NYT rates the 20 best shows since "The Sopranos" -- and my response

A while ago, the New York Times ran an interactive article identifying the 20 best shows (in the author's view) to have aired since "The Sopranos" debuted 20 years earlier.

Several of the shows on NYT list are also on my post-"Sopranos" list -- indeed, some of these would even make my all-time favorite TV show list, including:

• "The Shield": Simply brilliant in terms of how it made you root for who would ordinarily be the antagonists of a show. I felt dirty hoping that corrupt cop Vic Mackey would get away with his schemes, which is a testament to the writing and the acting. Yeah, it wasn't as realistic as "The Wire," but it was far more interesting.
• "Battlestar Galactica": The ending didn't make much sense, and it tended to sag in the middle of each season. But it was so dark, gritty, and intense in its peak episodes, with a more or less continuous story lasting 4+ years (counting the mini-series and "Razor" movie). I'm reading the unauthorized oral history of BSG (both incarnations), So Say We All, and I just got to the section about the mini-series.
• "Lost": Another show whose ending (indeed, the entire last season) didn't make sense, but was still captivating throughout its entire run. The framework of mixing present day scenes with flashbacks (and then that mindblowing flashforward!) was subsequently adopted by one of my all-time favorites, "Once Upon a Time." [Strangely, "Once Upon a Time" did not make the NYT list, perhaps because it was too mainstream?]
• "Veronica Mars": A teen noirish mystery that launched Kristen Bell's career. I didn't watch the third/last season, and haven't gotten around to the movie either, but that first season was twisty.

On the "just missed the cut list" of the NYT:

• "Justified": This would also make my all-time list. I used to think Captain Kirk was the coolest character on TV, and Jack Bauer was the most interesting. Kirk has been supplanted by Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, whose misadventures in Harlan County, Kentucky, were laconically intriguing. I loved how Givens' character could be summed up in an eight word sentence he once told a bad guy: "You make me pull, I'll put you down." And of course he would make sure that he was justified in shooting.

But there are also a number of shows on the list that I, while possibly acknowledging their greatness, never watched or tried to watch but never really got hooked on:

• "The Wire": I know that it is a common opinion that this is the best show ever in the history of television. I just found it dull and populated with boring characters. It's not that I don't appreciate characters with shades of gray -- notice that I loved "The Shield," and the main character in that is a bad guy! Pretty much every actor in "The Wire" that I've seen elsewhere has been better elsewhere, from Lance Reddick in anything, to Wendell Pierce in Amazon's "Jack Ryan," to Michael B. Jordan in "Black Panther."
• "Grey's Anatomy": I've never watched this, so it isn't entirely fair for me to question its placement, but another procedural/soap opera didn't sound interesting to me. (It's also weird to me that this made the list but "Scandal" did not. See below for more on that.)
• "The West Wing": This has seemed to me like the left-wing version of "24." Each presents a fantasy world where its proponent's fears are being realized, and stopped only through the proponent's heroism.
• "Breaking Bad": I need to watch this. A major reason I haven't yet is that I'm not ready for my image of the goofy dad from "Malcolm in the Middle" to be overwritten by Walter White/Heisenberg.

And then there are the post-Sopranos shows that are on my list but absent from the NYT:

