Life is grand

Before The West Wing came along I thought TV was entertaining but that the silver screen was king. TV used to be where b-grade actors, directors, producers and so on went, all hoping to make it into the big time and into a movie. Now you find movie stars working hard in TV shows and a-list directors sweating over an episode a week. For me it was The West Wing that changed it all, introducing a phenomenal mix of writing, production and acting. Aaron Sorkin is a bona-fide genius who chose writing as his outlet.

I was disappointed that The Sopranos came in at #4 with The West Wing at #5 on this Empire top 50 list. Back home in South Africa you were either a West Wing fan or a Sopranos fan. They showed them on the same night at the same time on different channels which meant you had to choose. My dad and I ended up choosing The West Wing, eating every Monday evening’s meal glued to the boob tube as Toby, Josh, CJ and co. gave us a bit of hope about the political system (sadly it is just a TV show.) I’ve watched a bit of The Sopranos on DVD but never really got into it, maybe I should give it another go.

The list is pretty good except for Buffy at #2, what a load of hooey. I’ve met more than a few MSG fans. You know, Sarah Michelle Gellar, more irrationality addictive than MSG itself. It explains why Buffy is at #2 but it doesn’t mean the rest of us not addicted to MSG have to agree with it.

24 is in there and I must thank, or curse, my old friend Brian Delahunty for giving me the first few seasons and not warning me that I’d end up watching 4-6 episodes in an evening, often getting to sleep at 3am on a work night. Truly the most addictive TV show ever. Buffy fans are probably rolling their eyes now.

Other notable shows are Friends (Phoebe and Joey, ace. Ross, you muppet), The X-Files (I want to believe Scully is that sexy in real life), Seinfeld (Cosmo and entrances), Battlestar Galactica (Season 4 is starting well), Blackadder (”so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel”), Futurama (oh Leela), Fawlty Towers (Baaaaasssssil!), Frasier (like a televised theatre show my dad always said), Father Ted (drunk as monkeys), all the Star Treks and finally Monty Python’s Flying Circus (remember the naked girls chasing the guy to his death?)

Lost gets a mention because while I’ve watched a good deal of it I can take it or leave it. The characters were just a wee bit annoying, too precious to get much sympathy from me. Only the former Iraqi torture chap, can’t even remember his name, had the kind of depth I was interested in. That and Lost overplayed its cards. It was a two season show and was forced into many more for commercial reasons. It may have been brilliant had they stuck to the original story arc. As it is it dragged itself well past closing time and into bouncer-just-threw-your-arse-into-the-gutter time.

The Simpsons is in the list too and I do love it. God knows it must be brilliant seeing as Sky show about four episodes every evening right around the time when you get home and are most in the mood to be a couch potato. But if I had to choose one TV show to take to the proverbial desert island then it would have to be The West Wing.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 9:02 pm and is filed under Post. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.