The Sunday Memory Drawer - My Top 25 Favorite TV Shows of All Time

Yours truly in a post years ago.   In my favorite spot.  Watching television.  

As I did last Sunday with my Top 25 Favorite Movies of All Time, I am going to list for you my Top 25 Favorite TV Shows of All Time.  These are countdowns that I originally included on this blog back in 2008.  You've been asking to see the list again.  Well, your wish is my command.

Here come the TV shows in ascending order.  And, let's see just how many times I reference the TV show in connection with my grandmother, who was my main television viewing companion for much of my youth.

25.  Ironside

And here comes Grandma already.  Thursday nights at 830PM were appointment TV for us as Raymond Burr climbed into his wheelchair and made all right with the world.  Truth be told, my hormones were starting to kick in.  It wasn't just the weekly mystery that drew me in.  Does anybody remember Ironside's assistant, Eve, as played by Barbara Anderson?  Yeah, baby. 

24.  The Mike Douglas Show

Nobody provided more background noise for my junior high school homework than Mike Douglas.  He was part of the daily routine.  I'd come home from school, have a Ring Ding with some milk, and then crack the textbooks open so I'd have all the homework done before dinner and my prime time TV viewing hours would be education-free.  Back in those days, both my parents were working nights.  So, these hours were spent with my grandparents.  And Mike was a favorite of my grandmother.  Her like-o-meter for the show always depended solely on who the week's co-host was.  Pearl Bailey?  Grandma loved her and paid more attention to the show.  Tony Bennett?  "Ooh, I hate that big nose.  I'm gonna put dinner on the stove."

23.  Peyton Place

During the same years I referenced above, Peyton Place became a big hit as a rare nighttime soap opera.  This is a show that should have come with some parental guidance.  Yeah, well, mine were out of the house.  And Grandma didn't seem to have a problem exposing me to all this adultery, unwanted pregnancies, and murder.  We loved it and, at least once a show, one of us would utter the infamous words about Betty Anderson.  "Oh, she's such a tramp."

22.  The Hollywood Squares

I only got to enjoy the daytime version of the NBC game show during the summer.  But, again, who was I watching with?  You guessed it.  She was partial to Charlie Weaver and Wally Cox.  I, however, had fallen solidly into my Paul Lynde manic phase.  I imitated him.  I sent him fan mail and got an autographed photo back.  I even started to wear those patterned Qiana shirts to school.  Thank God I grew out of this before I channeled him...ahem...completely.

21.  Bracken's World

My Barbara Anderson fetish was only the opening act for me when it came to drooling over some chicks on television.  This show, a fictional look at what really was 20th Century Fox, had a hat trick of women that melted my butter.   The studio starlets were played by Linda Harrison, Laraine Stephens, and Karen Jansen.  I watched this one by myself with the bedroom door closed.  Meanwhile, this vastly under-rated program gave me my first intriguing snapshot of Hollywood at work.  Little did I know that, one day, I would live around the corner from the very studio in the show.  Sadly, I do not live around the corner from either Linda, Laraine, or Karen.

20.  What's My Line?

On summer Sunday nights, my bedtime hours were relaxed considerably.  And this long-running game show became part of a family tradition.  We would come home from whatever family friend or relative we had visited that day and pop on CBS for some Candid Camera and this captivating panel show.  What always intrigued me about What's My Line was the fact that it was live. Plus you'd know what was the hot thing happening or opening in New York City that week.  The plays, the movies, the premieres.  Folks like Arlene Francis, Dorothy Kilgallen, and Bennett Cerf were cafe society and a world I could only imagine.  In the last ten years, the Game Show Network reran the entire series from the early 50s to its final show in 1967.  Watching it again, I discovered that What's My Line was a terrific time capsule of a TV era that was much more innocent...and infinitely more entertaining.

