some shows which made my list of series to consider, I will have to reexamine this exclusion.]
And, given my age, any series which aired before 1966 or so is not going to get on my list. This leaves out I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners, which is probably too bad. Not to mention Edward R Murrow's news shows.

Point 2 should be obvious, but I felt I needed to state it, for completeness. I’ve seen a bunch of Wheel of Fortune in my time, but have I enjoyed it enough to even consider it? Get real.

Point 3 is my “cover my rear” clause. I am sure to forget some great show. Further, I probably loved a show 20 years ago, but I won’t think of it while I’m writing this.

Beyond those three primary rules, what causes me to consider a show for the list? Well, maybe the thing to do is just generate a list (unordered for now) and then see what happens.

Shows for consideration

Star Trek (the original series)	Star Trek: the Next Generation	Battlestar Galactica - the recent SciFi Channel show	Stargate: SG1
Hill Street Blues - In case you thought I only consider SciFi	M*A*S*H - Yes, I consider comedies, too.	Babylon 5	ER
Lost	Heroes	Nowhere Man One season only. What a shame.	Quantum Leap I include it, but...
The Cosby Show	Newhart - though it's tough to decide between this and The Bob Newhart Show and maybe they should just both be on the list.	The Carol Burnett Show	Scrubs - with caveats. I'm breaking my own rules by listing it. But they are MY rules.
Frasier - though I must admit I haven't seen them all, either.	St. Elsewhere - Does anyone remember when Denzel Washington was a fresh face? Or when David Morse was the sensitive and victimized doctor? Or Howie Mandel - with hair - in a semi-serious role?	Family Ties - has to be in the discussion. Alex P. Keaton for goodness sake. And talk about a mom who's "got it goin' on" - Meredeth Baxter!	All in the Family - Funny and important.
Columbo - Another rule-breaker. It was never, truly, a series.	The X-Files - has to be on the list.	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - If ST:tNG is on the list, this must be too!	Star Trek: Voyager - Can't make Top 10, but ...
Enterprise - Its percent of good episodes is probably higher than ST: Voyager's.	Survivor - my favorite "game" show. And it overcame my initial preconceptions.	thirtysomething which was un-missable.	The Cosby Show
The West Wing	Sports Night - short lived but very well written.	NYPD Blue	24 Gripping.
Kate & Allie	3rd Rock from the Sun	Perfect Strangers - Balki and the "Dance of Joy"!	Monty Python's Flying Circus
The A-Team Great? No. Great fun? You bet!

It was enough work to create the table. I think I'll leave the rating for another time. In fact, I will leave some parts of the table blank so I can fill in with shows as they occur to me.




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I've made significant additions to this since it was first posted. I may re-post at some point, but for now, it's easier to revise it in place.

Top TV Series

[Original Post 12/7/06]

A couple weeks back, the e-mail pals (to whom I refer as "Milords") discussed a topic that made its way into the discussions of my lunch pals (the "Dudes") as well as the dinner table (the "Family")

It would be fun to document some of that discussion. I won't be quoting anyone (at least not without permission) though I will likely mention points which were discussed.

Anyway, to document something I said at the beginning of the conversation, here's a quote from an e-mail I sent to Milords ("BG"=Battlestar Galactica - the current series on SciFi; "B5" is Babylon 5; "H" is Heroes, which got us started on the topic):

It seems very American to want to classify things as "better" or "worse" than other things. We seem obsessed with Top 100 lists, and get into silly (but fun) discussions as to whether Archie Bunker is really a better TV character than Lucy, or Homer Simpson, or whatever.

I could certainly make a case for BG being the best TV series ever. This, of course, assumes that it continues with its current quality until it completes. Yet I would be willing to entertain other suggestions -- B5 was excellent for its time, and if considered without its 5th season, certainly competes (though not in acting, I think -- Olmos could act circles around Boxleitner.) Other series that would enter into consideration for me: The West Wing, M*A*S*H, Star Trek, -- I'm sure there are more -- probably shows from the 80s. We discussed this at lunch yesterday, prompted by Mike's comments. Shawn nominates "The Sopranos" but I have only seen an episode or two of that. I might consider "X-Files" and "ST:tNG" though there were some real stinker episodes, and BG has just had one episode that was less-than-great (in my opinion.) I hear "Seinfeld" was excellent, but I saw it sporadically. And I really do think the first 5-6 seasons of "All in the Family" were hilarious, and important in its time period. "Sports Night" was one of the best written comedies I've ever seen -- but it only lasted two seasons, and its humor was obviously "my kind" of humor and not appreciated by enough people.

Maybe we should develop our own lists: Top Drama, Top Comedy, Top Medical, Top Law, Top Sci-Fi -- with the 10 best in each!

Nah -- we don't sit around enough bars having debates to make it worth the time... :-)

So I think I will put some entries in about "Top" shows. It could be fun. Maybe the blogosphere is close enough to a "bar" -- or as close as we're going to get!