Your All Time Favorite TV Series?

[sunvalleylaw]

^^ Flying Circus was scripted. Granted there's room for improvisation in sketch comedy, but still, much of what we saw was scripted material. Still hilarious though.

As for mine...

Favorite animated series: The Simpsons (seasons 1-9), Futurama, Archer

Favorite non-animated series: The Wire, Northern Exposure, Freaks & Geeks

True, the sketches were scripted. But I guess I meant more to say a full episode scripted as one piece, rather than a collection of skits or sketches.

I love me some Star Trek too. Both series, but I enjoyed the campiness of the first series, and how they posed issues of the day in alien worlds. And the green ladies.

For animated, The Simpsons was amazing. I would submit that the original Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show was great too. And I wanted to list the original Peanuts shows, when Guaraldi was still alive and before Hallmark really changed Peanuts in the 70s. Those old shows were good stuff.

[R_of_G]

True, the sketches were scripted. But I guess I meant more to say a full episode scripted as one piece, rather than a collection of skits or sketches.

Again though, I'd contend most of the classic episodes of Flying Circus meet that standard as well. The Pythons were able to craft shows where the bits would flow into the next, sometimes as a result of a running joke, sometimes a thematic link to the whole episode, etc. It stood in contrast to shows like SNL which were more the collection of skits you describe. I didn't see another sketch show that did that until Mr. Show (a must-see for David Cross fans.)

I would submit that the original Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show was great too.

The music in those Looney Tunes classics is fantastic as well, much of it the work of the great Carl Stalling. Stalling was a huge influece on John Zorn's Naked City project, one of my favorite bands.

Also, Eric, good call on Arrested Development. That show was able to achieve new frontiers with the running joke concept, one of the many things about Archer which make me think of Arrested Development.

Two more of my favorites, Curb Your Enthusiasm and It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Both are done an injustice by just calling them funny.

[Eric***]

Also, Eric, good call on Arrested Development. That show was able to achieve new frontiers with the running joke concept, one of the many things about Archer which make me think of Arrested Development.

I love the Ann jokes in Arrested Development.

"It's as ann as the nose on Plain's face!"

[tunghaichuan***]

Good call on Arrested Development, great show. I never missed an episode.

I also really liked The X Files and Millennium.

Bugs Bunny is my all-time favorite animated character.

In terms of new shows, I've been catching up on Star Wars: Clone Wars. The new CGI animated series. The first two seasons are out on DVD now and the third season is now currently showing on the Cartoon Network, IIRC. The acting is way less wooden than the first three of the new Star Wars movies.

[R_of_G]

I love the Ann jokes in Arrested Development.

"It's as ann as the nose on Plain's face!"

"Her?"

Those writers excelled at using the same punchline for different jokes.