Top Ten TV

Isn't alliteration fun? TV is one of my favorite dichotomies. It can be so bad, just downright execrable, but when it is good it can really be wonderful. So it's list time - 10 Best TV Shows Ever. Some helpful but not definite criteria: longevity, impact, creativity, originality, and universal appeal. Can you watch it again and again? Did you long for the next episode and feel empty when it was over? Did it move you? To have a workable group I did not include news, late-night, so-called reality or sketch/variety shows - script driven TV only. The usual disclaimers: this is my list so is inherently subjective; but not just about me - how the show fared in the world and its impact play a role; it is unranked.

1. "M*A*S*H*" - Even though I say unranked, this really is probably number one. While eleven seasons might have been a couple too many, there was still some amazing stuff going on right to the end. This show was a little bit of everything. It was comedy, using anything and everything to get laughs. High and low wordplay, slapstick, sight gags, irony - all were in play. It was social commentary, willing to take on hard social issues unflinchingly and with candor. Not enough to just talk about war, it looked at alcoholism, sexism, racism, PTSD, marital infidelity, and really anything else you can think of. I think only "All in the Family" compares for courage to ask questions. It was drama, able to scare, horrify or move to tears at the drop of a hat. In short, it made you laugh, cry and think, which for me is the brass ring of TV. But that just deals with the writing. The characters, and the portrayals of them, are arguably the greatest collection ever. From the amazing Harry Morgan as Col. Potter to Jamie Farr growing Clinger from minor side part to a complex and interesting featured role. At least two of those parts - Larry Linville's loathsome Frank Burns and Gary Burghoff's remarkable Radar - were so good the actors almost ruined their own careers by creating characters from which they could never be separated. One other part of MASH's genius was that the structure allowed for so many one-off characters to act as catalysts and instigators. And they had the sense to recognize when one of those characters was worth turning into a semi-regular like Sydney or Colonel Flagg. I would rather watch an episode of MASH that I've seen ten times before than 99% of TV that I haven't.

2. "Friday Night Lights" - If there were a separate category for "best show that no one watched" this gem would run away with it. I realize that I am biased, the show being about a coach after all, but I stand by this show. I recently began watching the series again from the beginning, and three of the first four episodes brought tears to my eyes. It manages to dramatize the little things in life - which is really most of life if you think about it - without pandering to teen angst or going over the top. This show also clung to its style - the handheld (but not endlessly bumping and swooping of some lesser shows) camera work and flexible dialogue providing intimacy and verisimilitude - in the face of misplaced criticism, and it allowed a whole group of shockingly talented actors, young and older, but especially young, do some astonishing work. And I can think of very, very few shows whose writing was so good that I honestly didn't know which way things were going to go in the end. That is a rare and powerful thing.

3. "The West Wing" - Thank you Aaron Sorkin. This show went beyond brilliant. It has often been criticized for being "too smart". Huh? When did being smart people talking smart and making us all smarter become bad? Like MASH, it had that amazing ability to combine drama, comedy and commentary into one powerful and moving package. And it was better even than MASH in doing all those things without preaching. There were times I didn't even realize how much thought was being provoked until days later when something would click and I'd have a great "Oh, now I get it" moment. Also another great ensemble that grew and changed and shifted without ever missing a beat.

4. "The X-Files" - This is the first show in my memory that reached that weird cult status that seems so much more common now. If you watched the show, you were somehow in and hip and were able to endlessly discuss and debate and speculate about what this or that meant, what might happen next, or whether Scully and Mulder would ever get together. And it was so much fun. Creator Chris Carter did a great job of interweaving an episodic feel, a la "The Twilight Zone" with a serial story line. Then there was also that great sense of suspense created by not just the whole extraterrestrial question, but with the constant shifting of villains and heroes. Is it real and a cover-up or is Mulder crazy? Whose side is The Smoking man on? Hell, whose side is Skinner on? And I loved the fact that the makers were willing to, about once a season, just get downright silly and make fun of themselves. And in full disclosure, I am probably swayed by the fact that I still have a crush on Scully. Not on Gillian Anderson, mind you, but Scully. Sigh.

5. "Cheers" - Yet another great ensemble, this show was just flat-out funny. I can scarcely remember an episode that didn't make me laugh out loud. While many of its characters were painted with a somewhat broad brush - could Woody be that dumb? - you rarely found them unbelievable and couldn't help but be drawn in to their unlikely camaraderie. The dialogue was sharp without being unreal, and it was easy to feel like you could go to your own neighborhood tavern and find a similar crew. It also was able to grow over time and add in characters or storylines that sustained rather than thinned the existing cast. If they hadn't been able to do that we never would have had Frasier, both the "Cheers" character and subsequent wonderful spin-off. I also found it to be one of the few shows that was good outside of it's normal setting. I feel very few shows do that well, but can remember a number of episodes outside the bar that were great.

