My "Best" TV Shows of All Time (1-5)

Michele had a link up to this article listing the 100 Best TV Shows of All Time.

Another list! I am excited. Because, see, I love lists. And I love television.

I'm looking at this guy's list, and I appreciate it, but I'm not feeling it. The only solution I could find was to make my OWN list. So while I sit here killing time, waiting for a client to get me their stuff, I started my list.

A few caveats...

* First, this is a personal choice thing. You don't have to like everything I like...feel free to say so, but don't tell me I'm an idiot for liking (or NOT liking) something. If we all liked the same things, we'd be boring as hell.

* Second, I don't care what social value a show has or doesn't have. I watch television to be entertained not enlightened.

* Third, I KNOW there are better shows out there, so,I am not calling my list THE Best...I am calling it MY "Best". Can you appreciate the difference? Can you?

*Fourth, there are no news shows on this list, for several reasons, but mostly I am back to the whole "entertainment" thing, and news, while educational, is not entertaining...at least to me.

*Fifth, there are some new shows on this list that would probably not be there in 10 years. There are more new shows that old, considering. But in my defense, with the advent of the TiVo, I have been able to follow television in a way I couldn't "back then", so I have gotten much more attached to some of these new shows. Deal with it.

Okay, so, on to the list, which by the way, is presented alphabetically, not in any ranking sort of way. I can't begin to differentiate my very favorite from, say, my fourth or seventh favorite.

The Addams Family

I love these characters! They are, well..."creepy and kooky." I normally hate movies that spun off from television shows, but in this case I think I love the movies even more. Probably because I love the actors they got to play these over the top characters, and I love the quotable one-liners (like "That's it the spirit, Thing! Lend a hand!" and "Where's your costume, Dear?"..."I'm a homicidal maniac. They look just like everyone else." and "Pass the salt."..."And what do we say?"..."NOW!").

But you can't appreciate all of that without knowing this all started with the television show. It was my favorite "old re-run show" that was on when I was a kid. Wednesday rocks!

All in the Family

Growing up, I knew people like Archie Bunker...toned down versions at least. Narrow-minded, racist, working-class men, who lived old-school in a changing society. I am not excusing them, but I am saying they weren't all bad, either. They were flawed human beings who were capable of of goodness and badness alike. You could see that in Archie Bunker, because even though you hated some of the things he stood for, you never really hated him.

American Idol

Like it or hate it, this show has been an amazing phenomenon. In it's first few seasons, I avoided it like the plague, making fun of my friends who actually...called and voted. Then, somewhere, somehow, I got sucked into the vortex. I watch faithfully and I call in votes. It is a guilty pleasure. And not only mine, considering that almost everyone I know watches this show. I can bond with my teenagers and my mother alike over this show. CO and I actually take the time to sit down and watch together. It is all the talk around the water cooler at work. It seems like any lagging conversation can be saved with the question "So, who's going home this week?"

Beverly Hills 90210

Speaking of guilty pleasures...I have to admit to this one. I don't KNOW why I cared about Dylan and Brenda and Brandon and Kelly...but I DID. I really DID.

I was in my early twenties when this show was at the height of it's popularity, and maybe it was that fact that my friends and I played a drinking game while watching this show each week ("When Dillon drinks, drink with the man!", or "Drink whenever Brandon says 'Bro'"), so I was usually drunk while taking in all the teenage angst. Maybe that explains it, because I got nothing else.

Bewitched

I heart Samantha Stevens! My problem was with Darren. Not the fact that the producers thought we wouldn't notice the old actor switch-a-roo, but that he was always trying to get Samantha to be "normal". Why should she want to be normal? She was a magical witch for Pete's sake! Why would she want to give that up for Darren...who, frankly, wasn't all that. I mean, why did he marry her if he wanted her to be someone else. When you marry someone, aren't you supposed to love them for who they are, and not try to change them all the time? I get that he was proud of her secretly, but worried about his boss finding out. Still, that's pretty fucked up. And did I mention she was a magical witch? She could have done better than Darren. I'm just sayin'.

I've got more later!