TV is a fickle beast. Picking a TV show you love is equally as fickle. There's a few reasons for this, but I think the main one is because a lot of TV has some good episodes and some bad. Good TV shows can be as much as half-terrible yet still be considered good from some perspectives. Add to that the fact that a lot of TV is still in progress, and some shows just ended badly or before their time, and there are a lot of ways TV can let you down. As such, the following list is based on the concept of "which shows have disappointed me the least," considering they all have at least a few times.
#5 - Whatever Hasn't Disappointed Me Yet/Whatever I'm Watching Now
This seems like a cop-out, but I'll tell you why this is. I would say that #5 is the BBC's Robin Hood, because that only disappointed me a few times. But it's only 3 seasons. There are currently 2 seasons of Arrow of which I have seen the first, and that's only disappointed me twice, meaning that if it holds that record for the next 2 seasons, that's a lower ratio of disappointment than Robin Hood. So I can't really say until season 4 of Arrow.
That said, Agents of SHIELD is only one season in, and is shaping up to be as amazing as I was hoping it would be, so it may very well supplant both of them in the next year or two. I also never finished Burn Notice, not because I didn't love it, but because I got distracted. And that has about the same record as SHIELD though I'm only about half a season in. And that's got like six seasons for me to peruse.
The point is, I usually happen to like whatever I'm currently watching a little better than what I have watched, if only because the good stuff is easier to remember in the short term, and I haven't had much time to stew over the bad stuff. So currently #5 is Robin Hood. Arrow and Burn Notice could easily supplant it. Agents of SHIELD shows a ton of promise. I'm not picking. Deal with it.
#4 - MASH
MASH is amazing. It's funny. It's thoughtful. It's emotional. It's real. Most importantly, it's almost always all of those things all of the time.
That's a tall order for item #4 on the list. Why so far down, you ask? It didn't run long enough.
"You moron," at least one of you is thinking (you know who you are). "It ran for 11 seasons. That's longer than Friends."
And you're right. And it certainly ended better than almost all TV shows. But consider the fact that it was a half-hour show, and you'll see that it ran for far less time than all of the shows that beat it.
#3 - Nova
Yes, the PBS science show Nova is on here. You know why? Because Nova is one of the few remaining bastions of actual education currently on the air. Every channel that ever started with the intention of cornering the education market has been taken over completely by reality TV and competition shows with the sole exception of PBS. And of all the factual programming on PBS, I like Nova the best for two reasons. I don't like nature shows, and it's been around since I was a child.
Simplistic enough for you? The fact is, Nova rocks and all parents should watch it with their kids. It would make the world a better place.
#2 - StarGate
Okay, I kinda cheated on these last two. I couldn't pick between StarGate SG-1 and Altantis, so I picked them both. And to be fair, this does indicate something I really appreciate in a TV show, and that's a sense of world. TV shows are serial in a format that means they really should have a good world for stuff to happen in, and having multiple shows take place in the same world helps that illusion a ton. I love the characters in the StarGate universe. Some of my favorite people are from here.
To be fair though, some of my least-favorite are as well. And for the sake of clarification, StarGate Universe is not included in this entry. In any shape or form.
#1 - Star Trek
Um... Duh. I think if you pay any attention to this blog, you'll know EXACTLY why this is #1.
Again, though, I'm going to have to exclude Enterprise from this entry. I can't really speak to it much because I only saw the pilot. But I hated the pilot pretty expansively, so I doubt the rest of the show would ever make up for it.
Honorable Mentions
There's probably a lot of shows some of you are surprised didn't make this list. I'd like to mention a few of them.
Firefly-Great stuff. Didn't make it because it was cancelled way to early. But it's posted very high marks considering there was barely half a first season of it.
Friends-This was an extremely popular sitcom. And it's hilarious. It misses out based on the fact that MASH is funnier.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer-Considering my deep and enduring love for stuff Joss Whedon makes, I can see why you would think I'd love this. And I don't dislike it. But I honestly haven't seen enough to really know if it's among my favorites. I'll probably get around to it one of these days.
The Joy of Painting-I could pretty much always sit and watch Bob Ross paint and be completely contented with life. This one doesn't place because the only way to watch episodes are by spending an exorbitant amount of money for the boxed set, where all of these others are at least partially available to those of us who have Netflix or Hulu. Otherwise, it'd probably be #5.
Mystery Science Theater 3000-There were episodes of this show that legitimately are among my favorite things to ever hit my eyeballs via the glowing tube-box. But there were a lot of boring or excessively crude episodes as well. So it doesn't place. But it's still hilarious.
