My Favorite Movies: #19—Young Frankenstein

19. Young Frankenstein (1974) 
Genre: Comedy 

Director: Mel Brooks 
Writers: Mel Brooks, Gene Wilder 
Stars: Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Madeline Kahn, Marty Feldman, Teri Garr, Cloris Leachman 
Awards: 2 Oscar nominations—Adapted Screenplay, Sound 
Metacritic score: 80 
IMDB Ranking: n/a

Mel Brooks has made some of the funniest movies of all time—I'm confident that Blazing Saddles would appear on at least one friend's list of favorites—but for me, none of his movies is more clever, more creative, or more brilliantly filmed than Young Frankenstein.

Brooks takes the familiar horror story and twists it with just enough goofiness, silliness, and absurdity that you both take it seriously as well as laugh at the insanity of the whole thing. Gene Wilder, looking like a young, mad Einstein, is Frederick Frankenstein, a legitimate medical doctor who only wants to erase any memories of his infamous grandfather. He goes so far as to insist that his name be pronounced "Frahnk-en-steen."

But curiosity and the desire for power over life and death draw him back to his grandfather's castle in Transylvania ("Pardon me boy, is this the Transylvania Station?"). There he discovers a bug-eyed crackpot minion, Igor (Marty Feldman, and pronounced "EYE-gore"),  a voluptuous young female assistant, Inga (Teri Garr at her most va-va-voomy), and the frightening Frau Blucher, played to the scenery-chewing pinnacle by Cloris Leachman.

The plot is identical to the classic original movie—Frederick studies his grandfather's notes, sews together pieces of corpses, uses an "Abby Normal" brain, then deals with the aftermath. The fun is in the new twists Brooks and crew puts into the film at every successive step.

After beginning an affair with Inga, Frederick's fiancee, played with madcap brilliance by Madeline Kahn, shows up at the castle. She ends up falling for the monster, however, which leads to a series of lewd and hilarious scenes. So many of the set pieces are comedy classics, such as "Igor, get the bags," "Puttin' on the Ritz," the blind hermit (an uncredited Gene Hackman), the angry villagers (led by Kenneth Mars, the local magistrate with prosthetic arm issues), "HE VAS MY BOYFRIEND!" and last but certainly not least, "Oooooooooooh, sweet mystery of life, at last I've found you!"

If you've seen the movie as many times as I have, each one of those references should have set you off in fits of laughter. If you've never seen Young Frankenstein, I feel sorry for you, because you haven't experienced one of the funniest films ever made. It is, like the Frankenstein story itself, a work of mad genius.

My Favorite Movies: #20—Close Encounters of the Third Kind

20. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Genre: Sci-Fi Drama

Director: Steven Spielberg

Writer: Steven Spielberg

Stars: Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon

Awards: 2 Oscars—Cinematography, Sound Effects

Metacritic score: 90

IMDB Ranking: n/a

Are there any other movies in which the entirety of the emotional impact of the film can be communicated with five simple musical notes? Steven Spielberg's sci-fi masterpiece is a great movie for a variety of reasons, but for me, it was my first experience with a film that transformed my way of looking at both film and the world around me.

Richard Dreyfuss plays Roy Neary, an Indiana electrical worker whose encounters with what appears to be alien spacecraft causes an obsession that drives away his wife and children as he gives up his whole life to discover the secret behind his experiences. We see the evidence of worldwide conspiracy as well as the joy of discovery through his eyes.

Melinda Dillon play Jillian Guiler, whose young son Barry is abducted by the aliens in one of the more terrifying scenes in the movie. She is the foil to Roy's obsessive need to know what is happening; although she follows Roy in his journey, she doesn't care about the why or the what—she just wants to get her son back.

Legendary French director Francois Truffaut is Claude Lacombe, the mysterious international leader of an organization that has apparently prepared for this level of alien contact for decades. In a way, he is like Neary in his desire for knowledge, but he is already privy to the secrets that keep Roy awake at night.

All these paths converge in a tense race up the narrow slope of Devil's Tower national monument in Wyoming, where the international team, along with the U.S. military, has prepared for the alien's arrival. The special effects for the climactic series of contacts were jaw-dropping in 1977, and for the most part, still hold up well today. Spielberg builds layer upon layer of revelation at the end of the movie, the awe and wonder of the audience reflected on screen by the film's characters.