19.  The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

Regular readers know that I have previously discussed this show and its place in my youth.  I got to stay up and watch it every Friday night.  I copied Johnny's comedy bits and entertained my neighborhood.  I would go downtown with my buddy Leo to see tapings of the show when it was produced at NBC Studios in New York.  And, as the years and I dragged on, it would be the ideal way for me to prepare for my next day of work.  There will never ever be a late night show like it.  Organic, spontaneous, and, oddly enough, educational.  When Johnny retired, I vowed never to watch these late night talk shows ever again.  And, except for some isolated moments, I have remained loyal to Mr. Carson.

18.  Bonanza

Sunday nights at 9PM.  Again, with Grandma.  Watching television's first series shot in color on her black-and-white Philco.  When my folks upstairs finally caved in and went for the new Zenith color TV console, we marveled at all the shows we finally got to see in more than two hues.  So, when Bonanza came on, we invited Grandma upstairs to watch with us.  After ten minutes, she waved her arms in disgust and went back to her Philco.  "Hoss don't look right."

17.  The Bob Newhart Show

While a lot of television helped to form my comedic and creative skills, Bob Newhart's 70s sitcom was one of the programs that helped me to refine those talents.  Brilliant writing and casting.  Lowkey humor that demonstrated to me that slapstick didn't necessarily corner the market on laughter.  In my fantasy life, I was working at MTM Enterprises during this era.  Running into Newhart on the lot and saying "Hi, Bob."  Now, I see him in the supermarket all the time, but I refrain from saying "Hi, Bob."  Meanwhile, little did I know at the time that, years later, I would actually one day pitch sitcom ideas to Suzanne Pleshette. 

16.  The Dick Van Dyke Show

During my prime time TV watching years with Grandma, it was odd that she didn't take to this show.  I'd have to go upstairs and watch it by myself.  With all due respect to my grandmother, this sitcom might have been too smart for her.  While there was certainly some masterful sight gags, this was the first comedy show that you actually had to listen to.  The gold was in the writing.  One of the first shows that made me want to learn how to write creatively.  It set the bar very high and nobody else has really managed to get over it.  If there is one single Van Dyke episode that must be watched, you have to see the show where Laura admits on the air that Alan Brady is bald.  Writing, acting, directing coming together at a single moment to create a television masterpiece.  "Well, gee, Alan, there must be some needy bald people."

15.  The Andy Griffith Show

With Andy's recent passing, I've already rambled on here about my affinity for this marvelous show.  When it was on Monday nights at 930PM, this became a weekly negotiation with my mother to allow me to stay up and watch it. If you have to select one Andy Griffith episode to watch, try one of the two that features the Fun Girls.  Those two floozies who come to Mayberry for some quality time with Andy and Barney.  Meanwhile, when you see the program, marvel at Andy's performance.  He knew that the real comedy was coming from the supporting players like Don Knotts and Jim Nabors, so he just steps aside and lets them do their stuff.

14.  Lou Grant

One of perhaps the only times in television history where a television sitcom spun off a character into an hour-long drama and was almost as successful as the original series.  The channeling of gruff, lovable and funny Lou Grant into gruff, lovable, and sensitive Lou Grant was a marvel.  Creators James L. Brooks and Allan Burns had brilliantly created a character that could actually live comfortably in either a sitcom or a drama.  This inside look at a major metropolitan newspaper was one of the best and more revered dramas of the late 70s and early 80s.  These days, nobody barely knows what a major metropolitan newspaper even is.  As a result, reruns of Lou Grant would also now serve as a time capsule of better informed and unbiased days.  And, just to prove that my hormones were still intact, I had a major adult crush on Linda Kelsey.

13.  Dallas

Grandma never got to watch Dallas, but I'm guessing she would have loved it.  After all, we had been fans of Peyton Place.  And she did love her daytime "stories."  Dallas worked because it had the smartest cast in television.  They knew they weren't doing Shakespeare and played it all tongue-in-chief.  Truth be told, I was not one of the show's early devotees, but good friend and fellow blogger, Djinn from the Bronx, introduced it to me and I was hooked for the next thirteen years.  Yes, I am one of those nuts who had a whole dinner party the night they revealed who shot JR.  And, when I first moved to Los Angeles with my writing partner, we filled our slow days by watching the entire series all over again when it was rerun on TNT.  As the new reboot on that network proves, you can go home again.  Especially when that house is Southfork.

