The A-Bomb

25. Penn & Teller’s Bullshit!

Penn and Teller are mostly known for their Las Vegas magic act, and possibly from their guest appearances on various shows/movies etc. But they are also noted skeptics, and they made this show in order to debunk many supernatural myths and even just regular, everyday things such as recycling.

While it’s easy to see which position of any given argument Penn and Teller side with, they do try to present the information and let the viewer decide when it comes to a lot of the subjects. Things like “Talking to the Dead” and “Alien Abductions” will be easy to agree with, while others like “Second Hand Smoke” and “Recycling” may be harder to grasp. Nonetheless, Penn and Teller present their arguments in a well thought out manner, and more often than not in an entertaining, humorous way. The first two seasons are definite must watches for any skeptic.

Best Moment: During the ‘Profanity’ episode, they interview this woman who is anti-profanity to the extreme. They ask her if she knows George Carlin’s 7 Dirty Words routine, and begin to list them, all while she screams ‘You can’t say that! You can’t say that!’ Cue Penn’s voiceover: ‘We just did.’

24. Beast Wars

Set after the original Transformers TV Show, Beast Wars was an entirely new direction from the G1 Autobots and Decepticons. This time around we have the Maximals and the Predacons, who crash land on a prehistoric Earth and fight each other while learning more about their past.

While it started out as another way to sell Transformer toys (and worked on me at least) Beast Wars developed into a complex story with many memorable characters and exceptional voice acting. It’s also one of the few animated shows that can draw tears from me, so that’s worth noting as well. If only the successor to this show, Beast Machines, could have been as good.

Best Moment: The episode titled ‘Code of Hero,’ in which Dinobot (who was originally a Predacon but defected to the Maximals) gives his life to save the primitive humans living on the planet. It cemented his character as a man of honor, and was a great end to one of the most dynamic characters on the show.

23. Curb Your Enthusiasm

I like to describe this show as “Seinfeld without the laugh track.” Which is a good thing for me, as I hate laugh tracks, but love Seinfeld. Larry David is actually the co-creator of Seinfeld and this show follows him in a semi-documentary style, with most people playing themselves and the majority of the dialogue improvised.

The show plays with the whole ‘uncomfortable comedy’ idea that other shows incorporate (The Office, for example). Situations that make you cringe because they’re so absurd yet laugh because it’s funny when it happens to other people. Larry David is the master of playing the unlucky shlub, and the worse always seems to happen to him even when he has nothing but good intentions.

Best Moment: In a rare moment of triumph for Larry, he wakes his rude neighbor (whose daughters vandalized his house earlier on) with a full blown orchestra playing the very song the two men got in a heated argument over near the beginning of the episode.

22. Clone High

An elaborate parody of teen soap operas, each episode of Clone High starts with a voice over saying, “Today, on a very special Clone High.” But really, it’s pretty much always true. At least in my heart, they’re all special.

A school filled with clones of famous people, Clone High has many absurd situations and random visual gags. A strong lineup of voice actors help the comedy flow, as do the running gags and the one-off characters. There was a surprising amount of guest appearances as well, such as Marilyn Manson, Mandy Moore, Micheal J. Fox, Tom Green, Jack Black, and more. It also has possibly the best reading of ‘Bite Size Wieners’ I’ve ever heard.

Best Moment: The entirety of the episode titled “Raisin’ the Stakes: A Rock Opera in Three Acts,” which is just what it claims to be. And it’s amazing.

21. Aqua Teen Hunger Force

Possibly the most bizarre TV Show I’ve ever seen, and at times it’s one of the funniest. You’ll notice a lot of the shows on this list are cartoons, and that’s no accident, as I’m a big fan of voice actors and when shows like this showcase such incredible talent I can’t help but get hooked.

The show started out as a group of private investigators, a milkshake, a box of fries, and a meatball, had to stop different creations by Dr. Weird (who appears only in the pre-credit sequence). But eventually the Dr. Weird segments had nothing to do with the main plot, and was just an opportunity for more random things to happen. There have been many interesting and funny characters/villains that pop up and many are recurring.

Best Moment: The first appearance of the Plutonians (above), when they describe to Master Shake what the various spikes – sorry – ‘pointy arms’ on their body are for.

20. Heroes

I just recently got into this show, but so far it is definitely one of my favorites. It centers around ordinary people who discover they have extraordinary powers. Flight, indestructibility, telepathy, and the ability to bend space and time, there are many interesting characters so far and only room for more to develop. It’s a ‘realistic’ X-Men, and it’s wonderfully executed so far. I look forward to see where the series goes, as the creator has said he has the entire first 5 seasons laid out.

