Around the Tubes vol. XVII

I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on Drain the Ocean, The Tonight Show, Mercy, The Bill Engvall Show and Skeet Ulrich.

- The National Geographic Channel heads under the ocean to explore the terrain and critters that habitat there that we know very little about for Drain the Ocean this Sunday at 9:00. Head over to their website for a cool interactive map that coincides with the program. Below is a clip from the show:



- Apparently the economy is so bad they are even canceling the UCLA Undie Run. Unfortunately they didn’t tell the people at The Tonight Show. Take a look:



- Looky who is in the new Mercy promo, Garrity’s mom. She sure likes hospitals.



- Tomorrow on The Bill Engvall Show, Bill’s deadbeat brother stops by. Check out a clip below:



- TV Guide has exclusive scoop of Skeet Ulrich showing up on the next season of CSI: New York for three episodes as a deeply disturbed killer. Yeah, that sounds about right.

- OnlineCourses.org has posted a list of 25 Super Smart TV Shows You Can Actually Learn From.

I Want My Music Television vol. LX

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


CNR – “Weird Al” Yankovic



Last month I implored “Weird Al” Yankovic to stick with parodied, well slide me some crow because his latest “style parody” is as cool as any real parody. Al takes the Chuck Norris (who makes a cameo if you look closely) facts and goes one ups man with game show legend Charles Nelson Riley in the style of The White Stripes. Watching this makes me think of the old Remote Control category Dead or Alive (the answer for Riley at the bottom of the post).


She Wolf – Shakira



Excuse me for not being able formulate a cognitive thought to the new Shakira video because my mind has turned to mush. I am pretty sure this would have constituted as softcore porn in the eighties.


Let Me Be Myself – 3 Doors Down



If you remember last month I mentioned Jet made a Teen Wolf reference in their latest video and now another one pops up in the new 3 Doors Down video. Although it may have supposed to be a caveman. I guess we should blame the makeup guy. But between the two videos and the previously mentioned Shakira wolf themed song, I want to again push my McLovin in a Teen Wolf remake with Ellen Paige as Boof. Seriously, I should be a Hollywood executive.


Sleep Alone – Bat for Lashes



There is something extremely haunting about Bat for Lashes but I can never seem to turn it off or turn away whenever she is on.


Sadly Charles Nelson Reilly died in 2007.

Breaking Down the 100 Greatest Television Shows of the 00's

By now I hope you have had the chance to digest The 100 Greatest Television Shows of the 00’s. If not, follow the link to give it a look before reading further. I didn’t do an introduction to the list because I tend to get wordy when I get on a roll and I just wanted the list to speak for itself, only adding a quick note to the requirements. So I will get wordy today instead.

Yesterday kicked off a year long look back at the decade that is about to end. Every month for the next twelve months (sans December where I will be too busy doing my usually year end retrospective) I will release a new comprehensive list remembering the best of the 00’s. I do mean comprehensive because I have been researching these list for the last two years to make sure they are as complete as they could be. Of course I am only an armchair pundit and will not have gotten to experience your favorites, so if they are missing, that most likely be the case. Granted there is an off chance I did catch it and just didn’t like it (I’m talking to you the people who still think Heroes is watchable).

Like I said before, I wanted to have the lists speak for themselves so just like yesterday future list will be just that. But much like today, the day after a “Greatest of the 00’s” list, I will delve a little deeper and over digest each list. I would first like to say that I may the eligibility requirement September 1999 to August 2009 because it seemed easy to include full season and thus eliminating such quandaries like “should Freaks and Geeks included even though it only aired half a season?” So here is the 100 Greatest Television Shows of the 00’s by the numbers:

Shows by Network
NBC - 14
ABC - 11
VH1 - 11
FOX - 10
CBS - 8
MTV - 7
WB - 6
Comedy Central - 5
HBO - 5
CW - 4
Showtime - 4
ESPN - 3
TNT - 3
UPN - 3
ABC Family - 2
Bravo - 2
G4 - 2
National Geographic - 2
Cartoon Network - 1
CMT - 1
DirecTV - 1
FX - 1
MSNBC - 1
PBS - 1
Spike - 1
Tech-TV - 1
USA – 1

Shows by Genre
Drama - 30
Comedy - 19
Competition - 10
Documentary - 10
Sci-Fi - 10
News - 9
Variety - 6
Music - 4
Animation - 2

(Scooter’s Note: There is no “reality” because I divided those shows into Competition and Documentary)

Shows by Debut Year
Pre-1999 – 15
1999 – 5
2000 – 4
2001 – 9
2002 – 8
2003 – 13
2004 – 7
2005 – 9
2006 – 8
2007 – 9
2008 – 7
2009 – 6

Shows by End Year
2000 – 2
2001 – 4
2002 – 6
2003 – 5
2004 – 8
2005 – 7
2006 – 8
2007 – 8
2008 – 2
2009 – 8

Creators with Multiple Shows
Brian Fuller - 3
Joss Whedon – 3
Aaron Sorkin – 2
Denis Leary – 2
Greg Berlanti – 2
J.J. Abrams – 2
Norm McDonald – 2
Rob Burnett and Rob Beckerman - 2
Rob Thomas – 2