12.  Get Smart

One of the primary reasons why I got my own portable television for my bedroom.  I had fallen in love with Get Smart as soon as it premiered.  The only problem was that, in my house on Saturday nights, all TVs were automatically tuned to Lawrence Welk on ABC.  I created enough of a fuss and finally got my own portal to Agents 86 and 99.  I was so enamored of the program that, when I was assigned to write a short story for English class, I crafted a tale around Max waging war against KAOS.  I got a B minus.  Meanwhile, Barbara Feldon became another in a long line of television actresses who would weaken my knees.  My knees still buckle, but it's arthritis which is now the culprit.

11.  The Honeymooners

No TV show oozed New York City more than the Honeymooners.  Filmed live in NY from 1955 to 1956, you had to know the town and its apartments to appreciate the world of the Kramdens and the Nortons.  For seemingly two or three decades,  WPIX Channel 11 in New York ran the 39 episodes over and over and over every night at 11PM.  As a result, I knew every script by heart.  To this day, I still quote lines from the series in my everyday life.  "Hello, ball."  "Leave it there.  The cat'll get it."  "There were two empty seats on the bus.  Who sat in them?  Ralph."  I remember my father being particularly fond of this show when he was home.   I didn't hear him laugh his ass off much.  He did when it came to Jackie Gleason.  Back in the 80s, there was even a fan club which had conventions devoted to the Honeymooners.  Mr. Anonymous of the Barbara Judith Deluxe Furnished Apartments on Hollywood Boulevard and I used to attend, although neither of us went dressed as bus drivers.  Meanwhile, if you run across the program again, please focus on Audrey Meadows.   She was the glue who held it all together.

10.  The Odd Couple

I was already in high school but still found a little time to watch a show or two with Grandma.  The Odd Couple was one of them.  There was one episode in its first season.  Oscar had accidentally killed Felix' pet parakeet.  The rest of the story dealt with how they would "dispose" of the bird.  I have no idea why, but I had never heard my grandmother laugh as hard as she did that night.  Flash forward to a cross country plane ride years later.  American Airlines, for some unknown reason, was running the "Password" episode.  On that flight, the earbuds and headphones didn't block out the noise.  The entire cabin was convulsed in laughter.  "Mayonnaise....Lincoln!"  Tony Randall and Jack Klugman singlehandedly turned this into a classic.  During the show's prime time run, I got to interview Tony Randall and he was one of the most charming people I've ever met.

9.  The Golden Girls

When NBC ran this series every Saturday night during the 80s, I never watched it.  Nope, I was watching it every Sunday morning during the 80s with my bagel.  Yep, I was taping it on my VCR.  Me?  Be home every Saturday night during that decade??  You have to be kidding me.  That said, I wouldn't have missed a Sunday morning with these ladies for anything.  This was comedy written and acted by the experts.  It certainly wasn't trying to cure cancer.  The Golden Girls were simply trying to put a smile on your face.  The acting pros involved, namely Beatrice Arthur, Rue McClanahan, Betty White, and especially Estelle Getty, had the precise timing of a Swiss watch.  The words on the page might not necessarily be that funny.  But, once these women got a hold of the script, they raised the quality of the words up several levels.  Indeed, my writing partner and I wrote our very first spec script for this show.  And, as we read it aloud, we could hear all the voices perfectly.

