Classic Doctor Who countdown (#110 - #101)

Continuing my countdown of Classic Who serials, from my least-liked to my most-loved. (For the previous ten, click here; to start from the top, click here. Or if you're looking for a particular serial, you can jump right to the index.) Once again, a great example of how some of my opinions veer from the "norm." This next ten includes three (#103, #106, #107) considered among the First, Second and Fifth Doctors' worst, which I can't bring myself to hate nearly as much as many do. (Their flaws are clear, but in each, there are elements I admire.) Oh, and the story that fanzines often cite as the single best classic serial, which just misses my top 100.

110. The Chase (First Doctor, 1965)
written by Terry Nation
directed by Richard Martin

Classic Doctor Who countdown (#120 - #111)

Continuing my countdown of Classic Who serials, from my least-liked to my most-loved. (For the previous ten, click here; to start from the beginning, click here. Or if you're looking for a particular serial, you can jump right to the index.) This next ten, I see, includes three serials from Seasons 8 and 9. When my husband and I first started watching Classic Who in 2011, we were armed with a dozen DVD's recommended by a friend. As Third Doctor serials, he'd suggested his first two, "Spearhead From Space" and "The Silurians." "Spearhead" we found enjoyable, but "Silurians" felt endless, and when it was over, we turned to each other with the same request: "Can we move on to another Doctor?" The Jon Pertwee era, or at least what promised to be a "Doctor stranded on Earth" set of stories, wasn't the Who we wanted to view. (Having come to NuWho first, we had been weaned on David Tennant and Matt Smith, with big adventures through time and space.) I obviously returned to the Pertwee era later on, and grew to admire many things about it, but Seasons 8 and 9 are not, to my mind, a high point for the series, as I note more extensively in my three-part Third Doctor essay.

120. The Seeds of Doom (Fourth Doctor, 1976)
written by Robert Banks Stewart
directed by Douglas Camfield

Classic Doctor Who countdown (#130 - #121)

Continuing my countdown of Classic Who serials, from my least-liked to my most-loved. (For the previous ten, click here; to start from the top, click here. Or if you're looking for a particular serial, you can jump right to the index.) A year or so after I fell in love with Classic Who, I began to interact with more and more fans, and came to appreciate how the community -- at least, the best of it -- embraced all opinions. With 158 serials to choose from, there was an understanding that no two people were going to feel the same about the entire classic catalog, and so fandom adopted a "live and let live" policy. As I noted in my first entry, my opinions deviate from "popular consensus" more than most, I suspect, and perhaps these next ten are a good example of how often I seem to offer the "minority report." They include four serials (#130, #129, #123 and #122) that most fans seem to hate much more than I do, and three beloved nods to the horror genre (#128, #126 and #121) that I find problematic.

130. Time and the Rani (Seventh Doctor, 1987)
written by Pip & Jane Baker
directed by Andrew Morgan

Classic Doctor Who countdown (#140 - #131)

Continuing my countdown of Classic Who serials, from my least-liked to my most-loved. (For the previous ten, click here; to start from the top, click here. Or if you're looking for a particular serial, you can jump right to the index.) Two of the next ten are helmed by Morris Barry, two by Chris Clough and one by Paul Bernard, among the dreariest directors to ever darken the Doctor Who soundstages. It's probably not a coincidence that I rate these serials so low. But lest you fear that I'll be trashing the classic series for pages to come, I see that just below, somewhere around #134, there's a perceptible shift in the tone of my reviews, as we move from serials for which I have little affection to ones that, despite their flaws, have an element or two that keep drawing me in, every time.

140. The Tomb of the Cybermen (Second Doctor, 1967)
written by Kit Pedler & Gerry Davis
directed by Morris Barry

Classic Doctor Who countdown (#150 - #141)

Continuing my countdown of Classic Who serials, from my least-liked to my most-loved. (To start from the top, click here. Or if you're looking for a particular serial, you can jump right to the index.) A lot of firsts this time: the first appearance of one of the Doctors, the first appearance of one of the most popular companions, and the first script by the show's most prolific (and many fans' favorite) writer. I kind of hate 'em all. When I did my series of seven neglected Classic Who stories, a friend asked if I was trying to make a point that, even in the worst serials, there's plenty to love. Not at all. There are quite a few serials I find unlovable. And that's OK. When I was younger, you could like a show and still dislike some episodes; today, in some circles, appreciation means unconditional surrender -- if you complain about a series, you're not really a fan. I adore Classic Who, but find only about half the serials hugely entertaining. And I won't pretend that all the actors who played the Doctor were equally talented, and of the most talented ones, I don't claim that they're equally brilliant in every serial. I call 'em as I see 'em, but that doesn't diminish my affection for the series. For me, its highs more than make up for its lows, and even at its worst, there's always that delicious and delirious premise -- of traveling through time and space in a blue police box that's "bigger on the inside." And so I can adore Classic Who and still be forthright about its faults -- as I try to be here. The following ten serials are, to my mind, wildly unsuccessful, for an assortment of reasons.

