Five best things done for television

Cafe Society
1

In a recent thread a comment was made about a certain television show, that it “was one of the ten best things ever done for TV” And that got me to thinking. What *are * the ten best things, in your opinion, done for television? Is it a series as a whole? A documentary? Maybe a mini-series? After a lot of thought and hair-tearing out of, I came up with the following, in no particular order, and which I will probably wish I could change.

  1. *The Civil War, * a documentary by Ken Burns

  2. *The Story of English, * narrated by Robert McNeil

  3. *I, Claudius, * with Derek Jacobi as Claudius

  4. *Babylon 5, * I converted to this after being raised in the
    religion of Star Trek.

  5. *The Trials of Life, * with David Attenborough

  6. Live television coverage of the Mercury and Apollo space
    programs. (I ate it up as a kid)

  7. *Jesus of Nazareth, * by Franco Zefferelli(comes the
    to being the way the book had it.)

  8. *A Charlie Brown Christmas, * best Christmas special ever

  9. MASH, * the series

10)*The World at War, * a 26 part BBC documentary on WWII

Some of my choices may be odd, but what are yours?

2

Well, duh, proofreading is my friend. That title should have been Ten best things for television. I’m an idiot.

3

There was a PBS series in the 80s called “Ethics in America” that was brilliant. There would be about a dozen people from some particular field (military, legal, etc., the panel was different for each show) and a moderator who would describe a hypothetical situation and bring in different participants to find out what they would do.

The episode on the military (actually, I think that may have been a two-parter) had everyone from an enlisted man on up. There were situations about what a commanding officer would do if a soldier refused to follow orders under fire, or if he had been ordered to make a hopeless attack as a diversion. Peter Jennings was brought in to the story and asked how he would cover it. The moderator asked if you would go on patrol with an enemy platoon to investigate allegations of attrocities committed by our allies. He said he would, then it became a question of whether he would raise an alarm (and certainly be killed for it) to prevent an ambush on American troops.

The people they got to be on the panels were amazing. The episode on the law had at least one Supreme Court justice. And the moderators were fantastic at building a situation gradually and putting people on the spot.

Give me a while to think of the other nine, but this one’s definitely on the list.

4
  1. The Civil War by Ken Burns. I’ll second this as being in the top spot. As far as I’m concerned, it’s the standard by which all other documentaries must be judged. Extraordinary work.

The remaining entries are in no particular order. Given how the vast majority of TV is nothing special, it’s going to be hard for me to come up with nine others.

–The Simpsons. One of the greatest shows I’ve ever seen.

–Frontline: the Kip Kinkel story. Frontline did a documentary on the events leading up to and surrounding the Kip Kinkel shooting at his Springfield, Oregon school, and the slaying of his parents earlier that day. Surprisingly indepth, and the closing minutes was a replay of the audiotape of Kinkel’s confession of what he did. The pain in his voice was absolutely gut-wrenching to listen to. What was remarkable was that the seeds for this tragedy had been years in the growing, and no one stopped it. The local media in Oregon did no such indepth investigation, of course.

–60 Minutes. Proof that you don’t need glitzy graphics and techno-bop music to have an interesting newsmagazine show.

–Nova. The long-running PBS series is one of the few “must-see” programs for me. They’re not perfect though…if they have any sense, they will never, ever repeat the bristlecone pine tree episode.

–Around the World in 80 Days. The BBC in 1988 decided to see if Michael Palin could go around the world in 80 days…the only catch was that he would not be permitted to use airtravel. Cool documetary series (six parts, IIRC) for armchair travelers.

–Genesis Bill Moyers did a multi-part series on the book of Genesis, with a variety of commentators analyzing and discussing various sections of the book. Fascinating stuff. I still haven’t seen the entire series.

–Transformations of Myth Through Time. Joseph Campbell’s series of lectures on world mythology. The Power of Myth, a PBS series with Bill Moyers is also very good. I found both series endlessly fascinating, and hope to see them come out on DVD soon.

–Cupid. Short-lived TV series starring Jeremy Piven. Brilliantly funny writing. Outstanding acting. Shitty time slot. Strangled in its crib by ABC programming executives that have lost their souls. I still have not forgiven ABC for axing this show.

–The ending of the Star Trek: Next Generation episode known as “The Inner Light” gave me chills. That’s an incredibly rare reaction for me to have to a TV show.

5

I’d just like to add Dustin Hoffman’s Death of a Salesman to the list. Arthur Miller has said that his character was originally supposed to be someone physically like Hoffman. The requirements of the stage forced him to get larger and larger actors, until he wound up with Lee Cobb. Television allowed something closer to the author’s conception. There’s also a rare appearance from John Malkovich’s hair.

