All TV Shows I've Seen
Submitted by lukeprog on Mon, 08/02/2004 - 06:14
Tags:
- This is a list to show how few TV programs I've actually seen, not how many. This is a list of every TV show I've seen at least an entire episode of (not including miniseries or specials). If I've watched roughly 6 or more episodes of a series, a * appears next to them. Past and present favorites are given ** (and I've seen more than 6 episodes of each of them, obviously).
- 24
- 30 Rock
- 3rd Rock From The Sun*
- 60 Minutes
- 8 Simple Rules...
- Absolutely Fabulous
- Aladdin**
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents
- America's Funniest Home Videos*
- America's Most Wanted*
- The Andy Griffith Show
- Animaniacs*
- The Apprentice
- Aqua Teen Hunger Force**
- Arrested Development
- The Ashlee Simpson Show
- Bands Reunited
- Batman*
- Batman & Robin**
- Batman/Superman Adventures**
- Batman: The Animated Series**
- Behind the Music
- Best Week Ever*
- Big Love
- Bill Nye: Science Guy*
- Blackadder
- Body of Evidence*
- Boondocks
- Brady Bunch
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Bullshit!**
- Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
- Candid Camera**
- Celebrities Uncensored
- Cheers
- Chip ‘N Dale Rescue Rangers
- Colbert Report**
- Columbo
- Comedy Central Presents*
- COPS**
- Crossfire
- CSI: Miami
- Curb Your Enthusiasm
- Da Ali G Show*
- Daily Show with Jon Stewart**
- Darkwing Duck*
- Dateline
- Desperate Housewives
- Diagnosis Murder**
- Dharma & Greg*
- Drew Carey's Green Screen Show
- Drew Carey Show*
- DuckTales*
- E! True Hollywood Story
- Entertainment Tonight
- Everybody Loves Raymond**
- Extras*
- Fabulous Life Of*
- Family Matters
- Father of the Pride
- Faulty Towers
- Fear Factor
- Forensic Files**
- Fractured Flickers
- Frasier**
- Freakazoid
- Freaks and Geeks
- Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
- Friday Night Lights
- Friends*
- Frontline
- Full House*
- Futurama*
- Garfield & Friends*
- Gargoyles*
- Get Rich With Trump
- Get Smart
- Gilligan's Island
- Heroes
- Hollywood Justice
- Home Improvement*
- House*
- I, Detective*
- Jackie Chan Adventures*
- Jack Van Impe Presents
- Jericho
- Jeopardy!
- The Jetsons
- Joe Millionaire
- Jump Cuts
- Just Shoot Me*
- Justice League*
- Justice League Unlimited
- Kids in the Hall
- King of the Hill
- Laguna Beach
- Larry Sanders Show
- Last Call with Carson Daly
- Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn
- Late Show with David Letterman
- Late Night with Conan O'Brien**
- Law & Order
- Little Britain
- Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
- Looney Tunes*
- Lost
- MadTV**
- Man Vs. Wild
- Masterminds*
- Matlok
- Men In Black*
- Mighty Ducks
- Monty Python's Flying Circus
- Mr. Show
- Muppert Show
- My Name is Earl
- Newlyweds**
- NewsRadio
- Northern Exposure
- The Office (UK)**
- The Office (US)
- O.C.
- Osbournes, The
- Outer Limits, The
- Oz*
- Partridge Family
- Perry Mason
- Pinky & The Brain**
- Pokemon
- Punk’d*
- Queer Eye For The Straight Guy
- Real World
- Recess
- Red Green Show*
- Ripley’s Believe it Or Not
- Room Raiders
- Saturday Night Live*
- Schoolhouse Rock
- Scooby Doo, Where Are You?
- Scrubs*
- Seinfeld*
- Sesame Street
- The Simple Life
- Simpsons, The*
- Six Feet Under**
- Smallville
- The Sopranos
- South Park*
- Spongebob Squarepants*
- Star Trek: The Next Generation
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
- Star Trek: Voyager
- Star Trek: Enterprise
- Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
- The System*
- Taxi
- Talespin*
- Teen Titans
- That 70’s Show
- Til Death Do Us Part: Carmen + Dave
- Timon & Pumbaa*
- Trace Evidence
- Trading Spouses
- Tom and Jerry
- Tom Green Show*
- Tonight Show with Jay Leno*
- Touched by an Angel**
- Twilight Zone
- Twin Peaks
- Unsolved Mysteries
- Venture Bros.*
- Wheel of Fortune*
- Who Wants to be a Millionaire?*
- Who’s Line is it Anyway (UK)**
- Who’s Line is it Anyway (US)**
- Wife Swap
- Will & Grace
- The Wire
- Without a Trace
- Woody Woodpecker Show
- X-Men
- X-Men Evolution
- X-Files
- Yes, Dear
Author Comments:
Of course, there's probably more than a dozen I'm forgetting, but you get the point. I don't watch a lot of episodic TV.
