My Favorite TV shows (as of right now)

I make favorite lists all the time.  As new things are introduced some things will drop off the list and the new added and then there are the constant items that never leave the favorite list (like Burt's Bees chapstick.  

This is a list of my favorite TV shows.  There are a couple of shows that have been on this list since I started forming my own opinions and some I discovered a few years ago.  I generally won't add a show to my list until it comes in syndication, but there are a few exceptions.

   Let's just get going......

10. Game Shows--Game shows are so fun, very unpredictable and feature prizes!! The original Match Game and Jeopardy are my two fave game shows of all time, but I will watch a Who wants to be a Millionaire, TPIR (the price is right), 25,000 Pyramid, and Family Feud (Richard Dawson was the best).  I have a dream to be on a television game show, but I have made it to the stage of a Carnival cruise ship (and won).  

9. The Middle-this show is so much like real life.  Like the life I grew up in...kind of the life I have now.  :) It is very similar to Roseanne, but the family loves God and I like that. 

8. Parenthood and This is Us-I have always loved these family type shows. Parenthood was about a tight family that did almost everything together, brought to life an autistic character to television and had a great playlist. This is Us is a tad like Parenthood, but it has a mystery about it too.  The writing on This is Us is fantastic.  Everything you see is a clue, so don't look away. 

The only thing that I didn't like about these shows is that the characters don't seem to believe in God

7. Homicide Life on the Steet-The first time I saw this show Vincent D'Onferio was the victim, John.  He was a jerk and he had been pushed in front of a subway and was going to die.  Falsone was trying to find his girlfriend while Pembelton was trying to comfort John and solve the crime with Baylis.  By the end of the show you see the Vincent character becoming likable and the squad struggling with the fact they were talking to a dead man, they couldn't find his lady and why would someone push a human in front of a subway? I think this episode is one of the best hours of television that I have ever watched.

  The writing on this show was outstanding.  It was perfectly cast and this show introduced us to Muchkin, Detective John Munch.

6. Law and Order: Criminal Intent-A typical Law & Order with a twist.  You get into the minds of the "bad guys" as well as the law enforcement, medical examiners and the DAs.  Goren and Nichols are like Columbo always asking "one more thing".  Jeff Goldblum and Vincent were brilliant actors in this show. 

5. Seinfeld-how can you not love this show?  It is perfect, it is a bunch of nothing all together with characters that are just superficial....but it is hilarious (and super quotable)!! I bet you have some Seinfeldism in your vocabulary.

4. Dateline-I started watching this with Stone Phillips and Jane Pauley.  Then it was a news magazine of varying topics (my husband once appeared on this version).  It was a good format but would not have been on my list if they had not transformed it into what it is now.  Keith Morrision and Josh Mankiewicz are simply wonderful. Don't forget the host, Lester Holt. 

3. Mama's Family-I love this show so much. I have been trying to get it on DVD for years so I could see all the deleted scenes and the Alistar Quince openings (if you have only seen in syndication you have never seen these scenes and you have missed out). I finally got it this year (2018) and I have watched the whole series about 4 times since I brought it home.  

2. Dallas-I remember the day I fell in love with this show. I am not sure if it was first run or a repeat, but I was at my grandmother's and everyone was fighting with JR and then someone shot him!!! I was totally hooked, for life.  JR is my favorite TV show character of all time.  

1.  Law & Order (the mothership)- This has been a favorite for a very long time. I have seen every episode and I watch it almost every day of my life.  My favorite ADA is McCoy (duh).  Detective is Briscoe, followed by Green, Curtis and then Lups. 

Cuchi cuchi

There was once a TV show that I loved. It came on ABC so it was not a show I could watch often, but when I could I was in love with it. It was called the Love Boat. I know you have heard of it, many have; but have you ever seen an episode? I have been watching all the shows on the TV.com app on my droidX and it is bringing back so many memories. Patrick Duffy, Joyce Bulafant, Kristie Alley (in her Saviak days), Willie Ames, the lovely Morgan Brittany (from Dallas), Barbi Benton, Melissa Sue Anderson (Mary Ingalls) and half pint too (Melissa Gilbert), Cyd Charisse, as well as Gene Kelly (ah) and Howard Keel, Donna (I love her) Mills, Jack Klugman, and my favorite CHARO!!! This is only a SMALL portion of the celebrities that graced the promenade deck. This is where I fell for ships! A hot tub, pool, cabins, a cruise director....it's a lot like real life ONLY smaller.

If you have never checked out the show, please do. It's campy, 1970's, but loads of fun. There are many storylines in each episode and somehow everything rights itself by the time they dock in Los Angles.

