Here is my list of my all time favorite TV shows, in no particular order. These are the shows
that I could watch at anytime. I'll try to keep it fun by telling you what I didn't like about
them and their characters, some great lines from the shows, maybe some interesting things you
didn't know, and more - anything but just the usual top ten list.
1. The Rockford Files
Cool theme song. Cool car (gold Firebird, which crashed innumerable times). Great cast with
Rocky, Angel & others. Cool trailer on Malibu beach with a handy bar for rendezvous and drops,
etc. Great cases, mostlly believable. Lots of good guest stars, like Lyndsey Wagner at her most
beautiful. I've said all this without even mentioning the lead: James Garner, the consummate cool
actor.
Gimmicks and or quirks, etc.:
Now-dated answering machine from which we hear something amusing before the theme song kicks in.
James Garner's brother Jack in cameo roles as, often, a bailiff, a bartender and the like.
Great line:
Angel: "Just do (kill) Jimmy, and I'll spread the word (tell what might happen to others should
they doublecross these thugs like Jimmy did)."
2. Gunsmoke
What a great cast, with Matt, Doc, Kitty, Chester, Festus, Sam and others. This show began as
thirty minutes but was expanded to an hour. Some of the early shows were tightly scripted and
regular works of art. Ran twenty years (1955-75).
Gimmicks and or quirks, etc.:
Early on, old Doc was often drunk as a skunk, but he sobered up as the years passed. The Bull's
Head saloon as a rougher alternative to Miss Kitty's Longbranch. The house near the pond, which
was often used in scenes set out of town.
Great line:
"Becasue we're gonna bushwhack em," as said by a very early and very un-Matt Matt, to Chester,
when Chester asked him why they were hiding out in a cabin with some thugs nearby.
3. The Andy Griffith Show
This show has always been very therapeutic for me to watch... just something about it I can't
put my finger on; let's just say that if it's an episode I've already seen, I don't care, I'll
watch it again, because I just want to be in Mayberry, and it doesn't matter to me what they're
doing there.
Gimmicks and or quirks, etc.:
Drunk Otis having access to the keys as he's locked up weekly for being lit up. Andy being a lot
more "countrified" in the earlier episodes, his pants sometimes stuck clumsilly down his nerdy
boots. Barber Floyd being nearly mad... as in crazy. Goober saying "Yo." Gomer saying "Tell
'em Gomer says hey." Very fake downtown Mayberry drawn as background mural outside the courthouse
door. Different love interests for Andy: Elinor Donahue, Joanne Moore (Tatum O'Neal's mom), Julie
Adams, Anita Whatever who played Helen for a long run. (I was more of a Thelma Lou fan; she
looked remarkably like Olivia De Havilland.)
Memorable lines:
Goober: "Judy, Judy, Judy."
Gomer: "Shazam!"
4. M*A*S*H
Great ensemble cast. We've all seen it, so let me just blurb about the characters:
Hawkeye: Great except for when there was too much Hawkeye, like when he was trying to stay awake
by babbling to this Korean family unfortunate enough to be housing him. Don't get me wrong - I
love the role.
Trapper:
Annoying to me, a bit too precious with the raised eyebrows and shoulder shrugs.
B.J.:
Better before he got the mustache, after which, he seemd to have a chip on his shoulder as
if unsure of his manhood should anyone get beneath the cheese of the mustache.
Klinger:
Better before he became "Christianized" - I think you know what I mean if you've watched; just a
tad too nice, a bit too eager to please.
Hot Lips:
I surrender. Lead me to Margaret in her tight sweater and tight britches, especially when her
hair was parted in the middle, and before she got too thin and lost most of the Hot Lipsishness.
There is, however, a nasty scene with her, when she and Charles were eating some canned bird and
they became sick because of it - her teeth were quite yellow and she looked kind of gross gorging
herself on it.
Father Mulcahey:
The excitement level dropped a foot when he was given a line. Sorry.
Charles E. Winchester:
Great role; very noble at times... but justy barely, as when he admitted some general molested
Hot Lips and not the other way around.
Radar:
The Zen and Taoist center of the cast, always trying to hide his poor deformed left hand, often
behind a clipboard, as if any of us would think anything of it. (Pat Hingle, who guested as
General Daniel Webster Tucker, was missing a pinky and didn't try to hide it.)
Henry Blake:
Laugh riot; could have cried when he was killed off.
Colonel Sherman T. Potter:
One of the most annoying roles ever, one of those old grumps who thinks he's a natural treasure
and that people want him to be regurgitating arid cliches. Pretty much played the same dumb role
in Dragnet (see below).
