Every week they have a 6 hour episode, the first half is usually just horrible, the characters are terrible it really makes you wonder how they got cast in their roles. Then, the second half of the episode is great about 1 third of the time, and completely unbearable the other 2 thirds.
For about the first 6 months of the tv season, they're really focused on establishing the storylines and setting up the scenarios. Then, things really pick up. They usually have one episode per night, and sometimes two for two months straight. Thankfully, in recent seasons, the horrible cast members have been killed off early.
The season finale is usually really good. In 2006, they teased us by almost having the worst characters emerge triumphant, but they were vanquished at the last minute. The year before that they didn't have any new episodes but did show some re-runs. The year before that was really bittersweet, as the best characters had a fairy-tale run, but didn't quite live happily ever after.
Their best season by-far was 20 years ago (although the few seasons before that and the one after were unbearable).
I nominate this post for the CP Draft Hall of Fame!
Looks like a few people had the same idea I did. I was going to grab it for sure this round if it survived. Troublemaker, you suck!
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Eberle said, "It was one of the more special ones I've had. You don't score your first NHL goal too many times."
To keep the ball rolling quickly, Team Sequoia is proud to select, in the Comedy (Sitcom) Category, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Starring Will Smith, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ran for six seasons (148 episodes) between 1990 and 1996. Will Smith starred as a street-smart teenager from Philadelphia whose mother sends him to California to live with his Uncle Phil (played by James Avery), his Aunt Vivian (played first by Janet Hubert and then by Daphne Reid), cousins Carlton (Alfonso Riberio), Hilary (Karyn Parsons), Ashley (Tatyana Ali), and their butler Geoffrey (Joseph Marcell).
The Opening Theme song:
One of Will Smith's best scenes, (and one of my personal favourites), after his father returns from being out of Will's life for 14 years, and quickly leaves again:
Another of my favourites, during an earthquake, Will gets stuck in the basement with his girlfriend, only to find out she's not all he thought she was:
I haven't watched a ton of drama series on TV, and I certainly haven't watched every episode of a particular series more than once like I have with Six Feet Under, so I couldn't risk it lasting another round.
My favorite show, ever. Forever, ever? Forever, ever. Has won 43 major awards and been nominated for 117, but for some reason doesn't seem to always garner the recognition it should. I think it's one of a handful of shows that can truly challenge for "best TV show of all-time." I love this series dearly- so much so I almost don't want to start watching some new shows for fear I'll like them as much as I do SFU! If you've never given it a shot, please do- I can't recommend it enough. From Time Magazine:
Quote:
Alan Ball's all-in-the-funeral-family drama expanded on the themes of his movie American Beauty: families keep secrets, people maintain facades, and while death may be final, life is messy. The saga of the Fishers reveled in its characters' contradictions: matriarch Ruth (Frances Conroy) was both uptight and free-spirited; artist daughter Claire (Lauren Ambrose) was insightful yet whiny; son David (Michael C. Hall) was repressed yet brave; other son Nate (Peter Krause) was idealistic yet could be a total jerk. In its bravura last few episodes (spoilers) and the elegiac epilogue, fast-forwarding through the lives and deaths of (spoilers), was the series' best imaginable epitaph.
Another of my favourites, during an earthquake, Will gets stuck in the basement with his girlfriend, only to find out she's not all he thought she was:
I love, from that episode, when she rips off her fake nails. The look of disgust on his face was priceless.
Since 2000 this show has been both a ratings monster, and reviled. Especially off the earlier versions, contestants have found their fame or infamy through this show.
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"The problem with any ideology is that it gives the answer before you look at the evidence."
—Bill Clinton
"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance--it is the illusion of knowledge."
—Daniel J. Boorstin, historian, former Librarian of Congress
"But the Senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity"
—WKRP in Cincinatti
Team Boob Tube selects in the Comedy (Open) category, Entourage. With one of, if not the best character on TV, Entourage has become HBO's second longest running series. Here's to hoping for many more seasons!
Another I had thought about with that first pick... if we had snaked, I would have had either HNIC or Entourage... or 24 for that matter. I guess the other one I was thinking of, I should pick with my next chance.
Team Idiot Box would like to select in the second round, in the category of Law/Crime, the excellent and severely underrated Third Watch.
From IMDB, the general concept of the show:
Quote:
The exploits of a group of men and women who serve the City of New York as police officers, firemen, and paramedics in the fictional 55th Precinct.
Third Watch began its run in 1999 and ended in 2005 with a bang. It was a fantastic show, that held its own in the ratings and managed to find a loyal fanbase.
Production was shut down for awhile in the aftermath of 911. The firetrucks they used on the show were destroyed at the WTC. Several firefighters and policemen that served as technical advisors were lost that day, and as a tribute to them, the show aired a special episode, titled In Their Own Words. The episode featured the cast and real NYC police, firefighters and EMS talking about their experiences that day and how they were effected by the tragedy.
Third Watch was one of the few shows on television where I would actually get upset if I missed an episode, or if someone phoned when the show was on. Unfortunately, NBC is really lagging in releasing the show on DVD. Only the first season is currently available in NA, with seemingly no real plans yet on when the second through to the sixth season will be released.
Good acting, good writing, drama, car chases, gun fights, and hot guys in cop, firefighter and EMS uniforms, all the good stuff.
Youtubage:
The opening credits of the Final season:
Bosco's squad car is stolen, quite a sweet ending, showing the softer side of the typically hard assed Bosco:
A sad moment, where the crew finds the body of the father of one of the main characters in the rubble at ground zero
Bosco goes to Faith and breaks down about his experience of 911:
There's lots of other clips that I could post but some would have spoilers and I wouldn't want to ruin it for anyone.
For our 2nd round pick, we're going to go off the board a bit here to select, in the category of Miniseries (with the option to flip to Educational at a later date)... Carl Sagan's epic celebration of history, space, science, thought, art, life... a magnificent depiction of all that is worth celebrating in humanity, a view that is all the more commendable when viewed in its historical context, when pessimism and fear were so easy to fall back on... 1980's Cosmos!
A brilliant series that does a masterful job of positioning Earth and humanity within the awesome, expansive context of the cosmos. Sagan's greatest achievement was always his ability to transgress the pettiness of the moment - in the one episode that addresses the contemporary fears of nuclear annihilation implicit within the Cold War context, he does so in positive terms, choosing to present a celebration of all humanity and all we have achieved, all we are capable of, which would be thrown away in such circumstances.
His ability to articulate complex scientific concepts in accessible terms is another aspect of Sagan's enduring legacy, and Cosmos stands up to this day as one of the greatest documentary television events ever produced.
I have the series on DVD. It fueled my interest in science, as I'm sure it did for millions of people. I joined the Planetary Society (formed by Sagan) as a result, and remain a member. Still fresh in my mind are the episodes on relativity (a boy travels at the speed of light on a moped and returns to find his brother is an old man), the cosmic calendar (humans arrived in the last minute before midnight on New Year's Eve), the evolution of man from one cell organisms (an animation showing the change in forms).
The Cosmos is all that is, or ever was, or ever will be.