6

Homicide: Life On The Street. Based on a brilliant book by David Simon and one of the smartest cop shows ever. Ruined by NBC, who failed to promote it and in the end, tried dumbing it down to attract the Nash Bridges audience.

7

Good choices by everybody. I especially agree with Nova.

I’d add Roots to the main list.

Maybe not in the Top 10, but somewhere nearby: The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, with Cicely Tyson in a truly great performance as a 110-year old woman telling her story in flashback, starting with being a slave and being set free when she was 11. I haven’t seen it for decades, but I remember being fascinated by it. I wish it were on DVD. When, years later, I read “The Stand” by Stephen King, I pictured Cicely Tyson (in Miss Jane Pittman makeup) as Mother Abigail. (only younger)

I’m so glad you mentioned this, it was one of my favorite programs too. It never found its audience, but it should have been a hit. I miss it and mourn that there weren’t even enough episodes for syndication. If there were a DVD set of that show, I’d buy it.

My own personal Top 10 would include Twin Peaks, Due South and Wild Palms as well, but that’s just me.

8

IMO Carl Sagan’s Cosmos mini-series would have to be at the top of the list.

9

I concur on:

  • I, Claudius *
  • Trials of Life * (But can’t we just lump this with * Life on Earth *?
  • The Civil War *
  • Roots *
  • Nova *

I would nominate the entire * Frontline * series as well.

Then I would add:

  • Elizabeth R * and * The Six Wives of Henry VIII *, which I consider one series.

And that leaves three slots. Hmmm. Well, I think you can’t just ignore the staples of TV and focus and the high falutin’ stuff, so I would add:

  • The Oprah Winfrey Show * (just the last five years)
  • Hill Street Blues *
    and
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer *

Boy, am I gonna get a load of grief for those last ones. But I really think they deserve it. (and if you ain’t seen at least 10 eps of * Buffy * then you don’t get to squeal)

10

Mine in no particular order:

Nova - as others have said.
All In The Family
Cosmos
The Simpsons
Sesame Street
From the Earth to the Moon
Dave Letterman
CNN
CNN’s “The Cold War”
MTV - back when it started and played videos.
MTV’s “Liquid Television”

Should have watched even more sesame street, because it seems I can’t count to 10.
Oh well.

11

The first season of Murder One.

12

  1. Mystery Science Theater 3000. The funniest series ever.

  2. The promotional spots for Cartoon Network. Usually these are better than the programming itself (especially back when they were running stuff like “The Gary Coleman Show”). Brilliant from a creative and from a marketing standpoint; even from the beginning you could tell that this was going to be something cool.

In case it’s not clear, I’m talking about the ads and short videos – Speed Buggy declaring “I’m a car that can lick things!”; Jan from the Wonder Twins complaining about how he got stuck with the lamest superpower; Jinx the Cat and Pixie & Dixie in the spoof of The Shining; the Superfriends annoying people at a movie theater; and my favorite, “Whiners Can Be Losers.” “Solomon Grundy want pants too!” And that’s not even mentioning the Toonami promo where Moltar described “Sailor Moon” and “The Powerpuff Girls” as “One full hour of All-Girl Action!”

  1. Late Night with David Letterman.

  2. An episode of “Twin Peaks”. I forget the title, but it had a scene in which Laura Palmer’s twin cousin first saw Bob lunging at her across the Palmer living room. The creepiest, scariest thing I’ve ever seen, TV or otherwise.

  3. The X-Files episode “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space”. All of Darin Morgan’s episodes were excellent, but this is the one episode that was the pinnacle of the series. It was a parody of the series itself, its fans, the whole UFO/conspiracy phenomenon, TV and pop culture in general… IMO it was the only episode that had any real relevance on the world outside the series. (And it had Jesse the Body Ventura AND classic lines like “You don’t play Dungeons and Dragons for as long as I have without learning a little something about courage.”)

  4. Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

  5. The James Burke documentary series “Connections.” Not only a clever way to teach history, but the documentary series that best used the medium of television.

  6. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (If you get grief, Stoid, I’ve got your back – on this one, anyway. Oprah?) There are no real stand-out episodes for me, but the series as a whole has had such imagination and willingness to experiment with just about anything.

  7. Schoolhouse Rock. I’d originally typed Sesame Street, but thinking about it, it’s kind of creepy what a profound impact SHR had on me as a child. I’ve never had an occasion to use the Preamble to the Constitution, but damn if I don’t know every single word (although granted, I have to sing it).

  8. Cowboy Bebop. (Nobody ever said American/English shows only). Brilliant music, of course, terrific animation, characters with more depth than most live-action series, comedy, action, drama, and spaceships. Plus, I’m about the biggest sap there is, but it’s been decades since anything on TV had ever moved me to tears – but Bebop did it to me three times.

