Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - 178: What Are Our Top 10 Most Influential TV Shows? | Ear Biscuits Ep. 178

Episode Date: January 28, 2019

From shows that defined their childhood to those that completely altered the way they consume television, R&L look back and rank the top 10 TV shows that have influenced them throughout their life. Sponsored by: Quip: Visit GETQUIP.com/EAR right now, you can get your first refill pack for FREE.Article: Visit Article.com/EAR to get $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more!Turbo Tax: Visit TurboTax.intuit.com with CPAs and EAs on demand.  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this, this is Mythical. Before we get started today, we wanna let you know that Ear Biscuits is supported by Quip. Starting a healthy routine and sticking to it are two very different things. Inevitably, we all skimp on that full night of sleep, skip a workout or two,

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and if you go to getquip.com slash ear right now, you can get your first refill pack for free. That's your first refill pack for free at getquip.com slash ear. And now on with the biscuit. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, I'm Link. And I'm Rhett. This week at the round table of dim lighting,

we are exploring the question, what are our top 10 most influential TV shows? Yeah, so over the course of our lives, what are our top 10 most influential TV shows? Yeah, so over the course of our lives, we've watched our fair share of television. And it's interesting, as I started thinking about this, at certain pockets of my life, I was watching a lot more television. And other times, less.

And so I think that my list, which I have not shared with you and you have not shared your top 10 list with me. That's what we're about to do. Oh, we're gonna do that and share it with you listener. It was really a truck, a trucking back down memory lane. You know, and I was pleasantly surprised by the things that came up when I started thinking about

television shows that not only influenced me in terms of like my creative brain, but also in terms of my life, just personal impact. So this is not necessarily our favorite television shows, but it kind of is. Like I have a lot of honorable mentions. Well I would say most significant. Most significant.

I would be most significant in our lives, but that's not as clear and easy to say as influential. But this is not what we believe to be our top 10 best television shows of all time. No, not even close. These are ones that we have personal connections to in one form or another which we can flesh out as we go through these things.

Yeah and I think, so while we did not share the list with one another, the one thing that we did do, just so you can understand the exercise, is that we did tell each other that we would be going back through our lives. So it was kind of going back to like the first television shows you could remember being significant and then I kind of just,

I went through my entire life. Okay. And that. I didn't do it that way but. That's, what I'm saying is that just to give you an idea where they come from, you know, some are gonna be when we were kids, some are more recent. Not too many.

All of mine are current. No, just kidding. But the reason why I thought to have this conversation was because something happened over the break that I chose not to share with you a couple of weeks back when I was giving my update on the holiday break in my family time and when I went to Sedona. So the thing I didn't tell you, something very special happened

that our family bonded over something and it was the reality competition show known as Survivor. Have you heard of this show? This is a little weird. It is a little weird, isn't it? But it turns out Survivor became a very special part of my family's holiday break and a very unanticipated bonding experience. You know, whatever it takes, man.

Exactly. Whatever it takes to get everybody together. Exactly, and a magical thing happened. But a little backstory, when we were on tour in Australia, we went back to our rooms, we were in Sydney, we were like in that high rise apartment. Yeah, high living. Towards the end of the Sydney part of the trip,

there was this one night where we're like, let's just order in. You kinda get to a point in your trip where you're like, I just don't think we can mobilize everybody to go out to eat again and I feel a little over it. So we just stayed in the room and ordered pizza. And I put on the television, I was like, hey, let's watch some Australian television.

Because you have been talking about how nice everybody was and you were learning a lot about the culture. I was, very, very nice. I was like, well, the Neils need to do that too. So we turn it on and it was the Australian version of Survivor just happened to be on. And I'm like, kids, this is, look at this, it's Survivor. And they're like, what?

And I was like, well, it's basically a game show. It's a reality competition show. Basically, I was having trouble, you know, American Idol and The Voice are reality competition shows where people sing, but it turns out that there's these other ones where they take a group of people and they just strand them out on an island or something.

They had never heard of this concept. They had never heard of Survivor in any form. I would've thought that Survivor was in memes or something, in some way, there's some way kids find out about things. I just don't think it's cool enough for that. I kind of told you that Survivor was still going on, but lo and behold, here it was, and this was the Australian version of Survivor,

but it happened to be an episode where they were bringing in, I think, heroes and villains from previous Survivors. Oh, they're already there in Australia as well. Well, one of the guys was from America, a famous guy who I won't mention because I can't remember his name but he's from another. Are Americans as cool to Australians

as Australians are to America? Could you sense that in the way that they set him up? It was one of the first episodes of the season and they voted the guy off so I'll put it to you that way. Okay apparently not. So apparently you have a correct understanding of Americans. But I was like, oh, you don't know about Survivor, so we just started watching it,

and we just watched the one episode out of context, and everybody, I just kinda made a mental note, everybody seemed to be into it. They're asking questions about how Survivor worked as a game and stuff like that, so I just made a mental note, got back to the States. Jeff Probst was not involved. No. Directly.

No, he was not hosting. Right. He's not directly involved. I get back here, we're like, we're filming a couple of weeks ago, and I think Kevin brought up something about Survivor, and I was like, hold on, were you just talking about Survivor? And he was like, yeah, John and I are like big Survivor fans.

If you see the two of us, or maybe somebody else chimed in, if you see the two of them together, I can guarantee you they're talking about Survivor. And I was like, I would have laughed at you just- Two weeks ago. Well, before my Australian trip, but the funny thing that happened, and I told him the story, and they were like,

I was like, I think we should start watching Survivor. Like, I think my family would be into it. He was like, oh, well, you definitely should. watching Survivor. Like I think my family would be into it. He was like, oh, well you need, you definitely should. It's amazing and you know, they're like giddy and both into it and I'm like, you guys are dorks, but okay, whatever. Yeah, definitely. And they said you should watch

the Millennials versus Gen X season, which was like three seasons ago, so pretty recent. It's still going. They said it's really good. There's like 400 seasons of this thing. No, literally I think there's like 36 seasons. It is still going. Yeah. I didn't even know it.

Twice a year for almost 20 years, I guess. So the week leading up to our trip, like the kids are getting out of school, we're like, you know, schoolwork's dying down, like I start putting on The Survivor and everybody gets into it. Like every single member of the family, unlike, I mean, it's so hard to pick out a movie

or a television show that everybody can get into. But Lando loved it because it was like adventurous and outdoors and oh, that one's in Fiji, where we went. Right. You know, so I was like, we've been to Fiji, we've experienced kinda, well, we were like at a resort, check out at a resort. Not exactly the same thing.

Like Lincoln, he loves strategy games, like he loves strategy, so he's into that. Lily really enjoyed the humor of kind of laughing at these people basically becoming characters and Christy really enjoyed all of it. I don't know exactly what Christy loved but I think. She likes the guys with the shirts off. Guys with the shirts off.

There was a model, a male model. Of course she does. And. Survivor body they call it. And I liked the production. Like the thing that I would pause Survivor and I would say. I liked the production. Like the thing that, I would pause Survivor and I would say, guys do you see how brilliant the production is?

Rhett, they have it down, I know this sounds ludicrous, but they have it down to a science. What's ludicrous is pausing and explaining it to your family. Appreciating it, no I'm totally on the same page. I was just overflowing with joy. It's a production wonder, but we've talked about this. In fact, we've talked about this very specific thing.

It's that dad thing. I do the same thing. You cannot be the dad who makes your family stop and acknowledge how awesome something is because you think it's awesome. You have to just give it to them and let them experience it on their own terms. And they each had.

No more pausing. They each had their thing, but I was trying to get them to appreciate what I appreciate, which was, after all of these seasons, they've got, I mean, the people, the contestants, some of them are, they're obsessed with the game player survivor, so they're really good at it, and they invent new ways to play it, and like new strategies come out.

