1) seinfeld

ive seen each episode multiple times, and in some cases, dozens of times. that alone puts it at the top.

2) the wire

excellent crime drama, that was a truly eye opening experience the first time seen.

3) the sopranos

established hbo as a great producer of original content. perhaps just a hair overrated. maybe it doesnt age as well, but looking back it always felt like i was waiting for the really good parts, that didnt come as often as they could have. and watching the sopranos terrible parenting (especially when meadow was in highschool) is painful.

4) the simpsons

i was raised on it. its been on forever, which lets you forgive the lulls in quality over the years. in its prime, i think it was just about perfect.

5) survivor

i watch a season now and then. i hate reality tv, so i should hate survivor (since it pretty much ushered in reality tv era) but if you get into a season it hooks you as much as anything can on tv.

honorable mentions:

twin peaks

on too short, and season 2 the quality started to wane significantly, imo.

true blood

only midway through its second season. also, minus points for being a bit girly (and thus, im usually ashamed of watching it), and nerdy. basically a sexed up harry potter, but a fun show.

wild card:

i, claudius:

the ultimate show for history nerds. presents a fictional, but plausible, telling of roman emporor claudius' lost autobiography. just a miniseries, but about 13 hrs long. and if your a history geek, captivating throughout.

Hmm a top 5 list with a wildcard, why didn't I think of this?

I need to think on this one.

I find it too hard to group current shows I watch with shows I watched 15 years ago. So my list is slanted towards the last 10 years of viewing...

1) Seinfeld is my top show too. I still watch them (belongs in here for that reason).

2) Law and Order (i'm counting all 3 as one since they are so similar)

3) 24...sad to see this one off the air soon

4) The Office

5) House (stopped watching it recently, but followed it since the beginning)


Honorable mention...Royal Pains. Too soon to put in top 5, but enjoying the first season for sure.

Back in the day I would have said Fresh Prince, Saved by the Bell, Mash, Simpsons and Cheers (in no particular order). Maybe that show with Urkel too (don't know why I watched some of that crap back then).

Fuck it, here's 10.

1. Men Behaving Badly
2. Cheers
3. NYPD Blue
4. Sanford & Son
5. Letterman
6. Lost in Space
7. Drew Carey Show (first couple of years only)
8. St. Elsewhere
9. The Sopranos
10. Larry Sanders Show

Wildcard
Electric Blue - Used to watch that on the Playboy Channel (scrambled screen) when I was about 14.

CSI would make my list over House but I refuse to put it in there until they dump that POS on Miami. I can't stand that douche bag and all his head cocked sideways posing that he does.

1. Cheers -- Still one of the funniest shows of all time, with the best characters.

2. M.A.S.H -- The Col. Blake years only. Harry Morgan drove me nuts.

3. Hill Street Blues -- Watched today, seems really dated, but at the time it was groundbreaking, and set up the 10pm drama template for years to come.

4. The Dick Van Dyke Show -- I swear to you, it's still some of the funniest stuff ever put on TV. AND, this was when Mary Tyler Moore was still hot!

5. CSI (Vegas) -- Only #5 because of exactly what Chris said. Fuck Miami and David Caruso (a.k.a. GooseNeck) and double-fuck New York with it's entire cast of complete shitbags.

6. WWE Monday Night Raw -- Why the Hell not. It was better during the Attitude Years, but is still pretty damn entertaining.

7. The Simpsons -- Been back and forth the past few seasons, but for the number of years it's been on, can't blame them for a down year or two.

8. Battlestar Galactica (new) -- Thought they were gonna crap all over one of my favorite shows of the '70s (early '80s), wound up pulling off some seriously quality shit.

9. CHiPs -- Sorry. Grew up on this show. I've seen every episode at least 5 times. Sucked ass after John left, but always had the hot female chipper to compensate.

10. Married...with Children -- 'cause Al Bundy is a FUCKING GOD!!!


Honorable Mention:

Police Squad -- The show that led to the Naked Gun films. Uneven humor (lasted only 6 episodes), but owns one of the funniest sight gags I've ever seen on TV... the Japanese garden. That ALONE gets it on the list.

Good call on Police Squad

Never could get into Seinfeld.

