TV Guide Picks The 60 Greatest TV Kids Of All Time

Some of these lists I care more about than others, of course if I didn't care about the subject, I wouldn't take the time to do these posts.  This is one of those lists, that while I'm not sure I particularly like the list they put together, I'm not going to take a lot of time to argue about it either.  Child characters are so hard to judge, especially since there are so many of them.  Hell, there are whole channels devoted to these characters; Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, ABC Family, and various others.  One interesting tidbit about this list, they really didn't include any of the obvious characters from those stations.  So there is no Hannah Montana, Lizzie McGuire, or the annoying twin boys from The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, or any of the group from Pretty Little Liars.  In my opinion, the list is better for it.  

So here is the list TV Guide put together, and my comments will be at the end.  As usual, after the top ten, the rest are listed in alphabetical order.

1.  Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage), The Wonder Years

2.  Alex P. Keaton (Michael J. Fox), Family Ties

3.  Angela Chase (Claire Danes), My So-Called Life

4.  Bart Simpson (Nancy Cartwright), The Simpsons

5.  Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Buffy the Vampire Slayer 

6.  Arnold Jackson (Gary Coleman), Diff'rent Strokes

7.  Darlene Conner (Sara Gilbert), Roseanne

8.  Eric Cartman (Trey Parker), South Park

9.  Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver (Jerry Mathers), Leave It To Beaver

10.  Sam Weir (John Francis Daley), Freaks and Geeks

11.  Wednesday Addams (Lisa Loring), The Addams Family

12.  Kathy Anderson (Lauren Chapin), Father Knows Best

13.  Vinnie Barbarino (John Travolta), Welcome Back, Kotter

14.  George Michael Bluth (Michael Cera), Arrested Development

15.  Marcia Brady (Maureen McCormick), The Brady Bunch

16.  Punky Brewster (Soleil Moon Frye), Punky Brewster

17.  Kelly Bundy (Christina Applegate), Married... With Children 

18.  Chris (Tyler James Williams), Everybody Hates Chris

19.  Barbara Cooper (Valerie Bertinelli), One Day at a Time

20.  Eddie Corbett (Brandon Cruz), The Courtship of Eddie's Father

21.  Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton), Star Trek: The Next Generation

22.  Sally Draper (Kiernana Shipkas), Mad Men
23.  Luke Dumphy (Nolan Gould), Modern Family
24.  Patty Greene (Sarah Jessica Parker), Square Pegs
25.  Stewie Griffin (Seth MacFarlaneZ), Family Guy
26.  Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs), The Walking Dead
27.  Eddie Haskell (Ken Osmond), Leave It To Beaver
28.  Sue Heck (Eden Sher), The Middle
29.  David Hogan (Jason Bateman), Valerie, The Hogan Family
30.  Doogie Howser (Neil Patrick Harris), Doogie Howser, M.D.  

31.  Rudy Huxtable (Keshia Knight Pullman), The Cosby Show
32.  Steven Hyde (Danny Masterson), That '70s Show
33.  Laura Ingalls, (Melissa Gilbert), Little House on the Prairie

34.  Patty Lane (Patty Duke), The Patty Duke Show 
35.  Buddy Lawrence (Kristy McNichol), Family
36.  Parker Lewis (Corin Nemec), Parker Lewis Can't Lose
37.  Webster Long (Emmanuel Lewis), Webster
38.  Malcolm (Frankie Muniz), Malcom in the Middle
39.  Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell), Veronica Mars
40.  Mark McCain (Johnny Crawford), The Rifleman
41.  Samantha Micelli (Alyssa Milano), Who's the Boss? 
42.  Dennis Mitchell (Jay North), Dennis the Menace
43.  Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), Saved by the Bell
44.  Eddie Munster (Butch Patrick), The Munsters
45.  Ricky Nelson (Ricky Nelson), The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
46.  Buffy Patterson-Davis (Anissa Jones), Family Matters
47.  Jo Poiniaczek (Nancy McKeown), The Facts of Life
48.  Blossom Russon (Mayim Bialik), Blossom
49.  Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford), Friday Night Lights 
50.  Mike Seaver (Kirk Cameron), Growing Pains

