Top 6 Favourite Television Shows

Top 6 Favourite Television Shows

Ahh the humble television, a staple in every living room. Its big black screen stares at us and we all enjoy its wonders and delight. Sometimes we use it for movies but more often than not we watch television shows. These are my personal top 6 of all time.

 

Number 6. Friends

It was difficult to pick my favourite sitcom. It was between Friends and Two and a Half Men. I went for Friends because it’s a very easy watch pretty much all the time. It’s that show I like on in the background or when I’m feeling a bit like wasting time. It’s fun and light-hearted with enough character to make you want to come back.

 

The show simply resolves around the lives of six friends who live in New York. It’s as simple as that. Perhaps the biggest positive is each member of the cast has a unique and definable personality. Despite this however they were quite unique in both their personality and interactions. Each friends interacts with each friend differently and it is highly enjoyable to watch.

 

Being a Sitcom it wouldn’t be very good it the com bit didn’t hold up. Fortunately though there are plenty of chuckles and laughs to go around and while the studio audience is a little enthusiastic, it still is a funny show.

 

That’s not to say it doesn’t have its conflict and drama and it does done well most of the time. Whether it’s the smallest little thing or something quite crucial in their lives I am usually interested to see how they deal with it and figure things out. With five of the characters I do genuinely find them likeable enough to want them to be happy.

 

This leads me onto my biggest issue. I don’t like Phoebe. I get she has quite a tragic history and all but I just don’t think she’s a likeable character, hell sometimes she seems almost spiteful to her apparent friends. Her random outbursts and comments I usually don’t find funny, they’re not witty or clever, just random. Of all the Friends she’s the one I wouldn’t feel like I could rely on and that’s completely missing the point of the show. It wants you to feel like you know these people, except with Phoebe I wouldn’t want to.

 

The other little thing is I do think they can overdo the drama at times. Usually they have enough comedy to balance it out but some episodes are a bit devoid of humour and they do drag. This is a nit-pick however as over all 10 series these episodes are few and far between.

 

Okay, Friends isn’t perfect but it wasn’t really supposed to be. To me at least it’s just a happy feel good show and one I’m happy to stick on while browsing through the channels.

 

5. SpongeBob SquarePants

This was a weird show. I always described watching SpongeBob as showing you what it’d be like to be high and with some of the strange lines and visuals this show had to offer it is not difficult to see why.

 

SpongeBob SquarePants was a show about … SpongeBob SquarePants as he went about sometimes crazy adventures or sometimes just his daily routine. He was joined by his friends in what I thought was a delightful kids show.

 

SpongeBob was supposed to be funny. I watched some recently and I genuinely thought it was. It wasn’t even like it was a bunch of dumb humour either, there was some surprisingly smart comedy in here. A mixture of the funny dialogue, unique characters and outright strangeness made a funny show that still I can still watch to this day.

 

The characters in the show were great, each one was individual and had a fun and interesting personality. While not the most complex characters you’ll ever see, with SpongeBob being happy, Patrick being dumb etc they were never one dimensional characters and each one had their own individual charm, even the grumpy Squidward and the evil genius Plankton.

 

I think the thing SpongeBob does so well is be strange and random but heart-warming and endearing with it. This world makes no sense, the stories make no sense and the characters are mad and don’t make sense but at the same time the characters are likeable enough and the jokes funny enough to make it a genuine joy to watch.

 

The show also has a unique visual charm. It doesn’t look like underwater at all but again the visuals are strange and colourful and a very good compliment to the humour. The animation isn’t the best you’ll ever see but it’s certainly good and the colours are fun to see. It is a fun show and while I don’t exactly watch it very often these days it is definitely worth a look if you want some fun comedy and want to see what it would be like to be high.

 

4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

To be specific the series that aired between 2003 and 2009. Like many kids I grew up watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They were cool, they had cool ninja fights. They were funny and clever, what more could a kid want.

 

In my mind nothing. I watched the show, had the comics and had the action figures and the video game. What made the turtles so popular? A huge part of it was obviously the turtles themselves. The four turtles were all very different and thus I think every kid had at least one they could relate to. On top of this you genuinely believed in the connection between these brothers. They worked well together as a team but they still had their conflicts, just like real brothers do. Despite being turtles you could see the human connection between them.

 

Emotions are all well and good but let’s be honest, the best thing was the action and comedy. The turtles kicked ass, as we all know ninjas are cool. The show was never boring, it knew just how much discussion to have before going to the action packed or funny scenes.

