Television Blogfest

The FABULOUS Alex Cavanaugh is holding a blogfest for our TOP 10 EVER TV shows. Now I was a latch key kid... I watched a LOT of television when I was little (most of it syndicated reruns on channel 11 from Seattle). I loved Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch best in those early years, but my look back on television takes on quite a different flavor. In chronological order...

ALL MY CHILDREN: In the spirit of this site being CONFESSIONS of a Watery Tart, I will admit to you NOW that via YouTube, I keep up with the three ABC Soap Operas. Honestly, All My Children ANYMORE is my least favorite of the three, but it is the one that hooked me on this ridiculous genre. When I was in 7th grade I lived next to the Jr. High (RIGHT next to it). I went home for lunch. My neighbor Melinda, a year older said, 'well you should watch All My Children at lunch (it was on at noon) and so I turned it on (me and several friends, usually)...7th and 9th grade I had 5th hour lunch (12:20-1:05 or some such thing) and so saw the last half. 8th grade I had 4th hour lunch (11:45-12:15) so only caught the beginning—but opening my house to friends with a different lunch hour meant we could piece together all but about 10 minutes when we had PE in the afternoon. I've been hooked ever since, though high school, my later college and early years working there was no way to see it except vacations... but in my restaurant years I saw at least a few days a week, and by the time I finished grad school, 'summaries' were available online. STILL, I am very happy for YouTube. THIS is my guilty pleasure.

SOAP

This appeared at a PERFECT time in my life. I was in a tiny town, experiences were limited, humor was often adolescent (though I did have some Monty Python exposure)... Soap was FABULOUS. My mom didn't get it, but then there is a lot she doesn't get where humor is concerned... in fact she seems to be almost completely lacking one.... I loved the slapstick approach to what, at the time, were considered controversial issues. I loved the over the top situations, played down as perfectly normal. Jessica was my favorite character... there is so much nobility in being too dense to be mean about anything.

Twin Peaks

I think hubby and I were cohabitating at this point. It is the first show I remember that was serial... as in the story kept building... that was dark, twisty murder mystery instead of prime-time soap. So MANY things to love here... Kyle MacLachlan (an Oregonian, by the way), David Lynch (who is one twisted dude, and I almost always love his bendies), David Ducovny in drag... The end of the series could have been thought through better, but this really was TVs first serious mind f*#k. I LOVED it.

Northern Exposure

This show depicts my humor perfectly. I like things subtle and based on inconsistencies. It also coincided with my time pushing beer and I had 2 coworkers who ALSO worked shorts on Monday night and we'd often get off work, go in the back room and drink good beer and chuckle about the show together.

X-Files

Mind bendy is my very favorite thing. TOTALLY my favorite thing. I love the whatiffyness of this show--it inspired my first dalliance into loving the idea of reincarnation from a fictional perspective "you and I were only meant to meet in passing in this lifetime, but I miss you so much". I love Mulder. I love Scully. I love the double entendre motto of 'The Truth is Out There'. Everything about it fed my imagination and deep love of conspiracy theory. It really is probably my favorite of this whole list...

Homicide, Life On the Streets

I have always liked detective, mystery solving TV. Everything from Murder, She Wrote to CSI entertains me (though I rarely watch any of it besides Castle, anymore). But this show was a grittier, darker version that added the 'ongoing' layer, the character development... the questionable choices sometimes made (does the end justify the means?). It helped that Andre whatshisname is HOT, but mostly I just loved that it made it all seem 'darker' than most television, and that is how I like my fiction.

Lost

Yes... mind bendiness at its best... I love all the boundaries this show pushed, and the suspension of our disbelief we had to offer up. In a way, it shows one of the complications with a series of undetermined length—you can't plan the ending when you don't know how many seasons you'll have... but at the same time, they seemed to adapt and ratchet it up well. And they showed the power of sacrificing a favorite. I think the most powerful episode of the series was Charlie sacrificing himself for everyone else. I also loved Kate's triangle though—do you love the person who makes you want to be the best you can, or the person who really gets you deep down because they've been to as dark of places as you have and love you anyway?

Alias

My friend BrioNI was in love with this well before it occurred to me to watch it, but when I finished DENIABILITY, my fourth book, and said I needed some spy material for revisions, she said I needed to watch this. Thankfully, my local library has the series, and it is FABULOUS. The spy TECHNIQUE stuff worked really well,  (though the book still needs to be edited). The BIGGIE though, as a writer, is this is the first place I noticed the beauty of 'one mystery within the episode, but several ACROSS episodes'--I have a YA series planned and intend to include this plotting technique... And I'm SORT of using it even within the cozies. I think it is a great way to bring people back again and again and to up their engagement.

Veronica Mars

Recommended by my friend Alix. This is a GREAT one for a mystery writer. Veronica, daughter of a private eye (who USED to be sheriff, until...) helps her dad and ends up with plenty of cases of her own often in, first her high school, then her college. I like the situational set-up—formerly IN, now OUT of the popular crowd... has made friends with a really odd batch... I LOVE the friendship with the 'gangster' (Weevil) in the highly tense 'I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine' come friendship, but sort of lacking in trust. This just has so much great stuff.

Grey's Anatomy

My daughter introduced me here and I love the collection of characters. The medical cases are only minorly interesting to me, but the flawed personalities are very well done... they try to change, it works for a while, then they fall backward and this strikes me as very real. I think my favorite RELATIONSHIP is the Callie/Mark friendship... sexing your way into a deep, meaningful friendship strikes home on a couple levels but now they are really there for each other. I also really like watching Alex alternate between fighting and embracing his demons. Strikes me as far more honest than a lot of TV.

Honorable Mention: Friends:

Hello, Naked Thursday (not Naked Wednesday either) “Pick a day!” Joey, between going commando and naked Thursday, has a place in my heart. I also adore Phoebe, but she didn't push the nakedness, so Joey, this ones for you...