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My choice in television is a little more
limited than in film, as I've never spent as much time watching
television as the majority of people. My choices usually revolve
around science fiction, quality situation comedies, documentaries and
current affairs, although quality dramas do make an occasional appearance.
I never watch soap operas, but I like a variety of music channels,
including the new Classic FM TV. If you see anything listed here
that you haven't already seen, ask me and I'll arrange a special viewing for you
if I have it!
| Star Trek: Enterprise
(2001-????) |
This fifth installment to the Star Trek franchise takes place
before the time of Captain Kirk and Picard. Set approximately 100
years after "First Contact", and about 100 years before Kirk, it
explores the events that will eventually lead up to the birth of the
United Federation of Planets. |
| Malcolm in the Middle
(2000-????) |
An offbeat, laugh track-lacking sitcom about a bizarrely
dysfunctional family, the centre of which is Malcolm, the middle of
the two brothers who still live at home. His eldest (and favorite)
sibling, Francis, boards at military school because his parents
believe it will reform him and keep him out of trouble. Malcolm often
has a hard time coping with his family life, but he has more troubles
to contend with when he starts receiving special treatment at school
after being diagnosed as an intellectually advanced genius. |
| Horizon (1964-????) |
BBC Science documentary series. |
| Star Trek: Voyager
(1995-2001) |
The Federation starship USS Voyager, chasing a band of Maquis
rebels, enters the dangerous space nebula known as the Badlands. Both
ships are transported by a distant space probe to the Delta Quadrant,
75,000 light-years from Federation space. Voyager's crew and the
Maquis form an uneasy truce to rescue crewmen of both ships, kidnapped
by the probe's builder, the powerful, dying Caretaker. The Maquis ship
is destroyed in a battle with the warlike Kazons. To prevent a Kazon
aggression against a helpless world, Voyager destroys the space probe.
Without the probe, it will take 75 years for Voyager to travel back to
Federation space. With the differences between them rendered
meaningless by time and distance, The Federation and Maquis crews
unite aboard Voyager. Together, they embark on their new mission: to
boldly go - home. |
| Star Trek: Deep Space
Nine (1993-1999) |
The stable wormhole discovered by the Deep Space
Nine crew is known to the Bajoran people as the Celestial Temple of
their Prophets. Sisko, as discoverer of the wormhole and its
inhabitants, is therefore the Emissary of Bajoran prophesy. The
wormhole's other end is in the Gamma Quadrant, halfway around the
galaxy from Bajor. That section of space is dominated by the
malevolent Dominion. The Dominion is led by the Changelings, the race
of shapeshifters to which Odo belongs. As of the beginning of the
sixth season, Cardassia has joined the Dominion, and together they are
waging war on the Federation and their Klingon allies. The war is
quickly becoming the most costly war ever for the Federation, and the
Deep Space Nine crew must fight to protect their way of life. |
| 2 point 4 children
(1991-1999) |
This first two seasons of this comedy series were a bit weird and
they weren't very funny but it soon became one of the funniest comedy
series around and the Christmas specials were hilerous but the series
was a bit underrated and it came to a stop when the main character
Gary Olsen died which was really sad but the last few seasons of the
series were very funny. |
| Babylon 5
(1994-1998) |
In the year 2258, it is ten years after the Earth-Minbari War.
