- The West Wing-- It's brilliant, amazing, wonderful, entertaining, fun, serious, everything a show needs to be to be really great. Also, any world in which Martin Sheen is president is fine by me. I can watch any given episode and be entertained, a true mark of a great TV show. I'm actually watching it now. Bradley Whitford is a genius, and I really miss John Spencer (Leo McGarry). Plus, I really loved that they got Josh and Donna together a few episodes before the finale to give us a little bit of what had been building for 6 1/2 seasons, before the end.
- Gilmore Girls-- This is a little more controversial because I don't watch season 4 (at all really) and I don't really want to watch season 7, mostly because it's the last season and I'm still in denial about it ending (2 years ago). This makes the list for the monumental place it holds in my life, both personally and TV-wise. It was a show I watched with my mother and although I have a love-hate relationship with it, it still feels like coming home when I watch it, it's so familiar.
- Alias-- I know this wouldn't make a TV critic's list, I know that many people have issues with it, I myself don't really like season 3, however, like Gilmore Girls, the world is familiar to me, and it is thoroughly entertaining.
- Friends-- This almost goes without saying, as it's a great show, completely quotable, and wonderfully entertaining. I don't watch it as much now as I used to, but it never ceases to entertain me when I watch it.
- Saved By the Bell-- this is another case of a show I really don't watch very much anymore, as I find it extremely awkward. However, my childhood was spent watching it, and it will always have a place in my heart and in TV history.
- Everwood-- A short-lived series, very dramatic, but wonderful. Another show I watched with my mom, and there are many great "teachable moments" in it, but they do it without really bashing you on the head with it.
- Arrested Development-- another short-lived series, 3 seasons, 1/2 hour episodes, and each of them was brilliant, minus a few in season 3 (too awkward for my tastes), and the way they are able to weave the story together through the entire series makes multiple watchings necessary. If you watch all 3 seasons together, taking the whole canon as one, then it's true brilliance really comes out, there are inside joke scattered throughout the series and some wonderful nuances that make me surprised (and happy) that it even lasted 3 seasons.
- Honorable Mentions: ER, Dawson's Creek, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (I need to do more investigating on all of them)
Okay, so as I said, my all-time favs have to be completely over, however, I do have favorites that are on the air right now and they are (in no particular order):
- Bones-- just started watching it a month ago, am almost caught up, and I LOVE it. It's a great mix of forensic crime solving, humor, drama, romance and has a great cast. I have been laughing out loud during the last few episodes, something that is unusual for a forensic show.
- House-- it goes back and forth for me, I don't watch it every week, but I watch all the episodes, and it always entertains and there is just something about Hugh Laurie and his big blue eyes that just sucks me in.
- How I Met Your Mother-- I kind of gave up on sitcoms, but this one is genius. It is just wonderfully real and un-real at the same time, always entertaining, and all five actors are so wonderful that I can't pick a favorite
- The Office-- I was worried about it in the last few weeks, but they pulled it together again, as they always do, and it is a great show, great for laughs on any given day.
- 30 Rock-- This show is GENIUS. Really, really genius. Tina Fey is a goddess and Alec Baldwin is amazing, and the writing is wonderful.
- The Daily Show with John Stewart-- I really get most of my news from this show, and I love the 20 minutes of entertainment that I get when I watch it the next morning, John Stewart is brilliant, really brilliant and he takes his job seriously but not too seriously, and really takes the side of the "average American," which is evident when people try to take hime on. They always lose.
- Honorable Mentions: Grey's Anatomy (I hear it's getting better, we'll see, I stopped watching), Chuck (I just need to catch up), CSI (I'm starting to catch up), NCIS (I love it, but there are only so many procedural shows I can watch at one time).
I think that's it for now, I'm pretty sure I didn't leave anything out, but it's late and I'm tired. So, that's my TV summary for now, and I'm sure more posts on specific shows will follow, in fact, I'm sure of it.
