Top Ten Tuesday!

This week's Top Ten Tuesday, brought to you by The Broke and the Bookish, involves not books, but television:

September 6:  In honor of Fall Tv, do a tv-themed topic! Top ten favorite tv shows of all time, ten new shows coming out this Fall that are on my radar, tv shows I wish never got cancelled, tv shows I would recommend to book characters, books I wish would be tv shows, ten favorite shows from the late 90's or early 2000's, ten tv shows for every fantasy lover, etc.

This is going to be easy because I don't watch a lot of tv, so I do not have to choose between a lot of shows. Of the shows I do/did watch, I am fiercely and forever loyal to. You will notice that with the exception of one, every single show is off the air now (and, as it turns out that loyalty I just mentioned only extended as far as Christopher Meloni being a cast member). I own the entire series of each show on the list (again, SVU is the exception, which will be explained later). I will STILL get into debates over some of them (looking right at ya, FRIENDS and Buffy) and it is like I know the characters as well as I know my actual friends and family (again, this mainly applies to FRIENDS and Buffy - I think because I watched them in my formative years and a deep bond had been formed between myself and those characters, albeit one-sided on account of them not being, you know, real). Creepy, right? Good, let's get on with it.

1. FRIENDS

Anyone who knows me well is thinking, 'duh'. My friend Vicky and I are forever talking about the show, a decade after its finale, because WE LOVE IT THAT MUCH. From the time I was in college and received 'The One With All Ten Seasons' from my momma for Christmas, a Friends DVD has been in one of my two DVD players at all times - mostly the one in my bedroom now, for two reasons: 1) I can't sleep when it is silent. I need soft and low background noise. Friends is perfect to fall asleep to, because I have seen the series hundreds of times so it will not keep me awake watching. And it is less action-packed than, say, Buffy (more on her later) and 2) Since coming to Netflix months ago, I can now watch from the comfort of my couch without having to get my lazy butt up to change discs.

2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Anyone who scoffs at Buffy has clearly never experienced the genius that is Joss Whedon. I remember quite exactly to the episode the first time I discovered what would be the show that would define my teen years, as Buffy and I were much closer in age than I was to my FRIENDS (did I mention I started watching the latter in its first season? I was 11. Anyway). The very first episode of Buffy I ever saw was "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered and from that moment, I was hooked. I could not stand the fact that I had missed what amounted to a full season and change already (season one contained only 12 episodes; 13 if you count the Lost Pilot containing a girl very most decidedly NOT Alyson Hannigan as Willow. Look it up if you have not seen it. It is so weird). I'll be honest, Angel is the character who got me first, so for the longest time I only knew him as Angelus really (even though he was only really referred to Angelus in un-souled form on his own show, and very very rarely as such on BtVS. Part of this may have to do with the fact that AtS was much, much darker than BtVS. But, moving on...)

I have had friends who have never seen Buffy, but know how much I adore the show, recommend other shows to me, like Supernatural. I get that they're well-intentioned and think one show about ghosts and demons and such is like any other, but really, at its heart that is NOT what Buffy was about. All these demons that Buffy was fighting were manifestations of very real and painful things anyone may experience as we grow up. The perfect example of this is when Angel loses his soul after he and Buffy have sex. It is the quintessential "I'll call ya" and you can tell he has no intention of ever calling - even if he was a regular human guy and not a vampire who had just lost his soul. Angel also literally says that line as he leaves his apartment after the first interaction he and Buffy have when she still does not know what has happened to him. There are countless examples throughout the entire series of this and Joss works his magic so effortlessly to bring these real fears we have into physical form. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the greatest show of all time and I will challenge anyone who disagrees to a duel - a duel of words of course, and I will win because it is also the most quotable show of all time.

3. Freaks and Geeks

I am sad to say that I never had the chance to see this one in the lone season that aired. What a gem. Luckily, I have it on dvd now and can rewatch over and over. The down side is that there is no closure really in the finale and we never get to find out what happens to any of the characters. I still can not for the life of me figure out why this show failed. The cast was amazing. Plus I adore John Francis Daley, so seeing him when he was a kid is adorable. And can you really go wrong with Jason Segel doing anything? The correct answer is no.

