Most Impactful TV Show of All Time?
Mar. 28th, 2019 08:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatSaw this on FB:
Most impactful TV shows of all time? Not just ones you liked, but ones that got you through stuff, made your heart ache, made you feel like the characters were your friends. Ones you couldn't wait to see the next episode of because you were so invested in what happens next. Ones you'd record on your VCR if you're old like me because you couldn't bear to miss them and waiting for a rerun or video release just wasn't an option.
My answer?
Gee, I don't know, guess?
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - no contest.
It's the only television series that I got obsessed enough over to write about.
And join a fandom. And a spoiler board to speculate on what would happen next.
And I kept the VCRs until the died, then shifted to DVDs, and read the comics.
Also Buffy in some ways saved me. I was in a horrible work situation, the less said about the better -- and the Buffy fan community helped me stay sane.
What are yours?
Most impactful TV shows of all time? Not just ones you liked, but ones that got you through stuff, made your heart ache, made you feel like the characters were your friends. Ones you couldn't wait to see the next episode of because you were so invested in what happens next. Ones you'd record on your VCR if you're old like me because you couldn't bear to miss them and waiting for a rerun or video release just wasn't an option.
My answer?
Gee, I don't know, guess?
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - no contest.
It's the only television series that I got obsessed enough over to write about.
And join a fandom. And a spoiler board to speculate on what would happen next.
And I kept the VCRs until the died, then shifted to DVDs, and read the comics.
Also Buffy in some ways saved me. I was in a horrible work situation, the less said about the better -- and the Buffy fan community helped me stay sane.
What are yours?
The Final Frontier
Date: 2019-03-31 03:08 pm (UTC)It should be Buffy. But it's not.
It's STAR TREK.
I was only seven years old when TOS debuted, and I don't remember it on NBC. But when it went into syndication in the early 70s, it hit my sweet spot; I was old enough to understand the social and philosophical points Roddenberry and his team were making, and I appreciated the pure optimism of the series' vision--the idea that, yes, exploring the universe will have its perils, but as long as we have our shit together as a species, we'll make it through.
What makes Trek the answer for me is that its importance has been reinforced at many points in my life. The Animated Series was my first "new" Trek. (I still have "Yesteryear"--when Spock time-traveled back to his childhood on Vulcan--tucked away on my DVR.) Then came "Wrath of Khan" and its sequels, which reaffirmed my love for the original crew while helping me deal with growing older and life's changes.
TNG and the Berman era shows brought me into middle age, and Jean-Luc Picard was the perfect hero for that period in my life: intellectual, philosophical, courageous and compassionate. I was ready for the dark side of the Federation's dream with DS9, and I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Janeway and B'Elanna and 7. (And what the hell, even Trip and Phlox. But not Archer.)
Maybe I'll break down and get CBS All Access so I can enjoy Burnham and Saru and the rest of the Discovery gang, and see what Jean-Luc is up to as we both journey into old age. But even if I don't, Trek has been my lifelong friend