A lot of my favorites have already been mentioned, but I'll add:
TV: The Prisoner Robin of Sherwood (a 3 season BBC show from the 80s that none of the rest of you will ever have heard of)
Books: Dune, by Frank Herbert (it was on the NPR list too) Lord Demon and A Night In Lonesome October, both by Roger Zelazny Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow Foundation series, by Asimov Waystation, by Clifford Simak Dark Is Rising series, by Susan Cooper Left Hand Of Darkness, Ursula LeGuin Lammas Night, Katherine Kurtz (although I have political issues with this one) Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams (also IMO deservedly on the NPR list) Charmed Life, Diana Wynne Jones The Sheep Look Up and Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner (read with Prozac)
no subject
TV:
The Prisoner
Robin of Sherwood (a 3 season BBC show from the 80s that none of the rest of you will ever have heard of)
Books:
Dune, by Frank Herbert (it was on the NPR list too)
Lord Demon and A Night In Lonesome October, both by Roger Zelazny
Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow
Foundation series, by Asimov
Waystation, by Clifford Simak
Dark Is Rising series, by Susan Cooper
Left Hand Of Darkness, Ursula LeGuin
Lammas Night, Katherine Kurtz (although I have political issues with this one)
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams (also IMO deservedly on the NPR list)
Charmed Life, Diana Wynne Jones
The Sheep Look Up and Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner (read with Prozac)