John's Favorite Shows #8: Desperate Housewives

During the month of April...and now part of May, I'll be doing a rundown of my favorite television shows of all time.  If you've missed any of them, check out the links at the bottom of this post for all of the past roundups.

There are very few shows that I watched the entire series from start to finish.  Most shows I start a season or two in and get caught up on DVD, rather than starting on opening night, and then spent year after year watching and catching up.

I think the fact that I never initially binge-watched Desperate Housewives (an almost impossible thought for most of us today) is what makes it feel so special.  I spent years speculating on the mysteries of this series, wondering what would happen next for the characters.  It was the height of the mid-Aughts soap opera trend (one that is still celebrated in shows like Revenge and Scandal) and at one point the biggest thing on television.

I also want to say that, before I get into the show, that there is an odd misconception that the show never fully recovered from its first season high, and to me, I think that's a bit of a misnomer.  Yes, the first season was truly the best season of the show, but the show would continue to have truly excellent seasons (I'd argue both Season 7 and especially Season 4 would fall into this camp).  It's also a show that I feel like I grew up with in a way-I started watching when I was a sophomore in college, and watched it every week in the meantime, so it saw me through coming out of the closet, graduating from college, my first job, my move to New York-it has seen a lot of me through the year, which any good, long show can claim on yourself.  As a result of both my personal love of it, as well as its longevity (180 hour-long episodes to sort through), this was not an easy list to make, but I hope it's one that you enjoy.  Without further adieu...

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

Part of what I hate about the entertainment media is that in searching for a major scoop, they give away something that ruins the show a bit.  That was never more apparent than in this episode, which saw the end of Edie Britt (the press had already released that Nicollette Sheridan would be released from her contract, a court case which would greatly overshadow the latter run of the series in terms of gossip).  That said, the impact is still very much intact when Edie is killed after seeing Orson running from a house.  Had this not leaked to the press and you knew it was coming, that final spark would have come as (pardon the pun) an absolute shock after you assumed that Ms. Britt, one of the best reasons to watch the show, had survived.

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

Ask any DH fan, and they'll have either a very high or very low opinion of the many disaster episodes that capped most of the mid-season episodes.  While none of them quite had the effect of the first (we'll get there), the final one was a nice, almost Twilight Zone like episode, with Paul Young's opening of a halfway house in the neighborhood causing Lynette to protest, which ended up creating a riot on the street that threatens almost everyone, including Keith (Brian Austin Green, one of the many men who pursued Bree during the series) and Juanita (who is trapped in a car).  We had come to expect a major character to die in every episode of the disasters, so in an odd twist, this one we almost felt we had escaped relatively unharmed until a lone gunman, out of the dark, shoots Paul Young.  The results of this action would unfold for the remainder of the season, in one of the series' best turns.

8. "I Know Things Now" (#2.21)

The second season of the show was famously panned, but upon revisit, you'll find at least a few things to recommend it, not least of which is this episode, which features one of the best scenes of Marcia Cross and Shawn Pyfrom's (really, this relationship may have been the most important on the show outside of the main quartet's friendship) long-running feud.  Bree, recovering from addiction and infatuated with her sex-addicted sponsor Peter, learns that Andrew has seduced Peter to get back at her.  In the process, she decides to leave him by the side of the road with money and in an acting triumph (how is it possible that Cross never won an Emmy for this role?!?) fights her motherly instincts, dead inside from having to play the only card she has left in her deck: abandoning her son.

7. "Come On Over for Dinner" (#7.23)

The ends of most seasons gave hints of the mystery that would unfold in the next season.  Perhaps the best way this was ever used was in the penultimate finale, where we had knowledge that we had never known before at the beginning of a season: who was the killer/culprit?  In this case, we knew that was in fact the four housewives trying to cover up for Carlos who killed Gaby's stepfather in self-defense, but because he was unarmed they couldn't report it for fear that Carlos would go to jail forever.  We also got the bitterest of sendoffs with Tom and Lynette's marriage, and Bree at her most take-charge perfect.  All-in-all, a wonderful setup to the final season.

6. "Pilot" (#1.1)

What an entrance.  We are greeted to a perfect day in the neighborhood, and then suddenly, a terrible event (the suicide of Mary Alice Young) leads us into the world of Wisteria Lane.  It's amazing how with some shows the pilot is so different from where the series would take us, but with Desperate Housewives, showing the writer's vision, we see a plethora of stories that would define the show, including Susan's infatuation with Mike, Bree's dissolving marriage, Lynette's troublesome children, and Gaby's affair with John Rowland.  And then, of course, there is the final moments, where we learn the first bit of the mystery with the blackmail note given to Mary Alice.  "Oh Mary Alice, what have you done?" was the question not just Susan was asking, but all of us were.  And I was forever hooked.

5. "Something's Coming" (#4.9)

Dana Delany was a massive shot in the arm in the series that needed a bit of new blood.  After the disappointing use of Alfre Woodard and the toothless way that Kyle MacLachlan's Orson was explained, we needed someone with a truly desperate secret.  That's what we got when Katherine Mayfair joined the block, and things truly came to a head for her when the tornado hit.  We saw many of Katherine's secrets spill out, including that Benjamin did in fact have an affair and there was a bond formed between Katherine and Bree.  We also saw the end of two annoying characters (Sylvia and Victor), and what we thought might be the end of a third, with Kayla trapped underneath the rubble of the tornado.  The final moments, with Lynette screaming as the house that held her children and husband is in ruins-just devastating.

4. "Free" (#4.17)

The best cliffhanger in the course of the series, we are given two really great moments in the run of the show.  The first is Katherine's final showdown with her ex-husband, a dramatic turn of events where we learn that Dylan was not actually Wayne's daughter, but a girl from a Romanian orphanage who bore a striking resemblance to Dylan, as the real Dylan died from a terrible accident years earlier.  Katherine kills Wayne, sort of in self-defense, and the girls (in a great scene showing the friendship of the main characters) all lie to the police to cover for her.  All-in-all, this would probably be enough to crack the top ten (it was a dramatic and excellent episode of television), but getting to the Top 5 is more due to the time jump, a brilliant little maneuver that comes out of nowhere in the final moments of the episode.  We see that Bree is reunited with Orson and highly successful, Gaby is a mother of two that has "let herself go" and Lynette is the mother of two teenage hoodlums.  Most shocking of all, though, is that Susan is now in the arms of another man.  Cut to black, and we were left with a doozy of a cliffhanger headed into the summer.

