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Your personal "Top 5 TV shows" of all time


mcsluggo

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18 minutes ago, Larry said:

Really thought I'd have at least one fellow Hill Street Blues fan, in here.  

 

To me, I think it did a lot of things that were really new, and which have now become a lot more common.  Like being much more serial.  Yeah, there had been lots of shows before then that had gained or lost characters, things like that.  But I think it was the first one (outside of soap operas) where so many things carried over to following episodes.  

 

(In fact, the show was forced to tone it down, quite a bit.  First season, they had so many threads that ran to multiple episodes, that the network had to issue a mandate that every episode had to have at least one story that began and ended that episode.  Because the network thought that making every story multi-episode mate it tough for channel surfers to figure out what was going on, if they just tuned in.)  

 

There's so many great shows that you forget them. I already edited my list twice. Hill Street Blues opened the door for NYPD Blue and Law and Order.

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18 minutes ago, zoony said:

 

louis CK

 

Ironically, those are all terrible actors.  Not one good movie between them

 

He's had a solid acting career. Louie and Horace And Pete are quality shows, plus American Hustle and Blue Jasmine are good films. 

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10 minutes ago, DM72 said:

 

There's so many great shows that you forget them. I already edited my list twice. Hill Street Blues opened the door for NYPD Blue and Law and Order.

 

Well, it gave us Dennis Franz as a cop.  

 

(Two cops, in fact.  Franz played a cop on Hill Street Blues who died.  (Tried to rob a bank, got caught, killed himself in the bank.)  Then came back, later, as a different cop, and was a regular on the show.  (And had his own terrible spin-off series, that bombed.))

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Gonna break it down between dramas and comedy as well.

 

Drama:

 

The Wire

Deadwood

Game of Thrones

Breaking Bad

The Sopranos

 

Comedy:

 

I Love Lucy

Arrested Development 

Looney Tunes

Fawlty Towers

Seinfeld

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10 hours ago, Larry said:

Really thought I'd have at least one fellow Hill Street Blues fan, in here.  

 

To me, I think it did a lot of things that were really new, and which have now become a lot more common.  Like being much more serial.  Yeah, there had been lots of shows before then that had gained or lost characters, things like that.  But I think it was the first one (outside of soap operas) where so many things carried over to following episodes.  

 

(In fact, the show was forced to tone it down, quite a bit.  First season, they had so many threads that ran to multiple episodes, that the network had to issue a mandate that every episode had to have at least one story that began and ended that episode.  Because the network thought that making every story multi-episode mate it tough for channel surfers to figure out what was going on, if they just tuned in.)  

 

Hill Street Blues really was groundbreaking.  NYPD Blue refined the genre.  Both were really good shows. 

 

I see a parallel with St. Elsewhere and ER on the medical side.  Both really great shows. 

 

Think about ER for a minute.  It ran for 15 seasons, almost unheard of for an hour-long drama.  It received more Emmy nominations than any drama in TV history. I can't think of any other series, drama or otherwise, that had a complete changeover of its cast over the years like ER did, including the stars of the show, and still keep chugging along with high quality.  (That it was created by Michael Chrichton in cooperation with Steven Spielberg explains a lot of its success.)

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In no particular order..

The Wire...   best drama ever.

Seinfeld ...  funniest sitcom ever.

Frasier...   Perfect cast, great writers, hilariously funny

The Sopranos..  second best drama ever

SCTV: John Candy, Eugene Levy, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Catherine O'Hara, Joe Flaherty, Dave Stewart, Andrea Martin played all characters surrounding a fictional television station.. holy crap this show was hilariously funny. 

 

 

Honorable mentions;
Hill Street Blues.. although i have no idea how well it's aged. I haven't seen it since it was new, but man, that was a really well done cop show.

The Garry Shandling Show..  Biting and hilarious. 

 

 

~Bang

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12 hours ago, StillUnknown said:

 

its on Netflix I believe

 

i've fallen asleep a few nights watching them, it still holds up after all these years 

 

its on netflix... my kids have been watching it ALOT lately 

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12 hours ago, zoony said:

 

 

I dont think i could narrow it down to specials.  But comedians I would take Chris Rock, Carlin, Chappelle, Bill Burr, and louis CK.  Ironically, those are all terrible actors.  Not one good movie between them

 

On the other hand, I know its sacrilege but i never liked Pryor, Steve Martin, or Eddie Murphy standup.  However, they are all great actors and have countless awesome movie rolls between them

 

Ive decided for me anyway that a comedian cant be both a great standup and actor, has to be one or the other

 

 

raw

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1. Game of Thrones

 

2. Miami Vice (what, anybody older than 30 in this place? LOL)

 

3. Justice League (The Animated Series) / Justice League Unlimited (The Animated Series)

 

4. The Simpsons (Seasons 1 through 10 only)

 

5. The Sopranos

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14 hours ago, zoony said:

On the other hand, I know its sacrilege but i never liked Pryor, Steve Martin, or Eddie Murphy standup.

 

I'm with you on this.  Steve Martin was creative with his material and deserves credit for that, but I don't love his stand up either and I don't think it's aged gracefully.  It's alright, and I understand why today's comedians hold him up as one of the greats, but it just doesn't work like it used to.

 

Pryor and Murphy's work comes off a lot worse.  When people reminisce about their stand up, they always gush about their "physicality."  I get the praise, but to me that's also a code for "the jokes themselves suck."  Richard Pryor was groundbreaking and influential and his material is a lot stronger than Eddie Murphy's, but it's not great.  Eddie Murphy's material is flat out garbage.  It hasn't aged well at all and his specials (once deemed the pinnacle of the form) are trainwrecks.  He's a genius at delivering jokes but he can't write them for ****.  That's a big contrast to me from Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock.  Killing Them Softly and Bring The Pain are as funny now as they were when they came out.  I put both of them in my top five for GOAT specials.

 

And it's not just about stand up not naturally aging well because Bill Cosby's and George Carlin's work is still funny.  Rodney Dangerfield and Steven Wright are as funny now as they were in the 80's.  Hell, Bob Newhart still makes me laugh.  Whatever Eddie Murphy captured as a stand up that made him so wildly popular was transitory and didn't last beyond the 80's.

 

Anyway, here's my top five stand up specials currently on Netflix:

 

1 - Anthony Jeselnik - Thoughts and Prayers

2 - John Mulaney - Comeback Kid & New In Town

3 - Ali Wong - Baby Cobra

4 - Louis CK - Live at the Beacon Theater/Chewed Up/Hilarious - pick any.  I think Chewed Up is my favorite

5 - Dave Chappelle's two specials - I don't at all get why people didn't seem to like these

 

Honorable Mention to Donald Glover's Weirdo, Hannibal Burress's Comedy Comisado and Animal Furnace, and Mike Birbiglia's stuff.

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48 minutes ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

Dave Chappelle's two specials - I don't at all get why people didn't seem to like these

 

I thought they were both just flat out genius.  Artist at the top of his craft

 

"He rapes but he saves!"  Just outstanding LOL

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