Commander Sinclair takes command of a giant five-mile-long cylindrical
space station, orbiting a planet in neutral space. At a crossroads of
interstellar commerce and diplomacy, Cmdr Sinclair (2d season Captain
Sheridan) must try to establish peace and prosperity between various
interstellar empires, all the while fighting forces from within the
Earth Alliance. It is a precarious command, particularly given that
sabotage led to the destruction of Babylon stations 1, 2, and 3 and 4
vanished without trace. |
| The Thin Blue Line
(1995-1996) |
Various mishaps at a police station in an English hamlet. The main
character is the cynical, incompetent Inspector Fowler. |
| Robocop (1994-1995) |
Alex Murphy is Robocop, a cybernetic policeman. A creation of a
vast corporation, he fights crime and occasional corporate conspiracy
in the near-future of Old Detroit. |
| Star Trek: The Next
Generation (1987-1994) |
Settled in the 24th century and 78 years after the adventures of
the original crew of the starship Enterprise this new series is the
long awaited successor to the original Star Trek series from the
1960's. Under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard the all new
Enterprise NCC 1701-D travels out to distant planets to seek out new
life and to boldly go where no one has gone before. |
| Return to Lonesome Dove
(1993) |
'Captain' Call has just buried Gus at Lonesome Dove and plans to
head back to his ranch in Montana. Looking at a herd of wild Mustangs,
he decides to drive them north with the help of Isom and Gideon
Walker. Gideon hires Agostina Vega and Mexican Cowboys to run the
Mustangs. Call leaves the drive for Nebraska and runs into Cherokee
Jack and a group of Indians, which almost costs him his life. In
Montana, Newt and Jasper get into a shoot out in the local bar and
wind up in jail. The odds of them surviving the lynch mob are slim
until Dunnegan has them freed. Newt had rescued his wife, Ferris, from
a band of cattle rustlers and Dunnegan was thankful. However, Newt and
Jasper will have to work for Dunnegan to keep their freedom. Newt has
mixed emotions about working for Dunnegan who helps him in any way,
because he also has respect for Call - who may or may not be his true
father. Dunnegan has big plans for his cattle and the future. Those
plans do not include those who do not throw in with him and the Hat
Creek Cattle Company is not interested in Dunnegan. |
| You Rang M'Lord
(1988-1993) |
You Rang M'Lord must be one of the funniest TV Series ever. It's
all about a private family that employs several household staff who
look after them. There is a butler, an underbutler, a footman, a cook,
several housekeepers etc. Although the series is very funny and
certain situations are overdrawn, it nevertheless comes very close to
"the real thing". As professional butler and chairman of the
International Guild of Professional Butlers I know a little bit about
the subject. Do check out the series because you will fall in love
with it. |
| Allo 'Allo!
(1982-1992) |
Rene runs a small cafe in France during the second
world war. He always seems to have his hands full: he's having affairs
with most of his waitresses, he's keeping his wife happy, he's trying
to please the German soldiers who frequent his cafe, and he's running
a major underground operation for the resistance. Quite often, the
Germans' incompetence itself is what nearly lands Rene and his cohorts
in hot water; they are not helped either by the locals who are
dreadfully keen to get rid of the Germans, but their blatant and
theatrical attempts at espionage and "secrecy" often create problems
that Rene must quickly solve. |
| Eerie Indiana
(1991-1992) |
Marshall Teller's family moves to the small country town of Eerie,
Indiana (Pop. 16,661). There, Marshall discovers that Eerie, as he
puts it, "is the center of weirdness for the universe". Elvis lives
there, so do a pair of twins who stay young by sleeping in Tupperware,
and many other strange things. Each episode, Marshall and his friend
Simon collect evidence about the creepy things that happen there. |
| Lonesome Dove
(1989) |
Epic story about two former Texas rangers who decide to move
cattle from the south to Montana. Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call run
into many problems on the way, and the journey doesn't end without
numerous casualties. (6 hrs approx) |
| Degrassi Junior High
(1986-1991) |
The kids of Degrassi street have now grown to be
teenagers attending Degrassi Jr. High where they face the facts and
problems that are typical for people their age. |
| Blackadder Goes Forth
(1989) |
In this series, Captain Edmond Blackadder is an intelligent, self-centered
officer in the trenches of World War I, whose aim is to survive til
the war is over. He is assisted by the eager but stupid Lt. George
Colthurst and the moronic, grungy Private Baldrick. Blackadder's
commander is the insane General Melchert, who is assisted by
Blackadder's rival Captain Darling. |
| Round the Twist
(1989) |
Tony Twist and his three children - thirteen year old twins Pete
and Linda and nine year old Bronson - move to an old lighthouse on the
rugged Australian Coast. They soon discover that the lighthouse, and
the outhouse, are haunted. |
| Dr Who (1963-1989) |
The Doctor is a renegade Time Lord: an eccentric,
highly-intelligent scientist from a distant planet. He travels through
time and space in the TARDIS, a curious device, larger on the inside
than on the outside, which was designed to change its appearance to
suit its surroundings. Unfortunately, the Doctor's TARDIS seems to be
broken, and always appears as a blue British police box. The Doctor
has a soft spot for the planet Earth, and often visits there, either
to save it from various alien threats or to whisk a choice few
inhabitants away to the distant parts of the galaxy to help him fight
evil there. The Doctor has many foes, including Daleks (led by Davros),
and The Master, another renegade Time Lord. Time Lord biology enables
them to regenerate their bodies, and so both the Doctor and the Master
appear evolve over the years... |
| Blackadder the Third
(1987) |
During the Regency period, the insane King George III's stark
raving mad son, George, is the Prince Regent of Wales. Vulgar and
staggeringly slow-and-dim-witted, George exhausts the country's money
and would surely be dead by know were it not for his dry, angry,
bitter, arrogant and cynical butler, Edmund Blackadder, Esq.
