This block of four episodes went into deep details about Tahiti, a magical place… or at least, what it truly was.
The information Coulson was able to ascertain about the mysterious magical place showed him some of the horrors that he went through to bring him back from the dead. He learned that he was dead for several days, not several seconds as it had been told to him. We saw the horror-scape imagery of them working on Coulson’s brain, implanting memories to help him forget the time of his resurrection. That image was truly horrific.
We are introduced to John Garrett, played by the awesome Bill Paxton, whom will become a major issue later this season. Garrett was Ward’s former SO and he came to the Bus to take control of the prisoner, Ian Quinn. Coulson did not want to give him up because he had shot Skye twice, leaving her for dead.
The whole Skye gamut was rough as the team tried to find T.A.H.I.T.I. and hope to find a way to save a dying Skye.
Several tense moments. Several of these episodes, especially T.R.A.C.K.S., played with POV and would go back to different groups of the agents, showing what they saw during the same time frame. It was a clever episode that ended with Skye getting shot.
We learned that the drugs that were created to save Coulson (and eventually Skye) came from the dead body of a Kree, hooked up to a machine inside T.A.H.I.T.I.
I’m still finding more and more times where Ward’s actual Hydra roots came in conflict with what he did. I do not remember much about these episodes, but the questions about him actually being Hydra is absolutely not being hinted at yet.
The team is bonding all the more with every episode. Next episode will be the one to feature Lady Sif, as we saw Lorelei arrive in the post credit scene of episode 14.
The Genre-ary continued today with The Jerk, a movie that, when I was compiling the possible list of comedies for the Genre-ary, I realized that I had not seen the entire film. Of course, I had seen parts of the movie. The “The new phone book’s here” scene is iconic. However, I could not recall much of anything else, so if I had seen it as a youth, this would be like a whole new movie.
And, as I said, I did not remember most of this movie, telling me that I had not seen the film all the way through.
Steve Martin is one of my favorite comedic actors, especially recently with his turn as Oliver on Only Murders in the Building. I was a fan of his from the early 80s with his song King Tut and some of his other films such as Roxanne, Parenthood, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, and Little Shop of Horrors.
In The Jerk, directed by comedy legend Carl Reiner, Martin played a slow-witted, innocent guy, Navin, who was raised as a poor black kid in a sharecroppers family. That very idea, considering Martin is as white as a person could be, was hilarious. It also was not as insulting as I first thought it might be.
After discovering his own life rhythm, Navin left home to try to find out who he really was. He then embarked on a wild ride that found him becoming a huge success and losing it all.
Martin’s performance reminded me of an actor who is always loud and over the top. I typically am not a fan of this type of role, but Steve Martin brought something extra to it that made it enduring. I can only guess that this film was an inspiration to actors such as Jim Carrey, Kevin Hart, Adam Sandler, and Chris Farley, as they all have made a career of the loud, obnoxious type character that Steve Martin was showing in this film.
The film’s title is not accurate to me though as Navin was not really a jerk, but more of a simpleton. There was an innocence about him that helped make him appealing to the audience.
The film featured several other actors in important roles including EYG Hall of Famer Bernadette Peters, Carl Reiner (as himself), Bill Macy, Mabel King, Richard Ward, M. Emmet Walsh, Jackie Mason, Dick Anthony Williams, Catlin Adams, and Dick O’Neill. Several of these key character actors add a perfect flair to the cast, playing off the ridiculousness of Martin’s Navin.
The Jerk is a classic and I am happy that I finally did take the time to watch the entire film. The plot itself is a little lacking, but it is more of a comedy sketch to see where Navin is at any time during his life.
January is here and that means that it is time to start our annual tradition, the Genre-ary. We have done Sci-fi, Musicals, Documentaries and this year, we will be doing comedies.
I wanted to start off with one of the top comedy duos who I watched a lot as a child. I know there were great comedy duos/team like the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, but Bud Abbot and Lou Costello were my favorite ones.
Of their list of movies, I picked out one I did not remember at all called Who Done It? Bud and Lou get themselves involved in a murder investigation on the set of a radio broadcast of a murder mystery show.
