Contemporary Fiction

1. Tom Clancy (Patriot Games, Red Storm Rising, The Hunt For Red October)
2. Clive Cussler (Raise The Titanic!, The Mediterranean Caper - any story that Cussler doesn't write himself into. How self-centered can somebody get?)
3. Michael Crichton (State of Fear, Sphere, The Terminal Man, Jurassic Park)
4. Stephen Coonts (Flight of the Intruder, Final Flight, The Minotaur)
5. David Eddings (The Losers)
6. Brian Garfield (The Paladin)
7. Stephen Fry (The Liar)
8. Craig Thomas (Firefox, Firefox Down)

Fantasy Fiction

1. David Eddings (The Belgariad, The Mallorean, Belgarath The Sorcerer)
2. J.R.R. Tolkien ( Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion)
3. J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Innumerable Sequels)
4. Anne McCaffrey (Dragonriders of Pern trilogy)
5. Orson Scott Card (The Tales of Alvin Maker)
6. Lawrence Watt-Evans (With A Single Spell)
7. Tad Williams (Tailchaser's Song)

Science Fiction

1. Robert Heinlein (Stranger In A Strange Land, The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Starship Troopers)
2. Douglas Adams (Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Life, the Universe, and Everything)
3. Greg Bear (Eon)
4. John M. Ford (Growing Up Weightless)
5. Carl Sagan (Contact)

Mystery Fiction

1. Steve Allen (Murder In Vegas, The Murder Game, Murder On The Glitter Box)
2. Kevin Robinson (A Matter Of Perspective)

Contemporary Nonfiction

1. Steve Hagan (Buddhism Plain and Simple, Buddhism Is Not What You Think)
2. Arthur Agatston, M.D. (The South Beach Diet)
3. Cliff Stoll (The Cuckoo's Egg)
4. Tom Wolfe (The Right Stuff)
5. Chuck Yeager (Yeager: An Autobiography)
6. Robert D. Ballard, Ph.D. (Explorations: My Quest for Adventure and Discovery Under the Sea)
7. Ken Follett (On Wings Of Eagles)
8. Doyle Brunson (Super-System, According to Doyle)
9. Bob Woodward (Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi)
10. Carl Sagan (Cosmos)
11. William Shatner (Star Trek Memories, Star Trek Movie Memories)
12. Leonard Nimoy (I Am Spock)
13. Richard Curtis (Beyond The Bestseller)

Contemporary Humor

1. P.J. O'Rourke (All the Trouble in the World, Give War A Chance, Holidays In Hell)
2. Dave Barry (Dave Barry Does Japan, Dave Barry's Guide to Life)
3. Richard Armour (Going Around in Academic Circles, It All Started With Europa, It All Started With Hippocrates)
4. Richard Hooker (M*A*S*H, M*A*S*H Goes To Maine, M*A*S*H Goes To London)
5. Monty Python (Monty Python's Flying Circus: All The Words)
6. Larry Gonick (The Cartoon History of the Universe)
7. Tim Allen (Don't Stand Too Close To A Naked Man)

Rock/Blues Music

1. Kansas (Leftoverture, Point Of Know Return, Masque, Two For The Show)
2. Boston (Boston, Third Stage, Don't Look Back)
3. Styx (The Grand Illusion, Pieces of Eight, Edge of the Century, Caught In The Act)
4. Rush (Roll the Bones, Chronicles, Rush at Rio)
5. Billy Joel (Storm Front, River Of Dreams, Songs In The Attic)
6. Elton John (Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Made In England, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy)
7. The Eagles (Hell Freezes Over, The Long Run, Hotel California)
8. Electric Light Orchestra (A New World Record, Out Of The Blue, Discovery)
9. The Beatles (Let It Be, Magical Mystery Tour)
10. Gerry Rafferty (City To City, Nightowl)
11. Queen (A Kind Of Magic, A Night At The Opera, Live at Wembley '86)
12. Blues Traveler (Blues Traveler, Four)
13. Eric Clapton (Unplugged, Time Pieces)

