If aliens landed on planet earth I would give them four things to help them understand humanity: #1- Marcel Proust's "À la recherche du temps perdu." #2- Beethoven's "Symphony No. 9 in D minor, opus 125." #3- Da Vinci's "The Last Supper." #4- The complete series of NBC's "Blossom." Now why would I say such a thing. To provoke a strong reaction or elicit a chuckle? That is but 10% of the reason why. This is a criminally underrated show. The dialogue took your average sitcom to the intellectual woodshed and the fantasy conversations gave it a whuppin' with the leather strap of self-referential meta-fantasy. We are not dealing with simple characters here. We are dealing with Jungian archetypes taken to a depth that most people can't understand. Joey is perhaps the greatest example of "Puer Aeternus" I've ever seen in my lifetime. And his "whoa." Whoa. It's existential. Like "if a tree falls in the woods..." The answer is "Whoa." If you want challenging TV drama I suggest you delve into the labyrinthine complexities of the world we privileged few know as... "Blossom."
Blossom
(1990–1995)
Quite possible the greatest achievement in the history of mankind
30 October 2006