Tag Archives: x-files

No. 11 was ‘Yes Dear’

All of my regular TV shows have ended for the season, and we’re facing down the summertime TV wasteland. If you don’t have an interest in bachelorettes or big brothers, you’re out of luck. So I was trying to decide what this year’s Netflix summer series would be — two years ago it was “Battlestar Galactica,” and last year it was “Deadwood” — and it got me thinking about my favorite shows of years past. Here, in no particular order, are my 10 Favorite TV Shows:
Rockford's TV shows

The Rockford Files.”

It’s got a great central character who typifies the detached observer anti-hero. He kind of wanders through LA in the ’70s — he’s a good guy with some bad habits, but all in all he genuinely wants to help people despite their past transgressions. He’s smart, he’s funny, and the shows were well-written. Rockford also had great jackets. And one of the best theme songs that any TV show has ever had.

Friday Night Lights.”

A thinly veiled sports show that’s really about human interaction and relationships and the difficulties between coach and student, husband and wife, mothers and sons, fathers and daughters. It doesn’t pull any punches. What the show does so well is peel back the layers and get to how little the game means and how much the people do. Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose. I think Coach Taylor believes that, whether they win games or not. And that’s what makes him a real coach.

The X-Files.”

The sci-fi show that took science fiction from the realms of uber-nerdiness and gave it a more mainstream face without sacrificing good writing and good storytelling. The truth is out there.

Seinfeld.”

There’s no show that I run lines from more frequently than “Seinfeld.”

Doctor Who.”

I have watched “Doctor Who” since I was 7 years old. Tom Baker was the Doctor I grew up with (on Saturdays at 2 o’clock). It’s the show that made me feel it was OK to be a little bit geeky.

Freaks and Geeks.”

The best show about not fitting in in high school that ever was made.

Deadwood.”

The highest of drama set in the frontier west. It was literally Shakespearean in its dialogue and tragedy.

Lost.”

The most frustrating show that I have ever put up with watching. We’ll call it equal parts frustration and, at times, perfection.

Battlestar Galactica.”

This took sci-fi and changed it again. It was a show about relationships and sacrifice and identity. What good sci-fi should be is allegorical, and that’s what it was. If it’s just about monsters and ‘splosions, it’s bunk.

The Outer Limits.”

I remember watching the reruns when I was a kid, and it was very impactful. The stories were very jarring and slightly off-kilter. The images were just very powerful, especially for the time they were produced. And it had some very memorable episodes.