3. "Guilty" (#1.8)

There are SO many things to savor in this episode.  There's Bree, learning a bit about what a sociopath her son is.  There's Mike and Susan, finally "sealing the deal" after much sexual tension.  There's Gaby at her comic best, trying to get information out of a priest.  But what makes this episode so terrific is the Martha Huber story coming to a head, as Paul learns that Martha (and not Edie) was the woman blackmailing his wife and in a fit of rage, he kills her.  A nail-biter of an episode (you knew from the promos one character would die and everything in the episode led you to believe it would be Edie), and a wicked preview of the madness that would come in future years.

2. "Bang" (#3.7)

The first of the five "disaster" episodes was also the best.  An absolute thrill ride, we have Carolyn Bigsby holding her husband's store hostage, with Julie, Austin, Lynette, Edie, and Nora all trapped inside.  The series progresses with three of the main women (Gaby is off doing some Rube Goldberg style destruction on her house and marriage throughout the episode) getting a great moment.  There's Bree having a breakdown over her causing this mess (telling Carolyn about Monique), Lynette going to pieces after Carolyn kills Nora on her behalf, and (my personal favorite) Susan, trying to exchange herself in place of Julie as a hostage.  The ending, with Carolyn being shot by one of the unnamed hostages, was brilliant.  All-in-all, one of the most thrilling hours of television I've ever enjoyed (both this and the episode ahead of it would probably make my Top 50 favorite episodes of television, period), with Laurie Metcalf getting a much-deserved Emmy nomination for her work.

1. "One Wonderful Day" (#1.23)

I feel a little bit uneasy putting this first, since up top I complained about how everyone said the first season was so much better than the rest of the series and I still feel that is unfair, as it implies the rest of the series wasn't worth as much.  That said, they have a point that the series never really hit a note quite as high as this one (the highest-rated episode of the series, as well).  We finally learn the truth about Zach Young, how he was really Deidre's child that Mary Alice and Paul adopted, and that when Deidre tried to take him back, Mary Alice stabbed her, with Paul burying Deidre underneath the pool.  The episode also has an epic fight between Tom and Lynette, Mike and Susan decide to move in together, but it's Mary Alice's confession that gets the headline of the episode.  My personal favorite moment, though, and probably the best-acted moment of the series, was the revelation that Rex has died.  Bree (brilliantly played by Marcia Cross, my favorite actor on the series) doesn't mourn immediately, instead finishing polishing the silver (one of her favorite activities), before breaking down, as the camera pans away.  Between Bree and Mary Alice, there really was just no topping this epic piece of television, and hence, it becomes my number one.

There are nearly 200 episodes to choose from, so I'm sure there's some dissension out there-what were your favorite episodes of Desperate Housewives?  Do you agree with my order?  Share in the comments!

For more of my favorites: Girls, Pushing Daisies, How I Met Your Mother, Game of Thrones, The Office, Ally McBeal, Sex and the City

John's Favorite Shows #9: Sex and the City

During the month of April...and now part of May, I'll be doing a rundown of my favorite television shows of all time.  If you've missed any of them, check out the links at the bottom of this post for all of the past roundups.

There are shows on this list that probably would have mattered to me at any age.  John at thirteen shouldn't have been watching Game of Thrones, but I think the epic battles and grandeur of the series would have always appealed to me.  And then there are shows that are here because I came across them at a very specific time of my life.

I have always had a number of passions in my life, but surely one of the most heartfelt and romanticized is my vision of the city of New York.  I didn't actually go to New York for the first time until I was 26.  I, had, however, loved the city for almost my entire life.  I used to memorize the neighborhoods of Manhattan in a map I had found and randomly imagine what I would be doing on a Saturday night, looking at my small town bedroom and picturing myself on Broadway or the streetlight-soaked fountains at Lincoln Center.  It had everything, and yet, when I was in college, and adulthood came upon me, I needed something a little more tangible.  Not actually having the funds to visit New York, Sex and the City became the next best thing.

Sex and the City has been criticized for being unrealistic both in the ways that it depicted the city (I'm well aware that Carrie couldn't have actually afforded that lifestyle) and the way that it depicted romantic relationships, but for those who don't take things quite so literally, there was an overwhelming amount of truth in the show.  You can see the struggles with career, friendship, dreams, and love all on display there, particularly for someone who wasn't married (or "married") like all of my friends.  There was something very magical about everything in that series.  I did indeed get to experience some of the highs and lows of what that show presented my life to be, and I did indeed get to have my dream of living in New York City, and because it came along so fully to me in late teens and early twenties, Sex and the City will always be a nostalgic joy for me.  Here's a look at my ten favorite episodes:

10. "Four Women and a Funeral" (#2.5)

For me, part of what the appeal of Sex and the City is now, ten years after I started watching the series, is both seeing where my life went after the series (and what characters in that moment I ended up connecting with-for the most part I turned into a Miranda/Charlotte hybrid), as well as enjoying the episode itself.  Here there's a combination-I love the looks that Miranda gets in this episode as she has to keep explaining while apartment shopping that it's "just her:" how often in your single life do you have to explain that you're out doing something by yourself, and you get a look of pity and confusion?  This show is oddly spot-on in dissecting single life in a way that few other shows could ever hope to do (I love Friends to death, but it's hardly what you would consider realistic in how people address hardship).  And then there's the deliciously funny way that Samantha goes through this episode, a social pariah after accidentally sleeping with a married man, only to be saved by Leonardo DiCaprio.

9. "Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda" (#4.11)

I don't know if this became part of the national lexicon after this episode or if it had already been there, but for me, this phrase would forever be linked with a slight head turn and Samantha's condolence/disapproving look.  This is one of those rare episodes where there are actual fights between the girls over a serious topic (whether or not Miranda should have an abortion), and a legitimate look at the pro-choice argument and what Miranda/Carrie think when addressed with it face on (we learn that both Carrie and Samantha have had abortions in the past, in a topic rarely discussed on television even today, despite the monumental Maude episode being decades old now).  A touching look into Miranda's inner checklist and Charlotte's dread that hers won't be fulfilled.

