When I normally go on a date with someone, one of the big conversation aspects that comes up is what television shows do I watch. I can easily say that the usuals of nerdom come up - Star Trek, Joss Whedon creations, anime - you know the drill. But I find often that the television series that I mention as my favorites get left out from the knowledge of most of the general public eye. Sure, most of them are from the first decade that my life encountered in, but that gives people of my generation at least 10 years to have seen it on television or VHS. The others though are from a few years before then or only lasted a season - so let's give them the respect they deserve: These are my favorite Television series, see how many you know!

10. HUFF!

HUFF! was a short lived, 2 season show from Showtime that came out around 2004. The plot revolves around Huff, played by Hank Azaria, who is a therapist that just happened to have a client kill himself in his office. He also happens to halluciente a homeless man, has a psychologically disturbed brother, a best friend with every addiction under the sun, and a mother living in the house next door to his, along with marital problems and raising his teenage son. In actuality, HUFF! is one of the best written shows on television I ever had the pleasure of viewing. Unfortunately, it's second season proved to be a huge misfire and I gave up about half way in - way too many characters, plots and issues were added to keep track. I wish the show could have at least gotten a much better ending then it got, but for the first season alone is worth checking out.

Favorite Episode: Christmas is Ruined
Favorite Character (s): Huff and Bird

9. Northern Exposure


I remember being introduced to this show through watching it with my family as a kid when it was re-aired on A&E. The Alaskan setting, weird characters and plot lines, not to mention having a Moose in the intro instantly made me fall in love with Northern Exposure. The story tells that of Dr. Joel Fleschmen, a young man from New York whose first assignment out of Grad school is to become the local doctor in an very wacky Alaskan town. Though I gotta admit, I did not know a single thing that was actually happening in the show: all I could figure is that these people were wacky, and I liked that. Sadly, similar to HUFF!, this show suffered from a few last miserable seasons that contained a generous helping of WHAT THE HELL. Nothing was understandable, even to the point when I was so young yet intelligent enough to realize WHY IS THIS HAPPENING? Even when I wasn't following the plot extensively. It is 100% worth checking out seasons 1 - 4, for these episodes are magical and completely genius.

Favorite episode: Sex, Lies and Ed's Tape
Favorite Character(s): Ed and Chris.

8. Radio Free Roscoe


Rick and Steve is a very silly comedy series about the lives of a fictional Queer community, where everyone in the town is LGBT and if someone straight comes alone, that's just bizarre. The main characters are of course Rick and Steve, who are sort of the more bland of the characters that help us enter their universe. My favorite couple is Chuck and Evan, an older man in a wheelchair with his drug addicted 19 yr. old boyfriend. Yes, if you can't tell this show is loud and proud and to many very offensive, but similar to South Park, I kept watching for the ridiculous and light hearted approach with the comedic flair to very taboo topics such as AIDS, Drugs and etc. But unlike South Park, Rick and Steve had a lot of heart and soul more then similar shows of it's type. I recommend it for those that need a good insane yet controversial laugh.

Favorite episode: Swallowing Pride
Favorite Character (s): Chuck and Evan

6. Daria


Though this show definitely had a lot more popularity then I'm giving it credit for, it seems that not a lot of people seem to actually remember it or almost like to discard it when its brought up in conversation. To me, Daria is an American treasure. I think everyone in their life has felt in some strange way a connection with the monotone heroine, as she to me was the voice inside my head whenever someone similar to the character of Brittany, the cheerleader, would come up to me in school. Daria's relationship with Jane reminds me of my relationship with my best friend at the time, along with many other similar instances. To say Daria was a one of a kind show is the understatement of the year, and nothing will ever be able to replace it.

