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69.14.231.16
As my film professor liked to say, "If it's on film, then it's film." That includes, ostensibly, television shows. What are the best shows/episodes, IYHO?Mine, in no particular order:
Twin Peaks - The first season. Lynch should have his own cable channel.
The Prisoner - The whole thing. Brilliant paranoid/psycological thriller, it's amazing it was ever put to film, even more that it was put on TV.
The Outer Limits - Demon with a Glass Hand / written by Harlan Ellison. Probably the best single episode of sci-fi on TV.
Seinfeld - The Marine Biologist. I'm not exactly sure how, but they tied together a crochety Russian writer, golf, and a running lie about marine biology into one of the funniest stories I've ever seen. The writers themselves refer to it as their perfect episode.
The Sopranos - Funhouse. I just love the way they shot this. Most of the story is a food poisioning-induced dream, and it looks like one, with characters floating in and out, doing random things, that all make sense at the end. Great stuff.
The Office. The BBC version is really great, the American version is even more fleshed out, with a fantastic supporting cast. The only current show on TV I regularly laugh out loud at.
The Simpons - You Only Move Twice. A fantastic spoof of a James Bond flick, where the family moves into a utopian town run by an amiable Bond style villian. There are loads of classic Simpsons episodes, this is my favorite.
Cowboy Bebop - An anime series from Japan. Indescribably good, and amazingly fun to watch. Just watch a few episodes. Heck, the animated blue note album cover-style intro is amazing:
Here.
/*Music is subjective. Sound is not.*/
Follow Ups:
It's unfortunate, but PBS has really declined in recent years. BambiB mentions many excellent past productions,(to which I'd add Game, Set, Match with Ian Holm, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and I Claudius)but aside from The Forsyth Saga, it's been poor fare in recent years. It's at the point where I pretty much watch Nova, Frontline, The Newshour and nothing else.On the other hand, HBO has thought provoking and compelling current productions with -
Rome - A beautiful production being filmed in Italy. Ciaran Hinds is fabulous as Julius Caesar. The child actor from Master and Commander plays the budding Octavian (Augustus Caesar.) Sidebar conversations between the roman legionary characters give interesting insights to the classical mind-set and role of religion in Roman society.
Big Love - Oddly compelling story line about polygamy and American consumerism and values.
The Wire - The plot twists and gritty characterizations made this a dark reflection of urban reality.
Oh yeah, and Deadwood too.
For the SciFi set, some of the episodes of Battlestar Galactica were compelling, well written, and surprisingly disturbing, dealing with issues like the morality of torture and public deception during wartime, collateral damage, and ideological fanaticism.
Some newer ones not mentioned:The Shield, maybe its the uncensored nature of the dialogue and violence, but this has the gritty feel of something like SE7EN. Almost never a Hollywood ending to its epis. IMHO, "dark" is good, and this sucker is dark. Can't wait for the "back eight" to run to see Vic's and the Strike Team's ultimate fate. My guess is Shane is a dead man.
Boomtown, a shortlived police drama on NBC. Very non linear storytelling, i.e., the ending of the show would be shown, the rest of the show would then be shown from the perspective of its various characters, somewhat confusing a la Go. It asked a lot from its audience but those who stuck with it loved it. The heist of the local sporting goods store by an ex actor ("b" list at best) was my personal favorite.
Deadwood, up there with the best westerns ever committed to film. An almost poetic dialogue. Al Swearingen ("Swingen" per the local Chinese boss) is a character for the ages.
Twin Peaks. Already mentioned I know, but damn, Season 1 and especially the first 4 or 5 segments, are as good as television ever got. I don't care if it crapped out at the end, this one was about the journey, not the destination.
Band of Brothers. The episode on the taking of the German 88s has very few peers in war movies.
Simpsons. I'd nominate the episode where Homer made a fool out of himself at the Chili Cookoff. He experienced a hallucination (caused by injesting the chilis from Hell) where a dog, voiced by Johnny Cash was his spirit guide. His concluding realization at the end that Marge was his soul mate was poingnant and a believable conclusion to a perfectly written episode . My all time favorite of a show with tons of memorable epis.
The Wire. Damn, Talk about gritty. Last season was probably the best. The next to last episode where murdering gangster Stringer Bell was murdered himself by an even "lower on the food chain" thug was surprisingly moving. Who would have thunk two years ago that you'd feel sympathy for Bell at his demise? Well done HBO.
Significant Others, on the Bravo Network (long since cancelled after a very short run.) Hilarious comedy that followed three couples. I don't even know how to describe it. Another one that never found an audience. Cancelled after 8 epis
The Office. Ridiculously funny. Raises the bar for network comedy.
