The Mofo Top 100 Television Shows

Some things can be both TV shows and movies. If they are broadcast/shown in both formats.

100. The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
99. The Larry Sanders Show
98.Dragon Ball Z (10 year old nostalgia rating: +++, current rating:
97.Supernatural
96. NFL Monday Night Football
95. One Piece - read some of the manga, haven't watched it
94. Pride and Prejudice
93. 3rd Rock From the Sun
92. Will & Grace
91. Cowboy Bebop + My List.
90.The Planet Earth
89. The Mighty Boosh
88. The Young Ones
87. Only Fools and Horses
86. Columbo
85. Scrubs
84. That '70s Show really crude stuff.
83. Family Guy Very low level comedy but it's entertaining to me.
81. King of the Hill -tie More sophisticated comedy, feels more fresh compared to the show above.
81. The Colbert Report -tie
80. The Golden Girls
79. Avatar: The Last Airbender
78. Archer Great animated comedy.
77. Prison Break Seem a couple episodes, boring.
76. The Andy Griffith Show
75. Boy Meets World
74. Berlin Alexanderplatz
73. Spaced
72. The Prisoner
71. The Dick Van Dyke Show
70. Curb Your Enthusiasm
69. Northern Exposure
68. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
67. Sons of Anarchy
66. Angel
65. House MD ( for the first seasons)
64. The Rockford Files
63. Quantum Leap
62. I Love Lucy
61. The West Wing (seem only few episodes but they were really great)

I bought Lonesome Dove on DVD because it got great reviews, but I haven't had a chance to watch it yet.

I've never even heard of "Louie".

Ditto that. I like mini series and loved Lonesome Dove. All the actors were just amazing in it. Great sweeping story arches. But I didn't vote for it, I never thought to include mini series on my list.

LONESOME DOVE!!!!!!! I've seen it all the way through at least 10-15 times. So happy it made it this high on the list!

I had this as my #6

Louie is a really funny show, I used to watch it a lot back when Wilfred first premiered on FX. Haven't really watched either lately though

__________________

"Louie" is definitely one of my favorites currently on the air, and by the time he is done with this series it'll likely be near top fifty material. But I didn't vote for it, here. What I did vote for...




"Lonesome Dove" is one of the best Westerns ever made. It just so happens it was done as a television mini-series rather than a feature film. Which is good, because adapting Larry McMurtry's dense, thick novel as an eight-hour series allowed them to include so many of the subplots and myriad of characters that would have been excised out of necessity to make it fit even a three and a half hour feature film. It also contains, perhaps, Robert Duvall's single greatest performance. Which, obviously, is saying an awful lot, given the man's career. Duvall has assessed himself that the moment of the hanging at the river is his own choice for his best on screen moment of acting. The entire epic saga is thrilling, hysterically funny, emotionally compelling, and always Grade-A entertainment. Just remember: They don't rent pigs.

I had "Lonesome Dove" as my number twelve choice, fourteen points, and it is the only mini-series that made my top twenty-five. So yes, I think it is better than "Roots" and "Band of Brothers" and everything else ever made for the medium.





I had "The Rockford Files" as my number one choice. Not only is is the greatest detective/crime series ever, for me it rises to the top of the tops of everything. Stephen J. Cannell subverted the genre that was, at that time, one of the most popular on the airwaves, in a similar way that the Garner-starring "Maverick" had done for TV Westerns two decades before. Jim Garner's Jim Rockford was a reluctant hero, to be sure, a smartass who would rather talk his way out of trouble than throw a punch or pull a trigger, and more likely to perpetrate an elaborate con in order to prove a client's innocence than find a simple clue. And this private dick didn't have a glamorous office while he sipped bourbon with his cheeky secretary, rather he lived in a small, cruddy trailer on the beach, and was often in trouble with one bill collector or another. The Rockford character's practicality, humor, and grouchiness were a great center for the series, and while the genre plots of kidnappings, blackmail, murder, and fraud were sometimes interchangeable by the final couple years of the show, the real secret of "The Rockford Files"' sustained success was its supporting cast. Jim had help/friction/fun/consternation/friendship and always on screen chemistry with some equally terrific series regulars.

