patrecharound

[patrecharound]

#1. Life On Mars Not that it needs clarification, but I'm talking about the BBC original series, not the appallingly bad US remake. This show, like most others on this list, had a certain intangible quality to it that makes it special - a combination of excellently developed characters, superb writing, and compelling narrative that hooks you from the very start and won't let go. Sam Tyler is a Manchester dectective in 2007, who gets hit by a car and wakes up as a cop in the 70's. In a lesser show, this could be a cheesy excuse for bad jokes and lame pop culture references, but Sam's plight is intriguing - is he dead, and this is the afterlife? Is he dreaming this in a coma, or has he really gone back in time? If that's not enough, the contrast between Sam's 21st century policing, and the brutality, corruption and misogynistic nature of the force in the 70's(personified by Gene Hunt, one of British tv's truly great creations) and you have sixteen episodes of superb television. Favourite Episode - Season 1, Episode 8. Sam's police work brings him face to face with his own past, and his fathers dodgy, criminal history, while getting hints that he might be able to go back to his own time.

[patrecharound]

Special Entry - Penn & Teller: Bullshit

I've included this in the countdown, but not as one of the top ten, because as much as I love the show, it isn't conveying a narrative, so i didn't think it should be in the list. But, it is still awesome television.

Penn & Teller, possibly the most famous (and my favourite) magicians in the world, spend 8 seasons debunking things which they think are misguided, wrong, or, in their words, Bullshit. 

Dealing with such things as Talking to the Dead, Chastity, The War on Drugs and much much more, with humour, intelligence and irreverence, you might not agree with everything that they say, but at least it will make you think.

Favourite Episode: The Vatican. This is no longer listed as an official episode, and was never released on the Season 7 DVD, but it highlights the staggering hypocrisy and plain evilness that is pervades the Catholic Church from the top down.

[patrecharound]

#2. Band of Brothers I actually avoided watching this show for a long time, worried that it was going to be just 'Yay America' flag waving. How completely wrong I was. A phenomenally powerful and moving true story of Easy Company - a US paratrooper unit in World War II - from training, to some of the most pivotal battles of the war. While the battle scenes are on par with the best that you can see in cinema, it's how invested you become in the characters that is the really impressive part of this show. Favourite Episode : Why We Fight. If there's someone that isn't moved by the scenes in the concentration camp, then that someone isn't human.

[patrecharound]

#3.The Sopranos This show, along with The West Wing, mark for me the time when TV became a legitimate form of storytelling in its own right, and no longer the 'poor cousin' of cinema. An unforgivingly brutal look at life inside the Mafia, The Sopranos was the show that really made people sit up and take notice of HBO as a network (you'll notice quite a few of this top ten are HBO shows) - its close to the perfect television show. Yes, Tony is an asshole, but it's the quality of the show, and the writing, that makes you connect with him, and the heinous things that he does. Favourite Episode: a toss up here. Pine Barrens - one of the best episodes of television ever made , and Long Term Parking - a stunning, but yet not entirely unexpected, payback.

[patrecharound]

#4. Deadwood

Probably the best written - definitely the most profane, foul mouthed, and beautifully poetic - television show I have ever watched, Deadwood was three magical seasons of Wild West lawlessness, plots, conspiracies and violence.

You knew you were in for something special when in the second scene of the first episode, Calamity Jane drops the C-bomb. No, this show is not for the feint of heart.

Its almost impossible to pick a favourite character. From the aforementioned alchoholic Calamity Jane, the whores in the saloon, Al Swearengen, the amazing paranoid ramblings of EB Farnham, the dialogue in this show brings them all out with amazing clarity and resolve.

Favourite Episode - Requiem For a Gleet. Not an easy episode to watch if you're male, but stunning all the same.

[patrecharound]

#5. Arrested Development Definately the smartest, funniest and most underrated American comedy of all time. Like the possible recent demise of the brilliant ‘Community’ , this was a show that was too smart for the American audience that it was made for (and yet Two and a Half Men stays on the air? Fuckers) Self referential, with blink-and-you-miss-it references to lines and jokes from previous episodes (blue hand prints on the wall, anyone?) , there really isn’t enough praise that can be heaped on this show. The talk of an upcoming movie, and another series, is a tantalizing promise that will have a hell of a lot to live up to. Favourite Episode: being forced to pick one of the many brilliant eps, I’d have to go with ‘Visiting Ours’. Daddy horny, Michael!