Much like most Abbot and Costello movies, the plot is tangential to the comedy of the film. The comedy comes from the slapstick of Lou Costello physically throwing himself around, bashing his head into things and flopping his body around. There are also plenty of word plays and puns throughout. This film even goes as far as to include some allusions to Abbot and Costello’s most iconic bit, Who’s on First.
You are not waiting for a lot of sense to be made. It is truly ridiculous. But the lengths Abbot and Costello will go to get a laugh is really impressive. It seemed that their very presences would make the other characters around them be dumber, in a good way.
This film also included Mary Wickes, who was Mary Lazarus in the Sister Act films as well as Emma Allen in White Christmas. Her distinct voice and facial image made her stand out among the craziness associated with Bud and Lou.
The film was fast-paced, tangent-inducing, slapstick fun. Yes, Lou Costello was loud and acted in a chaotic, if not insane, manner. It all added to the fun of the pair. They kicked of the Genre-ary in a positive light.
My New Year’s Eve routine is out of whack this year because they decided to drop the series finale for Stranger Things tonight. I usually watch Infinity War and Endgame until midnight. I have done that the last five years, but with Stranger Things tossing a curveball, I decided that tonight would be different.
I am going to address the hatred part two has received online, but just for a minute. I thought the last three episodes were really strong and helped set up what is happening tonight. You have the right to hate the show if you so choose. I hope you have more reasons to feel the way you feel beside the fact that Will came out to his friends and family.
Moving onto the finale, the plan to prevent Vecna from crashing the Abyss into the earth kicks off, but it never works out the way things are planned.
Here are some random thoughts:
The way they dealt with the Eleven “death” was great. I really liked how Mike ended up explaining the possible way Eleven survived, but we really do not know. It was a nice way to end the show.
Linda Hamilton was never used to her full potential. She was never really a character outside of a villain. Then, I wanted her to be dead, bigtime, but she did not die.
The Mindflayer showdown was just awesome. It reminded me of the fireworks in the mall in season (two?).
Joyce chopping the head off Vecna? Yes, please.
There were some really tense moments. When Henry overcame his fears and struggled his way into the cave, surprising those kids… man, oh, man.
I think there may have been too much falling action in the episode. Did I really need a graduation ceremony turned into chaos by Dustin? Fun? Sure. But necessary? No.
Murray’s homemade bomb that took out the helicopter? Perfecto.
I was also happy with the fate of Eight, especially with the potential way she helped Eleven.
Eleven is truly a bad ass. The way she dispatched those soldiers was just nothing short of brutal.
The special effects in this episode was just amazing. That gigantic monster in the Abyss looked epic.
Stranger Things is going to go down as one of the most successful Netflix shows of all time. I saw that the finale was being shown in movie theaters across the nation, including in the Cinemark that I usually attend. I was curious (although I was never planning on watching this anywhere but my room) so I went to the Cinemark website to find that the 7 PM show was completely sold out, as was several other showings that they were having. A few of them had just one or two seats available. Even the showing that is scheduled to start at 11:50 PM had just the very front row of seats available. This was in the Quad Cities. I wonder what it would be like in a bigger city like LA or New York.
This finale was a lot of fun for me. It had a lot of excitement and uncertainty. I enjoyed it a great deal and I feel like the Duffer Brothers brought their show to a definitive conclusion, even if I did not get Linda Hamilton killed.
Three more episodes of Agent of Shield, and, if I am being honest, I do not remember any of these. I know I watched this show religiously when it was on ABC, but I do not remember much of anything in them.
I remember Raina, but more during the Inhumans run when she got turned into a cat-like being.
I know I have not watched these episodes multiple times, but, even still, I should have more memory of them than what I do.
The whole Agent Ward leaping out of the Bus with a parachute to save Jemma Simmons was cool, but it made me wonder about his statis as a Hydra agent, which we know will come about soon.
I did not remember Skye’s betrayal of the team because of a former boyfriend from the Rising Tide, but I think I do remember her confession about not knowing her parents or her backstory.
There are plenty of intriguing hints being dropped for these different characters including Coulson’s time dead, May’s traumatic event, and especially Skye.
It was fun seeing Titus Welliver, the Man in Black from LOST, as one of Coulson’s superiors in Agent Blake. I don’t remember what happened to him as a character, whether he died, was Hydra or is out there somewhere.