51.  Will Smith (Will Smith), The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
52.  Meadow Soprano (Jamie-Lyn Sigler), The Sopranos
53.  Arya Stark (Maisie Williams), Game of Thrones 
54.  Justin Suarez (Mark Indelicato), Ugly Betty
55.  Opie Taylor (Ron Howard), The Andy Griffith Show

56.  Corky Thacher (Chris Burke), Life Goes On
57.  Dee Thomas (Danielle Spencer), What's Happening!!

58.  Steve Urkel (Jaleel White), Family Matters
59.  Wallace (Michael B. Jordan), The Wire
60.  Brenda Walsh (Shannen Doherty), Beverly Hills, 90210

So there is their list, and for the most part, it leaves me feeling rather blah.  I think a lot of the characters they picked are pretty predictable.  What's worse in my opinion though, is that most of them are pretty interchangeable.  I'm not sure what makes one character from The Facts of Life, Growing Pains, Family Ties, Diff'rent Strokes, Modern Family, Who's the Boss?, or the various other show with multiple kids, better than another.  Nor am I really clear why so many of these characters came from shows that are almost cookie-cutter copies of each other.  But as I said earlier, at least they didn't pick Hannah Montana for the list.

Obviously there are a ton of shows that didn't make the list, and could have easily supplanted some of these characters off this list.  Bewitched, Lost in Space, Good Times, 227, Eight is Enough, Happy Days, Party of Five, The Waltons, My Two Dads, Voyagers!, The Partridge Family, Flipper, Home Improvement, Fame, and another couple dozen more, all have child characters who are just as deserving of being on the list.

I'm going to be honest with you right now, I love cartoons, always have, always will.  But I really can't stand the few cartoon characters that made the list.  They epitomize everything I dislike in a cartoon.  I would have rather seen characters from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, Josie and the Pussycats, Galaxy High, The Mini Monsters, The Littles, Lazer Tag Academy, Wildfire, or even Dungeons & Dragons.

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention some of the cuter guys that did not make the list for some bizarre reason.  So I have to give shout outs to the guys of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Kyle XY, The Vampire Diaries, The Powers of Matthew Star, Seaquest DSV, and The Hardy Boys.

The last group of characters that weren't really represented on this list, are the ones from TV shows made for kids.  I'm talking about shows like Sesame Street, Kids Incorporated, The Electric Company, Lazy Town, The Power Rangers, The Mickey Mouse Club, and about another couple dozen shows that have captivated young children for years.

I guess I could have listed the characters from the shows I mentioned above, but I think most of you will know who I'm talking about.

And my last comment will be to show a few pictures of characters who really should have been on the list.  I'm not sure how these characters were left off, and I almost think it's criminal that they weren't included.  Two of them are pretty similar, so they may have negated themselves.  Two more of them are from soap operas, but they are characters who have been played by the same actress for years, so we were able to see them grow up on screen.  For the last two picks, one is a commercial success and the other is a group of kids that really can't be separated.

Richie Rich (Sparky Davis), Richie Rich

Ricky Stratton (Ricky Schroder), Silver Spoons

Starr Manning (Kristen Alderson), One Life to Live, General Hospital

Robin Scorpio (Kimberly McCullough), General Hospital

Little Mikey (John Gilchrist) Life cereal commercials

All the kids from Full House

TV Guide Picks The 60 Greatest Sci-Fi Shows Of All Time

I'll be the first one to admit that I'm a nerd when it comes to fantasy/horror shows on TV.  I've been in love with them from the time I started watching TV, and they still make up some of my favorite shows of all time.  When TV Guide set out to list the sixty greatest Sci-Fi shows of all time, they smartly expanded the definition to include fantasy and horror.  I've never been a huge fan of Sci-Fi, so I'm pretty sure this list wouldn't have been that interesting to me, had the three genres not been combined.  For the most part, I think the list makes sense, though, like normal, I think there were some great shows left off the list.  Funny enough, the shows that I think shouldn't have been left off, all tend to be Sci-Fi related.

As is the usual, the Top ten are the top choices, the rest are in alphabetical order.  If I included air dates, it's because two or more shows have the same name, normally a remake of it.

