J/DB’s 12 Days of Lists – Day 5 – Best of 1999
Let’s celebrate the end of the decade by looking back at the end of the last. Here’s what I consider to be the high points of the 1999 television landscape.
First up we’ve got the growth of the Whedonverse. 1999 not only saw some of the best Buffy episodes (both Dopplegangland and Hush), but also the premiere of Angel. In 1999 we met Tara, Riley, and Doyle, and lost one of them. Angel killed Rutger Hauer and the Mayor turned into a big snake. I would consider this the height of Whedon’s ‘my shows do well and aren’t cancelled’ phase.
Next up is a show many of you may not have heard of, Stark Raving Mad. It stared Tony Shalhoub as a somewhat insane horror novelist, NPH as his editor, and Warehouse 13’s Eddie McClintock as the writer’s assisstant. NBC may have cancelled it after just one season, but while it lasted it was hilarious comedy that was before its time.
Here we’ve got another shortlived series, Freaks and Geeks. The amazing pool of talent brought together by this show is just insane. Most of the people involved have now starred in/wrote/both hugely successful comedies, all because of a little show about growing up in 1980.
Lastly, 1999 saw the premiere of Farscape, the most stylistic and original looking science fiction show this side of Lexx, and it will almost certainly be the last show to ever use puppets and animatronics instead of CG, which is too bad. It may not have the lasting critical acclaim of Babylon 5 or BSG, but Farscape will always be a favourite of mine and damn does John Crichton still kick ass!
-Jerk
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