I guess it is a good thing that I am starting this rewatch because I do not remember much about this series, outside of how much I loved these characters. I am reminded how awesome Fitz and Simmons are, how bad ass May is, and how downright cool Skye (eventually Daisy Johnson) is. I do remember how Ward was the one I liked the least of the crew, and that is still the case.
Of course, above them all was Phil Coulson, who I still state is one of the best characters to come out of the phase 1 MCU.
We are ready to give the list of the Worst Movies of the Year. Or more specifically, the EYG Least Favorite Movie of the Year. These are my opinions and thoughts. It is okay if you disagree with me. I encourage it. In fact, I know there are a couple of films on my list that are high on the Tomatometer. Movies are subjective and what I think is the worst, may be someone else’s beloved.
I should also state that, during the year, I give star ratings to movies. I do not use these star ratings to order them. I do use them to choose the films that would make the list, but I may have a film that got 1.5 stars higher than one that has a 1.2. Movies and thoughts about movies are fluid and change over time with reflection or hindsight. Honestly, if I redid this list in a month, there might be differences.
The list this year is the Top 20. This year has had a lot of movies in the mid-range, from star rating between 2.5 and 3.8 or so. Most of the movies fell into that range. These are the ones that were under that.
I should mention that I have nothing but respect for the creative people who made these films. I may not like the work, but I respect the efforts you have made to try to entertain us.
Here are the Top 20 Least Favorite/Worst Films of 2025
#20. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera. I hated this sequel. It is the first of my list that has FRESH reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. I still found this dull and dumb.
#19. After the Hunt. Julia Roberts gave her best for this flopper, but there was only so much she could do. It was too long, the story was mixed and it did not make a lot of sense.
#18. Tron: Ares. What a terrible film. Great soundtrack though (way to go, Nine Inch Nails). There are so many problems in this, including the lead performance from Jarred Leto. It did look great. It might be the final installment in this franchise as it flopped hard.
#17. Until Dawn. Great premise. Horrible execution. The story was boring and the killings were unoriginal or interesting. I watched this during the June Swoon and I was happy I rented it on sale.
#16. Screamboat. Here was the horror/murder film featuring a monstrous and brutal Steamboat Willie (aka Mickey Mouse) who entered into public domain recently. This was better than the Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey films (but that is a low bar).
#15. Flight Risk. Here is a good example of a film with a reasonable star rating that slipped with hindsight. A terrible and ridiculous performance by Mark Wahlberg. The characters do the dumbest things. This one has slipped down the list onto the Top 20 Least Favorite.
#14. M3GAN 2.0. The first Megan movie was such fun. The second one was far from it. I was so disappointed with M3GAN 2.0. It is too long. Too filled with nonsense. It broke into a song at one point.
#13. Friendship. Here is another one that everyone seemed to love, but I could not stand. It was a comedy with Tim Robinson that was just not funny. I did not enjoy this one at all.
#12. Five Nights at Freddy’s 2. This got worse. I did not like the first film that much, and this sequel only got worse. The actors seemed to be just going through the motions.
#11. Love Hurts. I love Ke Huy Quan. Boring and a dumb story. It could not be rescued by the wonderful Ke Huy Quan.
#10. Fear Street: Prom Queen. The first trilogy of Fear Street was so great. This one was horrendous. A sloppy, stupid slasher killer story that was so dumb, almost as dumb as it was disappointing.
#9. Together. A body horror film that most of the critics loved. I hated it. There were a bunch of scenes that were laugh out loud funny, though I do not think they were intended to be funny. It felt so silly that I was rolling my eyes at it throughout.
#8. I Know What You Did Last Summer. One of the worst remakes of the year. What was the purpose of redoing this film? I guess it was sort of a sequel, but the killer turned out to be from the original and his turn made zero sense. It was done for just the shock value.
#7. Electric State. The big Netflix action movie was so bad. The budget on it was reportedly $320 million. It had the Russo Brothers as directors. Yet there were so many problems with this. Characters without depth, various tones, and humor that did not work.
#6. A Minecraft Movie. You know there is trouble when the best part of the movie is the memes for Chicken Jockey. I love Jack Black, but this is just a film with so much stupidity, designs that were poorly constructed and a feel that made it too cartoonish. It was repetitive and dull.
