50 Best TV Shows Countdown!

[mrbasehart]

Greg, seeing how you're doing this awesomely, put out another call to get some more votes in.  It'll mean more then. 

[Junkyard]

You might try putting up a version of this thread in the TV thread as well.

[GregMcduck]

Well, I'm glad you guys like it so far. There will be more lists (top fifty superheroes, horror movies, Muppets, whatever we think will be fun). If this catches on, I might ask to make a sticky announcement on the general forum.

In the meantime, enjoy the rest of the list. 

[GregMcduck]

43. Cheers - (1982) - 16 points
(2 of 9 lists. Highest ranking - #16 Minnesota)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083399/

[GregMcduck]

42. Aqua Teen Hunger Force - (2000) - 16 points
(2 of 9 lists. Highest ranking - #11 Minnesota)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0297494/

Aqua Teen Hunger Force (also known as ATHF or simply Aqua Teen) is an American animated television series shown on Cartoon Network as part of its Adult Swim late-night programming block.  ATHF is one of the four original Williams Street series that premiered on Adult Swim in 2000 (the others are Sealab 2021, The Brak Show, and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law), and the longest running original series on the network alongside Harvey Birdman (which are the only two of those four to still be running). In 2007, an ATHF movie, "Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters," was released at selected theaters.

The show is about three anthropomorphic fast food items and their life together in New Jersey. The Aqua Teens were originally billed as a detective crime fighting unit; as the series progressed, however, the crime-solving aspect of the show was quickly abandoned. There is very little continuity between episodes; almost all recurring cast members have died at least once. The focus is instead on character interaction and a pervasive form of sarcastic and surreal humor. Gross out, brutal, and morbid humor were added as the series progressed.

On January 31 2007, LEDs depicting the Mooninites were installed throughout the Boston area by Peter Berdovsky, 27, and Sean Stevens, 28 as part of an elaborate national guerrilla marketing campaign. The LEDs were taken to be suspicious, prompting authorities in Boston, Massachusetts to close down major road and waterways to investigate. Turner Broadcasting System later admitted placing the LEDs in ten major cities (including Boston), and apologized for the misunderstanding. Despite the uproar, Berdovsky and Stevens mocked the critics and the media in interviews despite being charged with "placing a hoax device and disorderly conduct". Turner Broadcasting has paid one million dollars to the Boston Police Department to cover the cost of their investigation and another million in good will funding. These actions were made to settle any criminal and civil claims, and the general manager of Cartoon Network has stepped down as a result of the incident. Boston was the only city out of 10 in which the LEDs (which resembled Lite-Brites) were seen as any matter of concern. They had also been up for weeks before the panic.

[GregMcduck]

41. Cowboy Bebop - (1998) - 17 points
(1 of 9 lists. Highest ranking - #9 GregMcduck)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0213338/

Cowboy Bebop is a Japanese anime series created by Sunrise and directed by Shinichiro Watanabe consisting of 26 episodes (called "sessions") and one feature-length film. It follows the adventures of four misfortuned bounty hunters travelling on their spaceship, the Bebop, in the year 2071. In the slang of the era, "Cowboys" are bounty hunters. Most episodes revolve around a specific bounty, but the show often shares its focus with the pasts of one of each of the four main characters and of more general past events, which are revealed and brought together as the series progresses.

The plot of Cowboy Bebop commonly reaches into the following subplots: 1) Spike Spiegal, a former member of the Red Dragon crime syndicate, is haunted by a past love triangle between his former syndicate partner, Vicious, and a mysterious woman named Julia. 2) Faye Valentine, An amnesiac, is awakened from a 54-year cryogenic slumber. She is tricked into assuming the debt of the man that woke her, and constantly attempts to gamble on quick cash as a solution to her problems. Her past (a mystery, even to herself) is unravelled progressively throughout the series. 3) Jet Black, A former ISSP (Inter-Solar System Police) officer and the owner of the Bebop, he bears a cybernetic arm as constant reminder of what happened when he rushed into trouble without looking first. Like Spike, he is haunted by the memory of a woman: Alisa, his longtime girlfriend who left him without notice. 4) Edward, a wacky computer genius and master hacker with a popular confusion as to Ed's gender (she is a girl) and Ein,  a Welsh Corgi and former lab animal and referred to as a "data dog" by scientists that created him.