Folk/Pop Music

1. Peter, Paul & Mary (Peter, Paul & Mary In Concert, No Easy Walk To Freedom, A Song Will Rise)
2. John Denver (An Evening With John Denver, Rhymes and Reasons)
3. Jim Croce (Photographs & Memories, Live: The Final Tour)
4. The New Christy Minstrels (Ramblin')

Classical Music

1. Beethoven, Concerto #5 for Piano and Orchestra - The Emperor. (CBS Records "Great Performances" Series - Leonard Bernstein/Rudolf Serkin)
2. Tchaikovsky, Concerto #1 for Piano and Orchestra
3. Prokofiev, Concerto #3 for Piano and Orchestra

Anyone have a clue yet as to the identity of Dave's favorite musical instrument?

Motion Pictures: Comedies

1. Blazing Saddles (Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Mel Brooks)
2. Young Frankenstein (Gene Wilder, Terri Garr, Marty Feldman)
3. Monty Python's Life of Brian (Graham Chapman, John Cleese)
4. Airplane (Robert Hays, Julie Haggerty, Steven Stucker)
5. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (John Cleese, Graham Chapman)
6. National Lampoon's Animal House (John Belushi, Tim Matheson)
7. Return Of The Pink Panther (Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Burt Kwouk)
8. The Pink Panther Strikes Again (Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Burt Kwouk)
9. The Blues Brothers (John Belushi, Dan Ackroyd, the band, Chicago PD)
10. The Goodbye Girl (Richard Dreyfuss, Marsha Mason, screenplay by Neil Simon)
11. The Naked Gun (Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley)
12. The Front Page (Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Carol Burnett)
13. Father Goose (Cary Grant, Leslie Caron, Trevor Howard)
14. M*A*S*H (Donald Sutherland, Tom Skerrit, Sally Kellerman)
15. Silverado (Kevin Kline, Kevin Costner, John Cleese)
16. The Princess Bride (Wallace Shawn, Cary Elwes, Robin Wright)
17. A Fish Called Wanda (Kevin Kline, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Jamie Lee Curtis)
18. Ghostbusters (Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd)
19. Aladdin (Robin Williams, Disney animators, music by Mencken/Rice)
20. The Sting (Newman, Redford, Music by Scott Joplin, Best Surprise Ending)
21. Sleepless In Seattle (Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan)
22. Bull Durham (Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon)
23. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (Walter "Nuclear Wessles" Koenig)
24. The Competition (Richard Dreyfuss, Amy Irving)
25. Pocketful Of Miracles (Peter Falk, Glenn Ford, Bette Davis)

Guess who's a sucker for romantic comedies?

Motion Pictures: Dramas

1. Highlander (Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, music by Queen)
2. The Right Stuff (Sam Sheppard, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Levon Helm)
3. In Harm's Way (John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Burgess Meredith)
4. Star Wars - Special Edition (1997) (Sir Alec Guinness, Harrison Ford, ILM FX, music by John Williams, Sony 6-channel digital sound)
5. Apollo 13 (Tom Hanks, Ed Harris, FX dept, music by John Horner)
6. Patton (George C. Scott, Karl Malden)
7. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Harrison Ford, John Rhys-Davies)
8. Braveheart (Mel Gibson, Catharine McCormack, Patrick McGoohan)
9. Ladyhawke (Rutger Hauer, Matthew Broderick, Michelle Pfeiffer)
10. Jaws (Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, music by John Williams)
11. Amadeus (F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Simon Callow, music by Mozart)
12. An American Werewolf In London (David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Griffin Dunne)
13. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Harrison Ford, Sean Connery)
14. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Richard Dreyfuss, Terri Garr)
15. All The President's Men (Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Jason Robards)
16. Excalibur (Nicol Williamson, Nigel Terry, Helen Mirren)

Television: British Comedies

1. Monty Python's Flying Circus (John Cleese - Best Sketch Comedy)
2. Fawlty Towers (John Cleese - Best Situation Comedy)
3. Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson - Best Historic Sitcom)
4. Red Dwarf (Craig Charles, Chris Barrie - Best Sci-Fi Sitcom)
5. The Young Ones (Nigel Planer, Adrian Edmondson)
6. The Spitting Image Puppets (Too bad they only exported a couple of specials to the states.)