#5. Into the Deep. A shark movie. However, that was the highlight of this film. Dialogue that was so unnatural. Acting that was horrendous. Richard Dreyfuss was in this movie… why? Did he need a paycheck that badly? Another film I did for the June Swoon that made me wish I had not chosen it.
#4. 2073. I found this on HBO Max and it seemed interesting. It wasn’t. It was a weird blend of documentary, post-apocalyptic wasteland and history lesson. It was depressing and full of fearmongering.
#3. HIM. Again, this is not directed by Jordan Peele. Even though they kept putting his name on the advertising, he was not directly involved. This horror/thriller with football players is about as bad as it comes. I hated sitting in the theater watching this.
#2. Star Trek: Section 31. Michelle Yeoh? Why? You won an Oscar. Do the producers have something on you? This is the worst Star Trek anything that I think I have ever seen. This would have easily been the worst movie of the year except there was a film that was historically bad that surpassed it.
#1. War of the Worlds. What can be said about this film that hasn’t already been said? It is one of the most agreed upon worst movies of all time. It did creep its way up to 4% on Rotten Tomatoes, so there is that. Ice Cube deserved better, but his acting against the computer screen was laughable. This was shot during Covid and just now released. They should have let this one stay on the shelf. It was like a giant advertisement for Amazon Prime. Who knew their gift cards were so important? The worst product placement of all time. The special effects were ridiculous. The story was dumb. The characters made me want to root for the aliens.
Back in 1997, a horror film about a giant snake appeared. Anaconda, starring Ice Cube, J-Lo, and Jon Voight, was a terrible movie, but it survived the years and became an iconic cult classic film. In 2025, we now got a meta-sequel to the film starring Jack Black and Paul Rudd which debuted this weekend.
According to IMDB, “Four childhood friends are going through a midlife crisis so they decide to remake their favorite horror movie from the 1990s in the Amazon Forest When a real giant anaconda shows up, they get more than what they bargain for and their comically chaotic movie making turns into a life-or-death situation. The movie that they’re dying to remake? It might just kill them, literally.“
I heard some negative things about the new film before I went into it, which made me nervous because I had thought the trailers looked good and I was excited to see it. The negative comments made me feel much more tentative about the movie.
I can understand why some people might not have been a fan of this, but I enjoyed it a lot. I found this funny, the characters likable and entertaining, and the meta qualities of the film worked so well.
I thought there was a lot of clever writing involved in this movie. The humor is solid. There were a couple of jokes that I usually do not like, but, for me, even those worked well.
No spoiler here, but there was a great cameo in the film too.
There are some negatives to the film too though. I do think it started fairly slowly and the film really took off when the characters get on their boat. I do think that I wish the trailer hadn’t spoiled some of the best laughs in the film because I think it would have been so much better.
I am happy that I liked this movie more than what some were saying. I found it funny and engaging. I do enjoy a film with as many meta jokes and Anaconda falls right into that.
Christmas night saw the second volume of the final season of Strange Things came out with three episodes that will lead directly into the finale, next week on New Year’s Eve.
These three episodes do a tremendous job setting up that finale. We got plenty of answers about what has been going on these last five seasons, and they really fit together nicely. I am impressed with the writing of the Duffer Brothers.
I love the way that they worked the Wormhole into this story, recontextualizing the Upside-Down and what it actually is. The whole moment when Nancy shot the wormhole was so tense and scary with the vacuum outside of it. I loved how Dustin was on the outside of the situation and found the answers in Bremmer’s journal.
Speaking of Dustin, he and Steve went through it in these episodes. They dealt with the way they were treating each other in the first volume and it was extremely dramatic as they handled the deep pain that they were facing.
Jonathan and Nancy dealt with their relationship in a strong manner. The scene where they finally told each other the truth was a really great scene.
I do not like how they are setting up the ending of this with the implication that Eleven is going to need to die for everything to finally be over. I really dislike the sister.
I love how the group is basically back together in the seventh episode, preparing for the big finish. They have not all been back together in a long time, and seeing the team come back together was great.
Vecna truly is terrifying. The use of the redesigned Vecna is really well done and how they use it along with the Henry form. Henry was every bit as scary when dealing with his little cult-like kids. I needed more Dipshit Derek in these episodes.
