Your Choice - Readers Name Their All-time Tv Greats
The Age
Wednesday June 14, 1995
WHEN we invited Green Guide readers to reply to Jim Schembri's list of the '57 Best TV Shows of All Time' and send in their own lists of the all- time greats, we were not sure what to expect. A few dozen letters, maybe . . .
We got a Matterhorn-like mound of responses - bookmark-sized bites, thesis-like diatribes. Readers were inspired to philosophy - `There is a little bit of Homer in all of us (Bill Massey, South Melbourne)' - and even poetry in their letters: `What makes a series great/The debate is endless./A great series becomes hidden in the vocabulary./A great series touches (Jennifer Neish, North Melbourne).' They talked TV and psychology: `(In Thunderbirds) My Dad relived his childhood through machines that transcended anything he had achieved with a Meccano set; my older brother identified with Scot and me with Alan, my sister embarrassed herself by falling in love with Virgil (Antony Johnson, Clifton Hill).' They talked TV and passion: `Starsky and Hutch - I thought Hutch was a big spunk and I loved the red car with the white stripe (Lyn Bence, West Essendon).' They talked TV and survival: `Homicide - it helped to believe through my teenage years that good triumphs over evil (Sue Forster, Vermont)'.
They talked TV and the Universe: `The Twilight Zone, the first episode I saw was To Serve Man, surely a message showing human vulnerability (Dean Paxinos, North Balwyn).' Many said how happy they were for the invitation to write. Others illustrated how personally people take their TV by voicing strong exception to the 57 Schembri gems. One reader was so put out he simply started his letter: `Dear Bastard'.
Peter Thomas of Mount Eliza was another with reservations: `By giving Jim Schembri 57 choices . . . all you succeeded in doing was giving us a list that included 30 of the worst programs ever seen. I mean Columbo, for God's sake.' He had a friend in Frank McKnight of Mentone: `Either the writer of the article has appalling taste or I have, because not one of my top five appears in the 57.' Mr N. Ross Duncan of Abbotsford was downright angry: `Obviously Gilligan's Island was only ever made to be repeated at 4.30 in the afternoon. Hogan's Heroes doesn't contain one joke. Larry Hagman' efforts at comedy in I Dream of Jeannie are excruciating to watch. On the Buses . . . unwatchable.' For some, the excitement of compiling a Top Five was simply too much.
Adrian Carnegie of South Melbourne could only bring himself to nominate one program, Twin Peaks, while the Comerfords of Balwyn simply listed The Avengers five times.
The issue of choosing the best TV shows was so important to the members of the FHA Information Systems Social Club that they held a special meeting to workshop the topic. They could only narrow it down to 112 favorite shows. Fawlty Towers was not one of them, Benny Hill was.
Lists came in from as far afield as New South Wales, South Australia and even Tasmania (an apple-growing land mass to the south). It was also heartening to see one list sent in from Mike Gregory who is working in the Republic of Nauru, in the Central Pacific.
For him, `Aussie TV shows are videos sent up by friends in Australia'.
His top 5 were Roseanne, Minder, My Name's McGooley, What's Yours?, The Honeymooners and The Samurai, which, he says, `produced a generation of teenagers throwing pieces of tin around the back yard while jumping off the roof'.
Indeed, The Samurai - that atrociously dubbed, chop socky show where the Japanese warriors specialised in jumping backwards onto roofs - proved a big landmark on the collective Green Guide unconscious. The numerous expressions of affection were best summarised by Richard Dodson of Williamstown: `With Koichi Ohse as the indefatigable Shintaro with his pal Tombey `the mist'. This show spawned a whole gang of ninjas at Williamstown Tech where at lunchtime samurai-style fights would take place and the occasional star knife made in sheet-metal class would sometimes cause all out riots during English or Maths A.' The overwhelming message in the letters was that with TV taste, nostagia reigns. Programs from the '50s and '60s, and occasionally the '70s, dominated and few currently or recently on air got a look-in.
Seinfeld, The Simpsons, Absolutely Fabulous, Northern Exposure, Picket Fences, Twin Peaks and Roseanne were among them, but none made it to the top five.
Many readers proudly boasted their preference for British fare. Robert Packett of Belmont could not understand why All in the Family was included on the original list when it was acknowledged that it was a clone of the classic British show Till Death Us Do Part. `Am I the only person to find a loud-mouthed obnoxious American far less funny than a loud-mouthed, obnoxious Pom?' Little room for argument there.
Local shows came in for many a guernsey. There were plaudits a-plenty for Frontline, Homicide, Bellbird, Mother and Son, Police Rescue, Janus (`unarguably one of the best drama series this country had ever produced', says Brian Johnson of Brunswick), Fast Forward and especially Matlock Police, praised by one reader as the model for all the country-based shows that followed, such as A Country Practice and Blue Heelers.
Support for home-grown product was not absolute, however. `Comedy is the most difficult form of the business to master,' wrote Michael Wooldridge of Derrinallum, `a truism amply demonstrated by such nauseating Australian attempts as Hey Dad, The Bob Morrison Show, The Newly Weds and All Together Now'. Ouch. But he went on to nominate Frontline as `clearly the funniest Australian series ever made, in fact the only funny Australian series ever made.' The strangest programs get our readers going: Would you believe Play School? Gwen Crawford of Research say she has many episodes on video and is particularly fond of the visions of `a youngish John Waters (and) an ungrey John Hamblin, whose asides always seemed to have adults in mind rather than three year olds.' And Romper Room? M. Petrakis of Caulfield South says how the show is a favorite of the twenty-something crowd, and credits the show as being `psyche forming'.
