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shadowkatBasically the film meme applied to television - go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_years_in_television
or here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_years_in_television#1960s
Pick the date of your birth and pick the best tv show that "premiered" for each year of your life. Just scroll to "Debuts". Note it had to premiere or "debute" that year, not happen to be on or end that year or this meme would be impossible.
Simple.
1. 1967: The Prisoner (yes it premiered in the UK and Canada (oddly Canada first), but it doesn't matter). This is the to die for spy sci-fi series. Both satirizing the genre, as well as commenting on the increased paranoia of the time. It's also possibly one of the most referenced series in pop culture.
2. 1968: The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show (yes, the Prisoner debuted on CBS that year, but I used it for 1967 already) and while tempted by Mr. Rogers Neiborhood, Bugs Bunny ruled. Those cartoons are so ingrained on my brain - I made one of the characters in the novel I wrote a Looney Toones fan - she has an existential discussion about Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.
3. 1969 - hard year, we have Sesame Street, H.R. Pufnstuff (yes, I was in love with Jack Wild on that show ), Scooby Doo Where Are You, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Courtship of Eddy's Father, The Brady Bunch, and Benny Hill. Ugh. While Sesame Street lasted the longest, I got to be honest - I had an insane fannish devotion for H.R. Pufnstuff - I was of course only 2 - and I think I watched it when I was six. (And the show was not on that long. I started young with these cult tv shows.)
4. 1970 - its between Mary Tyler Moore Show, MCloud, and Patridge Family. I'm going with Mary Tyler Moore Show. Just because. "Mr. GRAAAANT!"
5. 1971: All in the Family, Masterpiece Theater, and Upstairs/Downstairs. I'm going with Masterpiece Theater (although at the time - it was most likely either Sonny and Cher or The Electric Company).
6. 1972: M*A*S*H - the best situation comedy on tv ever produced, period. (I wrote a paper for a modern folklore media course on MASH and black comedy way back in the 1980s. Literally watched ever single episode five times. Now, I can't watch the series - I finally burned out, that and the fact that I think I had memorized it.) Favorite episodes are the first three years of the series, although it was that rare series that just got richer and deeper as it went on, and the satire more pointed.
7.1973: Schoolhouse Rock! - the best cartoon series that was also informative. Adore that series.
"I'm just a Bill, I'll always be a Bill, I'm only a Bill"...or "Conjuction, Conjunction, What's Your Function?"
8. 1974: Eh...it's a toss up between Happy Days and Nova to be honest. But I'm going with Happy Days.
It was great in the early 70s. Just ignore the last four years of it.
9. 1975 - toss up between Ryan's Hope, Barney Miller, and Space 1999 (just because it scared the hell out of me and I kept having to leave the house at different points when it was on since my family adored it) - there was also Fawlty Towers, Saturday Night Live (which I'm guessing everyone else who does this meme will pick, because hello - it's Saturday Night!), and I admittedly probably just watched Tom & Jerry/Ape show by Hannah Barabara the most. But I'm going with Barney Miller - which was an amazingly well-written situation comedy cop series that Dennis Leary came the closest to copying with the Job.
10. 1976: (go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_in_American_television) : The Muppet Show.
11. 1977: Soap - a satirical situation comedy on soap operas. This was during the height of the daytime soap opera format. For Mini-series - Jesus of Nazerth by Franco Zeferrilli. (Roots also premiered, but I don't think I saw it all the way through). Loved Jesus of Nazereth though.
12. 1978: Toss up between my two favorite tv shows - Battle of the Planets and BattleStar Galatica.
With WKRP in Cinnicinati and Taxi close seconds. (the 70s had the best situation comedies.) Although I think I REALLY loved Battle of The Planets at the time - I hated to miss an episode (And both shows were short-lived cult tv shows that didn't last that long). Now, I'd say Taxi.
13. 1979: What a bad year. How the West Was Won - which Wiki didn't list and I had to look up, because cult tv show that didn't last that long.
14. 1980: Magnum P.I. (Also the great miniseries - Shogun)
15: 1981: Hill Street Blues - the cop show that changed television. It's why we have the Wire and Homicide Life on the Streets. (Miniseries were great this year and they were all British: Brideshead Revisited, A Town Like Alice, and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I remember Brideshead and Town the best for some reason - probably because my parents were obsessed with it and we only had one tv and guess who controlled it? Hitchhiker - I only saw when they weren't around.)