But the way that they present it in terms of the editing and they bring story out and you have these, these like character arcs is masterful. I mean, it really is amazing to me. And so it's, I might have to alter my list and put Survivor on there like it is an honorable. So hold on, you're saying Survivor is not on, after all this, Survivor is not on your list?

It should be now because it just seems so fresh. I don't know if it's gonna stand the test of time because every night at Sedona, we would do hiking and everything I talked about, but then we would also be talking about Survivor. We had something that everybody could talk about together during the day and then at night we'd be like, hey let's all get on our PJs and let's make some popcorn

and let's sit down and have our Survivor session. Like everybody was into it. And like while we were hiking, Chris and I were like wow, this is a rare gem of a moment. Thank you Jeff Probst. And so are you, like how much do you watch in a sitting? We would watch two or three episodes in a sitting.

And so we finished it the night before we were leaving Sedona and they were like, let's watch another one. So like we're out to dinner and like I'm Googling what are the best seasons of Survivor? There's like this like very involved Reddit thread, a Survivor Reddit thread where people talk about which, what are the best seasons and which ones to watch

and this one's the best but you have to watch this one before because it spoils something about the strategy so and so I figured all that out and we're like, oh we're gonna watch China and so we come back and we start watching it and I'm like. What are you watching it on, what platform? A laptop. No, what platform?

Like a coffee table? No, I'm messing with you. Hulu. Hulu has Survivor, all of them. Okay. And I immediately notice, people are gushing about how great the season is. I'd never watched it.

The only season I had watched was Christy and I, like in our second year of marriage, we watched season three, Survivor Outback Australia, and there was a goat farmer. He was very funny. That's the only season we watched. And I think that it was a phenomenon at that time. Like Jessie and I watched multiple seasons. It was appointment television for us.

Season two was like the number one show on television. I remember when it came out just thinking it was like, this is changing everything. Yeah. And we had to watch it. And then I don't remember what happened. Reality competition shows really became mainstream. Just fell off.

Then on the back end of that, Chris and I are watching things like The Mole hosted by Anderson Cooper. Yep. That was weird, like Amazing Race. But anyway, we started watching the China one, everybody's excited. It was the night after watching the finale

and having this big moment, this sense of closure. First thing I noticed, ooh, it's in 4.3, not widescreen. This episode that Reddit said was one of the best ones was 4.3 and it was much earlier. So the things that they no longer do on Survivor, they did in that season, which was like, I can't even. Hold on, did you go finish it? Well, I'll skip to the chase and say that

like we didn't even finish that episode. I don't think you can call yourself a real survivor freak or what do they call themselves? I didn't do that. I didn't call myself that. You went to the Reddit thread. Did you subscribe to the Reddit thread? No.

Okay. But I had my hopes up, but I realized, you know, they were explaining more that we already knew, like why are these people, you know, Jeff was doing these voiceovers, like everyone came in their own clothes, not knowing that we're about to take away their luggage. They don't even do that crap anymore.

They're like, let's get to the game. People are coming in, they're like, the Gen Xers are coming in on this boat and the Millennials are coming and they're like, cutting the interview footage about how the cultures are different and it's masterful. But they've gotten over all the crap of like, you know, you just expect the business guy

is gonna be in a business suit and you're not gonna ask any questions. It's part of the game. It literally has become much more of a game show than something that they had to like motivate in reality all the things that were happening, if that makes sense. It moved, the setup took longer. And you get attached to these characters

and then they're gone and you gotta start from scratch all over. So what season are you drawing the line at? What's acceptable? We haven't come back to it because I just feel like we'll never recapture the magic of, you know. You let 4-3 ruin your whole family's bonding experience? Well I added the other thing.

I think the cadence of Survivor, you gotta go away from it for a little bit. Oh. So we're like, let's just. You can handle it twice a year. I've heard lots of good things about the good place, Christie says, let's watch the good place. Okay, a little different vibe.

So now we as a family are hooked on the good place. So I actually think that television, we're now discovering our kids are of an age that they're enjoying things that I actually enjoy. And I'll get to one on my list, which will lead to more conversation about this. But I mean, yeah, Lando's younger, but because, I mean, Lily's almost 16,

Lincoln's almost 14, they're developing a sense of humor that is, we can watch the same stuff and enjoy it. Like two years ago, we would watch The Flash when it came out, because they were really into that. Yeah, and it's difficult to. And yeah, Lily's into Teen Wolf and. To stick around for that. Was Doctor Who, now it's like Teen Wolf

and some other shows like that that I really don't care for. I can take a season of The Flash, you know what I'm saying? Oh, I enjoyed The Flash, I enjoyed watching it with them but I didn't enjoy it for myself that much. Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. But now we're getting into comedies that we can watch, like The Good Place.

We're all watching it and we're having a blast. My wife and children started that without me so now I just kinda get in where I fit in, not quite the same. Yeah, you gotta start at the beginning. You gotta watch it straight through. Yeah, what am I gonna do now? You can't.

It's gonna be a guy in the attic watching TV by himself. You can't watch The Good Place piecemeal. You gotta watch it as a linear chronological experience. Yeah. But I'm reacquainting myself with television in a way, like I haven't watched sitcoms for years. Again, I'll get into myself with television in a way, like I haven't watched sitcoms for years. Again, I'll get into some of this in my list, but I'm just, I'm figuring out that like the television,

and this may sound sad, is actually, it's a great tool to bring us together as a family. And I was missing it. But because of Survivor, and I think we will go back to Survivor, but it's gonna, you know, let's go through a few more shows, and think we will go back to Survivor but it's gonna, you know, let's go through a few more shows and then we can come back to it.

It happened over the holidays, I mean, we'll move on in a second but when are you finding that this time, is this, are you, so you scheduling it? Well, are the weekends, when is this happening? Like what? How are you getting everybody together to watch television at the same time?

Before, I mean, after dinner, before bedtime, you know, it's like before, so like that eight to nine o'clock. Is this happening once a week? Is this happening? I haven't scheduled it. Like, I mean, they don't. How often does it happen? They don't have a lot of homework yet. Yeah, that's the thing is that. Just gearing up, but it'll probably fizzle.

And it might just be a weekend thing where it's like, hey, instead of watching a movie, let's binge watch four episodes of whatever show that we can all agree on. Because a movie, a movie is one and done. It's basically impossible for us all to agree on a movie. That's probably not true, but I don't have a good list of like comedies.

We've had some good movie experiences, but I get it. But the television experience, the way that it continues to grow, there's episodes, so you can have conversations and talk about it at dinner and then come back to it, as opposed to a movie. Talking about Survivor at dinner. Invite me over next time.

Okay, we are gonna talk about these top 10 most influential television shows, but first we wanna take a short break and let you know that Ear Biscuits is supported by Article. Uh-huh, Article is an online-only furniture company that keeps prices low by eliminating the layers of traditional retail. There's no showrooms and no salespeople, only savings.

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on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or you know, your favorite podcast app. It's on the Ramble Network. Now back to the biscuit. Okay. So let's get into these lists. So what are we, do you have any honorable mentions? Do you wanna start with number 10?

We're gonna go back and forth. I had honorable mentions, but I have a feeling that some of the ones that made our list might be in each other's honorable mentions and let's just, if that happens, it happens, but I don't wanna mention them. That's a good point.

Let's make them honorable, let's not mention them. All right, give me, let's start with your number 10, brother. Number 10, the A-Team. Oh crap, that was an honorable mention of mine. See, there you go. So yes, one of the reasons that I was thinking about the A-Team is the way that my phone works. So when I plug my phone into my car,

it automatically starts playing the first song often, I don't know when it decides to do this, often begins playing the first song in my entire library, which by alphabetical order is the A-Team. And so, and I think I've talked about this on the show before because you've gotten into my car and then. We're like having a serious conversation coming back from a meeting and all of a sudden.