Cloned From:
Yeah, you definitely need a little retro TV in your repertoire. Seems to me that there could be a list of canonical TV shows in much the same way that we discuss cinema in that context.
I'd suggest catching at least one episode of M*A*S*H, All in the Family, Cheers and Night Court on the sitcom side. Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere (perhaps L.A. Law) were fairly compelling mid-80's dramas. And if you can find it, some of the original MTV programming, especially Remote Control, which launched the careers of Adam Sandler and Colin Quinn (for better or worse). Very unpolished, low production value stuff. Nothing like what no-Music Television provides today.
At the same time, congrats on having seen so little of what TV has to offer.
Oh yeah, I've seen Cheers (duh).
Anyway, I haven't seen much TV because I generally don't like TV shows very much (well, compared to movies, which I could be watching instead). Especially dramatic TV shows, I just can't get into 'em. CSI: Miami was laughably bad. Law and Order was pretty good, though. I must've seen the wrong episodes of Sopranos, because there was absolutely no violence in the ones I saw. Oz was fairly good, but terrible unbelievable. Six Feet Under is the best dramatic television I've ever seen, BY FAR.
Not Seen "the Sopranos"?, i see you have :"room raiders" but no "Dismissed"?
Sopranos is on there, under S.
Never even heard of Dismissed.
Okay! So I finally watched an entire episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
I didn't really care for it, but I can understand how so many others do. The dialogue (until everyone was silenced, anyway: the episode I watched was 'Hush') was clever and interesting, but I'm not really the type that likes dialogue that tries to hard to be clever and interesting all the time. It's like comedy that reaches for a laugh instead of resulting naturally from situations and characters.
The special and visual effects were good in this one, but I know I saw one with some absolutely horrible effects, so I'm sure they aren't this good for the whole series.
The bad guys in this one were effectively creepy instead of cornballish and stupid. Maybe this episode had a different director than other's I'd seen clips of, I dunno.
Anyway, I really loved the whole silence thing because I've heard enough screaming and moaning and such from characters being chased by scary bad guys.
The thing that really surprised me about the episode was the remarkably effective musical score. Wow, where'd that come from? I've never heard an entire episode of any TV show scored so effectively, but maybe it just jumped out at me because there was no audible dialogue for half the episode.
So, I understand why so many people love it, but it's just not my thing at all.
I think the music is my least favorite part of Buffy and Angel. I quite like the country tunes on Firefly though.
This will probably just make me sound like a fanboy (which I am, no doubt), but all of his shows take a little time to develop. I consider the characters in Angel to be the most well-developed characters in all of TV or film because they change so subtly and beautifully over so many episodes. It's really following these changes that makes the show most interesting IMO.
Well, hey, if you were gonna watch Buffy, "Hush" isn't exactly the best starting point, despite being one of the best episodes.
If you really want to see what this series can do...see "The Body." Yes, it relies a bit more on prior knowledge, but trust me when I say that it is the most heart-rending hour of drama I have ever seen. It's vastly different from all other episodes; no background music, no major villains, no fights (except for one slight scuffle near the end)...just pure, heartbreaking, everyday drama.
You know how much respect I have for you and mistercreepy but: wrong and wrong.
The only individual episodes that the Josh did were (to my mind and feeble recollection) in the first season. Every other season has a complete narrative arc. Some episodes are more and better self-contained than others but endorsing a single one is like recommending one chapter in Oliver Twist... or a book in The Illiad.
It might be enjoyable and it might make perfect sense but it is robbed of its context and, there fore, it's power and its glory. This is why (I think that) Buffisodes rarely sink to (or below) "poor."
SPOILER - highlight to read
Don't pretend you don't know what I mean. This is why "Once More With Feeling" is stunning. It advances the story and develops the characters even as it is just one of over two dozen shows in a season. The impact is greatly diminished if that is the only episode you watch.
Oh, and I'm not comparing the Josh to Homer... but I do think beats the Dickens.
I didn't recommend a singular episode!
I was about to scold Mal for recommending "The Body" as a separate piece. Yes, it's heartbreaking on its own, but that doesn't even compare with how you'll feel if you've watched the series up to that point!
