1990 Oscar Viewing Project

"It's the nineties, for God's sake," and indeed it is as we encounter our 34th Oscar Viewing Project (see links to the other 33 below).  The Oscar Viewing Project is now in its 2nd third (we'll likely never be below that at this pace, as I try to get through 5-7 of them a year), and we're entering the first year of what my brother & I refer to as our "wilderness period" of movie watching.  I was born in the 1980's, but the movies didn't become my life until the mid-1990's.  This was driven by a series of events, specifically watching my first Oscars at the 1995 ceremony (i.e. the Braveheart Oscars) on repeat after my brother & I taped it, the inclusion of AMC (and eventually TCM) in my parents' cable package, the advent of the AFI 100 Years TV specials, the discovery of Entertainment Weekly at our school library, the opening of a standalone video rental place in my town, my parents letting me watch PG-13 movies, and my mom instituting Tuesday night movies, where she would take my brother & I (regardless of what was showing) to the 7 PM showing (i.e. the G/PG/sometimes PG-13 slot) while my dad had golf night, and so pretty much every week in the summer from roughly 1995 to 1998 we would watch a movie.  This gave me a pretty extensive vernacular with what was going on in the world of movies, and generally meant I had seen 20-30 films from the calendar year by year's end.

From 1990-1994, though, it's a weird spot because these are not "classics" that I had to seek out or have no memory of watching in real-time, but were really when movies were still just a "normal" thing for me, not something I was obsessed with and made my entire personality.  In 1990, I definitely watched at least two movies (The Rescuers Down Under and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) in theaters, and so I have at least some context for this year in real-time, even if the bulk of these movies are me watching them later at home.  By 1995, Oscar-related films like Apollo 13 & Babe I'd seen in movie theaters, and had known they were going to be Oscar nominees beforehand, and so the early 1990's feel like a weird time of catchup for me as a teenager, a feeling that has stretched well into adulthood.

I give you this preamble in part because this is a personal journey of Oscar exploration, and in part because I think it's good context.  The early 1990's are a time where I see some of these movies from a child's eyes (I remember my parents' VHS copies of films like Ghost & Pretty Woman, and secretly watching them when I was too young to understand what they were wholly about), and revisiting them as an adult has shifted some of my perspective on them, but in other ways they are immobile.  As always, to ground you in the films of the year, the domestic Top 10 at the box office in 1990 was:

1. Home Alone

2. Ghost

3. Dances with Wolves

4. Pretty Woman

5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

6. The Hunt for Red October

7. Total Recall

8. Die Hard 2

9. Dick Tracy

10. Kindergarten Cop

I have actually seen all of these movies, and to underline my point about growing up with them, I had seen 70% (save for #7-9) by the time I turned 16.  Honestly, you have to go Another 48 Hours at #14 on the domestic box office list to find a movie I haven't caught from the top box office that year.  While I have seen all of the Oscar nominees below, there are a couple of precursor contenders that I haven't seen yet, namely The Russia House, White Palace, and Q&A that I haven't caught yet, but plan on doing so before we get to the My Ballot.  

But now, it's time to go back to a time when Nelson Mandela was being freed in front of the world, the Hubble telescope was having us reach for the stars, Roseanne Barr was teaching us new ways to never sing on national television, and the entire nation was mourning the loss of Jim Henson.  And of course, let's remember the movies...

Note: For the last time (likely ever) the Visual Effects category was not a competitive category, but instead was given to Total Recall as a special prize.  We'll have a proper category for this when we get to it for the My Ballot with five nominees, and it's worth noting that it's relatively accepted that Dick Tracy, Ghost, and Back to the Future, Part III were shortlisted for this but none of them got nominated (all of which I've seen as well), but I want to note that Total Recall was seen by me for this project, and I generally was impressed with the visual effects, particularly the way that they used makeup effects toward the end of the picture. 

Picture

1. GoodFellas

2. Ghost

3. The Godfather, Part III

4. Dances with Wolves

5. Awakenings

The Lowdown: Let's begin with me saying that 1990 is, collectively, one of the first years I ever saw all five of the Best Picture nominees (I've had this lineup completed since before I graduated high school, which was a while ago), and also a year where (both for Oscar and in general) I don't love the movies themselves as much as others.  The glossy movie star-driven blockbusters that would become the decade's calling card hadn't started yet, and we don't have some of the best prestige work that I enjoyed in the 1980's.  Of these films, it's an easy call for GoodFellas, one of the best films of Martin Scorsese's career.  Ghost ages better with reappraisal, and Godfather 3 is not as bad as its critical reputation allows, but GoodFellas is an easy champion.

Director

1. Martin Scorsese (GoodFellas)

2. Stephen Frears (The Grifters)

3. Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, Part III)

4. Barbet Schroder (Reversal of Fortune)

5. Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves)

The Lowdown: It's weird to think about now, but at one point in time Martin Scorsese was basically the Hitchcock or Kubrick of his era-a man who was constantly nominated for Academy Awards but never was able to win any of them.  Meanwhile, I'm giving him his third statue for the OVP (again, links below) for the really incredible way that he upended the gangster flick after decades of hero-worship of it through the Godfather pictures (which of course in this case he competed alongside).  I will also acknowledge I have some respect for Dances with Wolves, but you're going to find out they do not extend to Kevin Costner's involvement in the film (and this ain't its final 5th place finish).

Actor

1. Richard Harris (The Field)

2. Jeremy Irons (Reversal of Fortune)

3. Gerard Depardieu (Cyrano de Bergerac)

4. Robert de Niro (Awakenings)

5. Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves)'

The Lowdown: A very odd lineup, and not a strong one (this isn't Oscar's fault...my My Ballot for 1990 is going to be very weird unless I start discovering some stronger stuff in the upcoming viewings...this is much more a year for actresses).  Oscar went with Jeremy Irons, and honestly this wouldn't be the worst thing that ever happened for the OVP-Irons is a really good actor, one who somehow only got one Oscar nomination despite being in the AMPAS wheelhouse (British, handsome, classy, constantly in prestige fare), but I'm going to go with Harris over him.  Harris's part is a bit more theatrical, but it also has a stronger build, and he's also batting in a lesser movie while still excelling.  The rest, even Robert de Niro, don't really need mention.

Actress

1. Anjelica Huston (The Grifters)

2. Kathy Bates (Misery)

3. Meryl Streep (Postcards from the Edge)

4. Julia Roberts (Pretty Woman)

5. Joanne Woodward (Mr. and Mrs. Bridge)

The Lowdown: While I will own that I'm not inspired by 1990 as a whole, that doesn't mean that I don't have moments, and this is one of the best Best Actress lineups Oscar ever pulled together.  Any of these women would be a winner, and I wouldn't be stunned if my My Ballot looks a lot like this-even Woodward in fifth place is doing a lot of strong work.  I ended up going with Huston over Bates (a controversial choice, I know) not because Bates isn't splendid (one of the best Oscar upsets), but because Huston nails this part so well that I have long been obsessed with it.  The interiority in her work, the way that she nails the animal instinct of that final scene...she's honestly never been better.  I'm aware this means that Bates may never get an OVP statue from me, but...that's why we decide this in a vacuum, and I prefer Huston in a vacuum.

