TV Shows That Matter To Me
Because of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and his podcast How Did This Get Made?, I absolutely love Jason Mantzoukas, he is a pure, unadulterated chaos gremlin. So when he appeared on the British show Taskmaster, I knew I had to check it out. I knew very little about the series before jumping into that season (SERIES, JASON), but I was hooked immediately.
The premise of the show is wonderfully simple: five comedians compete in a series of bizarre, open-ended tasks. The tasked are scores on a 5 point scale by the "Taskmaster," Greg Davies. Greg is flanked by his long-suffering assistant, "Little Alex Horne" (who is actually the mastermind who created the show).
The tasks force contestants to think on their feet, something like "Get a potato into this golf hole without stepping on the red putting green." Most of the tasks are tackled individually, leaving contestants completely in the dark about how terribly (or brilliantly) their peers performed until they watch the footage together in front of a live studio audience.
I know my quick explanation doesn't do its chaotic brilliance justice, but I cannot recommend it enough. As an added bonus, every single episode is available for free on YouTube, with new episodes uploaded right after they air in the UK. I basically marathoned the entire series back-to-back, and it has easily become one of my favorite comedy comfort watches.
Scrubs
I am not usually one to rewatch TV shows. With an endless mountain of books, TV shows, movies, and comics on my “to be consumed” list, reinvesting dozens of hours into something I’ve already seen rarely appeals to me.
Scrubs is the absolute exception to that rule. I have rewatched the series more times than I can count.
It is also one of the very few shows that can make me tear up even when I know the exact emotional gut-punch that’s coming. For a comedy that leaned so heavily into surreal daydreams and slapstick, Scrubs never shied away from the brutal, dark realities of working in a hospital. When those tragic turns hit, whether it's Dr. Cox losing his composure or J.D. learning a hard lesson about mortality, they hit hard.
Like the Todd’s... well, never mind. I also loved that by the end of the show, you truly understand what made all the characters tick. Even Dr. Kelso has some truly vulnerable moments. I am still hoping he makes an appearance in the second season of the reboot, even if Ken Jenkins is long retired from acting.
Homicide: Life on the Streets
In a lot of ways, Homicide was my first real favorite "adult" TV show. Having spent every Memorial Day weekend in Baltimore with family friends growing up, I always felt a personal connection to the city. Homicidedealt with deeply disturbing cases, but it always managed to balance the darkness with a sharp gallows humor that made the heavy reality digestible.
The ensemble acting was top-tier across the board, and the guest stars were no exception. I still constantly think about the Season 2 episode "Bop Gun," where Robin Williams plays a tourist whose wife is murdered during a family trip. It was the first time I truly saw the sheer dramatic range Robin Williams possessed. He played that raw, helpless grief with such intensity that it completely changed how I viewed him as an actor.
Star Trek
My wife was actually the person who got me into Star Trek before we even started dating. I noticed she was reading a Star Trek novel by Peter David, who happened to be my favorite comic book writer. When I asked her about it, she gave me another one of his books she thought I might like: Q-Squared. .
Giving Q-Squared to a total newcomer is easily the worst possible entry point to the franchise. It’s a complex, brain-bending story that weaves together three overlapping realities and deep lore connecting The Original Series to The Next Generation. I’m convinced she picked it intentionally so I’d have to keep asking her questions as I read! But I absolutely loved it, and Star Trek quickly became a huge part of my life. .
Over the years, we’ve attended tons of conventions together and walked away with unforgettable stories with the cast. Just off the top of my head.
- Talking to George Takei for twenty minutes about marriage equality.
- Nana Visitor beaming with pure excitement when she found out we named our daughter Kira.
- Getting warm, incredible hugs from Doug Jones.
- Gates McFadden and my wife casually swapping clothing recommendations. I didn’t actually get to meet Gates as I was holding a spot in line to meet Jonathan Frakes. I glanced over at my wife, and see Gates undressing her to look at the name brand on her sweater.
"Mr. Stewart, I saw you in King Richard. At the end of the play, they cut off your head... my question is, how did they reattach it?" .
Patrick Stewart looked completely baffled, and for a split second, gave me a look like I was somehow responsible, before realizing what was happening. A huge smile broke across his face as he exclaimed, "My favorite fool has arrived!" .
One last thing: I might be one of the few Star Trek fans whose favorite Star Trek series is Enterprise. I used to watch it with my mom, and even after I moved out of the house, we’d tune in each week and talk on the phone throughout the episode. That show will always hold a special place in my heart.