4. How I Met Your Mother

This is easily one of the most quotable shows of all time. There are so many gems - which is amazing considering I overall thought Ted was kind of a whiner and I absolutely abhorred Robin. I mean seriously, I could not stand her. I also kind of hated the last season, and especially the finale, and the fact that the mom had passed away and Ted and Robin still ended up together. But I loved the whole concept of the show, of telling the story through flashbacks, and putting the clues together. I was always a little worried that meeting the mom would ruin the show, much like how shows kind of become stagnant when the love interests finally get together (think Ross and Rachel, Jim and Pam), once the tension is gone, then it is kind...boring? But I loved Barney because I love NPH, and he is one of the most talented people on the face of the planet. Plus, Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan, so win-win-win.

My most favorite quote (ironically, most of the best quotes are from Ted. He's still a whiner though):

"You can ask the universe for signs all you want, but ultimately we only see what we want to see, when we're ready to see it."

5. Dexter

Is it possible to love a show that I did not even like half the seasons because the villains were weak compared to Dexter? And yet. Season 1 was phenomenal. Then season 2 was absolute shit and made no sense because Dexter having any kind of emotion was just absurd. The Trinity Killer (John Lithgow) was easily my most favorite and was a worthy adversary for Dexter. Miguel Prado (Jimmy Smits) ended up also being a fantastic villain. I had no feelings either way about Jordan Chase (though I tend to not like him solely because his first and last names are made up of first names of two guys I have a history with that I would prefer not to acknowledge - never mind that the villains were actually a group of sick sick sickos), and still don't know what I think about the series finale - though I lean toward not liking it.

6. The Office

I mean, I don't know what else I can say about this show that has not already been said. The first three seasons were the best, and it was kind of shaky until Pam and Jim finally got married. I loved the finale and this show remains a favorite even years after it went off the air. Michael coming back for the finale was just perfect and I it was hard to say good bye to this one.

7. Law and Order: SVU

I love Christopher Meloni. That is basically why I started watching. Then I watched right up until his last season and owned all of those on DVD. But...then I had a baby and could not longer stand to even watch the news and hear about real life atrocities and tragedies, let alone made-up ones. I no longer own the series on DVD because being a new mom just made me not even able to look at it. Weird, right? Pregnancy hormones are no joke. But I loved Benson and Stabler and they will always be my most favorite platonic couple.

8. Entourage

I dig Vinnie Chase. But I love Ari Gold even more. That's kind of messed up, because Ari is a grade-A d-bag. Jeremy Piven looks good in the suits though, man. I have not yet been able to watch the movie, because I am worried it will ruin the show for me. I loved seeing the boys grow and really figure out who they were - and it was hard to watch Drama be so unsuccessful time and again. He got in his own way and did so many stupid things, just, ugh. 

9. Scrubs

Easily the most quotable show of all time - I know, I said this about Buffy too and I mean it. There were more profoundly applicable quotes from this show to my life than any other and I love it so very much. But, guh, for a show that was a comedy, it had so much feels. Dr. Cox was my favorite, and I loved Turk. JD and Elliot belonged together. I consider the 8th season to be the final one and don't care to acknowledge this so-called season nine. 

10. House

LOVED this one so much. Part of the appeal is that Hugh Laurie is delicious and dreamy and British - though you would never have known it from the show, on account of him playing an American. But I did, because he previously played a passenger on the episode of Friends where Rachel goes to London to stop Ross and Emily's wedding. I could not stand Cameron and her self-righteousness and am glad she and Chase did not stay together. And I absolutely could not effing stand whatever the name was of the character Amber Tamblyn played but every time she was on the screen I wanted to punch her in the face. She was like Cameron 2.0 and it was awful. I also have a soft spot in my heart for Robert Sean Leonard and absolutely adored his character, Dr. Wilson. The two-part season 4 finale House's Head/Wilson's Heart was phenomenal. It was originally intended for mid-season sweeps but since the writers' strike occurred during that season, it ended up being the finale. So well done.

Bonus!

11. The Tudors

Sure, it is grossly historically inaccurate at times. But Henry Cavill and Jonathan Rhys Meyers though? Sure, Meyers is kind of bonkers and Cavill is dating like, a 17 year old, but they're pretty much acting in real life like their Tudor counterparts, right? Maybe she's 18. Maybe they've broken up by now. Maybe I am misremembering what I read. But Meyers definitely has crazy eyes. Beautiful, piercing, blue crazy eyes. The costumes alone were stunning, and the people in them were just as beautiful. Despite the fact that I absolutely hate Anne Boleyn, Natalie Dormer was FANTASTIC in her portrayal. I would have loved to see the series expand and cover the reigns of Henry's children.