Supporting Actor

1. Joe Pesci (GoodFellas)

2. Andy Garcia (The Godfather, Part III)

3. Bruce Davison (Longtime Companion)

4. Al Pacino (Dick Tracy)

5. Grahame Greene (Dances with Wolves)

The Lowdown: Joe Pesci is one of those truly spectacular actors who rarely works...but when he does, it always felt like an event.  In 1990 you've got him not just nailing the fiery persona behind GoodFellas but also playing the funniest henchmen outside of a DC Comic in Home Alone.  Davison is subtler than I would've expected given the subject matter (his final scene is the best in the movie) and I actually think Andy Garcia brings a hot-headed style to Godfather III (and no, this is not just because I palpitated every time he was onscreen...Andy Garcia in Godfather III was a formative experience for a teenage John watching this on VHS for the first time), but they just aren't in the same hemisphere as what Pesci brings to his doomed mob hitman.

Supporting Actress

1. Whoopi Goldberg (Ghost)

2. Annette Bening (The Grifters)

3. Lorraine Bracco (GoodFellas)

4. Diane Ladd (Wild at Heart)

5. Mary McDonnell (Dances with Wolves)

The Lowdown: While I didn't go with the consensus choice for Best Actress, that won't be the case here.  Whoopi Goldberg owns Ghost, giving us a lesson in comedy, and totally nailing the frequently cliched role of "best friend to the leading lovers" that has long been the bread-and-butter of the romantic genre.  I do really like Annette Bening, particularly the glossy over-her-head feeling she gets the further The Grifters goes (without ever totally telegraphing it), and Lorraine Bracco has strong moments even if she's pitched a little to the hilt in some scenes of GoodFellas, but like Oscar said-this is Whoopi's year.

Foreign Language Film

1. Cyrano de Bergerac (France)

2. The Nasty Girl (Germany)

3. Ju Dou (China)

4. Journey of Hope (Switzerland)

5. Open Doors (Italy)

The Lowdown: For me, this is a pretty tight contest between France & Germany.  I liked elements of Ju Dou, but honestly Raise the Red Lantern a year later leaves a much longer shadow.  Cyrano is more conventional, a space we've gone to before, but this is also my favorite adaptation of Rostand's story, and it doesn't have the not-always-successful narrator tricks of The Nasty Girl, even if the latter has a more compelling story (and honestly, a better lead performance).

Adapted Screenplay

1. GoodFellas

2. The Grifters

3. Reversal of Fortune

4. Dances with Wolves

5. Awakenings

The Lowdown: Adapted Screenplay goes to the crooks, and the two films I pretty much universally love of this bunch: GoodFellas and The Grifters.  There's something wonderful about The Grifters, a movie I find I champion more than most do, as it strips down some of the best elements of the neo-noir (the sex, the deceit, the ability to have a non-Hays Code ending) and creates something that feels fresh and calculating, but I can't deny GoodFellas in the end, the extremely rare screenplay so well-written it even makes the narration work.

Original Screenplay

1. Ghost

2. Metropolitan

3. Avalon

4. Alice

5. Green Card

The Lowdown: A pretty middling field, even if none are objectively bad.  I'm picking Ghost not just because it's the best, but also because it takes a really challenging genre to make without it turning camp or cloying (the romantic drama-fantasy) and really makes it sell (it's also genuinely funny).  Metropolitan is the most sophisticated (I was stunned to find out it's not based on a play or novel), and part of me wants to go with it but I think its ending doesn't work at all, and neither Avalon nor a weak default nomination for Woody Allen really compare to the Unchained Melody of Ghost.

Sound

1. Dances with Wolves

2. Total Recall

3. Days of Thunder

4. The Hunt for Red October

5. Dick Tracy

The Lowdown: We're shifting into the Oscar era for Best Sound where we are very much valuing the big, action-film even over the prestige fare of the giant epic (Dances with Wolves is the only epic in this bunch, and it's not without its battle scenes).  I actually really like what the team does with Dances with Wolves, between the Civil War beginnings to the way that it adds elements of "the last western" realism to the scenes with Costner off finding himself, all while beautifully bringing in that lush John Barry score.  Total Recall and its futuristic & impressive battles would also have been a good idea, but I think I'm ready to give a statue to Oscar's Best Picture winner here.

Sound Editing

1. The Hunt for Red October

2. Total Recall

3. Flatliners

The Lowdown: It's a running joke with Oscar that he tends to, when it was a separate category, always think first of submarine movies when it comes to Sound Effects Editing (look at the history of the category-it pops up way more than you'd think), and to some degree I agree with him.  The water effects, constant claustrophobia, & many buttons & levers of The Hunt for Red October are really done and a large part of what builds the suspense, even if the space age adventures, and especially some of the final scenes in the dying planet of Mars in Total Recall hold their own.

Score

1. Dances with Wolves

2. Home Alone

3. Avalon

4. Ghost

5. Havana

The Lowdown: I feel like a lot of these OVP Score contests from the 1970's through the 2020's is a battle of "to John Williams or not to John Williams" and this is a particularly tough one as I adore the score to Home Alone (and honestly Avalon or Ghost would be a good winner here too...there's only one true dud in this lineup).  But John Barry's score to Dances with Wolves is just a perfect piece of music, and adds the best parts to a movie I really did not care for overall.  It deserves the W.

Original Song

1. "I'm Checking Out" (Postcards from the Edge)

2. "Somewhere in My Memory" (Home Alone)

3. "Sooner or Later" (Dick Tracy)

4. "Blaze of Glory" (Young Guns II)

5. "Promise Me You'll Remember" (The Godfather, Part III)

The Lowdown: You know that line that I said above about how movies have connections to your childhood you can't really escape.  For me, one of the few true memories of childhood, specifically around Christmas, that I need to bring back every year is hearing "Somewhere in My Memory" playing in the background.  It's also a movie that reminds me, more than maybe any other, of my little brother as I know how much he loves Home Alone, which gives it a nostalgic necessity I really cherish.  I'm judging on a scale (and honestly all of these movies are good), and for me "I'm Checking Out" is better (and better-used in the film) so I'm giving it the trophy, but it's tight and you should expect both to end up in the My Ballot.

Art Direction

1. Dick Tracy

2. Hamlet

3. The Godfather, Part III

4. Cyrano de Bergerac

5. Dances with Wolves

The Lowdown: Honestly, a really solid lineup (there are no losers in this bunch, even if I won't repeat all of them with my My Ballot).  I tend to like the Mel Gibson Hamlet more than most (for the record, people turned on this one well before they turned on Gibson), and I think the castles & work here is really beautiful.  But Dick Tracy is so inventive, it's impossible to deny-the comic book lights, the way that it feels at once like it's springing from a dime novel AND a 1940's Hollywood set, despite relatively modern makeup & visual effects surrounding it-and all that color!  Glorious!

Cinematography

1. Dances with Wolves

2. The Godfather, Part III

3. Avalon

4. Dick Tracy

5. Henry & June

The Lowdown: Leave it to those crazy pervs in the Cinematography branch to totally go for a film as banal as Henry & June just because they tastefully shot most of the sex scenes so well.  That random silliness aside, this is really a battle between the increasingly aged & sepia-hued glories of The Godfather, Part III and the gorgeous expanses of Dances with Wolves (points are due for the way that Avalon feels of another time though).  I would not be opposed to giving it to the third Godfather film (and lord knows Gordon Willis deserved a competitive Oscar at some point), but it's hard to argue with the glories of the West.