The Powerpuff Girls
While I was probably not the target demographic, I had a deep and unironic love for all things Powerpuff Girls in college. The Warner Bros. Studio Store was still a thing at the time, so I amassed a nice little collection of PPG merch, including a pair of socks that I wore constantly to class.
The show was just unapologetically weird, over-the-top, and brilliant. The episode "The Powerpuff Girls' Best Rainy-Day Adventure Ever" is genuinely one of the best things I have ever seen. With the girls stuck inside because of a storm, they spend the day pretending to be the Powerpuff Girls, which includes pretending to fly by running around the house with their arms in the air while making their own little musical accompaniment.
And Mojo Jojo is just about my favorite villain ever... because he is a villain, and he is my favorite, and that is what he is.
I actually hadn’t thought about the show in a while, but one of my favorite scouts was wearing Powerpuff Girls socks at camp today, and it instantly reminded me that this absolute classic needed to be on the list.
Phineas and Ferb
One of the main reasons I love Phineas and Ferb so much is that it completely refuses to glorify jerks. Phineas and Ferb are both genuinely kind, good-natured kids. They aren’t sarcastic, and they aren’t making trouble just to be rebellious, pretty much everything they build or do is centered around helping someone, spreading joy, or creating unforgettable fun for their friends. It would have been so easy for the show to fall into the cynical, snarky tropes that trap a lot of kids’ television, but it always chose optimism instead.
I also love how naturally it treats blended families. Candace treats her stepbrother, Ferb, with the exact same frantic sibling energy as her full brother, Phineas. Their parents make zero distinctions, they are simply one happy, cohesive family. I’ve seen so many comments online from viewers who were genuinely surprised to learn that Phineas and Ferb were stepbrothers because the show never felt the need to make a spectacle of it. It just normalized love and togetherness, and that’s wonderful.
And then, of course, there’s the B-plot: Perry the Platypus living a double life as a secret agent thwarting the increasingly ridiculous, head-scratching schemes of Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz. That storyline alone could easily stand on its own as a brilliant, top-tier cartoon. Between the endless catchy musical numbers, sharp writing, and big heart, it remains a total comfort watch.
DuckTales (2017)
While both iterations of DuckTales are fantastic, the 2017 reboot holds a particularly special place for me. Scrooge McDuck has long been my favorite Disney character, and David Tennant brought such incredible energy, grit, and warmth to the role, breathing completely new life into the iconic billionaire.
The show made so many brilliant creative choices:
- The Triplets: Huey, Dewey, and Louie were finally given distinct personalities, quirks, and designs rather than just being color-coded clones.
- Webby Vanderquack: She was transformed from the traditional "annoying little sister" trope into a vital, highly skilled, and hilarious core member of the team. That dynamic made the series' final reveal regarding her lineage make complete, satisfying sense.
Psych/White Collar
"I’m Shawn Spencer and this is my partner, MC Clap Yo Handz!!"I really loved Monk back in its heyday on the USA Network, so when they announced Psych, it seemed tailor-made for my taste. It delivered everything I hoped for, but it also brought something Monk never quite had: the unmatched, hilarious, and heartwarming partnership between Shawn and Gus. Far more than the "fake psychic detective" gimmick or the hilarious reality that Santa Barbara apparently had an insane murder rate, their core brotherhood is the reason I can rewatch Psych more than almost any other show.
USA Network clearly learned a valuable lesson from that success, because my other favorite show from that era was White Collar. The banter and deep trust between Neal and Peter, and Neal's irreplaceable friendship with Mozzie, were absolutely vital to why that series worked so well.
At this point, we need the fourth Psych movie and that hinted-at White Collar revival right NOW! But above all, they need to keep bringing back those original core casts. At the end of the day, those characters and their real-world chemistry were the secret sauce that made these shows unforgettable.
Leverage
While the writing and acting across the entire run of Leverage are excellent, it earns a spot on my list primarily because of its series finale. "The Long Goodbye Job" is genuinely one of the greatest final episodes in television history. I’ve seen it at least ten times, and it still hits me right in the chest every single time, even though I know every twist, turn, and reveal by heart. The performances, especially Timothy Hutton’s, are dialed up to maximum emotional impact.
That probably why I’ve struggled to get into the revival series, Leverage: Redemption. Trying to carry on the legacy without my two favorite characters,Nate being gone and Hardison only making occasional guest appearances, is just a really hard sell for me. The original team dynamic and that perfect ending were too special to easily replace.