Board 8 > Mana & Maniac Rank Their Top 100 TV Shows (Double-oops Edition + Spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

And this time, I don't have your write-ups, or your list, Maniac. >_<

Sorry.

Mana's List:

#20. Saturday Night Live
#21. Chuck
#22. Dragonball / Z / GT
#23. Boston Legal
#24. 24
#25. Digimon
#26. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
#27. Veronica Mars
#28. Cheers
#29. Oz
#30. Conan (& Late Night & Tonight)
#31. Mythbusters
#32. All That
#33. Powerpuff Girls
#34. Battlebots
#35. Futurama
#36. NCIS
#37. The Drew Carey Show
#38. Castle
#39. Recess
#40. Super Samurai Shinkenger
#41. The West Wing
#42. How I Met Your Mother
#43. Iron Chef
#44. House
#45. Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger
#46. Psych
#47. Spectacular Spider-Man
#48. Monty Python's Flying Circus
#49. Batman: the Animated Series
#50. NewsRadio
#51. Dollhouse
#52. Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
#53. The Office
#54. Modern Family
#55. Looney Tunes
#56. Dexter's Laboratory
#57. Wolverine & the X-Men
#58. Parks & Recreation
#59. Supermarket Sweep
#60. Leverage
#61. The Mole
#62. Double Dare
#63. The Wonder Years
#64. Monster
#65. My So-Called Life
#66. Home Improvement
#67. South Park
#68. The Joy of Painting
#69. Gilmore Girls
#70. Jane of Arcadia
#71. Death Note
#72. Beast Wars: Transformers
#73. Prison Break
#74. Alias
#75. Tiny Toon Adventures
#76. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
#77. Chappelle's Show
#78. Doug
#79. Cash Cab
#80. Scooby-Doo
#81. The Colbert Report
#82. So Weird
#83. Solitary
#84. Friends
#85. Flight of the Conchords
#86. Dexter
#87. Match Game
#88. X-Men
#89. The Muppet Show
#90. Pokemon
#91. Degrassi: The Next Generation
#92. The Adventures of Pete & Pete
#93. The Magic School Bus
#94. Jeopardy!
#95. Legends of the Hidden Temple
#96. Muppet Babies
#97. Arthur
#98. Robot Chicken
#99. The Price is Right
#100. Rugrats

--
Abed: It's the first season of Lost on DVD. Pierce: That's the meaning of Christmas?
Abed: No it's a metaphor. It represents lack of payoff.

Bump

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Sir Chris has replaced Metroid Composite.
Sir Chris has been killed. He was a Marine, Town Vanilla (KN1)

First up, one of the best lyric-less theme songs EVER:


#19. ER (1994-2009)
NBC, Drama
Choice Songs & Scenes:
Bennett & Morris Omaha: (with Miller High Life Delivery Guy tending bar)
Morris Driving:
Christmas Gift:
Set the Tone #1:
Set the Tone #2:

- ER's been a show I've been avoiding writing up for quite some time. Looking over my rankings, this is the last show to be bumped up at least twenty or thirty spots (there's one more that's risen since the thirties and it'll be soon) since the list began, but it definitely deserves a top twenty placement.

ER is about the day-to-day operation of an emergency room at Chicago's County General Hospital and the lives of its staff, patients, and passerby. It's presented in the vein of a lot of early nineties post-thirtysomething drama in that it's realistic. There's no spectacle, no gloss, no stylized drama. Yes, later on it would become known for its big disaster episodes and heavy melodrama, but the first season's biggest thriller isn't a helicopter crash, a hostage situation, or a tank driving through the wall; it's Dr. Greene trying to do childbirth. And it's a heartwrencher. It really isn't until Dr. Ross in "Hell and High Water" that there comes the once a year big story, and that's got nothing on Doctah Clemente going bat**** on the streets of Chicago (by nothing, I mean it's soooo much better).

P.S. You could also make a case for the one episode where there's a blizzard. The first half and some amazing looseness and humor since there were no patients while the second half is frenetic and thrilling because everyone who was hurt in the storm come in droves. Damn good episode.

There's definitely a rotating door for the cast, but the cool thing about the show is that so many come back for cameos or extended roles while others are there with the show for the whole fifteen even if they're not stars. There's both a level of comfort and realism to how it evolves over time. There's a great scene where Morganstern (William H. Macy) comes back in a later cameo with the old chief and it's just beautiful and really bridges gaps between years. I'd link to it if there weren't spoilers in all the related videos.

I've a good few favorites I want to mention. Dr. Carter's as main a character as you could have if only because he lasted the longest of the original cast (and came back so often after he left including a run of episodes for the final season). He was the newbie, a rich kid who went a different route from his parents and wanted to help people. Early on, he was kind of a Wesley, a know-it-all with some annoying attitudes, but very dedicated and eager to learn. He and Dr. Peter Benton are my favorite relationship of the show, and Scrubs totally based JD and Dr. Cox off these two. And Peter Benton, he of the theme song fistpump, is so damn good. He's strong and standoffish, but he delivers great, subtle drama when it's his turn. Easily one of my favorites (as all of the original cast are, except for maybe Susan) even though I can't think of any moments where he interacted with the cast besides Carter or his girlfriend.

Doug Ross (the charming and funny Clooney), Carol Hathaway (the beautiful and talented Julianna Marguiles), and Mark Greene (the "I can't believe he was Goose" Anthony Edwards) are are also big names. Susan Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) was always welcome, but she never really stood out. Ross & Hathaway were the big romance of the first seasons and it was totally charming, and the Ross/Greene friendship was fantastic. These three were the core of the show. Benton/Carter pairing was great, but these three grounded the show and were the real stars.

Then you had Neela Rasgotra, played by the gorgeous Parminder Nagra, who was part of so many stuttered romances that she was in a love pentagon by the end of Season 13 or 14 (let's see... Ray, John Stamos, Dubenko, the new guy, her feelings for Gallant, and maybe even one more). She was also such a timid little thing at first that it's still hard not to think of her that way even though she matured far more than Carter did (who definitely made leaps and bounds forward from his early days).

Ray Forgothislastname (Shane West) was amazing. I loved him. He was the new cool doctor, but like Ross, he wasn't just 'cool.' He was affable, charming, hardworking, great with friendship and romance (loved the chemistry with Neela), and still amazing in his cameos after he got thrown under a bus.

Linda Cardellini's character wasn't that great, but she's worth noting because she's Linda Cardellini and the reason I started watching the show on a timely basis. I loved her in earlier roles. But yeah, whenever there's an episode revolving around her character, it sucks. It's not Cardellini's fault. She makes her way the best she can with what plots she gets, but there's only so many times we can watch her son be a jackass or her boyfriend come back and do something incredibly stupid.

And now I'm remembering Susan Lewis finally. She was the original problem family character. Her sister was a dingbat and her mother was... I don't remember much about her mother, but she was crazy. And Susan had to constantly take care of them and deal with their failures and the heartache with it. She was a very sunny and optimistic character, so it worked. Whenever I hear "Blackbird," I think of Susan Lewis and her sister. Linda Cardellini was the third real Problem Family character, but I guess she didn't make it work as well as Susan Lewis (probably because her sister wasn't kidnapping her with a gun).

The second Problem Family character was Dr. Abby Lockhart. I wanted to save her for later, but I guess now's a good time. I love Maura Tierney. I loved her Newsradio and in Liar Liar. I enjoyed her a lot when I first started watching ER. But watching a lot of it... Abby's just such a drain. Sally Field's her crazy mother and she's awesome. But unlike Susan Lewis who deals with it with some hope and courage and love because she's family, Abby's always, always, always a downer. She'll be incredibly sarcastic and defeatist all the time. Whether it's with her mother or relationship or drinking problem or anything. Abby brought down the show. She was essentially the star of the middle seasons and she was like a black hole of energy. And it hurts that she has ties with practically everyone on the cast. She and Carter are good friends. She and Cardellini are good friends. She and Rasgotra and great friends. She hooks up with Kovac. She's mentored by Kerry Weaver. She and Pratt are probably good friends, but I don't remember any scenes between them like the many she has with those other people. She's just dour. And it doesn't help that most of the most offending disaster plots take place during her run on the show.

