TVSquad

A pathetic excuse for a pick drawn up by TV Land's marketing department to cash in on a hot show on another network. I actually love Greys as much as the next person, but Future Classic? Yeesh. In 20 years, I say we are laughing at how petty and stupid some of these doctors seem, and wondering why we liked it in the first place.

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In 20 years people will still be laughing at Sienfeld and The Simpsons, and will not know Grey's Anatomy from ER.

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Let's look at the criteria for this ridiculous award:

* Each show must have premiered between January 1 and December 1, 2005.
* No returning series are considered.
* Each show must be regularly featured in prime time.
* Each show must be a drama, sitcom, or sketch comedy series.

So while CSI certainly deserves to have won following its premiere, it's not eligible here. And while Grey's Anatomy has proven that it is possible to revive the careers of young male actors from the early 80's, even that achievement is not deserving of "Future Classic" status. (Someone might want to consider trademarking the phrase "Macchio-Mania" very soon...)

Looking back at shows that have premiered in 2005, I can come up with a few I'd put far ahead of Grey's:

-My Name is Earl: Brilliant in everything from casting and writing to scenic design. Extra points to their location scouting crew for finding parts of the San Fernando Valley that look like "Camden County" should look like.

-The Office: The cringiest show ever. But while every sterotype on the show is exaggerated for humor, they still seem like some of the most realistic characters on television today.

-Robot Chicken (Or was that 2004? Who cares, it's still on my list ahead of Grey's. Stream-of-consciousness humor is very difficult to pull off with stop-motion animation.)

-The Boondocks (Tell me the episode with Martin Luther ing Jr. waking from his coma wasn't the best bit of social commentary this year.)

What did I miss?

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I'll agree on My Name Is Earl. But Robot Chicken? It's so horribly hit-and-miss that it's not even funny. Yeah, that's what I said. As for the Boondocks, I think it's still finding its footing (the lemonade stand episode? Bleh. The passion of Ruckus ep? Excellent.)

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I don't follow TV Land's antics, so I can't say I know exactly what they've been smoking, but chosing ANY show for "classic" status given one year's worth of shows is downright silly.

The first year of many shows we might consider "classics" aren't watchable. You could have a post on just that alone. Other shows once touted as "classic" are simply unwatchable now, given any of their seasons.

That all said, it's quite easy to see how easy it was for Grey's Anatomy took off so well. The "Young Doctors in Love" concept hasn't been done with such a sense of humor in quite a while. I thought Scrubs might have done that when it first came on, but that show ended up more like slapstick than a potential dramedy. Desparate Housewives started to falter for those "fringe watchers". DH had a bit of "series burnout" or sophomore jinx, depending on how you look at it (all the stories need wrapping up, and/or weren't thought through for a second season).

Grey's Anatomy has enough stuff for a couple of seasons, just on the basis of the number of people in the show. However, adding new people, like the orthopedic doc as a side character, and the bartender (who needs more [ongoing] storylines) will always refresh the show.

I saw the Nightline program dealing with race and GA, and thought it was well done. I'm assuming it's more of the same on the Primetime show later this week?

If this show will be considered a "classic" in the future, it will be that there won't be any "And now a SPECIAL EPISODE of Grey's Anatomy" shows. (Basically agreeing with the interview of the shows show runner.)

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