My Top 10 TV Shows

Hello fellow otakududes & otakududettes! You might remember last year my post on my Top 10 Movies & TV Shows (Click “***”). I had a lot of fun writing that post, and I meant everything I said in it, but looking back I thought it was lazy to put both together. Since I have a break from my music festival, I’ve decided that perhaps it’s time to make two posts, one for my favorite movies, and today’s post, which is about my top 10 tv shows. Enjoy!

10) MXC (Sample Clip: “***”)

Looking back, if there was a television show that I’m ashamed of liking, it would be this. Airing from 2003 to I think 2006/2007, MXC (Formerly known as Most Extreme Elimination Challenge) was a Japanese game show with a English dub. Now, if that sounds strange, let me go on by saying that the dub doesn’t match up with the mouth movements all that well, said dub is filled with incredible amounts of crude sexual innuendo, racial humor, pop culture references, and a host of other things to turn a Japanese game show into a American Gladiators spoof.

The reason this show was able to work in the first place was that it aired at the stage in SpikeTV’s early years, where a good chunk of the shows were relatively crude, and they were still touting the “Network for Guys” moniker. If they were to re-air the show today, or somehow make new episodes, it would totally clash with Spike’s cleaner (But still manly and occasionally crude) image. I guess the reasons why I liked MXC was because of the crude humor, and it somehow appealed to my younger self (I was 16/17 when I first watched the show). When I watch a episode or a clip of an episode now, I still laugh, but at the same time a piece of me dies.

9) WWE (Raw & Smackdown) (Sample Clip: “***”)

If I had my blog up around early/mid 2000s (Maybe even late 2000s), I would have placed WWE anywhere from number 6 to number 4 on this list, simply because I loved it that much. Due to some of their business decisions in the past couple years, I’ve become a bit disgusted (During the late summer/early fall last year, I voluntarily skipped some episodes of Raw, due to how asinine their actions were at the time). Coupled with how they treat some of their superstars, and some controversies past & present that I’m finally learning about, I have finally begun to lose faith in the company.

With that said, I still have fun watching Raw & Smackdown. I’ve always been a sucker for spectacle, and both of those shows deliver. I still see some of the wrestling legends show up from time to time (It’s awesome to see Goldust & Batista come back), but it’s great that new talent is coming into the WWE as well (Despite not getting much in the way of screen time). I might not enjoy wrestling as much as I once did, but I still have fun, which I guess is what matters in the end. 
                               
8) Deadliest Warrior (Sample Clip: “***”)

There was a time, in the course of SpikeTV’s history, that they actually seemed to be gaining credit & respect. From about 2008 to maybe late 2011, the network was bringing in shows & specials that seemed relatively intelligent & interesting. Of these shows, Deadliest Warrior was right on top for quite a while. For anyone who didn’t read my review of season 1 (Click “***” to read it), the show was a “What if insert name fought against insert name”, and used elements of Reality TV, History, and Science Fiction. It was actually kinda revolutionary, as silly as that may sound, because while this idea had been flying around for a while, nobody has ever picked it up.

It was really fun to watch! I liked the idea of the show. I liked the testing of the various weapons, and the history behind the warriors of a particular. Even the Reality TV aspects of Deadliest Warrior were fun, as they weren’t as standard as other shows of the genre. The one thing that prevents me from putting it lower on the list is the fact that, regardless of the seasons, there were screwup after screwup. Sometimes it was an expert that wasn’t who they say he was (Or they weren’t as impressive as they were shown), sometimes they screwed up a fact, and they even sometimes screwed up with the editing of a scene. Nowhere was this more evident than in season 3, when everything that was wrong with the show, and then some, became readily apparent, but that’s for another review (The Season 2 review will finally show up next week , and I’ll get the review for the 3rd season up a couple months down the line). Suffice it to say, Deadliest Warrior is an example of a enjoyable & surprising television series, despite the bullshit.

7) Surviving Disaster (Sample Clip: “***”)

Getting axed even sooner than Deadliest Warrior (That show ran for 3 seasons, while this one only ran for 1), Surviving Disaster was another one of the shows that SpikeTV aired that was intelligent, but still provided some entertainment. The basic premise of the show was that the host (Who’s name escapes me) would guide a small group of people through a worst-case disaster, and teach the viewers & people how to survive the disaster in question, hence the name of the show. There was a surprisingly interesting selection of disasters that the show focused on, and they were:

Airplane Hijacking
Office Building Fire
Hurricane
Home Invasion (1 Solitary Individual/Tiger Kidnappers)
Avalanche
Lost At Sea
Mall Shooting
Nuclear Attack (1 mile from the blast & 3 miles from the blast)
Earthquake
Pandemic (Nerve Gas Attack/Global Pandemic)

From the beginning to end, the host told you explicit steps to follow, and experts from various fields would chime in and give their wisdom about the disaster in question. It was really informative, and was quite entertaining in the process. If I had one complaint about Surviving Disaster, it was that the disaster would sometimes be oblivious towards the host, often to the point of ignoring him. Nowhere was this most evident than in the first portion of the home invasion episode. I won’t spoil it for you, so go watch it.

6) Mythbusters (Sample Clip “***”)

There’s not many shows that I can recall that I’ve been with since the beginning. Some of the shows above I’ve been with for a bit, and a couple of the ones below I’ve also been with for a bit, but the one that comes to mind most often that I remember when thinking about this is Mythbusters. First airing on January 23, 2003, the show is still going on today, as it’s currently standing at 231 episodes (this includes special episodes). Part reality tv, part comedy (intentionally or unintentionally), and part science show, Mythbusters tested out the various myths of the world, whether from real life, scenes from movies, or commercials & pop culture. It’s really interesting to see which of the myths are real, and which ones are hoaxes. So if you want a unconventional science show, watch this one!