Costume Design

1. Hamlet

2. Cyrano de Bergerac

3. Dick Tracy

4. Avalon

5. Dances with Wolves

The Lowdown: Hamlet has been cited three times (to date) for Best Costume Design, and like 1948 (see link below), we are giving it the gold medal here (1996's version with Kenneth Branagh is still unseen, but don't worry...we'll get there eventually-every one of these contests I do I become more & more determined to truly finish this project...also fun fact within a fun fact-I have been to Elsinore in my world travels, and thought it was breathtaking).  For me, the biggest competition is the period costuming in Cyrano.  I think some of the comic book costuming in Dick Tracy is a bit silly, and Avalon doesn't stand out, but the gorgeous 17th Century decorations of France were on-par with 14th Century Denmark, but not quite enough to conquer to the monologuing Dane.

Film Editing

1. GoodFellas

2. The Godfather, Part III

3. Dances with Wolves

4. Ghost

5. The Hunt for Red October

The Lowdown: I feel at this point like a broken record-GoodFellas was the best, and somewhere behind it is Godfather III and Ghost.  I will own, given its really rough reputation as a movie, that Godfather III being in second here is no accident.  I think a lot of the problems with it are casting (Sofia Coppola, apologies, but you are the weakest link...and George Hamilton is not a strong substitute for Robert Duvall), but the editing works-we get a really strongly-structured story, one that feels inline with the originals even if it isn't that level of classic (like, say, GoodFellas, which basically invented a new type of editing with its cocaine-inspired manic nature).

Makeup

1. Dick Tracy

2. Edward Scissorhands

3. Cyrano de Bergerac

The Lowdown: It feels weird to end in Makeup, not Visual Effects (I believe this is the only time we'll do this as we're alphabetical and Makeup has been a category for a much shorter time than Visual Effects), but I'm glad we're doing it with two icons of the category.  There are only winners between the garish brilliance of Dick Tracy and the transformative genius of Edward Scissorhands (honestly, Cyrano ain't bad either), but I'm going with Dick Tracy both because there's more characters to be in awe of and because it feels so in-tune with the glorious silliness of a comic strip, rather than needing to take itself too seriously.

Past Oscar Viewing Projects: 1931-32, 1948, 1957, 1964, 1972, 1981, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025

Minnesota's Senate Race Turns Ugly

Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN)

The Michigan primary continues to be in the news, and gaining headlines, particularly with Abdul El-Sayed's campaign against Haley Stevens hitting the biggest roadblock of the cycle with a late endorsement from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the popular governor of the state who has near universal approval ratings from Democrats.  In a race with a high number of undecideds (many of whom have said in polls that Whitmer's endorsement would sway their decision), it is entirely possible that Stevens has gained the lead here.  If she wins, it'll be a damned impressive move, and prove Whitmer's power headed into 2028 where she's likely to be on many VP shortlists.  If she loses, well, Whitmer has said she's done with politics-this would help make that a reality.  Either way, it was news El-Sayed didn't want.

But arguably Michigan isn't even the nastiest primary in the country.  In a year where the Democratic Primaries have been brutal (look at Texas, where Jasmine Crockett has issued a statement endorsing James Talarico, but has repeatedly brought up that she thought her loss was "racist" which has made it harder for Talarico to make gains with Black voters, who make up 12% of the electorate and will need to pretty much universally back Talarico in record numbers for him to pull off the upset), this weekend an attack from the Peggy Flanagan campaign in Minnesota might be the harshest attack I've seen this cycle, one that at once feels shocking and also shocking in that she's using it at all.

The attack came up during an event at a Flanagan campaign rally, where State Sen. John Hoffman (D-MN) was speaking.  Hoffman, for those who don't remember, was attacked & nearly killed by a political assassin last year, the same man who shot and killed Melissa & Mark Hortman.  Hoffman said during his speech that Craig, when she had called to check in on our family "she asked that I endorse her campaign" and later in the same speech said that a "dear friend" whom he chose not to name asked on Craig's behalf for an endorsement while Hoffman was still in the ICU and again when he was recovering at home.

Craig immediately refuted the claims, sharing her personal text messages with Hoffman that showed a text on June 14th, 2025 saying she and her wife were praying for Hoffman and his wife, and then no text between until August 5th of this year, when she said "I would love to talk with you about the open Senate race when you're up for it."  It's worth noting that by August 5th of last year, Hoffman had started to make public endorsements again (he had endorsed Matt Klein for the MN-2 race just a few weeks prior), indicating he was up for such conversations.

This is a really tricky moment for Craig's campaign; it's not yet clear if the story has legs, but it seems inevitable that if Flanagan's camp brought this forward, they want it to be part of their closing argument of the campaign, so it'll be picked up by major news outlets across the state.  Hoffman is viewed by many as a hero for surviving the assassination attempt, and refuting him (basically calling him a liar) comes with a lot of inherent risks.  If she did do this, it's political suicide-she'll have called a hero of the Democratic Party a liar when he was telling the truth, and she will essentially be ending not just her campaign but her political career.  It's been said repeatedly, but many assume that the second place finisher in the Craig/Flanagan primary will be appointed by a Gov. Klobuchar to fill her seat.  I've been skeptical of this logic (Klobuchar won't want to pick a known loser), but now Klobuchar won't touch that with a ten-foot pole.  Craig basically has one shot at winning, and she just got a potentially fatal blow from the Flanagan campaign, even with the evidence that she's provided that, at the very least, she didn't text Hoffman about this until after he was clearly up for endorsements.

But this also is a really bold thing for Flanagan to do, and not without inherent risk.  Unless they have definitive proof that Hoffman did this, she jeopardizes making Craig supporters super angry, potentially enough to not support her in the general.  Hoffman didn't do this without her permission...only a moron would think he did this without checking with her first.  So she chose to have him say this, which makes me think three things: 1) either she had absolute proof, and she knew there was no risk because she's luring Craig into a trap (in which case she's brilliant, and hats off to her campaign), 2) she didn't see a downside because Craig is now damned if she does and damned if she doesn't in calling what Hoffman said was false or 3) she is not thinking clearly about what the damage of this could be if she cannot definitively prove that Craig tried to get Hoffman's endorsement while he was in the hospital.

That's because in an extraordinarily nasty campaign (turn on a TV in Minnesota-you will see nothing but attack ads against these two women), Flanagan just made it so that Craig voters won't trust her, and people don't like to vote for people they don't trust.  Craig provided some (though not definitive) proof that she didn't talk to Hoffman.  It's worth noting, of course, that due to the vagueness of Hoffman's accusation it's next to impossible for Craig to totally rebuff her claim because he said it was a friend of hers, who could of course be anyone (essentially turning this into a "whom do you trust more" exercise).  Flanagan could provide the name of the "dear friend" and have him share his side of the story, but so far Hoffman has not outed said friend.  If she/he chose not to say this man's name, this reads as shady, potentially even lying to try and hurt Craig's campaign, which is at once both fascinating & really risky.