Probably my favorite character from the final seasons is Dr. Archie Morris, which is crazy because he was easily my most hated character in his first few seasons. The guy started off as the rich kid who didn't want to become a doctor but his parents made him. Hell, he even pulled a Costanza and very vocally, very loudly quit, but was back the very next day because his parents would freeze his finances if he didn't see 'this thing' through. He was an out-and-out *******. He was lazy, self-involved, delusional, and nobody you would want operating on you. His biggest moment early on was not moving from the admit desk in a Thanksgiving episode due to some happenstance involving Dr. Rocket Romano.

But damn did he grow on me. I don't know how he pulled it off, but he was easily the best character on the show and one of the best in ER's history by the final episode. He was still considered the comic relief when he became chief resident (no competition) after a year, and he still kind of sucked with the whole medicine thing (think he was also moonlighting as a pharmaceutical rep? or did that come later?), but around the time his four redheaded donor children popped up, he was just incredibly funny. And then that hospital shooting where he took charge? **** yes. That's when Archie became a man.

I don't really know why he's so good. The last few seasons I've mostly blanked on (even though they were much better than, say, 7-12 which I don't remember ANYTHING). He's charming, affable, he has some great relationships with Pratt and Bennett, he's got some massive character growth which I always love, and yet he's still the comic relief even though he's in charge. He's definitely Mark Greene like by the end because he's stoic and solid as a character and leader, but also has a humorous and bro side to him.

It's hard to remember the last time I would get up on weekday mornings just to watch TV. I think my last show for this was ER and TNT stopped airing reruns at 10am last Fall (other shows I'd wake mornings to watch: Boston Public, Angel, The West Wing, Supernatural, 24). ER was a reason to get up in the mornings or watch TV until 11 on Thursdays. It was a damn good drama and sorely missed the next year (but then, we had the Jay Leno Show so woo?).

The show is dramatic, hilarious, thrilling, and chaotic. Most of the episodes wind through so many patients and so many subplots that don't last the full hour that's it's hard to define what really happens all the time. Sure, there are the big disaster episodes, Emmy-nabbing patients (hey Ray Liotta), and extended guest stints, but it's just great overall. The first few seasons are easily the best and heart of the show, but I wouldn't knock a lot of the later stuff (though the middle, feel free to bulldoze).

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Sir Chris has replaced Metroid Composite.
Sir Chris has been killed. He was a Marine, Town Vanilla (KN1)

Maybe this one will last a bit longer.

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All the proteins, vitamins, and carbs of your grandma's best turkey dinner, plus 15% alcohol.
[Browncoat] ~Board 570901~ (Maniac64 at work)

Hopefully. It was a weird day last... Thursday, I think? I know I bumped or played Umineko, but I somehow got distracted when the usual TV topic bump came around. Oh well. Such is life.

#18. Justice League / Justice League Unlimited (2001-2006)
CN, Nostalgia
Choice Song:
- How can I not go with the intro music? IT doesn't get much more kickass than that theme. Plus, unless I'm mistaken, I don't remember any iconic or outstanding soundtracks during the episodes and I don't want to browse the whole afternoon for the perfect scene (that isn't Flash punching Luthiac at light speed). And if I were feeling really chaotic, I'd throw up Batman The Brave & the Bold's Music Meister for kicks (if only I could remember who I thought looked like MM in JLU and when he appeared... there was definitely a gap-toothed redhead with big glasses somewhere in there who may or may not have sung).

Justice League & JLU are the final entries of the Timmverse, DC's long-running animated canonverse that started with Batman: The Animated Series in 1992. All the characters are drawn, voiced, and acted the same or similar to their episodes, especially Batman, Superman, and their villains like Lex Luthor and Joker. It's a legacy show just like DC was all about legacy superheroes. It all starts with a points and just flows outward and forward. Batman and Superman started off the ride, Justice League brought together seven superheroes, and Unlimited brought in a universe of characters.

Now, while I'd definitely rank it on the list just for having Martian Manhunter & Wally West in major roles, and cameos from Booster Gold, Fire, Ice, and others in the JLI, it's up this high because it's got a lot of great story and character writing. This is my highest-ranked cartoon on this list. There's one more I consider Nostalgic, but there's no other animated feature topping this one. This is the best cartoon.

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"Wolverine received no points whatsoever." ~ HolyExcalibur on Board 8's Top 100 Fictional Characters of 2010

It's crazy that I can't put put it any category besides nostalgic because I only watched it within the last six-or-so months. I may have mentioned this in the Batman: TAS entry, but I never, ever watched anything DC growing up besides the Batman movies. I owned a few of their comics, but was thoroughly turned off for my childhood.

Great Comics:


- Superman #75 was the final bout with Doomsday which was amazing.


- The polybagged Adventures of Superman #500 which I read at least a dozen times, but didn't quite fully understand ever.

Good Comics:


- It's a lot better once I knew who the characters were and what was going on, but just reading it? I had no idea who anyone was and it took me out.

Worst Comics Ever:

[no picture]
- Some Superman book where Superman is missing, but he's really up in Alaska with long hair, possibly a beard, and doing lumberjacking. I want to say it was issue #27 or one of his books, but I can't find any details and don't recognize any covers.


- Really dull origin story with art I hated.


- Which I still don't really understand. Hell, reading this comic, I thought Sinestro was just bad comic relief.


- Lots of death, lots of more mature art. Not a fan.


- Least favorite comic I've ever owned. He's in space and he fights a skyscraper-sized robot in space who adapts from defeat eventually turning yellow. It sucked.


- Batman Gothic #5 was a boring story with much different art than I was used to.

I think these ten were my only DC books. And look at them. Seven of them are some of the worst things I've ever read, two of them are big event books, and all of them I didn't have any idea what was going on. Those plus that stupid black triangle thing on the covers that always, always confused me to no end as a kid. I hated DC because of these books. Outright hated. Anyone who thought Batman and Superman were superior to the X-Men, Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Captain America were morons.

Hell. It's not even just the books.
- Batman toys were all these stupid, random costumes. My friend had like twenty Batman toys and every single one was a different costume, I swear. One was orange and purple!!!
- When I got my SNES for Christmas, I also received five games: Super Mario World (awesome), Donkey Kong Country (awesome), Illusion of Gaia (one of my favorites), The Great Circus Mystery Starring Mickey & Minnie (my sister and I would play this all the time), and:



Sunsoft AND Acclaim. This game holds the fastest record of going to Funcoland ever. Within a day of opening my presents, within a day, I sold it off and got Secret of Mana in exchange. It also turned me off from ever getting into fighting games. It was so, so bad.

Then you've got Marvel having some great cartoons, great video games (X-Men the Arcade Game was the ****!!! Still own Mutant Apocalypse, Spider-Man & X-Men, & War of the Gems), no Batman & Robin movie, and I owned at least seventy random comics of theirs from the nineties and loved them.

My turn

77.Rizzoli & Isles (2010-____)
Crime Drama
Mega Mana's Ranking: Not on list (most likely)

I'm not typically a fan of procedurals, but every now and then there will be one I enjoy. Typically because it has a good sense of humor. Such is the case with Rizzoli & Isles. I was very hesitant to watch it at first but I really enjoyed it when I did. The lead to women have a great dynamic, the show has good dialogue, good side characters, and a solid focus on things outside of the "case of the week". And did I mention it has Jett Jackson in it (and yes, this along with the fact that one of the leads has a pet turtle are the reasons I gave the show a shot in the first place). It's a fun little procedural and I am looking forward to coming back next season.