In 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to, you know. Yeah, because the. They're now known as soldiers of fortune. If you can find them and you know, whatever, I can't remember it. I've heard it so many times and I haven't memorized it, but I was actually in the car with Shepherd the other day and he started playing,

he was like, what is that, Danny? He was very interested. Oh yeah, it's epic. So I began to tell him about the A-Team, which again, this was a team of former military guys put together, they had a van driven by Mr. T, who played B.A. Baracus, and they would just get into stuff. Nobody ever actually got hurt because it was a network television show, but the reason that it was so important. who played B.A. Baracus, and they would just get into stuff.

Nobody ever actually got hurt because it was a network television show, but the reason that it was so- There were guns involved, but no one got shot. The reason that it made my list is because, not as much as another one that's higher up on my list, but it is a show that defined the way that I interacted with television as a child, meaning there was a specific,

now you probably remember specific nights and times because that's how your brain works. I don't remember, but I do remember that there was a specific night and a specific time where we had to be at the television between the years of 1983 to 1987 to watch the A-Team and my brother and I most of the time would watch it together in that span of our lives.

I remember watching A-Team more as reruns and I actually don't think I was hooked on it in real time. I don't know what happened, but I did love it like when I watched it, but I remember watching it during the day, so it must have been later. You know, it's also I found it. But I remember watching it during the day, so it must have been later. You know, it's also, I found it to be this perfect, at the time, I'm sure it doesn't hold up well, but at the time, it was this perfect mix of comedy

and action and also just like you actually cared about what was happening because just the way that these guys interacted with each other, it was like there was a lot of laugh out loud moments and it's like the way Hannibal had his cigar and said, I love it when a plan comes together. And whenever they'd have to fly somewhere, they'd have to knock Mr. T out

because he was afraid of flying. They'd have to knock him out. Yeah, said it. And Murdoch, he was mentally ill. I mean, I don't think you could do that today. I don't know, I didn't watch the movie. Did you watch the movie? No.

I don't ruin things like that. Bradley Cooper played Face. That makes sense. In that movie. And I mean, I might watch anything Bradley Cooper's in now. So I might go back and watch the 18 movie. Yeah, so that's my number 10. My number 10 is Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. So I didn't go chronological for all of this,

but it just ended up at number 10. This man who was so schedule-oriented, and routine, his routine was impeccable. He always changed his shoes and he always changed his sweater and he always spoke directly to me. You know, I think that's something that, I think that's the key to Good Mythical Morning

is how we speak directly to one viewer. And I'm gonna credit Mr. Rogers for that because I watched Sesame Street religiously and then Mr. Rogers Neighborhood would come on after it at my babysitter's house when I was like four or five, as early as I can remember. Right. But that was a meaningful connection.

Like I had a relationship with Mr. Rogers. What, and I watched the documentary. What year did that stop? Did you? It kept going for a long time, but I did outgrow it. Even after you outgrew it. I did outgrow it. Yeah, I was a fan like most kids,

but it didn't pop into my head when I thought about Most Influential. I felt like I couldn't miss it. I felt like he would know if I didn't watch the show. Like I felt as if I had a relationship with the guy. I think there was something about feeling like I was being taught. The parts I liked and remembered

about Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood was when he would go into, what was the name of the land? Whatever land. I can't remember. And the Puppets. Even though. Pretend land? Even though he was in those moments still teaching me, I don't know, maybe it's my issue with authority. Like when it was just a man sitting there

just saying things and trying to teach me lessons, I'd be like, boring old man sweater. And then I would be like, oh, the Puppets, now those are cool. That's just how I interacted with the show. I liked him a lot better than the puppets. Hmm, you were scared of the puppets a little bit, weren't you?

A lot of kids were. I just didn't like puppets, man. Because he did all the voices and some of them were freaky. I could feel the hand, there was a hand in there. It just felt weird, that's wrong. That's wrong. Maybe there was a five-figure thing happening, I don't know.

Oh, Mr. Rogers was your stand-in father. Yeah, let's say that. Okay. But I mean, I got a kick out of his son being interviewed for the documentary. Great documentary, one of the best of last year. I recommend you watch it if you have any connection to Mr. Rogers.

What's your number nine? The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Uh-huh. Of course, you know that many memes have been created about this if you didn't happen to see it when it happened between 1990 and 1996. But for me, this was, this is like the first,

obviously I watched like Growing Pains and Family Ties and all those sitcoms coming up but this was the first one. I remember watching the first episode. Yeah. And just thinking, this is different man. Well it was the first one I think to complete that thought that was made for us. Like somebody made a show amongst all these other shows

that we, like Family Ties is for the family, Perfect Strangers is, you know. Perfect Strangers almost made my list. I would almost watch, I would watch Frasier. You know, these shows that like. I was a fan of Frasier as well. Again, there's only so many shows, so many channels and nothing's on demand so you kinda had to watch

stuff that was for adults and just get in where you fit in. I do remember that, I don't know how we knew that it was coming on, I don't know how the marketing got to us but I remember watching that first, expecting the first episode, you know, having been such an obsessive fan of their music. Yeah, already fans of the music.

Whoa, this is the first show that's made for us. Like I'm explaining to my mom, this is the guy from Parents Just Don't Understand. Right. Nightmare on my street. Because there was the whole like, Cosby show then A Different World, and you kind of felt like A Different World was a little bit more, because it was college,

it was reaching a little bit more into our age group. And I watched it and liked it. But this was all of a sudden, it was the age that we were that, you know, in 1990, we were like, I was like 13. And so when it started, I was just about to begin this whole high school experience. And so it was the perfect time. And I just thought everything about it was perfect.

It was incredibly, and let me tell you right now. Yeah. It does hold up because my kids. It really does, yeah. My kids got into watching the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air a couple years ago when it was. Mine too. On whatever platform it was on.

It's, you can still get it, but they ended up watching a couple years ago when it was- Mine too. On whatever platform it was on. You can still get it, but they ended up watching every single episode in like a few months. Like every time I got home, they would be watching another episode of the Fresh Prince and then telling me about what they were getting into. And I would sit down and watch some of it. And obviously it's ridiculous in a lot of ways,

but for me, it changed the way I thought about half hour sitcom, like studio based sitcoms. Yeah. And exactly what you said, it felt like it was for me. And Will Smith, before he started his YouTube channel, I think it's on another YouTube channel. It might've been right when he started, nope, I take it back.

When he started another YouTube channel. It might've been right when he started, nope, I take it back. When he started his YouTube channel, he told a story and if you're into the Fresh Prince, you gotta look this up. The story of the Fresh Prince being made, I kinda don't wanna spoil it, but my mind was blown by the fact that as big as a celebrity he was, I don't know if he won a Grammy, Grammy nominated,

like he was broke. And he tells this story of he's over at Quincy Jones' house at a party and like Quincy Jones has the script or is talking to a guy who has a script, I can't remember the story exactly, but basically he puts him on the spot to audition at the party and forces him to do it even though he said, I'm not ready,

I can't do this right now. And it was like this make or break moment for Will Smith, even though from my perspective, he was like one of the biggest stars in the world because he was this amazingly hilarious rapper. Yeah. He was like the Mr. Rogers of rapping for me. Like I felt like I had a relationship with him.

But he was broke, he'd blown all the money. Spent all his money, yeah. Spent all the money and he was desperate. And out of that desperation came them rewriting this script that was written for somebody else for him and became the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He tells a story great. We'll have to tweet it out.

That is my number five. Oh wow, okay. It's higher on my list. Man, it was just such a special time. That was back when, and then that next album was gonna come out, which ended up being a flop, but we were like waiting for it and we didn't know when. We didn't have information.