Dallas

Folks Dallas is coming back to town!!! About 10 years ago I heard a rumor that someone was making a redo of my all-time favorite TV show DALLAS!! It was to star John Travolta and that in itself was fabulous. I waited and waited and then I heard, "the project has been shelved". Shelved? The greatest drama in history and they shelved the movie? Didn't JR give them some reason to bring him to the big screen? Come on, he hated Pam and plotted her demise in just the first 2 episodes. He cheats on Sue Ellen, he drinks himself crazy, he lies about the red files, he has an affair with Sue Ellen's sister, she shoots him causing the greatest cliff hanger ever. Then he lets her off by just sending her to California to have what he thinks is his baby, but it is really Jeff Faraday's baby...Folks that is just the first 3 seasons. He ends up divorcing Sue Ellen, marrying her again, losing control of Ewing Oil, going through his daddy's death, his mama's remarriage. Thinking his son might be Cliff's, still trying to get rid of Pam, Partnering up and then hating Ray, and then liking him and then hating him again. Wanting to kill Gary and Valine, puts lots of oil workers out of a job, blows up a tanker causing an oil spill, loses everything to a woman that he thought loved him. Made to marry Callie in a shotgun wedding, and in the end, he sees what life had been like had he never been born. Yep, that's it, 14 seasons in about 3 minutes. You can see why Dallas is wonderful and I have not even told you about the FASHIONS and CARS!!!!

So there was plenty to put into a movie, but I guess they decide Travolta would be too expensive. Anyway, with the project shelved I had to resort to watching whatever snippets of the show they would air on tv, checking out the 4 seasons they have at the library and reading my books about the show.

Then a couple of years ago, the rumor mills were spinning again...."there may be a new Dallas project". My ears perked up A NEW ONE? Whatever could it be? For a while, I heard nothing but that there were talks, then last year I heard TNT (we know Drama) had bought the rights. Stories were leaked, it's a go. Larry Hagman was cast! Patrick Duffy cast! Linda Gray cast! Victoria would NOT be cast because she wants to be far from Dallas. No mention of Steve, Ken, Susan, Charlene or Audrey. This year they announced the show would center around Christopher and John Ross (Bobby and JR's kids)...apparently they are running Ewing Enterprises. I am sure they get along about as well as Bobby and JR. How can you not be excited about this? JR, Bobby, Sue Ellen, Christopher, and John Ross are coming back!!!!!! I hope Cliff and Afton's little girl will play a part in the show too.

Frankly, my dear, I don't care if you care about Dallas or not, I do and that is all that matters. Dallas is coming back and I shall watch!!!! Thanks TNT!!!

The Ewings

Well, here we are about to embark on a new adventure with the Ewings. This time with John Ross and Christopher Ewing (JR and Bobby's boys). I for one am looking forward to this new TNT drama.

I remember sitting at my grandmother's house on Friday night (this is one of the only good memories at her house), and she was watching her "program" and would not be interrupted, so I sat down and watched with her. Donna and Ray were in love but would not admit it. Lucy was causing all kinds of problems sneaking around in Ray's house without permission. Pam was having trouble adjusting to being a Ewing and Cliff had it out for JR. WOW, I was sucked in like a vacuum cleaner picking up dirt. I had to have more of this show. I don't think as a child I watched much of it. This kind of show was not really my mom's kind of thing, she is more of a Green Acres type person. When I got all grown up it came on TV and I watched every single episode. I taped them then erased them (wish I had kept them).

My favorite times are when JR and Sue Ellen want to be together but aren't because he is in love with Afton, then she meets Dusty; Pam and Bobby are trying to have a baby but she can't because of Digger's disease...however she WON'T tell Bobby about it. Lucy and Mitch get married and he doesn't like the Ewing money. Cliff gets involved with Afton because JR is just using her and Cliff really cares for her. Sue Ellen and JR get back to together and Bobby and Pam break up and here comes Jenna Wade....this goes on for 14 seasons. The last season is the worst but I did name my cat after one of JR's wives. I love the story...JR goes into the country and beds this lady Callie promising her he will marry her. He ends up leaving her there and her brothers come to find JR and make him marry her. She is a country hick and has no clue how to live the elite life in Dallas. She has to be helped into this role and she paints a lot. She changes JR and eventually he falls in love with her.

My favorite character ever was Kristen Shepard. She was evil, smart, and probably the prettiest thing I have ever seen. She is in real life the daughter of Bing Crosby (Mary Crosby is her name) and on the show, she is really Sue Ellen's sister. She comes on the show looking for a college and ends up bedding JR. Sue Ellen doesn't seem to mind sometimes and that is creepy but that is Dallas. Kristen then gets out of favor with JR and ends up hanging around Lucy's boyfriend, Allen Beam (I hate him), he ends up blackmailing Kristen. JR tells her to get out of Dallas and then BAM!!! She shoots JR!!!!!! Creating a mass question of "who shot JR"...inspiring the world with t-shirts and songs about the shooting of JR. Fun times. I remember my grandmother trying to figure out who shot JR. Once it comes out that Kristen shot JR she claims that she is pregnant by two men and blackmails them both (Jordan Lee and JR). JR sends her away and she has the baby, only to come back to Dallas and die in the pool. Later Bobby and Pam will adopt her baby (really Jeff Faraday is the daddy) and name him Christopher.

