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"Sabrina" Saluted, "Buffy" Staked! (Aug 26, 2002)So says the Parents Television Council this past week as this conservative TV watchdog group has deemed UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer an immoral, violent lust-a-thon, declaring it the "worst" show in its annual round-up of network TV's "best" and "worst" primetime shows.The Sarah Michelle Gellar-fronted drama about a demon-fighting super-chick "became more graphic in their depictions of violence and sex from last year." Sure, people think Sarah is cute, but in real life, Sarah is overrated and just plain uncute. The group reserved its highest praise for "Doc", a little-watched PAX TV drama starring "Achy Breaky" singer Billy Ray Cyrus as a country doctor living in the big city. The show was cited for its "uplifting and inspirational themes." Also getting smacked is CBS's hit CSI: Crime Scene Investigation for graphic depictions of not-so-saccharine themes like incest and sadomasochism. I just don't see a damn reason why this needs to be on television! Some other boos went to the low-rated WB sitcom "Off Centre" for discussing three-way sex and gay porn, and to NBC's "Will & Grace" and "Friends" for filling the airways with the lewd and amoral promotion of promiscuous lifestyles, masturbation and oral sex. This is network television gone to the dumps, in fact, I'm revising my "Worst 50" list to include "Friends", "Will & Grace", and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" from last week. Two reality shows in the Top 10 also got sacked for adult subject matters, aside of being complete wastes of time. The group actually applauded the nets for an overall increase in family friendly programming, and welcomed the messages found in six new shows from last season, including The Bernie Mac Show, Reba and Smallville. "Not only did many new shows make our Top 10 'best,' the networks saw fit to renew much of this programming for the fall season," Parents Television Council president L. Brent Bozell said in a statement. "It appears that the networks are finally starting to listen to the collective voice of parents who want to sit down with their children and enjoy high quality, family-friendly programming in primetime." The WB dominated the "best" list with four picks. One pick I didn't get was their inclusion of "Touched By An Angel" when it had a violent episode during the season that should have had it knock off the list. Here's the complete rundown of the so-called "best" shows, per the council:
1. Doc (PAX)
2. Touched by an Angel (CBS)
3. Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (WB)
4. 7th Heaven (WB)
5. Baby Bob (CBS)
6. Smallville (WB)
7. Reba (WB)
8. The Ponderosa (PAX)
9. The George Lopez Show (ABC)
10. The Bernie Mac Show (Fox)
And here's the so-called 10 "worst" shows reputedly rife with "deplorable content:"
1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (UPN)
2. Off Centre (WB)
3. Will & Grace (NBC)
4. Friends (NBC)
5. WWE Smackdown! (UPN)
6. Big Brother II (CBS)
7. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS)
8. Temptation Island II (Fox)
9. That '70s Show (Fox)
10. Boston Public (Fox)
Review: 2001-02 DTV RatingsHow did the shows ranked by DTV do on the PTC list? Here's the list so you can compare! On this list, very few shows would make their list. This is based on personal taste only.RANK POINTS WEEKS AVRG NET SHOW ---- ------ ----- ---- --- ---- 1 169 21 7.35 FOX Simpsons (FAMILY) 2 155 22 7.05 WBN Sabrina the Teenage Witch (#3 best) (FAMILY) 3 142 21 6.76 NBC NBC's Saturday Night Live 4 151 27 5.59 ABC The Drew Carey Show 5 113 23 4.91 FOX King of The Hill (FAMILY) 6 67 14 4.79 FOX Futurama (FAMILY) 7 102 23 4.43 FOX Malcolm in the Middle (FAMILY) 8 115 27 4.26 FOX That 70's Show (#9 worst) 9 92 23 4.00 ABC Spin City 10 52 13 4.00 ABC The Job 11 43 11 3.91 COM South Park 12 67 25 2.68 FOX Bernie Mac (#10 best) (FAMILY) 13 26 12 2.17 FOX Mad TV (UNWATCHABLE!) 