[patrecharound]

#6. Generation Kill. If this show were a work of fiction, it would still be a really good show. But the knowledge that these are real people, and real events, adds a layer of depth to things that can't be ignored. Following a reporter from Rolling Stone magazine who is embedded within a Marine Corps unit in Iraq during the most recent Gulf War, Generation Kill brings amazing - and sometimes disturbing - insight into the minds and hearts of US Marines, and what drives them. Incredible action scenes, and impressive performances (most noticeably from Alexander Skarsgaard) bring the war much closer than you've ever wanted it. Best Episode : there's only seven episodes to choose from in this, so I'm going to cop out and not pick one.

[patrecharound]

7. Friday Night Lights To write this off as a show about football, is like saying Battlestar Galactica is just about space ships. A small Texas town, obsessed with high school football is the setting for a truly remarkable work, that deals with serious, weighty issues (abortion, sexual assault, disability) without ever being preachy, sounding like its got an agenda to push, or being 'Very Special Episode' territory. What's even more impressive is the performances, particularly by the younger cast. Not 'scripted' in the traditional sense, the actors were given an outline of what needed to be said in a scene, and given the ability to explore it themselves. Best Episode? An early one, Wind Sprints. Don't piss off your coach by coming to training drunk.

[patrecharound]

#8. The West Wing This one was tough. Not the inclusion into the list, that was never in doubt. But the placement. Man, did I want to put this one higher. And if I could have chosen just the first 4 Aaron Sorkin seasons, then it would be at 1 or 2. But the last three seasons, whilst still good, lacked that sparkle that made this show special. A note on the clip - the easy, and predictable option would have been Bartlett's rant against God in the cathedral. And while that is exceptional, it didn't have the emotional punch that this episode, In Excelsis Deo, had for me. This was my standout episode of the series, and is up there with the best two or three episodes of television of all time.

[patrecharound]

#9. Battlestar Galactica We won't talk about the ending. But, yes. The ending. It's not making too bold a statement to say that BSG redefined what a 'science fiction' show can be. Tight pacing, incredible writing and characters, a story that was so much more than the 'alien of the week' fare that sci fi had been throwing at us for the last 40 years, it is one of the greatest SHOWS of all time, not merely the best sci fi. Even now, a couple of years after it has finished, there are still plot twists, little things that you didn't pay much attention to at the time that with second, and third, rewatches become all the more critical and important. A true classic of modern storytelling. Edit. I've decided to add a 'favourite episode' to each show. For BSG, it's the first episode after the mini-series, '33' . A relentless, harrowing episode that grabs you and never lets up, and the perfect setup for the rest of the show.

[patrecharound]

#10. Invader Zim

The most twisted, brilliant, devious, maniacal cartoon in history. I don't have the mental or linguistic capacity to explain how wonderful this thing truly is - It just needs to be watched. And watched. And watched. Three short seasons, on a kids network, no less - how they let this crazy man near kids TV I'll never understand (his previous work was a comic book called Johnny the Homicidal Maniac), but bless them, they did, and we are all the richer for it.

Edit. (favourit episode) A Room With A Moose. It really needs no introduction, or explanation. The perfect Zim episode.

[patrecharound]

The Patrecharound TV List

This is something I've been thinking about doing for a while - both the list , and a Tumblr site. Inspired by my good friend Pete at the very awesome The Lair of Cool Shit , I've decided to do it. Admittedly, it will probably only last a couple of days before I get bored with it, but I'll give it a shot.

So, the first list. My top ten greatest TV shows. The only rule I gave myself was that the show had to have finished - TV is sadly littered with shows that started strong, but then fell apart (Heroes, I'm looking at you!) Recent news has obviously put one of the entrants on this list apparently in breach of that rule, but until I see Season 4, I don't believe it exists. 

Starting then at #10...