Finally there are two more categories to close this out, they're both relatively short lists and because the Fall season is close to starting I'm going to put them both together rather than string this out any further.

First up is the category of Other, which covers a handful of shows which I like that I didn't want to put under any of the previous categories. These are listed alphabetically because it's hard to compare the shows to each other.


There are many, many David Attenborough documentaries which I adore, but the one which rises above the rest (for myself) is without a doubt Blue Planet, as there's something about the seas which have always held a mystery and enthrallment for me. Blue Planet is the documentary series which I feel gives the viewer the best picture of the wonders located beneath the waves across the planet.

It's something I can just sit back and watch; educational, fascinating and beautiful.


I'm not a fan of the chat show format, but I do enjoy the spin which The Daily Show puts on, creating a satirical news/chat show with plenty of humour. But The Daily Show isn't my favourite in that genre either, it's the spin off show starring Stephen Colbert (who's in two other shows listed in my top shows) which floats my boat.

I believe it's the utterly deadpan delivery of the show which works so well, Stephen runs his show with an aplomb which almost never cracks and is able to sound so sincere about things that many people are quite confused about the differences between Stephen Colbert the character and Stephen Colbert the human being.

He also gets major props for the 2006 presidential Correspondents Association roast - presented here in it's entirety for you to enjoy.


I could have put this one into the sitcom category, but I honestly feel it doesn't quite fit there. It's definitely a web show in it's design. But the brilliance of the writing and cast has resulted in something which has become a very real phenomena and one which I can't approve of enough.

Just starting it's third season The Guild is something you should seriously consider watching; it's free on the web, each episode is around ten minutes long and it's brilliant. No excuses, you should at least give it a try.

Finally there's one last list to come, I shan't go into it in too much detail - but it's the best shows that - for one reason or another - I don't watch.


This is one I'm about to rectify, finally a version of the complete set was released which fits onto a standard DVD shelf so I picked it up and by now I will have most likely started watching it. All that's held me back from watching this show has been the inaccessibility of watching the show over here in Britain - a combination of poorly designed DVD sets and a lack of broadcasting on non-premium channels.


This one I do intend to watch again, I loved the first season, despised the second one and gave up a few episodes into the third. But I do plan to watch it all once it's finished and released on DVD. The main reason I've stopped watching is simple, for myself I find the weekly release schedule for Lost is irritating. Just like The Wire I don't feel it's a show which works well if you watch one episode a week, it's better watched in bursts or marathons.


I thought the first season was groundbreaking and the second season was a wonderful build on the first one (which was a little disjointed in the story front). But the third season really failed for me, I tried very hard to watch it but ended up stopping with about three or four episodes left before it ended. Yeah, despite being exceptionally close to seeing how the story would end and right in the middle of all the 'exciting' parts I actually found myself bored enough to walk away and never return to the show.

As far as I'm concerned 24 is a show which has gone on for far too long.


This is one which just doesn't appeal to me, I'm not sure why if I'm honest as I loved Anna Paquin in the X-Men movies, Chris Bauer (The Wire) is also in it and he's fantastic and Alan Ball (Six Feet Under) created the show - a mix which just screams winner. But I just haven't got around to it yet and I don't really feel excited about the show, perhaps because I'm not so interested in the portrayal of Vampires in True Blood, or perhaps because I just don't have time right now.

I can't exactly explain which it is, but it's something I'm not watching and often I feel I should be.
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Today we get to the home grown shows, my favourite shows from good old Blighty. I decided to place my favourite British shows in their own category because there is a genuinely distinctive difference between anglo shows and their distant American cousins - few American Sitcoms come close to the style of the British ones at all (I'd say only Arrested Development, Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm and partially The Office manage it) and dramas are a genre which the Americans just effortlessly dominate.

But that said, here's a selection of my favourite British shows.



At times brilliant and hilarious, at times utterly bizarre - this journey through time and space is something you really do have to be in the right frame of mind to enjoy, but when you do - it's just utterly fantastic and hilarious.

The episodes are a little uneven in quality, some of them are far better than others, some aren't that funny the first time you watch them but become funnier on the re-watch (maybe because you've 'clicked' with the humour the second time round). But still, this is a show which stands out as a unique creation and unlike many off-beat and bizarre comedy shows it also manages to be, well, good.



Classic, classic British comedy which doesn't ever really date at all (apart from the film quality). It's relatively low on this list because at times I do find the show a little overwhelming in the cringe factor, as such it's not something I can watch all the time, but there is no disputing this shows pedigree and sharp comedy.

Of course, it's something which is talked about so often that I even encountered it in lectures while studying psychology at university, that was a highly enjoyable couple of hours indeed. Which I guess makes this the most educational show on the list as well.



Like a lot of shows on this list, Father Ted has quite a grimy and mundane feel to it's setting, based on Craggy Island this show about three priests and the woman who cooks for them is nothing short of marvelous. The show could have dangerously spun off into nothing more than priestly humour with great ease, but instead it manages to be a show more about survival against boredom on a tiny island.

Sharp, tightly scripted and well characterised there's so much to love and enjoy about this show. From classic enquires about tea to the naive assumption that Richard Wilson would enjoy having his catchprase shouted at him (something I'm sure many, many people do to so many actors. I know Wayne Knight is tired of people saying 'Hello Newman' to him - speaking of which, I wonder if he'll be in the Seinfeld/Curb reunion, I do hope so), it's a show which delivers laugh after laugh thanks to it's timeless quality and shrews insights into human nature.



In part this makes it onto the list because I have in the past worked in a shop which is essentially a spin on the one from Black Books. Yes, that's right - a shop where the intent seemed to be to avoid selling stock to customers, be as rude as possible and avoid doing anything more than the most minimal amount of work. Some members of staff even went as far as to wear outfits which looked the same every day of the week - just to complete that cartoon surreal feel to the place.