13

I would say the coverage of Sept 11. The networks shared info with other non news networks, HSN went off the air, urging viewers to tune into the news, and the realization that the talking heads were just as stunned as we were.

Which brings me to the CBS documentary by the French brothers on 9/11.

On a lighter note, Star Trek. The most enduring franchise ever. And Sports Night. ABC wouldn’t recognize a hit show if it kicked them in the ass.

14

Come play with us Jinxie.

In no particular order and with many repeats from above. And coming from my current state of mind.

  1. The Simpsons (If they didn’t exist I guess I’d put Green Acres here)
  2. The Day the Universe Changed (A Burke series I like slightly better then Connections. I think it’s tighter and had more meaning. Plus the last show was brilliant.)
  3. Cosmos (Sagan had a real gift to connect with science with people. This despite the fact that this series caused me to come home crying from school one day because no one believed googleplex was a real number)
  4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (it enthralled this 5 year old and my mother as well)
  5. C-Span (I used to watch this a lot. I don’t any more but I think it deserves a nod for allowing all Americans into Congress.)
  6. Sesame Street (I never had TV as a kid and when we did finally get one I didn’t connect with it till I was way past puberty but I know something good when I see it. Makes me sad to think I never knew Mr. Hooper. But I can sing 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12)
  7. CNN (More news then I could ever use)
  8. MTV (Music, doi!)
  9. Miracle Planet with Bill Curtis (My 3rd science documentary, you can see where my loyalties lie. But this was a brilliant state of the planet series. With all these great scientific documentaries why can’t Americans be more scientific minded! hands on hips)
  10. Dexter’s Laboratory (Without a doubt the funniest shorts since the early 40s Bugs Bunny pieces. And for all ages too. “Don’t make me hungry. You wont like me when I’m hungry.” Robotech would have gotten this spot if it had better pacing.)
15

Sure they would. Then they’d grind it into dust in short order. ( * Who Wants to be a Millionaire *)

A ** good **show? Now that they have trouble with.

16

I am surprised no one has mentioned Seinfeld yet, the best TV comedy show I have ever seen.

A second vote for the Power Of Myth interviews with Joseph Campbell.

Another second vote for Cowboy Bebop for its all-round excellence both across different genres and the different elements of animation (music, writing ,visuals etc).

There are any number of excellent PBS documentary shows several of them mentioned in this thread. One that I like that hasn’t been mentioned here (I think) is American Experience about different episodes in American history.

17

SolGrundyI’m so delighted that you mentioned this! This is my favorite episode of any TV series, ever. In case you ever want to search ebay for a copy of it, it’s episode #14, “Lonely Souls.” Script. Screen shots.

My memory is too poor to come up with a list of ten things, but besides Twin Peaks, I want to second the nomination of Homicide:Life on the Street. Also, I think the episode in which Bayliss and Pembleton spend the entire hour in the box with the Fish Man was the greatest show of the series.

PBS produced a series called The Secrets of the Dead, and I think the episode titled “Catastrophe!” is one of the coolest documentary programs I’ve ever seen. It was about David Keyes’ research into a likely explosion of Krakatoa around 535 AD that blocked out the sun the world over for several years, causing massive climate change, crop failure, plagues, starvation, etc. Keyes compiled evidence from tree-ring measurements, ice cap cores, human bones, written documents from different cultures over the globe, etc. to pinpoint Krakatoa as the cause. Absolutely fascinating.

18

(hijack)
Wow! Thanks for the great links! I couldn’t tell from the script or screenshots; this is the one where Maddy is sitting alone in the living room and sees a red stain slowly forming on the carpet. She freaks out, turns around, and sees Bob crouching near the door. He creeps towards the camera and climbs over the couch to get to her and… I didn’t see what happened after that because everybody I was watching it with me was screaming and they ran out of the room.

I’ve been putting off getting the DVD sets; I think I’m going to have to break down and just do it.
(end hijack)

19

No mention of Band of Brothers or South Park? Geez.

20

  1. Jeopardy! Especially Episodes 3888-3892, hence my Member Name and Episode 3945, my inglorious defeat in the Tournament of Champions.

  2. Ken Burns’ The Civil War

  3. James Burke’s The Day the Universe Changed over the original Connections if only because I saw Universe first.

  4. Hill Street Blues best cop show ever.

  5. The Sopranos best crime show ever

  6. The Tonight Show, starring Johnny Carson–not that dreadul Jay Leno

  7. Saturday Night, Live the original cast and early to mid-90s.

  8. James Michener’s Centennial, a bit too soap-opera-ish, but very faithful to the novel.

10 Super Bowl XXXIV Rams over the Titans. Probably the greatest Super Bowl ever played, which the Rams just so happened to win.