Sorry, it does sound like I was saying that.
I wish that I had said: "But there's more to it!" and "But there's more to it!"
The problem (for me) in making a recommendation is that the episodes that best stand alone are the poorer episodes. It's like being asked "Which potato chip should I eat?" Well, if it's going to be just one then I'd start with the matzoh.
Again, I apologize for sounding like I misunderstood and then disagreed with you. The first might be true but not the second.
Who is this Josh person you speak of, 0dysseus? ~.^
Joss Whedon, people. Joss.
I wiss you had read this first.
I'm sorry for any distresh... I do owe you your pound of fless.
dammit... I do the same thing with Travis Smiley.
Goss is my face red.
What about 'Fawlty Towers' and 'Monk'?
Haven't seen 'em. I don't get into TV that much, but should I see them? What are they?
'Fawlty Towers' (1975) starring John Cleese is a classic. It has got everything a TV show needs: good actors, hilarious gags and memorable quotes. Definetly one of the best TV shows ever.
'Monk': This show is more recent. It is an excellent mixture of comedy and crime, with a brilliant Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk.
Damn it. Guess I have to search it out. At least Fawlty Towers.
Am I the only one that finds FT overrated? It was good.. but not _that_ good. Nowhere near as good as other Britcom greats like Only Fools and Horses.
can't comment - haven't seen any of 'em.
I hope you are the only one. There were only twelve episodes, each of them perfectly tuned and tweaked to become such successful farces that they can be used in live theater as one-acts. Basil Fawlty is one of the greatest television characters of all time. Rude, resentful, hostile and a social climber... everything that you could wish for in a hotelier and so much more. I doubt that there is a better series in toto than Fawlty Towers . It's too bad that there's only six hours of it.
Laguna's Beach.
Like so many shows on today, it's only saving grace was the population of hot young women.
Even still, I nearly died trying to watch a whole episode.
It's time to purge myself by going on a Six Feet Under marathon...
a Fan of Everybody loves Raymond? i just recently discoverd this great tv ahow.
Seasons 2-6, yes. Many episodes use the same jokes over and over (what TV show doesn't?), but there are about ten die-by-laughing episodes in there. My personal favorite is the one about PMS.
OMG, Conan O Brien tonight had one of his best shows ever! Way up there with the Toronto shows and a few others.
Maybe there is good television out there, somewhere.
I've gone a blissfully long time without watching any dramatic television but I decided to download the first few episodes of Lost to try it out. I'm 15 minutes in and it's pretty damned awful. Fans of dramatic TV: do you have different standards for television and movies? I ask because some of you who like Lost have given low ratings to movies with similar (bad) qualities.
Or, maybe I'll find that everything after the first 15 minutes is much better...
I'm surprised to learn that you've given up on movies after fifteen minutes.
Lost is a multi-threaded conspiratorial narrative with a large cast. I think that there are now almost two dozen "major" characters. In any case as I recall it they couldn't even introduce all of the initial characters let alone address any of their back stories in the two hour pilot episode. Most expensive pilot in television history. It has (or tries to have) a mythology on the order of The X Files, Twin Peaks and a previous J.J. Abrams show, Alias.
It is a writer's show which, to my mind, excuses any shortcomings in acting and execution although the writers seem to have solved a lot of the initial stumbling blocks. Not that I think there are many shortcomings. I think it is one of the best premises for an hour-long network drama series. I also love the fact that the audience is often thrown into the middle of the present narrative which gets punctured by the past.
Sometimes the writers try too hard to provide a twist in every plot point but I really like the unbounded feel to the show. It feels no need to explain itself, characters drop in and out of the storyline in a very loose weave and the action can lunge off in any direction. Some might say that this is the chaos of something spinning out of control but I like the unpredictability of the storylines as opposed to the tactics with which they are executed.
When asked about it my one sentence description of Lost is: It's a combination of Lord of the Flies, The X Files, Castaway and The Prisoner. (And I love three of those.)
I'll admit it. Lost has given me many exciting revelation moments including one cold thrill that ranks up there with any media I have ever watched. I am not a hardcore fan-theorist who wants to figure out the guiding hand mystery(ies). I do love watching the chess (or should I say backgammon) game that the characters are playing through the writers. And it's nice to see an integrated multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-national cast with a fair percentage of women. Even if all of the women soaking wet wouldn't outweigh Hurley... and that happens a surprising number of times.
