Shows I Liked in Syndication
See upon reflection one of the reasons why I like a lot of what I like especially TV is that it's on hand. Game of Thrones is awesome, but it's only awesome for about 2 months. These are shows that growing up I watched literally everyday. So here goes.
Keep in mind with this list I'm mostly go for shows I've watched most frequently in my lifetime so yes there are a lot of good shows that aren't on the list. Also I'm trying to stay a way from shows that are still airing new shows like The Simpsons, Supernatural, and Southpark.
10. Nick At Nite
Okay to get this one you need a little history lesson. Way back in the early days of cable networks mostly tried to re-purpose shows they had on hand, for instance Disney would run old episodes of Zorro. Nickelodeon was owned by Viacom which was basically a division of CBS, so they had a pretty good library to work from in the good old shows category. Choosing a show from this block would basically mean literally choosing between I Love Lucy and Happy Days so I'm not. The whole point was putting classic television into syndication.
9.Grounded For Life
Okay so the premise of the show is that two teenagers shacked up had a family. Because of not being much older than their kids as you would expect they have to juggle having similar personalities with basically being authority figures even when a lot of the time they don't want to be. My favorite scene in the show is while chaperoning a school dance they come across a bottle of hooch they hid back in the day have and "some fun" with it. For the record the tittle is about that premise being that having a family and being forced to be responsible being tantamount to being grounded for life.
8. Boy Meets World
Okay so this entry started out as being a collection of almost every 90's sitcom that revolved around the kids more than anybody else. Boy Meets World won out by shear virtue of being on more, (in my lifetime) than The Wonder Years, That 70's Show, Malcolm in the Middle, Saved by the Bell, Smart Guy, Sister Sister, Moesha and Everybody Hates Chris. Ultimately though I liked them for the same reason. I'm "relatively" young. Let me put it another way, at this point in my life I've been a kid much more than an adult so far more often thus, far anyway, I related to kid characters. Not only that but Boy Meets World, in particular aired so long that the characters were able to grow up with me. So shows that were about them were about me much more than say Living Single, speaking of which.
7.Living Single
When I was 14 this is how I imagined my wild crazy late 20's would be. And it's on this show other than Friends because everybody has heard of and talks about Friends. This show basically had the same premise and well I'm black.
6. A Different World
On the other hand my early 20's well they were like A Different World. I liked it better than the Cosby Show of which it was a spin off. I always felt the Cosby Show had the weight of showing positive Black people and that sort of kind of limited both the humor and tone of the show. A Different World always seemed like it had more freedom to talk about the lives of a group of people only then really being discovered. The young 20 something college student. See now a lot of networks are catering to that audience but back then not so much, and considering that I was that audience not so long ago I appreciate the show.
5. 7th Heaven
Don't judge me. I couldn't help that there were like 5 episodes a day. This show is pure cornball. If you think Full House was cheesy well this show broke the scale. But despite the cornball most of the characters were well rounded and different enough from each other to create interesting character dynamics.
The show was basically about the goings on of a pastor's family. And while yes it was preachy even now I feel that the show was pretty subtle, mostly cloaking ethical decisions not in christian ideolgy like you would expect but in well basic morality.
4. Gilmore Girls
You know sometimes you just want fluff. Show about nice interesting people doing nice interesting things. That and I related a lot to Rory growing up. Now I think of myself more like Luke. It is basically one of the best "slice of life" shows I've seen.
3. The Outer Limits
Alright I know there will be some haters but I like the new Outer Limits a little bit better than the old. Yes a lot of the plots were updates but I just kind of dig it. And to qualify it let me say the new one aired longer than the first one. But that's not the point. I miss anthology series and I could do another whole post why I think they're a necessary part of the entertainment landscape. They allow writers to try ideas that might not be ready for a full series or movie, but are still interesting.
2. Angel
Humanity is flawed, but deserves a shot because, not despite our shortcomings and that good can only exist along side the choice to do evil, how heroes stand when there is no victory that can be attained and that when nothing you do matters all that matters is what you do. This show taught me all that.
1. Stargate SG1
Look if this post was about my favorite shows period Stargate would be on the list. It was the show that introduced me to science fiction. It took me to new worlds... that all looked like Vancouver but all the same. I saw swarming micromachines, alien gods and a war amongst the stars. And Richard Dean Anderson had some good zingers too.
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