|
 |
Breaking Bad (2008 - 2013)
The story of Walter White - a high school chemistry teacher who, along with one of his former students turns to methamphetamine production to support his family, when he falls on hard times. The premise sounds a little far-fetched, as is a lot of what happens in the ensuing five seasons, but it's done with such style, wit and mastery of the craft that one can forgive almost every incredible coincidence and unlikely circumstance that crops up. The writing is first class, as is every single part played, from the central role (brilliantly played by Bryan Cranston) to the smallest walk-on. You could count on the fingers of one hand how many of the sixty two episodes were sub-par - and then only relative to its own stratospheric standards. In terms of visual inventiveness, production values and cinematography this stands head and shoulders above almost any American motion picture made in the last ten years, and is light years ahead of any other show on television. From first episode to last, with only a handful of missteps, this is a masterclass of storytelling, tension building and character development, and one of the few television shows to end on a pitch perfect note. |
 |
Columbo (1968 - 1978)
The best detective show of all time. Intelligently written and elegantly plotted, Columbo changed the rules of the detective show by showing the audience right at the beginning of the show who the killer was, and how and why they committed the murder. The main star of the show (Peter Falk as Columbo) didn't usually appear until a good fifteen or twenty minutes in which was also unheard of at the time. Each episode is identically constructed, with the murder being shown, Columbo turning up and figuring out pretty quickly who's responsible then the fun would be watching him setting about getting his man - usually with help from the murderer himself, as they would always underestimate Columbo's intelligence. Columbo has a few phrases he always uses such as 'Just one more thing', and a few amusing props, such as his rumpled raincoat, his beat-up car and his all but inert dog. And just for the record his first name and the first name of his wife was never released, and the only name his dog ever had was Dog. |
 |
Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000 - 2011)
Larry David's follow-up to the phenomenally successful Seinfeld. David stars as himself - that is a very successful and wealthy writer who's just finished with a very successful comedy show on TV. He has a house in Malibu and a wife who doesn't really understand where he's coming from most of the time. In fact, nobody ever seems to see where he's coming from. This show is very similar to Seinfeld in that it focusses on the main character and his relationship to those around him but whereas Seinfeld is supremely inoffensive, this is the adult version. Larry David gets very frustrated at the idiocy all around him and he lets rip when it all reaches boiling point. This show is the best example of the comedy of inappropriateness and social embarrassment around. Makes you feel physically uncomfortable at times identifying with the socially awkward situations in which David finds himself. |
 |
Fawlty Towers (1975 - 1979)
Absolutely the best sitcom ever made. A mere twelve episodes over two seasons, there isn't one episode that's less than brilliant. John Cleese is absolutely hilarious as the hapless and willful Basil Fawlty, proprietor of a ramshackle seat-of-the-pants hotel in Torquay where if a thing can go wrong it surely will. Basil's lot in life seems to be to deal with a series of misfortunes, misunderstandings or misdeeds. His wife is an insufferable nag (especially when she's right), the guests are a constant thorn in his side, and his head waiter can barely understand English. Cleese and co-star Connie Booth - who plays earnest waitress Polly - were responsible for the writing of Fawlty Towers and you can tell there was a lot of hard work and fine tuning involved in the construction of this little gem. John Cleese has never been funnier - as a writer or as a performer. Impeccable. |
 |
In Treatment (2008 - 2010)
Who's never wanted to be a fly on the wall in a psychiatrist's office? Gabriel Byrne stars as Dr. Paul Weston - a psychiatrist working out of his home in New York. He puts in a terrific performance here as the perceptive and sometimes troubled shrink who has a tendency to get a little too involved with his patients. Each episode is devoted to a different patient, whom we get to know more as the season progresses. We also get to know more about Paul, as he attends his own sessions with his psychiatrist - another great performance by Dianne Wiest. The acting by all concerned is of the highest standard and the writing is probably the best on television right now. It's not often a series comes along that's as intelligent, thought-provoking, absorbing and emotionally challenging as In Treatment. This is another show that can last for quite a few seasons because it delves deep into the psyche and there's no more fascinating subject than human beings, their fears, hopes and dreams. |