But onto Black Books itself; the show is very, very British in feel. It's set in a small book shop, the cast is small and the characters are all very unpleasant to each other (and anyone else in range). This means, of course, that it's just hilarious. Bill Bailey, Dylan Moran and Tamsin Greig all give fantastic performances with lashings of off-beat humour. It has a timeless feel to it and a very familiar one to anyone who's been into a small independent second hand book store.

It's just a shame that Dylan has said there will be no more episodes, but we can still enjoy the ones we've already received.



The only non-sitcom to make it onto this list and it's still a scripted comedy show - after a fashion. I guess I have to confess that outside of a few shows (like State of Play, Wire in the Blood and Foyles War) I mostly watch British situation comedies.

Top Gear, of course, isn't a situation comedy as such. But it is an intensely enjoyable show all about the unashamed love and adoration of cars. From the banter to the stunts and reviews the show seeks to inform the viewer about things they really don't need to know. At all.

Yes, it's not everyone's cup of earl grey, but the show really is a fantastic creation - revelling in the love of petrol and fumes with gleeful abandon. The filming is stylish, the dialog is sharp and the presenters are all - well they're certainly personalities, that's for sure. Maybe for everyone, but personally I always enjoy the show when it's on. Especially the specials which often highlight not just the cars but the locales as well.



One of two roles in which Rowan Atkinson is most famous for (the second being Mr. Bean) Blackadder is one of the definitive Brit-coms and one of the best. While the first series doesn't really stand out in the crowd the other three (and the various specials) certainly do. Each season deals with a different era and generation of the Blackadder family, a group of very similar looking individuals all with the unfortunate name of Edmund and the even more unfortunate tendency to land themselves in sticky situations.

Like many British comedies, Blackadder specialises in tight and witty dialog along with an exceptionally cynical outlook on situations. It has a supporting cast which almost reads like a 'who's who' in comedy, including of course the brilliant Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. But the biggest change to the show, and the one which evolved it into the success it became was Ben Elton taking over writing duties. He changed the style of the show for the second series onwards and is responsible for frankly improving the show a great deal.

Irregardless of this, it's one of the best shows ever made and deserves a slot in just about every top television show list somewhere.

Forget the slightly embarrassing later seasons and concentrate on the show from series three to six (yes I'm including six as one of the good ones here Dan, sorry!) with a little nod towards the first two seasons, which are very different in their style and flavour. That's the Red Dwarf I'm writing about here, not the diluted and somewhat unfunny creation which turned up later on (even though I do adore Chloe Annett).

It's an unusual beast in many ways, bucking the traditions and trends of it's time by marrying science fiction with comedy (a formula which works so well for Futurama also) and by now just about every Red Dwarf aficionado knows just how hard Rob Grant and Doug Naylor had to work to get Red Dwarf on the screens.

We should be thankful they did, because Red Dwarf made the 1990s a brighter and more enjoyable place, standing up during the decade as one of the few great British sitcoms in a sea which was mostly composed of of American shows like Friends and Frasier. To this day it remains funny and exciting even after repeated watching, so go ahead and smoke my kipper if you feel lucky punk (or something like that)!



There's a far longer explanation of why I think Marion and Geoff is one of the British greats located over here, but the short version comes down to this. It's an amazing example of how much can be done with so little, all there is to the show is the wonderful Keith Barrett (Rob Brydon) monologuing to a single camera about his life, past and thoughts.

But beyond this simplicity there's a real depth to the show and the comedy, the cleverest part of which is the subtext to Keith's dialog. There's so much extra information embedded in the scenes and conversations he describes that it's clear to the viewer that Keith just doesn't 'get' what's going on, that this lovely and basically naive man isn't sharp enough to realise the truth behind his own words.

And it's that which makes this comedy genius.



A clever and witty pastiche on 1980s horror, especially the kind which falls into the B category (written and film) Darkplace manages to be simultaneously intelligent and crude. Running for just six episodes the show came out in 2004 without much of a reception, but after being released on DVD and being re-aired as well it achieved some moderate success.

Part of what makes the show so great is just how deliberately bad it is, in fact - as a serious horror/drama (which is what it's 'meant' to be) it's a bloody awful show beyond words, as terrible as the uttermost dregs of 1980s schlock. But as this comedy is designed as a show within a show it's transformed from being awful into being something quite wonderful and brilliant.

Those horrible editing mistakes, awful acting and utterly hackneyed plots come together to create one wonderful amalgamation of genius, and it's this which makes it such a special show.

You also haven't lived until you've experienced watching the show with the DVD commentary on. In character DVD commentary that is. Sublime.




As one of my all time favourite comedy shows Spaced is something which I'll always have time for in my life. It's hard to put your finger on exactly what it is which makes Spaced so entertaining, the show mostly deals with rather mundane situations and pop culture references, but there's a clever tilt on everything which makes it all the more entertaining. You could almost call it 'a show about nothing', but it's so much more than that. It's a show about friendship, about television, about life and much, much more - all passed through a filter which celebrates the little things.

Performances across the cast are just hilarious and a few of the short set pieces are so good that I wrote a post highlighting them a short while ago. Even to this day they remain fresh and funny, as does the entire show. It's two short and sweet seasons filled with staggering brilliance.


Note: I am obligated to give a nod of the head to Only Fools and Horses as being classic British comedy, but personally I can't stand the show. There are also other shows which are good, but fail to make the top selection for various reasons - these include 'Allo 'Allo, Extras and One Foot in the Grave.