14 24 12 2.00 FOX Titus 15 19 10 1.90 NBC Watching Ellie (FAMILY) 16 39 21 1.86 WBN Charmed 17 27 18 1.50 WBN Maybe It's Me (FAMILY) 18 24 16 1.50 FOX Family Guy (UNWATCHABLE!) 19 23 17 1.35 CBS Touched By an Angel (#2 best) (UNWATCHABLE!) ONE SHOTTERS (less than 10 shows or not seen regularilly) 39 7 5.57 Greg The Bunny (UNWATCHABLE!) 5 1 5.00 Will and Grace (#3 worst) (UNWATCHABLE!) 20 8 2.50 Reba (#7 best) (FAMILY) 2 1 2.00 Just Shoot Me (UNWATCHABLE!) 9 5 1.80 According to Jim (FAMILY) (UNWATCHABLE!) 6 4 1.50 Wayne Brady Show (FAMILY) 4 3 1.33 Bob Patterson 3 3 1.00 Colin Quinn Show 1 1 1.00 Boston Public (#10 worst) (UNWATCHABLE!) 4 5 0.80 Nikki 4 8 0.50 My Wife and Kids (FAMILY) 0 9 0.00 That 80's Show (UNWATCHABLE!) 0 8 0.00 Grounded For Life (UNWATCHABLE!) 0 2 0.00 Friends (#4 worst) (UNWATCHABLE!) 0 1 0.00 Undeclared (UNWATCHABLE!) 0 1 0.00 Three Sisters (UNWATCHABLE!) 0 2 0.00 Wednesday 9:30 (UNWATCHABLE!) 0 1 0.00 Raising Dad (UNWATCHABLE!) 0 1 0.00 Dharma and Greg (UNWATCHABLE!) 0 1 0.00 Andy Richter Controls The Universe (UNWATCHABLE!) 0 1 0.00 The Osbournes (UNWATCHABLE!) 0 1 0.00 Ally McBeal (UNWATCHABLE!) Season 2002-03 PreviewWhat is D.T. watching this season? Now that he is in his sunset days of watching network television (yup, he's dying like everybody else), here is what is left of network television for D.T. to watch for the upcoming season.SAT 11:30pm NBC Saturday Night Live SUN 7:00pm FOX Futurama (final season) SUN 8:00pm WBN Charmed (final season?) SUN 8:00pm FOX The Simpsons SUN 8:30pm FOX King of The Hill (final season?) SUN 9:00pm FOX Malcolm in the Middle MON 6:00pm ABC Monday Night Football MON 10:00pm 10 Drew Carey Show (final season?) MON 10:30pm 10 Whose Line Is It Anyway (final season?) TUE NOTHING WED 10:00pm COM South Park THU NOTHING FRI 8:30pm WBN Sabrina (final season)It's slim pickin's time at network television. For the first time in memory, I'm not watching any prime-time television on FOUR nights a week...and it's bound to get worse next season. A lot of shows I watched that are renewed are simply no better than watching reruns of The Brady Bunch as a guide to television; if it's worse than The Brady Scale, then it's unwatchable, else, it is. You can see the DTV list for shows that I watched but did poorly. I tried to like "Friends" but I found the show as unwatchable as "Sex in the City". All that sex talk is just sex talk, what a bore! Those shows are completely overrated beyond the suck factor. "That 70's Show" is a strikeout after four seasons with me; it's just not getting any better, just worse. I quit! I might watch "Bernie Mac" but I guess I'm getting tired of sitcoms. "MAD TV" is worse than any of the three years the lame "Fridays" was on the early 80's on ABC. The only reason I'm watching "Charmed" is because I'm a fan of Alyssa Milano; she deserves better writing than this. Hopefully, by the time the analog TV signals are cut, I'll be out of shows to watch if the Simpsons cease production and their last shows air by then in 2006. I'll see you on the Spanish flip side in 2007 after that! The Best Short-Lived SeriesQuark, Roc, Grosse Pointe, Oh Madeline!, The Critic, George Carlin Show, Bosom Buddies, Gary Shandling Show (at least on Fox), Hudson Brothers Show, The Associates, When Things Were Rotten, Best of the West, Jeff Foxworthy Show, Sydney, Buffalo Bill, Eerie Indiana, Get a Life, Herman's Head, Fawlty Towers, The Jetsons.The Best Shows I Ever Watched (or parts of series)50's and 60's
70's
80's
90's and 100's
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