I was too young to see Jaws in theaters (my parents wouldn't let me see "PG" rated movies at age 7!), so CE3K was my first experience with a Steven Spielberg movie. I knew, even at nine years old, that I was seeing the work of a genius. The characteristic Spielberg style—seeing the story unfold through the eyes of an "everyman" persona—was present, with the escalating levels of tension as the stakes grow higher, the risks potentially fatal, and the final revelation astounding.

I became as obsessed with this movie, as well as the idea of legitimate alien contact, as Roy Neary himself. I had posters from the movie all over my wall, as well as hand-drawn art of the alien mother ship. Unable to play piano, I nonetheless plunked out the familiar five-note anthem that has become so iconic (thank you, God, for the genius that is John Williams). Forty years later, this movie still has the power to make me feel like that amazed nine-year-old who knew he was watching something truly extraordinary.

My Favorite Movies: #21—Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

21. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Genre: Sci-Fi Action/Adventure

Director: Nicholas Meyer

Writers: Harve Bennett, Gene Roddenberry

Stars: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Ricardo Montalban

Awards: Saturn Awards—Actor (Shatner), Director

Metacritic score: 71

IMDB Ranking: n/a

In the pantheon of "sequels that far eclipsed their original films," Star Trek II is right up there with The Empire Strikes Back and Superman II. I would argue, however, that Star Trek II deserves the nod in this category because a) Empire was the sequel to Star Wars, a great movie in its own right, and b) Superman I was just okay but not the unmitigated disaster that was Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

The Wrath of Khan is so good that Trekkies forgave and forgot how bad the first movie in the film franchise was. The original cast of the TV show is all present, and each actor gives perhaps his and her finest performance in the most serious of all the original series movies.

Best of all are the scenes where William Shatner and Ricardo Montalban take turns seeing who can devour the most scenery. The amazing thing is how well this works within the context of the movie and everything that is at stake for these characters.

The special effects are a bit outdated to modern audiences since the film was made in 1982, and younger audiences who think "old Star Trek" means Picard and Data may find the whole thing a little over the top, but to Gen-Xers like me whose entry into science fiction were Star Trek reruns on weekend TV, this movie will always be a timeless classic. 

My Favorite Movies: #22—Ratatouille

22. Ratatouille (2007)

Genre: Animated Comedy

Director: Brad Bird

Writer: Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava

Stars: Patton Oswalt, Brad Garrett, Lou Romano, Janeane Garofalo, Peter O’Toole, Brian Dennehy

Awards: 1 Oscar—Animated Feature           

Metacritic score: 96

IMDB Ranking: n/a

This often-overlooked gem from Disney/Pixar is a love letter to the joy of food and the passion for cooking as an expression of true creativity. More than that, however, it is a profound statement on the nature of art and the ability of those who come from the most humble of backgrounds to create something truly extraordinary.

No chef could come from a more humble place than Remy (Patton Oswalt), a rat from the French countryside whose love for cooking and desire to learn from his idol, Chef Gusteau (Brad Garrett), leads him to Gusteau's famous restaurant in Paris.

The restaurant has fallen on hard times, however; Gusteau has died, and in his place, Chef Skinner (Ian Holm) has allowed Gusteau's former reputation to decline into average, forgettable cuisine in the restaurant as a front for Skinner's profitable line of cheap frozen foods.

Remy ends up befriending the hapless garbage boy, Linguini (Lou Romano), whose complete ineptitude in the kitchen contrasts with Remy's genius. But because a rat can't cook in a human kitchen, Remy hides under Linguini's toque and manipulates his actions like a puppeteer by pulling on various strands of hair. Remy's new creations eventually attract the attention of Paris's most cruel and dismissive food critic, Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole).

What transpires from Ego's terrifying challenge ("Tell him I want whatever he dares serve me...tell him to 'hit me with his best shot'!") is one of the most heartwarming expressions of the true food lover and the reason why we have so many television show devoted to the art, craft, and science of cooking: food connects us to our past and reminds us of the people we love the most.

Food is about so much more than just eating or cooking. It's about the relationships we make both within the kitchen and around the dining table. It's recipes that are handed down in families through multiple generations and the love that we put into preparing meals for our families and friends. It was a big deal when Jesus ate meals with prostitutes and tax collectors—it meant he accepted them as friends and welcomed them into fellowship with him. Food is what binds us together in loving relationships.