Max coming back was very satisfying too, as was Will’s admitting about being gay. Both of these moments gave a strength to the ensemble and allowed these characters to show how important they were to each other. It was a lovely way to do this, especially with the Will reveal. Will was still very nervous and awkward during the entire time, hem-and-hawing around the topic. Watching the group embrace him was a beautiful moment.
And we are set up with a crazy plan to save the world and prevent the crashing together of two worlds via the wormhole. A final showdown certainly with Eleven and Vecna (hopefully with Will there too. He deserves to be in the final showdown).
They have actually made me reconsider my New Year’s Eve routine. I usually watch Infinity War and Endgame to midnight, but now, I might have to readjust my tradition.
This was another great year in horror. Not perfect, of course. There is a nice balance between good films and bad ones.
Again, we have not been keeping track of the “Worst” film, but the “Best” is in the records:
Best Horror Movie
Previous Winners: A Quiet Place, It, Don’t Breathe, It Follows, The Conjuring, As Above So Below, Cabin in the Woods, Doctor Sleep, Black Box, Fear Street trilogy, The Menu, A Haunting in Venice, Nosferatu
Runners-Up: Final Destination: Bloodlines was a surprise for me. At this point, I had never seen any of the Final Destination movies (I saw the first one in the October 13), and I loved this new one. The new Conjuring movie, Conjuring: Last Rites, put that franchise to bed (or so we are told). Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein is a stylish, engaging new version on Netflix. A film I did not expect to like was Dangerous Animals, but it was extremely awesome. It was a shark movie that did not make the shark the villain. So it came down to two choices… and the one that did not make it was Weapons. I loved that movie, but I think it was a little less of a horror movie than the one that turned out to be the winner.
Best Horror Movie
Sinners
Michael B. Jordan starred in this Ryan Coogler directed film. Coogler wanted to do his vampire film and what he did was Sinners. This was a fantastic film and it was something we hadn’t seen before. Jordan played dual roles and he did it so well.
Worst Horror
Runners-Up: Until Dawn was such a bad movie. It was a disappointment as it had a decent premise. Lots of people loved Together, but I hated it. I hated it so much. Fear Street: Prom Queen was such a downgrade from the awesome trilogy from a few years ago.
“Winner”:
That film is not from Jordan Peele, no matter how much the movie wanted it to be true. This football film is truly one of the worst MOVIES of the year… not just horror.
The Batman and Robins are the awards we give out every year for the worst of the worst. The awards for rottenness are given out to stuff that just did not work.
Worst Movie: To be revealed at the Least Favorite Movies list.
Worst Actor: Ice Cube (War of the Worlds). Ice Cube is a talented performer who gave a horrible performance in a horrible movie.
Worst Actress: Gal Gadot (Disney’s Snow White). She was miscast as the Evil Queen and nothing that happened in Snow White showed that she could not elevate the material.
Worst Director: Justin Tipping (HIM). One of the worst films of the year. It’s so bad that they needed to pretend that Jordan Peele had something to do with it.
Worst Sequel: Fear Street: Prom Queen. The first Fear Street trilogy was so good and a lot of fun. This was the antithesis of that.
Worst CGI: Star Trek: Section 31. Not much was good about this one.
Favorite Rotten Movie: Captain America: Brave New World. There is a lot of hate for this movie, but I enjoyed it a lot. It could have been better, but it does not deserve as much hatred as it got.
Worst Movie That I Did Not See: The Smurfs
Cashing a Paycheck: Richard Dreyfuss (Into the Deep). Dreyfuss was one of the reasons why I watched this shark movie. That was a mistake.
Worst Reboot/Remake: I Know What You Did Last Summer.
Most Successful Bad Movie: A Minecraft Movie
Worst Movie Based on TV/Video Game: Smurfs
Worst Superhero Movie: Old Guard 2
Worst Trailer: A Minecraft Movie. This trailer showed me how terrible this was going to be
WTF: 2073. It was from HBO Max, but it was a bizarre mixture of doc and horrific film.
Worst Performance by Oscar Winner: Michelle Yeoh (Stra Trek: Section 31)
Worst TV Show I Watched: Alien: Earth. Started great, but fell off quickly. Too boring for an alien show.
Worst Product Placement: Amazon Prime in War of the Worlds. It played more like an advertisement for Amazon Prime.
