I have ranked the top 68 television shows of the '00s, and will be presenting them, one-by-one, starting with 68 and working down. The rankings are more or less based on the show's popularity, it's cult status, it's critical acclaim, and my personal liking of it, with a heavy dose of arbitrariness added in. If a show was a big enough phenomena, I'll keep it on the list - but if I don't like it, I may drop it some spots. One other caveat - these are primetime shows (I apologize if I put a cable show that wasn't, I thought they were all primetime shows - the main point of this is just that no talk shows, no Colbert and Daily show that would be on otherwise).

31: Aqua Teen Hunger Force

Aqua Teen Hunger Force will always hold a special place in my heart even though I honestly haven't watched much of it in the last. Still, even through to this day, a picture of Master Shake is my facebook icon.

Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block in general was a phenomenon in the first decade of the 21st century amongst a certain segment of the population - boys in particular aged from about high school to about 30. There were a whole host of shows that played a part in this - Harvey Birdman, Sealab 2021 along with repeated programming of shows on other network - such as Futurama andFamily Guy, but indisputably the biggest of the original programming was Aqua Teen Hunger Force. ATHF (for short) was based around the absurd premise of a trio of human-sized fast food items - a shake (Master Shake), fries (Frylock), and a, uh, meatball (Meatwad) who could talk and had powers (shooting lasers for Frylock, changing shapes for Meatwad and, well, nothing really for Master Shake) solving mysteries in suburban New Jersey, all while bothering their Jersey slob neighbor Carl. Of course the premise was even this coherent just to get them on the air - their creators and no actual intent for them to be solving mysteries all the time (they do in about the first three episodes) - that was merely the only way to convince Cartoon Network to put the show on (The show is kind of a spinoff of Space Ghost Coast to Coast, where a twisted version of the characters appeared (though Meatwad looks pretty much the same)).

ATHF became a minor sensation. During the first couple years of college, watching Adult Swim was a weekly ritual. Every week I'd get together with my friends and put it on, every Sunday night when the new comedies aired. I was so obsessed with these episodes that I can even now recite some of the episodes nearly line for line, particularly what may have been our favorite episode, Revenge of the Mooninites, which featured a belt which gave Foreigner powers - my friends and I loved the episode so much we actually started listening to Foreigner more because of it.

ATHF became the type of quick barometer of what people I could get along with that certain pop culture phenomena become to individuals (not that I'm endorsing super quick judgment, but hey, everybody does it, and sometimes it's right) - I remember talking to a coworker in the first or second summer after it's existence and finding out first she didn't know what it was, and then that she more than just didn't like it, she didn't get it - I tried to be polite but inside, I scoffed. The show was never bound to appeal to more than a niche population - it was far too ridiculous - but it had a cult among those who did.

ATHF got a national airing to many who had absolutely no idea what it was for a brief moment when, in 2007, a viral marketing campaign went wrong (or right, considering the amount of publicity in generated) when commuters reported LED set ups of the Mooninites by a T station in Boston unlit and replete with a power source and some exposed wiring, which was essentially a giant sized Lite Brite. Before you could say Ignignokt and Err, there was a huge freak out and the site was surrounded by fire, police and ambulances, none of whom clearly was a stoner or under 30 because one look at it for anyone who had seen the show would clearly recognize the character, who appeared in many episodes. A second sign was spotted, and the full blown panic was repeated. It's hard to tell whether this speaks more to the incompetence of the Boston police department or the generation gap. The two people responsible for the marketing campaign was even arrested, citing an incredibly far-fetched idea that they were trying to start a panic.

The episodes got even more ridiculous as time went on, and I haven't seen a lot of the later ones - it's the last of the old Williams Street Adult Swim series still airing - and I don't watch Adult Swim with the insistent regularity that I used to (that's not to say I don't tune in occasionally, especially for Venture Bros.). But that should take nothing away from those classic early episodes.