My "Best" TV (6-10)

The client promised the information would be here FIRST thing this morning, but of course it isn't, so...

On with the list!

Brady Bunch

This was, hands down, my favorite show as a kid. Maybe because I was an only child. Maybe because I thought Marcia was so cool. Maybe because I thought Greg was so cute.

Either way, I was horribly disillusioned as an adult to find that "blended families" do not always get along famously, teenagers do not always gratefully and joyfully learn their lessons, and rarely, if ever, do the kids voluntarily pitch in to help each other or sing together.

Oh, and was it me? Did I miss it? What happened to Mike's first wife, and Carol's first husband? Did they EVER address this? Because let me tell you...I have what is much more than a hunch that that things were so pleasant around the Brady household because there were no ex-es to deal with. Add those ex-es and it is chaos in that house!

"Don't call her mom! She's not your mom. I am your mom!"

"Well, I hope you're happy! You were supposed to pick them up at 6:00! You have totally ruined our plans for the evening, and the kids are crying. Look what you did!"

"Where is my money?"

"No I get the kids on Christmas this year. You had them last year. Did so! DID SO!"

See what I'm saying here?

Charlie's Angels

Like most little girls in the 70's, I wanted to be Kelly, Jill and Sabrina (and later Jill's sister...was her name Chris?). They were so cool...fighting crime in skimpy outfits, big hair, full make-up and roller skates, or on horseback, or some other overly complicated way that made them "bounce" in all the right places. Hair toss, wide smile, longing look at the speaker phone that maintained Charlie's mystery, as he called them "Angels."

This show would never work today, because after the first phone call, Sabrina would have sued Charlie for sexual harrassment, taken over the agency, and made Kelly and Jill dress in appropriate business attire.

Charmed

I like witches. And in the tradition of Samantha Stevens comes the Haliwell Sisters...except much darker. No cheery housewitches performing minor magic here. No these were kick-ass witches, fighting demons and vampires and banshees and any number of dark evil creatures, while still maintaining successful careers, relationships and families. It's much tougher to be a witch in the new millenium!

What I really did like about this show, was the fact that the sisters were good witches...destroying evil, not living it. Witches often get a bad rap, and there was even, although rudimentary, explanations of some Wican practices that shed a much needed positive light.

I also loved the ending of this show. Although the last season sucked badly, the last episode was the perfect...almost all of the old, recurring characters made an appearance, and everything was resolved, explained and wrapped up in a nice tidy bow. You even got to know what happens to the characters in the future. In my opinion, that's how a show is supposed to end!

Cheers

A bunch of dysfunctional individuals hanging out in a basement bar...but so much more! I would love to go where everybody knows my name, and are always glad I came. Who wouldn't love a place like that? A place where you can get away from the hard realities of life, and find acceptance...even if you are an annoying trivia buff who still lives with his mom, an alcoholic accountant who hides from his wife, an acid-tongued waitress, a dim-witted bartender, or a washed up, womanizing former athlete, everyone is loved for who they are. Period. It doesn't get any better than that.

Coach

I love football. I loved college. So you gotta know I'm gonna love a show about college football. Duh! The best thing about this show...while movies are infinitely quotable for me, television is usually not. I might remember a funnly line the next day, but rarely does one stick firmly enough to have me quoting it years down the road. But this show does!

It was the episode where Dauber is serving as a "Big Brother" to a little kid, and he gets a little crush going on the kid's single mom. Dauber has a girlfriend, though, and he feels terribly guilty about this...especially after he kisses the kid's mom. So he tells Coach that he is going to confess this crush/kiss to his girlfriend, whom he really loves (and later marries). Coach advises him against it, telling Dauber to, "Bury it. Bury it with a shovel, then bury the shovel."

I don't know why that struck me so funny, but I remember it to this day. And still, years later, whenever one of us thinks the another person should drop something, or keep something from someone we say, "Bury it. Bury it with a shovel, then bury the shovel."

Sorry...that was soooo more than you needed to know. But I am all about the sharing. More later.