16. 1982: Damn this is a hard year - we have several of my favorites: Tales of the Gold Monkey with Stephen Collins (which I adored and only lasted two seasons damn them! Yes, I had an insane love of cult tv shows that couldn't appeal to a mass mainstream audience even back then), Fame (lasted slightly longer and also adored - think Glee but without the Satire and more melodrama), Cheers (which was a cult sitcom that no one watched back then), Remington Steele, and St. Elsewhere.
St. Elsewhere and Cheers were probably the best. But I lovvved Fame and Tales of the Gold Monkey (I'd forgotten about it.) which in my opinion was the better of the two shows trying to capitalize on the success of Raiders, the other was Bring-Em Back Alive starring the somewhat wooden Bruce Boxleightner).
17. 1983: Aother bad debut year - Toss up between Fraggle Rock and Mamma's Family. (Although I did watch Scarecrow and Mrs. King alot - Bruce Boxleightner was bascially the David Boreanze of the 1980s, same acting style. The guy/gal detective team is a popular tv trope.) Although great for mini-series - The Thorn Birds debut as did V and All the Rivers Run. The 1980s were notable for great made for tv movies and mini-series - something that sort of went by-by when HBO and cable came on to the scene.
18. 1984: Miami Vice, Mickey Spilliane's Mike Hammer and Night Court. (I also liked Cover Up for the hunk and the catchy albeit cheesy theme song - All I Want is a Hero...) I'm going with Mickey Spillaine's Mike Hammer - it was the best written, although I did adore Night Court - which often had me cackling. (80s were also good for sitcoms.)
19. 1985: Moonlighting - the best of the guy/girl detective series trope. No one has topped Moonlighting for humor, chemistry, style or writing yet. (And I also watched McGyver...but grew weary of it.)
20. 1986: LA Law.
21. 1987: Star Trek the Next Generation. (although... Max Headroom comes in a very very close second...loved that show. Also...Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, Jake and the Fatman and thirtysomething were admittedly entertaining and memorable.) But definitely STNG. My Generation's Star Trek. We watched it religiously in college, along with all the original Trek in reruns.
[Notable TV event that made me go huh? :# November 22 – During a showing of the Doctor Who story "Horror of Fang Rock", Chicago PBS station WTTW-TV Channel 11 is interrupted for 88 seconds by a pirate television transmitter overriding the station's transmission signal to broadcast a video of himself in a Max Headroom mask being spanked. This incident has subsequently gained a degree of cult myth about it.]
22. 1988: China Beach - for the Marge Helgenberger storyline.
23. 1989: The Seinfeild Chronicles, Life Goes On, The Simpsons, and Quantum Leap. I'm going with the Seinfeild Chronicles later renamed Seinfield.
24. 1990: Twin Peaks - David Lynch's classic surreal soap opera/horror/detective mystery genre bender.
Which changed tv - without it, we wouldn't have Lost and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and X-Files.
25. 1991: Another dead year according to Wiki - going with I'll Fly Away - which I also had to look up, because not on the list but found it on another list (a tv series starring Regina Taylor and Sam Waterson taking place in the 1950s about race relations) or Ren & Stimpy. I'll Fly Away only lasted two years.
26. 1992: Picket Fences (although I admittedly enjoyed the animated Batman: the Animated series and The X-men).
27. 1993: Homicide: Life on the Streets (which I managed over time to addict my entire immediate family to along with several friends) (yes, also loved the Adventures of Brisco County Jr.)
28. 1994 : Babylon 5 (not clear from wiki (1993) or imbd (1994) if it premiered in 1993 or 1994). (Of the ones actually listed in wiki for this year? ER - the hospital drama that changed hospital dramas.)
29. 1995: News Radio
30. 1996: American Gothic (you have to hunt it - it's too cult to be listed in Wiki and it only lasted a year.) the other was Profit (which is listed as a mini-series in wiki). Of those actually listed - 3rd Rock from the Sun.
31. 1997: Here's your choices: La Femme Nikita, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Daria, and South Park. Definitely Buffy - both then and now. I didn't discover the others until a year or so later anyhow.
32. 1998: Sex and The City
33. 1999: Here's my choices: Angel, Farscape, Now and Again, The West Wing, and The Sopranos. Sigh.