It's fascinating because, from my vantage point-Flanagan is winning.  She's led in most polls, has the DFL endorsement, and a number of high-profile Minnesota Democrats (like Tina Smith, Al Franken, & Keith Ellison) have backed her campaign.  Additionally, candidates that look like her (save for El-Sayed) have done well across the country-the Bernie wing of the party is having a banner year in primaries, and she's backed by Bernie Sanders.  One of the cardinal rules of political campaigns is you don't attack your opponent when you're winning-you basically try to take a knee until the election, and suffocate them with silence.  This is the opposite of that: it means that Craig is on the defense, sure, but it also gives her an opening to put a scandal right back in Flanagan's court if the public thinks Flanagan's camp made this up to hurt Craig.  Which makes me wonder-in a contest that has been severely under-polled, is it possible that Flanagan's internals show her losing (or tied for a win), and she felt the need to throw this out because she isn't actually winning?  That's the only logical reason to have done this (honestly even if it's true I wouldn't have advised doing it if I was on Flanagan's team and saw her up by a solid margin because it adds an unknown element that you can't control)...so either her campaign is run by fools or this is a tighter race than I'd assumed.

Lt Gov. Peggy Flanagan (D-MN)

It's risky, though, because Flanagan isn't just attacking Craig.  In an era where people seem to have parasocial connections to politicians, she has just thrown the gauntlet against Craig's supporters, many of whom are moderate.  We've seen that in Texas, where Crockett supporters are making it very difficult for Talarico to coalesce all factions in his race.  We're certainly about to see that in Michigan regardless of who wins.  Craig might pull a Crockett and endorse Flanagan by press release after this, but it's hard to see her doing the work to help Flanagan befriend her supporters after this.  In an election where Flanagan has struggled to fundraise, and has run pretty far left, she just made it much harder to win back the middle.

The assumption that no Democrat can lose Minnesota in 2026 is sound.  The last time an incumbent president's party flipped a seat they lost in the last election for the Senate was in, well, Minnesota in 2002.  It's very rare (and anyone who knows their Minnesota history knows just how odd that race was...Indiana/North Carolina in 1998 might be more traditional examples).  But Flanagan, should she win the primary (and I continue to think she will) is in a uniquely challenging position-she has run pretty far to the left of the state in her primary, she has now alienated her primary opponent (and potentially her moderate supporters), she has been linked to a number of scandals in the Walz administration that were enough for Walz to not run for reelection, and Walz's approval ratings are really poor (also it's worth noting he still has not endorsed her, which will 100% change if she's the nominee, but likely means he won't go to the mat for her).  Throw in that Michele Tafoya is an experienced reporter (i.e. she's better on the stump than any Minnesota Republican running for the Senate since Norm Coleman), and you have a situation where Flanagan might be looking at a single-digit finish.  Klobuchar will help, but honestly...Klobuchar voters are used to splitting tickets (she was able to win a number of Trump voters in past at-bats)...assuming she can ride Amy's coattails isn't as easy as it sounds.  For the record, I think Flanagan is the favorite even in this circumstance (i.e. even if people think she lied about Craig), but I would say she's more vulnerable than, say, Chris Pappas.

I'll also close with this because this is my home state and I do have a personal take on this.  I find what Craig is being accused of disturbing.  John Hoffman is my state senator, he lives in my town-the house where his assassin attacked him is literally down the street from me and I drive by it nearly every day; waking up to that news felt personal to me, and scary as I had friends & family calling to ask about it.  That Craig would be so cold as to try and get a political endorsement from him in that circumstance is disturbing.  But I also am disturbed that the Flanagan campaign has brought this forward, and I expect proof, particularly given Craig's text messages indicate that at the very least she didn't text him about this.  I expect Flanagan, who chose to make this public, to out the "dear friend" as to stay anonymous would be tantamount to baselessly attacking Craig without giving her an opportunity to defend herself, and would be exceptionally cruel (and in my opinion, prove that Flanagan's team at the very least exaggerated this claim).  Let's not forget-Flanagan did not need to make this public, it's not like this was a rumor floating around that needed to be addressed before today.  If Flanagan chooses to remain silent about this, I'll be honest-I will assume that this was an exaggeration, or at the very least they don't have any evidence the "dear friend" was working in conjunction with the Craig campaign.  And if she does stay silent about it before the primary, I think she made an enormous error because Craig supporters will rightfully be furious.  I know I won't volunteer for the campaign, put her sign in my yard, or donate if she doesn't prove that what Hoffman said is true...and while I'd be hard-pressed not to vote DFL, this would be the most apathetic I've ever been to vote for a Democrat in a general election.  And if you're losing me, you're losing a lot of moderates who have no problem voting for someone else.

My Top 25 Favorite Shows

Every few years, I make a point of updating my favorite Film, TV, and Song lists as a time capsule of how I felt at the time.  What stayed, what goes...I'm someone who is constantly encountering new movies & television, and make a point of seeking out what's interesting and emerging.  So it makes sense that I was going to do a Top 25 (that's the number of shows I always pick) for TV this year as it'd been a few years, and of course I thought it'd be fun to do on the blog.

I will own, though, that the belief that your ability to appreciate new media dissipates as you get older is, to some degree, starting to happen for me with television.  I don't know if it's a case where I'm just not giving new shows a chance, or if new television isn't compelling (I think it's a combination, if looking at this year's rather unimpressive Emmy nominees is any indication-this is the best TV could produce in 2026?), but as you'll see, only five of these shows are still on the air (though, it's worth noting, one just went off the air in the past month), and only two of those five premiered in the past 10 years.  By-and-large, there are very few TV shows that I have fallen in love with that are still airing (I do my own personal Emmys on a Golden Globes timing so I've got a few more months, but will own that this year is looking peaked so far).

And that, for me, is what is the hallmark of good television.  I am very much a movie guy-I watch a lot of TV (probably more than I should), but TV is not really my jam.  I think it's too predictable, too overdone.  I like a good story, one that is told well, with relatively little repetition unless it's making a point.  A movie, with just 90-180 minutes of typical length, certainly can fall into that trap, but it largely stays away from it.  TV, though, can stretch for years.  There are shows that I don't have on this list even though I watched them (on the air) cover-to-cover because they went on too long and stopped being worth it in my memory.  Even shows that are on this list clearly had their moment in the sun and never stopped: The Simpsons is in the Top 10 shows, but of its 37 years on the air, the latest episode in the run that I have here is toward the end of the 7th season.  This isn't because I stopped watching-it's because it was never as impressive as it was those first few seasons.

But "love" was the word I wanted to highlight, because that's what I think about when it comes to great television.  Look at my Top 100 movies and you'll find cold, tough films like The Conformist or A Clockwork Orange-these are not films that are easy to love.  But I'd go out on a limb and say I love all of these 25 shows in the sense that I rooted alongside them, I wanted to know what happened to the characters and they became a part of my life while I watched them...and after.  Television is a thing that I watch over-and-over, much more so than movies, I'm just pickier about it.  Other than something like, say Clue and The English Patient, I doubt there are a lot of movies I have seen more than, say, 20 times.  But Friends or Bob's Burgers or Community...I have watched those episodes more times than I can count.  As a result, this feels honestly more indicative of my personality than even my movie list-I have spent thousands of hours with the characters on this list.  I have spent more time with Abed Nadir or Kate Austen or Eric Cartman than I have all of my cousins combined.

Rather than just unveiling my Top 25 favorite shows, I thought I'd do a little twist on the format and list my Top 10 favorite episodes of each series.  This was MUCH harder to do than the series.  For starters, it's unwieldy (some of these series have literally hundreds of episodes...remembering the kinds of details to pick out favorites is a challenge).  It was oddly easy to name the favorite episode in each series (you know what you're looking forward to)...what became harder was hitting, say, the 8th best episode because then it became splitting hairs.