So if I were you I wouldn't waste any more time on it. The investment in time, intellect and emotion is just too great for what might be a meager payoff that will come, if it ever does come, after much more than a quarter of an hour.
Just finished episode 3 and that's all I'm going to watch. It's much too precisely structured so that intense drama and quieter moments rotate on a strict loop of 3:40. Dialogue speaks directly to the audience, having no logic of its own. The characters and their moments make me angry in a UPN sort of way.
But it's not the worst TV I've seen. And certainly not the most boring. And it did get better after the first 15 minutes.
Was it really the most expensive pilot in TV history? I read somewhere that it cost $10m, but Firefly's pilot cost at least $10m, and I've heard reports that it cost up to $13m.
From what I know the Firefly pilot cost $10 million but that was to construct the set. The episode price was fairly low. Besides which the show was done before the pilot aired. (I don't if that's relevant here but it certainly was... I'm going to say "enfuriating.") If I had to guess the $13 million figure might be for the entire series.
Lost doesn't even go into the mid-section of the beached plane.
Well, not counting the two-part pilot, the rest of the series cost about $26m...$2m per episode, a very large budget.
24 is pretty bad, too. It's the kind of show that contains the following line: "Jamie, if I give you a phone number, could you hack in and get all the internet passwords connected to it?" And she gets the passwords within 7 seconds of Jack typing in the phone number.
Sex is also portrayed very irresponsibly more than thrice in the first episode alone.
Obviously you can't possibly grasp the advanced technology they have over at the Counter-Terrorist Unit. :-)
And why are the characters of 24 expected to be upstanding role models when it comes to sex?
First, I typoed in my earlier post. I meant to write "more than twice" or simply "thrice." The count of irresponsible sex in the first episode is three.
1. The most bizarre is when the attractive female terrorist on the plane lures that guy into the lavatory for Mile High Club membership in order to steal... I missed it, some kind of badge or something? Anyway, why not just slip a sleeping agent into his drink and take it from him while he's sleeping? No need to do anything as drastic as sex to get it. The dude could've been violent, possessive, or infected. There are so many ways something as complicated as sex could have interfered with the terrorist's plans that needed to be carried out roughly 5 minutes later. I mean heck, what if he'd just had great stamina?
2. Gorgeous, confident, daring, fun-loving, intelligent teenagers that many teens will irresistably envy and subconsciously "look up to" have sex in a... high-end furniture store? Museum? Mansion? I'm already forgetting. The other gorgeous, confident, daring, fun-loving, intelligent teen couple see this and smile with amusement and quiet admiration.
3. And now, I have honestly forgotten irresponsible sex moment #3, but it was similar to #2. :-)
Good idea. You should be a terrorist consultant. I'm sure with your guidance, those female terrorists on 24 could be much more efficient. Sure, her way worked, but terrorism should be about committing violent acts with the minimum possible cost.
And who cares where they have sex as long as the location doesn't set up an implausible plot point? I have no problem with implausibility just for the sake of looking cool.
Don't get too thrown by the pilot. I can't recall sex playing a major role in hardly any other episode.
No doubt, I'm wrong, but I am running a fever, so me recall at the sharpest at the moment.
Currently, 24 is in the middle of its best season yet, and I am an admitted addict.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
You should see Freaks and Geeks.
Seconded
I blinked and the whole planet joined MySpace. Heck, each of my parents have an account. I'm tempted to join so I don't slip off the face of the New Earth, but... I have yet to see a MySpace profile page I can stand to look at for more than 10 seconds. I'm not familiar with MySpace's template system, but it is possible to design a good-looking MySpace profile page? Are any of the 70 million myspace profile pages good-looking?
Mine is! Well, I think so anyway. I have been in actual webdesign for almost 2 years (and I currently own a "real" website) though, so that may have something to do with it. :P Myspace doesn't really have a template system... you have to use "hacks" for lack of a better word (most people use a premade layout or use a "myspace editor").
I cloned this list, btw. I think I watch even less TV than you do!
Do I get to see your MySpace page? Can I get a link?
And... you're 16 and proficient with web design and GIMP? Yikes; by the time I have kids, they'll probably surpass my own (considerable) computer wizardry by age 5.
Holy crap! I found one! But apparently, it took a ton of work to make something good-looking in myspace.
Yay, The Office [UK]! Probably my favorite show to have debuted in the last 10 years.
My favorite non-Stewart/Colbert show is, well, the show.
Finally watched a complete episode (or three) of Arrested Development and it is fricking hilarious.
