TV You Should Catch Up On, Part 2

(Part 2 of 2, in alphabetical order)

Sports Night - You can buy the entire series on DVD for like $50. It's so worth the investment to watch a show way ahead of its time evolve and fall apart. The first few episodes struggle to find their place, but only a few. Once the show gets going, it's sharp, perfectly paced, witty, and gut-wrenchingly sincere. The characters are smart and neurotic, and even though you may not care about sports or television production, you can't help but love everyone. ABC tried everything possible to take this show down, a struggle the show deals with by writing entire episodes about it. If you write off the ridiculous laugh track as an addition the network insisted on, you'll be fine. The show was canceled at the end of the second season, leading to one of the greatest series finale lines ever, “Anyone who can't make money off Sports Night should get out of the money making business."

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Hi, my name is Adam and I'm a recovering TNG junkie. Take a minute to look past the sci-fi, the bat shit crazy fans, and the weirdo costumes. This is a workplace drama starring Patrick Stewart, one of the finest actors of our time. Now let's bring that sci-fi back in here. It's a highly intelligent adventure series. The depth of character and theme never come at the expense of a detailed mystery or taut suspense or sweet ass action. If you can get past the anemic first two seasons, it really kicks into high gear, and by the fourth season, it's some of the best hours of television.

The State - This show makes every other sketch show look like a frat house talent show. Like any show, it has sketches that are just boring and stupid, but those fall between some moments of pure genius, brought to you by the guys who would go on to make “Wet Hot American Summer" and “Reno 911." With premises like a game show where the prizes are orphaned children or a musical number about porcupine racing, you can guarantee sketches you won't see even close to resembling anything else out there.

24 - I never fully understood why I liked this show until reading an interview with the creators just before the series finale. It's a soap opera for men. The loyalties and grudges carry from season to season, and at its center is the unflappable Jack Bauer. He is smarter than everyone else. His gun never misses. Most importantly, he plays by his own rules. If Jack Bauer were real, we wouldn't need Homeland Security. Throw us a character that perfect, and you have to match him with challenges up to his level. In seasons 1, 5, and 7, they do in spades. In seasons 3, 4, and 8, they get close. Season 2 was ok, Season 6 was awful. Overall, an experience you won't forget.

The West Wing - Hands down, my favorite show of all time. The key for me is that it isn't a show about politics. It's a show about civic duty, the politics are usually just an obstacle. Some episodes, like season 2 finale “Two Cathedrals" are absolute pieces of art. The writing and direction transcend just a weekly TV show. The quality suffers after season 4 when Aaron Sorkin left, but it never became bad, it just became average. It never returned to form, but the last season gets pretty darned close as they focus on finding the right man to replace the irreplaceable President Josiah Barlett.

TV You Should Catch Up On, Part 1

(Part 1 of 2, in alphabetical order)

Arrested Development - I really did not want to like this show. I thought the premise was dumb and the title was even dumber. It just seemed so smug and purposefully funny. Yes, it is all those things, but as with anything, if done right, it can be completely brilliant. It's telling that Michael, the most normal of the group, our window into their world, isn't normal at all. He's just the closest thing to normal the Bluth family could ever achieve. The level that these characters' narcissism and cluelessness reaches goes beyond explanation. If you like to laugh, hard, you will love this show.

Boy Meets World - It's like “The Brady Bunch" coated with a healthy layer of absurdity. The show covered everything from divorce to cults to slowly losing one's mind. These wholesome elements let the writers have a little fun with the premise. When unimportant side character – little sister Morgan – disappears for a while only to return as a different actress, they call it right out, even adding in the joke, “I've been in my room a really long time." And then there's Mr. Feeny, played by John Adams himself, William Daniels. Feeny evolves from their teacher to principal, to a weird guy who follows them to college so he can keep teaching them, all the while adding a level of gravitas Mr. Kotter could only dream of having.

Gargoyles - It's a show about racism. Not only are these creatures fishes out of water, they're so monstrous, they can't possibly find acceptance in the world of humans. This racism isn't glossed over, the show delves into issues like oppression, revenge, resentment, greed, etc, etc. And oh yeah, it was a Disney afternoon cartoon. Pile onto that more Shakespeare references than any child would ever understand and you get a show that far transcends the genre. My fingers are still crossed for a live action movie.

Saved by the Bell - People still don't believe me. When I say I love this show, I mean I love it without a sense of irony. It's just so simple and so goofy, it can never be repeated.

Scrubs - John Guare's “Six Degrees of Separation" talks about the great modern tragedy being the death of imagination. What I like the most about this show is its celebration of just that, imagination. It's like one leap beyond M*A*S*H. The doctors deal with the death around them by delving into ridiculousness. The characters have built up around themselves such a lush fantasy world that it bleeds into their real lives. They run around the hospital playing games and getting caught up in their little dramas, until the moment comes that they have to accept that they're doctors and try to save a life. Daydreams keep us sane, and this show encourages us to do more of it.