Director Brad Bird is better known for the Pixar masterpiece The Incredibles (and rightly so), but this movie is another reason why Bird's work stands out even among the brilliant artists at Pixar. The supporting cast of voice artists is characteristically outstanding, as is usually the case with Pixar movies, most notably Janeane Garofalo (Collette) and Brian Dennehy (Django).

For me, every moment of this movie is joyful, but none more so than Anton Ego's review of his marvelous meal at Gusteau's. His commentary speaks to the heart of every creative soul as well as the critics who take easy shots at their work, and it is the theme at the heart of this wonderful, amazing movie.

My Favorite Movies: #23—The Cutting Edge

23. The Cutting Edge (1992)

Genre: Romantic Drama

Director: Paul Michael Glaser

Writer: Tony Gilroy

Stars: D. B. Sweeney, Moira Kelly, Roy Dotrice, Terry O’Quinn

Awards: none

IMDB user rating: 6.9/10

IMDB Ranking: n/a

This is the one you're all going to roast me about, but I don't care. This movie is at the top of my "Guilty Pleasures" list. It's an opposites-attract romance with stock characters and a completely predictable plot, but I don't care...I love it anyway.

Doug Dorsey (D.B. Sweeney) is the best player on the U.S. Olympic hockey team with a bright future in the NHL ahead of him. Kate Mosely (Moira Kelly) is favored to win the Gold Medal for pairs figure skating. But a head injury ends Doug's career in hockey, while Kate's inability to trust a male partner prevents her from winning the coveted gold.

Her skating coach, a Russian named Anton Pamchenko (Roy Dotrice) realizes that no one in competitive figure skating will work with Kate. He also knows that Doug has no future in hockey, but he can still skate like a champion. Irresistible force, meet immovable object. Harsh words are exchanged. Hateful glances resound through the rink. Tempers flare as both partners resist the inevitable attraction between them.

One of the best things about a guilty movie pleasure is that it's the cinematic equivalent of comfort food—you know it's not inherently good, and you also know that it's not good for you, but it just makes you feel so wonderful as you're partaking of it. The Cutting Edge is my favorite bit of romantic comfort food.

It's as cheesy as it sounds, but let's be honest...most of us love cheese. The appeal of this movie in a general sense is the chemistry between Sweeney and Kelly, two likeable and appealing actors who give their all to these characters, as well as the fun of watching the predictable beats unfold: a) meet cute; b) hate each other; c) crush on each other; d) fight; e) make up. 

But in a more personal sense, my affinity for the film is connected to a specific time in my life. I was a pretty lonely guy in my teens and twenties. I spent most of my high school years chasing a girl who I couldn't quite catch, and my entire undergrad term in college was alone and dateless (not even one...I'm not exaggerating). I had a brief relationship with a wonderful young woman when I was in grad school, but my own shortcomings ended that. This movie came out in the Spring of 1992, many months before my next real-life relationship would begin.

What I'm saying is that for a lonely young man with an excess of unfulfilled romantic longings, this movie hit me right in my sweet spot. Watching these appealing characters, who you want to see both fulfill their Olympic dreams and realize their love for each other, go through the familiar beats of a predictable romantic plot was, at the time, almost like experiencing it for myself.

So take your shots, O cynical and jaded Internet hoi polloi...I won't apologize for loving this deep-dish cheese pizza with extra cheese and fried cheese sticks on the side. It makes me happy inside!

My Favorite Movies: #24—Almost Famous

24. Almost Famous (2000)

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Director: Cameron Crowe

Writer: Cameron Crowe

Stars: Billy Crudup, Patrick Fugit, Kate Hudson, Jason Lee, Frances McDormand, Zooey Deschanel, Phillip Seymour Hoffman

Awards: 1 Oscar—Original Screenplay

Metacritic score: 90   

IMDB Ranking: n/a

Cameron Crowe's semi-autobiographical film about a 15-year-old writing prodigy who spends several weeks on the road with an up-and-coming '70s rock band is filled with wonderful performances that evoke a strong sense of nostalgia for both the music we loved growing up as well as the bittersweet taste of the first sense of romantic love in our teenage years.

