Mindy Project was on fox but still counts as an nbc comedy to me. Same with Brooklyn 99 if that pops up in the top four.

I would have counted B99 as NBC comedy (it ended up there at the end) but isn’t on the list, there is an NBC comedy on the way though.

Top 5 split (no order): NBC/ABC/WB/HBO/Sci-Fi
3/5 cool (not surprising to see in any top 10), 2/5 uncool (more likely in teenage girl’s top 10)

I looked it up and WOKJ once had a 26 page thread for this show with BKB as one of the biggest fans. So I will format the write up in his honour:



5. Battlestar Galactica (Sci-Fi)

The PORTLANDIA skit was accurate for me, this was my favorite binge watch of all time as I spent a week watching a 9 or 10 episodes a day.. I always thought THE WALKING DEAD had similarities in that they’re both facing the never stopping existential threat of the zombies and Cylons and the emotional impact that has on them, but I think BSG had more plot and mythology directions to work with, also with a civilization running in space they could explore more functional sociological themes. The characters and their personal dramas are all likeable with Starbuck and the older Adama as my favorite, and the score is one of my favorites of all time.. I could be buried to “Admiral and Commander”. My favorite space show hands down because I’m a bigger fan of serialized long term storytelling than adventure of the week and most sci-fi falls into the latter.. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA was really the perfect balance of taking the former approach but with the sci-fi setting and I couldn’t ask for more than how they pulled it off.

4. Six Feet Under (HBO)

This is one of the few shows I’ve seen front to back twice and I’m due for a third because I feel like this is the perfect show to revisit at different points in your life. I feel the “six feet under” title has double meaning of referring to parts of characters psychology that is buried underneath the surface, there is a lot going on in the relationships between characters and things they aren’t always saying to each other, and despite how much you like the characters the more you think of it the more you start to realize they had some major flaws that affected their relationship with family members or partners. The dialog is outstanding with the sense of humor playing a key role preventing the show from descending into too much heaviness. Despite the plot just being a family running a funeral home, I was always engaged in the ongoing journeys the characters had as they grew up and changed. While I lean towards spectacular genre shows for a lot of my picks, for shows that are about normal life this is about as good as it gets.

3. One Tree Hill (The WB)

This was my favorite as a teenager and then I talked myself out of my teenager taste for a while, then later on I realized, actually I think my taste in movies/music/tv by the time I was 15 or 16 was pretty solid already. I also rewatched a some episodes a few years ago and came away impressed by the quality of writing, directing, I noted at the time that it cares about the body language characters have when someone is talking to them and what it's saying about them emotionally, etc. It’s easy to say this about the GOAT but this is the type of teen soap I’d love to see the zoomers have their version of, more serious/emotional than the quippy party ones, going all in on the romance plots and triangles including parent relationships, and an epic villain in Dan. I realized in my 20s I had a narcissistic dad I have resentment towards, when I first watched this show I had no idea about any of that, but it must have played a part in connecting to its storyline. Somehow in those days they could found enough to do just based on relationship drama in a small town to have 20 episode+ seasons, compared to having to chase around serial killers and evil dungeons and dragons games like Riverdale or go treasure hunting like Outer Banks. The purity of that teen soap storytelling makes it great.

2. Community (NBC)

By far the most creative comedy I’ve seen, with a key being having affection for the pop culture subjects it was parodying instead of crapping on them. It never goes so far off the rails that it loses its focus on being funny. But it wouldn’t work without a level of heart and that all these characters feel like they failed in some way in their first try at life to be back at school and are getting a second chance with these new friends. The Jeff role could have gone badly but I think McHale played the balance perfectly of just enough douchiness but not enough to make you dislike him, and Annie’s uptight mannerism also played off the rest of the characters perfectly (also, much like the trio of females in OTH, it didn’t hurt her and Britta were huge babes). Abed of course is an all time classic and some others like Pierce, Troy and the Dean also great. This show is riddled with classic episodes and lines - a comedy for the ages! It was my favorite show to date for a few years before getting bumped by #1.

4 and 3 definitely stunning choices. I was expecting Community to be #1.

Six Feet Under felt like a chalk style top 10 pick to me rather than my weirdo picks at #1 and #3, but I guess it’s gotten a little overlooked over the years compared to other shows in HBO’s 2000s run like The Wire and The Sopranos.

Sad I only get to do one more entry as this was fun and not sure if it’s possible to do any other tv list in a few years unless it was lists ten shows long. At least I have some music ones in me like best of 90s.

1) Why didn't you do your 90s list when I did mine?

2) I was gonna do a top ten lists of five different genres of tv but I dunno, feels kinda cheap

3) Six Feet Under has 100% definitely been forgotten about. I remember Mena Suvari as a lesbian but that is about it. Not sure how many episodes in total I watched.

1. Once Upon A Time (ABC)

I remember checking this out cause I heard it was made by Lost writers, and it was a “favorite show at first sight” situation from the first episode on. It took a lot of the strengths of that show’s style but focused more on the characters I feel and got less distracted by the mystery box. Even with one of the most creative serialized plots I’ve seen spanning multiple centuries of timeline and universes, I feel it kept its characters emotional arcs at the centre. I always loved the flashback format as seen by my high picks of Lost and This Is Us, exploring what choices do you make that determine your path and change you, and the editing between the present scenes and the short story of the flashback was a highly entertaining way to structure episodes to me. This also made it great at villains often with the family connections who you could see how they became broken and went the wrong directions, and of course the best characters in the show going back and forth from hero and villain like Regina and Rumplestiltskin, as a wrestling fan as a kid something about me must always pop for shows where characters turn face and heel. Emma is one of my favorite leads ever in a role where she could have gotten overshadowed, something about her internal emotion with her backstory was perfect for this role. Likewise Snow could have been a weaker role, but she played off characters like Emma and Regina so beautifully, and Captain Hook was a great charming male lead with demons. There is something about the writing when characters are confronting or talking to each other (also I think partly introduced in Lost) that I find incredibly appealing. While not the biggest comedy on the list I think the humor is still there in the dialog with a lot of one liners that make it more entertaining. One small thing I also want to shout out is how much I love the costume design, I believe they even did a great job with the contemporary looks. I dream of a day this is recognized as a great show but it’s doomed by simply being uncool as it gets on paper and being the most unlikely great show, 99% of the time a network drama with Disney property tie-ins is just a shitty cash in. I feel like some people are just not going to try to watch a show with Snow White and fairies and stuff in it as emotionally rich character drama like the way I watch it, but there was a few out there like me I found on blogs back in the day who were in the camp. Maybe one day.

Thank you for the people following and comments!

Full list

I watched a few episodes and liked the main girl (I think she was from How I Met Your Mother?) but could never get into it. Just stop pussing around and adapt Fables.

Have you tried Yellowjackets? Seems like it'd be right up your alley. The live action One Piece too.

I saw half a season of Yellowjackets but the modern day scenes weren’t doing it for me, I feel like Showtime has a certain “type” of show (halfway between prestige and trashy?) that’s rarely bad but not great either and lasts too long/go downhill. They deliver on Dexter though.

There’s a reason Netflix isn’t on my list since they’re on an improbable losing streak quality wise for me, but usually make stuff that sounds good on paper like One Piece adaptation does so I might check it out anyway.

I do recall you were OUAT's No.1 fan here on KJ.

I also enjoyed it in the early seasons (it truly was great) but lost interest maybe after Season 4 or 5. Good pick to top your list.