Game Of Thrones: The token currently-airing show! Which is based off an incredible series of books, which I am re-reading very slowly. One of the things I most appreciate about the books (and mostly the show, even if less so) is how human everyone is. There are a few nakedly evil people like Joffrey and Ramsey, but even Cersei and Melisandre have complicated, real motivations. The show couldn't be more perfectly cast, either.
Friday Night Lights: My high school's football team was not good. Nor was it much of a big deal. I could never understand the quasi-religious fervor with which states like Texas treat high school football...and then, I watched Friday Night Lights and saw how it knits together communities. It (almost) never creates artificial drama to have something to tell a story about...the natural drama of sports and life are realized beautifully and realistically and Tami Taylor is my own personal hero.
Parks and Recreation: I still need to see the final season, actually. But before that last set of episodes aired, Drew and I caught up with it all on Netflix. I remember seeing the ads during The Office when it first aired and thinking it sounded gross, but lots of people telling me to push through a rough first season finally got me there. And I love it! Leslie Knope is love.
30 Rock: I remember this and Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip coming out about at the same time, and 30 Rock was not the one that people were putting bets on to survive. But it was so funny and Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy are such amazing characters. The wit and wackiness and heart hold up, even if some of the more topical jokes don't so much.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer: I love this show so much. There were some rough seasons (4 and 6 come to mind), but the entire scope of it, about a young woman coming of age and learning how to use and own her power, is just awesome. And then there's of course the Whedon-ness of it all, with the pop culture references and the crisp dialogue and slang that honestly still probably influences the way I speak.
Sex and the City: I'll admit the conspicuous consumption of this one doesn't hold up super great in the post-recession era. But it did a lot to move the pop culture discourse towards the idea that there are more than just two kinds of women (virgin and whore). Sure, Samantha's rapacious sexual appetite is often played comedically, but what's more important is that she's not reduced to just a libido: she's a powerful, successful woman with healthy friendships and an entire life who happens to really like getting laid. It's not without problems, but the idea that our sex lives should be treated with both seriousness and as just one facet of our existence with no more power to define us than anything else was a message that needed to be heard. And the pot episode is still a favorite.
The Wire: It's not always the easiest show to watch, but it might be both one of the best and one of the most important ones I've watched. Against the backdrop of poverty, crime, and the drug trade in Baltimore, the show explores the various institutions that are a part of perpetuating the status quo even as they try to change it: the police, organized labor, politics, school, and the press. And Omar Little might be the greatest single character I've ever seen.
Battlestar Galactica: I watched this during my stint of unemployment between taking the bar exam and finally finding my first legal job. I'd heard everyone go on and on about how good it was, but honestly didn't expect that I would especially like it. I was wrong. It's magnificent and not only is it an incredible show about politics, it wrestles with philosophical questions about things like what it means to be human in a way that's accessible rather than esoteric.
Six Feet Under: To start at the end, the finale of this show might be the most perfect one I've ever seen. But without the brilliance that came before it, it wouldn't have resonated. A portrait of a family that wrestles with everyday life and relationships while they run a funeral parlor that is beautifully written and acted.
My So-Called Life: I didn't watch this when it originally aired (I would have been a little young for it), but I did watch the one amazing season of it during law school. It's such a naturalistic portrait of teenager-ness and trying to figure out who you are, and who you want to be, and how to get from here to there. It's incredible.
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