My All-Time Favorite TV Shows

Here is my top ten favorite TV shows. It was not easy as I was juggling them around for the last week or so. This is what I decided on.

1. Lost
2. Seinfeld
3. The X-Files
4. Curb Your Enthusiasm
5. Entourage
6. Family Guy
7. Cheers
8. Heroes
9. Smallville
10. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

1. Lost- As this show continues to amaze me, I realize that there will be a time the show will come to an end and I hope that all of the questions I have so far will eventually be answered. If you have never seen Lost, the show is about a group of people who survive a plane crash on a island. This is not just any ordinary island, though. There are many secrets that are reveled and a lot surprises as the group of Losties search for a way to get off of the island and back home. The greatness of this show is we see what is happening on the island with the survivors, but we also get to see flashbacks of the survivor’s lives before the crash and what led them to the Australia, where the plane took off. Each one has a different circumstance, but in one way or another it might not be just a coincidence the plane crashed and they are there together. The writing is great and it will be interesting to me to see if they can pull it off all the way through the end. If they can, I believe this will go down as the greatest TV show ever.

2. Seinfeld- I’ve seen every episode about 30 times, but it never really gets old. The Seinfeld quotes keep coming and it’s always sweet when you meet someone who you can exchange those quotes with. I have come to realize that Seinfeld is life and there are way too many situations where something that happens on the show happens to me or I witness something that comes back to Seinfeld.

3. The X-Files- Unfortunately for The X-Files, it would have been #1 on my list had it not been for the drop off the last couple years. The first five years were unbelievable and the story of FBI: Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully search into the world of paranormal was so intriguing to me. I’ve always been big into science fiction and stories about aliens so this so was right up my alley. “The truth is out there” and “I want to believe” are a couple of my favorite quotes, both from The X-Files. I’ve even used “I Want To Believe” as my fantasy football team name for years The mythology of the government’s involvement with the existence of aliens is probably my favorite part of the series, but there were many great stand alone episodes with the paranormal. I always loved Mulder’s fight for the truth and how he wanted to believe in the unbelievable. The conversations between Mulder and Scully were always great, too, because Scully was a scientist and needed proof, whereas Mulder didn’t need proof. It was like oil and water, but they worked great together. I am very pumped for the upcoming movie coming out July 25th 2008!

4. Curb Your Enthusiasm- I would have to say this show is almost Seinfeld but with the help of being on HBO, a lot more vulgar. This show stars Larry David, who actually is the co-creator of Seinfeld. There are so many situations where Larry has me cringing and I can’t even watch. What’s great about Curb is that most of the show is unscripted dialog and you will actually see authentic reactions and laughter. It’s pretty, pretty, pretty good. Jeff Garlin who plays Larry’s manager Jeff Greene and Cheryl Hines who plays Larry’s wife Cheryl David also star in the show and help contribute to what seems to be Larry’s dysfunctional life. Larry has his opinions and is not scared to tell someone what he is thinking and of course it gets him into a lot of trouble, all the time. If you have yet to see Curb and you love Seinfeld, you will love Curb as well. It’s unbelievable how many times Larry screws himself over and what’s great is you can see it coming from a mile away and the only thing you can do is say “Oh, No!” but still laugh.

5. Entourage- I was late into the world of HBO’s Entourage, mostly because I didn’t have HBO apart of any cable package, but thanks to the the DVD I was able to catch up very fast. It’s unreal to think that this actually takes place all the time in Hollywood as the famous movie star has his long time buddies hanging around him and they get to reap the benefits of his money and fame. Adrian Grenier is Vincent Chase an up and coming movie star with his entourage Eric Murphy (Kevin Connolly), Turtle (Jerry Ferrera), and Johnny “Drama” Chase (Kevin Dillion) are living the Hollywood life. I didn’t forget Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) Vincent’s egotistical suck-up agent, who does anything he can do to make sure Vinny is happy and this includes leaving important family functions. This show is great and I can honestly say I haven’t ever seen one bad episode. If you haven’t seen Entourage, join your fellow latecomers and enjoy for yourself! VICTORY!!!

6. Family Guy- I didn’t watch Family guy until after a few seasons had went by, and this is when I started hearing about how funny the show was, so I thought I’d give it a chance so I got the DVD’s for season 1 and loved it right away. This show had been on the air, canceled, brought back, canceled again, and brought back because of strong DVD sales and the popularity that came from being shown on Cartoon Network. Family Guy probably is the new quotable show taking over for Seinfeld and of course the cutaway jokes are funny and sometimes pretty crude. The show revolves around Peter Griffin and his family, wife Lois, sons Chris and Stewie, daughter Meg, and dog Brian. It’s a very dysfunctional family, but for the most part everybody is well-intentioned except for Stewie who is only a baby, but talks in a fluent-British accent and he wants to kill Lois and take over the world. My favorite reoccurring character is Glenn Quagmire, “Huh, huh, alright!”

7. Cheers- Here’s another sitcom that I’ve seen each episode a bunch of times, but I went through several years of not seeing Cheers, so I don’t remember everything that is going to happen and all the quotes, so I get to laugh hard again whenever I get a chance to see it on reruns. Sam “Mayday” Malone, the retired, former Boston Red Sox pitcher owns a bar in Boston and is joined by the regulars Norm, Cliff, and Frasier, the bar manager Rebecca, waitresses Carla and Diane, and bartenders Woody and Coach in this 80’s sitcom. I was able to visit the Cheers bar when I was in Boston and even though it didn’t resemble the bar that I came to love and know on TV it was still a great experience.

8. Heroes-It might be a little premature because this show has only had two season, but I became very involved with the great first season. Save the cheerleader save the world. See my previous review of the first season of Heroes.

9. Smallville- Clark Kent as a teenager living in Smallville with his secret of being the future Superman. This show has been on for 7 seasons and I’m a big enough nerd to admit I have never missed this show. Smallville also features Lex Luthor as a younger man who actually was friends with Clark, but later on they become enemies as they begin to not trust each other as Lex continues to search for answers about Clark and what he is hiding. For Clark it is important that no one knows his secret of being an alien from the planet Krypton. It will be interesting to see how far they take this show as most of us know what is in store for Clark as he becomes a man, the Man of Steel. It helps that I love comic book heroes!

10. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno- I’m going to miss watching this show as Conan O’ Brien is set to take over for Jay Leno sometime in 2009. I usually never watch a whole show, but just usually the monologue and the first bit after the monologue like Headlines, but I have shared too many laughs not to include this into the top ten. So yes, it also means I can’t stand watching David Lettermen, who I don’t really find funny at all, even though I did go to his show when I was in New York.

Honorable mention

24- Jack Bauer rules! After season 5 this would have been in my top ten, but last season’s disappointment dropped it out of the top ten.

CSI- The original CSI show and easily the best.

Without A Trace- Great drama and I haven’t ever missed an episode yet.

Beavis and Butthead- These two idiots are hilarious and what’s great is I haven’t seen every episode yet!

ER- I stopped watching this after about season 9, but the first 6-7 season’s were great.

The Dead Zone- USA Network- Johnny Smith comes out of a coma and can see past events and future events by the touch of his hand. The first three seasons were awesome and I thought the last three were good.

The Worst Shows EVER!

1. Full House
2. Friends
3. Golden Girls
4. The Girls Next Door
5. The Brady Bunch