 

The side characters were also great. Master Splinter was a brilliant wise mentor, Casey Jones was a cool and enjoyable character and as a young boy April O’Neil was probably the first female character who I thought was completely awesome. 

 

The villains were also really good. Naturally, The Shredder stands out as the best villain. He was just what I want in The Shredder. He was a badass fighter, he could easily take on anyone in a fist fight but he was also incredibly smart and cunning. He wasn’t just a big dumb oaf with no motivations like in the new film. This Shredder was interesting and he was part of a plot twist that left my young mind completely gobsmacked.

 

The foot clan looked cool, the purple dragon gang were an interesting foil for the turtles and Casey Jones and Hun I remember as a decent villain. I also like the animation, it almost looked like an anime but the sharp lines and colours I though served the action scenes well.

 

Throw in some interesting stories, excellent actions scenes and some fairly intense moments this silly concept of turtles that somehow mutated into humanoids and learned ninjitsu became a worldwide phenomenon and I sit here now wanting to find the series and watch it again.

 

3. Arrow

Hey look a show that is still on. Good for me! Arrow is about the DC character Green Arrow and his crusade to save his city. We also get flashback of his time stranded on an island in the Pacific that turned him into the warrior he is today.

 

Arrows biggest positive for me has always been the core characters of the team. They’re all very well developed, have interesting backstories and bounce off each other extremely well. Oliver Queen is a brilliant character, acted well by Stephen Amell we really feel his internal conflict and determination to do the right thing. John Diggle is like our eyes into this world. He’s from a world without super heroes and see’s the madness in what’s going on. He is also reliable and like a brother to Oliver and has become a fan favourite for good reason. Finally there’s Felicity, a quirky and clever character who is slightly more positive than the other. She’s funny and comedic but also the one person every character can turn to when they need help or are struggling with their many burdens. She’s great and I think I love her.

 

The side characters are also interesting and the show has done a great job at taking the ones I didn’t like and making them relevant and interesting such as Thea and Laurel. On top of this there are some great villains. The big bad of each series has always been a hugely memorable villain, my personal favourite of course being Slade Wilson.

 

I write a review for Arrow every week so I won’t go on any longer. It’s got a great dark atmosphere, some cool stunts and characters who are believable and interesting. Go and watch it … now.

 

2. Robot Wars

Robot Wars was a fantastic show, another show I had the merchandise for. It was a very unique concept at the time, teams built their very own fighting robots and battled them in a gruelling knock out competition.

 

The great thing about the show was its unpredictability and action packed battles. It was great to sit down and watch the two machines battle. It was also enjoyable to see the individuality and creativity that went into each machine. Furthermore the camaraderie and entertainment from the teams in the pits was a joy to watch.

 

Robot Wars was action packed. It bought out a real primal enjoyment watching these machines smash each other to bit, almost like how the Romans may have felt watching gladiators. It was simple but it was just really good entertainment. It had some iconic house robots, a good presenter in Craig Charles and some of my favourite commentary ever by Johnathan Pearce. There’s not much else to say, I’ve done a whole post on Robot Wars. If nothing else it’s a lot of fun.

 

1. Top Gear

I’m really going to miss Top Gear. This show did something that no other show I’ve seen did. Despite starting out as a humble car show it transcended its motoring audience and became a true television giant. What made Top Gear so great?

 

The chemistry between the hosts is what really made Top Gear. Most of its viewers didn’t watch it for the cars and facts, rather because Clarkson, Hammond and May were extremely fun to watch. It was never forced, they were clearly mates and always bantered back and forth as such. It was watching three big kids messing about in fast cars and I couldn’t help but enjoy it.

 

Even the individual films were great. It wasn’t serious enough to be dull but each presenter got enough passion across to make basic cars tests enjoyable and interesting. A lot of credit also has to go to the creator and producers, they came up with a lot of creative challenges for the three to partake in and while it was always a variation of buy a cheap car each challenge felt unique and thus hilarity would also ensue.

 

Another big part of the show’s popularity was obviously The Stig. A funny little idea became such an icon to television. How just a silent man in white suit could be so iconic is beyond me but there was something oddly surreal and funny about watching him. Whether it was Clarkson’s facts or Stig’s strange choices of music he was great addition to the show.

 

There were so many memorable moments in Top Gear that I couldn’t even begin to list them. To me Top Gear was the epitome of entertainment. There was never a single episode I didn’t enjoy and it’s such a shame to see it go. It really was the best tv show … in the world!!!