Favorite Episode: Through a Len's Darkly
Favorite Character(s): Daria and Troy


5. Freakazoid!

I'm sure everyone had a favorite character in their youth that gave them their first discovery of comedy. Many would say The Animaniacs was theirs, or even Tiny Toons. But for me, it was Freakazoid. This is certainly one of the weirdest shows I ever had the pleasure of sitting down to watch, possibly weirder then the previous shows mentioned. But with a name such as it was given, how could it not be weird? The story is that of teenage kid Dexter Douglas, who one day turns on a computer program and becomes his alter ego, Freakazoid. I am openly convinced that me and many others being born into the generation that was extremely diagnosed with ADD, Freakazoid was our champion of random behavior and intelligence. As much as you would like to argue otherwise, this show was incredibly smart and ahead of it's time. It's definitely my favorite comedy show, period, because it took a lot of risks for the time and showed some really bizarre things when it comes to Children's programming in the 90's. If you haven't watched this in a while, I fully encourage a reviewing. You'll appreciate it even more now.

Favorite Episode: Bonjour, Lobey.
Favorite Character: Sgt. Cosgrove

4. Jim Henson's The Storyteller
3. Beauty and the Beast


Yep, this show is cheesy as sin. But I couldn't not include one of my favorite versions of my favorite fairy tale. This show definitely is a huge part of my life, mostly because it got me into loving the people involved and their other work, especially (my number one old man crush) Ron Perlman. His portrayal of Vincent is his most iconic role, and should be on some sort of top 10 TV list. The show took a really great modern concept to the fairy tale, with sprinkling some (for the time) edgy elements. The plot tells of Catherine, a rich upper east sider who is brutally abused by a gang. She is saved by Vincent, who lives underneath the subways in a community known as the Tunnel Dwellers. He and Catherine grow to have an extremely tight bond, that begins to become supernatural in ways, and eventually they fall in love with each other. What made the show really cool was the incredible amount of action and complex drama. Also, there was a lot of poetry and older books mentioned, which got me into reading the material later on in my life. And of course, we can't not talk about the romance. Catherine and Vincent's relationship was lovely to watch, yet refreshing since they were not focusing on their physical attraction but rather their mental (yeah, you never really see them kiss ::shrug::)
Overall, even with it's awful ending,
this show was beautiful and hopefully it's current remake will do it justice (though I doubt it).

Favorite Episode: Arabesque
Favorite Character(s): Vincent, Devin and Joe.

2. My So Called Life
Confession: I had a huge crush on both Jordan and Brian. There, I've said it - though most girls would say they would chose Jordan over Brian, I had a big thing for both of them because they were real guys with huge flaws. Okay, so 95% of you probably don't understand a lick of what I am saying, so I'll break it down for you: My So Called Life was my teenage life on screen. I'm sure anyone that watched the show could equally say the same thing, but really, I can't find a show more similar to my real life story then this show (except that I didn't have a little sister or red hair.) But everything else was pretty similar, and thus the show has stuck with me. This show only lasted one season, but those 14 episodes continue to be marathoned in my room on an almost monthly basis. When I am sad, happy, or getting ready for a party: The show covers all my watching needs. It's a shame it never was given a proper ending, because it really was a great show and ahead of it's time. But maybe in some way it's good it never finished because then we might not want to know the real ending. To explain the plot is hard, so if interested just based on this paragraph - go watch it.

Favorite Episode: Life of Brian
Favorite Character (s): Gram, Angela, Ricky and Tino (get it?)
1. Disney's Gargoyles

Looking at this blog, you would think my favorite TV show is some kind of girly sparkle magic show. Well the answer is far from it. Gargoyles has and will always be my favorite TV show. The plot, action, animation and voice acting were perfect in almost every episode. It was beyond ahead of it's time and was nothing like anything Disney had made before or since. The story is that of the creatures known as Gargoyles, stone by day and warriors by night, who in Scotland a thousand years ago were cursed to sleep in stone forever. They are then awakened by billionaire playboy David Xanatos, and their lives are never the same after. I loved the relationships, the use of Shakespeare and the dynamic between all the characters. Sadly, in it's third season the show went down a slippery slope of fail, so I like to think Season 2 as the last season. If you haven't watched the show since you were a kid, I highly recommend checking it out now as it is a very different experience watching it. But truly it was a brilliant series, and continues to stand the test of time.

Favorite Episode: The Mirror
Favorite Character (s): Brooklyn, Puck, Fox and Griff

So those are my top 10 TV Shows, what are yours? Trust me, it was hard to chose just 10, so I'd love to know what others you would put down!