76. Star Trek Voyager (1995-2001)
Sci-fi
Mega Mana's Ranking: Not on list (yet?)

This was the first Star Trek I really watched and one of my early sci-fi shows. It was really enjoyable for awhile but it got worse as the show went on, and just didn't compare to some of the other sci-fi I started watching. Really, I've never gotten as into Star Trek as many (with the exception of one series which will not be showing up on this list for awhile). Best character was The Doctor (not to be confused with Dr. Who) who was an awesome character played by a great actor and was the definite highlight of the show.

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All the proteins, vitamins, and carbs of your grandma's best turkey dinner, plus 15% alcohol.
[Browncoat] ~Board 570901~ (Maniac64 at work)

It's crazy that I can't put put it any category besides nostalgic because I only watched it within the last six-or-so months.

I'm going to have an animated category for when animes show up that really aren't nostalgia to me. For me Nostalgia are the shows that I loved from my childhood and are mostly there based on my memory of them.

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All the proteins, vitamins, and carbs of your grandma's best turkey dinner, plus 15% alcohol.
[Browncoat] ~Board 570901~ (Maniac64 at work)

So, for years, I actively hated DC Comics with, I still think, ample reason. I never gave Batman a shot, Superman bored me, and I was over Toonami by the time JL started coming on (and every time I tried to watch, it was that stupid episode where they all split up into pairs to fight varying threats around the world and Superman kept getting beat up at a museum).

Then a few years ago, I had the opportunity to read 52. I have been a huge fan of DC ever since. I've gone back to read Justice League International, Morrison's JLA, all of the Wally West Flash run from beginning til the end of Johns, Green Lantern: Rebirth on, Watchmen, Identity Crisis, The Dark Knight Rises, Hush, Booster Gold, and various other random issues. And I've heard so many good things about JLU that I had to try it.

It's worth it. Everything's just perfect. There are so many macro and micro storylines that weave throughout the series. There are so many characters introduced and not forgotten. Martian Manhunter is a boss. Booster Gold gets a limelight episode. The villains are well-drawn with flowing stories. The action scenes are incredible (but later trumped by Spectacular Spider-Man for superhero cartoons). The voice acting is the best talent I've heard. It's thoroughly incredible.

I've spent so much time delving on my change from hating DC to loving it that I didn't cover the show all that much, but I really don't know how to. It's just a great experience. Between the epic theme song, the well-paced story, the incredible characters, astounding voicework, and beautiful art, JLU is the best cartoon ever. No question.

Well, lots of Question. The Question is amazing and I wish he and the Huntress got more time together.

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"yeah but i seriously doubt anybody ... is going to be casually browsing through someone's credit report between bites of a baconator" - Ryoko

The Question was great in that show.

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All the proteins, vitamins, and carbs of your grandma's best turkey dinner, plus 15% alcohol.
[Browncoat] ~Board 570901~ (Maniac64 at work)

Never seen Voyager. Tried watching Rizzoli & Isles because:
- TNT. They know Drama. <3 Leverage, and Rizzoli & Isles was coming out while I was on a huuuge Leverage and "watch ER/Supernatural every morning" kick.
- Angie Harmon is drop dead gorgeous.

But, eh, I never got into it. That's not a knock against the show. Every police procedural on my schedule I barely glanced at this year: The Mentalist, NCIS, Castle. Hawaii 5-0, NCIS: LA, and Criminal Minds are new things I've wanted to try, but have barely touched. So I have no idea where Rizzoli & Isles stands since I've seen equal amounts of it with NCIS, NCIS: LA, and Hawaii 5-0.

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Pyre GIR (9:26:57 PM): You lack a basic grasp of human nature that can only be learned through living
IamSoCool84321 (9:28:07 PM): ur dumb

muddersmilk posted...
The Question was great in that show.

I'd watch a The Question spinoff. It would be incredible.

Also, another note on hating DC. When I went to get some comics from Ocean State Job Lot in like 98/99, there was one comic that kep popping up in bins. Some Justice League comic. You know what completely turned me off? Kyle Rayner's facemask. I wasn't even going to touch the many books in the store because of how stupid looking his face mask was.

I like it somewhat alright now, but then? Another dealbreaker.

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"Stop being so impatient. Let's just wait for CJayC to put up the Quotes Contest bracket and decide based on those results." - Ngamer, 11/18/2010

NCIS, Castle, Psych, and Rizzoli & Isles are the only cop shows I watch.

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All the proteins, vitamins, and carbs of your grandma's best turkey dinner, plus 15% alcohol.
[Browncoat] ~Board 570901~ (Maniac64 at work)

Oh wow I completely forgot about the existence of Funcoland.

I'm currently watching JL myself (well, after I finish off the last 4 episodes of MLP). I never really got to see most of the season 2 or JLU episodes at all; it felt like JL became one of those shows Cartoon Network just sort of... had on and moved all over the place. I sure as hell saw every episode from the first season like, 10 times, but I don't think I saw anything from S2 or beyond beside the Booster Gold episode and the weird Batman Beyond epilogue.

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http://www.nbc.com/parks-and-recreation/exclusives/ron-dancing-animated.gif

Dang it. I apparently didn't save any of my changes to my list on my computer. Anyone know how that google cache thing works? I need to see if I can find my old list.

--
"Dude, my name's Maniac. MANIAC! Why would do or say anything I do or say?"

No idea. I used Work Offline in Firefox last time, but I restarted my computer between this topic and Wednesday/Thursday's.

I know you had two cartoons, and I remembered one of them when I put the topic up.

EDIT: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Transformers?

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"yeah but i seriously doubt anybody ... is going to be casually browsing through someone's credit report between bites of a baconator" - Ryoko

Oh well, I know the next one at least, though the numbers here are going to be wrong.

#75 Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)
Sci-fi
Mega Mana's Ranking: Not on the list (yet?)

Patrick Stewart as Picard is awesome and he can totally carry this show most the time.

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All the proteins, vitamins, and carbs of your grandma's best turkey dinner, plus 15% alcohol.
[Browncoat] ~Board 570901~ (Maniac64 at work)

Yeah, those were the last shows I did write-ups for. The real problem is remembering what the shows I added after starting were. I know Carmen Sandiago was one, but I'm pretty sure there was another.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I think it was All That and Keenan and Kel.

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All the proteins, vitamins, and carbs of your grandma's best turkey dinner, plus 15% alcohol.
[Browncoat] ~Board 570901~ (Maniac64 at work)

retag

Justice League was amazing. I don't think JLU was as good.

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http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/2636/ivotedphoenixyi0.png

My computer fried this morning and I won't be able to get back here for at least a few days, probably a week. I'd appreciate if you could keep this bumped.

I look forward to seeing how your list has progressed when I get back.


On the next

#17. Arrested Development (year-year)
FOX, Comedy
Choice Song: COME ON!

Tag

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ALL HAIL! King of the losers!

I look forward to seeing how your list has progressed when I get back.

I'm taking a quick break to get things sorted out and add a couple of snubs. Then I will be back to updating.

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All the proteins, vitamins, and carbs of your grandma's best turkey dinner, plus 15% alcohol.
[Browncoat] ~Board 570901~ (Maniac64 at work)

Yeah, there are going to be some major changes to my list.

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All the proteins, vitamins, and carbs of your grandma's best turkey dinner, plus 15% alcohol.
[Browncoat] ~Board 570901~ (Maniac64 at work)

bump

--
"Dude, my name's Maniac. MANIAC! Why would do or say anything I do or say?"

Casual bump

Set to start again tonight or tomorrow.

--
"Dude, my name's Maniac. MANIAC! Why would do or say anything I do or say?"

Alright, the list has changed a good bit so let's restart (obv not restarting write-ups).

