OT Poll - Favorite TV Show

[ednbarby]

I was just wondering what we all love to watch on the boob tube when we're not watching BBM again or trying to give *some* props to some other movie.  I made it so you can vote for as many as you'd like, as some folks don't have just one favorite, and I tried to represent all the biggies in current pop culture.  Let me know if you have a favorite I haven't listed and I'll add it.

I voted for Lost, The Daily Show and Scrubs.  I'm starting to really enjoy The Colbert Report, though, so I may have to change my vote eventually. 

[twistedude]

"South Park,"-- and "Real Time with Bill Maher" blows hot and cold...I haven't watched normal TV for a long time. I started (gave it one look) "Big Love" (about an extended Mormon family), but some friends told me it isn't really like that at all, so I quit.

Gandolfini has the sweetest smile....

I don't see "Six Feet Under" on the list--that would be one of my all-time favvorites, along with "All in the Family" and "MASH."  There ain't hardly nothin' to watch no' mo'.

[ednbarby]

Yeah, I couldn't get into "Big Love" either, and for the same reason.  I did really enjoy Jeanne Tripplehorn on my couple of viewings though.  Great character name, too.    Figures, though - I finally get a character in a TV show with my name, and she's one of the three wives of a polygamist - er - plural marrier.

James Gandolfini is a tremendous actor.  I really got into the first couple seasons of The Sopranos, but I guess it didn't hold my interest enough to keep me faithful over lo those many long hiatuses.  I was sad to see Six Feet Under end, though.  The third season was a bit of a wash, but the final season more than made up for it.  Talk about the quintessential dreamer - Nathaniel Fisher, Jr., anyone?

[Nicole]

I picked:

The Daily Show
The Colbert Report
Gilmore Girls (don't laugh - it's good!)
South Park
Scrubs

South Park isn't a show I watch on a regular basis, but whenever I do I laugh my ass off. 

One show that isn't on the list that I adore is The Office (that would be US version - sadly, I've never seen the British one.  I'm sure it's amazing - but don't knock the US one - it's hilarious!)
I also would have said Arrested Development, but  it's done.

All-time favourite shows:

The amazing, wonderful and wacky 90210 of course. (Kelly was burned in a fire, raped, sucked into a cult, shot in a drive-by, had amnesia, was stalked by a girl from rehab, was stalked by the lesbian she was burned with, had a coke addiction, had a mother with a coke addiction, got addicted to diet pills....for that alone you have to bow down to the show)
My So-Called Life (Jordan Catalano is infinitely hotter than Jared Leto - strange but true)
Freaks and Geeks (funny as hell and James Franco was in it - need I say more?)

[ednbarby]

I love Gilmore Girls!  Like you with South Park, Nicole, for some reason I don't catch it often but when I do I laugh my ass off.

My all-time favorites:

Twin Peaks (first season only - got too weird even for me after that)
The X-Files (the first three or four seasons especially)
Seinfeld (Anyone remember Del Boca Vista? - lmao - it's a combination of Delray Beach and Boca Raton, with Vista thrown in, and I've lived in both.  Oh and by the way, we live very near a development down here called Boca Del Mar - almost bought a house in there before we bought our current one.  )
The Simpsons
King of the Hill
Malcomb in the Middle (the first two seasons)
Father of the Pride
Arrested Development
Six Feet Under
Scrubs
The Daily Show
Lost

[twistedude]

I dearly loved "6 Feet Under,"--but how can you really miss it, when it is..really... over?
I watched the last show dutifully 4 or 5 times, to get everyone's vital statistics, --and then discovered they were right on the internet!

I liked that David took another partner, after Keith was shot--but did NOT marry him...(I also liked that David and Keith got married to begin with--so probably, someday, in California, it will be legal).

Yeah, Nate...I know all the others are gone, but I still miss Nate...

[ednbarby]

I dearly loved "6 Feet Under,"--but how can you really miss it, when it is..really... over?
I watched the last show dutifully 4 or 5 times, to get everyone's vital statistics, --and then discovered they were right on the internet!

I liked that David took another partner, after Keith was shot--but did NOT marry him...(I also liked that David and Keith got married to begin with--so probably, someday, in California, it will be legal).

Yeah, Nate...I know all the others are gone, but I still miss Nate...

