Astrofan

I am a baby boomer. I was there when Milton Berle, Ernie Kovacs and Sid Cesar ruled television. I was there with Gunsmoke, the still great Have Gun Will Travel and Maverick. I watch Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone. Everybody watched Ed Sullivan on Sunday nights. Jack Paar and then Steve Allen ruled the talk show. The Man From U.N.C.L.E., I Spy, The Avengers, the silly Lost In Space, the innovative Star Trek.

I have been with television since the beginning and I believe that the growth of continuing thread television, particularly drama, has ushered in a second Golden Age of television. And finally we arrive at Sunday nights in the year 2012.

At the head is HBO's Game of Thrones. Writing, acting, production, direction, one of the greatest series ever and most of you know it.

Then at AMC (!) is Mad Men. After a long hiatus pretty much the original cast is at the height of their powers. They slip into their roles and naturally as sipping a dry martini. The 60s form a backdrop that has everyone from the production designer to the writers stepping up to new heights. Simply wonderful.

At Showtime there's the Borgias. The Tudors was one of those series that outdid a lot of Masterpiece theater King Henry tales, and that led to them taking a chance of Neil Jordan (!) to create fact and fancy around the Borgia Pope. Again great, lush, production values and strong lead and support actors. The triumvirate of Jeremy Irons, François Arnaud, and Holliday Grainger gets stronger with each episode (even though during the first episodes of season one Irons seemed to be phoning it in.) And there's lots of great supports like Lotte Veerbeek and the now shoved to the back, nasty boy, Colm Feore. And if there was any justice in this world Michel Muller as King Charles VIII would win a supporting Emmy award.

And last comes something from one of the three early networks, ABC: Once Upon A Time. Lana Parrilla was so good, and hot, in Swingtown and here she plays up her sexual menace better than anybody on those 1980's night time soap operas. She chews the scenery, but only as one would expect from an evil fairy tale queen now mayor of a small town. One of the strong cast members is also Jared Gilmore. Who knew Bobby Draper could carry a scene? But he does it every episode. But really this show is not about the actors--it's the writing and the concept. Watching this show it's very easy to suspend disbelief and see Little Red Riding Hood as a diner waitress hottie--just a minor supporting character. Until we travel to the fairy tale world in which she has more trouble with Granny and wolves then you might imagine. This show manages to create to worlds and then blend their store with ease. Very creative.

So there we are. The great writers and stories have mostly left the love of my live--the movie screen (really Marvel comics, and a Milton Bradley game? You couldn't' drag me to see these mindless boy stories.) And the last ten years have brought us The Wire, Battlestar Galactica, Weeds, The Walking Dead and Californication (yeah I know, a lot of you don't like it.) And a lot I haven't seen like Six Feet Under and Breaking Bad.

During the 1960s there was always debate on the harm that TV did to children and how it turned us into a nation of zombie consumers. And today, as always there's a ton of junk out there--I can't watch a single reality or contest show. But perhaps it's junk like that played to the zombies that pays the bills and allows television to takes risks on show for adults. And that has led to this sublime night for us--and of course with DVRs we can spread it out over a few nights--even better.

Here's to television!

DJariya

Once Upon a Time is on ABC, not CBS.

If your only talking about what's on right now, yeah The Borgias is a good show on Showtime. But, you can't forget Homeland from the Fall.

Also, as far as CBS goes, The Good Wife is by far one of the smartest, well-acted and directed dramas on network TV (also on Sunday night) I'm guessing alot of people in this forum haven't given it a shot because they see it's on CBS and assume it's just another lame lawyer show. That's so far from the truth. It's such a clever mix or serial and procedural.

I realize Sunday is a busy night and not everyone here can watch everything that gets good critical reviews or gets internet buzz.

Astrofan

Yahhh, correction made.

JeffTheAlpaca

Unless Sunday Night Football has returned in May Sundays are mediocre.

The Simpsons and Celebrity Apprentice though I wait until Mon or Tues to watch them.

madcougar

Saturday nights from around 1978 to 1988 was the best night on Television. You started off with CHiPs on NBC, then switched over to ABC for The Love Boat and Fantasy Island. Me encanta!

bluetoast

I really want to get into GoT and The Borigas.

Astrofan

So what were the good shows on that night?

superdeluxe

Do you not have premium or do you just not like it?

chowderhead

The Amazing Race showed last night why it IS the best competitive reality show on television!

bluetoast

I don't have premium. I was skeptical of GoT a while ago but heard good things over the last year. As for The Borgias, I only heard of it about a month ago, but am interested. I suppose I could rent the first seasons.