There was no internet. So I remember waiting. Nobody's talking about this on the news. I remember going to the record bar. Especially if you didn't have cable. I didn't have cable in my house, so there was no MTV. Every weekend, I'd go to get my mom to take me to a record bar,

and I would just hope it would be there. And then I finally asked them, and it turns out the people there, they knew when albums are coming out. I said, oh, three more weeks, it's coming out. I couldn't wait. But to answer your question about how we found out about television shows, it was commercials.

It was, you'd be watching a show, and there would be a commercial and you would learn, oh, there's a new show that's got the fresh prints in it. And you would be like, when is that coming on? And they would tell you and you would watch it. That was the only way you found out about things. Yeah. Because it wasn't like there was billboards.

And you could set your VCR to tape it, but I never did that. I just, you'd miss them or you get them on the rerun. Yeah, we never did that. My number nine is, I think you've alluded to it later in your list, the Dukes of Hazzard. Yes. Number four for me.

Whoa, number four for you? Yeah. Dukes of Hazzard ran from 1979 to 1985, and I don't know at what point Beau and Luke Dukes of Hazzard ran from 1979 to 1985 and I don't know at what point Bo and Luke were replaced by their cousins. Pretty, I mean in my mind it's pretty late. I did not watch that.

No, I tried. That was a huge betrayal of what I was interested in. Yeah. I thought they were the same guys. I thought they did what they did years later with the Fresh Prince's aunt, like the actress changed. Yeah. After like next season comes back,

it's like she's a different one. Aunt Biv. Aunt Biv. But anyway, I mean it was just Southern, you got this General Lee car, which you can't do that. No, no, no. Like I don't even, I'm not even gonna say that's a good thing.

But I will say that half of the fan mail that was sent to the show was addressed to the General Lee. Fun fact. Seriously? Yes. I mean that racist car was a character on the show. I had the car. It wasn't like Kit from Knight Rider which did not make my list.

It didn't have a personality. It had a Confederate flag on the top of the car. Right. And I had that car, just the way we grew up, I had that car, that model car in my house on my shelf and I had a bunch of D model car in my house on my shelf and I had a bunch of Dukes of Hazzard toys and I have a Dukes of Hazzard cup that I think I still have in my house.

We didn't call it Dukes of Hazzard like you said the first time, Dukes of Hazzard. Dukes of Hazzard. I didn't even know that Hazzard was a county really. To me, Dukes of Hazzard was a county really. Like I didn't, to me, Dukes of Hazard was just one word that meant every Thursday night I go to my nanny's house and we're gonna watch the Dukes of Hazard and then when that's over, I have to sit there

while they watch Dallas, which came on right after. Not quite the same. That was not, I was not into that at all. There was kissing on that. The reason that is so high on my list is because like the A-Team, it's one of the first shows that I could remember being appointment television for my family, but the Dukes of Hazzard

was the thing that I thought about as early as I can remember television. And Cole and I, my brother and I would, sometimes we would dress up like Bo and Luke because he had darker hair and I had, my hair was pretty blonde at the time. And we would dress up like them sometimes to watch the show. And then- You were cosplaying.

And then, so the show was on, you just said through 79 to 85. So when I moved to California, now you may, if you watch the show, you kinda see the car running around and you're like, that's not Georgia. That doesn't look like Georgia, that looks like California.

And of course I didn't know what California looked like. We moved to California in 1984 and my dad says, I'm gonna take you to where they filmed the Dukes of Hazzard. And so he took us out to, I don't remember where it was, but it was the place that they would shoot all the car scenes of the generally flying over in the river and doing all the stunts and stuff. Yeah, it was like Demolition Derby. Yeah it was like demolition derby.

And it was just that. There would be a scene in every episode that would be like the car doing some epic jump. The car would do a jump and then it would pause and then Waylon Jennings would say, now these boys didn't know what was about to happen. And then it would go to commercial and then it would come back and unpause the car

and then the car would land. I mean everything about that show at the time in my life and the way that I was taking in entertainment, it just, it checked all the boxes, man. It wasn't, I mean, except for the filming location, it was so distinctly Southern. Like, I felt like it was a documentary. Like, when I turned off the television

and got back in the car, I was driving around in Hazard County. Well, I don't know how well you remember it because you remember it like, balls hog, did you know anybody who wore an all white suit with a top hat? Almost. I'm telling you.

In my world, it wasn't quite that extreme. It was, you know, like with my relatives in my world, Okay, I get it. I felt like it was just a reflection of reality and it was, except for the way the cars behaved when they hit obstacles, they would somehow just be you know, ejaculated into the air. Whoa, okay, that's a word.

Or projected into the air is what maybe I should have said. Yeah, they probably didn't use that word on the Dukes of Hazzard. I had a playset where you'd rev up the car and you'd let it go on the thing and it would go through a barn and it had a ramp inside of the barn and when it came out the other side of the barn,

it would like turn on its side and then do a barrel roll and land. And I had that set at my nanny's house too. So yeah, we'd watch that together. I mean, it was just, it was magical, man. Well, we should move on, we got a lot to go. What's your number nine, eight? Your number eight.

Number eight, Animaniacs. Wow, we really do have a lot of similar, I thought our list was gonna be totally different honestly. I don't know why. So what number is Animaniacs for you? Animaniacs is number six for me. Okay. So we're around the same area.

So I think the guy who has it ranked higher should start talking about it. So that was from 1993 to 1998. I remember watching it after school. Yep. I don't know that I could have articulated it. I guess I would have to. It was the humor.

I mean, it was- So specific. Absolutely the specific jokes. I mean like, Pinky and the Brain, I'm gonna, it had its own spinoff show later, which I've never actually watched, but that was gold. And then the way that the Animaniacs would, they would say, I think there was innuendo,

there was all, it was all types of, I mean, it was very joke heavy, and it was very, there was a lot of winking at the older audience. You felt. And I was just old enough to know that was happening. You felt like you were, well, I'm sure there was other things, obviously The Simpsons, which did not make my list,

was happening around the same time, but something about the darkness and the weirdness that was the Animaniacs' worldview and the way that they saw things and the way that they pointed out things and the way that they talked about things. It was a little bit of that old school Warner Brothers, any crazy physical thing, but then it brought this second layer

of smart, dark humor, was subversive. And it was hitting exactly the right time, in 93 to 98, so I was watching it from basically in high school, like you said. And at that time, because by the time you're in high school, like schedule's a little bit crazy, it would come on after school and so it was one of those things that I didn't always see,

but I never didn't stop and watch it if it was on. And yeah, again, to me, it made the list because of how it was revolutionary. I think most of the things in the list because of how it was revolutionary. I think most of the things in the list for me were revolutionary in their own right. Yeah. And that's what made them revolutionary in my own life. I think it would be higher on my list

if I would have moved on to watching other animated comedies, which now is this own genre. I mean, you talk about you got the whole adult swim of it all and you know, I mean, yeah, The Simpsons obviously didn't make my list because I'm still embarrassed to say I've never watched a complete episode of The Simpsons. It was one of those things that I think I was,

at a young age, I was told you're not supposed to watch it. We weren't allowed to watch it. We weren't allowed to watch it. We weren't allowed to watch it. When it was happening. When I was. When it was early years. Early years and then I just wasn't a subversive kid. So whenever I was told not to do something,

then I just think I said, oh, I guess that means all the way into forever when the show is like the most amazing show in the history of television, not just animation. The longest running, I don't know what the record is, but. It did, and I've seen The Simpsons. The reason it didn't make my list is because it didn't influence me.

It wasn't as impactful. And I appreciate the show. I think the show is funny. I think that Family Guy is significantly funnier, personally. Family Guy did not make my list either though because they just didn't, you know, they got crowded out by things that were more influential and more impactful.

