Television

Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an American cult television series that initially aired from March 10, 1997 until May 20, 2003. It was created by writer-director Joss Whedon under his production tag, Mutant Enemy Productions. The series narrative follows Buffy Anne Summers (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar), the latest in a line of young women chosen by fate to battle against vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness as the Slayer. Like previous Slayers, Buffy is aided by a Watcher, who guides and trains her. Unlike her predecessors, Buffy surrounds herself with a circle of loyal friends who become known as the ."

The series usually reached between four and six million viewers on original airings.Although such ratings are lower than successful shows on the "big four" networks (ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox), they were a success for the relatively new and smaller WB Television Network. Reviews for the show were positive, and it was ranked #41 on the list of TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. Buffy was also voted #3 in TV Guide's Top 25 Cult TV Shows of All Time and included in TIME Magazine's 100 Best TV Shows of All Time. It was nominated for Emmy and Golden Globe awards. The WB network ceased operation on September 17, 2006 after airing a "homage" to their "most memorable series", including the pilot episodes of Buffy and its spin-off Angel.

Buffy's success has led to hundreds of tie-in products, including novels, comics, and video games. The series has received attention in fandom (including fan films), parody, and academia, and has influenced the direction of other television series

Space: Above And Beyond

Space: Above and Beyond (sometimes called Space 2063, and abbreviated as S:AAB) is a short-lived 1990s American science fiction television show on the FOX Network, created and written by Glen Morgan and James Wong. Originally planned for five seasons, it ran only for the 1995–1996 season. It was nominated for two Emmy Awards and one Saturn Award.

The show, set in the years 2063–2064, focuses on a group of United States Marines, members of the United States Marine Corps Space Aviator Cavalry, 58th Squadron, or the "Wildcards". They are based on the space carrier USS Saratoga, and act as infantry and pilots of SA-43 Endo/Exo-Atmospheric Attack Jet ("Hammerhead") fighters.

The show depicted a more rigid command structure and organization of forces than contemporary science-fiction shows like Babylon 5 and Star Trek. The show remains something of a cult series. This is partially related to the fact that the series received significantly better ratings during its second run on the Sci Fi Channel, as compared to the mediocre ratings in its initial run on the FOX Network. Criticism has been voiced by the producers, citing the lack of marketing, frequent slot changes, and constant pre-emption for sporting events as responsible for its poor ratings while running on the Fox Network.

Doctor Who

Doctor Who is a long-running, award-winning British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a mysterious alien time-traveller known as "the Doctor" who travels in his space and time-ship, the TARDIS, which appears from the exterior to be a blue police phone box. With his companions, he explores time and space, solving problems and righting wrongs.

The programme is listed in Guinness World Records as the longest-running science fiction television show in the world and is also a significant part of British popular culture.It has been recognised for its imaginative stories, creative low-budget special effects during its original run, and pioneering use of electronic music (originally produced by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop). In Britain and elsewhere, the show has become a cult television favourite and has influenced generations of British television professionals, many of whom grew up watching the series. It has received recognition from critics and the public as one of the finest British television programmes, including the BAFTA Award for Best Drama Series in 2006.

The programme originally ran from 1963 to 1989. A television film was made in 1996 as a backdoor pilot for a new series (which never entered production), and the programme was successfully relaunched in 2005, produced in-house by BBC Wales. Some development money for the new series is contributed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), which is credited as a co-producer. Doctor Who has also spawned spin-offs in multiple media, including the current television programmes Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

The show's lead character is currently portrayed by David Tennant.

Firefly

Firefly is an American science fiction television series created by writer/director Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, under his Mutant Enemy Productions. Its naturalistic future setting, modeled after traditional Western movie motifs, presents an atypical backdrop for the science fiction narrative. Whedon served as executive producer.

Firefly premiered in the United States and Canada on the FOX network on September 20, 2002. It was cancelled after only eleven of the fourteen produced episodes were aired. Despite the series' relatively short life span, it received strong sales when it was released on DVD, and has impressive fan support campaigns. It won an Emmy in 2003 for "Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series". The post-airing success of the show led Whedon and Universal Pictures to produce a film based on the series, titled Serenity after the fictional Firefly-class spaceship featured in the show.