The list so far:
84.Transformers
85. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
86.The Mole
87.Batman TAS
88.Looney Toons
89.Mutant X
90.Dragons Den
91.The Early Edition
92.Spiderman TAS
93.Slings and Arrows
94.Legend of the Seeker
95.Friends
96.The OC
97.Painkiller Jane
98.Legends of the Hidden Temple
99.Around the Horn
100.Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego

Honorable Mentions:
Ghostwriter
Sabrina
Heroes
Jackie Chan AdventuresSliders
Trading Spaces
The Price is Right
The Joe Schmoe Show
The Famous Jett Jackson
Torchwood
Dead Like Me
Roswell
The Jacket
Beat the Geek
Smallville
Charmed


#93 Slings and Arrows 2003-2006
Comedy, British
Mega Mana's Ranking: Not ranked (most likely)

This is a show about a struggling theatre in London and its crazy (literally) director. Who is also seeing the ghost of the prior director. It's a very fun and enjoyable show but it also often tries to be serious, at which point it is just terrible. The relationships overall are bad, but the two directors are great. As a fan of theatre this is a good show that can actually introduce people to some of the real life problems that people who work in theatre have to face. When this thing is being funny or focusing on the show (as in the theatre show the characters are working on) it is great, otherwise it can really fall short. It also had Rachel McAdams as a major character, before Notebook made her into a big name.

Oh, and it has a couple of the greatest theme songs in the world.
Season 1 -
Season 2 -
Ending theme -

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All the proteins, vitamins, and carbs of your grandma's best turkey dinner, plus 15% alcohol.
[Browncoat] ~Board 570901~ (Maniac64 at work)

#83 Make It or Break It (2009-____)
Drama, Sports
Mega Mana's Ranking: Not Ranked (almost certainly)

This is my current guilty pleasure show. I am man enough to admit that I really like gymnastics, in fact it is one of my favorite sports to watch. What those people can do is absolutely incredible. The vast majority of sports I can play at a basic level, but I doubt I can even do the most simple gymnastics moves. Just look at how hyped people get whenever someone (outside of gymnastics) can do a basic flip. So when I found out there was a TV show about gymnastics I was intrigued. When I found out my sister watched it (who is 31 and has extremely similar tastes in TV as me) I decided I should give it a try. And then it showed up on Netflix Instant Watch. I've finished their first season and found it to be a very enjoyable show.

Now here's the thing. I am not this show target audience in any way shape or form. This can cause some problems. I like the "wrong" characters and I don't care one bit about the chick drama or relationship junk (which is not done very well in this show fyi). But when this show focuses on the sport (which it often does) it is a great show and I love watching it. The show is very good about using stunt doubles without making it obvious or having to do those partial body shots that most shows use for action stuff. They have made an art form of clearly showing entire routines without ever making it obvious that it is a stunt double. Which means I get to watch gymnastics out of Olympic season, which is a rare treat. This actually is a lot like Slings and Arrows in that my enjoyment level depends a lot on what the show is focusing on, the sport (or theater) or the characters' personal lives.

This is not a show I would recommend to most guys, especially guys my age, but if you enjoy gymnastics and don't mind some seriously ridiculous storylines and logical holes it can be a great show. Man, this might be my longest write-up yet.


And then we get a few other shows that I have already done write-ups for.
79.Star Trek TNG
80. Star Trek Voyager
81.Rizzoli & Isles
82.DragonBall

And that catches us up so that now it is all new stuff from me.

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All the proteins, vitamins, and carbs of your grandma's best turkey dinner, plus 15% alcohol.
[Browncoat] ~Board 570901~ (Maniac64 at work)

Because Power Rangers 1-18 is out on Netflix Instant... REPOST!

SPOILERS FOR ALL POWER RANGERS SERIES AND SOME SENTAI IN THE POSTS AHEAD

#26. Power Rangers (1993-____)
FOX/DisXD/Nick, Nostalgia
Choice Fight:
Choice Scene:

- This is the biggest nostalgia bump any show gets in this ranking. No question. The show is cheeseball, most of the actors can't act, it's for kids, and it's not even original material most of the time, but dammit, I love this show. I have absolutely no idea why I do. There are plenty of shows I get into kicks with, growing nostalgic then watching as much as I can fit in to the span of a week before finding something new. Power Rangers is the only one that is constantly reoccurring. A few I've gone back to several times, but it feels like twice a year I'll just fall deep into Power Rangers hype and nostalgia. When I first started watching in 1994, when I came back to Turbo after Zeo was meh, when I came back to In Space when the new Turbo Rangers sucked, when I watched the classics while Lightspeed or Time Force was airing, when I tuned in for reruns and Dino Thunder, when I caught a few weeks of Operation Overdrive not long before the big team-up, when I went heavy on Power Morphicon videos and season 2 last winter, when I watched all of Time Force and Samurai Sentai Shinkenger this summer, and now as I regularly check out Goukaiger. I nominate songs from Power Rangers for music ranking topics, I watch music videos featuring fighting montages, I dressed up as the Green Ranger for Halloween when I was really young and used to draw them all the time. I own about eight Power Rangers comics (Hamilton > Marvel), I've seen the movie at least seven times (Turbo 2 or 3 for evil Kimberly), and I went to McDonald's two or three times a week to get the movie toys with my happy meal (think I got all six, though maybe not the Crane). The only reason I remember the Nostalgia Critic site exists anymore is to regularly check to see if Linkara's posted a new history of Power Rangers episode. I'm a long time fan. Not big enough to own the actual zord toys or any big merchandise or go to Power Morphicon or anything, but I definitely love it.

Now, I brought up how terrible Power Rangers Samurai was in the Shinkenger write-up (and glancing over it, I heavily edited out my vitriol to a few lines at the bottom), and I will use the current series to compare the original flavor rangers with the newest incarnation. There's a huge gap in quality, in my opinion, between then and now. There are still great seasons like RPM, Dino Thunder, and Time Force, but Samurai is just plain awful. Actually, I could use Time Force more accurately first.

Time Force and Samurai are both rips of the Sentai equivalent. Time Force's characters and plot points are nearly all the same aside from different villain line-ups, a much lighter ending, and Yellow is a girl with a brighter personality. Blue and Yellow are a bit more vanilla since their characters boil down to narcissistic racecar driver and strongwoman with bubbly personality, but they're balanced out by Green, a psychic with green hair, cool inventions, and so much optimism that it plays a key role in the final episodes. Red and Pink are not only the key players, but easily the highlight of the season and one of the best romances on the show. Erin Cahill kicks ass in the role, not only leading the team half the time, but delivering some amazing scenes and kicking so much ass in a later team-up and the movie magic episode. No wonder Barney Stinson wants to bang her so bad (she's Ted's sister!). And Ransik is probably the best villain since Lord Zedd (maybe after Astronema).

Power Rangers Samurai? Even though it's only aired 25% of its run, it's already ****. Whether or not you've watched the original material like I had, you know the characters are just terrible. Jayden's a quiet nice guy, Blue's a bit abrasive and serious business but still very nice, Yellow gets down on herself but is very nice, Pink's a bit of a ***** who seems fake nice, and Green's... I hated him at first because he seemed like such a mactor, but he's legitimately the only entertaining Ranger. Jii's like this stereotypical wise Asian father figure who does jack. The villains are okay, but none of their quirks have showed up so they're just there. Hell, the only parts worth watching are for Bulk & Spike and they only get about thirty seconds an episode that's barely even tangentially related to the show. I've yet to see the new Gold Ranger, but I'm going to check out his entrance soon. but damn, I just went through three episodes and it's so dry. The only bit of fun was Spike falling in love with Pink Ranger because 1) Bulk & Spike, 2) Bulk & Spike actually in a scene with rangers, & 3) it was funny. God what an awful show.

