There Will Be Blood is now objectively the greatest film of all time, so what about TV? Doing TV by year can be unruly, with seasons stretching across multiple years and some shows even airing multiple seasons within a year. Instead, we will do a qualifying round. What are your top twenty TV shows of all time? Everything is worth 1 point each. The top 64 will enter the bracket. We will keep this open for one week.
My twenty: 1. Strangers with Candy 2. Larry Sanders Show 3. Seinfeld 4. Simpsons 5. The Office (UK) 6. Extras 7. The Sopranos 8. The Wire 9. Deadwood 10. Twin Peaks 11. Mad Men 12. Friday Night Lights 13. Bojack Horseman 14. John from Cincinnati 15. Carnivale 16. Eastbound and Down 17. The Shield 18. Justified 19. Nathan for You 20. Curb Your Enthusiasm
This is so hard. I'm breaking it into 10 dramas and 10 comedies - obviously there is some blurring of genres, especially between "comedies" like Bojack, Atlanta, and Barry, but whatever. Dramas: 1. The Sopranos 2. The Wire 3. Deadwood 4. Mad Men 5. Breaking Bad 6. Twin Peaks 7. The Shield 8. The Leftovers 9. Freaks and Geeks 10. Friday Night Lights Comedies: 1. The Simpsons 2. Seinfeld 3. Arrested Development 4. Bojack Horseman 5. Atlanta 6. The Office (US) 7. Curb Your Enthusiasm 8. 30 Rock 9. Community 10. Barry
1. Scrubs 2. Breaking Bad 3. Spartacus 4. Curb Your Enthusiasm 5. Mr Robot 6. You're the Worst 7. Twin Peaks 8. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia 9. Black Mirror 10. Nathan for You 11. Peep Show 12. Scenes from a Marriage (1973) 13. Girls 14. Fleabag 15. Catastrophe 16. Lost 17. Pen15 18. Extras 19. Game of Thrones 20. The Sopranos Super hard to try and narrow this to 20 as there's so much stuff I love and it's hard to compare shows with a lot of seasons to ones with only a few but this is the 20 I like the most as of right now I guess.. Didn't include any anime because that would just make it way harder and it feels like a whole different thing.
Not in any order Sopranos Better Call Saul Breaking Bad Bob's Burgers Curb Your Enthusiasm Seinfeld Twin Peaks Hannibal It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia The Leftovers Veep Futurama Community Star Trek: The Next Generation Review (US) Archer The Good Place Nathan For You Dragon Ball Z The Eric Andre Show
I have had to amend my list a couple times because I forgot so much. I don't have a mental map of them the way I do for movies.
gonna break it up by comedy and drama too drama: 1. sopranos 2. the leftovers 3. the wire 4. mad men 5. justified 6. the twilight zone 7. deadwood 8. band of brothers 9. succession 10. breaking bad comedies: 1. seinfeld 2. the simpsons 3. curb your enthusiasm 4. eastbound and down 5. it’s always sunny in philadelphia 6. atlanta 7. chappelle show 8. the larry sanders show 9. jackass 10. veep
drama: twin peaks the wire the sopranos true detective the twilight zone lost breaking bad better call saul carnivale freaks and geeks comedy: trailer park boys party down jackass eastbound and down the office south park the inbetweeners the increasingly poor decisions of todd margaret seinfeld beavis and butthead
the sopranos lost breaking bad mad men the leftovers scrubs the simpsons parks & recreation bobs burgers the office its always sunny in philadelphia succession better caul saul friends veep game of thrones south park family guy atlanta true detective
I debated whether I should include some of these because they won't get enough points anyways, but whatever. I also decided on only shows that are no longer airing. This is my honest top 20: Veronica Mars Lost The Wire Mad Men Friday Night Lights E.R. Friends Buffy the Vampire Slayer Angel Dragon Ball Z Sailor Moon Parks & Recreation Firefly Freaks & Geeks Gilmore Girls Jeopardy Impractical Jokers The Challenge The Good Wife Deadwood
David Simon's Twitter and sociological views on law enforcement have made The Wire less essential. The Sopranos, however, seems to get better every year, despite what The Many Saints of Newark tried to sully.
The Sopranos The Americans The Golden Girls Deadwood Fleabag In Treatment Twin Peaks Lost Futurama The Twilight Zone The Mary Tyler Moore Show Boy Meets World Taskmaster QI What’s My Line? Broadchurch United States of Tara Are You Afraid of the Dark? Dark What We Do in the Shadows I may have to mess with this a bit, I can already think of easily a dozen others ghag would fit just as easily. I tried to not pick limited series options, otherwise I would very likely have put Fosse/Verdon, Scenes from a Marriage, Fanny and Alexander, Face to Face, Sharp Objects, or Wanderlust. May need to make a whole separate list from that category for fun. Also had a hard time trying to figure out something like the Degrassi universe which means a lot to me but encompasses a bunch of different shows and levels of quality.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Rectify Mr. Robot Breaking Bad Better Call Saul Fargo BoJack Horseman Twin Peaks Seinfeld Veep Mad Men The Americans Succession Curb Your Enthusiasm Succession Community Fleabag You're the Worst Review The Leftovers
What’s the feeling on single season series/miniseries made for television? They feel different (see: Watchmen), but then also fit here I think? Also, just noticed this and was able to sticky it. Same nudge offer as last time if you need it, @Morrissey.
Bojack Horseman Mad Men Community Nathan for You Daria The Twilight Zone The Simpsons Seinfeld The Leftovers Friday Night Lights South Park Party Down The Adventures of Pete & Pete I Think You Should Leave Six Feet Under Girls Freaks and Geeks New Girl Parks and Recreation Enlightened
No particular order 1. The Sopranos 2. The Wire 3. Deadwood 4. Mad Men 5. Twin Peaks (including The Return) 6. The Shield 7. Six Feet Under 8. Treme 9. The Simpsons 10. Battlestar Gallactica 11. The Twilight Zone (original) 12. Justified 13. John from Cincinnati 14. Friday Night Lights 15. Cheers 16. Frasier 17. Firefly 18. South Park 19. Dragon Ball Z 20. Curb Your Enthusiasm it was really hard to leave off Black Mirror, Extras, Fargo, and The Leftovers. The Americans was close too. Some obvious ones I cheated on like Seinfeld and Breaking Bad because I know those will make it. Dragon Ball Z ran as a series so it made it different from anime, there are better animes out there though.