Television shows have come and gone throughout the years, bringing us laughter, tears, and sometimes even confusion at what in the world we just saw; every now and then we tend to forget about the shows in the past, pushing them out of our line of sight to make room for the now. However, I believe we can learn from shows past, which taught us lessons about humanity or maybe unknowingly paved the way for other genres in television. Today, I’d like to look at some of my favorites. These are in no particular order, since they are all uniquely different from each other and all brought something different to television.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)
Although at first glance the series has many conspicuous aspects of the late nineties and early 2000’s, this show tackled a brilliant cast of unique characters as well as being one of the first shows to beautifully play off the drama/comedy/horror/supernatural hybrid. Shows that are popular today such as Supernatural, Grimm, Once Upon a Time, etc. all have Buffy to thank for setting the stage for this type of genre.
The series follows a teenaged girl named Buffy, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar (Scooby Doo) who (through what can be dumbed down to random selection) is granted the powers of the Slayer, a girl who is chosen to fight against the creatures of darkness, specifically vampires who are completely real and very deadly, with her new super abilities in strength and agility. The show’s creator, Joss Whedon, who you might know as the director of the hit movie, The Avengers, explained the idea for the show came to him when he thought about the typical ‘girl runs from big, scary monster’ trope and realized how different and cool it would be to have the girl be the one chasing the big, scary monster (and then defeat it, of course) for a change.
The cast of characters changed a few times through the show’s seven season run, but both Allyson Hannigan (who played the character of Willow) went on to play a main role on How I Met Your Mother and David Boreanaz (who played Angel) received a part on Bones; both these series actually managed to go on much longer than Buffy, but it is thanks to Buffy that both Hannigan and Boreanaz were able to get a spot on such successful shows. The main series actually spawned a spin-off, called Angel (of which Boreanaz’s character was the main protagonist), a very noir, detective type series, having a very different tone from Buffy, but many fans claim to be equally good.
Pushing Daisies (2007-2009)
Don’t let the two season run fool you—this bizarre series is creativity at its finest. The show deals with the looming aspect of death in our everyday lives, following Ned the Pie-maker (that’s what they call him, hand to God), played by Lee Pace (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Hobbit Saga) who has the power to resurrect the dead by touching them. Unfortunately, his strange, inexplicable powers have their drawbacks; he can keep someone or something alive for as long as possible, but can never touch them again, bare skin and bare skin, or else they will die and stay dead forever. Also, if he chooses to leave them alive after a whole minute, the nearest being must die. Sound complicated? Mm, not as complicated as you might think.
The most striking thing about the show is the strangeness of the world we’re introduced to. It gives off a very weird charm with a rather strange cast of characters and plenty of odd dialogue. If nothing else, the costumes and sets are fabulous (and I don’t use that word often). The colors just leap off the screen, making the visuals a true victory for the series. The show also features one of my personal heroes, Kristen Chenoweth, who some might know as being the original G(a)linda in the musical, Wicked. It also has for the main narrator, Jim Dale, who some might be familiar with for narrating the Harry Potter books, so as you might imagine, his voice is wonderful to listen to each episode, despite him narrating each person’s death in excruciating detail.
If you’ve already seen this show and are looking for something similar, I’d like to put Dead Like Me as an honorable mention, since it has an oddity to it that reminds me a lot of Pushing Daisies, but I think the tone is slightly darker. It also focuses on the subject of death, but tells it from the perspective of the “grim” reapers of the world.
Dallas (1978-1991)
The eighties was quite the magical time for television, giving us multiple varieties of shows, music, movies, etc. Dallas was no exception, especially for the young women of that period who immediately latched onto this soap opera. On paper, it doesn’t sound particularly interesting; a wealthy family in Dallas, Texas owns an oil company—pretty simple. However, like with so many of these shows, the characters are what bring the emotion and action. Anyone who is familiar with Dallas knows about one of the main characters/antagonist of the show, J. R. Ewing, one of the ruthless sons of the main family who stops at nothing to get what he wants and yet manages to come across as oddly charming.