I learned some things about myself with these.  I famously don't like series finales when rewatching.  Sometimes they're too much-it's not on this list (though I do enjoy it), but I will almost always stop watching Schitt's Creek before the ending because I don't want to let it go (and to a degree I don't totally like the ending).  I want that familiarity to be with me.  Also, some of these shows their final seasons are their least successful.  Oddly, though that's kind of true for pilots which are sort of crystallized in some cases & the show needs to get off-the-ground, and I have an equal number of pilots listed below as I do final episodes (six each).  It tends to be Season 2-4 that fare best (all but two of these series have at least one episode in their second season), as that's when you've gotten to know a series the best but it can still surprise.

I'm going to now present the list in descending order (#1 being my favorite show).  I'll do a quick little write-up for each, but will note a few things.  First-this is based on my favorite shows (just want to underline that if you hadn't already gotten it).  Second, I'm not a completist about TV (I give up shows once I'm bored, and also I don't see every show); I have a running list of classics I need to watch someday, but they take a backseat to movies.  I will note, though, that I've seen every episode to date of all 25 of these series, even the ones with 10+ seasons.  Every series has at least two seasons (there are great miniseries out there, and maybe someday I'll make that list, but the goal of this is continuing series so I wanted to truly do multiple season shows); I also didn't include web series, though I would be remis if I didn't say that Bad Boy on YouTube as I chronicled here would be a contender if I did (see it, see it, see it).  I also cheated a little bit with two-parters, and did include one movie that is based on these series because it feels like a "very special episode."  This updates every few years, and occasionally shows get back on (#20 dropped from the list a few years back to reemerge last time, and #23 was actually in 26th place last time and finally got onto the list with virtually no new episodes in the interim).  Also, I put a parentheses behind each episode title to indicate season and episode number, so (1.4) is the fourth episode of the first season, for example.  Enjoy, and share your lists in the comments!

25. Severance (2022-Present)

1. The We We Are (1.9)

2. Cold Harbor (2.10)

3. Woe's Hollow (2.4)

4. Defiant Jazz (1.7)

5. Who is Alive? (2.3)

6. What's for Dinner? (1.8)

7. Chikhai Bardo (2.7)

8. The After Hours (2.9)

9. Attila (2.6)

10. Good News About Hell (1.1)

Severance is one of the only shows on this list to still be on the air, and of the five that's still on the air, it's the only one that is truly long-form for the entire run of the series (three of the remaining are generally self-contained, and the fourth is largely season-contained).  I tended to favor episodes, therefore, that feed into the central mystery and drama, which means that this list could honestly change the most the longer I feel if there's a payoff or if there's new turns that make me favor older episodes that hinted at those turns.  Severance is also in a dubious spot here-it's only on its second season (I did not include any single-season shows here), so it could falter (shows like, say, Westworld or The Bear might've been a threat here if they had kept up what they did the first two seasons) but the first two seasons were so good I feel confident endorsing it).

24. The Good Place (2016-20)

1. The Burrito (2.12)

2. Michael's Gambit (1.13)

3. Whenever You're Ready (4.13)

4. Janet(s) (3.10)

5. Rhonda, Diana, Jake, and Trent (2.11)

6. Somewhere Else (2.1)

7. Pandemonium (3.13)

8. Chidi Sees the Time-Knife (3.12)

9. The Trolley Problem (2.6)

10. Dance Dance Resolution (2.3)

On the flip side of Severance is a show like The Good Place, which honestly had a fine-but-unremarkable first season until its finale.  It was an inventive show, but I distinctly remember when I was catching up (I started watching it sometime in the middle of the second season if memory serves) thinking "why is this so critically-acclaimed?" but when the twist of "Michael's Gambit" happens, it becomes much, much funnier & confident, and honestly more sincere.  This is one of the few series that has its finale on here, which is unflinchingly beautiful (I wish they'd had the guts to not put a silly stinger on it, but until that moment it may well have been one of only two series whose best episode might've been the finale).

23. Heartstopper (2022-26)

1. Kiss (1.3)

2. Perfect (2.8)

3. Promise (2.3)

4. Boyfriend (1.8)

5. Challenge (2.4)

6. Forever (4.1)

7. Crush (1.2)

8. Love (3.1)

9. Friend (1.5)

10. Together (3.7)

The most recent show to finish its run, and the only series on this list to have its connected movie on the Top 10, Heartstopper is odd because it's a show that 1) demographically, I'm probably too old for (proof that I can fall in love with a series very much made for Gen Z) and 2) it may be the only series on this list that I largely don't give a damn about the supporting characters.  Joe Locke & Kit Connor's chemistry is so good in Heartstopper, it's hard to focus on anything else.  I partially wish that Heartstopper had been a full 22-episode season because there are aspects of the side characters I think might've been worthy in that situation, but you'll note that virtually all of my favorite episodes are very clearly major moments in Nick & Charlie's evolution.

22. Only Murders in the Building (2021-Present)

1. Open and Shut (1.10)

2. Sitzprobe (3.8)

3. The Boy from 6B (1.7)

4. The Last Day of Bunny Folger (2.3)

5. Fan Fiction (1.8)

6. I Know Who Did It (2.10)

7. True Crime (1.1)

8. Grab Your Hankies (3.3)

9. After You (5.2)

10. The Show Must... (3.1)

We're clearing out all of the recent shows pretty early here (every other remaining current show started over a decade ago).  Only Murders is a series that is just a joy to watch each week.  It tries to be about more than that sometimes, but honestly the best parts of this adventure is just Charles, Mabel, & Oliver riffing on each other, each scoring the next zinger or punchline, solving another murder in the silliest way possible.  I love me a mystery, and you'll see here that while the three "very special episodes" stand apart, a lot of these are just damned funny moments from the series (or finally revealing the killer).

21. Happy Endings (2011-13)

1. Cocktails & Dreams (2.16)

2. The St. Valentine's Maxssacre (2.13)

3. Blax, Snake, Home (2.1)

4. The Kerkovich Way (2.17)

5. Everybody Loves Grant (2.14)

6. Barefoot Pedaler (1.11)

7. More Like Stanksgiving (3.4)

8. The Ex Factor (3.11)

9. Baby Steps (2.2)

10. The Incident (3.16)

One of two series on this list that clearly ended before its time but still has stayed in my heart, Happy Endings is a show that I occasionally feel was thrown off by the constant need to wrap up each season, and there are parts of Season 3 where I believe/hope that they were going to rewrite and give certain characters a shot (Penny deserved another round with Pete, same with Max and Grant) which neither of the two script-reading codas to the series really captured.  But it's also one of the funniest series of all time, and one that in episodes like "Cocktails & Dreams" proves the chemistry was unstoppable with the main characters.

20. 30 Rock (2006-13)

1. Generalissimo (3.10)

2. Reunion (3.5)

3. MILF Island (2.11)

4. Queen of Jordan (5.17)

5. The Natural Order (3.20)

6. Dance Like Nobody's Watching (6.1)

7. Double-Edged Sword (5.14)

8. Lee Marvin vs. Derek Jeter (4.17)

9. Mrs. Donaghy (5.11)

10. Tracy Does Conan (1.7)

30 Rock is a good example of a show that I love and that I generally think of as steady throughout its entire run, so this list (I made these in a bottle, not in any way trying to spread the wealth) kind of backs that up.  With the exception of the 7th season, every one has at least one entry on this list, and while I think in part that's telling (the seventh season tried to wrap and do multi-episode arcs in a way that many of the early episodes really didn't), it also shows that 30 Rock really started out strong and ended strong.  These episodes are in part driven by three of my favorite recurring guest stars (Jon Hamm, Elaine Stritch, & Sherri Shepherd).