And how do I tie it back to the original set? The characters. Bulk & Spike are the best part of PRS, but they don't do anything. Ever. They're the only legit new footage and plotting and they also bring back the flavor of the original series. MMPR's characters were nice, friendly after-school special characters too but they had personality and charm to go along with it. These guys were cool even if they were cornballs. Jason ran a karate class teaching children discipline, control, and self-defense and he was passionate about it. His show-and-tell was swinging around a bo staff like a mad man. Zack was the cool, suave, funny charmer. He went out on dates, danced, did magic, and probably had the most interaction with everyone else including Alpha who was usually only in group scenes. Kimberly was a very skilled gymnast whose beauty and personality gave hundreds of thousands of kids their very first crush; she made valley girl sound awesome. Billy was the cowardly lion of the bunch, but he grew stronger and more confident as the series went on. Trini... I don't recall too much besides the straight man of the group and Billy's translator. And Tommy? Ass in real life, but such a damn good ranger. They were all good, nice guys.

What's the difference besides bigger skillsets and a more refreshing attitude? Bulk & Skull. It's not just that Bulk & Spike don't interact with the cast, it's that the cast doesn't interact with them. Bulk & Skull were in every episode tormenting the teens or random people at Ernie's Juice Bar and they'd eventually get their comeuppance by the end of the episode, usually multiple times. They were a joke, but they kind of deserved it. They'd always tease and taunt the goody goods until they got over their heads then get a pie int he face or fall in the cake as karma. And they also brought out personality in the rangers. There are quite a few times where their antics cause Jason to almost lose it and want to just pop them before his friends held him back. Like nothing crazy, but say Bulk kicks a stool out from under him. He'll jump up with a raised fist ready to go on impulse, but zack and Kim would tell him to calm down. Then Zack would challenge Bulk to a dance off or something because Bulk's bragging about what a smooth playa he is. They add a conflict to the out of costume portions, much like Peter Parker had Flash Thompson, Harry Osborn, J. Jonah Jameson, and others. Heh, Principal Caplan and J. Jonah even look quite alike. Samurai? The only conflict is the fights and the rest of the show is the blandest vanilla ever.

And the fights. I loved early Power Rangers because not all the fights were in costume. The rangers would be walking home from community service or playing football and then half a dozen putties would show up out of nowhere. Ooblobobolboblboboooo. They'd spend the next minute or so fighting. Sometimes the events of the episode would cause them to lose early, but they'd always come back to win either after conquering their fear or getting a pep talk in the Command Center. Soon, either Goldar or the monster of the week would show up and then

"IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!"

Boom! Mastodon, Pterodactyl, Triceratops, Sabretooth Tiger, Tyrannosaurus! Quick, simple, pumped up, fight is on. There's no two minute long sequence of the ranger costume melding to their body and the helmet appearing around their head with explosions all over the CGI backgrounds Just faces shouting one or two words while their hands are outstretched and colored lightning flashes around them. And then they're in the middle of the action right away while any of Ron Wasserman's amazing fight songs cues up and powers the fight along. They stop the monster, Rita's magic wand makes her monsters grooow, they need Megazord power now, Megazord sequence is initiated, Megazord activated, the monster gets the upper hand, they need the Power Sword now, then they finish him off, and Rita gets a headache. It's formulaic, but never does it get too stale. Then they finish up the episode dealing with Bulk & Skull. Always fun! Doo do doo do doo do, doo do do-do doo do do-do, DOO! Then the SABAN logo and Megazord sequence. Always, always quality nostalgia.

I haven't even touched on the other players in Season 1. Zordon's the best floating head in a tube ever. Alpha 5 is something out of Justice League International, always the comic relief even when the danger lights are going off or he's getting hi-jacked by the villains. A-yi-yi-yi-yi! Ernie's a fun guy who runs the Juice Bar and provides lots of parties and community activities. Principal Caplan gets flustered and loses his toupee.

There are like eight regular settings for the show. First, you've got the Command Center, this really ****ty little room that's the coolest place ever to a little kid. There's lights everywhere, there are these pillars that flash different colors, there are these jewels that light up like the Aggro Crag when Angel Grove's under attack, Zordon in a giant floating tubes, a bunch of terminals and computers that do tons of stuff with random button presses like time travel, teleportation, etc., and the viewing globe. The viewing globe is cool because they can get the footage of the monsters attack a bunch of Japanese people and use it without looking too different from the rest of the show. And the outside of the Command Center? It's just the coolest looking building ever!


Next up? High school. Just your average high school hallway with attached classroom and stairway to nowhere. Mrs. Applebee's classroom gets some use, but most of the action will be in the hallway. Oh, and there's always a nook they can use to privately teleport to the Command Center. Oh, and Tommy accidentally leaves his communicator in his locker every other episode. Another place is Billy's garage. They keep a flying car there and work on stuff when the Command Center's down or about to go down.

Ernie's Gym & Juice Bar/Angel Grove Youth Center was the other base of unmorphed operations. Jason would teach karate here, most fundraisers and activities would be held here, lots of tournaments and gatherings, pretty much anything of note happened in Ernie's Juice Bar. It was terrible when it became an outdoor lounge or whatever in like Turbo or Zeo. Then there's was Rita's moon palace, the park where they fought putties all the time, the desert-like valley where they fought putties all the time and Capt. Kirk threw a rock at some monster, and the beach which had a bunch of water-themed monsters.

The Power Rangers fight against Rita Repulsa and her minions. After 10000 years, she was freed from her dumpster and decides to conquer Earth (Zordon then realizes she's escaped and recruits a team of teenagers with attitude). She's a witch and uses magical spells, skulls, candles, orbs, and her magic wand to cause all kinds of mayhem for the people of Angel Grove. Her bruiser's Goldar, a gorilla-bat creature with fantastic golden armor and a bigass sword. I don't think I've ever seen a Sentai villain look so simply badass. Finster makes the monsters and putties out of clay and is seemingly too nice for villainy. Baboo & Squatt don't do much except play plucky comic relief since the whole kidnapping children thing was often left in Zyuranger. There was also Scorpina who was hot... except when she was a giant ugly spider. She pretty much disappears for no reason. And in the middle of the first season, she created the greatest villain of all.

The Green Ranger.

The Green Ranger Saga is the biggest storyline on the show, even after 17+ years. It's a five-part epic with a new kid in school. He's a good fighter and ties Jason in a karate tournament and Kimberly instantly gets the hots for him. One day, he's walking down an alley and gets attacked by Putties. And he completely manhandles them! Even the five regular characters combined struggle with half a dozen and nobody else stands a chance, but this new guy? With his infinite tornado kicks and trash can lid throws? All three or four putties are down. Rita's so impressed, she kidnaps him and turns him into her evil Green Ranger.

Now that would be cool enough. Green Ranger's sent out, fights the Rangers, wins a little, Rangers regroup and defeat him next time. Right? Wrong.

As soon as Tommy transforms into the Green Ranger, he freaking teleports into the Command Center and takes Zordon and Alpha offline. He absolutely wrecks the base. Then the Power Rangers go fight Goldar in the Megazord, but it's all a distraction! The Green Ranger jumps up and goes inside the Megazord!!! He sucker punches the five of them then beats them all in a 1-on-5 with an evil sword and some Dragonball Z ki attacks. The Power Rangers are defeated, their leader gone, their base wrecked, and their Megazord compromised. And this is all PART ONE!

Over the next four episodes, Tommy breaks Kim's heart, the Dragonzord is summoned to eat the candy cane smokestack, and other stuff I can't quite remember. There are two more big big things in the saga. First, Jason fighting Goldar unmorphed in the dark dimension. I forget why he's there or what he's after, but the fight lasted like two episodes and I remember being on the edge of my seat while Jason hides out in the fog and Goldar stabs the ground with his sword looking for him. Second, the final fight with the rangers where they destroy the sword and stop Rita's control and Tommy joins the team. It's an excellent saga and one of the best parts of Power Rangers. "Green With Evil" established Tommy as the new badass in town and his popularity kept him around forever.

