It's a documentary about people studying for the California Bar Exam. I took that exam in the summer of 1995, when I was 24 years old. Mysteriously, perhaps through a clerical error of some type, I passed.
It was a thing; I haven't practiced law in years; more than occasionally I will question...well, all of the decisions I've made in my life; I'm uncertain there's a great argument that law school was the right choice for me, all things considered. Nonetheless, it's nice to recall accomplishments. I would have preferred the film to focus more on the applicants for the Bar and less on the contextual question of "do we have too many lawsuits" as I'd suggest that corporate wrongdoing is exponentially a greater ill than the occasional plaintiff recovery. However, if anyone ever wanted to know how I spent the summer of 1995, it felt a lot like this movie.
Revelation 23 - A Movie Worth Seeing is A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Entertainment Weekly Ranks the Top 100 TV Shows of the Past 25 Years
In case you missed it.
The parameters are that shows which began from '83 on were eligible, earlier shows, meaning those which started before '83 but were still airing into the time frame were not.
I don't think of television as a lesser art form than film; either in content or in its revelatory nature; in an earlier post, I compared George Carlin to Mark Twain; let me suggest that if we're fortunate enough to still consider such things 50 years from now, academia will have properly found a way to fully allow the study of television to stand shoulder to shoulder with the study of other forms of art. There have been a few hundred (I'm assuming) writers for The Simpsons and that makes it difficult for us to endow one person with traits of greatness in the way that we can look at The Sound and the Fury and say "Faulkner - genius" - but were one to stack two decades of the Simpsons end to end and measure its artistic value against the most revered books in the Western canon, it's silly to dismiss the former because its words were primarily said and not read. Hamlet is a production, written and conceived as a production, and yet we have obviously demonstrated a readiness to treat it as substantial, as signficant, as genius - wouldn't it still be the same play if it weren't written by "one great man", Shakespeare, but instead by a collection of a few hundred writers? Would a rose by any other name still smell as sweet?
Regardless.
My point here is that I think about television critically and will offer...not my top 100, I don't think, but maybe my top 25 television series of the past 25 years...and I think I'll do it in order.
But not tonight. I have a job and whatnot.
Here's a spoiler....I think my number one show...is not on the EW list.
Here is that list, in case you did not see it.
2 The Sopranos, HBO (1999-2007)
3 Seinfeld, NBC (1989-98)
4 The X-Files, Fox (1993-2002)
5 Sex and the City, HBO (1998-2004)
6 Survivor, CBS (2000-present)
7 The Cosby Show, NBC (1984-92)
8 Lost, ABC (2004-present)
9 Friends, NBC (1994-2004)
10 Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The WB (1997-2001); UPN (2001-03)
11 The Wire, HBO (2002-08)
12 South Park, Comedy Central (1997-present)
13 Freaks and Geeks, NBC (1999-2000)
14 The Daily Show, Comedy Central (1996-present)
15 The Oprah Winfrey Show, Syndicated (1986-present)
16 Arrested Development, Fox (2003-06)
17 The Office (U.K. version), BBC2 (2001-03)
18 American Idol, Fox (2002-present)
19 ER, NBC (1994-present)
20 Beverly Hills, 90210, Fox (1990-2000)
21 Roseanne, ABC (1988-97)
22 The Real World, MTV (1992-present)
23 The West Wing, NBC (1999-2006)
24 Star Trek: The Next Generation, Syndication (1987-94)
25 Miami Vice, NBC (1984-89)
26 Chappelle's Show, Comedy Central (2003-06)
27 Law & Order, NBC (1990-present)
28 The Larry Sanders Show, HBO (1992-98)
29 The Shield, FX (2002-present)
30 Late Show With David Letterman, CBS (1993-present)
31 The Civil War, PBS (1990)
32 Gilmore Girls, The WB (2000-06), The CW (2006-07)
33 My So-Called Life, ABC (1994-95)
34 24, Fox (2001-present)
35 CSI, CBS (2000-present)
36 thirtysomething, ABC (1987-91)
38 Beavis and Butt-head, MTV (1993-97)
39 Six Feet Under, HBO (2001-05) 4
0 Mr. Show, (HBO, 1995-98)
41 Frasier, NBC (1993-2004)
42 L.A. Law, NBC (1986-94)
43 Late Night With Conan O'Brien, NBC (1993-present)
44 Jeopardy!, Syndicated (1984-present)
45 Curb Your Enthusiasm, HBO (2000-present
) 46 Homicide: Life on the Street, NBC (1993-99)
47 30 Rock, NBC (2006-present)
48 Ally McBeal, Fox (1997-2002)
49 Twin Peaks, ABC (1990-91)
50 Baywatch, NBC (1989-90), Syndicated (1991-2001)
51. Melrose Place, Fox (1992-99)
52. Felicity, The WB (1998-2002)
53. Will & Grace, NBC (1998-2006
)54. Moonlighting, ABC (1985-89)5
55. Pee-wee's Playhouse, CBS (1986-90
)56. Desperate Housewives, ABC (2004-present
)57. The Amazing Race, CBS (2001-present)
58. The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, NBC (1992-present)
59. Battlestar Galactica, Sci Fi (2003-2008)
60. Xena: Warrior Princess, Syndicated (1995-2001)
61. The Office (U.S.), NBC (2005-present)
62. House, Fox (2004-present)
63. Mystery Science Theater 3000, Comedy Central (1989-96), Sci Fi (1997-99)
64. The Osbournes, MTV (2002-05)
65. Family Guy, Fox (1999-2002, 2005-present
)66. Grey’s Anatomy, ABC (2005-present)
67. Planet Earth, Discovery Channel (2007
)68. Jackass, MTV (2000-02)
69. The Colbert Report, Comedy Central (2005-present)
70. Everybody Loves Raymond, CBS (1996-2005
)71. Friday Night Lights, NBC (2006-present)
72. NewsRadio, NBC (1995-99)
73. Oz, HBO (1997-2003)
74. Wiseguy, CBS (1987-90)
75. Project Runway, Bravo (2004-present)
76. In Living Color, Fox (1990-94)
77. The Golden Girls, NBC (1985-92)
78. I'll Fly Away, NBC (1991-93)
79. The Comeback, HBO (2005)
80. King of the Hill, Fox (1997-present)
81. Murphy Brown, CBS (1988-98)
82. The Hills, MTV (2006-present)
83. Absolutely Fabulous, BBC2 (1992), BBC1 (1994-2004)
84. Northern Exposure, CBS (1990-95)
85. The Kids in the Hall, HBO (1989-92), CBS (1992-95)
86. Prime Suspect, ITV (1991-2006)
87. Deadwood, HBO (2004-06)
88. Malcolm in the Middle, Fox (2000-06)
89. SpongeBob SquarePants, Nickelodeon (1999-present)
90. Dawson's Creek, The WB (1998-2003)
91. Mad Men, AMC (2007-present)
92. The Ben Stiller Show, Fox (1992-93)
93. Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Bravo (2003-07)
94. Married...With Children, Fox (1987-97)
95. Designing Women, CBS (1986-93)
96. The Arsenio Hall Show, Syndicated (1989-94)
97. Party of Five, Fox (1994-2000)
98. MacGyver, ABC (1985-92)
99. The Bachelor, ABC (2002-present)
100. Saved by the Bell, NBC (1989-93)