Crowe's alter ego, a young man named William (Patrick Fugit), writes freelance articles for Cream magazine under the frenetic counter-cultural tutelage of the magazine's founder, Lester Bangs (Phillip Seymour Hoffman, who steals every scene he's in). Bangs sends him to cover the local Black Sabbath performance, but unable to get into the concert, William hooks up with the opening act, Stillwater (an amalgam of The Eagles and The Allman Brothers Band, according to Crowe).

Stillwater is a band on the rise, but they are plagued by bruised egos—the band's lead singer, Jeff Bebe (Jason Lee), never thinks he's getting the attention he deserves—and resentments, most notably the awareness of lead guitarist Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup) that he's better than the rest of his bandmates. When William comes into the mix, now writing a feature for Rolling Stone magazine, they vacillate between wanting the positive exposure William can give them with fearing that he will tell the truth about who they really are.

This movie, at its heart, is about being honest about who you are. William is the only honest character around the band. His love/crush is groupie Penny Lane (Kate Hudson), who is never honest about her real name or actual age (though she does reveal these to William, who is the catalyst for honesty). Jeff and Russell refuse to tell William the truth about almost anything, which leads to a harrowing yet hilarious airing of brutal honesty in the midst of an airplane flight that is apparently going to crash in a thunderstorm. When they all land safely, they are left to deal with the aftermath of the truth.

It's also a movie about the love of music. Lester Bangs waxes rhapsodic to William about what's both good and bad about rock music. The groupies insist they follow the band for the music, not the sex or the association with fame. William wants to be a music writer because he loves the music above all. Lee and Crudup really perform the music on screen, and you can tell how much they love the experience. Toward the end of the movie, when Russell finally allows William to honesty interview him, after all they've been through in the weeks before, what they talk about it why they love the music.

William is a character driven by female forces beyond his control. The good in him is driven by his mother, played with characteristic brilliance by Frances McDormand. His love for rock and roll is inspired by his sister (Zooey Deschanel), who leaves William her rock album collection as she runs away from home. His heart yearns for Penny, but she's in love with Russell, who's also married, and the whole thing leads to an airing of honesty that is both painful and liberating. Even while on the road, he stays in the same room as the band's groupies (and what 15-year-old boy wouldn't think of that as a slice of heaven?).

I love this movie because it makes me wish that at age 18, I had been a member of a rock band that threw all their gear in the back of a van and traveled the country playing gigs for food money and comped rooms until we made the big time. That's the dream. The reality, however, is that if that had actually happened for me, I would be the drummer they found dead in his hotel room about 37 minutes into the VH1 Behind the Music documentary: "He had choked to death on his own vomit." Not exactly the epitaph I'm looking for. But the dream is still enticing as a dream, and Almost Famous lets us all tag along for the ride.

My Favorite Movies: #25—Dan in Real Life

25. Dan in Real Life (2007)

Genre: Romantic Drama

Director: Peter Hedges

Writers: Pierce Gardner, Peter Hedges

Stars: Steve Carell, Juliette Binoche, Dane Cook, Dianne Wiest, John Mahoney

Awards: none

Metacritic score: 65

IMDB Ranking: n/a

I'm a sucker for romantic comedies—it's actually my favorite genre of movie, although the past year has kept those DVDs on the shelf for the time being—and this is one of the most recent additions to my favorites list.

Steve Carell is a widower with three daughters who falls in love with his brother's (Dane Cook) new girlfriend (Juliette Binoche...who wouldn't?) over a long family weekend at their parents' (Mahoney & Wiest) beach house. All the brothers and sisters, along with their kids, are in the house, and the dynamic of the large extended family is the background for the unfolding of the complicated romance.

The fun in the movie is watching Carell and Binoche, who have an amazing chemistry together, resist their attraction to each other for the sake of the unwitting brother, who despite being played by dude-bro comedian Cook is really a decent, caring guy. The problem is that Carell and Binoche are truly meant to be together, but they can't do so without hurting the whole family...which they do despite their best efforts.

The resolution to everything is both sweet and poignant, and it really captures the heartache that love often causes. Just about every scene in this film is quiet and understated, and the last shot of Binoche is enough to give even the most cynical viewer renewed hope in true love.