19. Sex and the City (1998-2004)

1. I Heart NY (4.18)

2. Ex and the City (2.18)

3. The Good Fight (4.13)

4. The One (6.12)

5. Hop, Skip, and a Week (6.6)

6. Anchors Away (5.1)

7. Shortcomings (2.15)

8. Are We Sluts? (3.6)

9. Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda (4.11)

10. Four Women and a Funeral (2.5)

I never watched beyond the second episode of And Just Like That because I could instantly tell that the series was going to be dreadful and no amount of Carrie/Charlotte/Miranda would make it worth it, and I made it through the two movies with nostalgia and love of the characters carrying me through, but when it was good (particularly Seasons 2-5) Sex and the City was an ode to a specific type of adulthood.  One that involved culture, food, life, romance, friendship, and yes, even sex, that didn't need to have shame about the fact that you didn't look like the Huxtables or the Taylors or the Cleavers.  As someone who would grow up to spend the entire time that I was these women's ages being single in the city (part of it even in New York), it felt aspirational as much as entertaining.  The best episodes of the series you'll notice are frequently about that balance, about falling in love with being single itself.

18. Planet Earth (2006-23)

1. Cities (2.6)

2. Islands (2.1)

3. Extremes (3.6)

4. Humans (3.7)

5. Ice Worlds (1.6)

6. Mountains (2.2)

7. Deserts (2.4)

8. Freshwater (3.4)

9. Ocean (3.2)

10. Ocean Deep (1.11)

Maybe the most out-of-place series on this list, and the only one that is truly non-fiction, Planet Earth is as much here on its own merits as it is a placeholder for the many, many, many David Attenborough series that I have watched & adored continually through the past 20 years.  For me, the best episodes of this series combine learning something new and having genuinely jaw-dropping nature where you kind of can't believe there was a camera at that exact moment.  Season two is very much my favorite, as you can see it takes up 40% of the list with only six episodes in total.

17. Succession (2018-23)

1. Connor's Wedding (4.3)

2. America Decides (4.8)

3. All the Bells Say (3.9)

4. With Open Eyes (4.10)

5. This Is Not For Tears (2.10)

6. Church and State (4.9)

7. Which Side Are You On (1.6)

8. Safe Room (2.4)

9. Nobody is Ever Missing (1.10)

10. Chinatishire (3.8)

Most of the series on here, as I mentioned above, tended to peak in seasons 2-4, which is of course the case for Succession.  This series, though, stands apart from every other series on this list as its final season was undoubtedly its best one.  The series' early moments, where we're establishing this family of misfits, don't work nearly as well as when we understand what tragically broken and deeply bad people everyone in this is.  The best part of Succession is that it makes you, desperately, want people like Shiv and Ken and Roman to be the redemptive hero...but in this family, there are no heroes.  Everyone is their own version of corrupted.  The best episodes of the series show that, and the destruction that can have on the world when you give these morally bankrupt people control of the country.

16. Murder, She Wrote (1984-96)

1. If It's Thursday, It Must Be Beverly (4.7)

2. Murder Takes the Bus (1.18)

3. The Sins of Castle Cove (5.17)

4. Sticks and Stones (2.10)

5. The Murder of Sherlock Holmes (1.0)

6. Mirror, Mirror on the Wall Parts 1 & 2 (5.21-22)

7. Who Threw the Barbitals in Mrs. Fletcher's Chowder? (4.12)

8. Mr. Penroy's Vacation (5.3)

9. The Corpse Flew First Class (3.12)

10. Who Killed JB Fletcher? (7.14)

Because there are so many, and because they are so similar, Murder, She Wrote was the hardest of the 25 series to corner down to ten episodes.  Do you judge based on which was the hardest crime to crack (if so, that is on this list though I won't spoil it by pointing it out because if you tell someone there's a twist they know to look for it)?  Do you judge based on the quality of the guest stars (in which case, the best one, Jeanne Crain, definitely makes the cut as well)?  For me, I judge it based on the one that is the funniest, and keeps our treasured Jessica close to home (the Cabot Cove episodes were always the best, which is why all of the move to NYC post-Season 7 is off of the list here).  But man do I love this show-I used to time my Sunday nights based on when Andy Rooney was on 60 Minutes because I knew we were just moments away from Murder, She Wrote.

15. Friends (1994-2004)

1. The One where Everybody Finds Out (5.14)

2. The One with the Embryos (4.12)

3. The One with the Rumor (8.9)

4. The One with Monica's Thunder (7.1)

5. The One with Chandler in a Box (4.8)

6. The One with the Prom Video (2.14)

7. The One where No One's Ready (3.2)

8. The One with the All the Poker (1.18)

9. The One with the Cheesecakes (7.11)

10. The One with All the Thanksgivings (5.8)

At one point Friends was immobile as my favorite show (honestly, in my whole life I've probably only had two shows I've ever consistently called my "favorite" which is not the case for movies...if you want to know the other one, skip to the bottom of this article or just read through this blog a bit as I talk about it a lot).  It's now at #15 but that's because it's not omnipresent for me anymore-a recent revisit made me realize though that I still loved it, especially the first few seasons (honestly, the show was never as good as it was before Monica & Chandler fully got together, and then it truly never recovered after Joey & Rachel).  But when it was good, like these episodes, showing people just welcoming themselves into life, it was a warm hug every Thursday night.  Few shows have gotten such a momentous finale watch from me (I threw a party with about 15 people shoved into a tiny dorm room).

14. Ally McBeal (1997-2002)

1. The Theme of Life (1.17)

2. Fools Night Out (2.3)

3. The Last Virgin (4.5)

4. Troubled Water (3.5)

5. Cro-Magnon (1.12)

6. Cloudy Skies, Chance of Parade (4.20)

7. The Ex-Files (4.10)

8. In Dreams (2.11)

9. Pilot (1.1)

10. Just Friends (3.10)

If there was a show that competed against Friends for the top of my affection in high school, it was 100% Ally McBeal.  This was the first show I thought of that was really one that I would consider mine.  And part of that was because I not only watched it live, but because it was (for years) incredibly hard to find (it was one of the last major series of its era to get a DVD release) it existed mostly as something I would offer up.  The fifth season does not hold up (too many characters were gone, and the sugar high of Robert Downey, Jr.'s best performance the year before left a gap), but a funny, snappy, culturally delicious portrait of life it was in its heyday.  I still hear my theme song.

