The definitive list (Top Ten TV Programmes... Ever!)

Member Name: ben_83

Product:	Top Ten TV Programmes... Ever!
Date:	02/12/01 (391 review reads)
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It was tough but I have managed to compile a list of my ten favourite television programmes of all time. It's mostly comedy and the upper echelons are mostly American but could it be any other way?

In reverse order, my choices are:


10. 'Spaced' (1999-, Channel 4/E4/Paramount Comedy)
What's this? A new British sitcom that's fresh, original and, most of all, funny? Surely not. 'Spaced' is the brainchild of 'Big Train's Simon Pegg and 'The Royal Family's Jessica Stevenson and follows the rather surreal lives of two twenty-something flatmates, Tim and Daisy (played by the creators) and their group of weird friends. Amongst these are Mike (Nick Frost), the gun-crazed ex-Territorial Army soldier who once stole a tank and tried to invade Paris, Brian (Mark Heap), the eccentric artist and Marsha (Julia Deakin), the alcoholic landlady. It's cool but not overly so and, if it can keep up the standard, will be remembered as one of the greats.

9. 'Futurama' (1999-, Channel 4/Sky One)
Alas, it will always be overshadowed by Matt Groening's previous creation, 'The Simpsons', but 'Futurama' is an excellent cartoon in its own right. It follows the life of Fry, a pizza delivery boy from 1999 who is accidentally cryogenically frozen and wakes up in the year 3000. Cue lots of sci-fi parodies and geek in-jokes. Bender, the hard-livin' robot, is a genius creation.

8. 'Light Lunch' (1997-1998, Channel 4)
Not many people will remember this but it was the diamond in the cowpat that is daytime television in the mid-nineties. A chat and cookery show featuring mostly B-list guests and the usual 'Ready Steady Cook' suspects, the show transcended its rather lame concept with some absolutely hilarious (and occasionally rather edgy for its timeslot) comedy from co-hosts Mel Gedroiyc and Sue Perkins. Full of running jokes and followed by a small but de
dicated fanbase, 'Light Lunch' was a rare daytime delight that kept me sane while I was suffering a long-term illness and missing a lot of school.

7. 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?' (1988-1997, Channel 4/Paramount Comedy)
It's run its natural course now but, when it was on, 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?' could produce some golden comic moments. It was a simple concept: Clive Anderson (or Drew Carey in the inferior American version) gives four comedians a game to play that involves some kind of improvised comedy. I don't know whether it was rehearsed or how heavily it was edited but Ryan Stiles, Colin Mockery and Greg Prupes on form were sheer magic.

6. 'Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends'/'When Louis Met...' (1997-, BBC2/BBC Choice/UK Horizons)
'Weird Weekends' sees Louis Theroux examining the underbelly of American culture (including wrestling, mail order brides and self-help gurus) while 'When Louis Met...' is him following what might be termed over-the-hill celebrities for a few weeks and finding out what makes them tick (the Jimmy Saville show was particularly revealing). The beauty of the programmes is Louis Theroux's admirable ability to appear totally unassuming and sometimes even rather dim to his interviewees therefore lulling them into a false sense of security and loosening their tongue. What's more, his subjects are, without exception, fascinating.

5. 'Major League Baseball' (1995-, Channel 5)
A rather minority choice I'm sure you'll agree but, for a British baseball fan like myself, Channel 5's late-night coverage is absolutely essential. Although the departure of cult figure Todd Macklin was a huge blow to the coverage, Jonathan Gould is always excellent (probably the best host of a sports show on British television) and Brett Barash, the Toddmeister's replacement, is gradually getting better. With two live games a week provided
by ESPN, America's answer to Sky Sports, featuring commentary from the outstanding Jon Miller, Gary Thorne and Chris Berman and analysis from the equally outstanding Joe Morgan and Rick Sutcliffe, who cares if the set is cheap and the Mets are useless?

4. 'Father Ted' (1995-1998, Channel 4/E4/Paramount Comedy)
Undoubtedly the best non-American, English language sitcom of the nineties and one of, if not the, best non-American, English language sitcoms ever, 'Father Ted' follows the lives of three Catholic priests and their housekeeper. For various reasons, they have (like 'the old glow-in-the-dark') been dumped on Craggy Island, a Godforsaken rock off the west coast of Ireland. The comedy is surreal at times but writers Arthur Matthews and Graham Linehan balance this out with material that will appeal to the less discerning viewer too. While Fathers Dougal (Ardal O'Hanlan) and Jack (Frank Kelly) get the most attention, the character of Ted (the late Dermot Morgan) is the deepest and is what makes the show what it is.

3. 'The Simpsons' (1989-, BBC2/Sky One)
Who doesn't love this? The exploits of the Simpson family and the ever-growing ensemble cast have made their way into nineties television folklore and rightly so. However much we might want to deny it, I think the reason for the success of 'The Simpsons' is that we all recognise something of ourselves in the characters. Unfortunately, the standard of material has dropped off in recent seasons due to the writers' increasing use of obscure and unnecessarily surreal humour and this is why the show has been relegated to third in my list.

2. 'Seinfeld' (1989-1998, BBC2/Paramount Comedy)
The best traditional situation comedy ever. Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld's masterpiece is a triumph of television comedy and something that everyone should savour, no matter how hard it is to track down. The fact that it's se
t in New York City and follows the lives of a group of thirty-somethings might sound dreadfully derivative but the reality is about as far removed from this as possible. The characters are wonderfully flawed and performed with aplomb without exception, the show never descends into sappy sentimentalism as so many sitcoms do and, most importantly, the writing is superlative. Only just pipped by 'The Larry Sanders Show' on account of 'Seinfeld's occasional inconsistency.

1. 'The Larry Sanders Show' (1992-1997, BBC2/Play UK)
Like 'Seinfeld', 'The Larry Sanders Show' was treated appallingly by the BBC who are so amazingly oblivious of when they have a hit on their hands they put both shows on around midnight in the middle of the week and then proceeded to move them around regularly without any warning. Once you finally track 'The Larry Sanders Show' down, however, you are in for a televisual treat. The programme follows the production of a 'The Tonight Show'-style late-night comedy and chat show hosted by the eponymous Larry Sanders.

The main three characters are wonderfully balanced: the insecure Larry (Garry Shandling); the hard-bitten producer Artie (Rip Torn); and the imbecilic sidekick Hank (Jeffrey Tambor). The ensemble cast, including Larry's personal assistant Beverly (Penny Johnson), the head writer Phil (Wallace Langham) and Brian (Scott Thompson), Hank's gay PA, is also excellent.

Every acting performance is superlative but the three leads must come in for particular credit, as must the writers for exploiting the characters to their full potential. It must also be noted that the regular celebrities that appeared as guests on Larry's show performed to a consistently high standard too, in particular David Duchovny (whose storyline involved having an implied crush on Larry) and Jim Carrey (who made a standout appearance in the very last episode).

The docume
ntary-style camera work (subsequently copied by British programmes such as 'This Life' and 'The Cops') and lack of canned laughter gives the whole show a fresh feeling and, more importantly, a sense of reality that adds to the already strong feeling that the goings on in the show must happen in real life. This theory is given credence by the knowledge that Shandling used to stand in for Jay Leno occasionally on 'The Tonight Show'.

Please BBC, for those of us who can't relive the genius of 'The Larry Sanders Show' on Play UK, repeat it in full at a reasonable time slot.

In a time where home-grown comedy is so utterly, utterly dreadful ('My Family' anyone? Or perhaps a few episodes of 'Coupling'?), you'd think they wouldn't be able to repeat something of this quality quick enough.

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