My Top 25 Favorite Movies

My friends and I, primarily Steve Lewis and Jeff South, have been kicking around the idea of a "Blog Club" where we can encourage each other to keep active with the regular blog posts as well as comment on similar material, since we all share the same passion for the arts, including film, television, music, theater, and books.

Steve's taken the first crack at his Top 20 Favorite Movies, which he based purely on his subjective preference in terms of how much he enjoys the movie. What this means is that although quality was one of his criteria, it wasn't the determining factor (hence, "favorite" rather than "best").

I've decided to engage the "Blog Club" concept with my own take on my favorite movies but with my own personal twist. I'm sticking with my favorites, but I'm also letting quality drive the process a bit more heavily than Steve did, so you'll see a lot of award-winning, critically favored movies at the top of my list as opposed to the bottom half. This helped me determine the final order of all the movies.

My individual rankings were derived from an assignment I give each time I teach Advanced College Writing, in which I ask students in a group discussion to list their five favorite movies in six categories: a) All-Time; b) Comedy; c) Romance; d) Horror; e) Action-Adventure; f) Sci-Fi/Fantasy. I play along with my class, so I have my own films listed in all these categories.

I took my top three movies in every category (more or less), then threw out a few ("The Exorcist" is the scariest movie of all time but not one of my favorites), plus added in the extra categories of "Animated" and "Gangster." I then put all those movies out on the table and ranked them as a whole based on my personal affinity plus overall quality, critical reception, and awards.

So that's my system, and yes, it's just as subjective as Steve's was, as are all forms of qualitative evaluation (a term my ACW students know all too well). Debating the quality of artistic expression in terms of our emotional and intellectual reaction to those forms is what makes the performing arts such a rich and vital part of human life. It's what drew me to the humanities as a student and what continues to drive me as a college professor.

Here's what you'll see, starting tomorrow, and then hopefully each day as I count down from #25 to #1. If the list were one longer, this example would be #26, which ironically, I list as my #1 funniest movie because it makes me laugh more than any other, but it didn't make the cut because the other 25 are either better quality movies or more beloved favorites. In any case, here's the format you can expect to see:

#26—Liar, Liar (1997)

Genre: Comedy

Director: Tom Shadyac

Writers: Paul Guay, Stephen Mazur

Stars: Jim Carrey, Maura Tierney, Carey Elwes, Amanda Donohoe, Jennifer Tilly

Awards: 1 Golden Globe nomination—Comic Lead Actor (Carrey)

Metacritic Score: 70

IMDB Ranking: n/a

2017: Silver Linings Recap

One of the last things my good friend and spiritual guru Tom C. told me before I left St. Louis in 1995 to move back to Poplar Bluff to get married was that "life is nothing more than lessons and blessings." Everything that happens is either a blessing to be grateful for or a lesson to teach us how to live better. 2017 was filled with both in the most painful way possible.

Those of you who know me already know that I got divorced last year. I didn't want to end the marriage, but sometimes in life we are forced to accept the unacceptable. My Facebook post back in August was my final public word about the end of that part of my life, and I invite you to go back and read it again. I've learned that being divorced is not the central reality of my life, nor does it define who I am, even though it dominated my thoughts and feelings throughout the year that was.

What's more important is what I've learned from the lessons of that experience, and I hope you'll allow me to share my thoughts about it. First of all, for all you married men: your wife is like a rare and precious orchid, and she needs constant nurturing in order for her to grow and flourish. Don't take your marriage for granted; keep pursuing her heart in the same way you did when you were trying to win her love.

Second, for the wives: Don't ever assume that because you are unhappy that your husband is aware of your unhappiness. Men are simple, direct, literal creatures who generally operate on the principle of "No news is good news." Most of us men lack the empathy and emotional intuition that women take for granted in their own lives. When you have a problem, please tell your husband what it is. Prepare for him to be defensive at first (most men don't like being wrong, even when we know that we are), then allow him space to think about it, and then listen when he proposes a solution to the problem. We are instinctively problem-solvers at heart, but we can't fix something if we don't know it's malfunctioning.

If neither of these observations from my own experience apply to you, your marriage, or your relationship, and you have a happy and flourishing marriage, then I'm grateful for that blessing in your life. I've experienced that feeling for many years, and I hope life affords me that blessing again in the future.