Now, I didn't know Farscape existed until 2004 (so can I pick it?) I was the most invested in Now and Again at the time (it of course was cancelled in 2000, didn't make it more than a year. Yes, me and weird cult shows - the trend continues. ). Picking Farscape. But I loved all for vastly different reasons.
34. 2000: Gilmore Girls (did enjoy Dark Angel for a bit, and was also somewhat enamored of Queer As Folk, plus watched the miniseries 10th Kingdom.)
35. 2001: This gets harder as there appears to be more channels to choose from. Probably Alias, since I gave up on Six Feet Under when I gave up Showtime in 2002.
36. 2002: Firefly (and yes, my insane love of tv shows doomed to be canceled within six months continues. It's pathetic really).
37. 2003: Dead Like Me and Joan of Arcadia (both short-lived, although Dead Like Me lasted longer and I saw it on DVD so most likely doesn't count.) Nip/Tuck is also in the running. But probably Joan of Arcadia - which got canceled after a year.
38. 2004: Lost or Wonderfalls that only made it for six episodes - hence the reason it's not mentioned. (yes the trend towards funky tv shows most people don't know about continues.) Going with Lost, just because it lasted longer.
39. 2005: Battlestar Galatica - according to wiki, there appears to be some uncertainity on this. I'm guessing the mini-series aired in 2004? At any rate, definitely BSG this year.
40. 2006: Dexter - even if I had to wait to catch it on DVD. (On tv? Heroes - until it jumped the shark in the second-third season.)
41. 2007: The Dresden Files (yes, it only last 13 episodes...and few people know about it.)
42. 2008:Terminator- The Sarah Connor Chronicles (yes, the trend continues - I swear its almost as if it's bad luck if I like a show.)
43. 2009: Too many to choose from - Picking The Good Wife (but Being Human, Vamp Diaries, Dollhouse, and Glee all started this year. But of all of them - the only one that hasn't had one bad episode is The Good Wife. That said, Dollhouse was probably the riskiest and most adventurous of the bunch. But the Good Wife accomplishes what Whedon attempted to accomplish in Dollhouse in a far more subtle fashion regarding the theme of gender politics and power games with identity.)
44. 2010: toss up between Caprica and Terriers (sigh, both cancelled last year. This is just sad people.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_years_in_television
or here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_years_in_television#1960s
Pick the date of your birth and pick the best tv show that "premiered" for each year of your life. Just scroll to "Debuts". Note it had to premiere or "debute" that year, not happen to be on or end that year or this meme would be impossible.
Simple.
1. 1967: The Prisoner (yes it premiered in the UK and Canada (oddly Canada first), but it doesn't matter). This is the to die for spy sci-fi series. Both satirizing the genre, as well as commenting on the increased paranoia of the time. It's also possibly one of the most referenced series in pop culture.
2. 1968: The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show (yes, the Prisoner debuted on CBS that year, but I used it for 1967 already) and while tempted by Mr. Rogers Neiborhood, Bugs Bunny ruled. Those cartoons are so ingrained on my brain - I made one of the characters in the novel I wrote a Looney Toones fan - she has an existential discussion about Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.
3. 1969 - hard year, we have Sesame Street, H.R. Pufnstuff (yes, I was in love with Jack Wild on that show ), Scooby Doo Where Are You, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Courtship of Eddy's Father, The Brady Bunch, and Benny Hill. Ugh. While Sesame Street lasted the longest, I got to be honest - I had an insane fannish devotion for H.R. Pufnstuff - I was of course only 2 - and I think I watched it when I was six. (And the show was not on that long. I started young with these cult tv shows.)
4. 1970 - its between Mary Tyler Moore Show, MCloud, and Patridge Family. I'm going with Mary Tyler Moore Show. Just because. "Mr. GRAAAANT!"
5. 1971: All in the Family, Masterpiece Theater, and Upstairs/Downstairs. I'm going with Masterpiece Theater (although at the time - it was most likely either Sonny and Cher or The Electric Company).
6. 1972: M*A*S*H - the best situation comedy on tv ever produced, period. (I wrote a paper for a modern folklore media course on MASH and black comedy way back in the 1980s. Literally watched ever single episode five times. Now, I can't watch the series - I finally burned out, that and the fact that I think I had memorized it.) Favorite episodes are the first three years of the series, although it was that rare series that just got richer and deeper as it went on, and the satire more pointed.
7.1973: Schoolhouse Rock! - the best cartoon series that was also informative. Adore that series.