One of the most notable elements of Cowboy Bebop is its music. Performed by Yoko Kanno and The Seatbelts, a band Kanno assembled to perform music for the series, the jazz and blues themed soundtrack helps to define the show as much as the characters, writing, and even animation. Many fans find the soundtracks enjoyable to listen to as albums on their own, independent of the series. Cowboy Bebop was voted by IGN in 2006 as having the greatest soundtrack for an anime.

[GregMcduck]

40. Pardon The Interruption - (2001) - 17 points
(1 of 9 lists. Highest ranking - #9 Minnesota)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0307800/

Pardon the Interruption (abbreviated PTI) is a sports television show that airs weekdays on various ESPN TV channels, TSN, XM and Sirius satellite radio services, and as a downloadable podcast. It is hosted by Washington Post columnists and longtime friends Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, who discuss, and frequently argue over, the top stories of the day in "sports... and other stuff" (as Kornheiser put it in the show's original promo). Either Tony Reali (host of ESPN's Around the Horn) or the uncredited "producer over the loudspeaker" serve as moderator for parts of the show. The show is filmed in Washington, D.C.

PTI is divided into several segments. It is not unusual for the last point or topic in each section to be about a non-sports-related pop-culture event. Occasionally the show will stray from its basic format, such as on August 9, 2005, when baseball commissioner Bud Selig was the guest at the very top of the show for an extended interview. A similar situation occurred two days later on August 11 with Terrell Owens and his agent Drew Rosenhaus. Another similar occurrence happened December 22, 2005, following the news that coach Tony Dungy's son, James, had committed suicide. On May 16, 2007, David Stern appeared to plead his rulings and suspensions involving the Robert Horry incident during the 2007 postseason series between the Phoenix Suns and San Antonio Spurs. This change seems to only occur on rare occasions.

Pardon the Interruption is unique in its studio layout, featuring a "wall" full of cut-out cardboard heads of athletes and celebrities that have previously been used in the "Role Play" segment, bobblehead dolls of the show's hosts and Reali, Etch-A-Sketch art of Kornheiser and Wilbon, and several other toys and trinkets they have received, such as Kornheiser's beloved "Leg Lamp" from A Christmas Story.

[Minnesota]

so any chance of getting more of these,  10-a-day might work rather nicely.

[GregMcduck]

Yeah, I haven't stopped or anything, but there's only so much time per day I have to do this. Don't worry, the list will continue!

[GregMcduck]

39. Hustle - (2004) - 17 points
(1 of 9 lists. Highest ranking - #4 AmazingThor)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379632/

Hustle is a British television comedy-drama series made by Kudos Film & Television for BBC One in the United Kingdom. Created by Tony Jordan (who also wrote many of the scripts), Hustle follows a group of London-based con artists as they attempt to dupe money out of their victims ("marks"). Despite their chosen trade, they adhere to codes such as "bad behaviour breeds bad luck". In particular they adhere to the first rule of the con "you can't cheat an honest man" because an honest man doesn't want something for nothing.

The series frequently breaks the fourth wall (usually at least once per episode) and uses cutaway scenes shot in a different style from the rest of the show. For example, in several episodes the characters appear to "stop time", interacting with other characters that are frozen in place, discussing the con either with each other, or even with the audience. The technique is used as a metaphor for how the main characters manipulate their environment at will, as opposed to normal people who have no clue of what is going on. Examples of this can be seen in the pilot episode, "Gold Mine", the first episode of the second series and "Signing up to Wealth", the second episode of the fourth series. Other fourth wall-breaking moments are more subtle - a character smiles at the camera as the con begins to take shape, or makes an editorial comment to the viewers. Some episodes insert fantasy sequences -- scenes shot like a Bollywood musical or a silent movie, for example.

The series got its own spin-off documentary, The Real Hustle, in which Paul Wilson, Jessica-Jane Clement and Alexis Conran travel the country demonstrating cons to real people with the aid of hidden cameras. It is aired regularly on BBC Three.

[Tripe]

Anansi Boys

[GregMcduck]

38. Freaks and Geeks - (1999) - 17 points
(2 of 9 lists. Highest ranking - #7 AmazingThor)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0193676/

[GregMcduck]

37. Saturday Night Live - (1975) - 18 points
(1 of 9 lists. Highest ranking - #8 Minnesota)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072562/

Saturday Night Live (SNL) is a weekly late night 91-minute American comedy-variety show based in New York City. It is one of the longest-running network entertainment programs in American television history. Each week, the show's cast is joined by a guest host and a musical act.

