My Revamped/Retooled All-Time Favorite TV Shows - Number 10

It has been difficult to review and retool my personal Top 10 TV Shows of All-Time. I have had a long standing list for at least a decade that didn’t change. But since there has been an explosion of great television within the last decade, I decided to give it a go.

I agonized. I drank too much. I lost some hair. I drew up new lists and threw them away only to make another. But it had to be done.

A few of my standards fell like soldiers on grenades to allow the new recruits to live and fight another battle down the road. Soldiers like ‘The Tick’ (animated series), ‘Lost’, ‘The X-Files’, ‘The Twilight Zone’, and ‘Police Squad’.

Lets recap my personal Top 10 TV Shows of All-Time…

9. ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’
8. ‘Futurama’
7. ‘The Walking Dead’
6. ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’
5. ‘Supernatural’
4. ‘Seinfeld’
3. ‘Malcolm In The Middle’
2. ‘Newhart’
1. ‘Green Acres’

As you may have noticed, I have a thing for half hour comedies. And I have been revisiting ‘Futurama’, ‘Supernatural’, and ‘Malcolm In The Middle’ on Netflix.

I had a holiday “show hole” so I went back. Personally, I feel that it’s important to revisit. I also have ‘Star Trek’ (TOS), ‘The Sopranos’, and ‘The Wire’ going on Amazon Prime.

But lets get to it… My number 10 of my personal favorite shows…

‘Get A Life’ starring Chris Elliott, Bob Elliott, and Elinor Donahue.

Chris Peterson is a 30 year old paperboy who lives over the garage of his parent’s home. The show is surreal and hilarious! The series has Chris Peterson dying more than a handful of times like a cartoon character. And he always manages to bounce back.

The series ran for only 2 seasons and when the complete series hit DVD, I jumped on it like dry drunk on a found bottle of bourbon. It was in my hands on the release date thanks to Amazon Prime.

When it hit FOX in the early 90s, my parents would come home from church to find me and my girlfriend “Jones” rolling on the floor with laughter and tears.

Is it for everyone?

No. The series was very unconventional. Some easily dismissed the series as “stupid”. And that’s okay. It’s stupid funny and that’s the bottom line.

One of my favorite lines from the “The Prettiest Week Of My Life” episode goes like this…

“Someone once said that the worst thing about climbing a mountain is that once you reach to top there's nowhere else to go. Well, I don't know what the hell that means. I think it has something to do with camping. But one thing I do know is that for a single fleeting moment I had peaked. I was a winner. I felt like Secretariat the night he won the Indy 500.”

It’s the kinda crap that I say all the time! And the Indy 500 is always ran during daylight and with cars. Secretariat was a horse. That is hilarious!

There are so many things about that show that manage to crack me up to tears to this day.

Another line that “Jones” and I use to this day… “Not even Roy Clark?”

That was in response to his supermodel wife saying “No one in Hollywood can do you what you did last night” after their wedding night.

It’s fun to use. Try it sometime. You’ll get some looks.

Brian Doyle Murray stars in the second season and you’ll find some interesting names in the writing credits.

Rhino Home Video put out some “best ofs” after the series left us. I managed to purchase one before they were gone. But when the whole series hit DVD from Shout! Factory, I was celebrating like a madman. I marked my calendar. I prayed to live long enough to see them all again.

And if you try ‘Get A Life’ and you dig it, try the Chris Elliott film ‘Cabin Boy’. It’s not for everyone just like this series. But it’s damn funny.

And for some reason, stoners really enjoy that movie as well. ;)