8. "Are We Sluts?" (#3.6)

Carrie's storyline is probably what gets this here-I love the spot-on self-doubt that she gets when Aidan doesn't rush to sleep with her, and the shock that he genuinely wants to get to know her before having sex.  As I got older, I moved slowly into the Team Aidan camp, though I realized that's more projecting (Big was better for Carrie, Aidan was better for almost every single viewer watching in their own lives, including myself), and this was probably one of the tipping points: Aidan was a truly great guy.  The three side stories when Carrie is the focus were occasionally hit-or-miss, but I genuinely loved all three in this particular episode: Charlotte having to confront her more-promiscuous-than-she'd-admit sex life, Samantha getting chastised by her neighbors over her sex life, and Miranda having to call her ex-boyfriends because she has chlamydia.  All three stories were both eek! and hilarious.

7. "Shortcomings" (#2.15)

Of Carrie's one-off boyfriends, none were sexier than Justin Theroux, who was so cute that he played two different characters in the series (I have NEVER understood this and it happens constantly on television shows; aside from the creators being lazy and wanting an actor that they know can hit marks, are there suddenly a shortage of actors in New York?).  He was much more memorable in this episode as Vaughn, the short story author that has a bit of a..."longevity" issue in the bedroom.  I love that the show has Carrie realizing this is probably a good guy, but that she's really staying in the relationship because of his mother.  Valerie Harper is terrific as the mother-in-law we all hope to have.

6. "Anchors Away" (#5.1)

I never know how to quite feel about this episode, which is not nearly as good as some of the other episodes on this list, but perhaps the best ode to New York City of the bunch.  We see the girls each encountering "Fleet Week" in this episode, the week where you can see naval men all around the city enjoying the sites and doing military demonstrations (P.S...totally worth being in the city for).  Carrie also has an utter love affair with New York, stating, "you're never really alone when you're here."  So much did this affect me that as one of the last things I did before I moved out of New York was recreate the beginning of this episode, watching a film at the Paris theater, by myself, on a date with Manhattan.

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

Here's the weird thing about Sex and the City that I haven't run into with some of the other series that we've profiled: occasionally I'm torn between a plot that I really hate and a plot that I really loved.  While I always loved this show, there were times that the characters on it truly frustrated me.  Carrie's relationship with Berger and the way that she treats him toward the end made me really mad-this was a guy that might actually work for her that wasn't Big, and the writers just pushed him out and made him a jackass (the infamous post-it note) in order to tie things up for the Mikhail Baryshnikov episodes.  That said, there is no single moment that makes me A) cry and B) swoon quite like the time when Charlotte, so lost without Harry in her life, confesses that she doesn't care if he'll ever marry her (a happy marriage being Charlotte's goal since the series began), all she wants is for him to call her, maybe.  He gets down and proposes, and Kristen Davis gets easily the best scene of her time on the series.  Every unlucky in love viewer watched that episode and got a little bit of hope.

4. "One" (#6.12)

Another oddity for me and Sex and the City-I never cared for how it ended.  I love that some of those last few episodes exist (particularly the extremely bitter-tasting "Splat!"), but this felt more like a series finale than anything else-Miranda, celebrating Brady's birthday, finally confesses her love for Steve in a closet (don't you just adore Magda's knowing glance when she catches them?), Charlotte moving on into a new chapter in her life, and Carrie starting a strange love affair with a reclusive Russian artist.  All-in-all, this episode with some loose ends and some ends closed (Miranda and Steve were the couple that we needed to be together the most) would have made a fitting end to the series.

3. "The Good Fight" (#4.13)

The pinnacle of the Aidan/Carrie years, the good fight made Aidan a little less than perfect (his dog ate Carrie's shoes, he apparently uses Rogaine), but more to the point, gave Carrie a very realistic portrait of a relationship.  Carrie is frequently insulted by critics (mainly male critics) for being selfish and petty, but the reality is that she was part of a long line of television antiheroes to pop up in the wake of Tony Soprano. This was one of those episodes where she was forced to confront those issues, that having the relationship she kept pining for meant that she would have to compromise in the future.  It's a pity that things with Aidan couldn't last the second time around, but at least this time Carrie grew with the relationship in a way that the writers actually allowed to change her.

2. "Ex and the City" (#2.18)

All of the side stories are fine in this episode, particularly Samantha having her "Mr. Too-Big" encounter, but this episode is on this list for one thing only: Carrie and Big.  Their relationship had hit its boiling point, with Carrie trying to deal with the fact that Big didn't want to "just not get married" but instead didn't want to marry her specifically (an extremely bitter pill to encounter when you love someone).  The engagement to Natasha would be perhaps the most pivotal point in the series (it would shape much of the next few seasons), but there's perhaps no finer moment than The Way We Were doting in the restaurant, and Carrie getting to say "your girl is lovely Hubbell."  A home run in every way, and the perfect sendoff to the Big story-if he had never showed up again, fans would have still been talking about him.

1. "I Heart NY" (#4.18)

Another season finale, we get two major moments in the series.  One, of course, would be the birth of baby Brady, the only time in a show about sex where one of the characters actually had a child (Charlotte in the movie doesn't count), and Miranda welcomes a man that she cannot dismiss into her life.  And then there's Carrie, realizing that Big would be leaving New York City (unthinkable!) and that this could be the end of both her relationship with her, and in a way, her relationship with the city, since Big had so come to define what New York meant to her.  The ending, with her realizing that New York will go on for her, and that Big will live with her in her heart-perfect Sex and the City.

Those are my top ten-what are yours?  Do you find that your own life shaped your view of Sex and the City?  Which character "are you?"  Share in the comments!

For more of my favorites: Girls, Pushing Daisies, How I Met Your Mother, Game of Thrones, The Office, Ally McBeal

Everybody's Linking for the Weekend

I'm guessing that most of you are out enjoying your Memorial Day festivities, but for those who are stuck in cars, scanning through their cellphones trying not to make small talk with your crazy uncle who keeps talking about Obamacare, you could probably use a link.

In Entertainment...