Monty Python's Flying Circus should also be on this list, but you'll have to make do with this instead, I forgot to expand it's entry and don't have time now.
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Today's (slightly delayed) post means we're over halfway in the 'Top Shows series, there's just British shows and documentaries left to write about. But today Rev/Views is going to focus on the animated spectrum of television - and without any further ado, here's the list.



I must confess I've only seen the first five seasons of King of the Hill and as such my preference for the show is based on only part of the run. I'd love to watch more of it as I find the style of the show relaxing and enjoyable. Hank Hill is a very honest and down to earth character who just comes across as a nice guy living an ordinary life.

One of the things I really appreciate about the show is the rather low key style and humour employed in it; many animated comedy shows fall towards the wacky and bizarre in order to progress the plot and provide the laughs. KotH doesn't rely on that as a staple and it makes for a refreshing change at times.



Everyone who's ever watched the television should have seen at least one episode of The Simpsons by now, it's a great animated show. But has lost it's lustre in recent years and should be put out to pasture.

The earlier seasons are still amazing, and I love the Treehouse of Horror episodes, but beyond that I don't really have too much more to say about The Simpsons as it's really something everyone is familiar with by now.



Just like The Simpsons, Family Guy is one of those shows most people will have been exposed to by now, of course it's a lot more controversial at times (at least it's more controversial because some people allow themselves to be outraged by it - something which just draws more attention to the show). It's something which varies a little in quality, at times it's just amazingly well done, clever and funny. At other times it can fall flat - in recent years it's been more of the latter.

But this said the recent DVD "movie" release Blue Harvest was one of the most well done pieces of television I'd seen in a long while. It was so much fun and clever

As such, when Family Guy is good it's very good. It's just when it's bad, it's horrid.



Based on the DC mega team, this now ended cartoon series runs for a total of five seasons, two under the first title and three as "Unlimited". The initial run follows Superman, The Flash, Batman, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, J'onn J'onzz and The Green Lantern who unite as the 'Justice League' in order to protect Earth from the myriad of super villains who seem to exist for the sole purpose of giving the heroes someone to fight against.

The second run, under the title Justice League Unlimited expands the universe considerably by introducing a huge selection of heroes who are brought on board to join the Justice League. The show becomes something more of an ensemble show then, with the core seven characters not taking part in every episode and the show often focusing on lesser known heroes - often resulting in fantastic stories and episodes.

The show is stylistic, exciting and everything a good superhero cartoon should be. It's strong plotting, ongoing story lines, clever writing and dark overtones make it something much, much more than just a kids cartoon with superheroes in it.

Side note: Mark Hamil's portrayal of the Joker is just fantastic, it was almost definitive until Heath Ledger came along and turned everything on it's head.



A pastiche on Johnny Quest/Adventure style cartoons, super spies and super heroes. Venture Bros is a semi-irregular cartoon which turns up every couple of years. It's about the titular Venture Brothers - Hank and Dean. Two lads who live a Johnny Quest like life with their scientific father Doctor Venture and his bodyguard/Swedish murder machine Brock Sampson.

Playing like an action/comedy/super science/spy/drama the show runs at an almost break neck speed each episode. The gags come thick and fast, almost as fast as Brock's punches are thrown at the various nameless henchmen who are unfortunate enough to be set against him. And the show is something which is highly enjoyable for anyone who can remember the old Johnny Quest cartoon or who enjoys super spies/heroes fighting against outlandish villains.




As a young child my favourite animated show was by and far Teenage Mutant "Hero" Turtles (in the UK Ninja was swapped out for Hero for some reason which has always escaped me) - a series which endeared itself to me and was a regular part of my television watching.

In the grip of nostalgia a couple of years back I decided to give the original shows some re watching, and the experience was most definitely NOT pleasant. Unlike revisiting other childhood favourites of mine - shows like Eerie Indiana, Round the Twist, ReBoot and Knightmare - watching the Turtles was an exercise in sheer agony. The show was dumb, weakly plotted, predictable and the performance for Shredder was just horrifying. He's portrayed as a whiny, whining gigantic baby who's petulantly stamping his feet every time he doesn't get his way. The turtles themselves were exceptionally weak to watch as well, in fact just about the only character I could tolerate was Kang.

So rather dejected I stopped watching the show and assumed it was time to consign another childhood memory to the bin. Then I discovered the 2003 remake of the show, and after reading a little about it I thought I'd give it a try. This remains one of the best decisions I've made in a long time, the show is just fantastic. It's clever, energetic and has great voice acting. But it's also relatively sophisticated for a children's show, providing ongoing story lines set over several episodes and even heading into some very dark places at times.

There are some relatively adult themes featured at times in the show, decapitations and dismemberment do happen (within reason) and one character spends his time gradually having bits cut away from him. It's also filled with exciting action, reoccurring previous characters and gives the awesome Casey Jones a major role in the show.

It's fast become a firm favourite of mine and while one of the later seasons was a little ropey the most recent one brought the show back to great form. Fun for the kids and the big kids as well.



I found this cartoon classic off the back of Space Ghost: Coast to Coast which I saw during my years in university. One of my friends was hugely into the show and I'd watch it occasionally when hanging out with him. One episode in particular stuck in my mind, it's an episode where Harvey Birdman hosts the show instead of Space Ghost.

Fast forward a few years and thanks to Comedy Central making The Colbert Report episodes available online to everyone regardless of their country (which they no longer do - jerks), and I'm watching Stephen Colbert. In particular his Tek Jansen series which features fantastic voice over work from him (and almost got onto this list, except it's not really a TV show). I have a little look around to see if he's done anything else (Venture Bros.) and I find Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law. A little reading around the show makes me interested in trying it out.

