What Do You Think?

Just a few days ago, a good friend of mine posted a comment over at Facebook, addressing an article that was recently featured at a fairly well known entertainment news site with the title of “29 TV Shows That Every Television Lover Should Have Seen”.

Since this friend and I are both self-professed TV lovers and avid attendees of many TV related events throughout Los Angeles, including the legendary annual Paley Fest and the San Diego Comic Con, I figured the list would be an interesting read.

SIDEBAR: If you were the writer of this column or any of the participants who created this list, the following is NOT a dig at you or your website. This is merely an observation.

As I perused the list, I discovered a few television shows that I myself would have chosen for this particular list as well as a number of classic shows that are just that – classic TV shows – but perhaps not my personal favorites. That being said, the comments that followed the posting of this article were very divided between those who did not like the list at all (the “haters”), those who were simply okay with the list (the “middle of the road folks”) or those who somewhat agreed with the list (the pseudo “lovers”).

That fact really isn’t all that surprising, right? After all, we all have very differing opinions on TV shows; for that matter, we all have very differing opinions on every topic under the sun. But when “we” find a like-minded person, who loves many of the same shows and genres, we tend to be very inclined to agree with their sentiments (at least for the most part).

Where “top 10 lists” – or in this case “a top 29 list”- is concerned, the conversation can become somewhat heated; and when that conversation is on social media, it is a bit harder to determine the inflection in the message because, as we all know, the printed word is not the same thing as a real in-person conversation. But, boy!, can people have heated discussions about TV.

Again, no surprise there, as we are a society that likes to discuss, debate, espouse, argue and rant and rave about what we believe is good or bad.

But what do you think? Do you enjoy reading lists such as the one mentioned above? Have you ever read a similar list that evoked a visceral response? Have you ever created a similar list and shared it with others (online or not)? What kind of response did you receive?

And more importantly, what do you think are the top – let’s say 30 – television shows that all TV lovers should see in their lifetime? Not an easy task, huh?!

I am going to refrain from posting my top 30 list, as I create enough lists via my writing on an annual basis, but I will say this much: Firefly, Veronica Mars, Castle and Chuck would have to be among my top 30. But again, that’s just my opinion.

What do you think?!

[Photo Credit: theoilersrig.com]