J.K. Rowling

Hitfix: We'll know in a few hours if they're right, but Hitfix gives a rundown of the wills and shoulds of the Cannes Film Festival awards.  I think they're right on the Palme: Leviathan has all of the advance buzz, and no other choice seems to be "quite right" (Foxcatcher is too mainstream, Mommy too early in Dolan's career, and do the Dardennes really need a third trophy?).

Indiewire: Since we're already in Cannes, Quentin Tarantino is mad about the use of digital projection at the festival.  I get it, but this seems to be an unfortunately losing battle for all involved-digital is the wave of the future, like it or not, and the use of 35 mm is, at its most optimistic, going to be what black-and-white is in modern cinema.

Film Experience: Tim Brayton does an hilarious takedown over all of the weird controversy surrounding Dorothy's Return: Legend of Oz.  Honestly, who actually thought this would be a good idea?  This film looks and acts and talks like a direct-to-video movie you find in a Wal-Mart bin.  How could it possibly have cost $70 million?!?

IBN Live: Alfonso Cuaron is reportedly in talks to take over Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.  I've heard some complain about how this is disappointing, with Cuaron being such a visionary and all and not needing to hop onto a franchise, but it's just one movie in the franchise people, and Prisoner of Azkaban remains the absolute best of the Harry Potter films (and was directed by Cuaron), so I'm all for it.  Plus, Cuaron only makes films at a snail's pace-something this big will probably mean he'll be working sooner rather than later.

In Politics...

Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes with former President
Bill Clinton

Washington Post: I am running so hot-and-cold on the Alison Lundergan Grimes campaign right now.  I mean, I want her to win (obviously), but I am impartial enough to be able to acknowledge when one of my candidates is running a poor campaign, and she's made some serious missteps.  Forget the initial rollout issues (no one remembers those anymore), but her fumbling of the questions regarding the ACA (just say that you would have voted for it in a print interview-McConnell is going to say you would anyway) has made me question some of her skills.  That said, this "empty dress" trumpeting is a solid way to drum up support on the trail, and honestly is showing that she's ballsy enough to take on McConnell in a way that some past candidates weren't (she clearly really wants this win).  Considering the amount of female candidates out on the campaign trail for the Democrats right now, speaking toward gender may not be the worst campaign tool.

Also from the Post: Like most Democrats, I had a queasy feeling looking at the Tom Steyer spending announcements, thinking that the Citizens United decision has opened up money on both sides of the aisle that we really shouldn't be condoning, but am also thankful that until the law is overturned, we have someone who has the resources to combat the Koch Brothers.  However, I also was a bit puzzled and worried that Steyer is spending money on races the Democrats are likely to win.  The Post article points out that Steyer is trying to simulate a bit of what the Tea Party did in 2010, which is both good (climate legislation is vitally important to our planet) and terrifying (the Tea Party is in the process of destroying parts of the Republican Party, particularly in blue states).   That said, the worst part about Steyer's money is that it isn't going to Senate races to help the likes of Kay Hagan, Mark Pryor, Mary Landrieu, and Mark Begich.  Admittedly, these are four senators that don't share Steyer's views on the environment, but he must see their importance?  At this point, the Corbett race doesn't really need any help-why spend money there to elect someone who is going to win without you?  Even if he's not going to go to the "Wall Democrats" (the Koch Brothers wouldn't be so discerning, which is likely why they are so feared), couldn't you go with someone like Mary Burke, Ed FitzGerald, or Mark Schauer?  Races where we're slight underdogs right now, and with candidates that have a more palatable view on the environment?  Tom Wolf doesn't need any help becoming governor, but they do.

ABC News: A lot has been written about the wiseness of Julian Castro moving from San Antonio Mayor to HUD Secretary, and I feel like this is one of those decisions we will either hail as genius or stupidity (nowhere in-between) in a few years, but it's too soon to tell.  There are two real questions here.  One is how much press he gets in his Senate confirmation hearings.  Sylvia Matthews Burwell got through confirmation hearings with little more than a peep, and the Republican Party may not want to give Hispanic voters a reason to get out in November, which holding up Castro (potentially the first Hispanic president-he has that aura) could do.  The second is where does he go from here.  Castro is of course studying the Wendy Davis election closely to see what can be learned, but he got into politics a tad bit early if he wants to be governor of Texas (a Democrat probably won't have a shot at a governor's or Senate seat until 2022 in the Lone Star State).  His star is at its brightest now, and while HUD Secretary isn't a strong launching pad to be President, it's better than mayor.  The question will be how President Obama's approval ratings go in the next two years, as Hillary Clinton will not want to have two cabinet secretaries from his administration on the ballot if she needs to draw a solid amount of distance between the two.  He's definitely worth having on the VP list now, though.

Just One More...

People: I don't really know why I am sharing this, but I am a little obsessed with the Chmerkovskiy brothers, and thought this video was cute.  For those who don't know, the Chmerkovskiy brothers are two of the professionals on Dancing with the Stars, and no, I don't watch it either, but they're gorgeous and I just love Maks' facial expressions throughout this video, particularly when they ask who wears the biggest...hat.  Silliness, for sure, but I just discussed Cannes and HUD Secretaries-forgive me my shirtless Ukrainians.

John's Favorite Shows #10: Ally McBeal

During the month of April...and now part of May, I'll be doing a rundown of my favorite television shows of all time.  If you've missed any of them, check out the links at the bottom of this post for all of the past roundups.

Of all of the shows on this list, the one that I probably re-watch and am the least familiar with of the bunch is Ally McBeal.  I watched this show in middle school and a bit of a high school, and thanks to it being only on DVD for a short while (not when I was in my cannot-stop-watching-TV-on-DVD phase during college), I didn't have time to re-watch and constantly memorize every single episode.  As a result, I decided to rewatch most of this series in the past three weeks so that I would not embarrass myself by putting together a Top 10...hence the delay in the rest of this list.  The final nine series I shouldn't have to rewatch (I could recite most of them), so we should get these done in rapid succession.