I'm gonna go with my number eight. Flight of the Conchords,, season one aired in 2007. And I felt like I had to put it on the list because from a professional standpoint, it's still something that whenever we talk about scripted projects, we can't not mention it. I mean, even whenever we talk about our music, and we've talked about this in the past about how,

I even have this chip on my shoulder against those guys because I think they're so talented and the show was so great. But it still has ripple effects through how we do things because we have to run interference with how much do we wanna be compared with anything we're developing versus contrasted with it. Well and thankfully,

they only did it for two seasons. Yeah, over a decade ago. I'll say that, like I think one of the best things that ever happened to us is the fact that Flight of the Conchords decided to do things on their own. And then they are playing again, I think, did Brett's arm ever heal?

I don't know what the latest of that was, but I think they are playing together again. We've been huge fans for a long time. It didn't make my list, honestly, just because I kinda didn't think about it when I was. From a professional standpoint, I felt like it had to make my list. Yeah, well, and not just.

I mean, it's great. I mean, the tone of it. Well, the fact, and I'll say specifically, the fact that it was on HBO, but it was such a specific, quirky tone that instead of going over an edge or saying, okay, the pilot episode's gotta have nudity in it, I don't care what it is because it's on HBO,

you know, they were playing by their own sets of rules. They found their edge in a different place. Right. They found their edge in the fact that they were weird. And that's very inspirational to us. And obviously the fact that they incorporated music. I mean, for years when we talked about what our scripted idea would be,

you know, our first scripted idea which ended up being Buddy System, obviously we had to weigh it against the fact that we knew we were gonna do music videos, but like how do we do this without being compared to Flight of the Conchords? Turns out the way you do it is just do it and have nobody see the show that you make.

That's the greatest way to not be compared to the flood of the Concords. That's a different chip on our shoulders. Let's not bring too many into this. What's your next one? Number seven, The Office. Okay. My number seven is The Office.

No. Never lined. Oh really? Yes. Wow, okay. The Office ran from 2005 to 2013. Yeah, and for me this was, what The Office represents for me is sort of my homecoming to half hour comedy, right? Yep.

So there was this period of time. College. College where your schedule is just, college is about movies. At least it was for us. That was our discovery of movies. Being able to watch whatever you wanted to, there's nobody there to tell you you can't rent that,

that you're not old enough to see that and you just watch all these movies. Talk about porn. No, I'm not talking about porn specifically, that's a different story, we could do another podcast on that. That was what the- That's what it sounded like you were talking about porn specifically, it's a different story, we could do another podcast on that. That was what the- That's what it sounded like you were talking about.

That's what the computer lab in the library was for. But specifically, the college was about movies and so then, of course, it was the South and we got married right out of school and- Yeah, you got married in 2000, you got married in 2001. And then. It started in 2005. And then we're watching Survivor,

you know what I'm saying? Right, yeah. And by that point, Seinfeld was off. So you could like watch reruns or whatever. Right. But you're kinda sitting around waiting for something good. And I just remember all of a sudden, and again, I know the British office is better.

Oh gosh, don't give me that. Shut up! Shut up about that! We know it came from England. We know they're funnier. We know they start everything and we just bite it. We've been through that. But it is different, we make it different. Yeah, we make it different and we make it for longer as well.

And we run it into the ground. So we both started with season one of The Office and I just watched it for a few years but then kind of fizzled out. I think it was the advent of children into my life. Well, no, Lily was born in 2003. She was born the year that it started. No, no, 2005. born in 2003. She was born the year that it started. No, no, 2005 is when it started.

Two years later, she was two years old. Yeah, Locke was one when I started watching it. I don't know why I fizzled out from watching it, but I will say that when we were hanging out with Britton, when he was on lockdown, because he was on The Voice, he was just binge watching The Office, so he talked to my kids about it a lot, and then Lily started on The Voice, he was just binge watching The Office. So he talked to my kids about it a lot. And then Lily started watching The Office and Lincoln got into it.

And now Lando's gotten into it and we all have started watching The Office and I'm watching, I got in their stream, right? So now I'm watching, we're watching the final Steve Carell season together. Oh wow. And I've actually, you know, The Office was my favorite show,

but again, I didn't get to this point for some life reason. I'm watching it for the first time. And let me tell you, it, I mean, at least that season, I don't know if it hit a lull before it or after he left. It hits a lull after that. They take some time to find some footing. It is, had you seen it? Cause I will say, it's masterful writing.

Like the way that these characters that you're attached to, the way that they use them and, it's just everything about the way they construct episodes to give a growing sense of he's leaving, but also a sense of closure that's not the finale of the season, it happens kind of in the middle of the season and then what they did afterward with the people that they bring in and the way that they made a transition,

I thought was as brilliant as you could hope for. Well, to me, the reason that The Office was so revolutionary and so influential for me personally, again, it was innovative, right? We take it for granted, but at least it was, for me, it was the first thing that popularized this whole breaking the fourth wall as part of the show. Right, which is a credit, I guess,

to the Ricky Gervais, Steve Merchant, or whatever his name is. But I'm saying when it got to me, it was the American version. And it was just so like, it was so specifically funny and like, it was on network but it wasn't trying to be a show for your parents.

It wasn't like we gotta do this and we gotta take this out and that's a little too weird so let's not go there. Laugh tracks and none of that. Yeah, right, again, first one, first real half hour that I cared about that- Was a single camp. Was a single camp. So it was revolutionary,

and of course then you got Parks and Rec, which was, it didn't make my list because I just feel like it was, it was just like The Office. I may actually like it more as a show ultimately, but The Office was so influential and those shows have, The Office especially, has had this incredible resurgence.

I was looking at the Netflix stats. You know me and the Netflix stats, I'm always in there. I didn't even know those were public. They recently published what is the most streamed, what is most streamed on the platform. I don't remember, Office may have been number one. I can't remember, but it was very high up on the list of just the number of hours of shows

that had been streamed, and The Office, Parks and Rec's really high, because all these, our kids are now, again, my kids watch The Office, and there's all these memes related to The Office. And there's this thing that struck me was like, everybody is stupid. Yeah. Like, I'd forgotten. And I felt like I was, I didn't have an appetite

for the whole sitcom, like this suspension of disbelief in order to like, no one ever talks like this, no one is this extreme, there's gotta be something to ground this thing, there's none of that. And it's, but it's so masterful that you get over it. But I actually thought, I actually thought that I couldn't get into The Office or The Good Place or any network sitcoms anymore,

even the best ones, and I think they're both amongst it, because I just thought I was more of a, I don't really watch comedies. Like I watch, like ever since Breaking Bad, I'm just like into gritty, if you're gonna, you can have humor in something, but like I just don't have an appetite for comedy anymore. And I thought I'd lost it.

And I've regained it. You've regained, cool, congratulations. Thanks to the office. And by the way, I'm crying, especially at this pocket of this season. I'm crying just as much as I'm laughing. Oh yeah, it's good. It's so, they're so good at it.

Yeah. But it's such a suspend your disbelief world, right? I mean, the whole sitcom thing, like the way that. Yeah, we're gonna have to get moving fast here. What if some are really special? Just keep going. Number six for me, alias. All right, we're overlapping again.

Alias, I'm putting up at my number three. Whoa! I think it represents a new genre of watching. I think we'll say the same thing, so go for it. Well, yeah, well, no, you go, because you're number three. This ran from 2004 to only 2005, do I get that right? Probably not, but.

No, 2001 to 2006. Okay, I don't know why I wrote that. Well, I know what it is. Because you watched it in 2005. That's right, I watched it. That's why it's on my list for this. It's on my list higher because it was the first thing I ever watched,

not streaming, but on mail order DVD. First television show that you binged. That I binged watched. That's why it's on my list. It was great, every episode was, it was kind of self-contained but then not really because it would have a cliffhanger at the end, you'd have to watch the next one.

