Mari Ness

I've got a lot of catching up to do, so this won't be complete in the slightest, but I do have to set the record straight before athenakt ( jumps on and starts giving you misleading information about me. )

(Inspired by a conversation elsejournal and an observation that I've sort of done this for movies and books, so why not TV?)

Note the careful choice of words above. I'm saying "favorite," not "socially important," "innovative," or "great." Yep, I know All in the Family had its moments, but the truth is, I just couldn't stand to watch either Edith or Archie. I've also left out some currently running shows that I suspect will creep into my all time favorites sometime – notably Heroes and How I Met Your Mother and The Office. And before two of you start shrieking at me, no, I still haven't seen Deadwood, which is why it's not on the list. And, of course, like my book list, this is partial at best.

1) Firefly: (No real surprise here, I guess.) The show where Joss Whedon finally became an adult, but kept the jokes going and provided us with a lot of astoundingly good looking people while doing so.

2) Carnivale: I am slowly drawing out my viewing of this, episode by episode, to make it last, and I'm not sure if I will ever watch it again. But this is a beautifully crafted show, and one of the most addictive shows out there.

3) Angel: Admit it; you thought this one would be Buffy. But although Buffy had some better individual episodes, and despite an uneven first season, a wild and contradictory fourth season, and a complete shift in tone and pace in the second, third and fifth seasons, overall, Angel was better integrated and a better show.

4) Friends: It took this show a few episodes to get going, especially since much of its humour turned on self-referential points: the ongoing Rachel/Ross saga, Phoebe's ongoing kookiness, Joey's ongoing dumbness. But once it did, this show was utterly hilarious -- and passes the "can I show this episode multiple times to English as a Second Language students and not end up utterly hating myself and the planet?" test.

5) Animaniacs: True story: So I'm sitting at Fort Lauderdale Airport, humming a bit to myself as I do sometimes, when I find my hum turning to actual words, "There's baloney in our slacks!" and suddenly realize that I am no longer humming, or singing, alone: the elderly woman across the row from me is also merrily singing along, "We're Animaney, totally insaney!"

The cartoon's that good.

6) Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The dreck that was much of this show's sixth season was almost enough to knock Buffy off the list – the mere thought of the Xander/Anya wedding episode is enough to make me feel slightly ill – but to balance that, Buffy offered some of TV's best episodes ever: "Hush," "The Body," and of course the Musical.

7) Blackadder: (Series 2-4) The first series, alas, was just not that funny; Rowan Atkinson went for pathetic and slimy instead of intellectually superior, pathetic and slimy, but once the new character was fully established in the later seasons, Blackadder became one of the most consistently funny shows ever.

8) Monty Python's Flying Circus: Yes, decades later, I'll admit that some of the pieces just don't work, and the fourth season, without Cleese, has a lot of missing moments.

But.

"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition." Even parrots pining for the fjords. No matter how many times you watch that bit. Bring out the comfy chair.

9) Wonderfalls: Another show that was on the air all too briefly: only 14 episodes, only 14 little stories. 14 perfect little stories with astoundingly good dialogue. And, as I mentioned recently, a perfectly happy ending.

10) The Tick, the cartoon show. Just because: "Well, once again we find that clowning and anarchy don't mix." What's not to love?

( And now, shows that almost, but didn't quite make that list, in no particular order. )

Here's the fake, pre-coffee entry:

1) Gina Torres is even hotter in person than she is on Firefly. I had not thought that possible, but it's true. No wonder she kepts getting cast as the incredibly hot girl. We are talking genuine goddess level, and I am now thinking inappropriate work thoughts, so we'll leave this for now.

2) Go see Serenity in September. Not just because it's a great movie (although it is) but because surely one of you can figure out what happened to the goldfish. (This is not a spoiler.)

3) Aside from noting that the movie has goldfish (although I can't figure out what happened to them!) I'm not going to discuss details or the plot with you, since doing so would inevitably involve spoilers (or make you look even harder for the goldfish) and this is one movie that spoilers would certainly spoil. So not saying anything. I'm not even noting that Joss Whedon was kind enough to provide camera angles that let us fully appreciate Adam Baldwin, although he does, and not even noting that the movie is absorbing enough that I actually forgot to lust after Adam Baldwin and Gina Torres and instead just got swept into it. It's that good, and it's that intelligent. And intelligence is all too rare of a quality in science fiction movies these days.

4) That said:

If you haven't seen the Firefly DVD's yet, go now. Rent. Own. Watch. It's not just that this is a great TV show, although it is, but watching Firefly now will allow you to appreciate the character interaction in Serenity later -- and, unlike many science-fiction/action films, Serenity is about its characters and how they interact and think. So go watch. Now. You have only a few months.

Wow, for a fake entry that was pretty lengthy. See what happens when you restrict my Internet access for a week? Expect a lot of blogging today....