TV Shows I Bloody Love Part 2

A brief guide into my favourite programmes and the reasons why the shelf with my DVDs on it is at breaking point.

Life On Mars - There is a recurring theme throughout this list of programmes which is they have hit their peak somewhere in middle of their lifespan and slowly the quality has gone down hill as rapidly as John Leslie's career. Life On Mars, however, is the exception. Funny, hard-hitting, The Sweeney and Quantum Leap all rolled into one big ball of nostalgia. The double act between time-traveller Sam Tyler and his old school show stopper superior Gene Hunt was electric and theere wasn't a single duff episode in the shows two series run. I hope that in 10 years Life On Mars is celebrated as much as some of the other names in this list, in some cases it derserves more praise than a few of them. It rode a crestwave of magic that never came back.

Blackadder - The most cunning character in British sitcom history, Blackadder ran for 4 series, three specials, and 400 years (pretty impressive eh?) Undoubtfully one of the best comedies we as a country have ever produced, it stills makes you laugh even after being shown for decades, one of the reasons being the fantastic performances of (support!) cast Hugh Laurie (House) and Stephen Fry (Quizmaster). The show definetly peaked at Blackadder the Third, but the melancholic Blackadder Goes Forth, set in the trenches in Flanders in 1917, is equally funny and melancholic in the same line as Blackadder bemoans the doomed destiny of he and his comrades while displaying the stiff upper lip of Britshness, especially in the last 10 minutes of the final episode. The whole series is a case study into the pointlessness and madness of war, and surely every viewer heart sank during THAT final scene. When is a comedy not a comedy? When it tuggs on your heart strings in a way not even some drama's can.

Only Fools and Horses - For my money the best comedy in this list, It went out on a high in 1996, when over 20 million viewers watched as Del Boy, Rodney and Uncle Albert walked off into the sunset as 'millionaires' after years of ducking and diving, whealing and dealing, then it came back for three christmas specials and then limped off again. But it was in the late 80's that the show really hit it's peak and no matter how many times you've seen Del fall through the bar or the bus blow up, there always just as many brilliant one liners and moments that keep you laughing, seven years after the show was finally laid to rest. OFNH also had the power to make you cry to with moment such as Grandad's funeral and Rodney getting married certain to make your eyes moist in the right mood.

Scrubs - Remember what I said earlier about Life On Mars staying constant throughout? Well sadly the same can't be said for Scrubs, which just refuses to die and go to TV Heaven. The first five seasons were definetly the best, as the daily life of a hospital intern seen through the eyes of (originally) likable dweeb J.D and his and his best friends rise up the ranks in the Sacred Heart Hospital and dealt with both the extreme highs and lows of the responsibilites of their jobs. The problem was that by season 6, J.D had become an unlikable teenage buffoon who seemed to base his whole personality on the running joke of his mentor Dr Cox (best character by far) calling him girls names which just made him more and more irritiating like the attention seeker in class at school who annoys you so much you just want to shut his dick in his lunch box just to shut him up. Then he leaves, then he comes back, then leaves, then comes back again (arrgg make your mind up Zach Braff!) Ah the memories of a once great sitcom.....