Ally is a show that I'm guessing many of you probably would need to re-familiarize yourselves with.  While I was looking for episode recaps and consensus thoughts around the internet (this was before I decided to take the plunge and just re-view every episode), I found that a number of people have meant to catch up with the series, but never taken the opportunity.  As someone who just has, I have to admit that I didn't remember some of the tones of the series.  For starters, the show is a lot sadder than I initially remembered.  Between the dancing babies and the face bras, there are a lot of complicated issues going on in this series.  Our heroine, for starters, doesn't have a lot of luck in the love department, but more so, she's not an upbeat sort of character who gets us through on sunshine-she's someone who is deeply lonely.  This goes for most of the characters on the series: there's a vein of broken dreams on the series that really felt authentic in a way few television shows are or have been.  We frequently get sadness in the lives of our characters, but few times do we actually get it consistently, as no one wants to watch their friends be sad (and like it or not, in this age of hyper-media and less direct-contact with our fellow human beings, our relationships with television characters have begun to mimic what we do with people we know on Facebook).

I'm guessing I'll hit a few more of these points as I discuss the top ten, so let's get started, shall we...

10. "Just Friends" (#3.10)

The series was always really and truly all about Ally.  You rarely got to know much about the side characters (occasionally John, but even then it was almost always in relation to Ally).  Probably the most under-sung of the original characters was Elaine (the wonderful Jane Krakowski), so when you got one of her episodes it always felt pretty special.  Here we got to see a bit inside her world, where we learn she's not quite as promiscuous as she lets on (I love the bit where she didn't put out for the guy she liked and the guy thought he was "being punished"...there's a truth to Elaine's thinking that I think most people who have been single and burned by the player can understand).  The rest of the episode was strong (Ally realizing that John may be her soulmate, Georgia serving Billy with divorce papers), but this one belonged to Jane Krakowski.

9. "Pilot" (#1.1)

We got our main characters all established, with Ally inviting us into her inner-world (that narration would come and go pretty sporadically throughout the series, but it was very heavy at the commencement).  The most pertinent things about this episode was that it gave us a tonal shift in what we'd be seeing-there is an uber-ridiculousness to this show that you either had to buy into or dismiss immediately, and we saw the melancholy of this main character amidst the humor.  More subdued than where she'd go in future seasons, but still totally in-line with the Ally we loved.

8. "In Dreams" (#2.11)

Frequently the show got you to think a little bit ahead of its time, in particular in an episode like this one where a former teacher wants to live in a coma for the rest of her life because she has a much better life in her dreams.  This of course hits close to home for Ally, who has a much more active imaginary life than anyone else on the show, but it also hints at the future "Our Second Life" style internet culture that we'd soon engage in (again-Ally McBeal, ahead of her time).

7. "The Ex-Files" (#4.10)

Really, a very special episode in a season full of them, this one was one of several episodes that featured Ling (you'll notice that the Haley Joel Osment episode isn't on this list, which is arguably Lucy Liu's finest hour on the show, but the subplot with Renee/John/Richard was too ludicrous and I tend to not like the episodes where I disagreed with the verdict).  That said, here Ling must confront some personal turmoil over what she wants out of life, and has to give up a man that she thinks she could have a real future with because she's uncertain, but knows that her friend loves him.  Throw in a really wonderful episode in the extended Anne Heche plotline (she wore out her welcome after a while, but the first couple of episodes with John showed incredible promise), and you have a nice forgotten gem in the series.

6. "Cloudy Skies, Chance of Parade" (#4.20)

The Robert Downey Jr. episodes were so damn good it's impossible not to include some on this list, but Season 4 feels like a completely different show compared to the first three seasons and the unfortunate final one.  The episodes were far more subdued, more introspective, and far less ostentatious (I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but it's just a major tonal change from the Robert Palmer girls we had seen in the previous season).  This was probably the closest we got to the crazy Ally days of yore, with a bevy of guest stars (Cheri Oteri, Paul Reubens, Cindy Margolis, and most impressively, Sting), and a perfect end of the episode with Downey singing "Every Breath You Take" with Sting.  Honestly, I think the series would have been smart to just end here-every character gets a little bit of a shout-out, there's lots of music, and quite frankly, Ally being happy with Larry felt so right that the real-life drug issues with Downey (which caused him to leave the show) made everything after feel like a let-down.

5. "Cro-Magnon" (#1.12)

For those keeping track at home, this is indeed the episode with the Dancing Baby.  As a fan, I sometimes become annoyed when this is the only touchpoint for the series for those casually acquainted, as it was much, much more than that, but there's no denying that the baby was an inspired addition to the cavalcade of hallucinations in Ally's head.  Ally's mental health was actually questioned pretty seriously in this episode (another side note-was Ally McBeal a genuinely mentally ill television character?  The comments are there for you, but there's solid evidence).  The show had some great moments from Georgia (Courtney Thorne-Smith, along with Lisa Nicole Carson, never really got her due on the show but she was particularly great at doing insecure), and we get one of John's best closing arguments, but this is primarily here for that boogying toddler.

4. "Troubled Water" (#3.5)

Before I decided to re-watch all of the episodes, I had already written down "Troubled Water" as one I knew would make my personal Top 10, and this is a gold mine of great comic moments.  The show was always in the zone when it put all of the characters in the same room, and with everyone headed over to Ally's apartment for Thanksgiving, sparks were going to fly.  They came first from Georgia, realizing that the man she'd been flirting with, was in fact Ally's father, and then we get a spiral as Dr. Tracey (Tracey Ullman, inspired on this series, won an Emmy for her role) tries to figure out the root of Ally's parents' marriage.  Throw in Ling at her absolute most vicious, the bittersweet end of the Whipper/Richard relationship, and Richard stealing all of the food at the party, and you have a perfect example of the series at its finest.

3. "The Last Virgin" (#4.5)

I still cannot quite get over watching Robert Downey, Jr., one of the biggest movie stars of the past six years, playing second fiddle on one of my favorite little shows.  It's weird to consider that this actually happened-it feels like the high school quarterback asking you to dance at the Prom.  This episode was his best entry in the series, though he doesn't deserve all of the credit.  Jami Gertz knocked a home run as Ally's former classmate, the prudish Kimmy Bishop (Gertz, a criminally underrated actress, got her only Emmy nomination for this spot).  Throw in Ally pining for Larry and their first kiss, and you get the prefect example of the mellowed-Downey season.