Tommy definitely stole the show after this. Before, Jason was the boss with his awesome commanding voice, but now Tommy's around and half the plotlines revolve around his rivalry with Jason or romance with Kim or forgetting his communicator in his locker/gym bag. You see, Tommy was forgetful because the Green Ranger rarely fought. Remember the Green Candle Saga? The Green Candle was a spell of Rita's that would drain Tommy's powers every time he used them until they were all gone? Then in his last minutes as a Ranger, he handed off his flute and armor to Jason? Well, that Green Candle was around since the beginning in Zyuranger and it drains life force. Dragonranger only showed up to call in the Dragonzord or else the candle will burn quickly. And when the candel burned out? that scene where Tommy transfers the shield over to Jason? He really dies. They unmorph and he dies like a minute later. And Jason only uses the Dragon Shield like twice.
Looking over the episodes from the end of "Green With Evil" (episode 21) through "The Green Candle Saga" (34/35) and then to "Return of an Old Friend" (49/50), it's almost crazy how popular Tommy is! Between the two Green Ranger multi-parters, he really ONLY shows up to call in the Dragonzord when the other rangers are in a jam. He never fights, he never morphs with the others, he has that one moment. And between Candle and parents' night, he only shows up at the end of "Doomsday" (episode 40) which was easily the biggest fight of the original season with Goldar commanding his own zord and even Titanus and the power of the Ultrazord got decimated. Maybe the love for him is because he was such a solo act. He would often be featured doing other things to explain why he couldn't get to this communicator. Training, homework, studying, fighting with putties, swimming... While the Power Rangers were getting their asses kicked, you just knew Tommy would show up at the last second and save the day because he was that awesome. And then after the Candle, he's gone again for fifteen episodes.

At least now I finally realize why the last ten episodes of Season 1 are the ones always replayed. They're the only episodes where Tommy fights morphed thanks to Zyu2 footage. Power Rangers was so popular that Saban got the people who do Sentai to make ten or twenty more costumed fights for the Rangers. Ten of these are used in Season 1, and five of them (the last five... football, Zack's pearls, the shark, the Lizzinator, and the lobster that commanded a group of fake rangers) are the only episodes ever replayed, I swear.

There was more footage to use, though. Season 2 began with an Angel Grove charity race on ATVs. Then, lightning struck! The earth shook! Rita's master has arrived because she sucked at conquering earth! A throne appears! It swivels around. Buh buh buh budda buh buh buh. Lord Zedd has arrived!

Season 1 is better than Season 2. It has better storylines, stronger characters, better zords, and there's an excellent team dynamic that's scrapped half way into Season 2. Yes, better Zords. The Thunderzords are cool and the Thundermegazord is one of the coolest looking megazords created. It's a complete upgrade. And the Red Dragon Thunderzord > Tyrannosaurus if only because it fights well on its own. But you can't say that the White Tiger Thunderzord (or it's ****ty Megazord) are better than the Dragonzord and all its combinations. And the Megazord's awesome on its own without the upgrade. And the Dinozords are much cooler than four of the guys that make up the Thundermegazord if only because they do stuff, not to mention dinosaurs/ancient mammals > sphinx, unicorn, griffin, phoenix. Plus, because Zyu2 footage was used early on for Season 2, most of the fights just had the Thundermegazord in there tangentially. It'd throw a punch, the other monster would fall down, they'd swing a sword, the battle's over. They were never in the same scene together. And it's silly I'm griping about that because when the Zyu2 footage is over, it's the old costumes against Dairanger villains.
Oh god, the Dairanger villains. So so bad. They're stuff you'd find in a Shin Megami Tensei games. Walking lipsticks, measuring tape, plinko games, purses. MMPR we had mythological creatures and giant animal hybrids. They were monsters that had universal appeal. Things like:



are just stupid.

Anyways, Season 2. Season 2 was worse than Season 1 in a lot of ways, but it had some things that were not only stronger than the first season, but also everything that came after. First and foremost, Lord Zedd. Lord Zedd is the BEST villain Power Rangers has ever seen. No one was better than Lord Zedd in his prime. He was evil, had a killer look, made Rita and the rangers look like chumps, glowed red when angry, and even teleported himself and his throne into the Command Center once. Such a badass.

We also got the White Ranger. Now, the Green Ranger is cooler than White Ranger in almost all ways. Better suit, better theme song, better zord, better stories. But the White Ranger trumps him in one big way. For some reason, American footage always uses the suptidest, goofiest looking cloth or crappy foam thing for the Dragon Armor. The original thing that looked like their metal piece of badass? Awesome. The flimsy cosplay attempt? I am so happy for the White Ranger so I don't have to look at that ****ty prop for every battle for the next two seasons. Plus, White Ranger's a tiger. That's awesome too.

That's three of the four big things that happened in Season 2. The fourth? As rumors go, Thuy Trang, Walter Jones, and Austin St. John all wanted bigger paychecks from Saban. Next thing you know, they're off to Switzerland and three ninjas from Stone Canyon arrive, rollerblade for ten minutes to save a baby (well covered by Linkara with tons of kudos to Bulk & Skull), and soon join the rangers. Rocky's nice and goofy, Aisha's nice and much more extroverted, and Adam's shy and quiet. Jason and Zack are sorely missed. It also hurts that Zack's brother and Trini's lovelife were big characters of early Season 2 so the plots went nowhere. Tommy, Kimberly, and Billy would always be hanging out almost exclusively together while Jason, Zack, and Trini would be scuba diving or doing charity work or somewhere indisposed. After that, only Bulk & Skull saving them from the Kaleidoscope monster and Rocky in the Plinko episode were worthwhile.

Oh, and Rita came back! While Zedd was sleeping, she used a beauty potion on herself and love potion on him and they got married. Zedd had already lessened as a villain by now because of parental outcry, and the marriage to Rita turned the pair of them into a bit of a joke.

As the rest of my write-up turned into recap after this point, I'll just touch on the good points:
- Rito Revolto is awesome and his chemistry with Goldar and Ed ("That's Zedd!") was a highlight of an otherwise poor season
- It's too bad Kim left in Season 3 because she was at her midriff-baring hottest; Catherine's a poor substitute
- Billy became awesome after dropping the glasses, losing the suspenders, and going sleeveless. Second best fighter after Tommy
- The Rangers-into-kids storyline was cool until the search for the Zeo Crystals.

The biggest plotline of Zeo was the mystery of the Gold Ranger's identity. There were many possible candidates. Tommy's brother was recently introduced and always hanging out with the group, Billy was always mysteriously disappearing whenever Gold Ranger was around, and the guy from VR Troopers did the voice. Hell, even Skull! Either way, the Gold Ranger was really alien triplets who gave the returning Austin St. John the power of the Gold Ranger and Pyramidas, and Billy left to bone some alien babes on Aquatar. Zeo also had the Red Battlezord which was this punchy, hyperactive zord that was just hilarious to watch. Hell, it had four Megazords at once sometimes (Pyramidas, either Zeo Megazord, Warrior Wheel, and Red Battlezord, maybe even Auric the Conqueror).

- Turbo sucked. Except for the Phantom Ranger.

And... In Space. In Space is the sixth season of Power Rangers and easily the best or second best overall season after the first. I'd have stuck to just Mighty Morphin 93-96 if I didn't want to include In Space. In Space takes place right after the Turbo Rangers face some devastating losses. I don't know what they are because Turbo Rangers sucked, but it probably had to do something with the fact that Zordon had been kidnapped and they had to go save him. TJ, Cassie, Ashley, and Carlos take off in a NASADA spaceship to save the universe and leave Justin behind to be with his dad. Justin had a few good episodes in Turbo and In Space, so he's not all bad. Better than Carlos most of the time. Ashley was hot and had a nice romance with Andros, TJ was strategic, Cassie had the most personality and acting chops, and Carlos... he was only memorable because he shared that one episode with Adam.

