List #771: Favorite characters on Freaks and Geeks

Favorite characters on Freaks and Geeks

1. Bill

2. Mr. Weir   (because's he's a nuanced TV dad)

3. Nick Andopolous (because one day he became Marshall)

4. Sam Weir

5. Lindsey Weir

6. Daniel Desario  (mostly because of the finale)

7. Mr. Rosso

8. Millie

9.The Gym Teacher  (because he was basically an alright dude)

10. Harris

List #767: Reasons why "Community" might be my favorite show ever

List #767: Reasons why "Community" Might Be My Favorite Show Ever (As Proved By Comparisons To Other Shows I Enjoy (or just other shows))

1.   It plays with Genre in the medium of Television Sitcom  in a way similar to how How I Met Your Mother occaisonally plays with Structure in the same medium... except all of the time and better.

2.  After watching the first episode or two, I thought it was going to be a throw-away, background, fill-the-time-between-shows-I-want-to-watch kind of show, (or maybe just another dumb vehicle for some former/peripheral stars like Chase and McHale) but like the similarly brilliant Veronica Mars it soon became something far better than I ever could have predicted based on the first two episodes.  (and I really hope that the miraculous announcement of another short season doesn't end up as only-just-really-pretty-good as VM did)

3.  It was a show that did adventurous and wildly different things each week, but, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer,  it did so while still having the heart of the show be about character development and relationships, just using the monster/trope-of-the-week as the flavoring.  It's like every week was a "Once More, With Feeling"...  (and several times, even better)

4.  There is no TV (ex/fake)lawyer I'd rather hear speechify than Jeff Winger (except maybe Boston Legal's  Alan Shore)

5. Its consistency in both seeming absurdity and reference to its own continuity rivals Arrested Development (and the aformentioned HIMYM)

6. Its characters may have unlikeable qualities, but that makes them that much more interesting (so SUCK IT! Seinfeld)


7.  It's not going to be the same  if the visionary writer behind it all isn't on the show next year,  like a Sorkin-less West Wing


8. Lets be really honest now...  Abed/Inspector spacetime shows more about multi-dimensionality and character develpment,  than that other, 1-dimensional, 'somewhere-on-the-spectrum' guy on that show that's in the exact same time-slot   could ever figure out with 5 PhDs in Physics  and unfinity equations that the writer had to hire a paid physics consultant to write on the whiteboards.

8a. And also, really,  name a character on Big Bang Theory that you actually care about in some way?  Name a character that's had any development or growth, or that isn't a one-note (albeit funny) gag character, (except for maybe Penny).  Don't me wrong;  BBT is highly watchable (I record it) and is, like most things Chuck Lorre makes, good for some cheap, obvious laughs, but, for a show about "geniuses" it's surprisingly dumb... makes me think that Obama's right about the value of Community College.

9. "Remedial Chaos Theory" did everything right with alternate timelines that Lost struggled with, and if last night's episode was truly the last one (which I will consider it to be, if next season is Harmon-less), it did everything right with a final episode that  Lost, or The Soprano's didn't.

10.  It's a show where the Place (Greendale) is as central to the focus as the Characters are, and it's a show with students, teachers and staff at a school that isn't a "Show about School",  (and it's got Michael K. Williams saying "A man's gotta have a code").  Plus Dan Harmon even pretty much admits that he's heavily influenced by The Wire  (and last night's episode totally ended with a Wire montage) :

"And so whether I like it or not, and as risky as it is, I need to lay some plans at the beginning of season three that we’ll build to at the end. And I think that’s going to be a sweeping enough change to accomplish. I’ve been studying The Wire over this break and observing the art of the opposite of modularity, which is serialization. That’s not to say that season three of Community will be season four of The Wire, but it is to say that beyond Modern Family and beyond Parks And Rec, the ingredient that will keep Community alive to season four exists somewhere in The Wire. [Laughs.] I don’t know how to explain that, but I know it has something to do with the way they end their seasons with these glamorous montages and needle-drops of these stories that seemed disparate and all operate on some theme."  --Dan Harmon, Onion AV Club

(11.  Alison Brie is even more adorable than on Mad Men)

(12.  James Franco (of Freaks and Geeks) is the "White Donald Glover" ... much respect to Childish Gambino)

List #755: 5 Thoughts on peacocks

List #755: 5 Thoughts on peacocks

1. I liked going to the zoo because they would roam around freely

2. "The Flaming Green Peacocks" was the recommended name of a Middle School IM soccer team I was on. It got censored to "The Flaming Green Machine" by our illustrious principal.