At least 8 strongly drawn characters with character traits unique from the others.I Claudius, from the 70's. Great history lesson on Rome gratis of public TV. HBO doing a commendable job with Ceasar.
Many many more.
"E Burres Stigano"
jcmcb,The old television machine somtimes brings forth more than close ups of sizzling gristleburger sometimes and programmes such as "Jewel in the Crown" "Brideshead Revisited", " Smiley's People", and "Reilly: Ace of Spies" to me certainly rise to the level and somtimes beyond of features as the multiple parts allow greater character development than the compression of a two hour feature..
Especially, "Jewel in the Crown", in my view is among the best television ever made.
The recent two part series, "Elizabeth I" with Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons was quite memorable as well. Also, I think some of the "Sherlock Holmes Mysteries" with Jeremy Brett rose to a very high level. And do you remember the Stephen Fry / Hugh Lawry "Bertie and Jeeves?
I would second Jeff Starr's "Fawlty Towers" and your own "Simpsons" both of which can be screamingly funny.
For documentaries, "A History of Britain" with Schama and Robert Hughes' "Shock of the New", a history of modern painting were exceptional.
There are some "Twilight Zone" episodes that are very intelligent and thought provoking.
And I'm thinking of two memorable episiodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" that I thought were amazing for television: 1) Picard is trapped on a planet and learns to commuicate with an alien who speaks in metaphors, "Gilead, His eyes unfurled" and etc. and 2) The episode in which Picard lives a whole lifetime on a planet with a family and social position and then realizes it was a few seconds' dream implanted by a roving satellite that projects this to have people understand a lost culture.
Television someday rises to be a great medium.
Cheers,
Bambi B
...one of the very best brit comedy series ever, with, by & from John Cleese.
Twin Peaks (completely enthralling, glued to every episode)
The Prisoner (ahead of its time)
The Young Ones (1980's punk junk with the obnoxious Rik Mayall)
.
Ex nihilo, nihil fit . . .
If you are talking about film quality productions;The Lorretta Young Show (each week was a different story) /
I Rember Mama ( was also a movie and best seller book ) /
Playhouse 90 (i beleive it was done live and had many top actors and excellent writers.) /
I think most of the better productions occured in the early days of television.
Amos n' Andy; Bowery Boys; Little Rascals; Cisco Kid; Lone Ranger; Roy Rogers; Three Stooges; Adventures of Superman; HoneyMooners; Science Fiction Theater; Hawaiian Eye; Richard Diamond,Private Detective; Pete&Gladys; Dragnet; Gunsmoke; Rawhide; I Dream of Jeannie; Have Gun,Will Travel; My Favorite Martian; The Munsters; Addams Family; Seahunt; Many Lives of Dobie Gillis; Perry Mason; You Bet Your Life; Arthur Godfrey Talent Show; Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour; Red Skelton Show; Ed Sullivan Show; WagonTrain;Twilight Zone; Outer Limits; Thriller; Alfred Hitchcock Presents; Rat Patrol; Gilligans Island; Dark Shadows; Bonanza; The Millionaire; The Prisoner; The Avengers; The Defenders; The Fugitive; Mission Impossible; The Invaders; Checkmate; The Rifleman; Wanted: Dead or Alive; 77 Sunset Strip; The Untouchables; Beverly Hillbillies; Candid Camera; Andy Griffith Show; Get Smart; Man From U.N.C.L.E.; Wild,Wild West; Laugh In; Mod Squad; Miami Vice; Sanford&Son; All In The Family; Rockford Files; Kolchak: The Night Stalker; Ren&Stimpy; The Tick; King of the Hill. ~AH
~AH
The best television show ever produced. Period!
I would have thought you would have nominated The Young Ones for best TV show :) I forgot to add that one to my list..."Vivian! Where did you get that howitzer!?!?!"
"Found it!"
/*Music is subjective. Sound is not.*/
"Combat" - early sixties drama about WWII. While somewhat historically inaccurate this is still one of the best dramas ever to be on TV (IMO)."TwiLight Zone" - Rod Sterling's orignial (in black & white over course). Some of the most thought prvoking TV of the time.
"Astro Boy" - the first animated TV series to be produced in Japan. It made it to the U.S. in the very early sixties and is the considered the original Japanese anime. An instant classic. Somewhat dark unlike many of the anime that followed.
"Kung Fu" - what can I say, a teleivison original. Simply unique in pace, texture and charactures.
"Miami Vice" - visually stunning. Michael Mann's use of music and cinematography. Earth tones were taboo. But more than that the show had a feel to it. Also the many guest performances by people who were not considered actors such as: Phil Collins played a game show host, Miles Davis played a pimp, boxer Roberto Duran and who could forget Frank Zappa.
