TV personality

This weekend, in a fit of nostalgia, I suggested we get out our "X-Files" DVDs and watch a few favorites. I had no trouble picking my top three episodes of all time:

3. "Triangle" (Season Six): The cinematography alone -- I'm a huge fan of complex single-take tracking shots, which are used in abundance here -- puts this one way up there. I can remember, back when this originally aired, sitting on the edge of my seat and cheering out loud at one of the Scully scenes, which spans almost the entire time period between commercial breaks in a single, convoluted, tail-chasing take. To think of all the planning that must have gone into that, the perfect timed set changes and prop changes that had to take place to make the scene work ... It just boggles.

2. "X-Cops" (Season Seven): This cross between "X-Files" and "Cops" is one of the best crossovers I've ever seen. From Scully's suspicion of the cameras to the wacky secondary characters to Mulder's long, rambling monolgue as he drives around the city -- the antithesis of the usual "Cops" driver-seat philosophy -- it's a near-perfect blending of the two shows.

1. "Bad Blood" (Season Seven): This one has to be my favorite of all time. Every time I watch it, I find myself laughing out loud. I love it when shows are confident enough in their character development and their actors to play around with their perceptions of each other and of themselves, and this one takes the cake. After an unfortunate event, the two agents try to tell each other their versions of what happened, and the audience follows first Scully, then Mulder. The tiny subtle details that differ in each agent's story are what make this eppie priceless: Down to the inflection and phrasing, they each make the other sound as obnoxious as possible, and since we're watching the re-enactments, we're treated to some character stretching by David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson.

Great eppies all, and I highly recommend the series as a whole. Even though I much prefer the one-off episodes to the "mythology" and conspiracy stories, they're really all good.