Never could get into Seinfeld.
Me neither, same for Friends. The theme song and the fucking laugh track make me want to hurl

I never wanted to get into Friends.

Me neither, same for Friends. The theme song and the fucking laugh track make me want to hurl

Laugh tracks suck. All of them.

Good call on the CHIPs. that show was good.

1) Baywatch
2) Night Rider
3) America's got talent
4) The young and the restless
5) Baywatch Nights

Martin
Married with Children

Batman: The Animated Series, the Muppet Show, Firefly, damn this category is hard for me...

1) Baywatch
2) Night Rider
3) America's got talent
4) The young and the restless
5) Baywatch Nights

The Lions
The Pistons
The Tigers
College Football
College Basketball
Boxing
MMA
The Olympics
Lumberjack and competitive eating sports
Beavis and Butthead

i'll include some of my childhood favorites too:

1- cheers
2- seinfeld
3- family guy
4- simpsons
5- in living color
6- the A team
7- fresh prince of bel air
8- coach
9- 227
10- king of queens

those aren't really in order necessarily. and if you ask me again in an hour i'd have a different list. but those are some of the shows i watched more regularly growing up and over the last decade or so.

i was waiting for beavis and butthead. my guess was bukdow would be the first to mention it.

benson anyone?

night court?

http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/070712/satc_l.jpg

I'm insulted, but at least it ain't Home Improvement.

<== loves home improvement.

my last gf loved sex and the city. im fairly certain its why i no longer see her.

Anyone want to take a crack at figuring out what Wil's favs are?

<== loves home improvement.

my last gf loved sex and the city. im fairly certain its why i no longer see her.

Good choice. That ranks up there with (but still below) being a Tori Amos fan.

I'm insulted, but at least it ain't Home Improvement.

or Full House...

Laguna Beach
The Hills
Mylie Cyrus

or Full House...

http://content8.flixster.com/photo/11/06/33/11063334_tml.jpg

Related to Kirk Cameron. Probably just as nutty as he is.

(In No Particluar Order):

Old School:

Cheers - Grew up on it, still great on DVD.
Simpsons - From about season 2-6, fucking hilarious.
West Wing - Aaron Sorkin is great, made the characters so real. Later seasons limped to the finish.
NYPD Blue - Groundbreaking, gritty and real. Handled cast changes very well.
Newsradio - Made Andy Dick tolerable -- an impressive feat.
Seinfeld - Kramer and Costanza
MASH- Grew up watching with my dad, the characters feel like family.
Spin City - A surprisingly good show that I've caught up with on FX. Both the Michael J Fox and Sheen eras are good.



Newer:

The Office - Just quality. Starting to lose it's steam though.
Thirty Rock - Alec Baldwin can make me laugh just looking at him.
Always Sunny - First three seasons were hilarious. Running out of gas.
The Wire - Absolutely amazing. It all ties together so well. Brilliantly written.
Entourage - Good dirty mindless fun.
Rescue Me - It can be painful to watch Dennis Leary crash and burn over and over again. (Everybody loves a train wreck)



Wild Cards:

TV Funhouse on Comedy Central - There were only about 6 episodes but they're pretty good. The Christmas Cheer episode is awesome.

Stella on Comedy Central - Only lasted a season, tons of dorky humor.

Bet she's a freak.

Batman: The Animated Series, the Muppet Show, Firefly, damn this category is hard for me...
...Twilight Zone, Blackadder, original Star Trek and Iron Chef...

YES! forgot about home improvement. another favorite of mine. they sucked in the later years but the early and middle seasons were awesome.

Good call on night court. watched that often too.

All I watch on TV is sports, cartoons, and stand-up. I hate sitcoms and dramas. They're lame, repetitive, lack minority cast members and guest stars, and, lack intellect and depth.

My top ones, excluding sports programs(including WWE):

1. Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
2. Scrubs
3. The Simpsons
4. Family Guy
5. Futurama
6. South Park
7. The Boondocks

Honorable Mention: All the superhero based cartoon series, including the CGI based BEAST WARS!

Oh, I watched Beast Wars a lot as a kid. Damn.

Mine: LOST, Family Guy, South Park, Seinfeld. Always Sunny and Scrubs are also up there but not quite in the same tier.