Television: American Comedies

1. M*A*S*H (Alan Alda, Gary Burghoff - Best Situation Comedy)
2. Saturday Night Live (1975-82 only) (Best Sketch Comedy)
3. Police Squad (Leslie Nielsen)
4. Night Court (Harry Anderson - Best Ensemble Cast)
5. All In The Family (Carrol O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner)
6. Taxi (Judd Hirsch - Second Best Ensemble Cast)
7. The Carol Burnett Show (Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Tim Conway)
8. Dave's World (Harry Anderson - Excellent ensemble cast)
9. The Simpsons (Best Animated Sitcom)
10. Cheers (Excellent ensemble cast - Best Sitcom Theme Music)
11. Home Improvement (Tim Allen, Patricia Richardson - Best Sitcom Rugrats)
12. Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Most Unique Concept in 40 Years)
13. Barney Miller (Best Police Sitcom that ran more than 12 episodes)
14. Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (Arte Johnson, Ruth Buzzy, Goldie Hawn)
15. Mork and Mindy (ignoring final season) (Robin Williams, Pam Dawber)

In my opinion Fawlty Towers and Police Squad are, per minute of air time, the funniest sitcoms of all time. Too bad they only made a dozen episodes of each. And I'm waiting for a Fawlty Towers movie.

Television: Dramas

1. Hill Street Blues (Best Ensemble Cast - Best TV Theme Music)
2. Have Gun, Will Travel (Best Western) (No, not the motel, stupid!)
3. St. Elsewhere (Best Medical Drama - Most Ridiculous Finale)
4. L.A. Law (Best Legal Drama)
   This was the last TV drama I ever went out of my way to watch, which gives you an idea of how long I've been sticking to sitcoms.
5. Star Trek (The Original Series) (Surprisingly stinky overall, if you look too closely. It does have some legendary moments, and kicked off the biggest entertainment franchise in history.)
6. Bonanza (It must be fun to own most of northern Nevada.)
7. Star Trek: The Next Generation (Mostly a politically correct disaster area. But when they got it right, it was great! (e.g. "Yesterday's Enterprise") Boffo theme music. Note to the Trek honchos: children belong on family sitcoms, not on starships. You guys never had a clue how to use them effectively in a story anyway, so just leave it alone.)
8. Hawaii 50 (Best scenery - Best Recurring Villain ["Wo Fat"])
9. Starsky & Hutch (Nice car. Even better paint job.)
10. Baretta (Robert Blake - Best Drama Starring a Former "Little Rascal." Good theme music.)
11. The Life & Times of Grizzly Adams (Gotcha! I just wanted to see if you were still awake!)

Stand Up Comedy

1. Robin Williams
2. George Carlin
3. Craig Shoemaker
4. Billy Crystal
5. Billy Connolly
6. Ron White
7. Rita Rudner
8. Bill Cosby
9. Richard Jeni
10. Jeff Foxworthy

I've made up silly names for some of my all-time least favorite things in entertainment. See how many you can figure out.

• Star Trek: The Motionless Picture
• Little Talent On The Prairie
• Star Trek II: Kirk Left The Shields Down Again, Eh? Hoser!
• Snidefeld
• Star Trek III: Reverend Jim Defects To The Klingons. Alex'll Be..wildered.
• Where The Hell Is Carmen Sanjose? Do You Know The Way There?
• Star Trek V: Spock's Drugs Finally Kick In
• Touched By Some Angel Dust...The Colors, Dude!
• 60 Seconds ...'til I'm snoozing.
• The Mary Tyler No More Please! Show