• "24": Yes, it's more fantasy than "Battlestar Galactica" in a lot of ways, but for sheer adrenaline rush, there's nothing like it. I watched every season as it aired starting halfway through season 2, then watched them all on DVD, and then over the course of several months streamed them all while running on the treadmill. My wife has asked me how I can watch it over and over, and the answer is, I can never get enough of Kiefer Sutherland's intensity as Jack Bauer, yelling, "Tell me where the bomb is!! There's no time!!"
• "Once Upon a Time": I didn't think this would be good, but I TiVo'd the pilot episode to give it a try. Within 10 minutes, I was hooked by the magical look of the Enchanted Forest in the flashbacks, and the puzzle of matching the present day residents of Storybrooke to their fantasy counterparts. And this is a show that featured multiple strong female characters (Emma Swan. Regina/Wicked Witch, Mary-Margaret/Snow White) who easily satisfied the Bechdel test every episode. (I didn't watch the last season, though, which was a soft reboot; the season 6 finale seemed to me to be a very good series finale.)
• "The Last Ship": Military valor, end of the world pandemic, conspiracies -- yeah, I'm a sucker for all of that.
• "Scandal": Another show that was basically fantasy, but it was as addictive as "24" was. I loved it whenever Olivia Pope was in "I'm in control" mode, which was most of the time. I liked it a lot less when she in "I'm moping over President Grant" mode.
• "Star Trek: Discovery": I get that it's controversial. It's a lot darker than the usual Trek series (even "Deep Space Nine"). But I like that. Based on season 1 (I watched the DVDs, so can't watch season 2 yet), it's my second favorite Trek series. It could move up to #1 with more excellent seasons. It would have to get a lot worse to drop to #3.
• "Hawaii 5-0": I don't claim that "Hawaii 5-0" is good in the ways that critics view shows. I find it hilariously entertaining, less so in the mystery of the week than in the character interaction (no show is complete with McGarrett and Dann-o bickering, and without the shrimp truck guy), and it's the only show on TV I can think of that features multiple regular actors who are of Asian descent, which is worth supporting alone for the Asian diversity factor (even if the show ended up making Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park leave because they weren't paid the same as Alex O'Loughlin and Scott Caan).

My controversial takes on pop culture

One of my Facebook friends put up an excellent and entertaining post about her controversial opinions about food, which got me thinking about the possibly idiosyncratic and unusual opinions that I have about big pop culture items. I don't offer these as unassailable truths; they are merely my opinions. Imagine that each one begins with "I think" or "I believe," which I've deleted to avoid repetition. So here they are:

1. Taylor Swift music is the best for speed workouts on the treadmill. Followed by Kelly Clarkson. I'm not sure why, but I do find interval reps less painful when I'm listening to "Shake It Off."

2. Star Trek > Star Wars. Some sci-fi magazine once put it best: no matter how cool you think Star Wars is, it starts with Jar Jar Binks and ends with the Ewoks. (Well, I guess now it ends with Rey and Luke Skywalker, for now.)

3. Pierce Brosnan has been the most entertaining James Bond. Yes, Sean Connery defined the role. But Brosnan managed to fuse Connery's ruthlessness with Roger Moore's suave humor. I love the set piece in "Tomorrow Never Dies" where Bond is having fun driving the souped up rental car via smartphone.

4. I acknowledge Bruce Springsteen's greatness, but as far as New Jersey rock stars go, I enjoy Bon Jovi's music more. "Born in the U.S.A." is an unquestionably great album, and "Born to Run" is a great song. But I like "Livin' on a Prayer" more.

5. The Wire is boring. David Simon knows an incredible amount about police procedure, Baltimore, the war on drugs, and so on. If "The Wire" had been a documentary, like "The Corner," it would be fantastic. But as a television program, it's dull. I made it through 2 1/3 seasons before I gave up. McNulty? Boring. The female assistant D.A. who inexplicably goes from sleeping with McNulty to having an affair with the police lieutenant? Boring. Heck, "The Wire" made Lance Reddick boring, and that guy is awesome! He had maybe five minutes of screen time in "John Wick" but made far more of it than in all the episodes of "The Wire" that I saw. Just compare "The Wire" to "The Shield" - yes, "The Wire" is more realistic, but "The Shield" is better TV.

6. "Fletch" is the rare movie that equals the book it was made from, but in a totally different way. The James Bond novels are about the only ones where I thought the movies were superior to the source material. But the movie "Fletch" is about as good as the novel, except that I always envisioned Fletch (when reading) to be someone like Dirk Benedict's Faceman from "The A-Team." Somehow Chevy Chase took Fletch in a totally different way and it worked!

7. Deep Space Nine was the best Star Trek series. I know I'm not alone in this, but still, the majority of Trek fans seem to think either the original series or Next Gen was the best. Of course, the original series has its schlocky charm, and without it, there wouldn't have been anything else. And of course, Next Gen elevated the production standards and the writing. But Deep Space Nine broke away from the ridiculous Roddenberry conceit that in the 23rd century, there would be no interpersonal conflicts. It gave us a gritty, nuanced view with an array of characters so strongly written that each could headline entire episodes. And from season 4 on, it was basically one long story that held together to the end.