 |
Rescue Me (2004 - 2011)
The brainchild of Denis Leary, who started off as a scathing comedian back in the nineties, then moved into films briefly, and with this series has finally found the perfect vehicle for his acerbic wit and refreshingly bleak outlook on life. He plays an unstable New York firefighter who's haunted by the events of 9-11 and has a truck-load of demons to wrestle with. For much of the first season he's followed around by various ghosts of the people he lost in fires and his twin obsessions - alcohol and women provide endless scenarios to chew over, as an observer. The absurd situations in this show - penned by Leary and Peter Tollan - are frequently hilarious, the writing is solid - often profane and always authentic sounding and the characters are well-drawn and interesting. It has much to say about modern life; alcoholism, religion, sex, death, you name it and it's always entertaining and rarely preachy. Superb fun for people not easily offended. |
 |
The Sopranos (1999 - 2007)
At first I ignored The Sopranos because I felt it was just a re-hash of Martin Scorsese's film Goodfellas, in which everything there was to be said about modern-day Italian American gangsters seemed to have been said, and said very well. But how wrong I was. Obviously there are comparisons to be made, but writer-creator David Chase takes an entirely different tack early on in the first season and runs with it brilliantly. James Gandolfini stars as Tony Soprano - a mid-level gangster in New Jersey headed for the top of the family. He's troubled with strange dreams and goes to see a psychiatrist. His wife and kids are only vaguely aware of what he does for a living but have no idea what a ruthless man he can be. Both sets of family dynamics are explored with a lot of insight and humour. The series peaked in season three but continued to be entertaining and interesting until the last episode three seasons later. |
 |
Twin Peaks (1990 - 1991)
From the opening sequence of the first episode with a young girl's body wrapped in plastic being fished out of the river David Lynch's Twin Peaks was set to be something a bit special and it was certainly that, and then some. Never before or since has quite such a weird or extreme show surfaced on TV, though a few have subsequently tried. It did though change the face of television for good in that it showed there was a market for unconventional programmes with weird characters and odd ideas. Twin Peaks is basically a murder mystery but as the show progressed this became less and less important as people became entranced by the strangeness of the characters and the odd situations arising each week. Only lasted two seasons but the season two finale was unbeleivably good and certainly the most outrageously bizarre hour of television you'll ever see. |
 |
The West Wing (1999 - 2006)
Follows the lives of the White House staff under democratic President Jed Bartlett - exactly the kind of intelligent, responsible, and fair-minded president America doesn't have. The acting is uniformly excellent - helped no end by impeccable scripts courtesy of Aaron Sorkin, who obviously knew somebody who worked somewhere near the centre of the American political machine. The first four seasons of The West Wing, right up until Sorkin's departure were of a uniformly high standard - in fact I can't think of one weak episode. This show was realistic and knowledgeable enough about American politics to be able to give the viewer the impression they were privvy to insider knowledge about the inner workings of the real White House. When it was at it's best this was head and shoulders above anything else on American television at the time in terms of overall quality. |
 |
Yes, Minister & Yes, Prime Minister (1980 - 1988)
The UK predecessor to The West Wing? Not quite, but even better in terms of writing. Whereas West Wing is pretty serious - sometimes earnest Yes, minister and the follow-up Yes, Prime Minister are thought-provoking and extremely intelligent but always played for laughs. Featuring ambitous bumbler Jim Hacker rising through the political ranks thanks mainly to his assistant, the pompous Sir Humphrey Appleby's astute maneouvering on his behalf. Politics has never been such fun and I don't believe the writing in these two shows has ever been surpassed on television. The acting by Paul Eddington and Nigel Hawthorne - both sadly no longer with us - is a delight to savour and the verbal sparring between the two is an absolute treat. I can't imagine this ever being remade or added to as the idea of these series of programmes without these two is inconceivable. Masterful. |
|