And there are lots of others. What shows would you include in the top 5? Feel free to tell me in the comments below. Unless you have some insights relating to item #5 on this list, you probably won't change my mind. But I'm interested in what you think anyways. Promise.
#5 - Whatever Hasn't Disappointed Me Yet/Whatever I'm Watching Now
This seems like a cop-out, but I'll tell you why this is. I would say that #5 is the BBC's Robin Hood, because that only disappointed me a few times. But it's only 3 seasons. There are currently 2 seasons of Arrow of which I have seen the first, and that's only disappointed me twice, meaning that if it holds that record for the next 2 seasons, that's a lower ratio of disappointment than Robin Hood. So I can't really say until season 4 of Arrow.
That said, Agents of SHIELD is only one season in, and is shaping up to be as amazing as I was hoping it would be, so it may very well supplant both of them in the next year or two. I also never finished Burn Notice, not because I didn't love it, but because I got distracted. And that has about the same record as SHIELD though I'm only about half a season in. And that's got like six seasons for me to peruse.
The point is, I usually happen to like whatever I'm currently watching a little better than what I have watched, if only because the good stuff is easier to remember in the short term, and I haven't had much time to stew over the bad stuff. So currently #5 is Robin Hood. Arrow and Burn Notice could easily supplant it. Agents of SHIELD shows a ton of promise. I'm not picking. Deal with it.
#4 - MASH
MASH is amazing. It's funny. It's thoughtful. It's emotional. It's real. Most importantly, it's almost always all of those things all of the time.
That's a tall order for item #4 on the list. Why so far down, you ask? It didn't run long enough.
"You moron," at least one of you is thinking (you know who you are). "It ran for 11 seasons. That's longer than Friends."
And you're right. And it certainly ended better than almost all TV shows. But consider the fact that it was a half-hour show, and you'll see that it ran for far less time than all of the shows that beat it.
#3 - Nova
Yes, the PBS science show Nova is on here. You know why? Because Nova is one of the few remaining bastions of actual education currently on the air. Every channel that ever started with the intention of cornering the education market has been taken over completely by reality TV and competition shows with the sole exception of PBS. And of all the factual programming on PBS, I like Nova the best for two reasons. I don't like nature shows, and it's been around since I was a child.
Simplistic enough for you? The fact is, Nova rocks and all parents should watch it with their kids. It would make the world a better place.
#2 - StarGate
Okay, I kinda cheated on these last two. I couldn't pick between StarGate SG-1 and Altantis, so I picked them both. And to be fair, this does indicate something I really appreciate in a TV show, and that's a sense of world. TV shows are serial in a format that means they really should have a good world for stuff to happen in, and having multiple shows take place in the same world helps that illusion a ton. I love the characters in the StarGate universe. Some of my favorite people are from here.
To be fair though, some of my least-favorite are as well. And for the sake of clarification, StarGate Universe is not included in this entry. In any shape or form.
#1 - Star Trek
Um... Duh. I think if you pay any attention to this blog, you'll know EXACTLY why this is #1.
Again, though, I'm going to have to exclude Enterprise from this entry. I can't really speak to it much because I only saw the pilot. But I hated the pilot pretty expansively, so I doubt the rest of the show would ever make up for it.
Honorable Mentions
There's probably a lot of shows some of you are surprised didn't make this list. I'd like to mention a few of them.
Firefly-Great stuff. Didn't make it because it was cancelled way to early. But it's posted very high marks considering there was barely half a first season of it.
Friends-This was an extremely popular sitcom. And it's hilarious. It misses out based on the fact that MASH is funnier.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer-Considering my deep and enduring love for stuff Joss Whedon makes, I can see why you would think I'd love this. And I don't dislike it. But I honestly haven't seen enough to really know if it's among my favorites. I'll probably get around to it one of these days.
The Joy of Painting-I could pretty much always sit and watch Bob Ross paint and be completely contented with life. This one doesn't place because the only way to watch episodes are by spending an exorbitant amount of money for the boxed set, where all of these others are at least partially available to those of us who have Netflix or Hulu. Otherwise, it'd probably be #5.
Mystery Science Theater 3000-There were episodes of this show that legitimately are among my favorite things to ever hit my eyeballs via the glowing tube-box. But there were a lot of boring or excessively crude episodes as well. So it doesn't place. But it's still hilarious.
And there are lots of others. What shows would you include in the top 5? Feel free to tell me in the comments below. Unless you have some insights relating to item #5 on this list, you probably won't change my mind. But I'm interested in what you think anyways. Promise.
What about This Old House and Amerricas test kitchen and Chopped? Also, I like TV too much to only pick five. That must have been how you felt about picking your top ten movies.
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