And then lo and behold, because I'm a few seasons behind and I have Blockbuster video by mail, not Netflix, I can watch, I can have two discs mailed to me, I can watch, I can have two discs mailed to me, I can take one in a Blockbuster, hand it in, and get the next alias there, while the other one's coming in the mail. I had a whole system.

Yeah. Couldn't do that with Netflix at the time. Because I do think that it's important to, you know, my wife is, because it was very significant, a part of our marriage of like, now we sit down and we watch a television show every single night until we've gone through the entire season, binging.

That never, never done that before. That was a novel concept that just a few of our friends were starting to do. Like the first season, we watched the physical DVDs that somebody had bought and then given to us. Yep. And then we transitioned into the Blockbuster mail order thing. And I think that, I don't think the show,

she wants to go back and watch it. Like Jessie's like, we should watch it again with the kids. And I'm like, all right, we can try that. We did that with Lost, which almost made my list but didn't. And I think Lost did hold up. I don't think the Alias is gonna hold up. I don't think that it was masterful television. JJ Abrams is making a new show with Sidney Bristow.

Jennifer Garner. I just think that it was. Just watch that one. It was, again, innovative ahead of its time. And it changed how we watch television. It hit us at the exact right time. And of course, it's the only way that you watch television now.

I mean, obviously some people, Right. If there's a show that's released on a weekly basis, we'll watch it. I kinda tracked. When we were out of that, we watched Friday Night Lights. We binged all of that. Oh gosh.

We watched House, which is a great show. We watched West Wing. We watched all of that. Oh gosh. We watched House, which is a great show. We watched West Wing, we watched 24, which Kiefer Sullivan hasn't even watched a complete episode of 24. Gotcha. Is that a, fun fact. Fun fact. Prison Break and Lost.

Like all of a sudden you get into this binge thing where it's like, well I don't need, I don't need appointment viewing anymore. So that's why, I put it pretty high on my list because it just changed habits. Yeah. What's your next one? Number five is Northern Exposure. Northern Exposure.

Northern Exposure is my number four. Oh wow. I keep beating you. It's like at some point you must have things high on your list that I don't have at all. That might be the case. I don't know what is happening at the end of your list. Northern Exposure ran from 1990 to 1995. Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah.

It's funny that a lot of the things that we really like are in this early 90s to mid 90s. I love a good world. I mean, Joel Fleischman, this Jewish doctor, is shipped off to Alaska to work in this village and he's like a fish out of water and he wears a puffy vest and- He meets Maggie.

Who has- Short hair. And then there was the old guy who was- Maurice. Maurice was the ex guy who was- Maurice. Maurice was the ex-astronaut. Oh, Carlin or something like that. Yeah, his arch rival who then became friends but because they were both doting over the same girl

who was like 18 and then they got married. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everything was weird. Kelly. You just felt really weird about watching it but like it was so good. And then there was the DJ. It was, now I'm sure that some of these tropes, they were pulling on previous television,

but you had the really smooth talking, it wasn't smooth talking, he was just like, had this silky smooth voice and he was super nice. The DJ who would kind of like help you understand the world and the way that he talked. You had this feeling of living there. It was not the first because the show that I'll talk about that's higher up on my list

is the first show that made me cry at a television show. Okay. But I cried at this television show. And it was also, for me, one of the first shows that I watched alone. I watched it alone too. So I was making that transition into a place where, okay, my parents have a TV downstairs,

in their bedroom by this point, you know, when I'm in high school. There's a television in the living room. And then there's a television in what we call the extra room which was that little room upstairs. And this is when I would go into the extra room and I would watch Northern Exposure and I would just kinda sit there

and just be so immersed. You know, there was nothing between me and the world. I was in there, my mind, my heart, were completely committed to this character and this world. It was quirky. And then I would just find myself laughing and crying at the same time. It was, and it was comedy written into character quirks,

not written into jokes. You know, it was a drama, it was a dramedy, but it wasn't joke oriented. And I actually think that's something that it is a big influence on us in terms of like, you wanna build a funny world, you wanna build a quirky, you wanna build weirdness into characters and setting. And that can carry a lot of the comedy.

And so it's not about a barrage of jokes. It's actually about relationships and moving a viewer. And I don't think that, you know, I don't think we've made anything like that yet. But that is our aspiration. It's influenced us and we wanna make something like that. But I think that, you know that the main expression of scripted that we've got in Buddy System is very, very joke heavy

and is super surreal. It's weird, but it's also like absurdist. And we love that and we wanna make that kind of thing and wanna make more of it. But yeah, I think that what we connect with the most is that thing that is that mix of, it's that dramedy. That's what we enjoy the most. It's also kind of intimidating to get that right.

It's easier to do just crazy joke heavy comedy, you know? Because you know, I'll just move on to the next joke. If you're not connecting with this character, maybe you're laughing at him. Yeah. All right, give me your next one because I only have two left. I've got my number two and my number one.

What's your number five? My number five is Fresh Prince. And you just, okay. My number four is Northern Exposure. My number three is Alias. My number four is Dukes of Hazzard, we've already talked about that, which moves me to number three, which is SNL.

SNL is your number three, okay. SNL is my number two. Okay. SNL is my number two. Okay. So I think my list is just your list notched up a couple. Okay. Now of course SNL is running since the 70s forever, still going. Oh it's still going?

Yeah, it's still going. I didn't know. I watched the Matt Damon Christmas episode on my phone in bed. I was like, man, this is the first time I watched SNL in years. I watched one clip and then I ended up watching everything. Yeah. Just laughing out loud.

I was like, I'm really glad that this is really funny. Well, and it may strike you, I don't know, depending on how old you are. If you're our age, this probably makes a lot of sense. If you're younger, this may be what? This may be a little bit of a head scratcher. But I think that Lorne Michaels said it best when he said that everyone's favorite era of SNL

is when they were in high school. And that is- Potentially middle school. Yeah, and that is- Because I think for us it was- Well, it started in middle school. It absolutely started in middle school. And that, I mean, yeah, that's my favorite season. I think there was, It started in middle school. It absolutely started in middle school.

I mean, yeah, that's my favorite season. I think there was, it was actually in the midst of a big transition period because I kind of looked into this a little bit because I remembered Chris Rock and then his last season was, I remember Norm Macdonald hosting Weekend Update and that was the first season that Chris Rock was gone. Norm was there the year before but you know,

and then Chris Farley coming in, Will Ferrell came in but it was when, why am I losing the name, the Canadian dude from Wayne's World, what's his name? Mike Myers. Yeah, Mike Myers. He was leaving, but a lot of people say it wasn't a strong point, but for us it was all we had. Yeah.

And if you could, you'd stay up as late as you could and then we'd have to get up and go to church the next morning and we would like skip out on Sunday school, stand in the hallway and just talk about the sketches. Yeah. You remember that? Oh yeah, well. You just obsess over and then be impersonation. And we talked about this in the earlier,

I don't remember how long the deep thoughts by Jack Candy ran. That's right. But that was a big thing for us. Yeah. We actually just inserted, that was inserted in something that we're working on right now. That we'll talk about soon. That's right.

But. We put a reference in there. And it's also in the. In the Book of Mythicality. Yeah, you'll see that in the inserts to our church bulletin, we would write our version of the deep thoughts by Jack Handy. That weren't actually funny.

It was some of our first comedy writing. And then we met, who did we meet that had a connection? John Fortenberry directed season one of Buddy System and he worked on Deep Thoughts. He worked on Deep Thoughts. I was gonna say co-created, but I don't know if that's true.

I think he worked with Jack. I think he worked with Jack and maybe directed those spots. That's right, because Jack Handy was a real person, a writer on SNL. And Jack Handy, I looked him up when I was thinking about this, continues to write. He had a number of deep thoughts books. The first one published in 91 or 92,

which is why it's referenced. And he's like self-publishing, he kept doing it. And he's still a humorist that does these absurd things. But anyway. Also Adam Sandler's songs. I mean, you start to think about it really plants a seed, I believe in our minds that like, we can write funny songs. Well, it was really our only exposure to sketch comedy.