Joseph "Rocky" Rockford, played by the wonderful Noah Beery Jr., who had been acting in Hollywood since the 1920s, a beloved character actor from dozens of movies and TV shows, including Red River and Sergeant York, was on hand as Jim's even grouchier and more stubborn father. But he was also his moral compass. Not that he wasn't above breaking a rule or law if it helped a friend, but if he saw Jim stray too far from what seemed honest and decent, you can bet he'd let him know. Let him know in his irascible, passive/aggressive way. And he was usually right. On the other end of the scale, somebody who would absolutely sell out anybody and everybody, including friends or family if there was half a buck in it, was Jim's old cellmate, Angel Martin, played hysterically to the hilt by Stuart Margolin. As often as he would drag Jim into trouble, Rockford would also use him for some of his more unsavory or elaborate cons, even knowing that Angel was weak, greedy, and undependable. But dealing with the kinds of criminals he routinely did on his cases, Angel was a necessary evil to keep around. He was also a delight, on screen, a motor-mouthed weasel . Jim Rockford was always running afoul of authority figures and the actual authorities, but he had one good friend on the Los Angeles Police force, Detective Dennis Becker (Joe Santos). Jim might abuse the friendship from time to time by using Becker's name and resources to run plates and such, but Becker knew Jim was ultimately a decent man and almost always on the right side of things...even if it too often looked to his superiors, the most long-suffering of them being Lt. Chapman (James Luisi), like Rockford was on the hook for any manner of crimes, including murder now and again. But Jim always cleared his name, with the help of his friends, and Becker would usually be the one swooping in to get credit for the bust at the end, so it was a symbiotic friendship. And the final regular who helped Jim out of the trouble he found himself in was his attorney, Beth Davenport (Gretchen Corbett), who was often left in the dark for her own protection, somehow arranging bail for Jim so he could go out and track down the last piece of the puzzle that would either clear him or his client.

Oh, and by the way, it has one of the greatest theme songs ever, too, written by the amazing Mike Post. It is so perfectly of its time, the synthesizer and harmonica with a full orchestra just screaming the 1970s, but for me and I'm sure other fans, it illicits a Pavlovian response of warmth and joy and smiles, hundreds of hours spent happily in the warm glow of the old Zenith. The show is also a wonderful/hideous snapshot of '70s Los Angeles, a cultural artifact of wide collars, earth tones, neon, gold medallions, and sunsets.


Because James Garner is one of the most likeable actors I have ever seen on screen, because that cast of regulars was so damn good as had so much fun interacting with each other, and because the tone was so endlessly fun and funny, "The Rockford Files" is incessantly watchable TV escapism at its finest. I think Jim Rockford is still the coolest sumb!tch there ever was (I have a checkered jacket similar to his, but have not yet ponied up for a vintage Firebird), and I can (and do) pop in an episode or two whenever I need some good vibes and perfect entertainment.



My list, so far...

1. "The Rockford Files" (#64)
4. "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (#70)
7. "The Larry Sanders Show" (#99)
12. "Lonesome Dove" (#60)
14. "The Colbert Report" (#81)
25. "Have Gun, Will Travel" (DNP)


.
.

Attachments

     

__________________
"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Not seen Lonesome Dove and never heard of Louie


Nothing unusual in that Go, I do it all the time too

Great write up, Holden.

__________________
5-time MoFo Award winner.

Again i haven't seen either of them.

Yes, Holden. Very nice write up! It's nice to see some other members that have a special place in their hearts (and their Top 25 list!) for Lonesome Dove.

There have been long-rumored reboots for two of the beloved series I have voted for: Have Gun - Will Travel and The Rockford Files. The first was supposedly being done as a feature, as was done with Maverick in 1994 starring Mel Gibson and featuring Jim Garner, himself. Back around that time, John Travolta was supposedly going to play the iconic Paladin of Have Gun - Will Travel, but it never came to be. Thank goodness! The Gibson reboot of Maverick did alright, box office wise, but the infamous failure, critically and financially, of the Wild Wild West reboot with Will Smith in 1999 likely put the chances of any of the old 1950s TV Westerns getting a big budget remake out to pasture. A couple years ago David Mamet's name was attached in a couple reports to a TV reboot of Have Gun - Will Travel, but that has yet to pass, either.