Best Moment: Peter is a ’sponge’ in the sense that he absorbs the powers of the people around him, without even knowing he’s doing it. This is something learned later on, as originally he thought he had to actually be near that person to use their powers, but this is proven not the case in one of the coolest moments in the show: Being pursued by Horn Rimmed Glasses Man (Mr. Bennet) Peter freezes the darts shot at him, grabs his mentor (Invisible Man) and jumps off the building, flying off into the night. It was the first time we saw Peter use an assortment of powers when he wasn’t around the people he got the powers from, and it kicked some serious ASS.

19. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Mostly due to nostalgia, but this show still holds as one of the greatest kids shows ever made. I loved everything about the Turtles when I was a kid, and watched the show religiously. I was even Raphael for Halloween one year.

While I personally think the first movie is even better than the show, as it gives the turtles a more darker tone, the show is still better than half of the dreck on TV for kids today.

Best Moment: Krang during the first season was still just a talking brain with a little tripod wheelie thing. I guess he made a deal with Shredder to make him a new body, and it’s actually pretty funny how upset he gets over not receiving said body quickly enough. He even sheds a single tear at one point.

18. Transformers

Again, more of a nostalgia thing than anything, but I still enjoy watching these cartoons as a 22 year old man. Optimus Prime is not only a cool character but has one of the best names in the history of the world. I love just saying it. Also, Soundwave was my favorite villain. Starscream was a dick.

Best Moment: The first time Soundwave speaks, and sends Lazerbeak out to perform reconnaissance.

17. South Park

I’ll admit I hated this show when it first came on the air. It seemed like such obscene humor and wasn’t really my taste. It wasn’t until the later seasons that I started to appreciate the intelligent satirical humor that it began to develop.

What I really like about the show is the way the adult characters all take themselves so seriously, and the boys are all so innocent and usually smarter than the adults. There’s so much to love here, I even started appreciating the earlier episodes as well.

Best Moment: Oh man, there are a lot to choose from. I think anything with Randy warrants a mention, but when Kyle’s dad undergoes ‘Dolphinplasty’ to become a Dolphin, that was freakin hilarious.

16. Futurama

If this show’s any indication, the year 3000 will be an awesome time to live. Matt Groening’s successor to the Simpsons, this show takes a lot of cues from that show but also does a lot of things differently. But the talent is still there, and Billy West shines as Fry, The Professor, Zoidberg, and Zapp Branigan just to name a few.

While many believe the show ended much too soon, it also avoided dragging out and becoming stale, and instead each episode is a great one. Jurassic Bark is possibly one of the greatest episodes of TV I’ve ever seen.

Best Moment: Jurassic Bark is about Fry finding the petrified remains of his old dog, Seymour. Throughout the episode we see flashbacks to their happy times together as well as their attempt to reanimate the dog in the present. Before they do, Fry has a change of heart and figures Seymour probably forgot all about him, and bringing him back won’t make either of them happy. The last part of the episode is a montage showing Seymour waiting for Fry outside the pizza place after he was frozen. He waits his whole life for Fry to return, until finally laying down and closing his eyes.

15. Seinfeld

My favorite thing about this show is about just how terrible an actor Jerry really is. I find it hilarious when a joke is told and he can’t help from smirking, even when he is the one telling the joke (see: I don’t wanna be a cowboy!). But it’s also a very interesting idea, the whole ’show about nothing.’ I like the observational humor, and most of the physical gags are great as well.

Best Moment: When Jerry accuses his girlfriend of making out with his cousin, only to find out she never did (and has an alibi), he responds with an hilarious reading of ‘wanna go get some pizza?!’

14. Veronica Mars

There are three things that make this show for me:

1. The season long mystery that gets more mysterious and intense as the season goes on,

2. The pop culture references that are clever but not too in your face, and

3. Enrico Colantoni.

Best Moment: I gotta give it to Joss Whedon’s guest appearance in season 2. He’s actually pretty good at comedy, who would’ve guessed?

13. The Office (US)

I’ve watched the UK version as well, but this show has definitely set itself apart from its English sibling. Of course, I love Steve Carell and anything he does, and he’s great as the hapless so-stupid-you-feel-sorry-for-him Michael Scott. The awkwardness is there, as are the great running jokes. Even the secondary characters are hilarious when given their time to shine.

Best Moment: Michael goes to his improv group and every time he does a scene he plays ‘Agent Michael Scott’ who carries a gun and shoots a lot of people. Even people who aren’t in the scene.

