Shows That I've Watched Completely (The First 10)
30 RockI'll be listing these shows in alphabetical order. My final actual list will be after I've listed everything for my judging pool. That makes 30 Rock the first and it's the only way this show would ever end up first in a list that I can think of. There was a brief time when NBC had a Thursday night comedy block with 30 Rock, Community, The Office and Parks and Recreation. All these comedies developed big fan followings and are still talked about even though at the time, some struggled with ratings as the TV landscape began fragmenting under more cable channels and Netflix streaming. I watched an episode or two of 30 Rock at the time but just didn't find it that great compared to the other shows. To me, it is the weakest of those 4 comedies listed yet it is the one that dominated the Emmys during that run of shows.
It was around 2018 - 2019 that I finally decided to watch the show from the beginning since a lot of comedy shows can build off past jokes so I knew watching an episode here and there isn't the best way to judge a show. Yet, ultimately, I still don't get the popularity of the show. After a couple months of going through the first four seasons, I stopped at a point with season 5 as I was then in a move. It was almost one year after that I finally decided to get back to finishing the series. It was sort of a case of I'd gone this far and might as well see where it all ends up. But I could have just as easily not bothered. It just never hooked me like those other shows. It's also a weird show in that it seemed built more around bringing in all sorts of big name guest stars to do jokes about or with them while some of the regulars were sort of underutilized (or just not that funny to spend time with in my opinion). In that regard, it was almost like SNL: The Sitcom which, in a way, is sort of what the setting of the show was. Ultimately, I see it as an uneven show that felt quite dated by the time I watched it.
Seeing it at number 4 on THR's list is just something that doesn't compute to me. I seriously forget I ever watched this show most of the time. Nothing about it has ever really stuck with me. THR said "And its cynicism — about Hollywood, the Bush administration, corporate greed — appears to have prognosticated the cultural and political crises we find ourselves in 15 years later" but I think they've gone overboard. Yeah, 30 Rock would make fun of TV and what might air on it with stuff like MILF Island but I don't think anything the show did surpassed reality. Looking over broadcast TV, even before 30 Rock aired, you had Are You Hot?, Extreme Makeover and The Swan or Tiaras and Toddlers which began after it was airing as just some of the What-The-Hell ideas of shows to actually air. And I'll also add that when it comes to TV, the movie Network still seems like the most prescient and accurate take of TV's future that still applies to today despite coming out in 1975 and I'd say is more cynical than anything on 30 Rock.
Welp, that's my brief rant on 30 Rock. Spoiler alert, it's not going to make my final list. A real shocker, I know.
Abby’sMicheal Schur has talked about his love for Cheers and this was his attempt to sort of duplicate it. Because of his work on stuff like The Office and Parks and Rec, I checked it out when it first aired. It only lasted a single season of 10 episodes. It wasn't that great and it wasn't that bad. Like I don't regret watching it but there's really nothing to recommend about it especially with Cheers still existing. It wasn't that memorable aside from the weird premise of a woman running an open air bar in her backyard that her neighbors actually would frequent.
American Crime StoryThis is an anthology series. Each season focuses on a different real life crime. So far, the seasons have been The People v. O. J. Simpson, The Assassination of Gianni Versace, and Impeachment (about the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal). It's possible there could be more entries in the series but so far this has been it. Although I've found all seasons to have some compelling elements about them and would consider worth checking out, by far, it is the first season with O.J. Simpson that is the must see of this show. When it first aired back in 2016, it was the show that I couldn't wait for the next episode to air. Back when it actually happened in real life, it was called The Trial of the Century and, after watching this version of it, I feel that comment is still appropriate. I was joking at work that here we are over 20 years later and I can't wait to see what happens next in the trial.
I guess it shouldn't be surprising that the show has been unable to top that first season because of all that things that happened and coalesced during that trial. Of the other two seasons, I'd put Impeachment as second best. It was a bit different than expected as the impeachment isn't exactly the main focus. Rather it's more focused on Linda Tripp and Monica Lewinsky and what led to the whole affair coming out and the effect it had on them with although how that led to an impeachment trial was enlightening as it wasn't something I really followed back at the time. Although it can be debated, I felt the ending points about Clinton being found Not Guilty and the effects it had on US politics after that seemed to have a ring of truth to them.
The second season on Versace is the weakest of the three. There's a couple reasons. There was no trial in this case. I'm not sure it was really a news story that dominated like OJ or the Impeachment. It's also told of backwards with each episode sort of happening at an early point in the life of the killer until the last episode which resumes after the death of Versace. Moreover, most of those other episodes would then take a focus on the other victims of the killer before he got to Versace so you're being introduced to all these people coming and going and it makes for a bit more of disorienting journey compared to the unfolding action of the other two. Plus, there's really no connection between Versace and the killer aside from the killing. So then you have Versace's past also unfolding which just feels superfluous. At the same time, I think I get why it was done this way because of when you get to the penultimate episode. I won't say why so as not to give much away for those that may want to see it but if anyone just wants to know then I guess I can post something in spoilers later or maybe you can figure it out by looking up reviews of it.