1.  Star Trek/Star Trek: The Next Generation

2.  The Twilight Zone

3.  Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009)

4.  The X-Files

5.  Lost

6.  Doctor Who

7.  Buffy the Vampire Slayer

8.  The Walking Dead

9.  The Prisoner

10.  Game of Thrones

11.  Adventures of Superman

12.  Amazing Stories

13.  Angel

14.  The Avengers

15.  Babylon 5

16.  Batman 

17.  Batman: The Animated Series

18.  Beauty and the Beast (1987-1990)

19.  Being Human (BBC, 2008-2013)

20.  Charmed

21.  Dark Shadows (1966-1971)

22.  Dead Like Me

23.  Eureka

24.  Falling Skies

25.  Farscape

26.  Firefly

27.  Fringe

28.  Futurama

29.  Hercules: The Legendary Journey

30.  Heroes

31.  The Invaders

32.  Invasion

33.  The Jetsons

34.  Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974-1975)

35.  Life on Mars

36.  Lost in Space

37.  Max Headroom

38.  Night Gallery

39.  Once Upon a Time

40.  One Step Beyond

41.  The Outer Limits

42.  Pushing Daisies

43.  Quantum Leap

44.  Roswell

45.  The Six Million Dollar Man

46.  Smallville

47.  Space: Above and Beyond

48.  Stargate SG-1

49.  Star Wars: The Clone Wars

50.  Supernatural

51.  Tales From the Crypt

52.  Teen Wolf

53.  Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

54.  Torchwood

55.  True Blood

56.  V (NBC, 1984-1985; ABC, 2009-2011)

57.  The Vampire Diaries

58.  Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

59.  Wonder Woman

60.  Xena: Warrior Princess

So there is the list, and for what it's worth, I'm not sure they didn't do a decent job.  I'm curious to know why out of every cartoon ever made, because for the most part they all fall within this definition, why it's The Jetsons and Futurama that made the list.  Why not The Transformers, Galaxy High, Teen Wolf, Shirt Tales, or the million other cartoons?  I'm not complaining, just curious.

I know they left off shows like Arrow, Grimm, and a few other newer shows, and I agree that they are great shows.  And I even think in a few more years, they would have been on this list.  But I'm glad they aren't on the list as of yet, I think both of the named shows can still go either way.

I'm also a bit confused why there is only one sitcom on here.  Now I'm not a huge fan of sitcoms in general, but I can think of a few that could have made it.  I would guess that 3rd Rock from the Sun, Mork & Mindy, Small Wonder, Alf, The Charmings, Harry and the Hendersons, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, The Munsters, The Addams Family, and a couple dozen others are better than some on this list.

I know the Syfy channel is hit or miss with their TV shows, but I'm pretty sure Warehouse 13, Haven, or even Sanctuary should be on this list.

It was nice to see so many anthology shows on here, but what about Tales From the Darkside, which happens to be my favorite of those types of shows.  Even Freddy's Nightmares could have easily beat out a few of these to make the top of the list.

Superheroes were represented more than a few times, but I'm still thinking a few more should have been on here.  Zorro, The Lone Ranger, The Green Hornet, The Bionic Woman (1976-1978), Isis, or even The Greatest American Hero could have fought their way to the top.

And finally we get to the dramas that were left off, including some that have a more spiritual reach.  I get that not every show can make a list of this size, but I'm not sure how some of the ones on this list beat out some of the groundbreaking shows like Sliders, Earth 2, or even Knight Rider.  I'm just glad I'm not the one who decided to not include Highway to Heaven or Touched by an Angel to the list.  I wouldn't want any of those guys to be mad at me.

Now, I get why shows like Time Tunnel, Land of the Lost, Voyagers!, Kindred: The Embraced, Starman, Beyond Reality, Poltergeist the Legacy, War of the Worlds, Friday the 13th: The Series, or The Powers of Matthew Star, were not on the list.  For the most part, the show were never taken seriously, and quiet a few didn't last all that long.  But for what it's worth, they also include some of the coolest storytelling and amazing adventures to ever be found on TV.  I was in love with them all at one point in time, and I'm saddened that not many seem to remember them.