The show helped to inspire another soap opera, Dynasty, which followed the similar pattern of focusing on a wealthy family’s struggle for power among each other and trying to resist the corruption of money. Dallas also gained a spin-off called Knot’s Landing, which focused on one of the other Ewing brothers living in a cul-de-sac, a bit of a change from the big mansions and ranches from its predecessors, but still having the same amount of drama.
A Different World (1987-1993)
A somewhat spin-off of The Cosby Show, following Dr. Huxtable’s (Cosby) eldest child, Denise, played by Lisa Bonet, going off to a fictional black college, inspired by Howard University, which is a real, private, coeducational, historically black college. For the first season, it mostly focuses on Denise’s adjustment to life as a college student before she was basically removed from the show to focus on its breakout characters, Whitley Gilbert, born a rich Southern belle with a personality as big as the South, and Dwayne Wayne, a modern day Brainiac who was seen mostly trying to hang out with the most popular ladies of their college. The show tackled some of the issues of racism, gender equality, divorce, pregnancy, domestic violence, and just fitting into college.
Despite a bit of a slow first season, once Lisa Bonet’s character was removed (due to Bonet having a pregnancy and feeling it wasn’t right for her character to tackle that storyline), the show’s energy and comedy picked up greatly. As a current college student facing her own issues with school and work, I relate to this show strongly as it highlights both the positives and the negatives of college life. It fact, it says so in the theme song, “It’s a different world than where you come from…”
Parenthood (2010-2015)
In 1989, a movie called Parenthood came out, starring the great Steve Martin as one of the main characters. The movie centered around a large family, all trying to make their way in life through raising their kids, dealing with marriage problems, and any another issues that came their way. Years later, Ron Howard (director of A Beautiful Mind) decided he wanted to do his own take on the film, but rather turn it into an ongoing television series. What followed was an emotional, hysterical whirlwind of drama that made multiple families (including my own) unable to stop watching.
Throughout its six seasons, the Braverman family faced a whole multitude of challenge, such as raising a child diagnosed with Asperger’s, struggling to be a single parent, taking in a foster child, raising a child after five years without any knowledge of them existing—and that barely scratches the surface. The loveable nature of these characters and the raw dialogue is what keeps me on the edge of my seat every episode. Whenever the family is speaking to each other, they talk over each other and have awkward expressions. Why? Because that’s how people actually talk and it’s amazing that other writers and directors haven’t taken this approach in other shows.
The Waltons (1971-1981)
When I was a freshman, I was given an assignment in my English class where I had to explain what I think symbolized ‘The American Dream’. I racked my brains for days trying to figure out what could possibly work and more importantly, what would be different from everybody else. Then, it hit me.
During the seventies, there was a great deal of turmoil in America with such things as the Vietnam War driving a huge wall in our communities. This series brought us back to a time when things weren’t as complicated, but was still difficult; The Great Depression. We center on a multi-generational family living in the Blue Ridge Mountains of West Virginia. Consisting of seven children, a set of parents and grandparents, the Walton family tried their best to make it through each day with their powerful values of hard work—fighting the trials and tribulations of being lower class up in the mountains, but still managed to bring back a strong sense of a family that no matter how bad the times were the family were there for each other and always had each other’s back.
Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000)
Most haven’t even heard of this show before; I didn’t even see it until a few months ago when my dad had a coworker recommend it to him. Despite having only one season, this show does indeed have its own cult following, which is luckily still growing in number. We are introduced to Lindsay, played by Linda Cardellini (Legally Blonde), a teenaged girl in the eighties who gets fed up with always being the “good girl”; getting good grades, listening to her parents, etc. She decides to start hanging out with the outcasts of her school. The show actually helped launch multiple actors’ careers (or at least help them along their way to fame), including James Franco (General Hospital), Seth Rogan (Neighbors), Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother) and many more!