Which I'm glad I did, because the show is just fantastic. Each ten minute episode is so packed with action, gags and plotting that you can be forgiven for thinking it's a longer show than it is. The basic premise is simple, Harvey has retired from the superhero gig and now works as a defense lawyer for various classic cartoon characters (Yogi Bear, Fred Flintstone, Johnny Quest etc). The problem is, he's not a very good one.

It's something I can just stick on when I have a spare ten minutes and it's always great fun to watch and hilarious to boot.

Why You Should Watch... Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law




No secrets, no surprises here. I've touted about Futurama on many occasions before now, it's quite literally the show I've watched the most. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen each episode, and the total number of hours spent with it on (either being watched or as moving wallpaper) in the Rev/Views household must number into three digits at least.

I can't really explain why the show clicks so perfectly with me, as I admitted at the start of this week I'm not a science fiction fan as such (in truth I'd classify myself as a lover of stories if pushed), but Futurama remains one of my favourite shows and it's most solidly science fiction.

Maybe it's the jokes, or the characterisations, the voice acting or the stories. I don't know. Maybe it's the whole thing together, the combination of all these wonderful things the show gives the viewer result in something which is at times close to television perfection.

All I do know is I can't wait for the next season to start airing as I'm gagging for new Futurama episodes, I know my DVDs are getting a little worn out.
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In the first of two posts due to come out today, I'm going to continue the theme of film Fridays and mix it with the current 'My Top Shows' run (which has just a few more entries left then it's back to business as usual). Which means here I'll be listing my personal favourite films.

I'm not going to go into them with as much detail as I do television shows, writing about films here is just a diversion to mix things up and see if people are remotely interested in the odd film post (the answer seems to be no by the way).

Without further ado here's an alphabetical list of the twenty films which I've enjoyed the most over the years.

Aliens
As Good as it Gets
Back to the Future Trilogy (I can't separate my favourite from these)
Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
Die Hard
Ghostbusters
Groundhog Day
Heat
Hellraiser (oh yes!)
Kung Fu Hustle
Monsters Inc
Oldboy
Pulp Fiction
Rocky (1, 2 & 3)
Sin City
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
The Spaghetti Western Trilogy (For a Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More & The Good The Bad and the Ugly)
The Three Musketeers
The Usual Suspects
Wall·E

I make no apologies for this selection at all, they're all movies I can re watch and still find enjoyable and fresh. Some of them are classics from when I was younger, others are just films I like watching at least once a year (Die Hard is my Christmas movie of choice) and a few are just plain amazing.

There is one set of classic films from my childhood which I no longer enjoy, it's the original Star Wars trilogy. Somehow the magic has gone from them now.

A bit later today I'll continue the Rev/Views Top _____ series with Animated shows.
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I feel it's appropriate to put out my favourite drama shows on the 9th of September 2009, as that's 9/9/9 - the number you dial when calling for the police (and other emergency services) in the UK.

And let's face it, this is a genre which is going to be dominated by police shows as anyone who's spent any time reading here should be able to realise immediately.


Dexter is in a precarious position in my top shows because he's in serious danger of dropping out of the list after the third season's decidedly average and hum drum run.

But looking beyond that the first two seasons still hold up as exceptional pieces of work, they're both gripping thrill rides that nearly reach the heights of emotion and excitement. Michael C. Hall is nothing short of fantastic as Dexter Morgan, he's a good enough reason to watch the show all by himself. But Eric King is also fantastic as Doakes, and his departure was one thing which weakened the third season severely.

The fourth season is going to be make or break time for myself. It's looking very promising, but Dexter is in danger of falling into a rut. Mostly caused by the weak supporting cast (the writers have NO idea what to do with them) and the show's tendency to rehash the first season plotline over and over with only a few variations.

Complaints aside it's a unique show and is worth watching, even if only for Michael C. Hall and the lovely Julie Benz's performances alone.



Probably the lightest member of this lot, Burn Notice doesn't make it onto the list due to an exceptionally deep and clever storyline or Shakespearean level acting, it makes it on here by consistently improving on itself from season to season and providing just buckets of fun and spy hi jinks.

Jeffery Donavan is great as Michael Western, the spy stuck in Miami with a burn notice preventing him from working. But for myself it's Bruce Campbell's performance as Sam Axe which keeps me coming back. Well that and the fact that the show keeps getting better and better.

It's light, fun, clever and fast paced. Perfect summer viewing.




Part Drama, part Comedy, wholly irrelevant and fun - Boston Legal was one of the most enjoyable legal shows I've ever had the pleasure of watching. If you can call it a legal show, it could also be accurately described as a 'bromance' story between Denny Crane and Alan Shore.

The show is a little uneven, unfortunately cast members tended to get switched about, brought in and dropped for no reason other than the writers were having trouble thinking of things to do with them. So the show suffers a little here, but when it's good - it's very good. Even if sometimes it can get a little soap-box preachy.

I'm of the opinion that the best seasons are the earlier two and then the final one; but it's very dependant on the actors. William Shatner and James Spader are constantly great, but it's Christian Clemenson, Tara Summers and Mark Valley's characters who remain my favourites.

The show is energetic, fun and witty. Plus how can I not love a show which so brazenly flirts with the fourth wall, and gets away with it?


Watching Deadwood can, at first, feel like you're watching a show written in a foreign language, but one which uses English words as it's base. The dialog is thick and feels very authentic, as do the sets, the costumes and the acting.

Once you get past the initial 'what the hell are they saying?' there's a marvelous show beating underneath. One which is filled with corruption, unpleasantness, ruthless action and swearing. So much swearing you wouldn't believe it. It's almost impossible to watch this show and not get infected by the dialog yourself, it just happens and all of a sudden you're in trouble for calling a co-workers a bunch f***ing c***suckers.