I know what you mean, Julie.  I guess what I should say is that I miss that level of quality drama on TV.  I try to watch network dramas, and they irk the crap outta me because they pander so much to the idiot masses.  Same formula all the time.  It gets tiresome.  Even Lost lately is irritating me because I feel it patronizing me a bit.  I do not like to be manipulated by my entertainment - that's why I *cannot* abide "reality" shows - it's all about the bait and switch.  Erg.

David came to be my favorite character on Six Feet Under.  With Claire a close second.  I think they evolved as human beings the most over the course of the series.  Nate never really changed a bit, nor did Ruth.  While I often loved Nate for being the Voice of Reason, I often was irritated with him for being so foolish when it came to his own life.

Oh, my God.  I'm talking about these characters as if they are real people!  Who'd a' thunk it?   

[littledarlin]

out of this list, project runway and lost.  but the best tv show of all-time is the simpsons.  i will not accept dissenting opinions on this matter 

i also love six feet under, strangers with candy, french & saunders, absolutely fabulous, wondershowzen, the oblongs, futurama, living single, and sex and the city.

and even though i just listed 39024893284 shows, i'm actually not a big fan of television. 

[twistedude]

littledarlin: I haded a postcard with your tagline on it to my son, a movie critic, with two questions:
1) WHAT is THIS?
2) WHAT DOES IT--MEAN?
He couldn't guess either thing, but when i translated it, he said, Oh yeah, I remember that line...

I showed him the Oscar promo book., with a line of his criticism in it, and he was most interested in reading the things the othert critics said, not the glorious pictures...he went to as lot of festivals, but had never heard of the BAFTAs (at least by name)...the March 10 Variety elicited "They don't mention the Oscars at all." (as if it had been an intentional, well-earned snub)I said "Only things where it won "Best Picture, and things where there was no
best picttuire,  like Director's Guild...he called it "The best picture of the year"..but give the guy a break, he only saw it three times, two of them before any of us did.

click to enlarge...

[Ellemeno]

I voted for The Daily Show and HGTV.  I haven't seen any of the others, except for South Park (which mostly I find - surprise! - offensive, but did love the "Tom Cruise won't come out of the closet" one).  

All time favorites?  I watched a lot of TV as a kid, not so much since.  We've had a TiVo now for about a month, and there's still not much I can find to watch.  Just as well.  So I guess I'd say -

I Love Lucy (my hero!)
early SNL
Northern Exposure
Sports Night
King of the Hill
The Simpsons

Um, just for fun and a stroll down my memory lane, I'm going to the internet to find a list of TV shows to peek through.  Okay, found a big list at jumptheshark.com.  Here's some I loved at various eras, in alpha order:

The Andy Griffith Show
Cagney and Lacey
The Carol Burnett Show
Coach
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Daria
Davey and Goliath
Designing Women
The Dick van Dyke Show
Family Affair
Get Smart
Hawaii Five-O
Inside the Actors Studio
The Jetsons
L.A. Law
The Larry Sanders Show
Living Single
Lonesome Dove
Lou Grant
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Murphy Brown
Reading Rainbow
Roseanne
Sex and the City
The Simpsons
thirtysomething
TV Nation
Wishbone

My favorite is that "Daria" and "Davey and Goliath" are next to each other on the list.

Clarissa

[Ray]

You know, I've never watched an episode of the shows listed so here's mine:

1  Star Trek Voyager
2  OZ
3  Queer s folk - English version
4  Tales of the City
5   Absolutely fabulous
6   Roseanne
7   Simpsons
8   Drawn together
9   Young Ones
10  Futurama
11  Love boat
12 Green Acres

[littledarlin]

clarissa, i'm so glad you like living single.  it's such an under appreciated show!  the humor is so hilarious and the cast was perfect.  i'm so glad they started releasing the dvds.  i got the first season, it's priceless. 

[YaadPyar]

Arrested Development

...where is this?  OK - only three seasons, and now gone for good, but it stands in my book as one of the most clever, hip and funny shows I've ever seen.  The cast/casting is impeccible, and the stories are brilliant. 

I believe that it never found an audience (although plenty of critical acclaim) because it's pace and rythym suffer horribly with commercial interruptions.  Seen on DVD, no interruptions to break the flow, it is comedic genius.  No matter how many times I see an episode, and know what's coming next, I still laugh.