"I'm just a Bill, I'll always be a Bill, I'm only a Bill"...or "Conjuction, Conjunction, What's Your Function?"
8. 1974: Eh...it's a toss up between Happy Days and Nova to be honest. But I'm going with Happy Days.
It was great in the early 70s. Just ignore the last four years of it.
9. 1975 - toss up between Ryan's Hope, Barney Miller, and Space 1999 (just because it scared the hell out of me and I kept having to leave the house at different points when it was on since my family adored it) - there was also Fawlty Towers, Saturday Night Live (which I'm guessing everyone else who does this meme will pick, because hello - it's Saturday Night!), and I admittedly probably just watched Tom & Jerry/Ape show by Hannah Barabara the most. But I'm going with Barney Miller - which was an amazingly well-written situation comedy cop series that Dennis Leary came the closest to copying with the Job.
10. 1976: (go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_in_American_television) : The Muppet Show.
11. 1977: Soap - a satirical situation comedy on soap operas. This was during the height of the daytime soap opera format. For Mini-series - Jesus of Nazerth by Franco Zeferrilli. (Roots also premiered, but I don't think I saw it all the way through). Loved Jesus of Nazereth though.
12. 1978: Toss up between my two favorite tv shows - Battle of the Planets and BattleStar Galatica.
With WKRP in Cinnicinati and Taxi close seconds. (the 70s had the best situation comedies.) Although I think I REALLY loved Battle of The Planets at the time - I hated to miss an episode (And both shows were short-lived cult tv shows that didn't last that long). Now, I'd say Taxi.
13. 1979: What a bad year. How the West Was Won - which Wiki didn't list and I had to look up, because cult tv show that didn't last that long.
14. 1980: Magnum P.I. (Also the great miniseries - Shogun)
15: 1981: Hill Street Blues - the cop show that changed television. It's why we have the Wire and Homicide Life on the Streets. (Miniseries were great this year and they were all British: Brideshead Revisited, A Town Like Alice, and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I remember Brideshead and Town the best for some reason - probably because my parents were obsessed with it and we only had one tv and guess who controlled it? Hitchhiker - I only saw when they weren't around.)
16. 1982: Damn this is a hard year - we have several of my favorites: Tales of the Gold Monkey with Stephen Collins (which I adored and only lasted two seasons damn them! Yes, I had an insane love of cult tv shows that couldn't appeal to a mass mainstream audience even back then), Fame (lasted slightly longer and also adored - think Glee but without the Satire and more melodrama), Cheers (which was a cult sitcom that no one watched back then), Remington Steele, and St. Elsewhere.
St. Elsewhere and Cheers were probably the best. But I lovvved Fame and Tales of the Gold Monkey (I'd forgotten about it.) which in my opinion was the better of the two shows trying to capitalize on the success of Raiders, the other was Bring-Em Back Alive starring the somewhat wooden Bruce Boxleightner).
17. 1983: Aother bad debut year - Toss up between Fraggle Rock and Mamma's Family. (Although I did watch Scarecrow and Mrs. King alot - Bruce Boxleightner was bascially the David Boreanze of the 1980s, same acting style. The guy/gal detective team is a popular tv trope.) Although great for mini-series - The Thorn Birds debut as did V and All the Rivers Run. The 1980s were notable for great made for tv movies and mini-series - something that sort of went by-by when HBO and cable came on to the scene.
18. 1984: Miami Vice, Mickey Spilliane's Mike Hammer and Night Court. (I also liked Cover Up for the hunk and the catchy albeit cheesy theme song - All I Want is a Hero...) I'm going with Mickey Spillaine's Mike Hammer - it was the best written, although I did adore Night Court - which often had me cackling. (80s were also good for sitcoms.)
19. 1985: Moonlighting - the best of the guy/girl detective series trope. No one has topped Moonlighting for humor, chemistry, style or writing yet. (And I also watched McGyver...but grew weary of it.)
20. 1986: LA Law.
21. 1987: Star Trek the Next Generation. (although... Max Headroom comes in a very very close second...loved that show. Also...Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, Jake and the Fatman and thirtysomething were admittedly entertaining and memorable.) But definitely STNG. My Generation's Star Trek. We watched it religiously in college, along with all the original Trek in reruns.
