Now that you know my favorite films, I'll bore you with ....
Drum roll, please! ....
Ta-Da!
Tesa's Top 15 Television Shows
(OK, so it's my Top 14 TV shows of all time. I'm still looking for the elusive 15th show.) :)
1. The X-Files -- For my money, THE best dramatic television series in the history of television. Raised the standard for writing and production design in television.
2. Oz -- Original; unique; the writing is brilliant. Still nothing like it on TV, and I doubt there ever will be.
3. The Twilight Zone -- The series that brought the short story on television to the level of art. Showcased the most talented writers of the time, with Rod Serling proving he was the best of all.
4. Dexter -- Speaking of original and unique, Dexter breaks the mold of the police procedural by giving us a serial killer who only kills serial killers. Oh, did I mention he works for the police? He's my favorite sociopathic, homicidal blood-spatter analyst.
5. Carnivale -- A superb blending of aspects from literature to pop culture, blended into intriguing storytelling with great cinematography and extremely artistic production design. Nothing else on TV looks like it.
6. Deadwood -- Has done the impossible: remade the Western genre into something interesting. I hated Westerns until David Milch's creation. The language is Shakespeareanesque; the characters are well defined and (most importantly) extremely interesting.
7. Twin Peaks -- Weird, wonderful, completely "out there" and unapologetic about it. David Lynch creates abstract television with a brushstoke of genius. Just don't ask what it's about. :)
8. Wiseguy -- Totally reinvented the crime drama. Too bad nobody's come close to it since it went off the air. Also, the most (unintentionally) homoerotic series ever on network TV -- and as Martha would say, that's A Good Thing. (tm)
9. 24 -- A great rollarcoaster ride from the first ep of the season to the last.
10. Lost -- After several attempts at recreating The X-Files, somebody's finally succeeded. Eerie and entertaining.
11. Desperate Housewives -- Fun and quirky: two things missing (unfortunately) from most TV series today.
12. Six Feet Under -- Reinvented the "family drama" on television, with the added bonus of throwing in death as a way to explore the lives of its characters.
13. Nip/Tuck -- Has a lot of depth for a show whose main subject matter is so shallow. Character exploration is done as well here as anywhere you'll find on cable or the networks.
14. My Name is Earl -- For me, the sitcom is the low-man on the totum poll of American television. Too often not funny, and sometimes just down-right insulting. So that's why Earl is a welcomed fresh breath amongst a bunch of sitcoms dying for breath mints.
