tek's tv shows index page

Item One: Tiers & categories.
I've decided to use a tiered system for each category, though there are some categories which are not tiered, and some categories may skip tiers if I can't think of any shows that fit each tier's definition. The tiers are not necessarily about my estimation of the quality of a show-- in large part they are, but other important factors include how much I just plain enjoy(ed) them and how well I remember them, etc. (You can be sure that if I chose to give shows grades, they would, in many cases, differ slightly- or wildly- from my tier choice.) If you don't find a show you're looking for in the category you think it should be in, don't worry, it might still be in a different category somewhere. Also, I may occasionally move a show from one tier to another, or even from one category to another, if I decide to reconsider my opinions and/or the structure of this project, from time to time.

Item 1a.: Tier Definitions.
Level One: Loved
Tier 1 will be my "favorite" shows in each category, which may generally be interpreted as "loved" shows. (Which is not to say I necessarily don't also love some things on lower, "liked" or "well-liked" tiers, which pretty much makes this whole tier system a bit... odd, hard to understand, virtually meaningless, or whatever....)

Level Two: Well-Liked
Tier 2 will be my "very well-liked" shows.
Tier 3 will be my "middlin' well-liked" shows.
Tier 4 will be my "fairly well-liked" shows.
Note: the titles of tiers 3 and 4 are based on the expression "fair to middling," however, in the expression, "fair" is superior to "middling." In my mind, however, the qualities of the terms are reversed. I apologize for any confusion, and ask you to please just go with it....

Level Three: Liked (but not well-liked)
Tier 5 will be my "quite liked" shows.
Tier 6 will be my "rather liked" shows.
Tier 7 will be my "liked" shows.
Tier 8 will be my "kinda liked" shows.

Level Four: Meh.
Tier X will be shows I don't want to put in the regular tier system, for various reasons.

Please note: There may be shows I've either forgotten to include, or just haven't gotten around to making entries for yet. But I'm trying to be as completist as possible about this whole project. I do want to try to mention pretty much everything I can recall having ever seen even a bit of.

Also, don't underestimate how much I enjoy a show just because it's on a low tier. While tiers 2-4 may vary by degree, they're all definitely well-liked, okay? And tiers 5-8 are all liked. It's important to me that you understand all this. None of the shows listed here are necessarily bad, at all (though they can be, but of course that's entirely subjective), but please remember that tiers 1-5, at least, are certainly all good, IMHO.

Also note that while some shows are very easy for me to place, others cause me a great deal of stress, and I'm never entirely satisfied with my choice of tier. And I have even altered tier definitions several times, to try and compensate for this problem, but I don't suppose it'll ever help completely. I still can't always fully correlate my tier definitions with my feelings about every show, or compare how I feel about one show to another, to figure out whether I'm comfortable having them on the same tier, even if I am somehow comfortable with each of them individually meeting that tier's definition... The lines between tiers is often quite thin, in my mind, some more than others. Especially between levels (tiers 1 and 2, 4 and 5). And heck, I changed tier 7 from "kinda liked" to "liked," just because I wasn't comfortable not having a tier between "rather liked" and "kinda liked."

*sigh* I just have trouble gauging to precisely what degree I like some shows. And it drives me nuts that something like this, something so trivial and subjective, even sort of arbitrary, can drive me so nuts. So there, I get driven nuts twice by the same thing. Is it any wonder I'm so crazy?

Item 1b.: Genres.
I won't always be entirely happy about all of my categories here, but I'll do my best. As I said before, I may move things between categories sometimes. Probably make up new categories, get rid of old ones, whatever. Anime & animation: see Item 1c. Comedy basically refers to sitcoms, which is pretty much self-explanatory. Though it's possible there are some comedies here I wouldn't like to call "sitcoms," as the term seems too narrow and possibly somewhat degrading. Detective dramas is pretty self explanatory, I hope, though it doesn't include police detectives. Drama & dramedy isn't something with which I'm entirely comfortable, in part because it can sometimes be difficult for me to see a clear difference between the two... and yet, there is one, and it may be important. Though I do think dramedies may include both hourlong and half-hour shows. In any event, I think the category is too broad, and I'll be trying to break it up into more specific genres. Fantasy is something I may need to rethink, alot of stuff could go in sci-fi or supernatural & paranormal, etc. Eventually I may whittle it down to mostly swords & sorcery type stuff, and little else. We'll see... Mysterious is one of the harder categories to define, and may include elements of other categories. In fact this is not really a genre at all. It basically has to do with mysteries, but these may come in different forms, such as detective dramas like "Veronica Mars," soapish dramedies like "Desperate Housewives," or fantasy shows like "Lost." The most important element of this category is that the show be more serial than episodic in nature, and that there be some extended mystery in a story-arc that lasts throughout the series, or at least a season. Police/legal dramas is fairly self-explanatory. Quirky shows will be... I dunno, whatever I feel like calling quirky, I guess. Probably mostly dramedies, we'll see. Should also include some comedies. Science fiction should be fairly straightforward, though there still might be some shows I'm unsure about. Supernatural & paranormal may have some stuff that could seem to fit under sci-fi, fantasy, weird, or possibly other genres. The basic criterion for putting a show in this category is that it has as a central element something which is outside the bounds of everyday life (monsters, psychic powers, etc.), but which is set presumably in an otherwise normal world. I guess. Though some worlds may obviously be realer than others... Miscellaneous: these categories don't presently have tiers, but I may very well be moving some of them to the tier system eventually.