I had some dark times throughout this past year. There were days when it felt like giving up would be so much easier than going on. The lesson from this is that when life gives you more than you can handle, you reach out to everyone available. God was there for me when I felt most alone; when I felt like I was wandering aimlessly through a vast wilderness, he was there with me, assuring me that he could and would lead me out because he had already been there himself.

Friends, family, pastors, and counselors were there for me, as well. I learned that love is everywhere in your life; all you have to do is ask for it. I want to mention by name those who walked this path with me: my mom and dad, who got me through this year day by day; my sister, Julie; all my children and grandkids, whose love has been the foundation of my hope; friends, Steve, Carol, Tuck, Wags, LeighAnn, Lisa, and Tanzina, all of whom were there for me in so many ways; spiritual mentors John H., Jason J., and Tom C.; the cast and crew of Once Upon a Mattress; and probably dozens of others who I haven't mentioned by name but who have been "Eskimos" for me in one way or another this year.

In the midst of all of this, I've had some amazing, life-changing experiences. I self-published my first novel, Dylan's Treasure, in print for the first time, and I received several wonderful reviews on the Amazon sales site in response. I also completed my revisions, rewrites, and edits on my second novel, titled The Spring of Llanfyllin, and I'll be spending the next several weeks soliciting agents to try to get this book professionally published. I'm also actively working on my first screenplay and continuing to develop a short story collection.

Yeah, they feel like that...

Perhaps the biggest blessing was the attack of kidney stones that started on Christmas Eve 2016. The CT scans the ER did for the stones exposed a tumor that two different doctors told me was probably kidney cancer; my urologist said it was an 80 percent chance it was cancer. I had two minor surgeries to treat the stones, then a six-plus hour DaVinci robot surgery to remove the tumor from my right kidney. Then, double-blessings: it wasn't cancer, but it was a fast-growing benign tumor that if left undiagnosed would have burst in my abdomen. These doctors quite literally saved my life.

Being single again after 22 years afforded me several opportunities for involvement in activities that I probably wouldn't have otherwise pursued. I was able to attend two different spiritual conferences, one in Jefferson City, the other in St. Louis, that helped me to reconnect with friends both old and new who are trudging the same road of happy destiny that I've been on for 25 years now (an anniversary I celebrated this past Thanksgiving). My involvement in this organization has deepened in a way that hasn't been present in my life since the beginning of the journey. This membership has also been instrumental in helping carry me through the darkest days of the past year, and for that, I am deeply grateful.

Shenanigans!

I caught the acting bug in a big way. I had wanted to audition for several plays at the college in the past, but adding more activities to an impossible schedule was, well, impossible. This fall, it became possible, and I played the role of "King Sextimus," the mute king of Once Upon a Mattress. This zany musical comedy featured a blend of talent from mature actors, college students, and high school prodigies. Three months of rehearsals and four amazing performances left us all like a family who didn't want to say goodbye when the holiday was over. I'm looking forward to taking part in future productions with our college theater troupe.

Finally, I completed my final graduate philosophy class from University of Illinois-Springfield, which gives me 20 graduate credit hours in the subject, granting me the academic credentials to be certified as an official philosophy professor. This will not only enable me to keep teaching these classes at my current position at Three Rivers, but it qualifies me for future opportunities in this field as the years progress.

Happy New Year!

I've spent most of the past year in anticipation of putting 2017 behind me, but as 2018 begins, it's clear that my blessings have been at least equal to the lessons that challenged me. The new year is off to an auspicious start with a new car to take me to wherever life leads me in the weeks and months to come. To all of you who have been with me in the year that was, let's hope this new year affords us all abundant blessings. As for the lessons...if they're yours, know that I'll always be here for you in the same way you were for me.

My Top Ten Favorite Television Series of 2017

We are truly living in the Golden Age of television with all the various creative outlets available to do innovative, risk-taking, get out of the box and nuke the forking thing TV shows. Let's hope the GOP's ongoing plan to give what little is left of "not owned by the one percent," demonstrated in this case by the repeal of net neutrality, doesn't kill off all the streaming web outlets that provided numbers three and four of this list and gives the other shows the opportunity to binge-watch content we missed the first time around.