Absolutely. We didn't watch standup. It was really our only exposure to sketch comedy. Absolutely. We didn't watch standup. I would watch standup on Showtime at the Apollo. Or I would watch like a Sinbad special. Yeah. And I just thought that Sinbad's comedy specials were the most incredible thing I'd ever seen. But we didn't.

But very unapproachable. We weren't really students of comedy in that. We didn't have anybody, stand up wasn't a thing. We weren't listening to like old tapes of George Carlin or whatever. A lot of people coming up in comedy were getting that, but we just came from a different place. So we had NBC on Saturday night.

If you could stay up. Yeah, there was like this reward of like, oh, if you can sneak and stay up late enough and stay awake. Well, if you can stay up after SNL, you can watch Party in Progress. Oh goodness, that's right. Remember that? Oh yeah, it was just-

Is that still a thing? No. Party in Progress- It was a half hour show. No, all it was was a bunch of girls in bikinis. At parties. At parties and they would just film all of them. I think they just went to Daytona Beach

for like two weeks. In my 16 year old mind, it was the best thing that anyone could have caught on film. I mean, it was revolutionary and I was just hoping that no one would walk in. It was just people filming bikini contest and at Daytona Beach and just turning it into a show for over the course of the year.

A show for us. For people in colder regions. I thought it was made just for me. I thought it was only broadcast in my television. I think I've told this story before, but I gotta mention it again. Like the Nielsen ratings people sent worksheets to our house for somebody, my mom agreed to participate

in the Nielsen ratings thing where you would write down what shows you watched every night. You keep a log and then you would mail in. And you were literally a Neil Sun. A hand, yeah. Which made it very appropriate. Conflict of interest, perhaps. So we'd hand write the stuff we'd watch.

We'd watch Entertainment Tonight every night and then we'd watch, I don't know, all the other stuff we'd watch. But then I remember my mom like set it up to mail it and I snuck, opened it and added Party in Progress because I wanted to. In bold. I had to do my. snuck, opened it and added party in progress because I wanted to- In bold. I had to do my-

Don't drop that party in progress. I had to do my part to like keep party in progress in progress. But I didn't want my mom to know. Party in progress is my number one, I'll just go ahead. Just go ahead and cut to the chase. Oh man. No it did not make it.

I gotta Google that just to see if it still exists. It's like, it's just bikini contest. That is my number two. I feel like it permeated our comedic sensibility to the point that it earned the next top spot. I'm just saying. Yeah and this was not easy. This wasn't easy, but.

I accept your apology. What is your next? My number two is The Wonder Years. Oh. Not even on your list. Nope, never watched it, but I knew it would be on your list. Okay, so this ran from 1988 to 1993,

starred Fred Savage, and the narrator was Daniel Stern, who was, yeah, every single episode. Your doppelganger from Home Alone. Yes, does all the narration as the adult version of Kevin, Kevin Arnold, looking back on his life growing up in the 60s and 70s. And it captured me. So all those things I said about Northern Exposure

are twice as true. So this is, I mean, I'm talking, and again, this was the first show that I watched by myself. Okay. And, because my parents didn't care about this show. My brother was into other things. And so it just hit me at this time. And I'm watching it, so Kevin is playing

like a 12 year old, right? And I'm starting to watch this thing in 1988 when I'm 11. Yeah. So he's got this relationship with Winnie. He's got his- I remember Winnie. He's got, she was really great at math, super smart. And then he's got his- She had bangs. He's got his best friend, Paul.

And he's got his older brother who was a bully to him. So many things about his life were exact parallels to what I was going through. Had an older brother who would hold me down and dangle spit over my face, just like his older brother. Wayne was his name. But you had a friend that was me, I assume. And you were just like Paul.

You didn't have glasses at the time. Paul was like a nerd. I wasn't a nerd. Well, you may have not thought you were, but. What about a Winnie? You didn't have, who was your Winnie? Well, you always have a Winnie. You always have the girl. You're mine.

You have the girl that you're, for me, I always had a girl that I was fixated on. It just rotated and was a failure nine times out of 10. There was no comedy in that. It was just drama. It was like the feels. Wrong, there was comedy. It was funny.

It was funny in exactly the same way that Northern Exposure was. Oh really? Maybe not as quirky as Northern Exposure. But no, it was funny. I have a feeling it holds up. I don't know, I haven't ever gone back and watched it. Would love to watch it with the kids

because it was already- But you'd pretty much cry every episode, right? Well, so what I remember is, I remember being in the extra room and again, just like weeping. Like I was so invested and like crying to the point that like I really hope that my mom doesn't need anything from me right now because I am so invested in the Wunderers.

And of course- Kind of the same feeling you felt about Party in Progress, but for different reasons. Exactly. And I don't know, it was just, it was so well done. And I felt like I was, interestingly, I felt like I was getting this insight into, I wasn't exactly getting insight

into my parents' perspective because they were the generational gap. So I was the age of the people playing the kids, but it was from a time that was a little bit after like my parents were that age. I don't know how that would have worked out mathematically, that would have been perfect, but I don't know. I just felt like you got this,

every character was so well developed and is so relatable. Do you remember a moment, like what was the defining moment? Do you remember the finale? No, my brain doesn't work like that. I don't, I have a horrible memory when it comes to the specifics.

I just remember the vibe and the general feel. But I just, the way that he thought about Winnie, the way that he thought about girls and his friendships, it was just so relatable. Because you know me, at that age, at age 11 or 12, I was already completely obsessed with girls. Like that wasn't, I wasn't a late bloomer.

And so I already was fixated on different girls and imagine what a relationship, oh if she was just my girlfriend then everything would be great. And if she was my girlfriend, it would be the only thing that I cared about and I felt like he kind of embodied that in a way and just the way that he was dealing with everything.

It was the most relatable thing and it was just incredibly well done. It was very dramatic. I just didn't have an appetite for that drama at that point. But you like Northern Exposure but you like Northern Exposure later because this happened earlier. Right. Because you would have been 10 later because this happened earlier. Right.

Because you would have been 10 years old or so when it started. Well, it seems that we are each to our number one and I pretty much know at this point that we agree because we both left off, it's just painfully obvious at this point that we agree on our number one and isn't that fabulous? Yes, it is.

So our number one is Green Acres. I actually watched Green Acres. I didn't. I watched reruns of that. Seriously, our number one is Seinfeld. Absolutely. So Seinfeld ran from 1989 to 1998. So once it really hit its stride after a couple of seasons,

it was in our high school sweet spot when it was in its sweet spot. And I remember, again, appointment viewing, I'd hunker down in my bed, I'd get my homework done, or I'd say, well, it's gotta wait. And if I would tell mom, I'm watching Seinfeld in my room, hold my calls. Like, I remember Michael Juby called me to do some homework

and it was like, I answered the phone 10 minutes before it came on and I like talked to him for nine minutes and then I was like, hey dude, I know this conversation's not anywhere near over but I gotta go because Seinfeld's coming on. Like I was not going to miss it. Yeah. It was so, the comedic voice was so specific

and so unique to anything I had been exposed to. I mean, I think we were primed for that Larry David cynicism because though we didn't watch Letterman, I mean, your dad had that dry wit, we resonated with that sense of humor. I watched a little Letterman at the same time. We did watch some Letterman. And I just think that we were,

that type of observational dry sense of humor was something that really resonated with us. Well, it was the kind of thing where when they were riffing on something, you weren't just laughing at it, you were reveling in it. You know what I'm saying? So like, you were so blown away by the choices that were being made and the way that the jokes

were coming, the way that the jokes would just happen and then the way that the whole story would come together at the end and these ridiculous plot lines would come together in this completely stupid way. Yeah, they would weave three stories. Well, it was like. And it would all pay off in one moment. It was like grabbing something

that has the exact same vibrational energy. Like you grab onto something that is vibrating at the frequency that your body is vibrating at and it creates this, and I know that sounds crazy, and listen. But it felt, you could feel it. Yeah, it transcended. And now, let me just address something.