12. 24

On an impulse I picked up the first season of this show, and was instantly hooked. Set in ‘real time’ over the course of one day, and therefore 24 hours, it really packs the intensity in there and keeps you on the edge ALL THE TIME. Everything is so intense and I love it. I’m not sure if I’d enjoy actually watching it on TV, but I’ve bought all the DVD box sets so far and it’s great to be able to just watch however many episodes I want at a time.

Jack Bauer is quite possibly the coolest mofo I’ve seen on TV and I love how much he yells at everyone. “TELL ME WHERE THE BOMB IS” “GIVE ME THE INFORMATION NOW” “WE DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS” and many others. It really is my favorite part of the show.

Best Moment: The reveal at the end of season 1 that Nina is a mole, was something I never saw coming and was really cool before it became a staple of the show and less surprising.

11. Scrubs

Zach Braff is much more suited to comedy than to shows like, oh, say, Garden State. I mean it was impressive as a first time writer/director movie, but it fell flat and really didn’t have much to it. Scrubs, on the other hand, is a good blend of drama and comedy, and there are so many great characters that it just always seems fresh.

Bill Lawrence, the creator(also the creator of Clone High, and there are many actor crossovers between these two shows), has stated how he wanted this show to be like a ‘live-action Simpsons’ in that there are many secondary characters who are never ‘one-off’ characters. I think they achieved this and are good with bringing characters back when they need them. Some of the characters created are some of the most memorable on TV, including Dr. Kevin Casey(Michael J. Fox) and especially Dr. Cox.

Unfortunately, I feel the show really became too wacky and zany in it’s fifth season on. There was less about the characters and more about crazy things happening all at once. J.D. actually started to get on my nerves a little bit with his antics, and I haven’t really watched the show on TV since then. The first four seasons are still great though.

Best Moment: The first episode, when J.D. sees the Janitor fixing the automatic door. He suggests maybe someone put a penny in it, which causes the Janitor to wonder why he said a penny in particular. After finding a penny at the end of the episode, so begins the series long war between the main character and the Janitor.

10. Undeclared

Largely the same team from Freaks & Geeks (see below), Undeclared unfortunately suffered the same fate as it’s predecessor and was canceled after one season. While F&G was mainly an hour long drama, Undeclared was a half hour comedy. I have to admit the biggest reason I liked this show so much was due to Seth Rogen, who really seems to have my kind of humor.

There was also a large amount of guest stars, which kept things interesting, and many of the cast from Freaks & Geeks made appearances as well. It was a shame it only lasted as long as it did, but with many of my favorite shows, it indeed kept it from becoming stale.

Best Moment: The unsung hero of the show, Steven`s Dad (played by Louden Wainwright, famed Folk singer), plays a song to Adam Sandler about his wife and how she left him. You feel sad for him but laugh at the same time, and Adam`s obvious uncomfort really drives it home.

9. Freaks & Geeks

What can I say about this show that so many have not already said? It really was the best representation of High School life, and the characters were all so interesting and endearing, it was hard not to fall in love with the show. And of course the wonderful soundtrack really adds to the whole feeling of the 80s. It was a shame it lasted only one season, I can easily rewatch the entire season over and over again however.

Best Moment: The Garage Door episode is such a great hour of television, I’m inclined to say that entire episode is the best moment. But in particular, the ending is what does it for me, where Neil’s dad gives him the Atari for simply being ‘a good kid.’ It’s heartbreaking.

8. The Simpsons

One of the funniest shows I’ve seen, animated or not. Of course, seasons 3-8 are the ones I feel are flawless, while they slowly declined in quality after that. I’ve realized lately that while the humor is a huge part of my love for the show, it’s also the whole family aspect that makes it engaging. Which also explains why I dislike the newer seasons, they’ve drifted away from that family aspect and focused more on making zany characters and situations. Either way, the prime episodes are some of the best half hours of TV you can find.

Best Moment: My favorite line of the series is probably from Homer: After Kent Brockman wins the lottery, the Simpson family are watching him talk on TV, and Homer begrudgingly mentions that “He may be the richest person in the world, but there’s one thing he can’t buy.” When Marge asks what that is, he replies, “A dinosaur!“

7. Home Movies

Brendon Small created this fantastic animated show, and it is definitely the kind of show I would like to make one day. Dry, subtle humor based mostly on the largely improvised dialogue, but also many visual gags coming from Brendon’s awesome home movies he makes with his friends. I wish I could have made such great movies when I was eight.

Best Moment: The episode `Bye Bye Greasy`where Brendon is put in charge of making a musical stageplay for the school. When Coach Mcgurk drives in on his car, and can`t get the window down, he proceeds to sing the entire song with the window up inside his car.