13. Gilmore Girls (2000-07, 2016)

1. Kiss and Tell (1.7)

2. That Damn Donna Reed (1.14)

3. The Lorelais First Day at Yale (4.2)

4. Twenty-One is the Loneliest Number (6.7)

5. The Big One (3.16)

6. I Can't Get Started (2.22)

7. Raincoats and Recipes (4.22)

8. The Incredible Shrinking Lorelais (4.14)

9. The Bracebridge Dinner (2.10)

10. Come Home (5.12)

Fun fact-"The Theme of Life" (Ally's best episode) starred Gilmore Girls staple Liz Torres in a guest spot.  I point that out both because it's true and also because Gilmore Girls would 100% be on the Top 10 of this list if it had stuck a little more to the themes of its early episodes and not the dreaded Season 7.  I recently rewatched most of the series, and while there are moments toward the college years where it starts to feel a bit stretched, it still works and is funny & sweet & lovely & romantic (growing up is realizing that Logan was the guy for Rory because Rory was also kind of shallow & materialistic, and we wanted her with Dean or Jess because we wanted to date them...or maybe just I did).  I love how the show upon rewatch gives us deeply imperfect characters (no one on this show is a saint except maybe Lane, which would not be the case in 2026 when Manic Pixie Dream Friend status would've been bestowed upon Sookie at least).  But the seventh season is unwatchable, and is best left discarded for a repeat of one of the more Stars Hollow-centered episodes where romance is left in the dustbin and the girls get to just enjoy their magical lives.

12. South Park (1997-Present)

1. Scott Tenorman Must Die (5.4)

2. Woodland Critter Christmas (8.14)

3. Fat Butt and Pancake Head (7.5)

4. Imaginationland Episode III (11.12)

5. Make Love, Not Warcraft (10.8)

6. Dances with Smurfs (13.13)

7. Cancelled (7.1)

8. Casa Bonita (7.11)

9. Doubling Down (21.7)

10. The List (11.14)

There are three animated series on this list, the three animated series of my life, and all of them I've seen them through the good and the "maybe we should cancel this."  While one still regularly spits out bangers in the mid-teens and one could've retired in Season 15 & been the greatest series of all time (but has since become a hollow shell), South Park is in the middle.  The first Trump administration, and the horrifying parallels with Cartman & Mr. Garrison on the show mean that we have one episode from the 21st season here, by far the latest in a run any series on this list was able to get an entry, proving it could give the best far into the series.  But the true best is probably Seasons 5-8, when Cartman would graduate from a stupid bully into a sociopathic supervillain, and we'd fall under the spell of a lovable scamp named Butters.

11. The Office (2005-13)

1. Casino Night (2.22)

2. Beach Games (3.23)

3. Dinner Party (4.13)

4. Boys and Girls (2.15)

5. Women's Appreciation (3.22)

6. Niagara (6.4)

7. The Dundies (2.1)

8. Customer Loyalty (9.12)

9. Stress Relief (5.14)

10. The Job (3.24)

I started watching The Office because I worked in an office where everybody would not stop talking about The Office.  Similar to Gilmore Girls, I don't actually watch the full series when I rewatch it (I have probably S1 of The Office slightly more than S7 of Gilmore Girls, but I'd be shocked if I'd seen either of them more than maybe twice outside of the initial viewing, whereas the rest of the series I've hit double digits on).  For me, the cringe humor of this series is secondary to the camaraderie that comes with a chosen family at work, which is close-to-my-heart as most of the best friends I would make in adulthood would come from working, in, well, an office.  While I never met my Jim or Pam...still open to it?  Also, kudos to the series for recovering from the brutal post-Michael back-half of S7 and all of S8 for a surprisingly strong S9 (it's #8 on this list for a reason).

10. Desperate Housewives (2004-12)

1. One Wonderful Day (1.23)

2. Bang (3.7)

3. Guilty (1.8)

4. Free (4.17)

5. Something's Coming (4.9)

6. Pilot (1.1)

7. Come on Over for Dinner (7.23)

8. I Know Things Now (2.21)

9. Down the Block There's a Riot (7.10)

10. A Spark. To Pierce the Dark (5.18)

You'll note that I'm old enough that I remember what nights certain shows were on, my brain not yet functioning around the idea of a streaming drop giving me my favorite shows (you'll also note that with the sole exception of Heartstopper, none of these are released in a binge model, even the streamers).  For eight years, you did not talk to me on Sunday nights from 8-9 PM because I was spending it with Susan, Gaby, Bree, & Lynette.  I was obsessed with Desperate Housewives, and watched it without fail even as others fell by the wayside.  The best episodes are the ones that leaned into either each season's mystery (i.e. the the finales) or the disaster episodes in the middle (gotta love the era of the sweeps month), which makes up the majority here, including the brilliant conclusion to the first season's mystery.  I even liked S8, though by then too many characters had left & we needed to call it quits.

9. The Leftovers (2014-17)

1. The Book of Nora (3.8)

2. I Live Here Now (2.10)

3. The Most Powerful Man in the World (And His Identical Twin Brother) (3.7)

4. International Assassin (2.8)

5. Cairo (1.8)

6. Gladys (1.5)

7. G'Day Melbourne (3.4)

8. The Garveys at Their Best (1.9)

9. Guest (1.6)

10. The Prodigal Son Returns (1.10)

I will own, though, that I started watching Desperate Housewives around episode 4 or 5, so it wasn't truly start to finish.  Honestly, only three series on this list did I actually start watching on the very first episode, in real time, and watch until the true end in real time.  One of those three was The Leftovers, a series that honestly most don't get to claim that distinction, as the tone of the first season was off-putting for some, who got more into it when the second season came about.  But I was a fan from day one, and loved the horrifying repercussions that it shows the world ending when 2% of the population disappear.  This is also notable as the only series on this list where the finale is the best episode (Veep, not on this list but a strong show, is another that would have this distinction), giving us as close to a "meaning of life" conversation we'll probably ever get from a TV series.

8. The Simpsons (1989-Present)

1. Cape Feare (5.2)

2. Marge vs. the Monorail (4.12)

3. Lisa's First Word (4.10)

4. Mr. Plow (4.9)

5. Bart Sells His Soul (7.4)

6. A Streetcar Named Marge (4.2)

7. Lisa's Substitute (2.19)

8. Treehouse of Horror V (6.6)

9. Sideshow Bob Roberts (6.5)

10. Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in the Curse of the Flying Hellfish (7.22)

I mean, I've tacitly insulted The Simpsons a couple of times in this article, so I think I should point out that putting it #8, in a Top 10 after watching hundreds of TV shows through the years, is truly an achievement, and I love it so much.  The #1 episode here is the single funniest half hour of television I think that's ever been produced and I'll just watch it for no reason regularly to revel in the genius.  I also think that people who focus on the first ten seasons alone miss out-there are great episodes in seasons 11-17 or some that are worth mentioning even if I didn't above.  But nothing compares to the God Tier levels this would hit in roughly Seasons 4-7, where every episode seems to be a classic.  I mean, look at the deliciousness of the guest stars alone in this Top 10 (Kelsey Grammer! Dustin Hoffman! Linda Ronstadt!)...all perfection.

7. Pushing Daisies (2007-09)

1. Bad Habits (2.3)

2. Girth (1.5)

3. Pie-Lette (1.1)

4. Comfort Food (2.8)

5. Circus, Circus (2.2)

6. Dim Sum Lose Some (2.5)

7. Pigeon (1.4)

8. Bitter Sweets (1.8)

9. Water and Power (2.12)

10. Smell of Success (1.7)

I declare a level of ownership on all of these series, but in terms of shows I think people would call a "John Show," other than the Top 3, this would be the one you'd name check.  I adore Pushing Daisies, and it's truly a show where there is no bad episode.  Even the ones that are lesser are still miracles, wonderful bits of mystery, romance, & joy all rolled into a warm doughy pie tin.  The main problem with Pushing Daisies ever cracking the Top 5 is that there simply weren't enough episodes. Given that Severance will get a second season, this will be the shortest series on this list by the next time that I update this in three years, with only 22 episodes in total and only two seasons.  My favorite episodes focus on side characters Olive & Emerson, and honestly care less about some of the multi-episode subplots (which never work as well as the standalone bits), and of course that means that the Top 2 are both totally moments where Kristin Chenoweth takes center stage.

