Intro
During the past two months I've been spending my time on TV-shows, and mostly on revisiting old familiar ones. I've also finally gotten around to one of the more hyped ones I hadn't found the time for earlier, and wasn't that a pleasant surprise. I'm talking about Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and its 2nd and 3rd seasons are some of the best television I've ever seen. However. The past days I've spent rerunning the recently ended show Chuck, and then rerunning the highlights of the romantic side of that show. It reminded me of other shows I've done the same with, and I think it's time trying to nail an up-to-date list of the most important TV-shows for my personal view(ings). It leaves behind quality shows like The Wire (which still is the best TV-show I've ever seen, but it doesn't make me revisit it again and again like the shows I'm about to list). It also leaves behind shows like Friends, Party of Five and Seinfeld which I've spent a lot of time on earlier, but haven't felt like revisiting in a long time. The following shows are on the other hand the ones I still seem to return to again and again.
1. Dawson's Creek
I've spent a lot of time with our Capeside friends, and their coming of age is probably the most important television experience thus far. Joshua Jackson's Pacey J. Witter is one of those rare characters I love to death, little Joey Potter remains the reminder of potential beautiful things to come if Tom Cruise didn't fuck things up for Katie Holmes, and Michelle Williams have finally got her career deservedly sky-rocketing in movies these days. All 6 seasons aren't exactly great, but there's a lot of heart in this show carrying it across those dry stretches. Thank you Kevin Williamson.
2. Veronica Mars
The one and only highlight of Kristen Bell's career, as it's been a very consistent disappointment ever since. Rob Thomas' creation is a gritty and allusionistic ride through high school with baggage, and Veronica Mars' life is surely never dull. Quite a few great arch-stories making it a lot better than the usual weekly-fix shows, and still we get to know our heroine a lot better than most drama shows ever let us. A Noir opening and a raped heroine presented in the pilot is gutsy, and for those it didn't scare away it became quite the cult followed ride. The third season doesn't live up to the first two, but we could still have handled a lot more from Veronica as it once again showed promise in tying in new arch stories. A shame it got cancelled.
3. Firefly
Only one season and then a feature film tying up loose ends, but it's well worth revisiting every once in a while. Joss Whedon's space cowboys are the ultimate example of TV-executives ruining a quality show. A great cast, and we'll all be Browncoats for life in memory of Captain Mal and his crew.
♬Take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand.
I don't care, I'm still free, you can't take the sky from me♬
4. The West Wing
Who knew politic could be so entertaining? Aaron Sorkin delivered one of the best shows ever with his Bartlet administration, and Bradley Whitford's Joshua Lyman gave Pacey J. Witter a run for my money as favorite male character in lasting shows. It did go downhill after Sorkin left, but revisiting this White House Senior Staffers is rarely boring none the less.
5. Dark Angel
It's not hard to believe Jessica Alba was genetically engineered for the purpose of this show, and don't we all miss her kick-ass butt weekly taking on the life of Max? James Cameron might never again make a decent movie, but every time I return to this show I forgive his sell-outs. Another show joining 2 and 3 on the list of too early cancelled shows, and Terminal City had so much potential... And lets face it; a show that actually manages to carry out the line "Oh God, I'm in heat again", is well worth both a second and third look.
6. Friday Night Lights
High School football is rarely as important as it is in Dillon, and FNL's opening season is remarkably strong. The show got its problems with funding, writers out whining and so on, but there's a lot of greatness here as well. Kyle Chandler's Coach Taylor is everything Brad Pitt never was in Moneyball, and I'm a sucker for coming of age... Peter Berg managed a lot the 2004 feature film never could.
7. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Joss Whedon's show might be a recent addition to my catalog, but it sure deserves to be recognized on this list never the less as I've spent a lot of time in the Buffy-verse ever since. Sarah Michelle Gellar's Buffy Anne Summers carry the world on her shoulders as The Chosen One, but she might be as easy to love for her shortcomings as for saving the world as we know it on a regular slayer basis. As previously mentioned; Seasons two and three are amazingly strong ones, but there's a lot of greatness both before and after. I'm quite certain this is a show that will rise on my list as time goes by.
8. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Only one season of this Aaron Sorkin creation, but with the ensemble cast including Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet, Bradley Whitford, Sarah Paulson, Timothy Busfield, Steven Weber and so on; they won my heart without coming close to perfection. I've revisited their story over and over again, and despite their flaws it deserves this place for now.
9. Chuck
Another recent addition as this show so recently ended its airing with a fifth half-season package of 13 episodes. I've never been a big fan as I find Zachary Levi's Chuck as much of a shnook as some others do to begin with in the show, and the humor of the show rarely counts as comedy in my book. Still. Josh Schwartz' have stumbled upon creating a love story which comes very close to an idea I've had since prior to this show airing, and that along with Yvonne Strahovski and her Sarah Walker is my main reasons for repeated viewing of the show the past days. Yvonne have a lot of talent to go with her undeniably beauty, and I wish they had taken her character a couple of notches further along this ride. I also like to give the show credit for allowing some continued happiness, as most show have to keep splitting up couples to create drama. This one remembers there's other ways to go about it, just like the 10th and final entry on this list of mine.
10. One Tree Hill
Still running, but this entry is on the high school years of the first four seasons. Back then it was still flawed enough, too soapy and so on, but it had a lot going for it as well. These days it's really not worth that much anymore, and if it wasn't for my Bethany J, Galeotti awe I wouldn't care to keep up. Anyways. The first four seasons I've revisited a lot over the years, and as such I guess it deserves this final entry on my list. Mark Schwahn might have lost the important stuff as the show went on, but back in the day he made coming of age and basketball well worth a look.
Epilogue
Of course this list will be shuffled and reshuffled on yearly basis, but all these ten shows have already given me a lot of entertainment. Some of them will disappear on my next list, but they will all live on in my heart. Most of these shows will also feature in upcoming entries with other lists of importance, like Favorite Heroines, Favorite Couples, Undying Moments of Television and so on. And it will probably not take another two months for one of those to show up here... but I'm not making any promises.
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