I also need to add Eastbound and Down to that. Probably second tier as well, although with time it could go up to the first one.

I think this would be more interesting with "favorite seasons from a TV show" -- not necessarily favorite single seasons, but that could work too.

For example, peeps here have listed Night Court. But the first season of Night Court was only so-so. It wasn't until they matched John LaRoquette with Markie Post that it elevated to being a great show. Does everyone really think the Diane era is better than the Rebecca era in Cheers? :)

The Diane era had coach. Woody was not as good of a Coach as Coach was.

That said Diane was never hot.

The Diane era had coach. Woody was not as good of a Coach as Coach was.

That said Diane was never hot.

Norm walks in.

WOODY: Beer, Norm?

NORM: Isn't it a little early for stupid questions, Woody?!


Also, Diane was funny because she was the exact opposite of everybody else in the bar, and Carla could work off of her a lot easier than she could Rebecca.

i loved coach but couldn't stand diane. so overall i liked the rebecca era better.

Robin Colcort FTW

Coach and Woody both did great jobs...no need to make it a competition.

Robin Colcort FTW

I wonder if bukky based his character on Robin?

i love the time sam and robin had that competition and sam beat him; the whole gang danced around the bar celebrating his victory of a single dollar bill. LMAO

so many great moments from that show.

Get Along Gang. Thoughts?

FAN-atic Thread!

1. All in the Family--It finally jumped the shark when Meathead and "Little Goil" left, but man it took America head on every week.
2. I Love Lucy--classic, classic comedy not to be tirfled with.
3. The Carol Burnette Show--Harvey Korman and Tim Conway were SOOO good. Never failed to make this reporter laugh out loud. Burnette and Lucille Ball were the bestest commedienes ever.
4. Seinfeld-- 'nuff said.
5. Saturday Night Live (1975-80)--best sketch comedy ever, always fresh and challenging.
6. The Honeymooners--Jackie Gleason and crew were golden week in and week out.
7. The Twilight Zone--dark, cynical, satirical. Another show that turned the mirror on American society and forced it to look at itself.
8. Cheers--the first of the "crazy cast" shows and all others are just copycats. The first show to do "cutaways" on cast members without them saying anything--just getting their reaction. Great til the end.
9. MASH--WAY jumped the shark after Frank Burns left, but did survive Trapper John and Henry Blake leaving for a few years. Did grow smarmy and preachy, but the early years are too good to ingore.
10. Star Trek (original)--Black folks in the future? Uhuru still gets me hard. Great stories, every planet in the universe with an atmosphere of 78% nitrogen and the rest oxygen and whatever humans need to survive, yet freaky beings and monsters also able to breathe it. And they seemed to take it all so serious, yet you could feel them stifling their laughter through all 99 episodes that still seem like the first time you've seen them even though it's the 179 bazillionth time.

Others I love:

Batman--The characters, the CHARACTERS! Like Star Trek, the straight faced acting was brilliant in lieu of the whackiest shit ever.
Friends--Although Joey and Rachel fucking made me want to kill a lot of people, and Chandler and Monica had as much chemistry as Baker and humanity, pretty good til the end and a solid ensemble cast that knew what they had. Kind of faggy and emasculating and made everyone on the planet seem co-dependent, but still very funny.
Barney Miller--If you don't know this show, it was fucking great and survived many cast changes. The scene rarely changed from the dark, dank, squalid little squad room, but the show was good enough not to make you claustrophobic because of it.
Married With Children--seemed to be one of the first to show American Dysfunctional at its best.
Get Smart--A personal favorite. Who can forget the shoephone or the "Cone of Silence" that never worked?
Frazier--Probably the best "spinoff" ever (yes, slightly better than "Joanie Loves Chachi")--intelligent comedy, and Lillith still gets me hard.

How can I forget The Carol Burnett Show?????

The best thing about that show is, when they fucked up, they didn't bother editing it out. They'd crack each other up all the time.

loved get smart and carol burnett too. they just don't make shows like that anymore.

i dream of jeanie anyone? i liked it as a teen mostly because jeanie was hot- barbara eden or whatever her name was. still fantasize about my girl wearing that outfit. lol

and how could i have left out the jeffersons. good stuff.