Item 1c.: Anime & Cartoons (animation).
Most of my categories here are specific genres, or at least I try to make them so. However, I'm generally against considering animation a genre unto itself, cuz it just ain't so. Cartoons and anime can be made for any age group, they can be dramatic or comical, they can fit into any live-action genre you care to name. So why put them in their own categories, instead of spreading specific animated shows amongst the other categories based on genre? I dunno. Maybe just cuz I like them so much. I'm afraid I can't think of anything else to tell you.

Item 1c. II: Anime vs. Cartoons?
Anime is from Japan, right? Well, that's what the purist in me says. But what if it's made in a nearby Asian country like Korea? And what about someplace like France, where "anime" is simply a French word meaning "animation"? What about French anime which is in the style of Japanese anime? What about similar cartoons made in Italy? What about cartoons made in America, which are inspired by anime? Where is the bloody line? What, exactly, is and is not anime? My answer: I haven't the foggiest. But for the purposes of these pages, anything I don't know to have definitely come from Japan will go on the cartoon pages, even if it might actually be anime. Maybe. But some things I think are from Japan might not be, or I might go against this rule on a case by case basis, I don't really know. Hope you've had fun reading this pointless paragraph, kids.

Item Two: Links
I try to always provide links to entries for each series on The Internet Movie Database (IMDb), TV.com, and Wikipedia, whenever possible. They're all valuable resources, so please avail yourselves of them. Just take anything they say with a grain of salt, because these sites rely to a great extent upon input from random people on the internet who submit info. I will also try to include links to official and/or network websites, and perhaps occasionally a favored fansite or other reference sites, for each show. Even official sites, however, are not infallible, and may occasionally unwittingly include misinformation (but my own reviews may do so, as well, I suppose). And network sites may disappear after a show is cancelled. Oh, I should probably also mention that sometimes I call official websites by the name of the studio or distribution company or whatever, if I'm pretty sure which one hosts the site; while other times I just say "official website," if I'm not sure or if for some reason I don't think it's important or if like... I dunno, it just feels more "official" to me, for whatever reason...

Some of the other reference sites I may provide links to for some shows may include Retro Junk for alot of old shows, Absolute Anime, Anime Galleries, and Anime News Network (ANN) for anime shows, and Toonarific mostly for cartoons, a little live-action stuff (involving puppets or whatever), and maybe a very little bit of anime (though I'd generally rather not). Oh, and occasionally I might do a link to The Big Cartoon DataBase (BCDB) for some cartoons, but probably only if I can't find many other links for some really obscure cartoon.

Item 2a.: FilmSpot
TV Tome (now TV.com) eventually launched a sequel site, Movie Tome, which later became FilmSpot. I may use it in this section for some TV movies or miniseries which aren't listed on TV.com. For now I think I have old links to Movie Tome, I may need to change them or just get rid of the links altogether, though some may even turn out to be on TV.com now....

Item 2b.: Additional links
I'm afraid it would be a bit awkward to list every single possible link related to some shows in each show's entry. You'll notice, for example, that I said favored fansites... but there may be plenty of other fansites I don't list in these pages, which may actually be quite useful. So, if you're looking for other sites, you might also check some of my links pages: TV links, anime links, cartoon links, and fantasy & science fiction shows links.

Item Three: Apologies & explanations.
Believe me, there are a great many things about this whole project for which I feel the need to apologize. I think I've already done a fair bit of that in Item One. Now let's get to a few other specifics:

Item 3a.: I suck.
Yeah, I'm no good at writing reviews, though some are certainly better than others. Sometimes I do little more than describe the show, which isn't really the same as reviewing it. Other times I might forget to describe it, and just give a brief note of what I think of the show... or else just say that I watched it, but can't think of anything to say about it. The most useful thing you're likely to find here is which tier I put things on, and as I've said, I'm rarely even sure about that. So, y'know...

Item 3b.: Opinions.
Of course, my placement of these shows, and anything I have to say about them, is merely my opinion. You all are completely entitled to your own opinions, which in fact I actually hope will often differ from mine, so that they come closer to matching a show's objective quality than my opinions sometimes do. You may completely disagree with some of what I have to say here. I don't mind, and I hope you won't mind, either.