8.  The Mothers-In-Law

At one point, my grandmother had been a regular viewer of the Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday nights.  But, one week, she announced that she was done with Old Stone Face.  With all political incorrectness intact, she announced that he had "too many n@#$^*s and puppets."  So, we flipped over to the premiere of Desi Arnaz' new sitcom and we were hooked.  Nothing more than a reworking of the I Love Lucy show, The Mothers-In-Law still felt very comfortable for us.  It lasted for only two years and certainly didn't achieve any level of television history.  But we laughed every week, so their mission was accomplished.  Oddly enough, I would find myself immersed years later in a retrospective of the show for a television magazine.  We already had a relationship with the show's writer-creators, Bob Carroll Jr. and Madelyn Davis.  But, our research took us to the homes of series co-stars Kaye Ballard and Herb Rudley, a lengthy phone conversation with Jerry Fogel, and a brief but dandy friendship with Deborah Walley, who left us too soon.  For all those reasons, this relatively ordinary sitcom maintains a special place in my heart.  And, oh, yeah, there were no puppets on the Mothers-In-Law.

7.  All in the Family

There were very few shows that my parents and I watched together as a family.   All in the Family was the last one, but, then again, all of America was watching it together as one big family.  The Archie Bunker phenomenon was unlike anything I had ever witnessed in my lifetime.  Of course, the first time I ever watched the program was with my grandmother.  It was the first season and the Jeffersons had just moved next door.  Archie exclaimed, "Edith, the coons are coming."  Grandma didn't know what to make of this.  It was almost too real.  Unfortunately, our family used all those words.  Now they were on prime time television.  I remember watching the episode about Edith's menopause with my parents and they were laughing in unison.  Not too much ever happened with them in unison.  Norman Lear's comedy brought them together.   Meanwhile, wouldn't you just love to hear Archie tell us what he thinks about Barack Obama??

6.  The Wonder Years

Kevin Arnold grew up in the same years that I did, so this nostalgic sitcom naturally appealed to me.  For what might be the first time, a teenage boy and all the applicable emotions were front and center on television.  The writers always seemed to manage to hit the right notes.  Naturally, my love of this program prompted another spec script for me and my writing partner.  Of course, given the nostalgia, it would be fitting that one of the characters in our script would be based on...my grandmother.  And this teleplay got us picked for a television workshop, so Grandma pays off for me one more time.  What guy wouldn't fall for Kevin's girlfriend, Winnie Cooper?  The cherry on the sundae? I myself got to have dinner several years ago with actress Danica McKellar who melted every American boy's butter as Winnie.  And I melted all over again.

5.  Everybody Loves Raymond

The first two seasons ELR was on, I didn't watch it.  To me, it was just another family sitcom anchored by a stand-up comic I never heard of.  Yawn.  Then, I was flying east on American Airlines and they ran the episode where Robert (Brad Garrett) used his ventriloquist dummy to teach traffic school.  The entire cabin was convulsed in laughter.  I was hooked from then on.  This sitcom is as simple as it is brilliant with family dilemmas that are totally recognizable to everybody.  I can watch some episodes over and over and over.  Peter Boyle is magnificent and you can't wait to hear the next insult that comes from his mouth.  Meanwhile, like Audrey Meadows on "The Honeymooners,"  Patricia Heaton is the glue that holds all the zaniness together.  If you have to watch one single ELR episode, might I suggest the one where Debra and Ray fight over the suitcase on the stairs?  It is magical.

4.  St. Elsewhere

Eons before "ER" hit primetime, "St. Elsewhere" became the quintessential medical drama. It had never been done before and will probably never be done like this again. Forget about "Gray's Anatomy." For a hospital show, "St. Elsewhere" placed the bar so high that even the youngest of the Chinese Olympic gymnasts could surmount it.  "St. Elsewhere" was about life. Its ups, its downs, its laughter, its tears. In any given episode, you would have some of all of the above. With a tone and a cache of regular characters and actors that was pitch perfect. And, just as in real life, everyone was just a little bit flawed. Or a lot flawed. But, who really isn't?  "St. Elsewhere" tackled a lot of issues long before anybody else on TV tried. AIDS, Epstein-Barre, autism, health insurance, senior citizen neglect. I learned first about all of them on "St. Elsewhere." And they did it in such a fashion that was not hit-you-over-the-head-with-our-message. You got the point and frequently both sides of an argument. It was way too smart for most folks' living rooms, but this was pure entertainment that was educational.  And funny.  The humor on "St. Elsewhere" was perhaps the most clever in TV history. Because the producers were not afraid of making inside jokes. Gags that might have gone over the heads of three-quarters of the audience. But, the other 25 percent were rolling on the floor.   William Daniels as the politically incorrect Dr. Mark Craig is one of my favorite TV characters ever.  And please watch the season with Florence Halop as cranky patient Mrs. Hufnagel.