`The very mention of Miss Helena and the Magic Mirror still has the power to (elicit) fond smiles of recollection or sour revulsion and belittlement, depending on whether, to your recollection, your name was ever mentioned and you were `seen' by the milk-endorsing Aussie giant of our pre and primary schooldays in the late '70s.' Let the Blood Run Free? `Definitely the most underrated comedy of all time,' exhaults Deon Eruvelil of Upwey. `The cheap sets and props tied in perfectly with the funniest scripts ever used in a sitcom. How the second series ever ended up being shown in the middle of the night I will never know.' Well, Deon, there are these things called ratings .
. .
Alvin Purple? `To see this show was a badge of honor in my primary schooldays' claims David Fleming of Brunswick.
And, Lord help us, Shirl's Neighborhood? `The biggest crock of shlock on Australian children's television,' says Terri Psiakis of Wheelers Hill, `but memorable if only for Shirley Strachan's skivvy-wearing prowess and that laugh.' Science fiction featured heavily, with nary a letter failing to make even a passing reference to either Star Trek, Star Trek: the Next Generation, The Outer Limits or The Twilight Zone. Most heartening, though, were the repeated calls of love and affection for Red Dwarf, the superbly made and written British science fiction comedy show.
Says Miffy Coghill of Wheelers Hill: `Once you've absorbed about as much liberal-humanism as you can take from Star Trek, tune into this show and you'll be brought to Earth with a definite jolt. As an alternative to the Star Trek future, Red Dwarf is probably the most credible and is certainly the most hilarious of the available options.
If humanity is destined to finish with a totally worthless, unwashed space bum like Lister, then at least it will go out with attitude.' While the majority of letters veered towards popular favorites, many were a celebration in esotericism.
A few heartfelt mentions were made of the magnificent Lancelot Link, the show about a secret agent that was cast entirely by chimps, and Monkey, that bizarre show aptly described by Casey Vanderheyden of Noble Park thus: `Boy, was this a hodge-podge - slapstick, philosophy, sex, parables, lip-synching reminiscent of Epic Theatre, a Monkey, a Pig and a Fish spirit with a bald Tibetan monk who I still don't know was male or female. Insane - maybe. Funny - YES.' Perhaps the most out-there-ish list came from Andrew Dynon of Balwyn whose favorite shows were: Mysterious Cities of Gold; Robotech; The X Men; Samuari Pizza Cats; and Magic Knights of Ray Earth. Nobody else dared mention them.
Most eloquent of all was a brief missive from Noela J. Larson (who neglected to tell us where she was from). Inspired by `the mythological hero figure, and the quest that drove them' she listed her top five programs as The Rifleman, Zorro, Superman, Seahunt and The Fugitive because they were `not far removed from classical Greek heroes: black-and-white mythical figures'.
Who says TV is just bubble gum for the brain?
AND THE WINNERS ARE: 1: Fawlty Towers.
`Thirty minutes so precious, anyone who sneezed . . . and obscured a single word of dialogue risked death.' - Michael Witheford, Richmond.
It won on numbers by country mile.
2: Get Smart.
`Basically a load of good fun; successful by virtue of the fact that it could easily be approached by four year olds as much as by 44 year olds.' - Brian R.Johnson, Brunswick.
3: Minder.
`A great English comedy made hilarious through effective use of rhyming slang. Vindicated everything my London-born mother said about cockneys.' - John Ward, Noble Park.
4. Yes, (Prime) Minister.
`The most brilliant, bitingly accurate comedy ever made. No politicial comedy has come close to it.' - Paul Strover, Mentone.
5. The Avengers.
`Style and sophistication simply oozed from this show. It offered a timeless world of bowler hats and brolleys secured by resourceful leading characters in the debonair Steed and his companions. The scripts were original and witty and it was a pleasure to watch, then and now.'- Nigel Patterson, Greenway, ACT.
6. Callan.
`Edward Woodward's Callan was every bit as good as John Thaw's Regan, in just the same way tough, and like Regan he was cursed with superiors who were every bit as mulish and venal. Definitely the TV show for all the tens of thousands of readers of John Le Carre and Len Deighton.' - Clive Lipshut, Malvern.
7. Monty Python's Flying Circus.
`How many TV shows have inspired as many imitations and grating recitals as this one? It was religious viewing when I was a child, and reinvented comedy for an entire generation.' - Craig McFarlane, Vermont South.
8. The Simpsons.
`A rich, intelligent and stimulating portrayal of relationships, personalities and motivations, which continues to astonish, enrich and amuse me like nothing else can. The character artwork, attention to background jokes, and the feeling of loving commitment to the production don't hurt, either.' - M. MacNally, Bulleen.
9. The Prisoner.
`Hits the spot as an allegory of life in a bureaucracy.' - P. Herlihy, Mt Evelyn.
10. Dad's Army.
`I am British, but British or not, this show is so British, cosy, corny and lovely!' - Richard Easlea, Moonee Ponds.
YOUR FAVORITE SHOWS.
WESTERNS: Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Have gun will travel, The Rifleman, The Lone Ranger.
COMEDIES: Fawlty Towers, Get Smart, Yes (Prime) Minister, Monty Python, The Simpsons.
COP SHOWS: Homicide, The Bill, Hawai Five O, Hill Street Blues, The Sweeney.
AUSSIE SHOWS: Homicide, Frontline, The Aunty Jack Show, The Late Show, Neighbors.
© 1995 The Age
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