Cast Member in Multiple Shows
Adam Baldwin - 3
Denis Leary – 3
Tom Cavanaugh – 3
Allison Hannigan – 2
Chi McBride - 2
Ian McShane – 2
James Purefoy – 2
Jason Segal – 2
Julie Gonzalo – 2
Katie Finneran - 2
Kevin McKidd – 2
Lee Pace - 2
Mark Valley - 2
Nathan Fillion - 2
Norm McDonald – 2
Rachel Nichols - 2
Sarah Paulson – 2
Seth Rogan - 2


Still on the Air - 42

One and Done Seasons – 26

Jumped Networks – 4

(Scooter’s Note: The UPN/WB and G4/Tech-TV mergers and the special Friday Night Lights agreement with DirecTV and NBC are not included in the number. Monday Night Raw is only counted once.)

Disappeared in the Digital Age (no DVD, no streaming, no (legal) downloading): 18

One last thing, since the decade is over and there doesn’t seem to be a consensus on what to call it, when you see me talk about “Greatest of the 00’s” think the last syllable of Cheerio’s.

The 100 Greatest Television Shows of the 00's

1. Veronica Mars (UPN/CW)

2. Friday Night Lights (NBC/DirecTV)

3. Wonderfalls (FOX)

4. Ed (NBC)

5. Rome (HBO)

6. Arrested Development (FOX)

7. Pardon the Interruption (ESPN)

8. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (WB/UPN)

9. Chappelle's Show (Comedy Central)

10. Survivor (CBS)

11. Rescue Me (FX)

12. Chuck (NBC)

13. Deadwood (HBO)

14. The Big Bang Theory (CBS)

15. Pushing Daisies (ABC)

16. Angel (WB)

17. Dead Like Me (Showtime)

18. Freaks and Geeks (NBC)

19. Sports Night (ABC)

20. My Name Is Earl (NBC)

21. The Knights of Prosperity (ABC)

22. Contest Searchlight (Comedy Central)

23. Lost (ABC)

24. Leverage (TNT)

25. Eli Stone (ABC)

26. American Dreams (NBC)

27. Kings (NBC)

28. The Job (ABC)

29. Boston Public (FOX)

30. Everwood (WB)

31. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (NBC)

32. Firefly (FOX)

33. Dexter (Showtime)

34. Keen Eddie (FOX)

35. The Middleman (ABC Family)

36. Tool Academy (VH1)

37. Greek (ABC Family)

38. Undeclared (FOX)

39. Made (MTV)

40. How I Met Your Mother (CBS)

41. Joan of Arcadia (CBS)

42. Project Greenlight (HBO/Bravo)

43. Big Love (HBO)

44. Everybody Hates Chris (UPN/CW)

45. Rich Girls (MTV)

46. Real World/Road Rules Challenge (MTV)

47. Bands Reunited (VH1)

48. A Minute with Stan Hooper (FOX)

49. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central)

50. Beauty and the Geek (WB/CW)

51. Ego Trip's (White) Rapper Show (VH1)

52. Ice-T's Rap School (VH1)

53. South Park (Comedy Central)

54. Dateline NBC (NBC)

55. The Lone Gunmen (FOX)

56. Late Show with David Letterman (CBS)

57. The Osbournes (MTV)

58. Charm School (VH1)

59. Busted (MTV)

60. X-Play (Tech-TV/G4)

61. The Norm Show (ABC)

62. Alias (ABC)

63. Star Wars: Clone Wars (Cartoon Network)

64. Bands on the Run (VH1)

65. CMT Crossroads (CMT)

66. Sorority Life (MTV)

67. Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)

68. Storytellers (VH1)

69. Meet the Press (NBC)

70. Attack of the Show (G4)

71. Cupid (ABC)

72. I Love Money (VH1)

73. Jim Rome Is Burning (ESPN)

74. Late World with Zach (VH1)

75. HardBall with Chris Matthews (MSNBC)

76. Saturday Night Live (NBC)

77. The Surreal Life (WB/VH1)

78. The Drew Carey Show (ABC)

79. Monday Night Raw (USA/Spike/USA)

80. Locked Up Abroad (National Geographic)

81. The Philanthropist (NBC)

82. The Office (NBC)

83. Sportscenter (ESPN)

84. Gary Unmarried (CBS)

85. Beat the Geeks (Comedy Central)

86. Castle (ABC)

87. Undressed (MTV)

88. Smallville (WB/CW)

89. Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (Bravo)

90. Weeds (Showtime)

91. The Inside (FOX)

92. Secret Diary of a Call Girl (Showtime)

93. Listen Up! (CBS)

94. Trust Me (TNT)

95. Journeyman (NBC)

96. Love Monkey (CBS/VH1)

97. Austin City Limits (PBS)

98. Dogtown (National Geographic)

99. Pasadena (FOX)

100. My Boys (TBS)


(Scooter’s Note: Only shows that completed at least one full season between September 1999 and August 2009 were eligible for this list. For a complete breakdown on the list, check out Breaking Down the 100 Greatest Television Shows of the 00's)