And I prefer a good laugh to most anything on the planet.

[Ellemeno]

clarissa, i'm so glad you like living single.  it's such an under appreciated show!  the humor is so hilarious and the cast was perfect.  i'm so glad they started releasing the dvds.  i got the first season, it's priceless. 

I happened upon it late one night and thought it was hie-larious (and developed quite a thing for Overton).  Had a phase where watching it was the last thing I did before going to bed (unlike now where this is the last thing I do before NOT going to bed).  Like other shows, it got real dumb in the later episodes, sigh.

I never thought of it on DVD.  But I haven't watched hardly anything non-BBM-related since December 31st (first time I saw BBM).  Maybe if I'm ever ready to clear my palate...

[vkm91941]

LOL Like Ray I don't watch any of those..Although I use to like Gilmore Girls it's first couple of seasons.  Here's my list:

Prison Break (Wentworth Miller alone is worth an hour of my time once a week)
CSI
CSI Miami
Nip/Tuck
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Deadwood
Six Feet Under
Wire in the Blood (BBC)
Dirty Jobs
vintage Twilight Zone
Inside the Actors Studio
Histories Mysteries
Biography
Ballykissangel ( also BBC repeated on PBS)
and I love the sit com's on the BBC, some of which repeat on PBS here, Are you Being Served, The Vicar of Dibley, Chef, My Family, Waiting for God...the Brits do comedy so much better than we do in my opinion.

Also was a devoted X-Files fan and watch the re-runs on the late night Sci-Fi channel when I can't sleep.

[bbm_stitchbuffyfan]

I am a devoted fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That is probably the only show I've ever really been hooked on. I loved the writing because the show was always exploring new angles to keep the ideas fresh. The characters evolved beautifully from the beginning to the end of the series, like how our dear Jack Twist sadly lost a lot of his adorable hope as he grew older (okay, I just HAD to throw in a BBM reference), and the actors were very consistent and authentic with the parts. Plus, it makes me laugh aloud, cry, and it keeps me thoroughly entertained. P.S. Joss Whedon is a very good director (See: "The Body," "Restless," "Once More, With Feeling").

Aside from that, I like The Simpsons, Daria, and Reba a lot. Predictably, I like Angel but I've only seen a handful of episodes. Ghost Whisperer, Family Guy, Friends, Will & Grace (early years), and Smallville are enjoyable but I do not keep up with them because they all frustrate me from time to time. (Actually, I did keep up with Friends; though very over-the-top, that show was pretty good.) I've been especially bad about keeping up with these since I saw Brokeback; for weeks, I virtually stopped watching television because of my love of Brokeback (it's hard to watch something supremely inferior to BBM and think of Jack and Ennis the entire time).

Veronica Mars is a good show as well. I've only caught a few episodes but Kristen Bell is a solid actress and really works her part well. 

[OddlyEven]

I didn't vote because my favorite show(s) have already finished. I was and I still am very much in love with Six Feet Under. I recently collected all the seasons on DVD and now I'm even more in love with it. I think next to Brokeback Mountain, Six Feet Under is my other passion of the moment.

[j.U.d.E.]

Don't watch any of those either (though taped all of LOST first season, but haven't watched it yet).

I like:
CSI
Without a Trace
Nip/Tuck
Six Feet Under
Wire in the Blood (BBC)
Will & Grace
L&O: SVU
[not too many, or I'll never stop watching TV..]

I liked watching
Queer s folk - English version
Queer s folk - US version
Once & Again
Friends
the OC
The Guardian
Cutting It (UK)
OZ

~ j U d E

[David]

Current favorites?

LOST

The Amazing Race.

West Wing

Survivor

Boston Legal.

Invasion

Surface.

Simpsons.

Sopranos.

CSI: Las Vegas

Desparate Housewives


and for past shows....

Seinfeld.   "Serenity Now!   Serenity Now!"   Del Boca Vista indeed Barby!   LOL

Cheers

Taxi

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Green Acres

Rockford Files

Are you being Served?

Magnum PI

Columbo

[Jeff Wrangler]

Hmm. Of those listed, it would have to be Lost.

