Gen-Y Gazes At Its Collective Navel And Pulls Forth A List

What do Empire’s list of the 50 Greatest TV Shows Of All Time have in common? All but four of them aired in the ’90s and ’00s. Apparently someone held a gun to their head and said, don’t you dare leave out the original Star Trek or Monty Python.

I really have no problem with “greatest” lists, but please if what you really mean is “The 50 Greatest TV Shows Of My Admittedly Brief Lifetime” then please do us the favor of saying so right up front.

Kottke‘s annoyed that Buffy’s No. 2. I’m annoyed that “Scrubs” is rated higher than “Star Trek TNG,” and that’s despite the fact that Zach Braff graduated from the high school my kids attended.

Oh, and what do you call a show that featured Carl Reiner, Woody Allen, Neil Simon and Mel Brooks as writers? Or the show that first showed the U.S. both Elvis and The Beatles? Or the show that drove millions to go buy their first television set ever? Annoyed people like me might call them “Your Show Of Shows,” “Ed Sullivan” and “Milton Berle.” These guys are blissfully unaware of their existence.

I could go on. Maybe I will. Groundbreaking ’60s and ’70s shows: Julia, Flip Wilson, All In The Family for heaven’s sake. M*A*S*H. Mary Tyler Moore. I don’t even like some of these shows very much, but are they greater in the greatest-of-all-time sense than Family Guy (No. 12)? You tell me.

Go home kids, turn off the TV and read a book or something. This makes me want to create a new category for this here blog, “stupid.”