2. "Fools Night Out" (#2.3)

A flawless representation of Ally at its finest.  In tow are hilarious moments from Ling (who sued because she didn't get the breasts she wanted for her sister) and whimsy for Ally.  We got some great musical numbers from Jennifer Holliday (doing Al Green, and even more perfectly, Randy Newman), and one of those pivotal moments in the Georgia/Billy/Ally triangle (Ally finds out Billy left her in Boston to pursue Georgia).  Throw in Elaine dancing with John in the bathroom (the first of almost everyone taking a turn in the unisex with Barry White), and this is a grand slam.  All-in-all, this is one of the episodes I best remembered, years later, almost scene-for-scene.

1. "The Theme of Life" (#1.17)

Part of me wants to put "Fools Night Out" in first place-it's goofier and cheekier, but I cannot deny this episode, one of the first that I ever saw of the series.  We had an hilarious case where Ally is lusting after Gregg (Jesse L. Martin) who is on trial for putting a "big fat hog" heart into a woman, and most importantly, we got the introduction of Ally's theme song.  The show was so individualistic, and I remembered thinking, "this is something I want to be when I grow up"-confident but vulnerable, marching literally to my own tune.  Perhaps the main reason that I loved this show so much was that, of all of the television characters out there, I identify best with the whimsy and eternal hope/self-doubt that Ally brought to her show.  And that is never better than here.

Those were my thoughts on this long dormant series-what were yours?  Did I miss any personal favorites?  Are you excited to see where we head from here in the countdown?  Share in the comments!

For more of my favorites: Girls, Pushing Daisies, How I Met Your Mother, Game of Thrones, The Office

Wednesday Diversion: Who is the Hottest Guy on Game of Thrones?

I got a teensy bit lazy last night (and shot my diet to hell for absolutely no reason), and so I didn't have time to throw together the morning post I was planning on.  However, I figured that I shouldn't punish you for my sloth-like behavior, and so I figured I would pose an impossible to answer question-who is the hottest of the men of Westeros?  Our challengers are...

Kit Harington (Jon Snow)

Richard Madden (Robb Stark)

Finn Jones (Ser Loras Tyrell)

Nikolai Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister)

Joe Dempsie (Gendry)

How can winter be coming with this much smolder?  Happy Wednesday everyone!

John's Favorite Shows #11: The Office

During the month of April, I'll be doing a rundown of my favorite television shows and movies of all time.  If you've missed any of them, check out the links at the bottom of this post for all of the past roundups.

One of my great pet peeves about people discussing television is that they frequently will say a show isn’t as good as it used to be when they haven’t actually been watching the show.  We all know the types-the people who say they can’t stand The Simpsons or South Park anymore despite them not having watched them in ten years.  It’s annoying, because rarely does a show of great quality dip so far that it is completely beyond reproach in its twilight years-there’s always some magnificent episode left before they pull the curtain.

That being said, The Office would have been a lot higher on this list if the show hadn’t had the final two seasons.  Don’t get me wrong-there are moments in the final seasons that I did enjoy (and I managed to find room for the best episode from that time period on this list), but as a whole the post-Michael Scott episodes of the show always lacked the necessity that those with him contained.  They weren’t all bad (though, admittedly, most of Season 8 and all of the Robert California plot was a bust), but less is more would have been a smart decision.

However, when it was good, it was fantastic, and The Office stands proudly at Number 11.  Here are my ten favorite episodes:

10. “The Job” (#3.24)

One of multiple episodes of the series that was extended (NBC tried a number of things when they were in the ratings basement), this was the climax of three years of will-they-or-won’t-they tension between Jim and Pam.  Yes, it also contained the frightening downfall of one Jan Levinson (Melora Hardin sure rocked that part the crazier she got, even if it changed the tone of the show permanently), but the principle question was surrounding whether Jim would dump Karen to be with the love of his life.  The answer was, of course, yes, and we were treated to something bizarre for the remainder of the series that we almost never see on television: a genuinely happy, content couple.  It wouldn’t have been nearly as fun if we hadn’t spent years wishing and a-hoping.

9. “Stress Relief,” (#5.14)

The highest-rated episode of the series (airing after the Super Bowl), this had the funniest cold open of the series, with Dwight staging one of his fake safety drills to horrifying results, the best of them being that Angela has a hidden cat at work (I’m laughing just typing about it).  Stanley has a heart attack, which causes Michael to want to relieve stress at work by doing a roast of himself.  This of course ends absolutely horribly, with each of Michael’s employees sparing none of Michael’s feelings after he forces them to attack him.  In the end, Michael learns to fight back a bit, and is applauded for the efforts.  Meanwhile, in one of the sweeter Jim-Pam plots of that season, we see Jim breaking up Pam’s parents’ marriage by saying how much he loved their daughter (it makes sense in context).

8. “Customer Loyalty” (#9.12)

It took six years, but finally there was a bit of trouble in paradise for Jim and Pam.  I wasn’t really cheering for them to have some strife, but the fact that they made it so many years without a large blow-up was unrealistic.  Having it be Jim, though, who spent so many years yearning for Pam, who was the one who blew up (over Pam failing to tape their daughter’s recital) was absolutely devastating, and then we got the WTF moment of the season-the appearance of the handsome boom operator Brian, clearly a major part of their lives for the past nine years, breaking the fourth wall-goosebumps!  Throw in some solid movement on the Erin/Pete story (I loved the way that mirrored Jim/Pam to a tee, particularly having Andy be the Roy), and you have the best reason to keep the show on after Steve Carell’s exit.

7. “The Dundies” (#2.1)

I will admit that, while the first season was occasionally hilarious, this was the first episode where it felt like they weren’t just ripping off Ricky Gervais’s original series.  Michael Scott was not David Brent, but a far more complicated, decent person, even if we don’t quite get there with this episode.  I loved the way that the entire office becomes uncomfortable with Michael being attacked by an outsider; you have to earn the right to take down Michael.  We also got the kickoff of a few stories here, in particular the hilarious crush that Michael had on Ryan throughout the show (despite Jim being “right there!”) and a hilarious set of awards given out to each of the employees.  It’s a testament to how iconic this was that as Carell exited in Season 7 they felt the need to bring back a final Dundies.