Item 3c.: Memory.
Also I should mention that I've noticed that often, the longer it's been since I've seen a show, the less likely it is to be on a high tier, even if I quite enjoyed it when it was originally on. This is probably because the younger I was, the less my long-term memory had developed. Of course, on the other hand, I also have trouble clearly remembering some fairly recent shows which I've quite enjoyed. But hey, I've always said I have the memory of a particularly forgetful rutabega...

Item 3d.: Content.
These pages will include all manners of TV shows, specials, miniseries, and TV movies. For theatrical and direct-to-video releases, please see my movie reference pages. I may sometimes be mistaken about where to put a film, but I'll do the best I can. And then there's the question of OVAs (Original Video Animations). Some of them I'll put in the TV section and some in the movie section. I may not even always know if an anime was originally made for TV, theaters, or video. The most important thing is whether it's in series format or movie format, but most anything I see, I'll see on TV anyway. So I may get things wrong sometimes, but as I say, I'll do my best. It's just that it's generally more a bit more complicated a decision with OVAs than other types of direct-to-video.

Item 3e: Networks
Next to the title of any given show, I will try to list the network or networks on which it originally aired first-run episodes (in the US). For this I mostly rely on my own memory. Some sites out there to which I link as references may list networks that air reruns, or may even be mistaken about which network it originally aired on. At the same time, my own memory is quite likely to be faulty. I often fail to mention a network at all, if I'm not sure of it, but sometimes I'll be sure. That doesn't mean I'm necessarily right... Of course, another consideration is that when I was a kid, I only got 3 channels, and mostly only watched one of them. And while it was mainly CBS, it's always been awfully patchwork, so to speak, so I might've seen stuff on it and just assumed they were CBS shows, when I was younger. Also, for shows which originally aired in other countries, I may try to list its original network, but sometimes I'll just list its original country.

Item 3f.: Time slots
For series currently airing new episodes, I generally try to list the time slot of the new episodes in the title line of each entry, but sometimes I just don't because I'm not sure, or for whatever reason. For series airing in reruns, I try to list the time slot in the first line after the links line, just before my description of the show. Sometimes I don't do this because I'm not sure, or because it airs in lots of different time slots, or for whatever reason. Another problem is the networks may often change time slots for shows they air, or they may stop airing shows, whether permanently or just for a while. If it's a show I care about much at all, I'll usually try to update my pages to reflect any such schedule changes, but it can sometimes be hard to keep on top of, so my entries may or may not be entirely up-to-date in that regard. All times are Eastern. Check local listings.

Item 3g.: Spoilers
At the top of every page, I caution that the page contains "spoilers" or "potential spoilers" (or possibly even "major spoilers"). Of course, a great deal of my entries don't have any real spoilers, either because I can't think of much of anything specific to say about the show, or spoilers just seem unnecessary, or else... well, I can intentionally avoid spoilers. However, some shows... are just so complicated, as I see it, that it's sort of all or nothing. It's like, I just don't know how to talk about the show at all without saying too much... or not enough. And usually this means that I think the show deserves to be described as well as possible. Saying "not enough" just isn't an option, because it wouldn't do the show justice. So, such entries become more sort of guides than just overviews or whatever. Not full episode guides, but still somewhat comprehensive story guides. These entries sometimes become so long that I give them their own pages, with rather brief and entirely inadequate descriptions on a main category tier page, along with a link to the in depth entry. Read all entries at your own risk, but especially these longer ones.

Item Four: The royal "we."
I should say that I sometimes attempt to convey that I find some of the actresses or characters (including animated ones) in these shows attractive by saying that I "like them." But I generally use the royal "we" instead of "I," for no apparent reason, other perhaps than that I sometimes might like it to be clear that I am far from alone in liking them. Not that I'd be alone in it if I ever say "I" instead of "we," but... y'know. Anyway, if I ever say "I" like someone instead of "we," then it probably won't be about any kind of attraction, just... y'know, liking. As a person, or whatever.

Item 4a.: Disturbing myself.
Listen... I think saying "we" just sort of comforts me, in dealing with an uncomfortable situation. I'm so not about judging shows or anything else based on finding girls attractive. In fact it's been known to turn me off a show. I'm not comfortable with attraction in general, so I guess I like to distance myself from it a little, without simply not mentioning that the attraction is there. Okay? Now, all that is bad enough, but what's worse is that sometimes I find myself vaguely attracted to a character that I don't think I should be. Perhaps they're a bit too young, or perhaps it's an animated character that's somewhat crudely or unrealistically drawn (and possibly too young, as well). Whatever... it can disturb me even more than attraction to characters (live or animated) that I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with being attracted to. But even if I feel weird about mentioning liking certain characters, even vaguely, I might somehow feel even weirder about not mentioning it. ...Of course, mere attraction never means I have any interest in actually doing anything with anyone, real or animated.... Sorry to ramble on, and to disturb you... But if you're interested, maybe you could read more of my thoughts on attraction. Or not.