Category: television
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Great TV: Mr. Show
Alternative comedy—a vague label affixed to any comedic material that seems unusual, iconoclastic, or transgressive—has gained incredible cultural cachet in the past 30 years. While there have always been alternative comedy figures and material in American post-war pop culture (Ernie Kovacs, Andy Kaufman, SCTV and Saturday Night Live, Bill Hicks, Second City and the rise […]
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14 Forgotten TGIF Shows
While in a previous series of articles/recaps I hit all the major shows that aired on TGIF (well, and Camp Wilder), there were a lot of shows that didn’t take off on the programming block. Here are the forgotten TGIF shows that ran for only one or two seasons that nobody remembers. Early Duds In […]
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Great TV: The Prisoner
Who is Number 1? If you are Number 6 this is a serious question, since Number 6 asks Number 2 this at the opening of every episode of The Prisoner. First airing in Canada in 1967, this spy-sci fi-mystery-thriller was unlike anything ever seen before at the time. a sort of 1960s version of Twin […]
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Totally 80’s: Cartoons!
I spent the first half of my childhood in the 1980s, from 0 to 8, living a Totally 80’s lifestyle in the best way possible: with tons of toys and tons of television. Not that my parents plopped me in front of the TV and forgot about me but they saw that I liked it […]
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Boy Meet World – “If You Can’t Be With The One You Love…”
Boy Meets World is an inexplicably beloved show from the TGIF lineup, although I can’t see why: it’s cheesy, preachy, and worst of all cringe-inducing. I don’t know if that makes it a really good and accurate show about being a teenager or an awful one. My teenage years are abysmally cringe-inducing when looking […]
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Great TV: Parks & Recreation
There may be no more likable or positive show that has aired on television so far in the 21st century than Parks & Recreation. Although created by the same producers that adapted The Office for American television, in both spirit and characterization it’s the polar opposite of that other (far more popular) show, which was […]
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Great TV: The Addams Family
Let’s play a word association game. If I used the words creepy, kooky, mysterious, spooky, and ooky, my guess is that you would snap your fingers twice and say The Addams Family. And it’s amazing at just how deeply the TV show has permeated popular culture at this point: running from 1964 to 1966 and […]
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Great TV: Mystery Science Theater 3000
Although this is primarily a movie site, television is also written about here, mostly because the lines between TV and film have become increasingly blurred over the years. Just as the series of articles on Great TV is a section of this site, there have been a fair amount of articles written about the terrible, […]
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Great TV: Frasier
♪♫♬Hey baby, I hear the blues a-callin’, tossed salad and scrambled eggs ♪♫♬. But of course everyone that’s seen Frasier would recognize this familiar line, which plays over the closing credits and is sung by star Kelsey Grammer. But the lyrics hold a key to the entire show’s premise. If you would indulge, let’s finish […]
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10 More Garbage TV Shows From The 80’s
Television knows how to make great TV…now. Before the present day, however, TV was considered a second-class form of entertainment that beginners and has-beens would work in. But considering how much money was being pumped into TV, and how much garbage was being produced with all that money, it’s hard to feel sympathetic about the […]
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Great TV: The Riches
Listen: not every show makes it full cycle. Some shows fizzle out: it’s just what happens in the high turnover business of television. One day you’re the critical darling among a crowded slate and the next you’re cancelled after 13 episodes. Low ratings, a faltering viewership, or just rotten luck can doom a series before […]
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Best New To Streaming September 2017
Every month, streaming services add new films to their roster, but not all of them are worth watching. After all, film studios churn out a great amount of films every week, month, and year that passes, and why waste time on a movie that simply won’t entertain, engage, or else inspire you? Here at Me […]
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