As for The Rockford Files, it was set for a TV reboot around 2010, with Dermot Mulroney as the new Jim Rockford. "Firefly"'s Alan Tudyk was announced as Dennis Becker, and Beau Bridges as Rocky Rockford. Yet that never came to be, either. More recently, Vince Vaughn has been attached to a potential feature film Rockford Files reboot, but that seems no closer to fruition, either. No clue as to whether it would be done "straight", as a period piece, or more like the Starsky & Hutch with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson where Vaughn played the villain?


As a fan of both properties, I sincerely hope neither is ever remade.

58. Parks and Recreation (2009- )



Theme Song

Quote: We have a couple of house rules, though. You can't use the front door; you have to climb in through the back window. No personal phone conversations. If you ever speak to me in Spanish, please use the formal "usted." And no electricity after 6:00 PM. A couple more rules: if you ever watch a sad movie, you have to wear mascara so we can see whether or not you've been crying. There's no noise allowed on Mondays. And no TV after breakfast. ~ April


A mockumentary style sitcom about a bureaucrat in the Parks department and her staff.

After receiving mixed reviews the first season, changes in the format and tone were made and it became more of a success with the critics.

Origin: The idea for the show came from the lifeguard staff of El Segundo, CA. They are apart of the parks and recreation dept. there. It had originally been conceived as an Office spin-off.

Characters: The role of April was created specifically for Aubrey Plaza. Donna was originally a background character but got upgraded.

Points: 65

Placements: 1 25th, 1 20th, 2 16th, 1 14th, 1 17th, 1 9th

57. M*A*S*H (1972-1983)



Theme Song

Quote: It's the way these yellow devils think. It's burned into their brains. Kill Americans, kill, kill. They don't respect human life the way we do. I'd like to take him out and shoot him. ~ Frank Burns

A sitcom equal parts comedy and drama based on the 1970 film of the same name. It's setting is the Korean War and ran longer than the actual war lasted.

Many episodes in the early season were based on interviews of actual MASH surgeons.

Poignant episodes: There were many episodes where even the most stoic person would have trouble keeping a dry eye, but two episodes in particular had people reaching for the tissues. The episode Abyssinia, Henry had M*A*S*H commander Henry Blake being sent home for good only to have his plane shot down.

The series finale was a heart breaker from start to finish but BJ's Goodbye message to Hawkeye was especially poignant.

Changes: Many characters came and went in the eleven seasons that M*A*S*H ran and the style changed somewhat through the years. Many fans preferred Trapper John as Frick to Hawkeye's Frack while others preferred the more serious BJ Hunnicut. However, the show remained popular with high ratings and still holds the title of having the most watched series finale in tv history.

Spin-offs: Trapper John M.D After M*A*S*H and a pilot W*A*L*T*E*R was shown but never picked up.

Points: 67

Placements: 1 17th, 1 16th, 1 18th, 1 9th, 1 22nd, 1 19th, 1 14th

Not seen Parks and Rec but I absolutely love M*A*S*H*. I had it at #13 I think. And to be honest I'm shocked it's came in so low. That's one of the most iconic shows of all time. I'd have bet anything that would be at least top 50.


Also when I was talking about Angel a few days ago I forgot to say how sad I was when Andy Hallett (who played Lorne) passed away a few years ago. Such a shame

__________________

I had M*A*S*H at #17 and I also thought it would place much higher.

Man, I thought the 70s were bad as far as the seen/not seen and voted for/didn't vote for ratios. This is way worse.

I haven't seen Parks and Rec. I've seen bits and pieces of MASH and have had no desire to watch more.

__________________

MASH is a show I wish I have seen more of. I have liked the few episodes I have seen.

Parks And Rec is great. Not Office or Seinfeld great, but great. I wouldn't say I love it but Godoggo probably does.

__________________
Letterboxd

I've only seen a few episodes of M*A*S*H. At the time it was on, I wasn't interested, and I never sought out the reruns. I'm pretty sure I'd like it now, and I think it would be hard to find another television show list on the Internet in which this show places lower.

Never saw Parks and Recreation.

I absolutely love Parks and Rec. and this is another one I'm kicking myself for not including on my list. Nick Offerman's character, Ron Swanson, is the greatest character ever written. A man to model yourself after.