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On TV With Mike Thompson
On this page you can find archived editions of "On TV With Mike Thompson." For those of you who don't know, "On TV with Mike Thompson" was a wildly popular feature of The Circle, the official student newspaper of Marist College, from 1999-2001. Marist was the college I graduated from, and since I don't go there anymore, I no longer write the column. Funny how things work out that way, isn't it?
Anyway, here are most of the columns I wrote during the two years I had the column. Not every column is there. Many from the Fall 1999 semester (such as columns about The Simpsons, Frasier, and NewsRadio) have been lost to the ages. And the ages aren't giving them back. The columns are listed in order of most-recently-published, starting with the Spring 2001 columns. These are followed by the Fall 2000 columns, which are then followed by the Spring 2000 columns. The few remaining Fall 1999 columns round out the bunch. Enjoy, and thanks for reading "On TV With Mike Thompson." There will never be its equal.
Let's Hear it for the Boy: Me
This is it, folks. The very last "On TV with Mike Thompson" I ever wrote. In this edition, I wax nostalgic about the past two years I had been writing the column. Get out your hankies, folks. That's My Bush! May Get Old Fast
In Spring 2000, Comedy Central debuted a new sitcom that parodied sitcoms and starred a parody of George W. Bush, who himself is a parody of a president. Here's my review of the show. The Job is TV at its Best
A column about ABC's midseason replacement, The Job, a really good little cop comedy. Classic TV Often Makes for Great TV
Okay, I confess: I wrote this column mainly to clue the youngsters at Marist into what a great show Get Smart is. So sue me. Grounded for Life, Three Sisters Show Potential
Here, I review two mid-season replacements, neither of which are all that good, but neither of which are all that bad either. All My Children: Men Can Watch it Too
You can gather from the title what it's about. It's probably the most controversial "On TV With Mike Thompson." Yes, I watch All My Children and, yes, I'm a man. So deal with it. I've been dealing with my manhood for quite some time now. It's really quite fun. CSI is True Must-See TV
A column about CSI, the top-rated drama of last season, and a terrific show to boot. New Survivor Still Addicting TV
A review of Survivor: The Australian Outback, the follow-up to the previous summer's smash hit. Not-so-coincidentally, I had also reviewed the original Survivor for my column. You can read that review here. XFL is Made-for-TV Tripe
A nice bashing of the televising of the mercifully short-lived WWF football league, the XFL. Temptation Island Not Evil, Just Boring
A piece about Fox's controversial reality show Temptation Island. Despite my poor review, a follow-up is scheduled for this fall. Beware. Space Ghost is Great Television
A column about the wonderfully insane 15-minute talk show Space Ghost: Coast to Coast. Around since 1994, it stands as the best original series ever to come out of Cartoon Network. The $treet Needs to Grow Up
A column about Fox's short-lived drama set on Wall Street, The $treet. Yes, the title of the show really is spelled like that. Make a Date With Ed
A piece praising the NBC comedy-drama Ed, which was one of the best new shows of the 2000-2001 season. This is also, in my opinion, one of the best colums I ever wrote. Deadline Has Some Life to It
A review of NBC's newspaper drama Deadline, which, incidentally, was cancelled the day before this issue of The Circle came out. Hey, I can't write great reviews and predict the future. Why I Didn't Watch the Olympics
Basically, a lengthy diatribe blasting NBC's coverage of the 2000 Summer Olympics. Returning Shows to Watch For
There were about five veteran shows that I was eagerly anticipating the season premieres of in Fall 2000. This column is about those five shows. To find out what the shows are, you'll have to read the column. Survivor Soared, While Big Brother Bored
A column about CBS's Survivor, which was the premier event of the summer of 2000, and Big Brother, which was the premier non-event for the same summer. A much-requested column about FOX's Beverly Hills, 90210, which left the air in May 2000 after a decade of teen (and later young adult, and then just plain adult) angst. My dumbest headline of the semester sits atop this review of the WB's hit shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Since I wrote the review, Buffy has switched networks, but that doesn't make the review any less brilliant. A review of FOX's hit sitcom, Titus. A tribute to NBC's wonderful, but cancelled, Freaks and Geeks. A rather short column singing the praises of the underwatched (and too short-lived) ABC series Sports Night. King of Queens is King of CBS Mondays A lengthy column reviewing all four of CBS' Monday night sitcoms: The King of Queens, Ladies' Man, Everybody Loves Raymond, and Becker. You can guess by the headline which show came out the best in the review. A review of WB shows Zoe and Brutally Normal. What's notable about this edition of "On TV" is that the day it was published, WB pulled both these shows from the schedule. I like to think that the WB network executives somehow got their hands on a copy of The Circle. Malcolm in the Middle, Good 'Nuff A review of FOX's clever hit, Malcolm in the Middle. For my first column of the millenium, I provided my thoughts on how the six broadcast networks were doing as of January 2000. Columns from the Fall 1999 Semester A write-up on the smash FOX dramedy, Ally McBeal. The rather bland headline says it all. A review of FOX's hit sitcom That '70s Show. The Practice Makes for Near-Perfect Television A write-up on ABC's lawyer drama The Practice. Law & Order: Still Going Strong After All These Years A lengthy column on the long-running (and excellent) NBC drama Law & Order.
