UPDATE: TEN GREATEST TV SHOWS OF ALL-TIME POLL! OVER 2,500 HITS LAST MONTH, AND ONLY ONE PERSON PARTICIPATED?!

 

With the Primetime Emmy Awards fast approaching, as is TV Premiere Week, shortly after that, I thought that this would be a good time to update people on the progress of attempts to coordinate a "Sight & Sound"-type poll of the "Ten Greatest TV Shows of All-Time". Many will recall, I've already posted on this issue twice. After my first update, I was proud to announce that I had gotten, two people, other than myself to participate. Since that latest update, where I listed all the participants lists, I have gotten a grand total of (Drumroll please!) one, more person. Seriously, two blog updates, and 3 people have chosen to participate. This isn't going off to the start that I had envisioned. Maybe I need to set my goals a little higher; it's not like I got that many readers. Except, my readership is continuously growing. Last month, this blog got over 2,600 Hits, the highest ever, and, it was the first time the blog got over 2,500 in a month, and it was quite an achievement. This time last year, I had less than a fifth of that. I couldn't be happier, but at the same token, the other reason I started this poll was so that I would get more of my readers commenting on my blog. While I was happy about my readers, nobody ever commented on this blog, and therefore, I didn't know why they were reading, or what they thought of my work. Did they like it, did they hate it? Do people think I'm a highly-intellectual critic and commentator who's opinion's exhibit a high understanding of film and television while presenting a different and unique voice that deserved to be expressed to the masses, in and out of the entertainment arena, or do think I'm just some bozo with no life and time on his hand, who insists on putting every chicken-scratched half-thought about all the movies and TV he watched on the internet, hoping his sad little life would henceforth have meaning? (Or somewhere in between?) Without any feedback other than the statistics of my blog hits, I really couldn't tell. I was ecstatic a few weeks ago, when someone posted a negative comment on my Canon of Film blog for Robert Altman's "3 Women"! So maybe I aimed a little too low. Asking for people to comment and leave their own opinions on an issue, just so I know for a fact that people are reading me? And I didn't even get much of that.

Well, despite that lackluster response to my attempts to conduct this poll, I've decided to continue on, and continue asking for you, the readers to participate. One response, is in fact, a response, so that is something. Besides, I do believe that a poll like this needs to, and should be conducted, and I still believe people must have opinions they'd like to express and be counted in such a poll, so why not? So, I'm gonna set a goal. I will continue to poll people on this issue, until I have, 100 participants. It's not a lot. I'd prefer there be more, quite frankly. Especially with such a wide subject like TV, but since, I'm at 4, and I've been at this a month, I don't think it's so big that I'll never achieve, and it's just big enough that it would be a sizable accomplishment to achieve it.  100 people, being polled, as we determine the "TEN GREATEST TV SHOWS OF ALL-TIME", that is the goal.

Now, what I will do, is begin contacting people personally, like fellow entertainment bloggers and experts in the field, and ask for them to participate personally. I've gotten one response by doing that so far. Now, I don't think I'll have a lot of success doing this, but hopefully, I'll have some, and it would add to the credibility if the poll. However, I still would gladly accept ballots from everybody, and all readers. This should be extensive.

I also want to point out that nearly half of all my hits in the last month, came from the United Kingdom. I don't know why, but thanks, and you guys are certainly allowed to participate as well. In fact I strongly encourage it. British television is generally very good to begin with, and you guys get a great amount of the best of American TV as well. Hell, half of good American TV, actually started as British TV. The #2 show on my list, "All in the Family," for example, was actually a loose remake of the British series "'Til Death Do Us Part", and I actually came very close to putting the British sitcom, "Coupling" on my list. I think that show was as great a piece of art in the sex farce genre as anything, short of Shakespeare. And there's dozens of other great British shows, and there's problem go TV shows, from all around the world, why not put them in. There's no standard of country for Sight & Sound's I guess there shouldn't be one for mine.

So please, enter your own lists, everybody, everywhere. As I've mentioned before, there are only two rules regarding this list. Rule #1, is that, you can literally pick anything, as long as it was originally on TV. Any genre, any show, from "Good Morning, America" to "Sabado Gigante". As long as it originated as a TV broadcast, you can select it, be it a sitcom, drama, game show, TV movie, miniseries, daytime soap opera, talk show, variety show, reality show, children's show, eh.... insert your own genres here. That's rule #1. Rule #2, You have to pick 10, and only 10. You can't pick 11, you can't pick 9. You have to pick 10. Now,  we're trying to make a list of the "Greatest" TV shows, and I do want to stress that part. You can pick all your personal favorite shows if you want, that's fine, but I want to emphasize greatest, especially since I will be posting, all the lists that arrive. (This isn't a secret ballot guys) So, if want to put "The Jerry Springer Show," on the list, go right ahead, but you might want to have a good argument prepared, or be really good and throwing a chair at somebody. (I'm kidding, don't ever actually throw chairs at people, unless you're on "The Jerry Springer Show". Although I'd love to at least once, see it on "Dr. Phil". [But don't do it just because I recommended it])

So, I'm going to be writing e-mails and contacting people to participate when I can, but while I'm doing that, you guys participate and write out your ballot of the Ten Greatest TV Shows of All-Time, and convince others to come here and participate! I'd prefer that you leave the list on the Comment Section of my blog, but if you can't do that, contact me through my Facebook page, or on my Twitter profile. I tried starting a hashtag before, #TENGREATESTTVSHOWS, but nobody ever did that. I'll keep checking it, but my twitter is @DavidBaruffi_EV, right that out as you tweet your list, or you can Direct Message me on Twitter. Maybe. I think so. You might have to follow me, I'm not sure how that works, but however you can contact me, and send me your compiled list, send it.

Oh, I almost forgot, the one person who did send me their ballot, my friend and fellow-blogger Jennifer Meacham of "Jenn, the Ramblin' Reviewer". Thank you Jenn. Here's here ballot.

JENNIFER MEACHAM (www.theramblinreviewer.blogspot.com)
1. Supernatural ('05, drama series)*
2. NCIS
3. Chuck
4. Gilmore Girls
5. Dark Angel
6. Lost ('04)*
7. Invader Zim
8. The Big Bang Theory
9. Angel ('99)*
10. Mork & Mindy

As you can see, she came up with an interesting and unusual list, to say the least. It's the first time somebody mentioned a TV show I never heard of before. I looked it up and asked around, but apparently I completely missed "Invader Zim" when it was on Nickelodeon, and everyone I asked seemed to know it and liked it, and some of them even had t-shirts,...-. Maybe I didn't have cable at that time, or something, but (whoosh) right over my head.

I've known everything else so far, and interesting, out of the four ballots, still, only two shows have been mentioned twice. So, in our search to compose a Top Ten list, we have "M*A*S*H", number 1, holding a tie-breaker over #2 "The West Wing" due to rankings, and 38 other shows tied for third. Ye-ah, I'm gonna need more people to participate. I'm not gonna keep re-posting every list every time I update, but you can check out my ballot, and the others on my earlier blog posts. Agree/disagree, well, fill out your own ballot, and make sure your shows get counted!

*=Need to confirm entry due to multiple TV shows with the same title, but used my best guesstimate to presume which series the voter meant. Subject to change.