THE BEST SERIES OF ALL TIME

But first, a segue into the make-up White House Correspondent's Dinner last night, the one added to the first attempt on April 25, when a Trump assassin showed up.  This second one was almost as chaotic.

• Of course, you must know that President Trump refused to attend any of these dinners in his first term.

• 
  His first appearance was on 25April2026.
• From the liberal viewpoint, CNN:

Trump bombed at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner — and proved its point

Members of the media mocking a leader’s dismal performance on live TV and all across the internet? In some other countries, that’s a criminal offense. But in the US, it’s the norm, so maybe Trump’s speech unwittingly underscored the theme of the dinner: America’s robust First Amendment protections.
In a rambling hour-long speech, Trump insulted journalists by name, repurposed old nicknames for political opponents, made a strange number of fat jokes that weren’t funny at all, and sounded mad at his unnamed writers for giving him weak material to work with. “Does anyone understand this stuff?” he said at one point, and the answer was generally no.

• You can read the rest of the article.
• 
  From Fox News:  Trump spares no one at WHCA dinner, taking aim at Dems, press and his own Cabinet.

• Trump in particular hates Kaitlan Collins of CNN, and said so.  She ended up winning the award for Best Broadcaster.  And, oh, President Trump shook her hand.  Watch that!
• These dinners are all about the First Amendment, honoring what journalists deserve and taken with some humor.

So into my topic of the day, for I have spent too much time recently streaming.  

• Not swimming, but watching TV.  
• With all the new films and series popping out on all your streaming and regular channels, surely you've considered going back in time and seeing the entire production of the most popular ones.  
• But which ones?
• They're all there, somewhere.
• Scores of sources provide ratings of the best ones.   But there are so many biases based on age, context shift, country and the like.
• Plus which streaming channels carry them.

I begin with some classics, like Taxi, Cheers and Seinfeld.  

• Turns out that Taxi only has a 77 audience rating.  On Paramount+.
• Cheers?  87/95.  Also on Paramount+.
• Seinfeld?  89/92.  9 seasons and 180 episodes, each 22 minutes.  On Netflix.

Then I turned to to Rotten Tomatoes, and they have a top 50:

• #1    Brooklyn Nine-Nine 95/88.  On Peacock.
• Never heard of this one.  And it is #1! 
• Andy Samberg, Terry Crews (yes, the guy from America's Got Talent).
• Aired from 2013 to 2019 for eight seasons and 153 episodes.
• 22 minutes/episode.
• Revolved around the New York City Police Department.
• Scored 100% in seasons 2, 4, 5 and 6.
• On Peacock and Netflix.

• 
  #2    Grimm 89/90.  Peacock and Prime.  Never heard of it either.
• #3    2 Broke Girls 65.  Prime.  What, how can this be #3, only scoring 65 on Rotten Tomatoes.
• #4    Game of Thrones  89 85.  Netflix.  Okay, this is one that I've looked into watching.  Now on Max (was once known as HBO Max).

• 
  #5    The Walking Dead  79 78.  Netflix.  I don't understand why this is #5.
• Seasons 1-11 will remain with Netflix.
• But multiple spin-offs will depart on 19August2026.
• #8    Spartacus  64.  Netflix.  Also never heard of this one, and further makes no sense to me in the top ten with only a score of 64.

• 
  #9    Modern Family 85 89.  Peacock and Hulu.  Okay, I've seen a few episodes. After all, 11 seasons and 250 episodes.  Sofia Vergara is a judge on America's Got Talent.
• #11  Parks and Recreation  93 89.  Peacock.
• #16  Breaking Bad  96 97.  Why isn't this near the top?  It's on my watch list.  5 seasons and a total of 62 episodes.  Can be found on Netflix.

• 
  #18  Big Bang Theory 81 85.  12 Seasons and 279 episodes.  Watched many of these.  Max
• #20  The Office 81 89. 9 seasons and 201 episodes. Peacock in the USA, Netflix internationally.
• #29 24  87 87.  The one with Kiefer Sutherland.  9 seasons and 205 episodes.  On Hulu.

• 
  #33  The West Wing  81 95. 7 seasons and 154 episodes on Max and Netflix.
• #34  The Sopranos  92 96.  Also on my watch list. 6 seasons and 86 episodes, but 55 minutes/episode. On Max, Hulu and Prime (but must also have Max).
• #35  Batman and Beyond  100 95.  Wow, should be #1 with those scores.  3 seasons with 52 episodes, each around 22 minutes long.  On Max.

• 
  #43  Seinfeld  89 92. 9 seasons and 180 episodes.  Netflix.  But the series is currently set to leave on October 1.  Where to?  There will be a bidding war.
• #50  The Twilight Zone  92 95.   So highly rated, and so low?  First one in 1959, with 5 seasons and 156 episodes    Length for 25 minutes, except for season 4, with each episode at 51 minutes.  Can be found on Paramount+, Amazon Freevee and Tubi.

I've long wanted to watch Breaking Bad, but five seasons and 62 episodes will keep me occupied for a long time.  I might now do it because I subscribe to Netflix, and it is leaving in 2027.  Further found out from Google AI that it was right at the top of all global series.

While "the best" is ultimately subjective, Breaking Bad (USA), The Wire (USA), and The Sopranos (USA) are universally considered the greatest television series of all time by global critics and audiences. However, several global masterpieces frequently top international and critical lists. [1, 2, 3]

• 
  UK/USA  Chernobyl (see review later)
• Germany  Dark on Netflix.
• UK  Sherlock, with Benedict Cumberbatch on Hulu.
• Spain  Money Heist.  One of the best I've ever watched.  On Netflix.
• Denmark  Borgen.  Started, but never finished.  On Netflix.

IMDb has a top 70:

• #1    Chernobyl
• #2    Breaking Bad
• #3    Band of Brothers
• #4    The Pacific
• #8    The Sopranos
• #10  Game of Thrones
• #16  Sherlock
• #30  The Big Bang Theory
• #31  Money Heist
• #38  Vincenzo.  First Korean entry.  Terrific.
• #60  Shogun.  Excellent.  Second season coming at the end of 2027.

As Chernobyl was rated so high, thought I would see it last night.

• First problem, there are dozens of films, series and documentaries with that title.
• Digging deeper, found out that Chernobyl, a 5-part HBO/Sky miniseries, was the right one.
• Rotten Tomatoes scores of 95 by reviewers and 97 audiences.
• Watched Episode 1 on Max.
• Grim.
• Nightmarish.
• I'll definitely finish this series, but maybe only reluctantly.
• Why?  You could get nightmares and feel awful after this experience.  Watch this trailer to decide.

Typhoon Noul at 100 MPH made landfall over China.  However, the track turned slightly east, with the eye around 50 miles to the north and east on Hong Kong.  

Flights out of Hong Kong could have been cancelled.  While all that was happening, my travel partner sent these photos from the Hong Kong International Airport.  Luckily, she departed on time to Manila according to Philippine Airlines, and I'm now awaiting her call when her connecting flight arrives in Honolulu.

From the airport lounge, a chicken dish.  Don't look too closely, for there are parts of a chicken you don't normally see in a meal.

Good news, she just called to say her plane arrived in Honolulu.

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