Unfortunately for Deadwood it suffered cancellation-itis and hasn't had that final bit to finish it off. It's also rather inaccessible for many viewers - the dialog and brutal nature of the show mean it isn't for everyone. So it doesn't break into the top five, but it's definitely top ten material.


Constructed of equal parts of wit, soapy moments and drama with a huge slice of death, Six Feet Under is one of drama's landmark shows. It's frank and open approach to the subject of death, cast in contrast by the focus on the lives of people who live and work around it. Featuring a staggeringly high (and often amusing) body count, the show took huge strides towards legitimising the occurrence of death in TV drama.

Here's one of my favourite openings from the show:



This is without even mentioning that this is Michael C. Hall's second appearance on the list. He's absolutely fantastic and completely different to Dexter in Six Feet Under. The man is awesome acting talent.

Oh and this show also gave us the quintessential Narm trope. (Warning MAJOR Spoilers for this show lurk beyond that link).



For an individual with absolutely no interest in politics at all I was genuinely surprised just how much I did engage with, and enjoy The West Wing. But I surely did, mostly thanks to Aaron Sorkin's superb scripting which brought the characters to life and gave them dialog which really just sizzles and shines like diamond sausages in a pan.

While the cast is studded with superb actors and actresses there are a few in particular who stand out for myself. Martin Sheen is of course brilliant as 'Jed' Bartlet and throwing praise out for the lovely Allison Janney is practically a cliche (but a deserved one). Likewise Bradley Whitford, Dulé Hill, Rob Lowe, John Spencer, Janel Moloney and Richard Schiff are all superb.

And it would be completely amiss if I didn't acknowledge that the episode "Two Cathedrals" is one of the best episodes in any show, all time.

But it's more than the sum of it's parts, it's just a fantastic show which is filled with quality and while I personally prefer the first four seasons, it's still something everyone who enjoys good drama should watch in it's entirety at least once.



Part dramatisation, part historical retelling, all action. Band of Brothers works both as a companion piece for Saving Private Ryan and as a stand alone piece of television. The show follows the members of Easy company during the second world war. It's a powerful piece of storytelling that highlights the brutality of war while also showing the fundamental humanity of the men who were involved in it.

The stand out performance is of course from the awesomely talented Damien Lewis as Richard Winters. But there are so many others who also give great perfomances as well. Some of them are so great you end up forgetting what else they're famous in and just get sucked into believing that they are there.

It's nothing short of quality television and one of my favourite war stories, the unbelievable events that occur in it are living proof that no matter how outlandish television can be - there's nothing stranger than real life.



The father and spiritual predecessor to another show on this list; Homicide (for me) remains the quintessential police procedural show. I can't exactly place what it is which makes it far more enjoyable for me than any other investigative style show, but if I was to guess it would come down to the low key nature of the setting combined with an unrelenting dirty, grimy feel to the show which just made it feel so real. You add into this a fantastic bunch of characters; especially Munch, Bayliss, Pembleton and Lewis; and you've got something which has had a profound affect on me despite it's relatively new status (I only watched it last year).

It's dark, it's witty, it's clever and it doesn't always wrap everything up in a neat little bow at the end of an episode (or season). There's just so much to admire about it and it's a show I relish returning to in a future year.



Considering that I've written forty posts about this show (so far) I should imagine it's no surprise that The Wire ranks highly amongst my favourite drama shows (and my favourite shows all round). It's the most complete vision in the world of television, providing stories which are meaningful and poignant while also filled with intense characters who feel alive.

No other show manages to depict both sides of the story as well as The Wire. A show which lets it's viewers identify with not only police detectives but also with the criminals they're chasing after. From low level drug dealers to dock workers and all the way beyond The Wire tells a story of Baltimore City via it's characters and institutions.

It's almost certainly the most culturally significant show of this decade and one of the greatest televisions shows of all time. Intelligent, thought provoking, moving and subtle, this is one for the thinker in you.

This should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone who's read my posts over the past year or so. The Shield remains firmly as an example of the perfect show for myself. From the very first episode, which all those years back just blew me away (much like the ending to The Usual Suspects it completely turned around my perception of the show and expectations from television drama). Then for seven seasons it ran off at break neck speed with each season being better than the last. Which is pretty much unheard of elsewhere, I can't name another show where I can honestly say each season improved on the previous one.

But The Shield had it all for me; tension, action, excitement, sorrow and so much more. No show has ever engaged me as much emotionally as The Shield has. While The Wire is intellectually my favourite show, it's the guts and instincts of The Shield which put it ahead of the rest, and those final two episodes which ended it all. I'm still speechless about them and it's been about three quarters of a year since they aired.

It really is perfection wrapped up in a brutal package of justice and corruption.

Finally I'd like to give Chuck an honorable mention here, it nearly made it onto the list. But I still haven't seen the second season. Carnivale likewise gets one, failing to make the top ten because of it's cancellation - which makes it feel unfinished and frustrating to watch.
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While Science Fiction/Fantasy is a genre I only dip into to watch occasionally Sitcoms are on the other hand an entirely different beast. They are pretty much my default genre for watching when I want to relax and unwind without engaging too much in the program I'm watching - demanding shows like say The Wire and The Shield are great, but sometimes they're a little overwhelming. Sitcoms on the other hand are just relaxing.

There's a particular note to make about this, you won't see any British sitcoms in the list, this is because I've decided to dedicate an entire section of this feature to British shows and British shows alone. Why? Because I can - but this does mean that the vast majority of shows on this list will be American, mostly because I haven't managed to acquire many Canadian or Australian sitcoms so far.

Additionally, animated shows aren't present here, they've got their own section as well.