The series is set in the year 2517, after humans have arrived at a new star system, and follows the adventures of the renegade crew of Serenity, a Firefly-class spaceship. The ensemble cast portrays the nine characters who live on Serenity. Whedon pitched the show as "nine people looking into the blackness of space and seeing nine different things".

The show explores the vicissitudes of people who fought on the losing side of a civil war, as well as the pioneer culture that exists on the fringes of their star system. In addition, it is a future where the only two surviving superpowers, the United States and China, fused to form the central federal government, called the Alliance, resulting in the fusion of the two cultures as well. According to Whedon's vision, nothing will change in the future: technology will advance, but we will still have the same political, moral, and ethical problems as today

Alan Partridge

Alan Gordon Partridge is a television and radio presenter portrayed by English comedian Steve Coogan. A parody of both sports commentators and chat show presenters, the character has appeared in two radio series, three television series and numerous TV and radio specials, including appearances on BBC's Comic Relief, which have followed the rise and fall of his career.

Whereas many of his personality defects are apparent in his appearances in shows such as The Day Today and Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge, it is largely from I'm Alan Partridge onwards that his creators began to explore his personality in depth, and most of the observations that follow originated in that show. In all of the shows, however, Partridge is characterised as being an insecure, superficial and narcissistic 'wally', concerned largely with the status and level of his public profile and, to a lesser extent, the possessions this allows him to acquire (such as his beloved Rover and Lexus cars and Bang & Olufsen stereo systems). Despite being a professional broadcaster, Partridge is a socially incompetent and awkward character, who is prone to social faux pas and often displays deep insensitivity to social norms and a thoughtless, selfish lack of interest in anything or anyone outside of his own needs and desires; as a result, he is often depicted as a highly-flawed and unsympathetic character, disliked by many of the people with whom he comes into contact. Among the character’s few "friends" that are depicted in his appearances are Lynn Benfield, his put-upon and long-suffering personal assistant, and Michael, an emotionally tortured ex-soldier from Newcastle-upon-Tyne. It is notable, however, that he treats even these people with little more than disdain, despite expecting complete loyalty from them in return; in the first series of I'm Alan Partridge he does not even seem to be on first-name terms with Michael. Bizarrely, Alan appears to have a close friendship with Bill Oddie, who even sends him birthday presents. Partridge is otherwise depicted as being unable to forge genuine friendships or connections with other people, who are often turned off by his unpleasant, self-obsessed personality

Ed is an NBC television program produced by David Letterman's Worldwide Pants Incorporated from 2000–2004.

The hour-long comedy-drama starred Tom Cavanagh as Edward Jeremy Stevens, the protagonist, Julie Bowen as his love interest Carol Phyllis Vessey, Josh Randall as his friend Dr. Mike Burton, Jana Marie Hupp as Mike's wife Nancy, as their friend Molly Hudson, and Justin Long as awkward high-school student Warren Cheswick. Other supporting cast members included Michael Genadry and Ginnifer Goodwin as Warren's friends Mark and Diane, and Michael Ian Black, Mike Starr, Rachel Cronin, and (later) Daryl Mitchell as the employees of Stuckeybowl, Ed's bowling alley. Long term guest stars included John Slattery as Dennis Martino and Sabrina Lloyd as Frankie Hector. The show was created by executive producers Jon Beckerman and Rob Burnett. David Letterman is also credited as one of the show's executive producers.

Ed received casting, writing, and directing Emmy nominations in 2001.Tom Cavanagh received a Golden Globe nomination and a TV Guide Award for his work on the program.

In 2004, despite a campaign by fans to keep the series on the air, NBC cut the show from their lineup because of poor ratings.

Battlestar Galactica

Battlestar Galactica, or BSG, is a franchise of American science fiction films and television series, the first of which was produced in 1978. A series of book adaptations, original novels, comic books and video games have also been based on the concept. A re-imagined miniseries aired in 2003, with a regular television series starting in 2004.

All of the Battlestar Galactica productions share the same premise: In a distant part of the universe, a civilization of humans live on planets known as the Twelve Colonies. In the past, the Colonies have been at war with a cybernetic race known as the Cylons. With the help (knowing or unknowing) of a human named Baltar, the Cylons launch a sudden sneak attack on the Colonies, laying waste to the planets and devastating their populations. A few thousand of the human survivors flee into space aboard any spacecraft they can reach. Of all the Colonial Fleet, the Battlestar Galactica appears to be the only military ship that survived the attack. Under the leadership of famed military leader Commander Adama, the Battlestar Galactica and its crew take up the task of leading the ragtag fugitive fleet of survivors into space in search of a fabled refuge known as Earth.

