Favorite TV Shows Tell Much About Chooser
If you want to cause a furor in your working space, just ask out loud for anyone to name his or her favorite television shows.
Few topics, save maybe why the Cougar football team always seems to stumble en route to the Rose Bowl, will get a better response.
The choices say a lot about the people who make them.
For example, a list that is headed by such sitcoms as “Leave It to Beaver” or “Father Knows Best” likely was created by someone born in the 1950s. “The Brady Bunch” and “Welcome Back, Kotter” are typical choices of those born a decade later.
Those who pick such shows as “Frazier” and “Friends” are too young to know better.
And anyone who picks shows such as “American Gladiators” or “The Q-6 News With Randy Shaw” is trying to put you on.
Whatever, such lists are fun to contemplate. For in any group, even one with a wide disparity of personal tastes, some shows are bound to show up sooner or later.
One such poll of 20 various television fans resulted in this favorite all-time Top 10 list:
“The Andy Griffith Show” (1960-68, still in syndication) - Starring Andy Griffith as homespun Sheriff Andy Taylor, with Don Knotts as his bumbling but arrogant deputy Barney Fife. Also starring Ronny (later Ron) Howard, Frances Bavier as Aunt Bea and Jim Nabors as Gomer Pyle.
“Cheers” (1982-93, in syndication) - America’s favorite drinking establishment starred Ted Danson as womanizing bar-owner (later bartender) Sam Malone, his first waitress-lover Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) and later love interest Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley). Regulars included Woody Harrelson, Rhea Perlman, George Wendt, John Ratzenberger and Kelsey Grammer.
“The Brady Bunch” (1969-74, in syndication) - Robert Reed and Florence Henderson oversaw America’s first, and perhaps most famous, blended family.
“The Dick Van Dyke Show” (1961-66, in syndication) - Dick Van Dyke was comedy writer Rob Petrie, Mary Tyler Moore played his wife Laura, and the rest of the cast included Morey Amsterdam, Rose Marie, Richard Deacon and, of course, Carl Reiner as arrogant comedy show star Alan Brady.
“The Mary Tyler Moore Show” (1970-77, in syndication) - The newsroom at Minneapolis television station WJM-TV boasted Mary Tyler Moore as assistant producer Mary Richards, Ed Asner as news producer Lou Grant, and a funny crew that included Ted Knight, Gavin MacLeod and (1970-74) Valerie Harper as Rhoda Morgenstern.
“M*A*S*H” (1972-83, in syndication) - The Korean War fought with a Vietnam sensibility, this sitcom brought Alan Alda to fame and featured, among others, Loretta Swit, Gary Burghoff, Jamey Farr, Harry Morgan, Mike Farrell, Larry Linville, McLean Stevenson and William Christopher.
“Seinfeld” (1989-present) - Jerry Seinfeld adapted his stand-up comedy act to this format, which ostensibly catches his “real” (read neurotic) life with his “real” (read ultraneurotic) friends, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards.
“The Simpsons” (1990-present) - Cartoonist Matt Groening’s offbeat vision of family life became this hit animated series for Fox, featuring the vocal talents of Dan Castellaneta as Homer, Julie Kavner as Marge, Nancy Cartright as Bart, Yeardley Smith as Lisa and Harry Shearer as, among others, Mr. Burns.
(Tie) “All In the Family,” “ER,” “Happy Days,” “Hill Street Blues,” “The Love Boat,” “The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show,” “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “The Wonderful World of Disney.”
And don’t forget to send us your Top 10 list, as requested on page E1.
, DataTimes