150. The Twin Dilemma (Sixth Doctor, 1984)
written by Anthony Stevens
directed by Peter Moffatt

Classic Doctor Who countdown (#158 - #151)

I discovered the classic series of Doctor Who in late 2011; the following summer, it inspired my first blog post. Having since developed a fairly unhealthy addiction to Classic Who, and with my blog still chugging along after five years, I wanted to do something special to celebrate them both: the TV series that's given me enormous pleasure, and the blog that's helped me focus my thoughts, share them with others, and get through some patchy health periods. I wanted it to be a "grand gesture." So I figured I'd rank and review all 158 classic serials, from the ones I like least to the ones I cherish most. (If you're looking for a particular serial, to see where I rank it and to read the review, you can jump right to the index.) I came to Classic Who "cold." I knew nothing of which Doctors and companions were revered and which reviled: which periods were most beloved and which most belittled. But I quickly formed strong feelings about the various Doctors and the actors who played them, as well as about companions and writers and directors -- and was ultimately surprised to see how much my feelings differed from "fan consensus." But I've never been swayed by popular opinion. If you're looking for another paean to Hinchcliffe and Holmes, you won't find it here. I can only offer you thoughts (and perhaps an insight or two) informed by my background, my outlook, my preferences and my passions. This might well be the last Classic Who essay I'll write, but it's certainly not the last time I'll be sitting down to most of these serials. That said, we begin with eight serials that you couldn't pay me to watch again.

158. Mindwarp (Sixth Doctor, 1986)
written by Philip Martin
directed by Ron Jones

Knots Landing season 1

Knots Landing premiered on CBS in 1979 and remained there till May of 1993; by the time it went off the air, it had become the second longest-running drama series in network history. Creator David Jacobs conceived of four married couples living in a cul-de-sac in Southern California. CBS countered, "If we're going to do domestic drama in primetime, let's try something a little more high-stakes, with a bit more sweep," so Jacobs set aside Knots Landing for a spell. Instead, he gave CBS the saga they wanted, the oil-driven Dallas (that paean to American greed and grit) -- and once Dallas blossomed into a hit, CBS suggested he revisit Knots Landing, remodeling it as a spin-off. Jacobs complied with relative ease, taking two of the characters featured at the top of Dallas's second season, Lucy Ewing's parents, and -- with just a few appearances in Season 3 -- advancing their story enough that they could resettle in Southern California, becoming one of the four couples in the cul-de-sac. The pilot fell quickly into place.

Knots Landing season 8

If you've never watched Knots Landing Season 8, here's the season in a nutshell. Paige is dead! No, not really. Anne is dead! No, not really. Sylvia is dead! No, not really. Jill is dead! No, not really. Sumner's dead! No, not really. Ben is dead! No, not really. The headwriters trot out the same twist over and over, never recognizing that by the second or third time, it's like the proverbial boy crying wolf, and we cease to believe a word they say. But fortunately, beyond that one tired device, Season 8 is full of felicities: sturdy plots for the veterans, skilled acting turns by the newcomers, balanced plotting, and down-to-earth, character-driven story-lines.

No, not really.

Cold Case season 4

Flashback #1: I was on the phone with my grandmother Sophie, whom I adored, sometime in the late 1980's; it was a Sunday night, and suddenly she said she needed to go. Her detective was on. It took me a few moments to realize that "her detective" was Jessica Fletcher, and that she never missed an episode of Murder, She Wrote. I got off the phone quickly, because we had learned never to interfere with my grandmother's TV time.

Twenty years later, from 2003 to 2010, Lilly Rush of Cold Case was my Sunday night detective. As creator Meredith Stiehm conceived her, and as star Kathryn Morris (brilliantly) played her, Lilly Rush -- the Philly homicide detective so immersed in the cold cases she's investigating that she keeps photos of the victims on her nightstand -- was an original, and she headed up a show that was, at its best, far more affecting than the other Jerry Bruckheimer procedurals.

Knots Landing season 4

Knots Landing Season 4 is like a clever puppy you've just brought home from the pound, and criticizing it is a bit like disciplining that puppy: you know there are things you should be taking it to task for, but you're far too interested in seeing what it'll do next.

Years after its original run, Knots Co-Executive Producer Michael Filerman recalled that soap giant Ann Marcus mapped out Season 4 before departing the series at the end of Season 3. No one has ever corroborated that, not even Marcus in her autobiography, so it's likely he was misremembering; nonetheless, in the way it effortlessly juggles half a dozen down-to-earth story-lines, yet manages to remain character- rather than plot-driven (particularly impressive in light of the conceit at its core), it feels very much like a Marcus season.

The conceit at its core? Well, it's a murder mystery. Knots Season 4 makes good use of its regulars, tosses in two of its most memorable supporting players, and near the season's end, embroils them all in a whodunnit, where a good chunk of the cast seems to have motive. But the murder (of rising singer Ciji Dunne, played by Lisa Hartman) isn't telegraphed -- in 1983, believe me, it came as quite a shock -- and the fact that so many of the principals are suspects doesn't feel contrived. The final episodes are less about an investigation than about the way we respond to tragedy: in particular, the blame games we direct both at others and at ourselves.