Spawned from Cheers and almost equalling the success of it's parent, Frasier is a rather unusual sitcom in that it tends to avoid the low brow humour which many other sitcoms fall back on at times. Kesley Grammer is (almost literally) in the role of his life as Doctor Frasier Crane, who's left the bar to pursue a career in radio.

It's a tightly written and exceptionally clever show, but the reason it appears so low on this list is because of it's tendency to rely on the same style of gag over and over in the later seasons. Essentially things become one big long 'misunderstanding' with Frasier either trying to conceal the issue or making it worse.

Don't get me wrong, I still dig the show and I just adore Peri Gilpin who is all kinds of hot. But at times it's a little much to watch.


It's pretty low on my list because in all honest time hasn't been that kind to the original 20/30 something in New York sitcom. The later seasons in particular suffered a lot from a drop in quality and at times were just plain not funny.

But, it was a huge part of the 1990s and you've probably seen every episode more than once. The earlier seasons in particular are still an absolute delight to watch, when the show is on form it's so funny it's right up amongst the best. For myself it's Matthew Perry's performance as Chandler which remains the high point of the show, he's fantastic and remains so throughout.

Let's get the bad out of the way first. Yes, around the fifth, sixth and seventh season or so Scrubs did become rather tired and a smidge unfunny. But the first four and the eighth one were just superb and I for one am looking forward to the revitalised and remade show, allthough I do hope they change the name to something like Scrubs: The Next Generation - to distance it from the original a little and turn it into a spin-off.

This is the show which made a star out of Zach Braff and brought us comedy which could hilarious, utterly bizzare and exceptionally thoughtful and touching at the same time. It's nearly the very definition of 'bitter-sweet television' (another show pips it at the post, but more on that later).

Now if you'd asked me during the sixth or early seventh season, Scrubs might not have got a look in, as it was struggling a little then, but after that superb eighth season finale, which really should have closed the curtain on J.D. for us, I can say at the moment it's one of my favourites. Which is as it should be, because Scrubs is one of the shows which set me on the track of watching American television.

I just hope this ninth season slash spin off doesn't spoil it for me.


A relative new comer to this list and practically a baby compared to the other shows, 10 Items or Less is something which I've only watched over the past month or so. But wow, it's an absolute gem. Like Curb Your Enthusiasm the show is loosely scripted with main plot points and then the scenes are improvised.

It's set in a small fictional grocery store (supermarket for we Brits), Leslie Poole inherited the place after his father passed away and is now the manager (and owner) of the Greens & Grains. He's a well meaning chap who tries hard but is a little dim and rather unethical. His staff is small, but loyal - even if they're not willing to put up with his larger eccentricities at times.

The first season is pretty good, gets going fast and has some great moments. But the second season is better and the third season is just fantastic. This is a show which gets better and better with each (short) season.



The brain child of the lovely SNL alumni Tina Fey, 30 Rock follows the back stage antics of the staff and stars of the fictional "Girly Show". It's an energetic and fun show with masses of laughs and great performances from most of the cast. Tina Fey is superb as Liz Lemon, likewise Alec Baldwin is in the role of his life as Jack. In fact just about every cast member is nothing short of great in this.

My personal favourites are Kenneth - the NBC page with a heart of gold and the naivety to match, Jenna the self centered and insecure star of The Girly Show and Pete Hornberger, the producer and sounding board for Liz's issues (played by the woefully underused Scott Adsit).

A great show which is something you should catch up on, pick up the first and second season combined today!

Why You Should Watch 30 Rock




Heading towards it's seventh season, the hugely improvised sitcom about the fictional version of Larry David's life is just sheer brilliance. It's not for everyone, because this is a show genuinely about cringe worthy comedy and misunderstandings (like Fawlty Towers). But it's just so brilliantly paced and acted that at times it's almost staggering to think that it's mostly improvised.

Curb Your Enthusiasm will be giving us the Seinfeld reunion in it's next season. Which is such a fantastic move in my opinion. Bringing back Seinfeld without actually bringing it back. I have no hesitation in saying that I think the next season of Curb will be nothing short of amazing.



Frankly I can't stand the British version of this show, it's cringe worthy tripe of the highest order and I will always turn the television off or change the channel when it's on. But the US version somehow manages to keep that cringe factor, but dials it down just enough to allow for the shows other virtues to shine through.

I attribute a lot of this to Steve Carrell, who's just a fantastic comedic actor, he made the decision from the start to model Michael Scott not after David Brent but as he felt the scripts read. So he avoided watching the British version of The Office before starting this. The result is that the manager of the Scranton branch of Dunder-Mifflin is still headed by a gigantic dufus who manages to offend and upset people almost every time he opens his mouth, but he's also far more sympathetic and human.

To me David Brent just comes across as a petty, self-centered jerk with no redeeming features what so ever, but Michael Scott on the other hand is a caring human being who just can't relate with others correctly. It really changes the tone of the entire show and as such the entirety of the thing has become a show I'm very fond of.



I wrote yesterday that Neil Patrick Harris (NPH) would be making another appearance in this list, and for those of you who've seen HIMYM it shouldn't be a surprise at all why.

How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) is a fun story which bills itself as 'A love story in reverse'. Father of two, Ted sits down with his children and gradually unfolds the story of how he met their mother. A story which must be absolute agony for the children to sit through, because it's due to start it's fifth season this year.

While the kids might be stuck there being tortured by their boring dad and his overly long story, we as the viewer have a far more exciting treat. We get to watch the events unfold as Ted and his four friends - Marshall, Lily, Robin and the frankly awesome Barney (NPH) - experience them. It's a show which has some mild parallels with Friends; there are five of them, they're in New York. But these superficial similarities are just not important, the show is so funny, clever and original that it's great fun to watch. Especially NPH who is without a doubt the star turn in the show as the frankly awesome Barney.