3.  The Mary Tyler Moore Show

"The Mary Tyler Moore Show" came around about the time I could actually tell the difference between a great television show and a bad one. Smack in the middle of CBS' Saturday night block of the best shows ever telecast together in one single night, MTM, in its own quiet way, raised television comedy writing to a level that has never been achieved since. Forget "Seinfeld" and "Cheers" and "The Office." This was the pinnacle of it all and will never be topped again. Although I personally try. Because this show has stayed with me so deeply that it cuts into my own work. There are many times when I would be working on something with my writing partner and he would chirp "You can't do that line. It was on Mary." Or I will resort to what I call a Ted Baxter moment. You know, somebody says a line about something being stupid and in walks Ted. Big laugh. Ha ha. Then I hear it all over again. "That's what they would do on Mary."   I usually take out the reference, but now wonder what's so bad about that. Is using "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" as your writing textbook such a negative?  PS, it's not.

2.  Knots Landing

When this "Dallas" spinoff first went on the air in 1979, I was one of the only people in my life circle that watched it. By the time "Knots Landing" went off the air in 1993, I had converted so many folks over time that I should be getting an annual holiday gift from Joan Van Ark. And, to me, Thursday night television has never been the same since we stopped seeing the adventures of those denizens of Seaview Circle, the cul-de-sac which actually exists right off the 405 Freeway in Granada Hills. I should know. I've been there and I have the pictures to prove it. For many seasons, Knots' competition on NBC were those "must see" dramas, namely "Hill Street Blues" and "LA Law." Frankly, I can't identify with dirty cops or dirty lawyers, so those two shows did nothing for me. I could, however, connect with the McKenzies and the Ewings and the Averys and the Williams, because they resembled in some way people I actually knew. Somehow, Knots left those other two programs in the dust and my friends eventually came over to my side of the neighborhood.   A soap opera, yes.  But the very best of its genre.  No discussion of "Knots Landing" would be complete without mentioning one of the most layered characters ever created for television. That would be politician/corporate mogul Greg Sumner as played by William Devane. The portrayal is rich and diverse. The guy is evil. The guy is funny. The guy is totally likeable despite a myriad of faults. Each week, I waited anxiously for Devane's scenes as he did things with this character that certainly were not on the written page.

1.  I Love Lucy

 Okay, who's surprised by this? Can I have a show of hands please? If you are at all taken even slightly aback by this choice, you should not be. No TV show has played such an important part in my existence on this planet than "I Love Lucy." From my very earliest age, the Ricardos and the Mertzes have been there with me and for me. "I Love Lucy" formed my comedic psyche and nurtured every creative bone in my body. Beyond its place as the very best television situation comedy ever, "I Love Lucy" was pure entertainment that I first saw in reruns when I was 5. And the educational process began at that point. I can watch episodes over and over and over. I wait sometimes for that one line or look or nuance that seems so fresh and so original all over again. It's been part of our lives for 60 plus years now and it will never go away. In a world where complication now reigns, "I Love Lucy" persists. Because it is so inherently simple. As good and legendary as that cast is, none of it happens without the genesis of Desi Arnaz .  More credit and hosannas go to the show's executive producer Jess Oppenheimer. And "I Love Lucy" creators, our friends, the late Bob Carroll Jr. and the late Madelyn Pugh Davis.   The TV universe thanks you.  So do we.

Dinner last night:  Louisiana sausage and garlic fries at the Dodger game.