[Notable TV event that made me go huh? :# November 22 – During a showing of the Doctor Who story "Horror of Fang Rock", Chicago PBS station WTTW-TV Channel 11 is interrupted for 88 seconds by a pirate television transmitter overriding the station's transmission signal to broadcast a video of himself in a Max Headroom mask being spanked. This incident has subsequently gained a degree of cult myth about it.]
22. 1988: China Beach - for the Marge Helgenberger storyline.
23. 1989: The Seinfeild Chronicles, Life Goes On, The Simpsons, and Quantum Leap. I'm going with the Seinfeild Chronicles later renamed Seinfield.
24. 1990: Twin Peaks - David Lynch's classic surreal soap opera/horror/detective mystery genre bender.
Which changed tv - without it, we wouldn't have Lost and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and X-Files.
25. 1991: Another dead year according to Wiki - going with I'll Fly Away - which I also had to look up, because not on the list but found it on another list (a tv series starring Regina Taylor and Sam Waterson taking place in the 1950s about race relations) or Ren & Stimpy. I'll Fly Away only lasted two years.
26. 1992: Picket Fences (although I admittedly enjoyed the animated Batman: the Animated series and The X-men).
27. 1993: Homicide: Life on the Streets (which I managed over time to addict my entire immediate family to along with several friends) (yes, also loved the Adventures of Brisco County Jr.)
28. 1994 : Babylon 5 (not clear from wiki (1993) or imbd (1994) if it premiered in 1993 or 1994). (Of the ones actually listed in wiki for this year? ER - the hospital drama that changed hospital dramas.)
29. 1995: News Radio
30. 1996: American Gothic (you have to hunt it - it's too cult to be listed in Wiki and it only lasted a year.) the other was Profit (which is listed as a mini-series in wiki). Of those actually listed - 3rd Rock from the Sun.
31. 1997: Here's your choices: La Femme Nikita, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Daria, and South Park. Definitely Buffy - both then and now. I didn't discover the others until a year or so later anyhow.
32. 1998: Sex and The City
33. 1999: Here's my choices: Angel, Farscape, Now and Again, The West Wing, and The Sopranos. Sigh.
Now, I didn't know Farscape existed until 2004 (so can I pick it?) I was the most invested in Now and Again at the time (it of course was cancelled in 2000, didn't make it more than a year. Yes, me and weird cult shows - the trend continues. ). Picking Farscape. But I loved all for vastly different reasons.
34. 2000: Gilmore Girls (did enjoy Dark Angel for a bit, and was also somewhat enamored of Queer As Folk, plus watched the miniseries 10th Kingdom.)
35. 2001: This gets harder as there appears to be more channels to choose from. Probably Alias, since I gave up on Six Feet Under when I gave up Showtime in 2002.
36. 2002: Firefly (and yes, my insane love of tv shows doomed to be canceled within six months continues. It's pathetic really).
37. 2003: Dead Like Me and Joan of Arcadia (both short-lived, although Dead Like Me lasted longer and I saw it on DVD so most likely doesn't count.) Nip/Tuck is also in the running. But probably Joan of Arcadia - which got canceled after a year.
38. 2004: Lost or Wonderfalls that only made it for six episodes - hence the reason it's not mentioned. (yes the trend towards funky tv shows most people don't know about continues.) Going with Lost, just because it lasted longer.
39. 2005: Battlestar Galatica - according to wiki, there appears to be some uncertainity on this. I'm guessing the mini-series aired in 2004? At any rate, definitely BSG this year.
40. 2006: Dexter - even if I had to wait to catch it on DVD. (On tv? Heroes - until it jumped the shark in the second-third season.)
41. 2007: The Dresden Files (yes, it only last 13 episodes...and few people know about it.)
42. 2008:Terminator- The Sarah Connor Chronicles (yes, the trend continues - I swear its almost as if it's bad luck if I like a show.)
43. 2009: Too many to choose from - Picking The Good Wife (but Being Human, Vamp Diaries, Dollhouse, and Glee all started this year. But of all of them - the only one that hasn't had one bad episode is The Good Wife. That said, Dollhouse was probably the riskiest and most adventurous of the bunch. But the Good Wife accomplishes what Whedon attempted to accomplish in Dollhouse in a far more subtle fashion regarding the theme of gender politics and power games with identity.)
44. 2010: toss up between Caprica and Terriers (sigh, both cancelled last year. This is just sad people.)
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Date: 2011-02-04 03:45 pm (UTC)