Blackadder is an ex-aristocrat who has lost his family fortune and
been reduced to servant-hood, and full of loathing knowing he should
have a better position then serving a lunatic. Sod-Off Baldrick is his
dirty, smelly peasant servant, and Mrs. Miggins is an annoying
cheerful coffee-shoppe owner who is too stupid to understand most of
Mr. Blackadder's insults. |
| Yes Prime Minister
(1986-1987) |
Caught off-guard by the sudden retirement of the
Prime Minister, Sir Humphrey and his civil service allies soon get
their house-trained minister, James Hacker, elevated to the top job. |
| Fame (1982-1987) |
The Art School was always their dream.They want to
dance, they want to sing, to play music, to act but above all they
want to live their lives while they are still young and full of
energy. Leroy, Danny, Jesse, Chris, Coco and all the others try hard
because they know that they've got a long way to go till they reach
fame and riches. Fame costs and here (the Art School) is where they
start paying for it. |
| Blackadder II
(1986) |
Sixty years after the demise of Prince Edmund Plantagenet, Queen
Elizabeth I, who's as insane as her ancestors, is England's current
leader. Seductive, easy-to-impress, spoiled, and always seeking a
husband, "Queenie" has a leading courtier: Lord Edmund Blackaddder,
great-grandson of the original. Now, however, he is dryly cynical and
intelligent, but still trying to become king; this time by marrying
the queen. However, her right-hand-man, Lord Melchett, will always
serve as fair competition for her hand. Blackadder is again assisted
by the clueless but fashionable Lord Percy Percy and dung-eating,
"cunning" peasant Baldrick. |
| The Kids of Degrassi
Street (1982-1986) |
Excellent children's tv series from Toronto, Canada. |
| Oliver Twist (1985) |
In a storm, in a workhouse, to a nameless woman, young Oliver
Twist is born into parish care where he's overworked and underfed. As
he grows older his adventures take him from the countryside to London,
through harsh treatment, kindness, an undertaker, and a thieves' dens,
where he makes friends and enemies. But all the time he is pursued by
the mysterious Monks, who hires Fagin to turn Oliver into a thief.
Oliver is rescued by chance and kind friends. But it's a puzzle of
legitimacy, inheritance, and identity that Oliver's friends must
attempt to unravel before Monks can destroy Oliver. |
| Are you Being Served
(1972-1985) |
At London's Grace Brothers Department Store, Mr. Grainger of
Gents' Ready-Made and his sales staff learn that they must share their
sales floor with Mrs. Slocombe and Miss Brahms of Ladies' Intimate
Apparel. No one is happy with the arrangement at first, but they learn
to make the most of it. |
| The Black Adder
(1983) |
King Richard IV is the insane monarch ruling England during the
really dark part of the Dark Ages. He has two sons: one, Harry, his
elder son and the Prince of Wales. Although highly respected by the
court and overly favored by his father, Harry is rather looney, as
well... and two, Edmund, Duke of Edinburgh, who is loathed by his
family and detested by the court. Despite this, the slimy, cocky,
foolish and sarcastic Edmund, donning a costume and the alias of "The
Black Adder", is out to inherit the throne, assisted by two sidekicks:
Percy, the only nobleman stupid enough to respect him, and Baldrick, a
street-wise peasant with inspired "cunning plans". |
| Yes Minister
(1980-1982) |
James Hacker is the British Minister for
Administrative Affairs. He tries to do something and cut government
waste, but he is continually held back by the smart and wily Permanent
Secretary of the Department, Sir Humphrey Appleby. Private secretary
Bernard Woolley is caught in the middle, between his political master,
and his civil service boss. |
| Mysterious Cities of
Gold (1982) |
The year is 1532. Esteban, a young boy, is told that he was saved
by Mendoza, a navigator on a Spanish ship from a ship wreck in a storm
at sea. The only clue to his identity is a medal that Esteban wears
about his neck. Esteban joins Mendoza on a trip from Spain to the new
world - the Americas - where on route he meets two other children -
Zia - an Inca girl and Tao, the last member of a highly advanced race.
