Teevee!

I'm grabbing this from SamuraiFrog:

Pick five of your favorite shows, in no particular order, before you read the below questions, then answer them!

OK:

1. Firefly
2. Scrubs
3. The West Wing
4. Friends
5. Grey's Anatomy

01. Who's your favorite character in 2?

The Janitor, whose name was never given -- he was simply The Janitor. I loved his long-running antagonism with JD, and some of the increasingly whacky stuff he came up with over the years on the show, such as his preferred cocktail, "jum and tonic": gin, rum, and tonic.

02. Who's your least favorite character in 1?

It took most of the existing episodes before I warmed up to Simon.

03. What's your favorite episode of 4?

"The One With the Holiday Armadillo". Ross is desperate to explain Hannukah to his son, who is psyched up for Christmas, so Ross decides to dress up as Santa in order to give the kid a Hannukah lesson. Why Ross thinks this will work is beyond me, but who cares? The costume place is out of Santa costumes, so Ross ends up dressed as a giant armadillo, the Holiday Armadillo -- "Santa's representatives for all the Southern states, and...Mexico!" I really think that, for all its popularity when it was on, Friends is underappreciated these days.

04. What's your favorite season of 5?

Believe it or not, the current one! I actually noted why a couple of weeks back. My favorite characters are all changing and growing, while my least favorite two characters are gone. (Yes, George's demise was shocking and even may have brought a tear or two, but by and large, I didn't like the guy all that much. And I have hated Izzie since Season One.)

05. Who is your favorite ship in 3?

Huh? Ship? As in, spaceship? Or "ship" as short for "relationship"? The marriage dynamic between President Jed Bartlet and First Lady Abbey Bartlet was always terrific, but Josh and Donna were done so well -- even their eventual union.

06. Who is your anti-ship in 2?

Does this mean, "relationship I would have preferred to not happen"? I think Scrubs dragged the JD-and-Elliot thing on a little farther than it probably needed to.

07. How long have you watched 1?

OK, the problem with this quiz is that I keep having to scroll back up and remember which series is which. I didn't watch Firefly all the way through until several years after its FOX-hobbled original run, on DVD. I've really only watched it all the way through once. I suppose I'm due.

08. How did you become interested in 3?

Midway through Season One. I don't recall why I didn't watch from the premiere, but when I finally caught an entire episode about halfway through ("Celestial Navigation", actually), I was hooked. I'd already been a big fan of Aaron Sorkin's, but I wasn't on board with TWW right away.

09. Who's your favorite actor/actress in 4?

Actor: Matthew Perry. Actress: Jennifer Aniston.

10. Which do you prefer: Show 1, 2 or 5?

I suppose Firefly, just because it hits so many of my sweet spots -- dialog, space opera, a cast with four terrific women....

11. Which show have you seen more episodes of, 1 or 3?

In terms of numbers, The West Wing -- it had seven seasons versus Firefly's one. In terms of percentage of the show's episodes, Firefly -- there were some episodes of TWW in its sixth and early seventh seasons that I missed, owing to the show's relocation to a bad Sunday timeslot.

12. If you could be anyone from 4, who would you be?

Gunther, the coffee house guy.

13. How would you kill off your favorite character in 1?

Well, I'm not sure, but I do know that Captain Malcolm Reynolds has to go down either at the controls of his ship, or with his revolver in his hand.

14. Give a random quote from 1.

"Well, somethin' about that is just downright unsettlin'." (Jayne Cobb, "War Stories")

15. Which character from 5 would be a good guest star on 2?

Wow, that's odd -- by sheer chance I chose shows in those spots that are both hospital-based. So what Grey's character would be good for Scrubs? Hmmmm...Dr. Cox could butt heads impressively with Dr. Bailey, right? And pairing sex-crazed Dr. Todd ("The Todd") with sex-crazed Dr. Sloan might be interesting. But it would be funny to hear the dueling inner monologues of Drs. Dorian and Grey, who narrate their respective shows. Fun wow!

16. Would a 3/4 crossover work?

I don't see how -- would President Bartlet stop in at Central Perk for a coffee? Maybe Monica could be hired as a White House chef...actually, come to think of it, there are some ways that could work.

17. Pair 2 characters in 1 that would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple.

Mal and River. Especially after the last scene in Serenity.

18. Has 5 inspired you in any way?

Maybe in the way that well-written shows (and movies, and books, and comics) inspire me to write.

19. Overall, which show has a better cast, 2 or 4?

Both shows were perfectly cast.

20. Which has better theme music, 3 or 5?

The West Wing; Grey's doesn't even have theme music of which I am aware. Grey's relies on songs -- pop, rock, Indie stuff -- for most of its "scoring", where TWW mostly uses music composed by long-time teevee composer W. Snuffy Walden (along with the occasional pop or rock song). Purely for theme music, TWW's is one of my favorite teevee themes, with its "patriotic" sound and the way it ends on an unresolved chord, suggesting that the work of State is never complete. Grey's usually opens with a long opening segment that eventually fades to the show's title, and then the credits roll over the first segment after the first commercial break.

I'm adding one final question to this:

21. Name a few "young" shows you watch now that might provisionally appear on the version of this quiz you do five years from now.

Castle
The Mentalist
The Office
30Rock