8. Jack Bauer ("24") was the best TV character, but Raylan Givens ("Justified") was the coolest. I used to think James T. Kirk was the coolest character, but I don't think anyone can touch Timothy Olyphant's portrayal of Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens.

9. The 1980s produced the best pop music, followed by the 1990s. Notwithstanding my point 1 above, the best music came from the 1980s, followed by the 1990s. I can't believe those are now so old that they're older than the "oldies" I listened to when I was a teenager. If it weren't for the early seasons of "American Idol" and "The Voice," I would know almost nothing about today's music.

10. Jay Leno was my favorite late night talk show host. I don't care too much about the celebrity interviews, but I do like the comic monologue, even if it's too vanilla for others. And I still have fond memories of "The Dancing Itos" and all the Clinton/Lewinsky skits.

11. The Hunger Games trilogy > Harry Potter series. One is much deeper than the other.

12. I sort of regret reading the "Song of Fire and Ice" books. Okay, not that much. But I don't get HBO so I haven't been watching the "Game of Thrones" series, and I'm more and more doubtful that I will read any more of the series beyond "A Dance of Dragons." First, and most importantly, it's iffy whether the next book will ever get published. Second, even if it is, it's been so long since I read "Dragons" that I think I'll need to re-read from the start, and I don't think I have the stomach for that.

13. CSI: Miami was the best, er, most entertaining of the CSI franchise. There's something fascinating about "CSI: Miami." If I'm flipping through channels and I come across reruns of it, I can always watch it. The trick is, you have to think of it as a comedy, and try to come up with better (cheesier?) one-liners than David Caruso tosses off as he takes his sunglasses off in the dazzling Miami outdoors...(!).

14. Keanu Reeves makes more entertaining movies than Robert DeNiro does. Maybe this isn't controversial. But basically, what I'm saying is that while DeNiro is acclaimed as one of the greatest actors ever, while Reeves is saddled with a reputation consistent with Ted "Theodore" Logan, Keanu Reeves' movies are far more watchable and re-watchable. Seriously. List the five most entertaining DeNiro movies. Compare them against "The Matrix," "John Wick," "Point Blank," "Bill & Ted" (your choice of which one, although I prefer "Bogus Journey"), and "Speed" or "The Devil's Advocate."

15. Captain Kirk > Captain Picard. If I were a Federation taxpayer (except I don't think the Federation has taxes, since Picard so haughtily exclaimed in "Star Trek: First Contact" that there's no need for money in the 23rd century), I'd much prefer Picard in charge of government property. But as a viewer, I find Kirk more entertaining. Plus, if they had a fight, Kirk would win, because while Picard was negotiating, Kirk would Kobayashi Maru-him.

16. Gryffindor is overrated, while Ravenclaw is underrated. Gryffindor is basically the jock house, while Ravenclaw is the nerd house. I know which one I'd want to be in. And who gets more stuff done in real life, anyway?

17. Cable is overrated. I got rid of cable almost three years ago, and I don't miss it at all. Of course, it helps that most of the cable programs that I've been interested in during that time (the end of "Justified," "The Americans," "The Last Ship") are available for streaming, often for free via Amazon Prime.

18. Han shot first. Okay, that can't be controversial, can it?

Olfactory offensiveness, a downside to the treadmill at the gym

Apologies for the rant that follows; I know that no one is to "blame" here, and no doubt there's a reasonable probability that I'm as much of an offender as the guy I'm writing about, but when it comes down to it, we only have our own subjective experience of reality.

Today I went to the gym for my long run (delayed from Monday due to my schedule this week as Mr. Mom). It turns out that I could've run outside, but the weather forecast had called for afternoon rain, and the skies were looking ominous.

I got on the treadmill in the middle of the row, with at least two empty treadmills on either side of me. Six minutes later, a guy started setting up on the treadmill to my left.

He smelled really bad! Not in the "having taken a bath in a week" kind, but the heavy smell of rank sweatiness.* And this was before he ran a single step. . . .

* Correction: Sweat doesn't smell; the bacteria that feed off sweat do.

