A couple of weeks ago on Twitter, a hashtag was trending that encouraged users to tweet their Top Five Favorite TV Shows of All Time.  So, Angel and I decided that we would share our lists and ask you all to share yours!  After careful consideration, I was able to narrow down my list.

Honorable Mention #1: Breakfast at Wimbledon

My love of the sport of tennis grew in the early 1980's with NBC's Breakfast at Wimbledon broadcast.  The women's final was broadcast at 8am on Saturday and the men's final was broadcast live at 8am on Sunday.  And the broadcast was literally EVERYTHING.  It celebrated the glory and glamour of the sport, its traditions, its champions and the people who celebrated it.  I grew up idolizing Bud Collins and his love and knowledge of the game.  Breakfast at Wimbledon changed my life and I literally watch tennis every single day.

Honorable Mention #2- The Price is Right

As silly as this may sound, I don't think any other show has impacted my life more than The Price is Right.  My entire life is a game show.  Seriously.  I love game shows and contests and lotteries and board games and scavenger hunts.  I like creating games and I love competing in them.  Growing up, I literally watched this show every time I got the chance.  And, as an adult, I have seen the touring version of it twice.

#5- Lost

Okay, I absolutely HATED the last episode of this show.  And I would be lying if I told you that I didn't feel completely let down and disappointed by the stupidity of it.  However, after years of feeling burned by Lost, I have been able to let it go.  Because the show, until the final episode, was a roller coaster packed with unexpected twists and shocking turns every single episode.  It was a gripping mystery.  And the vast possibilities it presented its viewers were mind-boggling.  This show was a puzzle, an enigma and I loved the weekly process of trying to figure out what in the hell was going on.  And each week I was, appropriately, lost.

#4- Charlie's Angels

To give you an idea of how much I love this show, I own the episodes on DVD.  Before that (and I'm not kidding), I owned them on VHS . . . because I taped them and created an episode catalog.  Yes.  I know the show was ridiculous.  I concede that it was campy and jiggly television.  But I thought Charlie's Angels were crime-fighting goddesses.

#3- Designing Women/The Golden Girls

It's interesting.  At the time these two shows were on, I clearly favored Designing Women over The Golden Girls.  In fact, I was part of the campaign to get Designing Women back on the air after CBS initially canceled the show.  Remember that letter-writing campaign that ended up getting the show back on the air?  Yep!  I wrote one of those letters.  LOL!  I really did.  Yes, I was in high school writing scathing letters to CBS.  But that campaign worked and when Designing Women came back it truly found its voice.  Seasons 2, 3 and 4 of that show are some of the funniest television in history thanks to the sassy Sugarbaker sisters, Julia and Suzanne.

Time, on the other hand, has been kinder to The Golden Girls.  That show has aged better (of course, that makes total sense, right?)  The jokes in The Golden Girls are as fresh today as they were thirty years ago.  I have seen every episode multiple times and I still laugh at the punchlines.  And, to this day, the DVR at the Benefield/Bowlds household is loaded up with reruns.  In fact, I just did a quick inventory.  Right now we have 73 of them.  LOL!

 

#2- Picket Fences

This show was BRILLIANT!  Leaving the final season out of the mix, the first three seasons of David E. Kelley's Picket Fences were genius.  The series focused on the small town of Rome, Wisconsin . . . which was loaded up with quirky characters and seemingly endless mysteries.  Equal parts crime procedural, courtroom drama and human interest piece, Picket Fences tackled endless social issues and examined the complexity of human diversity.  If you've never seen an episode of this show, try to find the episode called "Be My Valentine".  A serial killer comes to Rome, Wisconsin and a young deputy lays a trap for him.  The twists in that episode are riveting and is a perfect example of what this show accomplished on a weekly basis.

#1- The Walking Dead

I won't lie.  Kevin and I were completely late to this party.  The Walking Dead was getting ready to launch into Season Four before we watched the pilot for Season One.  I had heard all the praise, but hadn't had the chance to watch the series.  So, we finally sat down to watch the first ever episode.  And we were instantly hooked.  We had been bitten.  And, for the next few weeks, we sat in front of the TV (like zombies) plowing through the first three seasons.  I think we watched them in under a month.  And, now, I am still absolutely captivated by this show.  I love the savageness of it.  I love the apocalyptic tone.  Each week, I cling to the same, slight glimmer of hope that the characters crave.  The heroes of The Walking Dead are your average humans.  The villains of the show are, you guessed it, your average humans.  Taking zombies out of the equation, this is really what the end of days will look like.  It's the most primal survival of the fittest.  And it's nerve-wracking television.

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