I know all the reasons why 'best of' lists are stupid, but I can't resist a good list, like the Guardian's list of the fifty best television dramas: an especially interesting window into the views of the British chattering classes concerning US and British series, and a good cheat sheet for those who haven't seen many of the British honorees...
The top ten:
Sopranos
Brideshead
Our Friends in the North
Mad Men
A Very Peculiar Practice
Talking Heads
Singing Detective
Oranges are Not the Only Fruit
State of Play
Boys from the Blackstuff
I disagree with so much of this: "Wire" at #14 is appalling, for example. But I will say this: If you haven't seen "Our Friends in the North" or "State of Play", you really should.
UPDATE:
Our Friends in the North is seemingly lost to the world of home video. The above picture, however, will amuse Daniel Craig fans.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
The Joy of Lists
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5 comments:
Neither "X-Files" nor "24" is rated high enough. And no "Deadwood"? Please.
Exactly.
But there are so many programs on this list that my friends have never seen -- Clocking Off and Shameless (which together with State of Play give Paul Abbott more listings than any single writer) and This Life, in addition to the ones I mentioned above -- that it seemed worth a go.
A quick check tells me that Our Friends in the North -- nine 70 minute episodes covering the lives of a half a dozen people from 1970-2000 and starring Daniel Craig and Christopher Eccleston among others -- is not available on DVD in the US. Shame.
First thing I checked on Netflix. Rats.
Three cheers for The Singing Detective! It's time to go back and watch it again.
Tulk and I were bemoaning recently the non-existance of Potter's "Blackeyes" on DVD -- or anywhere else, apparently. Not even on the huge 100-quid BBC Home Video boxed set. (A must-have for Gina Bellman completists.)
This is why normally law-abiding citizens resort to BitTorrent.
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