TV That Made Me: Patton Oswalt

My favorite show as a kid: Sesame Street

I think Sesame Street is a lot of people's first favorite TV show. It wasn’t just brilliant fun, but it kind of sneak-introduced me to stuff like Richard Pryor and George Carlin. And the show would do movie references, and it had a lot of great musical performances. I remember Stevie Wonder did “Superstition” right on the set. Yes, it's fun for kids, with counting and songs, but there was a lot of stuff on that show that, later on, when I was older, I was like, “I know that guy” or, “I know this song,” because of Sesame Street. I don't think it gets enough credit for that.

Shows that were formative for me as a teen: Monty Python’s Flying Circus, SCTV

As a teenager, I was watching a lot of British comedy. So obviously Monty Python and shows like Blackadder and The Young Ones very much kind of formed my sense of humor. And then, above all of that was a show like SCTV, which had that great [sense of] “these are people hanging out just talking about stuff that they like, doing sketches about stuff they like.” Even if you don't necessarily know what it is, their enthusiasm for it will translate, and you'll understand it in context. I loved all of that. I mean, talk about a dream cast of people coming together in the right place at the right time to do this fantastic show.

My favorite game show growing up: Family Feud

Well, the big one for me was the original Family Feud with Richard Dawson. That guy, and that combination of really beautiful, corn-fed Midwestern families being hosted by this louche, hungover British raconteur — that combination to me was so perfect. I still love it to this day.

Shows I consider to be ahead of their time: Profit, I’m a Virgo

Well, ahead of its time back in the day was a show on Fox called Profit, that if it had come out just a few years later, would have been a massive hit. You know how shows like The Sopranos and Breaking Bad and Mad Men came out with the maybe-not-quite-good, antihero protagonist? Well, this was a show that came out a couple of years before that whole trend started, and people just weren't ready for it. And it's just a very odd thing to see if you can see reruns. I guess they're on YouTube. But, wow, they were really ahead of their time in terms of doing a fascinating character that isn't necessarily good. Profit is really surreal, because it's a very '90s-looking show with a very early-aughts attitude to it. You'll see what I mean if you watch it.

And then there's a show that came out last year on Amazon by Boots Riley called I'm a Virgo. I think it's going to be one of those shows that people look at in the future and go, “Oh my god, this is amazing. Why wasn't this huge?”

The show I wish I could rewatch for the first time: The Wire

I would love to go back and experience all four seasons of The Wire for the first time. Like, experience that anew. It says something about that show that you can just keep watching it over and over again, and even having watched it you’ll still be surprised by stuff you didn't notice.

The show I’d love to see brought back for one more season: Lodge 49

There was a show on AMC called Lodge 49, which was this amazing ensemble show [starring Wyatt Russell] about surviving in the new millennium when you're kind of being made obsolete. I can't even — that's one of the reasons that it didn't really go. It's hard to describe it in one sentence, but it was just amazing. That show ended way too early, with only two seasons. That whole cast was amazing, and I’d love to see another season of it.