American VandalI wasn't planning on doing a review of all these shows yet I seem to have suddenly put myself down this path which I'm regretting as I didn't expect to do all this typing. Unless there is an actual demand for it I'm going to scale down my comments here. (If you want more of my thoughts on a show listed, you can also ask for them since it's easier typing more when you know there's an interest).
Basically, I saw this show earlier this year. I'd been intrigued by it's premise and reviews back when it first aired. The idea is a comedy and sort of send-up of all the true crime podcasts or documentaries that have been springing up with things like Making a Murderer but this is all fiction and scripted. Yet, it proved me to why this content has become so popular in the last decade. As it would slowly examine the evidence and testimony to see what could or couldn't be trusted and dole out different evidence and conclusions in the unfolding of the investigation, I was hooked and invested in seeing how it would all unfold. It also gave me a slight vibe of working through Phoenix Wright cases. Worth checking out.
Andy Barker P.I.Alright. I'll admit. I hardly remember anything about this series. It was a late TV season addition and only had 6 episodes made and aired. For some reason, the only thing I recall is a hazy season of tracking down a bad guy who worked at a chicken farm and in the confrontation he ranted about having to handle chicken eggs and the smell with the hens laying them. I don't know why that's my only memory but that's about all I can tell you of the show. I regretted missing out on Richter's earlier sitcom effort of Andy Richter Controls the Universe so when this came out, I was there plus it aired during the Thursdays of The Office, Parks and Rec, etc so it was easy for me to catch. I suppose like the Abby's right up, it was just alright, clearly nothing memorable. I'd have been ok with it getting more a chance to flesh itself out and see what it might develop into but I'd also have to watch it again at this point to see what the quality was like. It certainly was no First Season (6 episodes) of The Office.
Arrested DevelopmentWhen I finally got around to watching Arrested Development, it was around 2017 and it felt like this sort of missing link between your classic sitcoms of Seinfeld, Frasier and the newer style like The Office, Parks and Rec, etc. It wasn't a mockumentary but it almost had that feeling with the cameras not being in the same sort of fixed locations and moving along with the characters. So many great things about the first two seasons. The shorter third season is still pretty good but I thought the British / Mr. F stuff was a bit weaker while the second half when it worked on wrapping some things up worked better. I have also seen the fourth and fifth Netflix seasons. They're definitely weaker and you get the sense that the creativity and comedic magic of the first years had been lost by the gap in time. There are still some great moments to me in those later seasons but it seemed more like the show was interested in how much plotting it could cram in than jokes. Look at how many plates we keep spinning at the same time. Still, those later seasons don't ruin the show for me or undo the greatness of those early seasons. Absolutely loved those ending stingers for next time.
ArrowMyself and other users have engaged in a lot of Arrow talk over the years as the show unfolded. Thus, I'm not going to comment much on it but to say, when thinking about it overall, I still have some fondness for the series. Not that much fondness that I'd think about watching it all over again but enough that I'd still say it might be worth a watch for someone who hasn't seen it but were looking for a superhero show to watch. Casting Stephen Amell was a big reason in keeping that show watchable even when it got rough in the later seasons particularly when a lot of the stronger secondary characters slowly left over time although David Ramsey's Diggle sticking around also helped.
Band of BrothersIt's harder for me to remember much about this miniseries compared to things like Saving Private Ryan, The Longest Day or Patton which are movies I've seen a few times and deal with a lot of the same moments of the war like D-Day or The Battle of the Bulge. The one thing I do recall is near the end of the series when they liberate a concentration camp and the bewildering sight of seeing how the prisoners had been starved and treated. Perhaps I should revisit this series again because I'm surprised how much has faded from my mind.
Batman BeyondLooking it up, about half of the show aired in the 21st Century. Around 7 or 8 years ago, I watched through the whole series because I had missed a lot of the third season episodes back when it was first airing and had recently gone through the whole Batman: TAS episodes. This still feels like an underrated series when people think of the DC Animated series as talk usually is about the Batman, Superman or Justice League series. Personally, I still quite enjoy the unrealistic future setting that was created for it and the premise and situation the characters find themselves in. Yet, it also feels like they only scratched the surface here and there was a lot more drama and conflict that could have been found from it beyond how it often felt of just setting up new villain origin stories and foiling their plots when they returned.
Better Call SaulI'll probably talk more on this later as it will be somewhere on my list. Absolutely one if not the top show for the year during the years it aired. As soon as a season was over, the idea of having to wait so long for another season just seemed so cruel. And then counting down the time when a new season would get an air date. But it always felt to be worth the wait and I got so engrossed in each episode as it would air. So well shot and directed.