3. The same name was used on a classic mixtape of 9th grade

4. NBC has the best shows on thursday nights

5. I like that shade of blue

List #745: Mail I Got Today

List #745: Mail I Got Today

1. The front part of an envelope from my cousin

2. A 1 month late shipment from Star City Games (empty, wrapped in tape, covered in mold)

3. A lightly crushed mailing box with a Limited Edition Heroclix Nazgul (intact)

4. A Roku (totally not missing Verizon Fios)

List #718: 5 Shows I've Been Enjoying on Netflix

List #718: 5 Shows I've Been Enjoying on Netflix

1. The League

2. Numb3rs

3. Malcom in the Middle

4. Gossip Girl (season 4)

5. The IT Crowd

List #706: Things I will Miss Without Cable TV

List #706: Things I will Miss Without Cable TV

1. Occasional sports events (NCAA Hockey tournament)

2. getting missed sit-coms On-Demand

3. The clock on the converter box

4. The guide on the screen

List #696: Favorite Characters from the Greatest Lineup of TV History Ever (Fox Sundays circa 200)

List #696: Favorite Characters from the Greatest Lineup of TV History Ever (Fox Sundays circa late 90s early 00s))

1. Maggie Simpson

2. Dana Scully

3. Dewey (from Malcom in the Middle)

List #619: Likely Fall TV Watching Schedule

List #619: Likely Fall TV Watching Schedule (plus a comment)

1. How I Met Your Mother (Mondays 8pm) - Still probably my favorite.

2. Modern Family (Wed. 9 pm) - Still probably the best comedy

3. Community (Th. 8) - The Highlight of My Week. Every Week.

4. Parks and Rec (Th. 8:30) - Great cast

5. The Office (Th. 9) - I'm more excited about James Spader than I am sad about Steve Carrell

6. Fringe (Fri. 9) - Best earthbound Sci-Fi in a loooong time

Bonus List: Shows I will try to catch via other means or will consider watching (if it's a new show)

1. Big Bang Theory (conflicts with Community, and Abed>Sheldon)

2. 2 Broke Girls (follows HIMYM, also Kat Dennings)

3. The New Girl (Tuesdays. But Zoey Deschanel is a pretty strong draw)

4. Grimm / Once Upon A Time (two different "Fables"-esque shows later in October)

List #549: Favorite Characters on Community

List #549: Favorite Characters on Community

1. Abed

2. Jeff Winger

3. Troy Barnes

4. The Dean

5. Annie

6. Shirley

7. Pierce

8. Britta

9. Professor Duncan

10. The Greendale Human Being

List #496: Things I like about "Community"

List #496: Things I like about "Community"

1. Paintball

2. Abed

3. The Dean's thing for Jeff

4. Monkey hitting Chang on the head

5. Annie

6. Troy and Abed's morning show / music

7. Kickpuncher

8. The recent 'flashback' episode with flashbacks to things that weren't in the show

9. Starburns

10. the brief, spot-on, Glee parody

List #485: 1980s Toy Franchises Ranked By My Enjoyment

List #485: 1980s Toy Franchises Ranked By My Enjoyment (not counting primarily creative building toys)

1. G.I. Joe (most versatile figures for imaginary Olympics Events)

2. Transformers

3. He-Man

4. My Little Pony

5. M.A.S.K

6. CareBears and CareBear Cousins

7. GoBots

8. Strawberry Shortcake (dang, they smelled good)

9. Garbage Pail Kids (... Art Spiegelman!)

10. Cabbage Patch Kids

11. honorable Mention: Star Wars, Crystar, Rocklords ('transformer' type toys that turned into rocks...), SeaWees, MicroMachines (all mine were second-hand), Pound Puppies, Rainbow Brite

List #476: TV Stuff I'm Excited For

List #476: TV Stuff I'm Excited For

1. The Killing

2. Game of Thrones

3. Smallville to finally be done (if I ever get caught up), and to have Booster Gold

4. To see if the David E. Kelley 'Wonder Woman' show is any good

5. That Fringe got picked up for another season.

List #451: Favorite Sesame Street Characters

List #451: Favorite Sesame Street Characters

1. Grover

2. Super Grover

3. Bert

4. Big Bird

5. Barkley

6. Oscar the Grouch

7. Snuffalupagus

8. Maria

9. The Two Headed Monster

10. The Typewriter

List #420: Favorite Characters on "Weeds"

List #420: Favorite Characters on "Weeds" (note that this is all "Little Boxes" era)