5) Good Eats (Sample Clip: “***”)

I’m very conflicted with this show. On the one hand, I enjoy the host. Alton Brown has been doing Good Eats since 1999, and brings an energy & fun that most other cooking show hosts don’t have. Mr. Brown also brought in a lot of history about many of the more iconic dishes (Beef Wellington, Pavlova, and Spaghetti with Meat Sauce are just a couple of dishes he brings into the light), and can get very scientific at times. Good Eats is also helped by having a lot of humor in the show (With maybe an exception of the first 1 to 3 seasons), and thus keeps viewers glued to the TV screen.

On the other hand, Alton Brown is no longer doing the show (His last episode, a 1-hour special on dark chocolate, aired back in February of 2012, which I used in the sample above). He’s also incredibly opinionated, often to the point of frustrating, and some of his cooking methods are downright bizarre. Steaming & baking chicken wings instead of frying them!? Baking a roux in the oven!? Cooking a lasagna in the crockpot!? These are just a small few of the methods he uses that makes me scratch my head. Despite some of the faults, Good Eats is a great show to get cooking info, or just to be entertained.  

4) ReBoot (Sample Clip: “***”)

If I had one complaint about this show, it’s that some of the computer terms they talk about are a little on the dated side (This show first aired back in the early 90s). Many of them don’t have as much weight to them, and the terms that are still relevant have changed in ways. With that said, this was damn good!

For starters, the whole show was done entirely in 3d, which was a big & unprecedented undertaking in the early 90s. Secondly, the concept behind ReBoot was quite unique, and still is (Inside a computer & computer programs? Has there been anything original since then!?). Third, for a kid’s show it was quite smart. There were definitely goofy/silly moments to be sure, but there were also some serious moments as well, and it never talked down to kids also (If there were moments where kids were talked down to, I didn’t notice them). If you’re a geeky kid, or a geek at heart, then I highly suggest you go watch ReBoot.

3) Bill Nye the Science Guy (Sample Clip: “***”) & Beakman’s World (Sample Clip: “***”)

If you were a kid growing up in the 90s, and you were watching PBS, chances are you’d come across Bill Nye the Science Guy. Airing from September 1993 to June of 1998 in 100 episodes, Bill Nye was a learning show, teaching kids about various areas of science (Flight, Phases of Matter, and The Moon were just a couple subjects talked about). What made this show so fantastic was that the host was incredibly likable. Bill Nye was a guy that you could tell loved science (The guy still loves science, and is still active within the scientific community), and he wanted to teach the kids of the world about science. In addition to the educational content, there was plenty of goofy things to keep kids hooked onto the screen, not to mention a music video at the end of the episode that parodied popular music of the time.

With Beakman’s World, we have something a little different. Coincidentally airing a year before Bill Nye (Beakman’s World began on September 18, 1992, while Bill Nye started airing on September 10, 1993. Beakman’s World also ran for almost the same length as Bill Nye, reaching 91 episodes before stopping), the show was a educational series in the same vein as Bill Nye was: the host (In this case, Paul Zaloom) was a big science-type person, and he teaches kids all over the world about scientific things. What makes Beakman’s World different is a couple things. For starters, the show is considerably more goofy & silly, but somehow it still didn’t talk down to kids. Secondly, the show relied on kids sending in letters, and certain letters were used for the basis of an episode. Finally, the show was based off of a comic strip (You Can With Beakman and Jax was the name), and it also relied on questions sent in by kids. If you can’t find any Bill Nye episodes, then you can’t go wrong with Beakman’s World.

2) Monty Python’s Flying Circus (Sample Clip: “***”)

A couple Christmases ago, my Grandmother was up to celebrate the holiday with my family & me, and the present I got from her that year was the complete collection of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, which was pretty expensive at the time (I still think it’s expensive, but I’m not quite sure). I’ve laughed at plenty of TV shows over the years, but this was one where I found myself laughing frequently. The crew of Monty Python have made a plethora of funny and iconic skits over the course of the show (The Lumberjack Song, SPAM, and Dead Parrot are just a couple), and even the ones where I wasn’t laughing out loud, I was at least snickering or giggling. It might take a while to watch the whole series, but Monty Python’s Flying Circus is one of those shows where it’s worth it.

1) Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (Sample Clip: “***”)

I should start by saying that this show hasn’t necessarily aged well over the years. The 3d effects look cheap, the acting at times is incredibly hammy, and the sets don’t look so great now. Having said that, this was a show that I had incredible amounts of fun watching when I was younger. It was also one of the first things on TV I watched with my Mother & Father, right up there with Saturday morning cartoons, and oddly enough, CBS News.

If I had one word to use when talking about this show, it would be fun. Kevin Sorbo, despite being something of a B-list actor, really puts his all into his role as Hercules. The setting of Ancient Greece was interesting: it was familiar, but gets turned onto it’s head. It also helps that the show has a great sense of humor (Emphasis on great), it knew how & when to be serious, and the main cast of actors just seemed to fit (Bruce Campbell anyone!?). Again, the show aged poorly, but it’s so much fun to watch, it’s hard to hate on it.

See you all next week, when I’ll finally get to my review of Deadliest Warrior: Season 2. Until then, stay Otaku!