Saturday Night Live will never, ever get cancelled.

[GregMcduck]

36. King of the Hill - (1997) - 18 points
(1 of 9 lists. Highest ranking - #8 TripeHoundRedux)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118375/

King of the Hill is an American animated television series created by Mike Judge (creator of Beavis and Butt-head) and Greg Daniels. It depicts the Hills, a suburban Methodist family proud of its Texas heritage. Unlike some other animated sitcoms that feature unusual or improbable events, King of the Hill attempts to retain realism, seeking humor in the otherwise conventional. The show documents the Hill family's daily life, regularly forcing characters to question their values when they are confronted with the values of others. Themes range from the everyday, such as friendship, to more serious issues, including gender roles, women's liberation, and drug abuse.

The general theme is that Hank is always willing to do the right thing, even when those around him may be more inclined to do wrong for the sake of ease. Hank Hill is the most virtuous character on the series, and, it could be argued, on current television; his character is a modern updating of the type found on 1950s sitcoms such as Leave it to Beaver and Father Knows Best. For the most part, Hank acts in an honest, loyal manner; his "by-the-book" lifestyle is highlighted in almost every episode. For example, at one point he refuses to tape a Major League Baseball game because it is technically illegal to record televised professional sporting events without expressed written permission from the broadcasting network of the game in question. However, Hank's desire to achieve complete conventionality often leads him to live with fear or shame. Hank disapproves of his son's hopes of becoming a comedian, and the issues of his health conditions (a narrow urethra and "diminished glutes," which render him basically unable to sit down without the aid of a hidden prosthetic) are of great embarrassment to him. Hank is also uncomfortable with intimacy, which is demonstrated on the numerous occasions that he refuses to kiss Peggy in public (instead offering her a firm handshake). At one point, while standing in the alley with Bill, Dale, and Boomhauer, he sarcastically says, "What are we supposed to talk about? Our feelings?"

Boomhauer is referenced in the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode featuring the movie Squirm. A character in the movie mumbles something incoherently, to which Mike Nelson replies, "Thanks, Hank Hill's friend."

[GregMcduck]

35. Eureka - (2006) - 18 points
(1 of 9 lists. Highest ranking - #3 YooHooRiffer)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0796264/

Eureka is an American science fiction television series. It takes place in a secret town of that name inhabited entirely by the best minds in the United States. After World War II ended, Albert Einstein realized that the future belonged to science. Given the close call with the deployment of the atomic bomb, the U.S. government decided it could not risk being surpassed by other nations. With Einstein's help and that of other trusted advisors, then-President of the United States Harry S. Truman had a top-secret residential town built in a remote area of the Pacific Northwest, one that would serve to protect and nurture the country's most valuable intellectual resources. In the fifty years since the town's founding, its residents are responsible for almost every leap in science known to humanity. However, with experimentation inevitably comes failure, and over fifty years worth of trial and error they have had a number of experiments go awry. Global warming has in passing been mentioned as an example of a Eureka project gone awry.

While transporting a fugitive (who is revealed to be his rebellious teenage daughter, Zoe) back to Los Angeles, Deputy U. S. Marshal Jack Carter gets himself tangled up in the town's latest mishap, and soon becomes its new sheriff after the old one is injured on the job. Though Eureka's residents suffer many of the same problems that ordinary towns do, having a town full of geniuses and virtually limitless resources tends to make their problems a much larger concern than those of a regular town. It has been noted that its mortality rate is twice the national average

The episodes were not aired in the order intended by the show's creators. This is suggested by the episodes' production numbers which are displayed on the Sci-Fi channel's Eureka website next to episode titles quite often. There are some small inconsistencies when watched closely, but such inconsistencies are minimal and were intentionally controlled. In podcast commentaries with the show's creators and star Colin Ferguson, they confirm that the production order is in fact the order they intended the show to air, but the network executives changed the order to try and place stronger episodes earlier in the run as to help attract viewers. As such, the creators were able to make minor changes in editing and sometimes ADR dialogue in later episodes (such as removing the explicit mention of Zoe's first day at school) to try to eliminate audience confusion.