6. The Twilight Zone (1959-64)

1. The Monsters are Due on Maple Street (1.22)

2. The Obsolete Man (2.29)

3. It's a Good Life (3.8)

4. Time Enough at Last (1.8)

5. The Masks (5.25)

6. Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up (2.28)

7. The Eye of the Beholder (2.6)

8. A Nice Place to Visit (1.28)

9. Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (5.3)

10. Five Characters in Search of an Exit (3.14)

Television is personal, and it's about where you are when you see it.  It therefore makes it harder to fall for shows that you see retroactively.  While only three shows (Pushing Daisies, The Leftovers, & Heartstopper) are series that I watched in real time with their releases, only one show I didn't watch at least part of the series in real time with when it initially aired: The Twilight Zone, which ended twenty years before I was born.  But The Twilight Zone is the most cinematic TV series ever made, and is just a cascade of brilliant performances & writing.  Look at the above list-it features not just jaw-dropping twists, but the best performance ever from Oscar nominee Burgess Meredith, and complete proof that William Shatner was capable of great acting.  Each New Year's Eve, I go through and watch the whole marathon, in awe of what Rod Serling was able to achieve.

5. Mad Men (2007-15)

1. The Suitcase (4.7)

2. Shut the Door. Have a Seat (3.13)

3. The Other Woman (5.11)

4. The Strategy (7.6)

5. The Wheel (1.13)

6. Waterloo (7.7)

7. Meditations in an Emergency (2.13)

8. Nixon vs. Kennedy (1.12)

9. The Beautiful Girls (4.9)

10. The Gypsy and the Hobo (3.11)

Rearranging the chairs of shows #2-5 (which were the same Top 5 last time, but the comedies got moved up and the dramas got moved down) is partially because I don't revisit #4 and #5 as much (I've maybe rewatched Mad Men once from start to finish, and never have Game of Thrones).  But they're both shows that I couldn't stop thinking about & pondering when I first went through, and are objectively spectacular series.  Of the two, Mad Men is the most consistent (all but Season 6 is represented here), and has some of the greatest acting I've seen on television.  The duet between Don & Peggy was so good in "The Suitcase" we'd have to repeat it years later in the nearly as strong "The Strategy."

4. Game of Thrones (2011-19)

1. The Rains of Castamere (3.9)

2. The Winds of Winter (6.10)

3. The Lion and the Rose (4.2)

4. Blackwater (2.9)

5. The Door (5.6)

6. Battle of the Bastards (6.9)

7. Baelor (1.9)

8. Hardhome (5.8)

9. The Children (4.10)

10. And Now His Watch Has Ended (3.4)

Bring up Game of Thrones today, and literally the words "disappointment" and "worst finale ever" will come up almost instantly, which I don't entirely think is fair, and I'm sensitive to given the #1 show on this list also got the same criticisms and I defended the ending (which history has proven I was right).  I really want to do a rewatch of this this winter to see how it stacks up as a collective story as I think some parts of the finale will actually work better as a unit, but you'll note that nothing past Season 6 is on this list for a reason.  The best parts of this series (the shocking horrors of the Red & Purple Wedding) prove that Game of Thrones was the series that established the "no one is safe" mentality that TV hasn't really escaped in the years that followed.

3. Community (2009-15)

1. Modern Warfare (1.23)

2. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (2.14)

3. A Fistful of Paintballs (2.23)

4. Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television (6.13)

5. Cooperative Polygraphy (5.4)

6. Cooperative Calligraphy (2.8)

7. Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design (2.9)

8. Remedial Chaos Theory (3.4)

9. Basic Lupine Urology (3.17)

10. Critical Film Studies (2.19)

I moved up Community because I think it feels (along with #1 & #2) the show that encapsulates what I love about television the most-it is so homey, so moving, and so fleeting.  Again, we're skipping the famously worst season (the fourth) but every other season gets an episode in this Top 10, including the finale, which (like The Good Place & The Leftovers) manages to bring the series someplace higher.  The series is really about seven broken people who come together and find a chosen family and feel truly loved for themselves for the first time.  That the series doesn't ignore that characters like Pierce, Troy, & Shirley leave, but instead makes it a commentary about how loved ones eventually lift out of your day-to-day life, and you have to trust that the love you carry for them was real even when you don't get reminded of it every day (and that you are, in fact, worthy of love), becomes the message of the final episode.  Beneath the absurdist and meta-commentaries, Community is truly about something, and of the Thursday-night NBC comedies of its era, somehow the series that was the least heartfelt is the one that has the most emotional core.

2. Bob's Burgers (2011-Present)

1. The Bleakening (8.6-7)

2. The Plight Before Christmas (13.10)

3. Housetrap (5.19)

4. The Hauntening (6.13)

5. Topsy (3.16)

6. V for Valentine-detta (8.8)

7. I Bob Your Pardon (9.7)

8. Broadcast Wagstaff School News (3.12)

9. The Fresh Princ-ipal (9.15)

10. Brunchsquatch (8.1)

If Community is the show that I feel the most vulnerable with, Pushing Daisies the show that I feel the most mine, Lost the show I love most...Bob's Burgers is the show I feel the most at-home within.  Most of the shows on this list I rewatch every couple of years, letting it simmer.  There are shows that get an annual screening, but they're few and far between (basically just Community & Pushing Daisies).  And then there's Bob's, which I'll watch from start-to-finish (or more often backward) at least twice a year; it's on so much in my house I have regularly referred to it as my roommate.  The show, like The Simpsons and South Park, has some of its weaker entries right at the beginning, when it was still finding its groove (and admitting that unlike the Simpsons and the Griffins, this is a show about a family that loves each other AND has good parents), it's also a show that continued to be top drawer way longer than any series on this list.  Its second-best episode is in its 13th season!  And with its really strong Halloween, Thanksgiving, & Christmas entries (bring them back!) it also is a testament to the joys of watching a show in real time, across a full season.

1. Lost (2004-10)

1. Through the Looking Glass (3.22)

2. The Constant (4.5)

3. Deus Ex Machina (1.19)

4. The End (6.17)

5. Exodus, Part 2 (1.24)

6. The Candidate (6.14)

7. The Incident, Parts 1 & 2 (5.16)

8. Exodus, Part 1 (1.23)

9. There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 & 3 (4.13)

10. The Other 48 Days (2.7)

I mean, what more can I say about Lost that I haven't already said on this blog (seriously-I'm rewatching in January and I need article ideas that I haven't already used).  Click the label at the bottom of this article for Lost and you will see how often I have talked about it here, including an article ranking the best-to-worst episodes I've already done.  Lost is pretty much perfect, and really well-balanced (every season has an entry in this Top 10, the only 5+ season series to claim that in this Top 25), a show that gives me such joy every time I watch it, and revel in the way it tells a mythological, complicated mystery on top of stories of broken people, finding their way in the world through their friendships, rivalries, & yes, even the occasional romance.  Lost is honestly never moving from this spot.  Give or take Harry Potter and The Oscars, it is the most consequential pop culture or arts relationship I have.  When I die, I hope that Michael Giacchino's score in the finale is playing at the funeral.