But my current real favorites aren't on the list: CSI and Medium, with Law and Order: Special Victims Unit a close second.

[cmr107]

Of the ones listed, the only ones I ever watch are The Daily Show and Gilmore Girls.

I used to watch more TV when I was little. I was a big fan of Nickelodeon in the 90s (Clarissa Explains It All, The Secret World of Alex Mack, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Pete & Pete, etc.). Before you laugh, remember that I'm 19 so I was the right age to like those shows. I also liked Nick At Night (I Love Lucy, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Taxi). I used to love Buffy, but I haven't seen it in years now. Seinfeld is good too. Don't laugh at me, but I watch One Tree Hill and The OC when I can. My dad got me liking Law & Order, but I don't think I've seen a single episode since I left for college. The Iron Chef makes me laugh.

Oooh, and I just remembered that in middle school I used to love watching Wings, but only in the summer because it came on at like 10am. I also used to like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. And one of my favorite memories is going to watch Power Rangers with my brother in his room EARLY Christmas morning before we'd go wake our parents up when we were really little.

Haha, so those are the shows I used to watch. I hardly ever watch TV anymore.

[Wxaupe]

The only one I watch on your list is Six Feet Under,but my favorite is Rescue Me.

[TJ]

The TV series, "Green Acres," was a spin off of "Petticoat Junction." Some of the characters of the Junction were also in Acres at the same time. The female lead of Acres was the mother of Jethro Bodine in "The Beverly Hillbillies."

I am in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The oil company which got the oil on the Hillbillies' place was located in Tulsa. At the time the series was started, there were people living in extreme NE Oklahoma nd NW Arkansas who were a lot like the Jed Clampett folks, aka the Beverly Hillbillies.

My favorite TV shows in the 1950s were first of all, the Warner Brothers Studios westerns which were on the ABC-TV network on Tuesday nights, Cheyenne, Sugarfoot, and others. I liked those manly cowboys in those shows.

My favorite monday night comedy show is "Two and a Half Men." I do have some favorite shows on the Food Network and HGTV. I don't like just "anything" on those networks, however.

[David In Indy]

I chose Desperate Housewives.... BUT ONLY because I am really an "Everybody Loves Raymond" fan. If they had only included it on the poll.

I think Ray Romano is so cute!

[JCinNYC2006]

I didn't vote because my favorite show(s) have already finished. I was and I still am very much in love with Six Feet Under. I recently collected all the seasons on DVD and now I'm even more in love with it. I think next to Brokeback Mountain, Six Feet Under is my other passion of the moment.

I am so with you - Six Feet Under rules!  I got so completely invested in this family's lives, I think they reminded me of my family in different ways.  And the last episode, actually the last few but the finale in particular, is one of my favorite television moments evers.  The show felt more like a really great movie broken up into segments than a tv show. 

Juan

[JCinNYC2006]

And where are the MSTies at Bettermost?  Shout out to Mystery Science Theater 3000, probably the geekiest show I ever loved.  Clarissa I love a bunch of your choices too:  I Love Lucy (the greatest show ever!), The Simpsons, The Carol Burnett Show ("I saw this in the window and I just couldn't resist"), Roseanne.  The episode called Home on the X-Files was like The Exorcist of tv episodes.  For miniseires, Tales of The City, Queer As Folk (the UK version def) and Brideshead Revisited).

Juan

[David In Indy]

Hey, this was a great thread while it lasted! Maybe some Bettermostians haven't seen it yet....


BUMP!!!

[twistedude]

"Real Time," with Bill Maher, HBO.

[ednbarby]

I like "Real Time" too, Julie.  Bill Maher is absolutely fearless.  Sometimes he irritates me a little, but I always admire his candor.

[Ellemeno]

Thanks for bumping this thread.  I answered back in April and have new answers now.

My only two required shows to watch are happily on several times a week.  I TiVo Arrested Development (Thanks and blessings to Yaad Pyar, whose effusive praise convinced me to rent it on DVD.  Genius!) and The Colbert Report (I know some people find him insufferable, but I find him hilarious, cute, and courageous.)  My slightly embarrassing vice is Psych, very cute and funny, even if the plot lines are a little lame.

[CellarDweller]

Voted for South Park, it's a fave that's on the list.

Other fave that's not on the list is "Little People, Big World".