I was working on the third 2025 Year in Review: In Memoriam Part 3 last night, and I thought to myself that I would only have one In Memoriam left. I thought that it would be fine because what are the chances that there would be any other big stars pass away before the year ended.
Oh my god.
I woke up in the middle of the night and saw on TikTok a horrible story that I never would have believed. Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle had been allegedly killed by their son Nick. I felt crushed by this news. I was a fan of Rob Reiner, especially as a director.
Then, I got home from school and I was on X and I saw tweets that kicked me in the gut. Anthony Geary, who played Luke Spencer on General Hospital for decades, had died.
I could not believe it.
Luke Spencer was one of my favorite characters on TV, period. Not just soap characters… but all characters. He was one of the best actors in Daytime, winning multiple Emmy Awards.
Rob Reiner directed some of my favorite movies of all time. The Princess Bride, This is Spinal Tap, A Few Good Men, Stand By Me, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, Misery, The American President, and When Harry Met Sally.
Luke Spencer, along with his on-screen love Laura, became an icon in television. Their GH wedding was watched by 30 million viewers. They were on the cover of Time Magazine.
The Princess Bride is my favorite movie of all time (well, it is 1B to Endgame’s 1A).
Anthony Geary was a prime reason why General Hospital had been such an influential show for me as a youth. Luke was my idol. As a child, I watched all summer long and had my mom tell me everything on days I was at school.
Two men who were absolute icons for me, both gone within a few hours of each other. Both men some of the most influential actors of my life.
Okay. I am not sure what I can say about this one.
According to IMDB, “A couple’s vacation at a secluded estate is upended when they’re forced to share the mansion with a mysterious couple. A dream getaway spirals into a nightmarish maze of sex, lies, and manipulation, triggering a battle for survival.”
This movie started out with a scene of two naked people running through the woods. It was just a terrible season and ended in a ridiculous way and I thought to myself, “What did I get myself into.” Then, it switched from the scene and it was a story being told by a boyfriend Diego (Marco Pigossi) to his girlfriend Sage (Maddie Hasson). It was meant to show that Diego was not a very good writer, even though he had recently quit his teaching job to write a novel. So I forgave that terrible scene because it was meant to show characterization of Diego.
The premise itself was common and things were really slow and dull in the first act and a half or so. Some dumb things were happening as it seemed that it was typical type of movie like this.
A little over a half way through the film, the story suddenly went totally batshit crazy. Then, I didn’t know what was happening and, honestly, the film had my attention more than it had before.
Is it a plausible movie? No, it is not. The stuff that goes down is ridiculous. It is also very different than the beginning of the film. It does do some interesting theorizing on couples, but when the chainsaws come out… well, there is only so much time for theorizing.
I am not sure how to feel about this. I was entertained at times while at other times I found myself feeling stupider having watched it. It felt like it was meant to be a satire at times, but I do not think that was the intent. I am torn on Bone Lake.
The latest Sunday Morning Sidewalk show wrapped up this morning with the finale of The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix.
Mike Flanigan’s 10-episode horror series was a great series with some complex ideas and original storytelling. The performances of the actors in the show were really great. Admittedly, I had some trouble over the first several episodes figuring out who was who, especially with the flashbacks being so prevalent. However, once that became clearer, the show really took off.
The finale was a beautiful end to the story, which was quite unexpected. There was healing and love through the Crain children and reunions of spirits within Hill House.
I had a definite vibe between Hill House in this series and Murder House from the first season of American Horror Story. In the end, Hill House had a less evil feel than Murder House, or at any time in the previous episodes of this series.
The episode focused around the Red Room and what it truly was… which seemed to be a chameleon type room, being whatever the person needed it to be. That was an intriguing concept.
The ending did reconstruct the idea around Hill House. I did not find it as evil of a location as the Crain children had made it seem. It just felt like a resting place for many ghosts.
Overall, I found this to be a very engaging and enjoyable show, with a few gaps and holes that didn’t keep me from enjoying it.
Next week, the next Sunday Morning Sidewalk will head over to HBO Max for a two-episode documentary on Bill Joel, called Billy Joel: And So it Goes. These two episodes will be the longest single episodes we have done in the Sunday Morning Sidewalk, but it feels like a good one to end 2025 with.
