Brideshead Included in All-Time Best TV Line-up

A Boston Globe reporter (Matthew Gilbert) decided to put together an all-time best schedule of TV programs to be watched during a one-week period (evenings only). Saturday was scheduled as “Epic” night, and the 1981 Granada TV series of Brideshead Revisited makes the line-up:

EPIC

8: Brideshead Revisited (19)

9: Masterpiece: Bleak House

10: Game of Thrones

News: Frontline

Late Night: Saturday Night Live (20)

(19) No question, it’s one of the best miniseries ever made, both loyal to Evelyn Waugh’s novel and expansive in its spectacular setting. It was hard to choose one from the long list of ambitious TV miniseries — say David Simon’s devastating “The Corner,” or “Pride and Prejudice” from 1995 with Colin Firth. Likewise, I chose “Bleak House” at 9, but I could easily have substituted a number of “Masterpiece” period dramas from the series’ phenomenal catalog of classics.

(20) Yeah, we all hate “SNL.” Too long, weak writing, spotty cast, repetitive riffs. I never miss an episode.

Since Brideshead is in a one-hour time slot, the first or last episode would not be suitable. Of the one-hour episodes, number 2 or 3 would probably be a good selection.  From the same general period (late 70s-early 80s), other selections include All in the Family, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, and the Bob Newhart Show. And SNL overlapped Brideshead, having started in 1975.

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