So, I was watching yesterday's episode of The Show with zefrank a few minutes ago, at the office, with the volume turned down low. And then zefrank shouted "Ride me, bitch!" and it was so loud everyone could hear that line and nothing else. Time to use headphones.
Somewhat surprisingly (as I don't share your opinions on movies generally) we have quite a similar TV show taste. The Office (UK), of course), Frasier, Raymond, The Daily Show.. and I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the first Arrested Development.
That could be because I don't see any good art in any television shows, so I don't get caught up in artistic pretentiousness, and instead just want a good laugh.
Virginia Heffernan is one of the coolest "TV" critics around. I say "TV" because she seems to take YouTube seriously. Her analysis also takes into account the economic pressures of the MSM. She may have the television program for you. This is just the first paragraph from her review:
It helps that I agree with much of her opinions on media copyright issues.These video clips are just not proprietary anymore! With their titles and editing and manipulation, video editorials - the kind YouTube shows all day every day - are commentary, and we shouldn’t restrict the right of editorialists to reframe video any more than we restrict the right of opinion columnists to quote people.Perhaps televison is your last refuge from "artistic prentiousness." As for me, well... I like love that stuff.
television or artistic pretentiousness?
The thus-far unaired pilot for Friday Night Lights is yet another compressed string of shmaltzy moments scored with disaffected-to-rousing guitar-based indie rock, yet another shallow misuse of character archetypes and cultural stereotypes, yet another oversexed tale of exclusively gorgeous people.
It is also surely better than any dramatic television I have seen since the first season of Six Feet Under. It is well-directed and well-edited and pretty well-written. It will be a hit, and a more justified one than all other ratings leaders.
Another fine recommendation. Thank you.
Why do football and baseball always look good on screen, while basketball never does?
First of all: You're welcome. Second of all: Don't thank me, thank Virginia Heffernan.
Third of all: Whose bright idea was it to schedule it on Tuesday nights? Don't network execs think television audiences are morons? (I have been watching Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip... because I'm a pretentious fan of pretentious Aaron Sorkin.)
Fourth of all: I haven't seen it yet but I'm now even more excited.
Ha! Sunset Strip is oodles of laughs. Hollywood loves to talk about itself. Why does Amanda Peet always have to swallow the screen with her eyes?
This is a touching TV ad, no?
I've never played WoW, but the WoW South Park episode is hilarious.
Heroes is so effing, effing bad it made me laugh for 5 seconds, and then I started getting mad. So mad I forgot that the USA became a dictatorship yesterday.
I just can't stop looking at it:
You really should watch The Wire. You'll have to start from season 1, but it is well worth it. It's one of the very few series that can be treated as a work of art. IMHO, it is comparable to great film. I really can't recommend it enough. And I should say, I was more attached to the four boys in Season 4 than to any other characters in any tv series ever.
I watched a couple episodes once (just haven't updated the list since then). I had the same reaction to it as I did to Lost and 24, unfortunately.
Seriously? I've never heard anyone else compare The Wire to Lost and 24. I don't really think they are alike at all, but whatever. I'd encourage you to try it again, but if you really disliked it that strongly, by all means don't give it another try.
My goodness Little Britain is terrible.
I second that. For more awful comedy on the same lines, The Catherine Tate Show.
Lukeprog evidently hates everything, his mindset isn't open to anything. Go away, pretentious fop...
Well, allow me a moment to defend myself.
Perhaps your argument that I hate everything comes from my highly critical music and movie reviews. But don't misread me. I often love listening to Cheap Trick or the Strokes, or watching Hitch or Fellowship of the Ring - I just don't think they are impressive art, and that's what my reviews are about.
As far as an open mindset, take note of how I've been freely changing my most fundamental paradigms.
Ooh! Orgasm! Daniel Dennett and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Connections was awesome. Connections 2 was bad. Connections 3 was okay.
The reason I do not watch TV is not because I am smart or active or weird. It is because most TV is boring. I get stuck in TV marathons when I am watching the most interesting TV channel of all time.
You know what would be awesome? What if one the major TV network hosts "spontaneously" went into a word-for-word re-enactment of this speech from Network, without introduction, warning, or a sly smile? People who didn't know the movie would only know it was staged until after the other networks started commenting on it.
LOL nice idea. What is network like as a film btw? I've often thought about watching it but never got round to it, I was wondering your thoughts on it.
It's been a long time but I remember loving it. Definitely not boring.
That's a wonderful scene, but I prefer the "I'm mad as hell" monologue. I can almost picture a disgruntled Dan Rather raving at the camera; little bits of spittle flying across the newsdesk.