What was especially annoying was that (1) he could have taken a treadmill two spots to my right, where he would've had no one on either side; and (2) the treadmill he took indicated that it needed to be lubricated, but he started it anyway.

He then proceeded to jog along at a 10 minute/mile pace. He looked much more like a weightlifter than a runner, so I was hoping that he would warm up for a mile and then go lift heavy things. I also thought maybe I would get used to the smell and stop noticing, but it didn't work like that. It seemed like the smell would fade, and then I would be blasted by a fresh wave of it.

Ten minutes passed, and he stepped off the moving belt and manually slowed the treadmill to a walking pace. Excellent, I said to myself.

But after a bit of walking, he sped the treadmill back up to a 10 minute/mile pace!

Okay, maybe he was going to cover two miles . . . .

50 minutes!!!! I ended up enduring 50 minutes of olfactory offensiveness before he finished.

The worst thing is that, of course, I realize that there's nothing reasonable that I could say to him. I mean, if I'd said, "Dude, you smell really bad," what response could I really expect? It's not like he had slathered on way too much cologne or anything. When we exercise, we sweat - some more than others. And for all I know, I might also have a Pepe le Pew-like effect on those around me after I've gone running (though, I think, not before I've even started). In my defense, I do try to avoid taking a treadmill next to other runners if possible.

UPDATE (6/26): Apparently this may not be an uncommon problem....

Long run motivation

Napping was at the top of the list of what I wanted to do this morning. Going for a long run was much farther down the list. I mean, I love being a runner, and I love the feeling of satisfaction that comes with a good running workout, but sometimes I have to motivate myself to go for a run.

This is apparently common for runners.

One way to get myself up for a long run is to go to the gym, get on the treadmill, start streaming my latest binge-watching obsession, and press "Start." However, while "The Wire" is good, it just hasn't been as compulsively addictive for me as, say, "The Shield" or "Justified." Plus, the weather outside looked divine for running: temperature in the low 60s, lots of cloud cover with isolated patches of blue sky, just a gentle breeze for circulation.

So I followed the suggestion of putting on running clothes: light blue Patagonia wool/polyester blend tech shirt, black tech shorts, and merino wool socks, SPF 50 sunblock.*

* I dislike putting on sunblock, because I've read that oxybenzone - the primary ingredient in many sunblocks - is pretty nasty stuff. I go out of my way to buy sunblocks that rely on physical barriers, as opposed to chemical ones, meaning either titanium dioxide or zinc oxide. Physical barrier sunblocks are apt to leave white streaks and they're not that easy to clean off, even in the shower; often I have to scrape a bunch of it off.

It did get me closer to the door, which got me close to my running shoes, which I put on. All that was left was headphones and firing up the Audible app on my smartphone (I'm about halfway through Peter Hamilton's Pandora's Star right now) and then my trusty companion RunKeeper.

A good audiobook makes a big difference for me. When I run races, I don't listen to anything except RunKeeper's periodic audio cues about time, distance, and average pace. When I do speed workouts, I sometimes don't listen to anything. But when I go on long runs, I like to listen to audiobooks (or music, but I prefer audiobooks). I've discovered that some books I liked in print make not so good audiobooks, and other books I liked in print make really good audiobooks. I'm not sure why, exactly. It's tempting to blame (or credit) the narrator, but I don't think that's it. I like David Baldacci's thrillers, but when I listened to The Whole Truth, I found that a lot of the writing seemed corny in a way that didn't appear that way on the printed page. Pandora's Star, on the other hand, has been crackling good, even though I've already read it before and hence shouldn't be surprised about anything.

Anyway, 11.25 miles later, I was done running. It had been a mild day, mostly cloudy with isolated patches of blue skies, and temperatures in the low 60s. Really a perfect day for running. Long run of the week in the books. Glad I got out there, even if napping is so awesome.

Rain, rain, make up your mind!

Today was one of those annoying days when the local weather just couldn't make up its mind about what it wanted to do. The weather.com forecast called for rain starting around noon, so I figured I should've been able to get my long run (~90-100 minutes) in even though I couldn't start until 10 a.m. due to volunteering in my kid's elementary school class.