The number two TV show on out top 100 countdown is one of the biggest phenomenons from the early 1990s. David Lynch brought his flavor of insanity to the small screen disguised as a murder mystery in Twin Peaks.
The first episode kicked off with mild-mannered Pete finding the beautiful prom queen, Laura Palmer, dead on the side of the river, wrapped in plastic. The murder rocked the seemingly normal small town of Twin Peaks, Washington. The call went into the FBI for help in the investigation and the eccentric Agent Dale Cooper was sent.
Cooper had seen this before, and was already on the trail of the serial killer responsible. Using his bizarre techniques of investigation, Cooper made his way through a town that was anything but normal in search of the killer.
Twin Peaks gripped the natioin with its oddball characters and engaging mystery. This was one fo the earliest examples of how impatient the country was, anxious about finally discovering the truth behind Laura Palmer’s death.
The answer did not come until about halfway through the second season, at a point where some viewers had abandoned the show in impatient frustration. Turned out Laura was killed by a spirit called Bob, who had possessed her father, Leland Palmer. The reveal of Leland as Killer Bob was one of the most violent things I had seen on TV to that point, and it was artistically amazing.
There had been reports that David Lynch had intended on leaving the mystery of Laura’s death unsolved, and only bowed to pressure from the network to give a resolution to the crime.
After the death of Leland, Twin Peaks floundered a bit before it found its footing once again with the arrival of Cooper’s crazy former FBI partner. The show was left off on a horrible cliffhanger where Cooper had been possessed by Killer Bob.
A third season was released 25 years after the end of season 2. It was released on Showtime where Twin Peaks was originally on ABC. The third season wrapped up that cliffhanger from the end of the original series, but left off on another one in the final episode of the Return.
Dale Cooper was played by Lynch favorite Kyle MacLachlan. Other cast memebers included Sherilyn Fenn, Lara Flynn Boyle, Michael Ontkean, David Lynch, Peggy Lipton, Mädchen Amick, Sheryl Lee, Jack Nance, Frank Silva, Ray Wise, Piper Laurie, James Marshall, Russ Tamblyn, Catherine E. Coulson, Eric DaRe, Ian Buchanan, Miguel Ferrer, Richard Beymer, Chris Mulkey, Dana Ashbrook, Joan Chen, and Michael Horse. There were dozens more cast members over the three total seasons.
Twin Peaks was at the heights of what television could be. It was bizarre, weird, funny and dramatic. The sad story at its core brought people into one of the most iconic shows of all time.
That was a scene that happened many times during the run of Moonlighting, a show that went for four seasons on ABC starring Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd.
Set at teh Blue Moon Detective Agency, Maddie Hayes had lost almost all of her fortune to a crooked accountant and she was forced to work in one of the few businesses remaining, a detective agency. There, she met David Addison, a wise cracking, song singing, limbo dancing private eye who challenged her to expand her life.
Moonlighting is one of the best shows on TV. It also felt down to earth quicker than any show on TV. The whole “will they won’t they” aspect of the show kept the viewers glued to their screen, but, when they did, much of the magic was gone.
Still, David and Maddie were amazing together. Charming, fighting, arguing, detecting. They could do anything.
One of the things that they could do was break the fourth wall. This was one of the first shows that I specifically saw do this technique and I found it hilarious. Another specialty of this show was the special episodes… the dream sequences. They had a show called “The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice” where David and Maddie had dreams that they were musicians in an old time club. Another episode saw them dancing to “Big Man on Mulberry Street.”
But one of the greatest episodes of all time was “Atomic Shakespeare” which Maddie and David played the roles of Katharina and Petruchio in a satire of Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew.” This episode was written in iambic pentameter and was an absolute joy.
The last season and a half was much weaker, but the first two and a half was some of the best TV of all time. I remember planting myself in front of the TV every Tuesday night to watch Moonlighting… although their behind the scenes challenges and fights caused many of those nights to be a rerun.
When compiling this list, I debated between #3 and #2 for Moonlighting, and it could easily be flipped. Moonlighting made Bruce Willis a superstar and helped him get Die Hard.
“Blue Moon Investigations ceased operations on May 14, 1989. The Anselmo Case was never solved… and remains a mystery to this day.”
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 