6.  "The Sopranos" - My favorite thing about this show is what it is about - family - and what it is not about - the mob. Think about it. The show focused more on the interactions between Tony and his family than it ever did on their business. It was superbly written, beautifully shot and the actors were just wonderful. It was like a contest between Gandolfini and Falco to see who could throw down the best performance. And how excellent was it that guitar great Little Steven Van Zandt was just too cool as Silvio? Oh, and not for nothing, I absolutely love the much-criticized ending. The show had never, its entire run, been about single moments, big denouements or cliff-hangers. It was about everyday life, even if your everyday life includes dodging FBI wire-taps, calculating the vig and whacking Big Pussy. It was about family and it was great.

7. "The Simpsons" - If doing it longer than anyone - longest primetime scripted TV series in history and over 500(!) episodes - isn't enough, they also have done it better than most. Not as fanciful as "Futurama", as twisted as "Family Guy", as crude as "South Park" or as wry as "King of the Hill", it has elements of them all and is remarkable in its ability to cross over between family and grown-up entertainment. But to compare it only to other animated series is to do it an injustice. While it obviously couldn't exist outside its drawing, it can be compared to even the best live-action comedies and come out on top. It is both high satire and toilet humor, balancing the best and worst of our comedic needs and has been the proving grounds for at least two generations of some of our greatest comedy writers.

8. "Miami Vice" - I expect this to be the most scoffed at of my selections, but what a great freaking show. Forget the clothes, the hype and Don Johnson's sexiest man in America shtick. Not only was it exceptional crime drama - well-written with tight arcs and compelling characters - it was entirely new in the way it was produced and shot. Michael Mann raised the TV ante by blowing out production values, camera work and visual effects and TV has never been the same since. Much of what we now take for granted in our TV shows in terms of look and feel is attributable to the "Vice look" and, for better or worse, we now expect more from TV than pre-Vice. Without "Miami Vice" there is no "Sopranos". It also pioneered the use of broadcast music (it became quite the coup for modern artists to have a track on the show and the list of music celeberities involved is long and impressive) and was the first show to be shot and mixed in stereo. And since I still hear scoffing out there, did you know it was actually nominated for fifteen Emmys its first season?

9. "ER" - There is a decent chance that when you start dropping names like Michael Crichton (creator) and Steven Spielberg (executive producer) you are on to something. The champion of all the medical dramas, it featured a startlingly good cast -the names George Clooney and Julianna Marguiles might ring a bell - and previously unseen realism. But one of the things I loved about the way it was written was how sneaky it was with its use of a seemingly secondary character - Noah Wylie's wonderful Carter - as the catalyst that moved all the "major" characters (Greene, Peter, Doug Ross and Susan in the beginning) through the stories. It survived many changes and losses, and though it probably lost its way towards the end of its run, it was impressive in its staying power. I also dig that it was one of the first shows shot in widescreen even though it didn't appear that way widely until well into its run.

10. "Northern Exposure" - This is my wild card because it is somehow overlooked despite it's success, respect - a bunch of Grammys - and popularity. The best thing that happened to this show was when it got over Joel and started focusing on the residents of the fictional Cicely, Alaska. A more eclectic and compelling collection of characters I defy you to find anywhere on TV: Ed the half-native foundling and budding filmmaker; Maurice the retired astronaut land-baron; Marilyn the native stoic and Joel's receptionist; Chris the ex-con DJ and philosopher; Ruth-Anne the widow merchant; and the wonderful December-May couple of Holling the salt-of the-earth but insecure tavern-owner and Shelly the semi-ditsy but actually whip smart waitress. It had all the things I love in many other shows on this list - comedy, drama and social content - but what puts it on this list is how totally original and creative it was. I have yet to see another show quite like it and I miss it a lot. And I wish KBHR and "Chris in the Morning" was real.

Honorable mention in no order: "Friends", the "Battlestar Galactica" reboot, "Glee", "Buffy", "Alias", "Quantum Leap", "Law and Order", "Cosby", "All in the Family". Without the restrictions above "The Tonight Show", "Flying Circus", "Sixty Minutes", "Laugh-In", "Whose Line", "Rocky and Bullwinke" and the "Carol Burnett Show" would have certainly been under consideration.

Snubs I expect people to complain about: "Seinfeld" (didn't dislike it, just wasn't impressed), "Lost", "24" (just never saw 'em).