There are also two shows from a few seasons ago, that did not make it very long, but I think were fantastic shows.  A Gifted Man and Awake, were two shows that had interesting concepts, and great actors.  Daybreak, which aired a few years before those two, never got the chance it deserved either.

Some of the shows I listed above, I could do without seeing ever again.  That holds especially true for some of the sitcoms I brought up.  Some of them hold tight to their places in my heart and imagination, but I understand if others don't feel the same way.  Some of the shows I could watch over and over again, or have a huge marathon of.  Others, I would have to take in small doses.  Even if I don't understand how a few of them got left off the list, though I willing to accept it.  What I can not accept is how a few others got left off.  They are the shows that changed the way I view the genre, and blazed the trail for others after them.  So here are the shows that were criminally left off the list, and someone should have to explain why.

Battlestar Galactica (1978-1979)

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

Alien Nation

seaQuest: DSV

Dollhouse

TV Guide Picks The 60 Best Games Shows Ever!

At one point in time, I was a game show junkie.  I couldn't get enough of them, though that was mainly during my childhood.  I was dreamed of being on Jeopardy! and I remember when the contestants on Wheel of Fortune had to buy prizes at the end of every round.  I loved The Price is Right with Bob Barker, and can't stand it anymore.  I watched Card Sharks and wanted to go on Shop 'til You Drop.  For whatever reason I've gotten away from my love of game shows, though I will still watch a vintage episode of Press Your Luck on the Game Show Network.

After I read this list, I thought that for the most part they got it right.  It's hard to go through the years and even remember all the game shows, let alone rate them.  There are a few that missed their list I would have liked to see, but I'll share that on the other end.  So with no further ado, here is TV Guide's list of the 60 best Games Shows Ever.  The first ten are in order, the rest are alphabetical.

1.  Jeopardy! 

2.  Wheel of Fortune

3.  Family Feud

4.  Match Game

5.  The Price is Right

6.  Who Wants to Be a Millionaire

7.  The Hollywood Squares

8.  Password

9.  What's My Line?

10.  The Newlywed Game

11.  Almost Anything Goes

12.  Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?

13.  Battle of the Network Stars

14.  Beat the Clock

15.  Blockbusters

16. Card Sharks

17.  Cash Cab

18.  Concentration

19.  The Dating Game

20.  Deal of No Deal

21.  Don Adams' Screen Test

22.  Double Dare

23.  Gambit

24.  G.E. College Bowl

25.  The Gong Show

26.  High Rollers

27.  It's Academic

28.  I've Got a Secret

29.  The Joker's Wild

30.  Let's Make a Deal 

31.  Liars Club

32.  Love Connection

33.  Make Me Laugh

34.  Masquerade Party

35.  Name That Tune

36.  Pantomime Quiz

37.  People Are Funny

38.  Press Your Luck 

39.  Pyramid

40.  Queen for a Day

41.  Remote Control

42.  Sale of the Century

43.  Scrabble

44.  The $64,000 Question

45.  Studs

46.  Supermarket Sweep

47.  Tattletales

48.  Tic Tac Dough

49.  To Tell the Truth

50.  Treasure Hunt

51.  Truth or Consequences

52.  Twenty One

53.  Weakest Link

54.  Who Do You Trust?

55.  Whose Line Is It Anyway?

56.  Win Ben Stein's Money

57.  Wipeout

58.  Win, Lose, or Draw

59.  You Bet Your Life

60.  You Don't Say!

So that is the list, as compiles by TV Guide.  As I said earlier, for the most part, I like the list.  There are a few other shows I think should have been on it, and I'll list those in a bit.  I would have added Fear Factor, even though I was never a huge fan of it.  I'm also curious to know why The Amazing Race or Big Brother are not on there.  They are games shows, though not in a traditional sense.  So here are the shows I think should have been on the list, despite the fact I'm not sure what shows I would have taken off.

Fear Factor

The Amazing Race 

Big Brother

Shop 'til You Drop

Legends of the Hidden Temple

Murder in Small Town X

As a side note, the winner of the show, firefighter Angel Juarbe, Jr., was one of the firefighters lost on 9/11.