#90 Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night (also known as What You Will) is a comedy by William Shakespeare, it is also the only Shakespeare play on this list. So, what it makes it stand out enough to enjoy this lofty honor? Well for one thing it is riotously funny, the clown, Feste is genuinely quite amusing and not a pain to have around like some Shakespeare fools (I'm looking at you touchstone). Toby Belch, and Andrew Aguecheek can be a bit over done but have their moments, particularly when the acid tongued Maria is around (I always pictured her as Kristin Chenowith, which adds to the fun). Malvolio is so deliciously self-satisfied that his comeuppance is satisfying (if a bot harsh). Additionally, the scene where Viola and Andrew are forced into a fight that both are terrified of is for my money the funniest in Shakespeare. however all this comedy is balanced with a pair of love stories involving characters one genuinely begins to feel for, both Olivia and Viola sorrow over lost loved ones and unrequited love is quite beautiful. It also includes my favorite verses in Shakespeare from when Olivia asks Viola what she would do if she loved her as much as the duke claims to,
Make me a willow cabin at your gate,
And call upon my soul within the house,
Write loyal cantons of contemned love,
And sing them loud even in the dead of night:
Hallow your name to the reverberate hills
And make the babbling gossip of the air cry out “Olivia”
O you should not rest between the elements
Of air and earth but you should pity me

#91 American Dad!

After making myself seem mature by posting about Mystery! I'm going to completely undermine that image with American Dad! The show is by the creator of Family Guy Seth MacFarlane, but in my defense the former show does next to nothing for me. American Dad! is about a conservative immature CIA agent, Stan, his more level wedded wife, Francine his liberal daughter who hates him, and rather nerdy son who idolizes him. What sets the series apart for me is Roger an alien who lives with the Smiths because he once saved Stan's life. Roger is a mess of vices, he drinks, smokes, eats junk food, and spends a prodigious amount of time watching TV which has given him an extensive knowledge of pop culture. To combat the boredom of being a shutin he creates a number of disguises and personalities which he steps in and out of with glee. This leads us to the best Roger story, in one episode he and Francine decide to pretend to be a professor and his wife and invite over a couple they meet at a country club. Francine tells the couple that Roger is an economics professor, even though Roger wanted to be a political science professor. He complains and she says "Oh well,it's been established. This leads to all at war as both of them tell the other couple increasingly horrible things about the other in what becomes a Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf parody reaching a climax with Roger revealing that Francine killed their baby which leads to a fight that leaves both of them broken and scarred both physically and emotionally. For this undying commitment to imagination, acting, and fiction, Roger has become one of my heroes. I like to think that if I woke tomorrow with no Id I would become Roger.

#92 Mystery!

Mystery! is a subset of Masterpiece Theatre on PBS which brings British Mystery series to America. It long been a staple in my family and given my love of Agatha Christie is unsurprising I've got the bug. Oddly I often hate the adaptations of Agatha's novels and instead my Mystery love is divided between three main series Foyle's War, Inspector Lewis, and Inspector Lynley. Foyle's War does a beautiful job of capturing World War II era Britain and is beautifully shot and cleverly written. Inspector Lewis is set in modern Oxford and is notable for the great dynamic and dialogue between rather rough around the edges Lewis and his highly educated reserved sidekick, Sergeant James Hathaway. Lynley, however, will always be the one closest to my heart because it was the first I watched. Lynley is very uppercrust (he's an earl) polished, handsome, while his sergeant, Barabara Havers is working class a bit homely was demoted for being difficult to work with yet is nevertheless adorable. She has a tendency to find herself alone with the villain at the end of the show just as Lynley figures out the mystery and realizes that she is in trouble. She also (in moment that has gone down in Horstmanian lore) once shot a commending officer in the chest with a flare gun, good times.

#93 The Truth

Terry Pratchett's Discworld series is pure genius. In it the author creates a world of comedic fantasy which he uses not only to tell interesting stories but to also lampoon fictional tropes and human society as a whole. Many of the books focus a specific theme and explore how it functions in Discworld and thus shading light on its existence in reality, while maintaining a whimsical and creative perspective and utilizing tons of footnotes. Small Gods tackles religion, Going Postal deals with the postal service, and The Truth handles printing in general and specifically newspapers. For my money the Truth is the best of these "theme" books because it does a wonderful job of presenting an alternate way that printing could have been introduced and the troubles that small newspapers must face. It also does a great job of pointing out the power of media and the fact it can be used for good or ill. All of this is balanced with outlandish subplots and entertaining character including one of my favorite Discworld denizens Otto von Chriek. Otto is a vampire photographer meaning he constantly causes himself to crumble into dust due to the flash, he is also a member of a vampire temperance league struggling to live without human blood. But even Otto has hidden depth which is what I love about Discworld it makes you think and feel while still being approachable. Come for the laughs, stay for the thoughts.

#94 Rookie of the Year

Don't judge me for this one, I know that Rookie of the Year is far from being one of the best films ever made. But, when I started this list I warned you that I would take the film's effect on my life into consideration, and Rookie of the Year's sentimental value for me is priceless. The film is about a baseball obsessed kid who breaks his arm which then re-heals in such a way that he becomes an incredible baseball pitcher and is signed by the Cubs. It's incredibly corny and being about baseball should hold no interest to me. However, for reasons beyond my comprehension Rookie of the Year was the only kid's film we owned when I was young. No Disney for us, just Rookie of the Year. Because of this both my middle sister and I saw Rookie of the Year enough times that parts of it have became internalized and form a small part of our bond. Specifically the bit where one of the characters announces (and I'm paraphrasing) "Some players but ice on their arms, others think heat's the way to go. So I use hot ice. hot ice, you heat up the ice". I believe at this point he has a bag of presumably luke-warm water, my memory is a bit hazy I probably haven't seen the movie in a decade. The other scene is when this same comic relief character gets stuck in a narrow gap way between two doors. He then cries out "Little help" ha ha ha, oh is that not funny I guess you have to see it and be like nine years old at the time of first viewing.

#95 The Order of the Stick

The Order of the Stick is a webcomic that celebrates and satirizes Dungeons and Dragons and fantasy in general. I should explain that I've never really played D&D but I have a number of source books, I find they help my imagination. Back to oots, Rich Burlew is unafraid to break the fourth wall in the name of humor, while at the same time maintaining a strong plot that keeps you coming back. He works in references from Law and Order to Harry Potter to Tivo. Even many of his characters have a great sense of theatricality, finding joy in doing what will make the best story and being aware that the plot trumps the rules of the "game". He even touches on questions of morality or at least morality in a universe where definitively evil beings exist. My favorite order of the stick is number strip 552 wherein our heroes are being pursued by a horde of orcs who to signify their low intelligence speak only in bold lowercase. The orcs decide to stop and return to their grammar lessons one says "gok look forward to first person pronouns" and another responds "capital letters intrigue mungu" the latter line I now have on a tee-shirt. I just so enjoy the way that the comic makes you see things from different angles.