So In Space really opens with all the villains partying in some interstellar bar that Divatox finally defeated the Pwoer Rangers, that Zordon was captured, and that everything was going right with villainy. Rita & Zedd were there, King Mondo was there, a strange cloaked figure was there, and Sexy McCatsuit Astronema made her first appearance, trumped Divatox & Rita's catfighting with her badass self, then realized there was a spy in their midst and chased off the Red Space Ranger. Meanwhile, the Turbo Rangers rocket crashes somewhere and the Red Space Ranger shows up and saves them. He takes them on his ship and after another attack, reluctantly gives them Space Ranger morphers. Yes! Power Rangers in Space begins!

Okay, not off to the greatest start. They still spend the majority of time on Earth, the spaceship they're on (DEKA) transforms into the Megazord, not a combination of five or six color ones, Andros is apprehensive with them, and the stakes haven't been raised much. Plus, team-up with the Ninja Turtles. Augh.

Meanwhile, Bulk & Skull's journey over the last six seasons is at an all time low. First they were bullies. After Pirantishead and the Thunderzords, they wanted to find out who the Power Rangers were. Then they became junior detectives to score chicks. Lt. Stone was a great addition... until he had to take care of them when they were turned into monkeys (did I mention Turbo sucked?). Now? They're travelling around with Professor E. Gadd looking for aliens. *facepalm* At least Bulk's teaching Spike the samurai ways now, even if he needs some lessons from Jason.

Probably my favorite episode of the entire series was when Adam came back in "Always A Chance" to teach Carlos to have confidence in himself and his abilities as a Ranger. He just shows up, kicks ass, helps Carlos become a decent character, and has a powerful scene deciding to use the cracked Black morpher. It kind of reminded me of when Tommy used up the last of his Green Ranger power in Season 2 to save everyone else. He knew it probably wouldn't work and there was a chance he could die, but it was the right thing to do and it had to be done.

And dammit, how could I forget the best part of Season 2? Goldar vs. Tommy! Tommy was without powers now, or just about to run out, and Goldar had kidnapped him to make him doubt himself and his heroism, but Goldar goes a step too far. Tommy overcomes his doubts and delivers the biggest ass-whooping to the guy who regularly made the Rangers tremble before. Tommy takes out Goldar unmorphed because he ****s Rita's goons up (remember how he decimated Putties in his first appearance?) and goes out with a bang. Until "White Light" and Kimberly faints and Billy discovers the whole hidden room under the Command Center and HOW THE HELL DID I SKIP ALL THIS TEN PAGES AGO?!

Ah, whatevs. Back to bullet points.

- In Space is awesome. I'm not sure how to explain it, but it is.
- Learning of Andros' connection to Astronema is a HUGE turning point
- Countdown to Destruction is the best two-parter since... hmm... Season 1? End of Season 3? The epic battle, all the villains involved, "I'm a Power Ranger!" It was all epic and a culmination of six years of fighting. So good.
- Didn't watch Lost Galaxy or Lightspeed Rescue, though I want to watch Galaxy for Cassie and Karone stuff
- Time Force was awesome and I already talked about it
- Forever Red really should've been two parts, but as it was morphenomenal on its own
- Ninja Storm had Auggie from Higher Ground
- Tommy came back for DinoThunder and had a great episode where he fought three of his past morphs. Yay no Turbo
- Didn't watch SPD, Mystic Force, or Jungle Fury; barely watched Operation Overdrive
- "Once A Ranger" was awesome and hell yea Adam!!!

I've seen about 24 episodes of Power Rangers RPM and it's incredible how much more apocalyptic and devastated their world is compared to the past shows. It's like In Space where they know they're likely to get cancelled after that season so they just want to go out on a high note. RPM takes so little from it's counterpart which, from what I've seen and how much of a Kids Meal Toy the Zords look, is even more comic than Carranger (Turbo).

A computer virus took over everything and the city of Corinth is the only place safe from its machine empire. The rangers are the general's youngest son who is trying to prove his worth to his father and earn his respect and love while his dad doesn't give any both because he's the youngest and likely his favorite and also because the eldest son was lost in combat not long before. I haven't finished the series, but I expect the brother to come back in some way. He's Red. Blue ranger is a Scottish mechanic who always tries to do the right and noble thing, but it somehow backfires. He usually ends up fixing his mistakes noticing he missed a few small details. Yellow's a motorcycle-riding tomboy hottie with a crush on Black... except before the war, she was a spoiled rich princess who treated her faithfully doting butler like a bigger piece of furniture than the Ushiromiya family did in Umineko. It's for comedy and the butler's awesome, but you can tell how much she was affected by his love, her parents' mission to marry her off, her friends' selfishness, and how much she needed to grow up to survive. Black's part cyborg and reluctant hero. At the point I'm at, he's constantly searching for his sister and clues towards his past (he's an amnesiac cyborg) while also fighting off an infection of the Venjix virus. Ranger Series Green's a goof. He was originally a sidekick, sort of an Alpha 5 but even less competent. Then to stop a villain (the very hot Netaya 7) from stealing ranger gear, he equipped the suit himself and bonded to it. Now he's the plucky comic relief who fights worse than Billy in his early days. It's actually not as annoying as it should be. He's Xander. All heart, but no hope in a fight. He was working his way up in the mob before he stole one of their cartels. It was full of medical supplies and he gave everything out to orphans, but didn't tell anybody for fear that they'd crack down on the orphanage.

There's also Dr. K, the creator of the RPM Rangers. <3. She's got some huge backstory that I don't want to spoil. Dr. K is my favorite character in the cast. She's sheltered, somewhat autistic, suffers no fools, chews out Ranger Series Green (probable romantic tension), has very weird girl talks with Yellow, and explains a ton of Power Rangers lore like the morphing grid and zords and why the suits aren't spandex (she will go ape**** if you call the suits 'spandex'). Hell, the whole series is like a deconstruction of Power Rangers tropes. I just linked to the second Choice Video and now I'll link to another that follows it because it's just... it's brilliant.


- Watch until about 4:55. So good!

There's also a Gold and Silver Ranger who... are wack-jobs. They are hyper-intense man-children who LOOOOVE EXPLOSIONS! BOOM! POW! KABOOM! They're impulsive, not afraid of anything, run into the thick of things with little regard for plans or strategy, and should have been killed five times over by where I am. I don't hate them. This is not me hating them. They're actually refreshing after they grow on you and stop shouting explosion noises ever two minutes.

You know what? I think I'm going to find out where I left off and finish it up now. I've gotten through all the seasons including that ****-tastic Power Rangers Samurai in the beginning and think I made my case clear for why it's so high up (answer: because I wrote 32000 characters on it and haven't gotten sick of it since I started 12 hours ago).

Also, now that I'm remembering to do it... off-the-cuff character ranking:

1) Adam Park (MMPR, Zeo, Turbo, with cameos in Space and Overdrive)
2) Tommy Oliver (MMPR, Zeo, Turbo, DinoThunder, with cameo in Forever Red)
3) Dr. K (RPM)
4) Kimberly Hart (MMPR)
5) Lord Zedd (MMPR - In Space)
6) Farkus Bulkmeyer (MMPR -, In Space, Lost Galaxy, Samurai, with cameo in Forever Red)
7) Zack Taylor (MMPR)
8) Eugene Skullovitch (MMPR - In Space, with cameo in Forever Red)
9) Billy Cranston (MMPR, Zeo)
10) Jason Lee Scott (MMPR, Zeo, with cameo in Forever Red)
11) Jen Scotts (Time Force Pink)
12) Astronema (In Space, Lost Galaxy)
13) Wesley Collins (Time Force Red)
14) Goldar (MMPR - In Space)
15) Zordon (MMPR - In Space)
16) Eric Myers (Time Force Quantum)
17) Andros (In Space, Lost Galaxy, with cameo in Forever Red)
18) Ziggy Grover (RPM Green)
19) Rita Repulsa (MMPR - In Space)
20) Ransik (Time Force)

Seasons Watched:
--WIN--
1) MMPR S1
2) In Space
--SEXCELLENT--
3) RPM
4) MMPR S2
5) Time Force
--SEAWORTHY--
6) MMPR S3
7) Zeo
8) DinoThunder
--RAGEQUIT--
9) Turbo
10) Samurai


P.S. -

Power Rangers RPM only lasts a little while longer after episode 24, but some of the bigger revelations happen and the plot ramps up considerably. A damn good show.