5. Alias Smith & Jones
Great show because of the charming leads, Pete Duel & Ben Murphy. Pete, who committed suicide
during the run of the show, was replaced by Roger Davis, who did the original narration of the
lead-in theme. Mr. Davis wasn't nearly as likeable as Mr. Duel, though he was adequate in the
role. There were some great guests, like Burl Ives, and some beauties like Michelle Lee, Claudine
Longet, Susan Strasberg & Sally Fields. The show is said to be a takeoff on the popularity of the
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid film.
Gimmicks and or quirks, etc.:
The promise of amnesty for their crimes always being just on the horizon but somehow always
beyond reach; the recurring Devil's Hole gang.
6. Law & Order
We all know this show that has run for years and has the most twisting and interesting plots, so
let's get down to the good stuff: the rating of the female ADAs as to their attractiveness. (The
list below shows the best as being #1.)
1. Angie Harmon - that voice, the withering looks with which she could emasculate any male perp,
her model looks, & heck, she comes from Texas!
2. Carey Lowell - the word adorable was created for this fresh-faced, earnest Bond girl; if she's
good enough for Richard Gere, she's good enough for you.
3. Jill Hennessey - another model-quality gal with a husky voice, the exqusite bobbed hair; oh,
how brutally they killed her off!
4. Annie Parisse - maybe the most beautiful of all, but her run seemed brief to me; related by
marriage to Sam Waterston in real life, I believe; another of them killed off, she choking on her
own vomit.
5. Alana de la Garza - haven't seen that much of this girl, but she's a stunner with sculpted
features.
6. Elisabeth Rhm - oh, dear, this girl was nice and pretty enough but, whereas she was
attractive, the other girls mentioned above were absolutely magnetic; it's probably the blond
hair, and she looks to me pretty much like every other blond.
7. Dragnet
This cop show was so earnest and corny, it was wonderful, and I couldn't take my eyes off it. I
only had much exposure to the later (reborn) color issue of it beginning in the sixties. I think
producer and star Jack Webb was trying to do the LAPD a big favor with this show, back in that
crazy era, in trying to show that cops weren't so bad; but it was often pretty heavy-handed
stuff, with the hippies being pretty much evil and the bad cop being as rare as platinum. Lots of
that I could watch at anytime. I'll try to keep it fun by telling you what I didn't like about
them and their characters, some great lines from the shows, maybe some interesting things you
didn't know, and more - anything but just the usual top ten list.
1. The Rockford Files
Cool theme song. Cool car (gold Firebird, which crashed innumerable times). Great cast with
Rocky, Angel & others. Cool trailer on Malibu beach with a handy bar for rendezvous and drops,
etc. Great cases, mostlly believable. Lots of good guest stars, like Lyndsey Wagner at her most
beautiful. I've said all this without even mentioning the lead: James Garner, the consummate cool
actor.
Gimmicks and or quirks, etc.:
Now-dated answering machine from which we hear something amusing before the theme song kicks in.
James Garner's brother Jack in cameo roles as, often, a bailiff, a bartender and the like.
Great line:
Angel: "Just do (kill) Jimmy, and I'll spread the word (tell what might happen to others should
they doublecross these thugs like Jimmy did)."
2. Gunsmoke
What a great cast, with Matt, Doc, Kitty, Chester, Festus, Sam and others. This show began as
thirty minutes but was expanded to an hour. Some of the early shows were tightly scripted and
regular works of art. Ran twenty years (1955-75).
Gimmicks and or quirks, etc.:
Early on, old Doc was often drunk as a skunk, but he sobered up as the years passed. The Bull's
Head saloon as a rougher alternative to Miss Kitty's Longbranch. The house near the pond, which
was often used in scenes set out of town.
Great line:
"Becasue we're gonna bushwhack em," as said by a very early and very un-Matt Matt, to Chester,
when Chester asked him why they were hiding out in a cabin with some thugs nearby.
3. The Andy Griffith Show
This show has always been very therapeutic for me to watch... just something about it I can't
put my finger on; let's just say that if it's an episode I've already seen, I don't care, I'll
watch it again, because I just want to be in Mayberry, and it doesn't matter to me what they're
doing there.