I suppose, amongst "cult" shows, I could have mentioned F Troop. Those indians were fucking hilarious. Also from that same era, The Munsters and The Adams Family.

Interesting nobody mentioned The Twilight Zone..... hmmm. Or did they?

Just checked. Uncle Mxy did.

no love for 'Hawaii Five-0'...?

I like Five-0, but it's all downhill after the opening music. ;)

I suppose, amongst "cult" shows, I could have mentioned F Troop. Those indians were fucking hilarious. Also from that same era, The Munsters and The Adams Family.

Interesting nobody mentioned The Twilight Zone..... hmmm. Or did they?

Just checked. Uncle Mxy did.

YOU DIDN'T READ ZIP'S POST

YOU DIDN'T READ ZIP'S POST

I never read Zip's posts. If I wanna read a novel, I'll go out and get a novel.

I never read Zip's posts. I don't know how to read.

I dun know haw tu red? I kan red thys thred so thar.

All time favorite: Babylon 5

Underrated old school: The Rockford Files

A current favorite: Weeds

Underrated old school: The Rockford Files
Now that's a show that lives up to its great opening music. :)

I always think of my dad when watching that show...

The Wil Ledezma Old-School Nickelodeon Top 5 Programs

(I was born in 1988, so my nostaliga doesn't take me back as far as it does for you old farts)

1. Rocko's Modern Life- Between the raunchy humor and suggestive dialouge, this show (along with Ren & Stimpy) was a gateway towards programs like Family Guy & South Park.

2. Legends of the Hidden Temple- What ex-Nickelodeon junkie didn't have a dream of playing for the Purple Parrots and successfuly assembling the Shrine of the Silver Monkey?

3. Salute Your Shorts- The theme song alone was enough to get any 8 year old giddy.

4. Goosebumps- The books were better than the TV show, but either way you were going to bed with the light on.

5. Keenan & Kel- As a young child, I had a hard time watching sitcoms that revolved around African American families if their last name wasn't the Winslows, but Keenan & Kel was hilarious. My favorite episode was the one where Ron Harper made a cameo.

[U]
[B]5. Keenan & Kel- As a young child, I had a hard time watching sitcoms that revolved around African American families. They actually had "black people" in them. It was scary. I asked my Dad one time, "Daddy, are colored people ever going to live in our neighborhood and kill us and steal all our stuff?" He replied, "No, son. We have chosen a neighborhood that you have to have a job and make actual money to get into. Black people don't like to work. They just want welfare and food stamps." "Thank you Daddy, " I said, "You're my hero. You keep me safe."

I remember that show, and I also remember Kel having a strong love for a certain kind of soda.

Grape?

Hmm, nah, that's not it....

The Wil Ledezma Old-School Nickelodeon Top 5 Programs

(I was born in 1988, so my nostaliga doesn't take me back as far as it does for you old farts)

1. Rocko's Modern Life- Between the raunchy humor and suggestive dialouge, this show (along with Ren & Stimpy) was a gateway towards programs like Family Guy & South Park.

2. Legends of the Hidden Temple- What ex-Nickelodeon junkie didn't have a dream of playing for the Purple Parrots and successfuly assembling the Shrine of the Silver Monkey?

3. Salute Your Shorts- The theme song alone was enough to get any 8 year old giddy.

4. Goosebumps- The books were better than the TV show, but either way you were going to bed with the light on.

5. Keenan & Kel- As a young child, I had a hard time watching sitcoms that revolved around African American families if their last name wasn't the Winslows, but Keenan & Kel was hilarious. My favorite episode was the one where Ron Harper made a cameo.

Explain to me how you can roll with an "old-school Nickelodeon" list and NOT include Ren and Stimpy or Rugrats in the top 5???

Explain to me how you can roll with an "old-school Nickelodeon" list and NOT include Ren and Stimpy or Rugrats in the top 5???

or "You Can't Do That On Television"

Judging by Wil's list, his definition of old school Nick is not nearly as old as ours.

What I want to know is, who DIDN'T whack it to Summer Sanders when she was on Figure It Out?

Kenan, not Keenan.

And I watched Danger Mouse on Nickelodeon... that show was all kinds of awesome.

Bugs Bunny
THE Coyote
Mash