Taking place in the eighties, as I said before, a “magical” time in America, it gives us a fuller perspective on what it was like to be a teen in the eighties, taken from the perspective from the “freaks”, that being Lindsay’s new crowd of loners and outcasts, as well as the “geeks” which is Lindsay’s little brother’s squad who also don’t seem to fit in. The show does a good job of not painting either side as “misunderstood” in any fashion, but more giving us their vulnerable sides, breaking down the masks they put up as many kids and teens still do today in school to either fit in or pretend like it doesn’t hurt them when they can’t.
The Addams Family (1964-1966)
During a time when sitcoms were becoming more and more present, The Addams Family brought about something new. Although nowadays it seems incredibly tame to us, this show actually took a unique step in horror and comedy. For once, horror was sort of being satirized, giving us a family of complete weirdos who not only adored each other, but were always polite and kind to everyone they came across. Years and years later, the idea was brought back in the form of a few movies, which tended to miss some of these greater points about the family, making them just disturbing rather than just being oddly delightful.
The show has some sitcom-y moments that people of our generation might find a bit corny, but the humor is still pretty funny. Considering how unfortunately our generation seems to find refuge in toilet and bodily function humor, this is a great throwback to a show that doesn’t rely on fart or sex jokes, but rather on character beats. Whether it was Gomez (the original relentless optimistic) and Morticia (beauty both inside and out, not to mention classy) finding adoration in one another or their daughter, Wednesday, creepily showing people her Marie Antoinette doll, the characters always leaped off the screen. When I think of the members of the Addams Family, I want to go and hang out with them or just spend the day at their weird house.
Family Ties (1982-1989)
In most shows of the seventies and eighties, if a family was the main focus, the parents would usually be the conservative side of the family, while the children would be the rebellious ones, claiming their parents didn’t understand the way the world was now. Here, however, it’s completely the opposite.
Steven and Elyse Keaton have three children, all of which are unique in their own right; one of the daughters being focused on materialism and the other hardcore tomboy. Their eldest child and only son, Alex, played by Michael J. Fox (Back to the Future), is ultra conservative and is constantly berating his parents for their “hippie” ways and views. Whether or you agree or disagree with either side of their ongoing debate, this kind of subversion rarely happens in television.
This show, like many at the time, did “special” episodes, which usually meant episodes that focused on tough issues that people sometimes face or suffer from. A couple they focused on was the death of a close friend or family member, getting addicted to amphetamines (speed), etc. When it comes to “special” episodes, they can usually be noted in a show like this where the laugh track or the audience watching it goes completely silent as they understand the seriousness of the moment. If you’re looking for another show similar to this, also featuring “special” episodes, Blossom was a fun, quirky show like this, featuring Mayim Bialik of The Big Bang Theory fame playing the main character.
Revenge (2011-2015)
When it comes to some shows or movies or even books, the lesson of “revenge is never the answer” is more prevalent than one might realize.
This show dismisses that lesson entirely. We follow Emily Thorne, played by Emily VanCamp (Captain America; The Winter Soldier), who goes on, you guessed it, a revenge mission to make the people who framed her now deceased father, whom she had an incredibly close relationship with, pay harshly for their crimes. The series was greatly inspired by the novel The Count of Monte Cristo with Emily’s revenge schemes for each person that had a hand in her father’s sentence or making her own life miserable being all unique in their own way, sometimes occurring with a twist that the audience doesn’t see coming. With the help of her bisexual (he’s quite proud of this) genius best friend, Nolan, played by Gabriel Mann (The Bourne Identity, Josie and the Pussycats), she crosses off each corrupted individual as she makes her way to the very center of the evil in the Hamptons, namely the Grayson family, who were the ringleaders in her father’s death.
Remember to keep in mind—all of these are my own opinion. In fact, I don’t even think these are the absolute best shows in television; really, nobody can claim that of any show. Some of these might not be your cup of tea and that’s fine. This is why there needs to be so much variety in television, so that everyone can find their niche and settle down. As you can see, I’m sort of all over the place in my interests, but I think that’s a great way to open your mind to what else is out there.