Lighthearted, fun and filled with just good old laugh out loud comedy it's one of the best sitcoms on our screens at the moment.

The second entry from the mind of Larry David and possibly the most significant sitcom of the previous decade, a show which in essence is about about unpleasant people doing unpleasant things to each other and other innocents who just happen to enter their lives. All of it's nine seasons are great, though it's the third/fourth season where it really starts to hit it's stride, and it's a show I can watch repeatedly without getting tired of it.

The entire cast is fantastic, the stories are hilarious and the guest stars are astounding. It bucked the trend that most sitcoms followed during the 1990s and paved the way for Curb and more importantly my favourite sitcom.

At some point I'll probably put together a Seinfeld tribute week in order to celebrate it's return to the screens via Curb Your Enthisuasm. , I adore the show that much.



Make no bones about it, Arrested Development is my all time favourite comedy show bar none. In many ways I look on it as an evolution of the sitcom and also the spiritual successor to Seinfeld. It's (again) a show about unpleasant people doing unpleasant things to everyone in reach, but this time it's presented in the subtle form of a documentary narrated by Ron Howard.

It centers around the Bluths, a wealthy family who built their fortune around developing properties. But at the start of the show George Bluth Senior is arrested for various counts of fraud (and possible light treason). Leaving the entire company and family in the hands of the middle son, Michael Bluth.

Unusually for a sitcom, Arrested Development features an ongoing storyline which not only builds on previous events but makes extensive use of both callbacks to previous moments/jokes AND significantly it also foreshadows upcoming events as well. This, combined with the sheer quantity of short and subtle jokes makes Arrested Development such a deep, layered show that you can watch it multiple times and still find new things to laugh about.

And what other show has an aged Henry Winkler doing the Fonzie thumbs in the mirror and jumping over a shark before being replaced by Scott Baio?

Unparalleled brilliance and excellence in comedy.

Why You Should Watch... Arrested Development
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I'm not a massive Science Fiction buff as such. I grew up with a lot of shows like Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, Quantum Leap, Star Trek, Doctor Who and Babylon 5 around on the television. Mostly shows my father liked to watch, I watched as well because they were more exciting than the soap opera's my sister and mother prefered and because I loved Star Wars and Doctor Who as a kid. Say what you like, I'll always be fond of Sylvester McCoy's time lord, especially in Rememberance of the Daleks.

But on the whole it's a category I'm not so forgiving about, I guess it's because Science Fiction in the media tends to become about the gubbins and the writers often have an overly strong reliance on convienient devices which do anything like say, the sonic screwdriver, or which magically fix the day.

But on the whole I can forgive these ommissions and other similar issues if the show itself is good enough in other aspects, solid characters, interesting plots or exciting villains. So this list does indeed contain the shows which have managed to rise above the limits of the standard science fiction tropes through one method or another.



Opening up this relatively short list is a real favourite of mine, starring the brilliant and craggy Lance Heinrikson as Frank Black; this dark science fiction/mystery/thriller/horror show is set in the same universe as The X-Files but was something I much preferred to watch.

A lot of this I can attribute to the dark and relatively low-key nature of the show, but also Lance and Terry O'Quinn's performances are a huge part of why I loved watching it. It's just a shame it was cancelled before being given a chance to reach the Millennium itself and close out it's meta-plot. Even the short X-Files episode 'Millennium' wasn't satisfying enough as it was clearly an X-Files episode with Frank Black in it - making it very different in tone to the rest of the show.

This seems as good a place as any to also mention Dan Owen's fan fiction 4th season of the show.



No matter how hard I try and put my finger on what it is exactly about Anthony Michael Hall's rendition of Stephen King's The Dead Zone, the actual reason eludes me somewhat. But for many reasons (some of which I wrote about a while back) The Dead Zone is one show I'll always have fond memories of. Memories somewhat sullied by the shows abrupt cancellation just as it was getting really amazing, but there is little I can do about that except hope to see

In essence the show was a riff on King's original book idea, introducing one new character near the beginning - Bruce, Johnny's physiotherapist - and seeing how his influence changed the outcome of the story. Without Bruce (as the show demonstrates in one episode) Johnny spirals off and becomes the driven, possessed lunatic who appears in the book. But with Bruce's aid the Johnny in this show instead becomes a more balanced individual, someone who's influence and psychic powers change the lives of others for good.

The last season did make some abrupt decisions about various characters and weakened the show a little. But the final trio of episodes ended on such an amazing set of notes that I was left clamouring for one final season to bring everything to a head. Sadly this was not to be.



Almost a summer companion show to The Dead Zone (for myself at least) The 4400 could almost be described as the precursor to Heroes. Over the past hundred or so years four thousand four hundred people were "abducted" or went missing for unknown reasons. Suddenly they are all returned at the same time in a flash of light, each and every one of them 'changed' somehow and then sent back for an unknown reason.

While it was a superhero science fiction show at heart, the show also dealt a lot with the issues of displacement and the losing of family ties. As the series progressed it dealt with a huge meta plot explaining and understanding why 'the 4400' were returned, who the opposition were and so forth. It was a fantastic story handed out in tantalising drips and drabs.

The show wasn't without it's hiccups though, there are a few moments which at the time felt almost like shark jumping incidents, the third season in particular was a little rough. But the fourth season hit a stride which was just staggering, especially towards the end of it's run - where it moved things into a whole new level and just left me almost speechless at it's cancellation. All it needed was one more season, but sadly it was retired by USA to make room for new shows - shows which still haven't made a significant splash...

And that's why I think any decent network would cancel a show before it's finished it's production season, in order to give the writers a chance to wrap things up for the viewers before ending.



