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Top 100 TV Shows of All-Time Countdown

I'm going to count down my top 100 songs of all-time, and better yet, I'm going
to write a little blurb about each song, and if applicable, give credit to the person
who introduced me to it.  Thanks to amazon.com for "letting" me steal these album
images.  I'll also help jog your memory by including a lyric sample from each song.

#81-100

 

#61-80 April 8, 2007
	61. "The Sarah Silverman Program," Comedy Central. 2007-present Even with just a handful of episodes that have aired, I can tell Sarah Silverman's show is going to be one of my favorites.  It's one of those shows that's not at all believable, but still hilarious.  Like Southpark, Sarah goes to great lengths to offend everyone imaginable.
	62. "Chappelle's Show," Comedy Central, 2003-2006 Unlike Dave Chappelle's movie, his TV show is awesome.  Then he unexpectedly walked away from it at its peak of popularity a year ago.  The best are Charlie Murphy's retelling of stories of his visit to Prince's house where they play basketball and then Prince makes pancakes.  The STD puppet theater is very funny as well.
	63. "Growing Pains," 1985-1992 A great show from the late 80s was Growing Pains, starring Alan Thicke.  As good of a show as it was, I probably have only seen 25 episodes or so, so I can't justify it going any higher.  I mostly remember the theme song where there were pictures of the actors as kids growing into adults.  And then Alan Thicke stands alone outside his house not wanting to leave the camera.
	64. "Insomniac with Dave Attell," Comedy Central, 2001-2004 A great show from the college days was Insomniac, where Dave Attell explored the underbelly of various US cities at night.  The show was a lot more fun when I thought it was feasible for Dave Attell to actually visit all those places in one night.  But then I found out it was filmed over the course of several days.
	65. "Tales from the Crypt," HBO, 1989-1996 Back in the elementary days when Dusty Hovde would come over for a sleepover, we'd tune into a staticky channel 12 (FOX) for Tales from the Crypt at 11pm.  There were these short horror stories, usually in the dark humor genre.  That crypt keeper was pretty scary.  He was this corpse in a cemetary that narrated.
	66. "Perfect Strangers," 1986-1993 The inspiration for my TV sitcom "912 North Egan" was Perfect Strangers.  Well, the theme song anyway.  It was originally part of the ABC TGIF lineup along with Full House and other shows in the late 80s to early 90s.  Larry and foreign cousin Balky were living together as the Odd Couple in Chicago.  Did you know that Family Matters was a spin-off of Perfect Strangers?  True story.
	67. "MAD TV," FOX, 1995-present Here's another one that Dusty and I watched back in the day.  In fact, it may have come on right before Tales from the Crypt.  I still remember watching the first episode on a Saturday night.  It was a nice alternative to Saturday Night Live.  In fact, for years, I liked MAD TV more.  Especially the Stuart sketches.
	68. "The Price Is Right," syndicated series, 1972-present With or without K-La as a contestant, The Price Is Right is always a classic.  But I never feel lazier than when I make a point to watch it since it comes on at 10am on weekdays.  I really should be doing something more productive at that time.  Many, many summer mornings were spent watching Bob Barker.
	69. "The Soup," E!, 2004-present Patrick, Jason, Liz, and other friends always make a point to watch The Soup.  I used to find that show terribly annoying, but now when we watch it I find the humor.  The host makes fun of the biggest headlines in news and pop culture.  I always enjoy his "What the Kids Are Watching" segments.
	70. "Home Improvement," ABC, 1991-1999 My, how one person's opinion can change the fate of a show.  Chris Ahrendt despised this show with a passion.  I used to like it.  But Chris made such a compelling argument for this show's idiocy that I took it to heart and haven't been able to sit through an episode in years.  But I used to make a point to watch the new episodes.
	71. "The Late Show with David Letterman," CBS, 1993-present Of the three big late night show hosts, Letterman is maybe my favorite, but as far as the shows go, Letterman seems to drag a little compared to Leno and Conan.  A lot of the show is him ad-libbing and talking to the band and stuff... not as rich on content.  But I still like it.
	72. "Upright Citizens Brigade," Comedy Central, 1998-2000 I had to go out and buy the DVD of this show after seeing one particular episode that was amazingly funny.  This guy is at a party and the host tells him he has a time machine in his bedroom and they can go back in time and meet Jesus, but instead the partygoer keeps getting sexually abused by the host and not going back in time.  And then there's that fortune cookie sketch that is uproarious.
	73. "MacGyver," ABC, 1985-1992 This was always one of Dad's favorites.  There was no sticky situation Richard Dean Anderson couldn't finagle his way out of, using whatever tools or gadgets happened to be within reaching distance at the moment.  Can you name the only other actor in the opening credits?  It was Dana Elcar.
	74. "The Cosby Show," NBC, 1984-1992 We didn't get NBC until 1991, so I couldn't watch much of The Cosby Show.  But after piecing a lot of it together through Nick at Nite, it became a respectable show.  Mr. Stobbs made the whole 7th grade class watch the drinking episode for Health class.  We all learned a lesson that day.
	75. "Jerry Springer," syndicated series, 1991-present I fell for Springer in the tumultuous winter of 1996 when school was called off 31 times due to massive blizzards.  We'd run into the house around 10:30 and Granny would be sitting there watching the news with the volume down.  I'd flip it to Springer and we watched on as the fights became more and more staged over time.
	76. "DuckTales," Disney Channel, 1987-1990 One of the greatest cartoons ever made was DuckTales.  Uncle Scrooge and his nephews went on some very bizarre adventures as Scrooge tried to make more and more money.  One episode that I remember is when they went to the underworld where these slugs had roller derbys and caused earthquakes.  All of Scrooge's riches went into a crack in the ground and he was ruined.
	77. "Animaniacs," WB, 1993-1998 Kids loved Animaniacs, but I almost felt like it was made for adults at times.  They did an entire one-hour episode on the mysterious whereabouts of Joyce DeWitt from Three's Company.  What kid would know who Joyce DeWitt was?  That show was way funnier than it got credit for.
	78. "Whose Line Is It Anyway," ABC, 1998-present I know a few people that swear this is the greatest show ever made.  Wayne Brady, Ryan Stiles, and company are indeed very talented to come up with comedy bits like that off the top of their heads.  My favorite part is when Wayne does the impromptu song about someone in the audience.
	79. "Eerie, Indiana," USA, 1991-1992 I almost completely forgot about this show until I stumbled upon it while compiling this list.  Eerie, Indiana was almost as good as Tales from the Crypt, or Are Youy Afraid of the Dark.  There was one episode that comes to mind where the mom puts her boys in tupperware containers so they won't age.  They've been in the same grade for decades.
	80. "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," NBC, 2006-2007 A very promising new show for the 2006 fall schedule was Studio 60, complete with a star-studded cast.  Somehow the show failed miserably.  Maybe it was too much to have two shows about fake late-night shows on the same channel.  I know Jeff LaPlant was sad to see it go.

#81-100