6. “Niagara” (#6.4)

Wedding episodes rarely are all that good on television-they usually follow the same format (the bride/groom has cold feet…and then they don’t!), and they all end lovey-dovey.  This episode falls into a number of those clichés, including everything going wrong and the office re-enacting the JK Wedding Entrance Dance, but the final moments made it all worth it.  Jim and Pam, married on the Maiden of the Mist, and Jim giving us the single sweetest line he ever uttered on the series, “I bought the boat tickets the day I saw that YouTube video. I knew we'd need a backup plan. The boat was actually plan C. The church was plan B. And plan A was marring her a long, long time ago. Pretty much the day I met her.”

5. “Women’s Appreciation” (#3.22)

A sequel of sorts to the Season 2 episode “Boys and Girls,” this episode was less reliant on Jan and almost entirely on Michael’s relationships with the women of the office (always comic gold).  After Phyllis is flashed (and Pam hilariously makes the perp look like Dwight with a mustache), Michael decides to take the women of the office shopping.  Along the way, they give him hilarious advice about his increasingly psychotic relationship with Jan, and we get treated to dozens of tiny little moments.  Particularly fun were Angela revealing she shops at the American Girl store because regular retailers’ clothing is too small for her, and the always wonderful Kate Flannery’s incredibly welcome driving/interactions with her minivan.

4. “Boys and Girls” (#2.15)

As I just mentioned, I heart the interactions between the women of the office, and while both of these episodes are equally wonderful, this one gets a step higher because it was the first time we became really aware of their chemistry.  Jan is running a “Women in the Workplace” seminar with all of the women and Michael is left out, with him taking this about as well as can be expected.  He runs a “men in the workplace” seminar to counter, but honestly, I could have just listened to the banter from the Jan meeting for thirty minutes and been fine.  Amongst the best moments were Kelly asking Jan about getting to second base with Michael (and then winking at the camera), Angela chastising Phyllis over her workplace strength, Meredith wanting to be “five…well, four and a half years sober,” and of course the devastating moment at the end of the episode where Pam, realizing that she’ll never have a house with a terrace because she’s marrying Roy and never leaving Scranton, breaking down into tears.  Angela Kinsey and Jenna Fischer came up with this idea originally, and bravo to them both for breaking up the office boy’s club.

3. “Dinner Party” (#4.13)

There were times I felt like the Jan character completely going overboard was too much.  It felt like the moments when the show started to drift away from realism and completely went into cartoon, a trait that was only exacerbated by the Ed Helms character being an entire miss for me basically after he joined the crew at Scranton (Andy was the worst character on the show, save for Robert California).  That said, Melora Hardin was comic TNT in this episode that probably should have garnered her an Emmy nomination, as she went totally off-the-wall, chucking Michael’s Dundie and throwing the most frightening dinner party ever seen on television (and that includes the Red Wedding).  The best moment of the episode, though, has to be Pam proclaiming “awesome” when Dwight shows up with his former babysitter/potential lover.

2. “Beach Games (#3.23)

Pam Beasley, as you probably can tell from this write-up, was my favorite character on the show.  By a longshot.  Michael was funny, Jim was dreamy, and Dwight was comedy gold, but what Fischer did with an “ordinary” girl who didn’t get the life she dreamt of in high school was perfection.  This was never more apparent than her final walk-through-coal, where she bared her soul to the entire rest of the group and confessed that her feelings for Jim were never going away.  The entire episode (with everyone competing to be Michael’s boss, which resulted in some hilarious moments for Stanley in particular) was superb, but Fischer brought this to an entirely different level.

1. “Casino Night” (#2.22)

You sometimes feel when making a list like this that you have to pick a particular episode for the top.  And yet, with “Casino Night,” which is everyone’s favorite episode of The Office, I think it’s worthwhile.  You see Michael relatively successful outside of the office, you see the entire crew outside their element (you get a lot of new personality quirks here that would carry through the series), and finally you get that perfect moment of Jim confessing his unyielding love for Pam.  The fact that it ended with a kiss and no other details-perfection.

Those are my favorite Office moments-what are yours?  Do you have a favorite episode?

For more of my favorites: Girls, Pushing Daisies, How I Met Your Mother, Game of Thrones

John's Favorite Shows #12: Game of Thrones

During the month of April, I'll be doing a rundown of my favorite television shows and movies of all time.  If you've missed any of them, check out the links at the bottom of this post for all of the past roundups.

For those who, like me, tuned in with fervor to see the season premiere Sunday night, know that while I did see “Two Swords,” it wouldn’t have made the cut here.

I started watching Game of Thrones at the very beginning of its second season, and was instantly hooked in a way I hadn’t felt since Lost.  I remember streaming the first season and realizing that it was 2 AM and I had to work in the morning…and yet I still hit to watch just one more episode.  It’s a wildly addictive show, and I will kindly request that the comments section is to be a spoiler-free zone if you’ve read the books and know what’s ahead on the television show (and since this is a current program, I’m issuing the Spoiler Alert if you’re not up-to-date on the actual series).

I’ll also say that, of all of the shows on this list that are currently on the air, this is the one I’m most certain will move up the list in the near future.  Currently my favorite program on television, it may well crack the Top 5 when I finally finish, but twelfth for a show that has just barely started the halfway season of its expected seven-season run seems about right.  And with all of those preambles, let’s jump right into the list.

10. “The Wolf and the Lion” (#1.5)

The visual effects and art direction of the series, while never quite at the level of a Hollywood blockbuster, come so close at times that you almost don’t notice.  This is one of those episodes-the Eyrie, one of the creepiest and most terrifying places we’ve ventured, introduces us to Catelyn’s psychotic sister Lysa, and her very Hamlet’s mother relationship with her son.  Meanwhile, we get some genuine movement on the Ned Stark storyline in King’s Landing.  This episode makes the cut, though, if only for the petrifying sky cells of the Eyrie-prisons with an open wall and slanted floors that fall down to an incredible plunge.