See how fun this is? Looking forward to this TNT, it had better be good!!!!!

my love of a great tv show

Since 1990, I have been a fan of the Law and Order shows. At first, it was just so so...I wasn't a fan of Robinette or Ben Stone....but Adam Schiff was a bad dude...a guy that would take no crap and I like him. Yep, he kept me coming back. Then....then they added Jack McCoy! I was hooked completely. Jack McCoy was everything Adam was and more. A guy out to get the bad folks....no holds barred....and a bit of a ladies man to boot. Oh yes, he and Claire liked each other and probably (I believe yes) had a relationship. Claire was fantastic wrestling with her womanhood, the whole career lady life, and Jack McCoy. Jack McCoy has to be the greatest ADA ever! Time changes and we have lost some of our ADA and DA's too. Adam left, Nora came in. Angie Harmon came on playing a hard girl...I LOVED her character! One of our ADA's was murdered and now McCoy is our DA with

Then there were the detectives....I hated the first bunch...I did not like the cop section until Briscoe and Logan took over. Through the years...we have had many great detectives....Curtis, Green (my favorite after Lenny), Fontana, that chick that I could not stand Nina, Lupo, Bernard. Lupes and Bernard are a team that rivals the Curtis/Briscoe partnership.

Even after spin off after spin off, I kept watching. Now I do love most of the spin offs, but the mothership kept bringing me back. The formula worked, the content interested me, and the cast, well they were just outstanding.

Here we are now 2010, my show has been canceled. Canceled after 20 years, you will be forever tied with Gunsmoke. Wish you could have beaten that record!!! Would it not be great for Law and Order to have been the longest running drama of all time? I realize that the last couple of years as tv has changed you had lost your viewers, which I hate. You did not show naked butts, or drop the "s" word. You just relied on your mad writing skills and "ripped from the headlines" stories....hey, I think you held your ground very nicely trying to compete against those other dramas.

As we begin a new tv season, your name is not completely void on the tv listings...there you are Law and Order: Los Angeles. New show, new setting, new actors, new drama. Yeah, this should be good. I am sad that the mothership is no more, but glad I still have the spin offs!

New Love

Today I am going to talk about some new loves...are you ready for this?

Over the last 19 years or so, I have seen every episode of Law and Order in all it's various forms. I have had many teams that I have loved: Benson/STabbler, Bricoe/Green, Briscoe/Curtis, Goren/Eames, and Bernard/Lupo...and there were some that I did not like. Fontana? Blah Wheeler? Blah WAIT!!! Wheeler, no I have never really been a fan of yours, I would watch you with Logan fretting over your lines, and you two had no chemistry. I hated it, but I did like Logan so I watched through it. Then Zach Nichols walked through the door! Of course, I love Jeff Goldblum. I have liked his work for years and even told my husband when Curtis was leaving, "he would be good on that show." No one ever listens to me, especially not Dick Wolf. Anyway, life went on, and then years later Jeff got the RAines tv show. I was a huge fan from the get go. I watched all ____ (it went by so fast it's a blur) episodes. I was sad to see it go...but then rumors started flying. Noth wanted out, he wanted to be a movie star; hopefully wheeler was going to, maybe bring back Whitt. Then the news came out "Jeff Goldblum to join the cast of CI". I was so thrilled. What would he character be like? You knew just from the folks that he portrays that he was going to have to play it sort of like a Goren, and that excites me. I like Goren, but I know that the actor is just as unstable as the character and that you never know what he is going to do onscreen or offscreen.

On his first appearance you could see that there was going to be an air of mystery. What did 9-11-01 do to him? Where has he been for 7 years? Where is his wife? How is he hooked up with the captain? But also, you could see a connection...a connection with WHEELER. Will it be a romance? A big brother thing? Will he help with the baby? He has even made her interesting to me, she is not just a wallflower basking in Logan's dust. She is shinning... he is treating her like an equal, even if she doesn't have all the answers like he does. DAre I say that it is sort of like a Goren/EAmes in that respect? Yes it is! I love it! Mr. Goldblum you have energized one of my favorites shows and hopefully got it the attention it needs to get back on network so my mom can see it. Wonderful acting, wonderful stories, wonderful job. Thank you for entertaining me every other sunday at 8pm on the USA network where characters are welcome.