1. Shane "Strange" Botwin

2. Uncle Andy

3. The Theme Song

4. City Councilman Doug

5. U-Turn ("Thug Means Never Having To Say You're Sorry")

6. Marvin

7. Conrad

8. Isabelle

9. Sanjay

10. Kat (only because of who played her)

List #370: Favorite Characters from selected TV shows I've liked

List #370: Favorite Characters from selected TV shows I've liked

1. The Office -- Toby Flenderson
2. How I Met Your Mother -- Marshall Erikson
3. Gossip Girl -- Rufus Humphrey
4. The Sopranos -- Paulie Walnuts
5. Battlestar Galactica -- William Adama
6. 30 Rock -- Tracy Jordan
7. Smallville -- Chloe Sullivan
8. The Wire -- Omar, Lester Freamon (tie)
9. Veronica Mars -- Veronica Mars
10. Boston Legal -- Alan Shore
11. Weeds -- Shane Botwin (when he was young)
12. Buffy -- Xander
13. Angel -- Fred
14. Firefly -- Kaylee
15. Sports Night -- Dan Rydell
16. The West Wing -- Donna Moss
17. Sesame Street -- Grover
18. Entourage -- Johnny Drama
19. Fraggle Rock -- Red
20. Arrested Development -- Michael Bluth
21. Seinfeld -- The Judge that puts them all in Jail in the finale
22. X-files -- Scully
23. Dexter -- Dexter Morgan
24. Big Bang Theory -- Penny
25. Modern Family -- Alex Dunphy
26. True Blood -- Jason Stackhouse
27. Dawson's Creek -- Dawson
28. Pushing Daisies -- Charlotte "Chuck" Charles
29. Bones -- Seely Booth
30. Friends -- Chandler Bing

List #363: Ways TV has made me a better person

List #363: Ways TV has made me a better person, or things I have learned (and the show that did it)

1. The alphabet is awesome and people are different and a million other things(Sesame Street (PBS FTW!))
2. Books are awesome (Reading Rainbow (though that's more reinforcement))
3. Knowing is Half the Battle (G.I. JOE)
4. Politcs are interesting and I should care about them (The West Wing)
5. School Librarianship is exciting (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
6. History is awesome (Connections)
7. Family is important, no matter how crazy (Arrested Development)
8. Good Police are valuable, and also Stay out of Baltimore(The Wire)
9. It's okay to wear suits and nice clothing (How I Met Your Mother (Barney))
10. Our Planet and it's inhabitants matter (any animal show, and I watched A LOT of them when I was younger... and now)

Bonus list: Ways TV has misled me
1. Unrealistic expectations for ease of romance (pretty much all tv)
2. Being a lawyer means wearing awesome clothes and giving awesome speeches all the time (Boston Legal)

List #332: 8 Great TV shows from the 80s

List #332: 8 Great TV shows from the 80s

1. Dukes of Hazzard
2. Greatest American Hero
3. Cosby Show
4. Cheers
5. Wonder Years
6. Roseanne
7. Perfect Strangers
8. ALF

List #321: TV shows that I liked when I was very young

List #321: TV shows that I liked when I was very young that I remember liking

1. Sesame Street (I liked it a lot... A LOT)
2. Dukes of Hazzard
3. Fraggle Rock
4. Mr. Rogers' neigborhood
5. DtV (music Videos set to disney cartoons)
6. Bring 'em Back Alive
7. Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom
8. Saturday Night Live
9. Super Friends
10. Pinwheel

List #320: Favorite Presidents (and a reason why)

List #320: Favorite, not necessarily best, Presidents (and a reason why (and not necessarily a presidential reason))

1. Truman (because Mrs. Jablonski told me so)
2. T.R. (see #1)
3. Washington (killed his sensei in a duel and he never said why)
4. Carter (was president when I was born)
5. Andrew Jackson (knew Davy Crockett)
6. Clinton (french fries)
7. Roslin (because she's a badass)
8. Lincoln (my elementary school was named after him. also he freed the slaves)
9. Palmer (jack bauer will torture me if he's not on the list)
10. Nixon (sounds like my name)
11. Harrison (had the same name as on of my roommates)
12. Gore (because he's from an alternate reality)
13. Knutsen (because he bang on the drum all day)
14. Coolidge (nicknamed 'Silent Cal')
15. Cleveland (for trivia value)
16. Bartlett (I'm only just getting to know him)
17. Whitmore (fought aliens, married to an interstellar president)
18. Harding (my grandpa was named after him)

List #313: Best SNL episodes this season so far

List #313: Best SNL episodes this season so far

1. Episode 8 (Blake Lively / Rihanna): best sketches: most of them! esp. Undergound Festival, Potato Chip
2. Epiosde 7 (Joseph Gordon-Leavitt / DMB) : Monologue, The Mellow Show, What Up with That
3. Episode 5 (Taylor Swift) : Monologue Song, Twilight Spoof, Scared Straight
4. Episode 2 (Ryan Reynolds / Lady Gaga): Lady Gaga, "On the Ground"