9. “Garden of Bones,” (#2.4)

Game of Thrones, more than any other show on television (except, perhaps, Mad Men) is about the long story rather than the short payoff.  This is the sort of show that would make Ryan Murphy gouge his ADD-writing eyes out.  After all, it’s rare that we have a major event, and so much of this episode is fairly standard-fare approach, though I love that it introduced the Tywin/Arya story (I really started to get into Charles Dance’s character in this episode, even if he, like almost everyone else, is evil).  However, the ending, with Melisandre giving birth to a shadowy demon, yikes, that was frightening, and how could we have predicted what would happen next with Renly?  We couldn’t, but I think this episode gave a strong sense of foreboding.

8. “Valar Morghulis” (#2.10)

In a series as epic as Game of Thrones, season finales are giant and lasting adventures.  Even when this one cannot quite compare with the ends of the first or third seasons, it’s still a thrill ride.  You get a look at the brutality that Daenerys is capable of (locking Xaro and Doreah in the vault knowing the long death they are about to experience-particularly vicious), and we finally get to see the White Walkers in their truly horrifying upright state, marching across the North, bringing that much promised winter with them.

7. “Fire and Blood” (#1.10)

Coming off the death from the previous episode (the stunning demise of one Ned Stark), we get Robb entering his soon-to-be-failed bid to become the King of the North, and we get to see the fall-out from Joffrey’s hasty death of the head of the Stark house.  Arya starts her campaign to find some member of her family (though of course that continues to be a fruitless endeavor), and Tyrion becomes the Hand of the King.  Of course, the only thing anyone remembers from this episode is Emilia Clarke and her walk through fire.  Daenerys gets all of the truly cool moments on the show, it seems, but few would argue that those dragons crawling across her shoulder, after surviving a night awash in flames, is one of her crowning achievements.  And talk about a way to bring you back without the traditional cliffhanger tropes.

6. “Winter is Coming” (#1.1)

A series premiere is supposed to not only establish the characters, but also the mood of the series, and that is what is so successful about this introduction to the world of Westeros.  We are given beautiful, grand castles and a series of random characters that we will learn add up to much more of the story than they initially appeared (it’s stunning to see how many of the principle performers of this particular episode ended up dead in the show’s first three seasons, and how ancillary characters suddenly became far more important).  And we are given the “expect anything” ending, with the incestuous relationship between Jaime and Cersei giving way to an attempted murder on the young Bran Stark.

5. “Mhysa” (#3.10)

The finale once again follows a major turn-of-events in the series (it’s worth noting that the biggest moments of each season seem to occur in the penultimate episode), the moments and fall-out from the red wedding.  We see a distraught Sansa (poor, poor Sansa) mourning her mother and brother, and Tyrion continuing to prove that he takes his new allegiance to her quite seriously.  We get Daenerys, once again getting the final scene of the season, being proclaimed mother by her people in a moment that once again shows the rise of the young Targaryen (it helps when no one is nearby that sees you as a threat).  But the best moment of this episode, possibly my favorite moment of the series so far is Jon and Ygritte, seeing each other after Jon has abandoned Ygritte, they get one moment where he finally confesses that he loves her and states she loves him, and she gets to say, “you know nothing Jon Snow.”  I’ve watched this scene at least a dozen times and cried every single viewing.  Just wonderfully acted by both Kit Harington and Rose Leslie.

4. “And Now His Watch is Ended” (#3.4)

There are two major moments in this episode, or so I’m guessing.  One is obvious-Emilia Clarke earns her Emmy nomination with a spectacular show of panache-anyone who has seen the close of this episode, where she unleashes her dragons upon Kraznys, knows that this was an incredible ending to the episode, and one that we all likely watched thinking, “wait…I have seven more days before I find out what happens next?!?”  But there is also the rise of Lady Margaery, soon to be Joffrey’s queen, who not only has managed to be one of the shrewdest and hardest to read poker players in this Game of Thrones (it wasn’t until the Season 4 premiere that we even got a hint of some of her true feelings), but also a true rival worthy of Cersei, even if she is angered by the prospects.

3. “Baelor (#1.9)

In the light of some of the later moments of the series, it seems impossible to think that we once thought Ned Stark invincible, and yet there he was.  I had heard this spoiler ahead-of-time, so it didn’t quite have the same impact, but had I not, it would have seemed impossible.  Kill off Sean Bean, the headliner?  The main character?  Absurd, and with Cersei seemingly pulling the strings, I almost believed it couldn’t happen.  And then Joffrey dropped the hammer, stunning his mother and devastating his bride-to-be beyond compare.  The show would never be the same, and it would take us two seasons to trust again.

2. “Blackwater” (#2.9)

Since everyone is aware of what Number one is, I’m sure you’re realizing that the penultimate episodes of each season are my favorite.  This is the only episode that doesn’t alternate with the North or Daenerys’ trek through the wilderness.  Instead, we get Stannis, in a relatively strong position, utterly and completely defeated at the battle by Tyrion and his men.  The effects and action in this episode are spellbinding.  We’re still soon from the Ned Stark death, and so we are aware enough to expect anything, but what we get is almost every major character left alive.  Yet somehow that’s more exciting; this also makes you cheer for the Lannisters (a near impossible task), and gives you the rise of a new power, Tywin Lannister, who would become one of the dominant figures of the third season.

1. “The Rains of Castamere” (#3.9)

I’ll admit it-I was one of the viewers who overreacted while watching it.  I think this may have been the first time my dad has ever heard me actually swear.  How could it be possible?  Enough time had left us since Ned Stark that we believed certain characters were impenetrable.  Surely Robb Stark, strong, handsome (ridiculously so), and the only hero that you weren’t conflicted about cheering for, couldn’t die?  Nor could his mother, strong-willed and a bit unfair (why was she so cruel to Jon Snow?) but ultimately a badass worthy of our admiration.  When Robb’s bride was stabbed, I figured that was it-that was the shock that would stun the rest of the season-the queen and the heir inside her were dead.  And yet that wasn’t the end.  In the scene that would always be known as the red wedding, we saw the entire series do a head-flip, as Robb and his mother were murdered and we no longer felt anyone was safe.

Those are my thoughts on this gargantuan series-what were yours?  Do you have a favorite episode?  Please share in the comments (and for those literate types, please relegate your comments to stuff that’s already happened on the show).

For more of my favorites: Girls, Pushing Daisies, How I Met Your Mother