Scrubs

Scrubs is an Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning American situation comedy/comedy-drama that premiered on October 2, 2001 on NBC. It was created by Bill Lawrence and is produced by Touchstone Television. The show focuses on the professional and personal lives of several characters working at Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features verbose characters, slapstick, fast-paced dialogue, and surreal vignettes which are presented as the daydreams of the main characters. This latter feature was originally focused entirely on the central character, Dr. John "J.D." Michael Dorian, however, it was expanded to the daydreams of other characters (first in special one-off episodes and then integrated alongside J.D.'s own daydreams, but still keeping the occasional special episode) as the series progressed. The seventh season of Scrubs premiered on October 25, 2007

Operation Good Guys

Operation Good Guys (OGG) is a 1997 British mockumentary, a fly-on-the-wall documentary series about an elite police unit's bid to snare one of Britain's most powerful crime lords. But things are not quite what they seem... Operation Good Guys is in fact an innovative and irreverent comedy. Blurring the line between fact and fiction, it witnesses, on camera, the total breakdown, professionally and personally, of the Operation Good Guys team. Throughout the operation, The 'Good Guys' have an unfortunate habit of embroiling into their calamitous world some of the country's best-known celebrities, from actors and footballers, to TV presenters and even the odd ex-convict.

It was written by Ray Burdis, Hugo Blick and Dominic Anciano, although the majority of dialogue was improvised by the actors.

David Gillespie as D.I. Beach, with D.S. Raymond Ash (Ray Burdis), Sgt Dominic de Sade (Dominic Anciano), Kim Finch, alias "Boo Boo" (Kim Taylforth; series 1 only), "Bones" (Perry Benson), Gary Barwick (Gary Beadle; series 1 and episodes 1 and 4 of series 2 only), "Strings" (John Beckett), Mark Kemp (Mark Burdis), accountant Roy Leyton (Roy Smiles; series 1 only), Bill Zeebub (William Scully, QGM, present in the first series as a background character; brought to the fore more in series two and three), and Hugo Blick (Smiler McCarthy (series 1) & Narrator (series two and three)).

There were three series produced, which featured guest stars including David Seaman, Jude Law, Sean Pertwee, Jonny Lee Miller, gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser, ex Spandau Ballet star Martin Kemp, Denise van Outen and Donna Air.

Dawson's Creek

Dawson's Creek is an American primetime television drama which initially aired from January 20, 1998, to May 14, 2003, on The WB Television Network.

Aimed at a teenaged audience, the show is semi-autobiographical, being based on the small-town childhood of its creator Kevin Williamson. The lead character, Dawson Leery, shares Williamson's interests and background. Filmed in Wilmington and Durham, North Carolina, the show was set in a small fictional seaside town called Capeside, Massachusetts and focused on four friends who were in the early part of their Sophomore year of high school when the series began. The program, part of a craze for teen-themed movies and television shows in America in the late 1990s, made stars of its leads and was a defining show for The WB. It was the first series bold enough to pick up the mantle of Beverly Hills, 90210 and an inspiration for many variations on the teenage angst theme, including The O.C. on Fox."

Dawson's Creek generated a high amount of publicity before its debut, with several television critics and watchdog groups expressing concerns about its anticipated "racy" plots and dialogue; the controversy even drove one of the original production companies away from the project, but numerous critics praised it for its realism and intelligent dialogue that included allusions to American television icons such as The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. By the end of its run, the show, its crew, and its young cast had been nominated for numerous awards, winning four of them. The series is known for the verbosity and complexity of the dialogue between its teenaged characters—who commonly demonstrate vocabulary and cultural awareness that went beyond the scope of the average high school student, yet that is combined with an emotional immaturity and self-absorption reflecting actual teens. This precociousness has been a staple of a number of teenaged-themed shows since, notably including Gilmore Girls and The O.C.

Ed	Battlestar Galactica	Scrubs	Operation Good Guys	Dawson's Creek