6. Angel

It was honestly tough to decide if this show should be ranked higher than Buffy or not, and I had to give the edge to Buffy due to it being the one that created it all. But that doesn’t mean Angel isn’t a great series in it’s own right. It does seem quite a bit darker than Buffy, but it maintains the great humor and suspense that made Buffy great. I also found myself liking some of the characters a lot more as they were given a bit more of a chance to develop (Wesley, for example). The had some pretty good crossover episodes between this and Buffy as well.

Best Moment: The season five episode, where Angel is transformed into a puppet. You read that right.

5. Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I have to be honest – I sort of grew up watching Buffy. I was pretty much hooked instantly, I remember actually being scared of the show for the first few episodes. But eventually it became an obsession between me and my two siblings and now it’s a legendary show for us. I remember having many Buffy parties and watching the new episodes religiously, even when the show’s quality started to decline around Season 5 (not counting the amazing Musical episode in the sixth season).

What really amazed me about this show is the way they parallel the supernatural with realistic problems, and so seamlessly too. Like when Buffy and Angel sleep together and (spoiler alert) he becomes evil, which is something that happens in real life as well, while maybe they don’t start killing your friends and what not some guys do ‘become evil’ after the fact. There are many other interesting parallels as well.

Best Moment: Once More, With Feeling. It really can`t be argued.

4. LOST

It’s interesting how each season focuses on something different. First season was mainly about the characters and the Island itself (and Charlie’s question in the pilot: “Guys…where are we?”), while the second season was about the mysterious Hatch and ‘Pressing the Button.’ The third season focuses on ‘The Others’ and the inevitable confrontation between them and the crash survivors. I enjoy the mystery almost as much as the interesting characters, who always seem to know less than the viewer. The flashbacks each episode are a cool device, and I fell in love with the show with Locke’s first flashback episode and the reveal at the end.

Of course, the biggest problem with Lost is that it’s made for network TV and once they get a hit, they want it to keep going and going. So the creators are forced to come up with ‘filler’ to keep the series going as long as possible. Which is why the recent announcement that they’ve set an end date (2010) is so great for Lost fans. The creators can now plot out the show to reveal mysteries and keep our interest up, until the end comes.

Best Moment: The very ending of the third episode ‘Walkabout’ where we learn about Locke’s condition before and after crashing on the island. A very cool reveal that I definitely didn’t see coming.

3. Firefly

One of the greatest shows to be put to Television EVER, Joss Whedon’s sci-fi/western is everything Star Wars ought to have been. Interesting, dynamic characters, comedy and drama mixed well, realistic plots and ideas, and a world that really seems real. Captain Mal Reynolds is a great character, as cool if not cooler than Han Solo himself! I really believe that, if given a chance then this show would have become bigger than Buffy and would have just continued to get better and better.

If you have never seen it, or the movie adaptation ‘Serenity,’ I highly recommend it. You will not regret it.

Best Moment: The episode titled ‘Out of Gas,’ where the ship appears to be going down and Mal, going down with the ship, remembers and reminisces how the crew all came together.

2. Arrested Development

I can not get enough of this show. I just can’t. No matter how many times I watch through the entire three seasons worth of half hour episodes, I never get bored with it. It’s exactly my kind of humor and the plots and characters are so outlandish and bizarre that they seem much more real than some people I’ve met in real life.

My favorite thing about it is that you can always go back and find something new that you didn’t notice the first time. There are so many running gags, like the chicken dance, and the one armed man, and of course, ‘Her?’ It’s a lot of the little things, the things that they put in just for the hardcore fans, that really make this show shine. Of course the actors are all superb and really commit to their roles which makes it all the greater.

Best Moment: When Lindsay suggests she open her own business involving beads, Gob chimes in: “Bees?” and when he’s corrected, he states even louder: “BEADS?”

1. Six Feet Under

This is the most beautiful, heartbreaking, and amazing TV show ever created. There is really nothing bad I can say about this show. The characters, the stories, the music, everything is fantastically done and I can’t get enough of this show. I watched the first season a while back, and once I started on the second, I couldn’t stop watching. Honestly, the show has almost ruined other TV shows for me as I am constantly comparing them to this one, and none can compare. I absolutely adore David (Michael C. Hall) and the rest of the Fisher family. Even the one off characters are memorable and each episode seemed to add something to the character or plot developments, there was no ‘filler’ involved.

If there is such a thing as a ‘perfect’ TV show this is the one that would come to mind.

Best Moment: The final six minutes of the series, which is absolutely beautiful and the best way a series could end ever. I recommend watching the series for this finale alone.