Short lived, offbeat and wonderful. These three words could be used to describe any of Bryan Fuller's creations, the man seems to be able to create these marvelous shows with an off-beat and cultish style to them. Shows which always seem to die before their third season.

Dead Like Me is the longest lived of them, it ran for two seasons and managed a straight to DVD video which, while flawed and hurting from the lack of Mandy Patinkin and Laura Harris, did have some great moments. It's a show which charts the (un)life of one George Lass, a girl killed by a falling toilet seat on the first day of her first job. But for George that isn't the end, it's the beginning - as Rube (Patinkin) explains to her, she's been chosen to become a Reaper. One of the undead who has the job of ushering souls into the next life.

George joins Rube's group, a small selection who deal in people who die through accidents and murders - there's Mason, Roxy, Betty, Betty and later on Daisy. They meet Der Waffel hause where they are assigned their given souls (or reap) by Rube.

The show is eccentric and charming, on the surface it's dealing with the subject of death in a light but meaningful fashion. But deeper beneath that the show also deals with loss and depression, every single major character in the show is clinically depressed (apart from maybe Betty) but manifests it in a different manner.

It's this combination of humor, drama and Rube Goldberg style death sequences which make the show an enjoyable watch. It's got real heart and soul.


Witty, action packed, exciting and nothing short of plain brilliant - as the first of three shows from Joss Whedon to make it on this list Buffy is proof of Joss's writing talent. Not to mention the fantastic performances from the cast as well. Buffy is very much a modern classic of television, revitalising the horror genre by making it suitable for mainstream pre-watershed consumption.

The combination of wit, humour and horror works exceptionally well for Joss's style and gave the viewers an amazing freshman season which cemented the show's return. But it was the sophmore season that gave us the show's most memorable character - Spike. James Marsters' performance throughout the show is just magnetic, entertaining and all kinds of superb; ao personally it's Spike who really gives the show it's veritable bite and remains the primary draw for myself.



In essence a spiritual successor to Buffy, I personally prefer Supernatural - a decision I'm happy to admit is somewhat controversial. I can't exactly explain why of the two I rank this one ahead. But mostly I think it's because the show has learnt from Buffy, it's a humours and charming pastiche of the horror genre; willing to touch on any element of story telling, from folk lore and legends all the way up to B-Movies.

It also provides not only season long plots but also has run a five year meta plot which will close out this year. At every step of the way this plot has been interesting, gripping and each segment has ended with an incredible cliffhanger which leaves you just dying for more (and sometimes leaves the characters just dying). It's capable of being dark like Millennium but also light and witty like Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day and Buffy itself.

Final judgment is reserved until I've seen the rest of the fourth season and the fifth one, but at the moment I have no hesitation in putting this one here in my Top Science Fiction/Horror/Fantasy Shows.




I thought about splitting this one into the pre and post cancellation versions of the show, as they do indeed have quite different feels to them. But in all honesty they are the same show, even if some of the style has altered somewhat.

The older, classic shows, have a quirky feel to them which is ramshackle and almost whimiscal. While the newer ones manage to keep some of that energy but improve on the style and substance of the show. Now yes, there are many flaws in this show - the most recent set had quite a few terrible episodes (Daleks in Manhattan and Love & Monsters to name two) and Russell T. Davies - while an exceptional writer for character emotion - always struggles to come up with a satisfactory conclusion for his stories short of just using some 'magic reset button'. But these can easily be forgiven when the show has such fantastic performances from it's leads (David Tennant, Christopher Eccleston, Billie Piper and Catherine Tate in particular) and then even goes and gives us episodes like Blink, Human Nature, The Girl in the Fireplace, Father's Day and The Empty Child.

It's a show which started long before I was born and will mostly likely carry on long after I'm gone, and for that - and much, much more - I'll always love watching it, despite it's cheesy nature and varied episode quality.



Was there any doubt this would make an appearance on the list? When BSG is good, it's very good; and while the run wasn't perfection, some moments were decidedly ropey, the third season has vast tracts of episodes which I'll always skip if given the option and the end of the series really dragged on - it still managed to achieve an believable universe with some exceptionally awesome villains.

It's quite possibly one of the best shows of the decade and will most likely remain the definitive vision of the series. Far greater than it's fun but flawed 1980's counterpart and almost certainly stronger than any possible reimagining which might be lucking in the mind of Brian Singer.




Part science fiction, part superhero comic and part musical. Doctor Horrible's Sing Along Blog is one of three shows which demonstrate just how effective embracing the new age of media can be. Distributed for free on the internet Doctor Horrible swept up and carried along myself along with so many more watchers with it's brilliant blend of drama, comedy and singing.

The absolute star and gem of this is the talented and wonderful Neil Patrick Harris (a man who will make another appearance in one of the other lists) who gives a top notch performance as the titular Doctor Horrible. Supported with a commanding performance from Felicia Day and the lovely vision that is Nathan Fillon (wait, is that the right way round?) The show tapped into the public's love of super powers, villains and tunes you can really sing along to. Creating something which became instantly a classic while also showing where the future of television could be.

And fortunately for us, a sequel has been announced!


For such a short lived show it's almost surprising that I'm willing to put Firefly up there in the top position. But as I explained before there's so much to love about Firefly, and it's quite possible that the short lived nature of the show aids this. There are many shows which push on for just far too long, they keep churning out more and more seasons until things become tired and hackneyed or just plain stink. So the short length of the show is quite possibly of benefit here; Firefly just didn't have time to produce a bad episode, instead it's wonderful short run (and movie sequel) stand up beautifully and leave a lot of room for "what if" speculation about where things could have gone.

Add to this the western theme, witty dialog and fantastic performances from almost the entire cast combined with a fun (if rather unrealistic) 'universe' and you end up with a show I can go back and re-watch repeatedly.
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