All three are looking for different things - Esteban to find his
father and his identity, Zia for her father and Tao for remains of his
race. The clues for all three quests however all point to the seven
Cities of Gold and so the children, Mendoza, Sancho and Pedro - two
other sailors and friends of Mendoza start searching in a massive
treasure hunt for the Cities Of Gold... |
| It Ain't Half Hot Mum
(1974-1981) |
The comic adventures of a group of misfits who form
an extremely bad concert party touring the hot and steamy jungles of
Burma entertaining the troops during World War II. |
| Fawlty Towers
(1975-1979) |
Inept and manic English hotel owner and manager, Basil Fawlty,
isn't cut out for his job. He's intolerant, rude and paranoid. All
hell frequently breaks loose as Basil tries to run the hotel,
constantly under verbal (and sometime physical) attack from his
unhelpful wife Sybil, and hindered by the incompetent, but easy
target, Manuel; their Spanish waiter. |
| Dad's Army
(1968-1977) |
Popular BBC comedy series set in the fictional
south coast seaside town of Walmington-On-Sea during World War 2.
Alternating moments of gentle character comedy with broad slapstick,
it recounts the misadventures of the local voluntary defence force (or
'Home Guard') consisting of men too old or 'unfit' for military
service. They are led by the pompous Mainwaring, manager of the local
bank, and consist of the suave, mild-mannered Sergeant Wilson ,
Lance-Corporal Jones, the town's butcher and an old soldier prone to
hysteria, cockney spiv Walker, dour Scots undertaker Frazer, gentle,
elderly and incontinent Godfrey and dim-witted mummy's boy, Pike,
whose mother is 'friendly' with Wilson. They are based in the Church
hall where there is much friction between Mainwaring, the effeminate
Vicar, his creeping Verger and ARP Warden Hodges (the grocer) who
calls Mainwaring 'Napoleon' and strongly dislikes him. The 80 episodes
(the last 68 made in colour) have been frequently repeated, many are
available on video and there was a 1971 Cinema version. A British
institution, familiar to most people throughout the country. |
| Star Trek
(1966-1969) |
The adventures of the U.S.S. Enterprise, representing the United
Federation of Planets on a five-year mission in outer space to explore
new worlds, seek new life and new civilizations, and to boldly go
where no man has gone before. The Enterprise is commanded by handsome
and brash Captain James T. Kirk. His First Officer and best friend is
Mr. Spock from the planet Vulcan, and Kirk's Medical Officer is Dr.
McCoy. With its crew of approximately 430, the Enterprise battles
aliens, megalomanical computers, time paradoxes, psychotic murderers,
and even Genghis Khan! |
| The Pink Panther Show
(1969) |
The Pink Panther is an heroic, moral cartoon cat with pink fur and
the manners of an English aristocrat. He only becomes flustered or
angry at obtuse or offensive humans who try to disrupt his existence,
or at troublesome gadgets, rodents, or insects. In most of his
cartoons, he stumbles into a difficult situation and stoically
endeavors to make the best of it. Episodes of this series feature
three theatrical cartoons, two with the Pink Panther, and one
featuring the Inspector, a cartoon version of the accident-prone,
bumbling French detective, Inspector Clouseau, played in movies by
Peter Sellers. The Inspector is often assisted by a Spanish gendarme,
Sergeant Deux-Deux, and together they fallibly battle villains of all
shapes and sizes in various parts of the world, always on the orders
of the long-suffering Surete Commissioner. |
| Frankenstein Jr & The
Impossibles (1966-1968) |
Two cartoons packed into one half hour. Frankenstein Jr. was a
robot constructed by a boy-genius to fight crime, The Impossibles were
undercover agents disguised as a rock group. |
| Tom & Jerry |
The world-famous theatrical cartoons. |
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