Now, Ethan of H3H3 did an incredible job of addressing this when he reacted to the React video. Teens React. Where the teens were reacting to Seinfeld and basically, just watch that. Just put H3H3 Seinfeld. Yeah, because their basic premise was. And basically, I don't remember every single thing

that Ethan said, but his perspective is my perspective and that is the fact that, I mean, part of it was the fact that something that was being done on the show, modern kids felt part of it was the fact that something that was being done on the show, modern kids felt like, it made them feel uncomfortable, but they didn't get the joke. It seemed culturally insensitive, and I'm sure it was at certain points,

but lots of times that was the joke. Right. They were making, it was commentary. But a lot of people are like, I don't understand why it's funny. These characters seem ridiculous. Everybody's super selfish. And it's like, exactly.

Yeah, and I didn't, I couldn't have articulated that, that like, okay, this is, I mean, they talked about how it's a show about nothing because they made a show within the show. They conceptualized the show within the show. Right. And then tried to sell it. Which again, that's just great.

It's just so creative and self-referential. But I couldn't have said, well, Jerry doesn't change. We're gonna break the rule. That was a ground rule that I couldn't have articulated. It's like, well, for successful writing, the characters have to have an arc. Nobody changed. It's like nobody changes.

Nobody grows. Nobody's, they're all bad. They're bad people. Yeah, right, and they don't grow. They're all completely self-focused. But it free, I mean, and there are characters, I mean, you look at House, like a very comedically self-centered, flawed character,

but I dropped off, maybe he changes. It was like they stuck to their guns to the end. Well, I think that- Until it got kind of schmaltzy with this Green Day montage, but other than that. But I think that the reason, again, this is completely subjective, right? This is very subjective.

We're not talking about what the greatest television shows are of all time, this is completely subjective, right? This is very subjective. We're not talking about what the greatest television shows are of all time, this is the most influential and I think that even what you ever you think is the greatest is so subjective. It's that thing that I'm talking about. Some intersection of our background and our sensibilities that were some weird combination of nature and nurture primed us to be completely ready to accept this.

I think part of it had to do, and I think that you articulated the way that we think about it now with the fact that all these characters are selfish and they don't change, we wouldn't have been able to say that at the time. But one of the reasons I think that appealed to us is that we were in this,

the culture that we were growing up in, it was like we were good boys. And we were being told how to be good boys and the things that you should believe and the things that you should, the way you should behave. And I think that all of a sudden, these people from New York who were all single, didn't have kids, didn't aspire to get married or have kids.

And we're not playing by any of the rules that all the adults in our lives were playing by. It was this opposites attract thing. And like I said, it was, but we had this yearning for some kind of release. And instead of going out and doing irresponsible things, we watched Seinfeld. Like egging houses or.

We did some irresponsible things, but we watched Seinfeld. We watched, I mean, I think SNL served the same purpose in a lot of ways. It was like, it's a way to kind of revel in this thing where you kind of need a break from the setting that you live in. And I'm not saying that kids growing up in New York

didn't like Seinfeld, but for us, everything just lined up. And it's the way that we. Who's your favorite character? Oh, that's a really good question. I mean, I think it might be either Jerry or George's dad. George's dad. George's dad, who is Ben Stiller's dad in real life. Kramer's my favorite character. I mean, I love Kramer, of course.

Every time he entered, everyone would cheer. Yeah, I mean, well, he was great. Because he would enter, it was like a throwback. He was like a throwback to an earlier time of comedy. Also the only character who actually wasn't 100% selfish. He actually was a good friend. He was selfish at the same time, but he was a good friend. Yeah.

He was also an ass man. Yeah. Well, and so the- And that license plate. Jon Voight's car, right? Yeah. So this is something, guys our age, people our age who work in comedy have these,

you have this just the way that Larry David thought, kind of constantly running through your mind and you're trying to make sure that you're not just writing a scene or a joke that is, well, that's just Seinfeld or that's what is now Curb Your Enthusiasm, which is sort of a remix. It's so influential that you just have to make sure

that you're not going there all the time. And another reason you don't wanna go there all the time is because 20-year-old people don't care about it, don't think it's funny. It's like they don't find it funny anymore because things change. You're not wrong, it's just you're different. If my kids would be into it, like hey,

you like Parks and Rec, you like The Office, I started researching does it hold up. They would not, my theory is. And of course people who love it say it does hold up but I'm gonna test it on my kids. I was talking to them about it last night. You know, Britain's a big influence. I'm gonna use him.

Maybe it will hold up. He said he loved it, so I bet you I can get my kids to love it. Here's the one thing that doesn't hold up. There's a lot of phone humor, and it's all written before the advent of cell phones and Google. Like specifically, I'm not even saying the internet,

but like a lot of phone humor. Give me an example. Answering machine humor. That's just what I read, I don't remember an example. But, and then I was reading an article that said if you're gonna introduce it to somebody, you should watch it in reverse. Like start with season 19 or whatever it was,

watch that forwards, but then watch 18, 17, 16. I don't know how many seasons. There's not that many seasons because it was scripted show. I think there's just as many seasons that there are years, right? Typically, that's how that's done. Anyway, that brings us to our number one.

I do wanna, I don't think it's on a streaming service. Interestingly enough. You can't watch Seinfeld anymore? I don't think you can, I think you gotta own it. Nine seasons, yeah. You have to get the nine seasons on DVD, is at least what I've been told. We'll have to look into that.

All right, so we've completed our list and you hung with us. This is a longer Ear Biscuit, but thanks for hanging with us. And let us know what you think about this format. It's something that we might do again. Okay, you can watch all Seinfeld on Hulu, Jacob, just let us know. Thank you, Jacob.

Let us know if you want, you know, what you thought about sort of this ranking, reminiscing kind of thing. Because obviously we can do this with things other than television shows. I enjoyed talking about it. Yeah. So use hashtag Ear Biscuits. Let us know what you thought,

and we'll speak at you again next week. Can I rattle off my honorable mentions since we have time to fill? Sure, Reading Rainbow, Inspector Gadget, The Jetsons, A-Team, Small Wonder. Watch that after school. 18, Small Wonder, watch that after school. Small Wonder, the robot, in 2007 she was a nurse in Boulder Community Hospital in Boulder, Colorado.

I tried to find out what she's up to now. Vicky, had a crush on Vicky. Punky Brewster, also had a crush on her. The Ellen DeGeneres Show. I almost made my list. Cause it's like, it was the first lesbian that came into my home every single day. Right. Of course now I got all types of lesbians

coming into my home. That's right. I love it. Yep. But I mean, she was the first one. I didn't watch it. Well, even now. I mean, not the sitcom, the show that's still on now. Oh. Yeah.

I thought you were talking about the sitcom. It's been on a long time, though. Letterman, The Cosby Show, The Wire, Breaking Bad, and Mad Men, some of my favorite television shows. That's when you get into the best television shows of all time, I'd definitely be breaking those out. And The Price is Right. The only thing on my honorable mention

that you didn't cover on your list or there was Simon and Simon. Good theme song. And we also talked about Perfect Strangers. Oh yeah. You mentioned it. That almost made my list as well. But which interestingly, both our shows are about two guys. Simon and Simon, Private Investigators.

Yeah. You know, the rough and tumble like ex-vet and then like the pretty boy and then Larry and Balky of The Perfect Strangers. Yeah, let's get to reminiscing.