Don't whaste your time watching TV
Optimize your time by following James's list of best programming. After many hours of exhaustive research on my couch, I have compiled this list of programs, nicely categorized for your convenience. To use, simply print out, tape to your TV, and watch your local listings.
Best TV Comedies (USA)
Seinfeld
All In The Family
The Honeymooners
Three's Company
Hogan’s Heroes
Star Trek (the original series)
James Tiberius Kirk.
The one where beatniks take over the enterprise.
Bugs Bunny
Dexter’s Lab
Tom & Jerry
Young Indiana Jones
Dr. Who
Benny Hill
The Young Ones
Monty Python
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Tom Baker
King Kong vs. Godzilla
Gamera
The Mach 5
Ford GT-40
The Deer Hunter
Apocalypse Now
Das Boot
Dawn Patrol
All Quiet on the Western Front
Patton
Stripes
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Airplane
The Naked Gun
Father of the Bride
M*A*S*H
The Producers
Sleeper
The Graduate
Harold and Maude
A Christmas Story
The Empire Strikes Back
2001: A Space Odyssey
Star Wars
Forbidden Planet
War of the Worlds
Planet of the Apes (the original, of course)
When Worlds Collide
The Terminator
King Kong
Jason and the Argonauts (Harryhausen)
The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
The Thief of Baghdad
Dragonslayer
Excalibur
Highlander
It’s a Wonderful Life
Miracle on 34th Street
The Bluebird
Superman, the Movie
#1. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick)
An American Werewolf in London
The Mummy (Boris Karloff)
Abbot & Costello meet Frankenstein
The Sixth Sense
The Omen
The Birds
Halloween
The Big Sleep
The Maltese Falcon
The Naked Prey
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Deliverance
The Mummy (Brendan Fraser)
Octopussy
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
Moonraker
From Russia with Love
You Only Live Twice
The Living Daylights
The Man with the Golden Gun
Pierce Brosnan II (the one with Teri Hatcher)
Timothy Dalton – truest to Ian Fleming.
Sean Connery – best swagger.
Roger Moore – best ironic wit.
Pierce Brosnan – he’s too skinny for Bond, who is supposed to be tough.
Rocky
Breaking Away
Pride of the Yankees
A Little Romance
When Harry Met Sally
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Dr. Zhivago
Gone with the Wind
Cape Fear (Robert Mitchum)
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Yearling
A Streetcar Named Desire (Brando)
Gentleman’s Agreement
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
The Shootist
Dances with Wolves
Unforgiven
An American in Paris
The Sound of Music
Singin in the Rain
Grease
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Beauty and the Beast (Disney)
Scrooge
Saturday Night Fever
Fiddler on the Roof
The Muppet Movie
Jesus Christ, Superstar
The Wizard of Oz
Willie Wonka and the Chocalate Factory
Nightmare Before Christmas
On The Town
Greystoke, The Legend of Tarzan
The Right Stuff
Dead Poet’s Society
South Park
My Blue Heaven
Ghostbusters
The Flash Gordon serials
River’s Edge
Stand by Me (River Phoenix)
Peggy Sue got Married
Smokey and the Bandit
West Side Story
The Time Machine (Rod Taylor)
Evil Dead II
Abbot & Costello meet the Mummy
Buck Privates
Moby Dick
Shane
The Bad News Bears
Apollo 13
Ben Hur
Spartacus
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Mary Poppins
The Love Bug
The Little Rascals/Our Gang
Pumpkinhead
Halloween III
Scanners
The French Connection
The Matrix
Total Recall
Alien
The Thing
The First Men in the Moon
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Fantastic Voyage
Twelve Monkeys
A Clockwork Orange
Mars Attacks
Here Comes Mr. Jordan
Little Princess (Shirley Temple)
Interview with the Vampire
Lake Placid (A four star horror/comedy which routinely gets one.)
Uncle Buck (John Candy. Very funny and truthful.)
V. I. Warshawski (Kathleen Turner. One star?! Deserves at least 3.)
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (Chevy Chase is everyone’s dad. Expletive tirade is worth the movie.)
Hook (Universally panned, it’s a pretty good movie.)
Big Momma’s House (Martin Lawrence. One star?! Deserves at least 3.)
Blowout (Brian Depalma. John Travolta.)
Night Shift (Michael Keaton. Henry Winkler.)
Time After Time (Malcolm McDowell)
Altered States (Creepy to the bones.)
Manhattan Murder Mystery (Woody Allen. Diane Keaton.)
The Long Kiss Goodnight (Gina Davis. Samuel L. Jackson.)
Hocus Pocus
Moulin Rouge
Saving Private Ryan
Pearl Harbor
Thelma and Louise
Pocohantas
Eraserhead
Congo
King Kong (1933)