Delineating Television Greatness

Television is a horrible menagerie of mindless trash, attention deficit pandering programming, and relentless consumerist brainwashing.

Yet we are still all suckers for it, at some level or another. Television is interesting because it is a forum for so many different forms of entertainment and information. News programs, sporting events, unscripted "reality" shows, and of course the good old scripted series and made-for-t.v. movies all have their place in the television universe. Some channels are even devoted solely to trying to get people to buy shit, providing a sort of consumerist pornography while giving people an opportunity to easily order stuff they don't need. Today I want to talk about what makes great television so great. I will begin this discussion by presenting to you Empire Magazine's list of the 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time, which can be read here:

For convenience I will post the top ten here:

10. Spaced (1999-2001)
9. The X-Files (1993-2002)
8. The Wire (2002-2008)
7. Friends (1994-2004)
6. 24 (2001-PRESENT)
5. Lost (2004-PRESENT)
4. The West Wing (1999-2006)
3. The Sopranos (1999-2007)
2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)
1. The Simpsons (1989-PRESENT)

The glaring omission is of course Seinfeld, which came in at number 11 on the list and probably should have swapped places with Friends or even The West Wing. However, aside from Seinfeld being too low on the list, I would call this is a pretty good ranking of television shows. I like this list because it dares to put underrated, little known gems (Spaced and The Wire, especially) among some of the true giants of television history. I also like the fact that the list does not ignore the fact that recent television shows have pushed the envelope and created narratives that have been much more compelling than shows from twenty years ago and before. To put it simply, recent television is much more complex and accomplished than older television. Recent television is also much more daring. While shows like M*A*S*H and Cheers were beloved, they can't stand up to the biting satire of a sitcom like the Simpsons. The great exception to the recent is better hypothesis may be Twin Peaks, a personal favorite of mine, which was undoubtedly way ahead of its time.

So how can these shows be justified as the greatest of all time? What common factors do they have that lend to their greatness? First and foremost, CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT! Each of these ten shows makes the viewer fall in love with not just one or two characters, but a host of fascinating individuals. Think of the Simpsons universe -- Springfield is loaded with secondary and tertiary characters that have become fan favorites. Comic Book Guy, Gil the Salesman, Apu, Superintendent Chalmers, and I could go on for a very long time just name-droppin'. Buffy might be the title character of her respective show, but it's the Whedonites' love affairs with Spike, Xander, Oz, Giles, Anya, Dawn, Glory, and especially Willow that truly gave it staying power. Lost employed some of the most intense character development ever in its early goings, devoting entire episodes to fleshing out each of its characters. Love 'em or hate 'em, the six Friends were so believably developed and acted that all six actors are doomed to be typecast for the rest of their careers. When the audience truly loves the characters they tune in to see every week, then the situations they get themselves into become more exciting and "must-see". If Jack Bauer weren't such a ballsy and gritty hero then who would give half a hoot whether he detonated the nukes or saved his daughter in time? The success of The Sopranos was contingent on character development; if not for the complexity of Tony Soprano as both organized criminal and struggling family man then we would never be able to connect with him, and see him instead as simply a cold-blooded killer.

Aside from the necessity of shows being character-driven, they must also make us laugh once in a while in order to succeed. Every show on that list, from the most dramatic (The Wire, 24) to the most ridiculous (Friends, The Simpsons), incorporates some important humorous moments that can genuinely make us laugh. Likewise, the comedic entries on the list are balanced by meticulously crafted instances of human drama. One of my favorite Simpsons episodes is "One Fish, Two Fish, Blow Fish, Blue Fish" in which Homer eats some supposedly poisonous sushi and prepares for his inevitable death which is to come in twelve hours. This particular episode is loaded with bittersweet moments in which he listens to Lisa play the saxophone, tries to teach Bart how to shave, and says goodbye to Maggie via videotape, all things we can imagine a dying father doing with his children. Heartwarming moments like these make comedic shows more powerful, so much so that I would make the argument that Southpark, though it is one of the funniest shows of all time, will never achieve top ten status because of its lack of dramatic elements. Of course too many sitcoms take the drama too far with their "very special episodes", for example the overwrought Home Improvement.

So, what does everyone think about scripted television? What makes it great, what makes it suck? Why can I not sit through ten minutes of CSI, but I can watch Buffy or The X-Files for hours at a time? Obviously at some level it all depends on personal preference. I have friends that love Entourage, but I think it's a bland, boring show. I have other friends that make fun of me constantly for looking to Buffy as the gold standard for television drama. It seems that almost everyone can agree on The Simpsons though. Why is that? In fact, when you meet someone who doesn't like The Simpsons, it's sort of like meeting someone who doesn't believe in oxygen. It just doesn't make sense. Why doesn't that same level of adoration exist for some of the other t.v. shows on this list? Will any show ever be as universally beloved as The Simpsons? Can Lost present a final season so devastatingly clever that it can surpass The Sopranos and Buffy as the greatest dramatic television series ever?

Will commercials ever go away? {Hell no.}