Two caveats: First, this is a list of my ten favorite shows from the past year. I'm not saying they're better than your favorites; these are the ones that entertained me. That makes the list subjective, which means neither of us are wrong or right (take a philosophy class if this is unclear to you). If you don't like my list, start your own blog. Second, I'm revealing spoilers in my mini-reviews, so if you haven't seen any of these shows, but you're planning on bingeing in the future to get caught up, hit the road, Jack.

#10—Will and Grace (NBC)
Yeah, I'm just as surprised as you are. Of all the shows that had their run and went off the air, this is not one I would have picked to return. However, the cast is as good and funny as they ever were, the sharpness of the relationships between these characters is as endearing as talking with an old friend, and the politics couldn't be more cutting or appropriate. The real gem, now as before, is Megan Mullally's Karen—how this actress manages to combine alcoholic one-percenter vapidness with smoking cougar sexiness and genuine vulnerability is nothing short of genius. I may not have ordered this one, but I'm glad it was delivered all the same.

#9—The Good Doctor (ABC)
It's as predictable as a romance novel and cornier than Autumn in Iowa, but boy, does this cast deliver the goods. Freddie Highmore portrays Dr. Sean Murphy, an autistic savant surgeon who is given a shot as a resident at a San Jose, CA, hospital. West Wing veteran Richard Schiff (Toby Ziegler) anchors the cast as the hospital president, and the supporting cast reacts well to Dr. Murphy's cringe-worthy lack of social and interpersonal skills. It's an old-fashioned medical drama in the mold of St. Elsewhere and ER that I hope becomes more complex as it develops.

#8—The Orville (FOX)
High-concept pitch: Star Trek meets Family Guy. Uhh, thanks, but I'll pass. At least, that was my first reaction. But creator and star Seth Macfarlane's series is actually a straight-up solid sci-fi action series with just the right amount of irreverent humor thrown in. All the standard tropes are in place—stoic alien, rookie officer, understanding doctor, skilled crewmen, curious robot—but everything is bent in a crooked way where the familiar feels fresh. I watched the first season on multiple recommendations from friends, and I can't wait to see what happens next.

#7—The Blacklist (NBC)
I was almost ready to give up on this series in spite of James Spader's flawless performance as genial/sinister good daddy/international criminal Raymond "Red" Reddington because they kept dragging out the mystery of his relationship to worst-FBI-agent-ever Liz Keen, but they essentially rebooted this season by disclosing the no-longer-surprising secret that Red is Liz's biological father but also making Liz a fugitive from the law, then having shot-in-the-head-but-not-dead fixer Mr. Kaplan (a woman) destroy Red's entire criminal empire, forcing him and Liz to rebuild his network from scratch. It seems that watching Red make do with nothing but his brain and his balls (Which is bigger? Who can tell?) is far more interesting than watching them catch the latest nefarious mastermind of the week.

#6—Better Call Saul (AMC)
Prequels almost never work (Star Wars 1-3, anyone? No?), but this Breaking Bad prequel focusing on shyster lawyer Saul Goodman (nee Jimmy McGill) is one of the most compelling and compulsively watchable shows on television. We simply took it for granted that Walter White was able to find an attorney with no moral compass to keep his meth empire one step ahead of the law. Watching how a two-bit con man with serious family issues, a massive inferiority complex, and a heart of gold transform into what we already know he will become is, in its own way, more interesting that White's descent into criminal hell. As Jimmy's story edges closer and closer to his first encounter with Mr. Heisenberg, our knowledge of the outcome only intensifies the anticipation.

#5—Game of Thrones (HBO)
Plot holes? What plot holes? Okay, obsessive Westeros watchers know how far it is from Dragonstone to The Wall, and we know how fast a dragon can fly, but does all of that really matter in the long run? We all would have preferred ten episodes to the seven we got (and there was more than enough story to fill it), but we should also consider that each episode is as epic in scope as most theatrically released movies, and if you weren't blown out of your seat when Drogon incinerated Jamie Lannister's troops, or when the Night King killed Viserion, or when Lady Olenna dropped the mike on Jamie's merciful death sentence, or especially when Arya gave Littlefinger what he so richly deserved, or when the incest scene we so desperately wanted/dreaded finally happened, well, I don't know what else this show could do to entertain you.