--
"But...gorillas don't have claws." - Azazel22
"Broccoli gorillas do." - McMoogle

haha, bravo for reposting that. Though if there are any changes you should tell me, cause I'm not rereading that thing.

--
All the proteins, vitamins, and carbs of your grandma's best turkey dinner, plus 15% alcohol.
[Browncoat] ~Board 570901~ (Maniac64 at work)

Zero changes, sir, except for the post-script.

--
“So we’ve cornered Andy and Kyle in the Swarts stairwell and then this guy comes out of NO WHERE like ****ing Batman or something.” ; ExTha is the man

Today's three pack.

#78 Warehouse 13 (2009 - ____)
Sci-fi
Mega Mana's Ranking: not listed

I'm almost certainly overrating this, but I'm a sucker for fun sci-fi shows and there just haven't been many of those in recent years. Warehouse is a show that is carried by its characters (which is what I prefer). Many of the plots are weak and ridiculous, but the main four characters (or at least 3 of them) are fun and interesting and I just enjoy watching them interact. If you've never heard of this show the plot is basically "historic artifacts get imbued with special powers or items with special powers led to historic people, and now the Warehouse employees (a classic "off the books" sci-fi gov team) must track them down. It's basic and often silly, but like I said this isn't a show you watch for great plots.

#77 Survivor (2000 - ____)
Competitive Reality
Mega Mana's Ranking: Not Ranked (yet?)

As I've said before, I've never been really into the whole reality show craze. I will give credit to one of the originals though. Survivor was a cool concept that has led to many really entertaining seasons. Pearl Islands is my second favorite reality show season (to Joe Schmo S1). Now if they would only stop messing with it and adding dumb gimmicks. And stop putting Russell on my TV. Oh, and Probst needs to stop being so blatently bias towards contestants during tribal council.

76.The Amazing Race (2001 - ____)
Competitive Reality
Mega Mana's Ranking: Not Ranked (yet?)

Did I say one of the originals? I meant two (Road Rules and Big Brother will never appear on this list so I'm done here). Amazing Race was basically the little sister show to Survivor, started the next year by the same producer. And in an average season I will prefer AR. Team dynamics, interesting locals, actual information on other countries, interesting and usually not as convoluted of challenges, and still a good bit of luck and strategy make this a solid show every season. And Phil is one of the best reality show hosts in anything (eat it Probst). My sister and I have actually applied for this show, though the debate on who has to learn to drive stick and how we will deal with eating challenges has yet to be decided.

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Who's that at the door?

#16. The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (2005-____)
CBS, Comedy
Choice Songs:
- IT'S SECRETARIAT EVERYBODY!:
- Doctor Who:
- I'm Yours:
- Istanbul:
- Look Out There's A Monster Coming:
- Melt With You:
- Some of Magic Week:
- Big Bang Theory:
- Oops, I Did It Again:

Whaddadoo, everybody! Whaddadoo. It's a great day for ranking shows! Craig Ferguson's Late Late Show finally gets its write-up after spending months waiting for the top twenty twenty to be reached.

There are some (okay, a lot of) late night talk shows that I enjoy the monologue but dislike the interviews unless there's a top-notch guest on like Tom Hanks, Denis Leary, or Sandra Bullock. There are some where I usually like the interviews better than the first half-hour. Then there are the late night shows I don't watch except for their best bits. Conan's the monologue. Fallon's the interviews. Kimmel's the bits. Leno and Letterman? Meh. Craigyferg's the only one where I love watching the entire thing, every time, no matter who the guest is. The random-whatever-the-hell-we-want-to-do opening, the free-flowing monologue, Checking Ze Tweets (Und Also E-Mails), the note free interviews, the awkward pauses, the blowing the mouth organ, and the kitty graphic. Oh my! Every time I'm in love.

Like a lot of this things this year, I haven't watched it all that often so I have no idea what new bits he's done, what the best interviews have been recently, if Secretariat's still around. Hell, I think the last time I was watching regularly was when Bridger (a.k.a. tiny Conan) was still new and I don't know if he's even appearing on the show anymore. I can't believe it's been half a year since the year he was learning Spanish every episode, even though that ended like four months in. I really need to get on that, but by 12:30 I'm zoned out on GameFAQs or playing video games the next three hours. *shrug*

It's usually fun and games, but there have been some memorable serious things on the show. The Desmond Tutu interview. Holy **** that was incredible. Go look for it right now if you haven't seen it. TVsCraigFerguson channel ought to have it somewhere. I'm not going to link it or else I'll be spending another hour watching Kristen Bell interviews that I've already seen ten times each, but go do so you cheeky little monkeys! And each time his parents died. ****. The guy's human. I think the first time I actually watched the show (or took notice of the show as I watched it) was when he refused to make fun of Britney Spears. That was awesome.

But most of it is comedy. Except for Magic Week. And Shark Week. And Puppet Week. And ooh, did you know? In August, they're doing shows in Paris. With Kristen Bell as co-host! I KNOW! It's going to be fantastic. I loved when Conan did Chicago with the Sears Tower Wearing Sears Clothing and all of his trip to Poland, but Mr. Ferguson and Mrs. Bell in Paris? Explodagasm. I don't know if that's even a thing, but it should be.

Why do I keep mentioning Kristen Bell? Because she is an amazing guest. Watch any interview of hers and she's amazing, but the chemistry on Late Late Show is perfection. If she or Ewan McGregor or Betty White or Neil Patrick Harris or the Mythbusters are on the show, you just know it's going to be an incredible hour of television. Okay, Mythbusters are about 50/50 for turning it up to 11, but Grant gave us Geoff Peterson so they get a pass.

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So what did we learn on the write-up tonigh

I love me some Craig Ferguson. I should really watch Late Late more often, I just never find myself remembering too. I'm bored by all late night shows but his. The man is amazing. His standup was awesome, too.

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snowpork
Guru winner BlAcK_TuRtLe: http://i51.tinypic.com/2r7txtx.jpg THAAAAANKS!

I have never actually watched Craig Ferguson.

I try to avoid watching Kristen Bell interviews. It ruins my mental image that she really is Veronica Mars and not a ditzy blonde. Don't get me wrong, she's hilarious but man do you have to give her credit for playing VM since she is nothing like her irl.

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"Hope is allowed to be stupid, unwise, and naive." ~Sir Chris

What are you talking about? She's definitely not some ditzy blonde. She's got a quick wit and level of humor on par with Veronica, at least from a lot that I've seen. And with how off-the-cuff Ferguson is, they make a great match.

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Mahna mahna

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Pyre GIR (9:26:57 PM): You lack a basic grasp of human nature that can only be learned through living
IamSoCool84321 (9:28:07 PM): ur dumb

What are you talking about? She's definitely not some ditzy blonde. She's got a quick wit and level of humor on par with Veronica, at least from a lot that I've seen. And with how off-the-cuff Ferguson is, they make a great match.

That's good, most the stuff I see her talk she seems like a bit of an airhead. Like her asking to go to the bathroom at the end of the Fanboys commentary via note and then getting all high pitched and embarrassed when they said what she did. Or her saying that she really didn't understand the plots of Veronica Mars. She just doesn't seem that smart sometimes. And in behind the scenes stuff (at least for Flyboys) she always seems delightfully goofy but often reminds me of a kid. If she comes off differently on Craig than great.

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"Hope is allowed to be stupid, unwise, and naive." ~Sir Chris

I guess I could see that impression.

But it doesn't make her any less awesome.

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"Because they don't want to reason about what they consider a masterpiece and be hurt when they realize it was all useless." - Umineko on Lost