Gimmicks and or quirks, etc.:
Drunk Otis having access to the keys as he's locked up weekly for being lit up. Andy being a lot
more "countrified" in the earlier episodes, his pants sometimes stuck clumsilly down his nerdy
boots. Barber Floyd being nearly mad... as in crazy. Goober saying "Yo." Gomer saying "Tell
'em Gomer says hey." Very fake downtown Mayberry drawn as background mural outside the courthouse
door. Different love interests for Andy: Elinor Donahue, Joanne Moore (Tatum O'Neal's mom), Julie
Adams, Anita Whatever who played Helen for a long run. (I was more of a Thelma Lou fan; she
looked remarkably like Olivia De Havilland.)
Memorable lines:
Goober: "Judy, Judy, Judy."
Gomer: "Shazam!"
4. M*A*S*H
Great ensemble cast. We've all seen it, so let me just blurb about the characters:
Hawkeye: Great except for when there was too much Hawkeye, like when he was trying to stay awake
by babbling to this Korean family unfortunate enough to be housing him. Don't get me wrong - I
love the role.
Trapper:
Annoying to me, a bit too precious with the raised eyebrows and shoulder shrugs.
B.J.:
Better before he got the mustache, after which, he seemd to have a chip on his shoulder as
if unsure of his manhood should anyone get beneath the cheese of the mustache.
Klinger:
Better before he became "Christianized" - I think you know what I mean if you've watched; just a
tad too nice, a bit too eager to please.
Hot Lips:
I surrender. Lead me to Margaret in her tight sweater and tight britches, especially when her
hair was parted in the middle, and before she got too thin and lost most of the Hot Lipsishness.
There is, however, a nasty scene with her, when she and Charles were eating some canned bird and
they became sick because of it - her teeth were quite yellow and she looked kind of gross gorging
herself on it.
Father Mulcahey:
The excitement level dropped a foot when he was given a line. Sorry.
Charles E. Winchester:
Great role; very noble at times... but justy barely, as when he admitted some general molested
Hot Lips and not the other way around.
Radar:
The Zen and Taoist center of the cast, always trying to hide his poor deformed left hand, often
behind a clipboard, as if any of us would think anything of it. (Pat Hingle, who guested as
General Daniel Webster Tucker, was missing a pinky and didn't try to hide it.)
Henry Blake:
Laugh riot; could have cried when he was killed off.
Colonel Sherman T. Potter:
One of the most annoying roles ever, one of those old grumps who thinks he's a natural treasure
and that people want him to be regurgitating arid cliches. Pretty much played the same dumb role
in Dragnet (see below).
5. Alias Smith & Jones
Great show because of the charming leads, Pete Duel & Ben Murphy. Pete, who committed suicide
during the run of the show, was replaced by Roger Davis, who did the original narration of the
lead-in theme. Mr. Davis wasn't nearly as likeable as Mr. Duel, though he was adequate in the
role. There were some great guests, like Burl Ives, and some beauties like Michelle Lee, Claudine
Longet, Susan Strasberg & Sally Fields. The show is said to be a takeoff on the popularity of the
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid film.
Gimmicks and or quirks, etc.:
The promise of amnesty for their crimes always being just on the horizon but somehow always
beyond reach; the recurring Devil's Hole gang.
6. Law & Order
We all know this show that has run for years and has the most twisting and interesting plots, so
let's get down to the good stuff: the rating of the female ADAs as to their attractiveness. (The
list below shows the best as being #1.)
1. Angie Harmon - that voice, the withering looks with which she could emasculate any male perp,
her model looks, & heck, she comes from Texas!
2. Carey Lowell - the word adorable was created for this fresh-faced, earnest Bond girl; if she's
good enough for Richard Gere, she's good enough for you.
3. Jill Hennessey - another model-quality gal with a husky voice, the exqusite bobbed hair; oh,
how brutally they killed her off!
4. Annie Parisse - maybe the most beautiful of all, but her run seemed brief to me; related by
marriage to Sam Waterston in real life, I believe; another of them killed off, she choking on her
own vomit.
5. Alana de la Garza - haven't seen that much of this girl, but she's a stunner with sculpted
features.
6. Elisabeth Rhm - oh, dear, this girl was nice and pretty enough but, whereas she was
attractive, the other girls mentioned above were absolutely magnetic; it's probably the blond
hair, and she looks to me pretty much like every other blond.
7. Dragnet
This cop show was so earnest and corny, it was wonderful, and I couldn't take my eyes off it. I
only had much exposure to the later (reborn) color issue of it beginning in the sixties. I think
producer and star Jack Webb was trying to do the LAPD a big favor with this show, back in that
crazy era, in trying to show that cops weren't so bad; but it was often pretty heavy-handed
stuff, with the hippies being pretty much evil and the bad cop being as rare as platinum. Lots of
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