Within ten minutes, it was misting. Well, a little mist was nothing to worry about. Practically two-thirds of the year here in the Pacific Northwest is misty. Besides, while some of the sky looked ominously dark, other parts still had blue patches poking through the clouds. I did fish out my ziplock bag and stuck my smartphone inside, just in case.

Instead of abating, however, the rain came down more steadily. I've run races in the rain, but I don't necessarily find anything exhilarating about it, especially when there are alternatives. So I headed home and finished that outside run at 3.57 miles. I grabbed my car keys and my Kindle Fire and drove over to the gym.

This would work out all right, I decided. Each episode of "The Wire" runs about an hour, which would be enough time to run 7 miles at a pretty easy pace, and get me over 10 miles for the day. (I've been making my long runs more like 12+ mile recently, but a little shorter of one wouldn't kill me.)

Okay, so at the gym there are three treadmills (out of seven) that work well for watching on my Kindle Fire; the others end up having the screen at an uncomfortably low angle. One of the three is currently out-of-order. One of the remaining two was being used. I got on the other one. Now, this is the newest treadmill in the gym, and it is the only one that can decline (in addition to incline). That's a neat feature, but it also makes it considerably louder than the other treadmills. I mean, I'm not a heel striker, and normally on the treadmill, I'm not terribly loud. But on this one, it was CLONG CLONG CLONG CLONG - 180 times per minute! I'm not sure but I think I drove away the older woman who was walking on the treadmill next to me....

Anyway, after 30 minutes and 3.5 miles, it seemed like it was clearing up outside. I paused "The Wire" and got ready to leave the gym and finish the last 3 miles of the day outside.

Which of course is when it started to run again.

Argh!

Well, I did get to finish that episode, and to try the decline setting, as I ran the last 3 miles at -2%. CLONG CLONG CLONG CLONG....

Popular Mechanic's top 10 best TV cop shows

I'm not sure how Popular Mechanics' journalistic jurisdiction reaches TV cop shows, but that magazine has its list of the 10 best ever such shows:

10. Hawaii 5-0 (original)

9. Wiseguy

8. Dragnet

7. Miami Vice

6. CSI: Miami

5. Law & Order

4. NYPD Blue

3. The Wire

2. The Shield

1. Hill Street Blues

Of these, I've watched many episodes of "Hawaii 5-0," "Miami Vice," "CSI: Miami," and every episode of "The Shield." ("The Wire" will join "The Shield" on my list this summer.) "Wiseguy" was on during a time, believe it or not, when I watched very little TV; otherwise, I think I would've liked it. I'll have to see if it streams or if it's on DVD to borrow from the library.

I've seen a few episodes of "Law & Order," and it's okay but not particularly interesting to me. The same is true for "Hill Street Blues."

As for the ones that I've seen a fair number of, I liked "Hawaii 5-0" but prefer the new version for its intentional comedy.

"Miami Vice" was groundbreaking at the time but the few times I've come across reruns now, it seems pretty dated.

"CSI: Miami" is one of my biggest guilty pleasures. It's so over-the-top ridiculous, with every one sauntering around, and David Caruso's penchant for taking his sunglasses off at the oddest times, not to mention the cheesy one-liners that end the teaser segment. I wait for it, grade it, and then see if I can come up with an even cheesier line.

"The Shield" is just fantastic.

How can Popular Mechanics have forgotten "Justified"? Hey, Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens counts as a cop, right? I mean, he chases down fugitives and brings them to justice.... "Justified" has season-long (and more) arcs, whipsmart dialogue, and a terrifically understated performance by Timothy Olyphant as Givens.

Amazon Prime is determined to keep me on the treadmill!

Oh, my!

[Amazon] announced a multi-year deal with HBO to host several former television series, including The Sopranos, The Wire and Deadwood.

 

More than one of my criminal procedure students have expressed shock that my prodigious amount of TV watching has somehow not included "The Wire." In fact, one student semi-facetiously asked, "How are you even qualified to teach this course?"

Well, I expect that to be remedied soon. I'm also intrigued by "Deadwood," as I am a big fan of Timothy Olyphant (aka Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens on "Justified"), who stars as Sheriff Seth Bullock.