I agree with dave c in regards to the biting satire Action and the high octane Crime Story with a caveat about that second season ender That has to be one of the lamest, most improbable cliff-hangers ever contemplated for a TV series, ...at least since the days of saturday morning serials.Other great television:
The first season of Wiseguy with two supurbly done story arcs; breakout performance for Kevin Spacey as Mel Profitt with memorable roles for Ray Sharkey (Sonny Steelgrave) and William Russ (Roger LoCocco).
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel & Firefly (three brilliant series helmed by Joss Whedon): Even though Buffy and Angel may not seem like the subject for great television based on the vampire & teen angst themes, these are among the wittiest, most thoughtful dramatic programs ever contemplated for series television. It would be hard to pick one or two specific episodes in any of these series because, quite frankly, most are supurb. In Buffy, the Broadway musical episode in season 5(?) is a standout as is the episode where Buffy's mother dies of natural causes (serious drama), and for clever repartee, look for episodes featuring the character Spike.
Stargate SG-1 & Atlantis: Some hit and miss episodes over Stargates continuing series (now in it's 9th year) and Atlantis is still in it's formative stages, but mostly excellent with nicely drawn characters and imaginative, well thought out SF storylines. Favorites? I like the CGI Asgard race (who pop up in episodes occasionally and look like stereotypical Area 51 grey aliens); their superior attitude provides an element of dry wit that is sidesplittingly funny in ways that Spock's & Data's fish-out-of-water reactions in the old Trek series rarely achieved.
For animation fans, The (one and only) TICK! And let me emphasize here, NOT the live action series, which was pretty much a train wreck and watered down PC version or the animated series.
Briscoe County Jr (coming out on DVD soon; oh, joy!) - This Bruce Campbell tongue'n cheek western was not only a send-up of the genre, but the cleverest ever done, IMHO. Over the top only when it had to be, but the audience was always along for the ride and in on the joke when the punchline was delivered with a straight face. Forget Mel Brooks and Blazing Saddles, taken as a whole, THIS is funnier. Even though this series lasted only a year (22 epiodes, if I'm not mistaken) it's a classic.
Guilty pleasure: The original Superman TV series featuring George Reeves; especially the pulpy, violent first season with Phyllis Coates as Lois Lane. Although cheaply done by today's standards, these shows maintain much of the charm and simplicity of the comic character without resorting to the the deus ex machina cop-outs that would creep into other Superman series' stories over the years (i.e., the Kryptonite-trap-of-the-week plots).
Well, I'd best stop here and reflect some more on other great series that I've overlooked (but are as yet unavailable on DVD), such as The (original) Fugitive starring David Janssen, The Invaders (another Quinn Martin series), starring Roy Thinnes and the first season or two of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and Mission Impossible (especially the first season, featuring Steven Hill as Daniel Briggs). Ah, lots to mull over! :o)
AuPh
Well,well,well,the contributors seem to forget that they are being entertained and that the subjects of this entertainment reside outside of this planet Earth. Maybe you'll cherished the fact that the commercial script writers are mostly seeking inspiration through drugs or local police blotters.
When I survey the whole array of subjects, one thing comes to mind : not one serious review appears, just a bunch of one-liners, on any "movie" subject - that is a serious indictment of writing and thinking skills of these contributors. Maybe they all liked "Amelia" and can not even say WHY.....
Please do if you can, will you?
The Prisoner: Patrick McGoohan
Elizabeth R: Glenda Jackson delivers an untoppable Elizabeth 1st
Callan: Edward Woodward as detective
Reilly, Ace of Spys: Sam Neill at his bestLately: 6 Feet Under; the early shows were well paced, unpredictable, crass, dark, and funny
Grins
That one is soooo good... it nearly stopped the whole life in the USSR in 1971, I believe! Nothing during the Cold War hurt the contry more than that mini-series. People would watch it, and next day at work there would be no other subjects... all day long!If instead of the Tridents the US made a pile of films like that, the Iron Curtain would had crumbled sooner!
I will buy the DVD set... I know my wife will treat me well for that!
Twin Peaks. I only wish it had carried on to its conclusion.Crime Story. The series Michael Mann made after Miami Vice and a proto for many of the series that have followed it. Beautifully shot and scripted and acted, especially the parts set in Las Vegas. I play these to interior designers and we sit and marvel at it.
Action. The funniest sit-com about the movie business I have ever seen. I think there is only one series and it is the funniest most scabrous thing you will ever see on TV.
Hill Street Blues. The sine qua non of all contemorary crime shows.
Dallas. A true super-reality of American society. I might not be joking.
Oz. Brilliantly hallucinatory series about a maximum security prison.
Dangermouse. Beautiful British cartoon.
Very good series with a decent twist, but not the last series... or the movies...
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