- submitted by b-team on 11/29/2007
Top 12 TV Series Centered In Suburbia
There are tons of series set in the burbs, or with suburban themes. We tried to pick an eclectic mix here; but, definitely, we couldn't include all the good ones.
We can almost hear the screaming now. What happened to King of the Hill? Or Beavis & Butt-Head? What about more of the older ones (e.g., Leave It to Beaver, The Addams Family, Dennis The Menace, Bewitched)? We know. Tell us which shows you think should be on the list and which, if any, shouldn't be.
We've already got in our heads ideas for a next, co-equal TV series list. So let us know your suggestions and, if we get enough feedback, we'll tee up another one reflecting your and our collective ideas.
The Top 12 (in no particular order):
Weeds (2005 - present)
Single widowed mom gets by in the burbs by selling marijuana. Enough said. Except series is actually good, loaded with idiosyncratic (sometimes freaky) characters. And it presents a vision of suburbia that, while sometimes silly-superficial, is sometimes also terrifically on target with surprising complexity and subtlety. There's also Mary-Louise Parker, as local "drug lord" mom; she's great -- funny, real, moving, intense, a genuine (and underappreciated at least by Hollywood conventions) star.
The Sopranos (1999-2007)
Tony owns the garbage hauling company and he still can't get reliable regular garbage pick-up. An all-time great TV series set in McMansion Hell of northern New Jersey. Tony & pals may kill or maim those they don't like; but they still have to deal with the same crap we all do...annoying neighbors, wayward newspapers delivered across the street, exploding water pipes, failing spec houses, failing kids, unresponsive repair people. Sure, Tony can sometimes command better service than we can (sticking a gun in somebody's mouth will do that). But his life revolves around the burbs and, in his mixed up quest for the American suburban dream (big house, big car, big TV screen, etc), his challenges and ambitions are often no different than many of ours.
The Simpsons (1989 - present)
Groundbreaking, hilarious and, nearly 20 years since its premiere, remarkably still fresh. One of the few pop culture media icons that is genuinely smart and original and deserving of its ongoing "celebrity." Continues to be relevant and irreverent. Continues to surprise, plugging into the day's currency of politics, social mores and pop culture nuttiness with a twisted, idiosyncratic, witty (and often laugh-out-loud funny) take that few other TV show creators could even dream about.
South Park (1997 - present)
Another animated blast. Part nihilist, part muckraking, part stupid raunch-fest -- and generally just really funny. Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone simply do what they want. And what they want is to skewer hypocrisy, fraud, BS, arrogance, stupidity and everything else they dislike about today's common sense-challenged world (from politics and celebrity to the mundane narrowness of coping with idiot neighbors, school mates and community values).
Twin Peaks (1990-1991)
David Lynch in the burbs, or at least small town America. No surprise; not a pretty Hallmark picture. Centered technically on a murder mystery ("who killed Laura Palmer?") series was really a twisted mirror focused on small town USA -- and, in Lynch's view, its seediness, darkness and, at the same time, its occasional goodness. For a year, series was a national sensation. It featured a circus-full of wack characters (dwarves, "log ladies," drunks, etc). Almost everybody in town harbored secrets. It brought Lynch's Blue Velvet craziness and sense of danger to the small screen. Although much of the series was almost incomprehensible - its popularity quickly faded in its 2nd and final season -- it was utterly unique in its raw indie-film sensibility and its brooding multi-plotted inscrutable vision.
Soap (1977-1981)
Outrageous, funny prime-time parody of traditional soap operas -- and many of the "sacrosanct" elements of life (religion, politics, sexuality, family dysfunction) that previously, at least on prime-time TV, had been barely acknowledged, if at all. Plots were truly hilarious and absurd -- involving aliens (both from the sky and from outside the U.S.), murder, satanic possession, amnesia, abductions, and deviance of all kinds. First "mainstream" prime-time TV series featuring an openly gay character, played by Billy Crystal. Series caused outrage and protest among "conservative" moral guardians of the day which, appropriately, dramatically increased the show's popularity.
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976-1978)
Produced by Norman Lear (All in the Family), the short-lived MH, MH was an original. A 5-night a week syndicated soap opera spoof (one of 1st comedies without a laugh track) set in the heart of a fictional suburban Ohio town. Series starred Louise Lasser (a former Mrs. Woody Allen) as the ultimate cliché suburban housewife who faced pretty much every suburban challenge and calamity imaginable (from greasy wax build up, which really pissed her off, to mass murder). Cast was terrific. In addition to Lasser, included Dabney Coleman, Martin Mull, Mary Kay Place and a host of other smart comic actors who flitted in and out of the nutty story lines. The show never reached national popularity; but it become a huge media favorite (featured on covers of national mags which, back then, actually meant something) and developed a loyal cult following.
Roseanne (1988-1997)
A genuine TV, pop culture phenomenon starring Roseanne Barr as the foul-mouthed and generally put-upon center of a borderline-dysfunctional working class family (husband, John Goodman) trying to make it in the cut throat economically stratified world of the late 1980s & 90s. Dealt head on with real issues rarely addressed on TV -- mental illness, domestic violence, unemployment, etc. - and, once you got beyond its surface bluster and over-the-top humor, did so often with remarkably tender and unexpected poignancy.
Married with Children (1987-1997)
One of Fox's first "hits," series was considered by millions moronic, gross, ugly, raunchy and aimed directly at viewers' lowest, basest instincts -- and that's why they all loved it. It was truly outrageous, decadent, at least by primetime TV standards. And often funny as Hell. Everyone in the Bundy family was hanging by a thread. Dad (played by awesome Ed O'Neill), a miserable shoe salesman who seemed to hate everything including his wife and kids. Mom, oversexed and vapid shopping fanatic (Katey Sagal, in tighter than skin outfits). And the kids (including the requisite hottie, spacey teen played perfectly by sleazy-gorgeous and funny Christina Applegate).
Happy Days (1974-1984)
1950s-1960s suburbia in the pre-sexual revolution, pre social-upheaval era of the coming late 1960s. Featuring cool hipster-greaser Fonzie (Henry Winkler) and straight-laced Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard) as suburban kids navigating the transition from the staid conventions of the 1950s into something freer and (as yet) undefined. Lots of high school hijinks -- the usual sex, girls, rock n roll, partying. But also some intelligent tracings of teens trying to grow up and find their independence amid lots of conflicting and changing social mores and demands. Not pioneering by today's standards; but reasonably smart and a classic of its era.
Knots Landing (1979-1993)
The original Desperate Housewives, as residents in an upscale cul de sac did their best to prove that suburbanites pretty much spend all their time shopping, cheating, copulating (especially with friends' spouses), stealing, trying to kill themselves and trying to kill their neighbors. Series was an over the top but sometimes entertaining melodrama that set the stage for the countless prime time "adult" soaps that followed.
My Mother The Car (1965-1966)
A great or even good show? Yes, if idiocy is your standard. But we're including it here as a "placeholder" for the many shows in the 1960s offering similar silliness and sometimes laughably poorly executed "high concept" themes; and because any series that stars a talking car who's your reincarnated brow-beating mother deserves some kind of recognition. A few examples of other shows? Mr. Ed (again, how can you argue against a talking horse who's smarter than its owner?); My Favorite Martian (a guy from outer space in the burbs; in fairness, probably not as moronic as My Mother The Car); The Beverly Hillbillies (actually wasn't all that bad; a monster ratings hit; its depiction of Beverly Hills-Hollywood materialism was, if obvious and clichéd, also at its core often true); The Flying Nun (Sally Field post-Gidget, pre-"you really love me" Academy Award speech). ...read more rants