#4—Stranger Things 2 (Netflix)
I wrote previously on this blog about how in many cases, no matter how badly we want a sequel, sometimes a perfect show or a great movie should just stand on its own. For example, we never got a Beetlejuice sequel, thank God. On the other hand, some of us were dumb enough to watch True Detective 2. ST2 avoided the sophomore slump in a big way by introducing new characters (Max, Billy, Bob), enhancing the roles of old characters (Will, Dustin, Hooper) and bringing an amazing new depth to characters we didn't know was there before (Steve, the world's best babysitter). Show creators Matt and Ross Duffer not only avoided the sophomore slump, they hit another home run that left us hungry for more Stranger Things to come.

#3—The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon Prime)
This show alone is worth the cost of an Amazon Prime membership. The first eight-episode season (block off an entire day; you'll want to binge-watch the whole thing) follows Miriam (Midge) Maisel, a beautiful young Jewish wife and mother whose perfect Upper West Side life is blown to pieces when her husband Joel, an aspiring but uninspired stand-up comic, leaves Midge for his secretary. That happens in the first episode. Drunk, angry, and baffled at the turn her life has taken, Midge ends up on stage at the Gaslight Cafe, and she kills the audience with her honest and hilarious take on how the bottom has fallen out of her life's expectations. The rest of the season follows her journey to be taken seriously as a female comedian in the late 1950s. Loosely based on pioneer comics Joan Rivers and Phyllis Diller, this series is a star-making turn for Rachel Brosnahan, and unlike my trepidation about a second serving of Stranger Things, I can't wait to see where Midge goes from here.

#2—Rick and Morty (Cartoon Network)
I don't know why this series works or why it is so funny when I describe it as a series of adventures across multiple dimensions of reality taken by Rick, a nihilistic, sociopathic alcoholic super-genius, and his long-suffering sidekick and grandson, Morty, who is constantly in a state of near-panic at the circumstances his grandfather continues to put him into. From this point, it only gets more insane, and it would take me 27 more paragraphs to try to explain it. The true genius of the show is the interconnected world it has created episode by episode, more complex in three seasons than all nine original seasons of The X-Files. Each episode is filled with blood, gore, killings, illicit sex, and various other atrocities that are, in each and every case, laugh-out-loud funny in spite of our instinctive recoil at the situation. The only downside is how long we will have to wait for season four.

#1—The Good Place (NBC)
If you've not yet seen season one of The Good Place, but you're definitely planning to watch it, please stop reading this RIGHT NOW!

Holy forking shirt!

Okay, I really don't want to spoil the surprise twist reveal at the end of season one that our four humans—an Arizona dirtbag (Eleanor, Kristen Bell), a human turtleneck (Chidi, William Jackson Harper), a narcissistic monster (Tahani, Jameela Jamil), and literally the dumbest person I've ever met (Jason, Manny Jacinto)—are not really in The Good Place...they're in The Bad Place, the target of what neighborhood architect Michael (Ted Danson) intended to be 1,000 years of psychological torture, aided unwittingly by the sweet-natured robot (not a robot) Janet (D'arcy Carden), the repository of all information in the universe in a smoking hot body.

Having completely turned the entirety of season one on its head (only Ted Danson and Kristen Bell knew the truth from the beginning; the rest of the cast was kept in the dark until they prepared to film the final episode), season two is like the best of the classic-era Warner Brothers cartoons brought to life. Because Eleanor keeps figuring out Michael's torture gambit, he has to keep rebooting the neighborhood—802 times. But the real fun begins when he gives up and recruits the humans to help him trick the other demons (not what they really are, and a little racist, but it's fine) in return for his promise to help them all get to the REAL "Good Place." When the fall episodes ended, we were left with another cliffhanger...apparently Michael's boss has been clued in to how forked up the neighborhood has become, and it looks like there will be literal hell to pay. The best news of all? I only have to wait until this Thursday to find out what happens!

But that's just all of the fun on the surface. What makes the show stand out above all others is how an immortal being dedicated to torturing human souls for all eternity (Michael) and a robot/lady/person/busty Alexa (not a robot, not a lady, not a person—Janet) interact with the four doomed humans who, despite living lives on earth that earned them eternal punishment, are dedicated to learning ethical principles and living better lives in the afterworld. I just rewatched season one after watching season two thus far about a dozen times, and it's amazing how perfectly plotted and connected the plots and the characters are. Series creator Michael Schur deserves The Good Place for what he's given us so far.