5 of My Favorite Shows!

Good morning,  good afternoon,  and good evening folks (choose one that apply's). In the weeks blog post (I'm gonna try as much as possible to make this a weekly thing...not so much for you but for me) I'm going to talk about five of my favorite shows in no particular order. This isn't a complete list and may not even consist of my complete top five. This isn't the blog post that I'm going to talk about Seinfeld. Everyone knows how great Seinfeld is. 

1. Frasier

I love this show. Probably one of the funniest shows of all time (in the beginning) that does not get nearly enough credit (despite it's near record Emmy haul). As everyone know Frasier is a spin off from Cheers. Frasier moves from Boston to Seattle to get away from his ex wife Lilith and start a new life close to his family. Frasier as a character while not completely different from his time on Cheers is certainly different. He's even more snooty and not at all someone who you think would have ever hung out at a bar like Cheers. While I admit the quality of this show did decline over the years (as soon as Niles finally got Daphne) in it's earlier years it was smart and hilarious. Watched from beginning to end at least three times. 

Frasier: [responding to a caller] Roger, at Cornell University they have an incredible piece of scientific equipment known as the Tunneling Electron Microscope. Now, this microscope is so powerful that by firing electrons you can actually see images of the atom, the infinitesimally minute building blocks of our universe. Roger, if I were using that microscope right now, I still wouldn't be able to locate my interest in your problem.

2. The West Wing

No beating around the bush with this one. I consider The West Wing (in it's first four seasons) to be the greatest television show of all time. The first four seasons penned almost exclusively by Aaron Sorkin were simply put brilliant. It was though provoking, dramatic, occasionally funny and brilliantly acted. There were moments this show would have me in stitches and twenty minutes later almost in tears, It was a smart political drama that showed the inner workings of the US political system like no other drama ever had. 'Two Cathedrals' and '20 Hours in America' definitely are this shows high points. 

President Josiah Bartlet: More than any time in recent history, America's destiny is not of our own choosing. We did not seek nor did we provoke an assault on our freedom and our way of life. We did not expect nor did we invite a confrontation with evil. Yet the true measure of a people's strength is how they rise to master that moment when it does arrive. 44 people were killed a couple of hours ago at Kennison State University. Three swimmers from the men's team were killed and two others are in critical condition. When, after having heard the explosion from their practice facility, they ran into the fire to help get people out. Ran *in* to the fire. The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels tonight. They're our students and our teachers and our parents and our friends. The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels, but every time we think we have measured our capacity to meet a challenge, we look up and we're reminded that that capacity may well be limitless. This is a time for American heroes. We will do what is hard. We will achieve what is great. This is a time for American heroes and we reach for the stars. God bless their memory, God bless you and God bless the United States of America. Thank you. 

3. Ed

This is a show which hardly anyone knows about and it's a true shame. I have copies of every episode and often go back to re-watch this charming dramedy. This show had a short for year run in the early 2000s. Executive produced by David Letterman and airing on NBC 'Ed' tells the story of a big city lawyer who walks in on his wife sleeping with the mail man and then moves back to his hometown to woo the girl of his dreams. Ed moves back to Stuckeyville and buys the bowling alley. In addition to running the bowling alley he starts up a law practice and becomes known as the "bowling alley lawyer". This show never really got off the ground and it's a shame it was funny, clever and really hit all my dramedy hot points. If you can find a way to watch this show on this wonderful thing we call the internet - DO IT!

4. Sports Night

Aaron Sorkin fanboy alert! Yes, this is the second Aaron Sorkin show on my list but it was a good show that suffered heavily from network interference. This was Aaron Sorkin's first kick at the television can. It was a 30 minute dramedy that was marketed by ABC as a sitcom, It was shot single camera and in the first season the network even went as far as to add a god awful laugh track, Thankfully by season two the laugh track was gone. The show featured what is now an almost all all-star cast in the roles of a team that produced a nightly sports highlight show. It was essentially a behind the scenes look at SportsCenter. The show was again extremely well written and while it wasn't always laugh out loud funny it was a clever, witty, and often though provoking show that was truly a joy to watch. The show was just squandered on ABC. Look for it on DVD.

5. Star Trek Deep Space Nine

I had to do one Star Trek show. I chose Deep Space Nine and it was kind of a tough decision, While TNG has a special place for me being the show that really brought me to Trek, Deep Space Nine is my favorite of all the series (Gasps). Deep Space was so good because it's setting allowed for a continuing story line and returning characters like Garak. This show had it's silly moments with Quark but then it would have a six episode arc featuring the perils of war. In my opinion the best of Trek, even if it's not your favorite as a whole it was the best written and produced of the series. 

I hope you take the time to watch some of these shows and as always I hope you find your time on this site to be time (and bandwidth) well wasted.