The All-TIME 100 TV Shows: Let the Beatdown Begin!

While its hard to argue with any of your picks, I would have liked to see more British shows make the list. Off the top of my head, I would have included Blackadder, Yes Minister and The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, Doctor Who and the 7 Up series.

Nadir:

Oh, I could definitely argue with some of my picks! You're just not trying hard enough!

Seriously, I do admit, and tried to explain in my intro, that the list skews heavily toward American shows, or shows that were particularly well-exposed on American TV. To do otherwise, I think, would have meant choosing shows based more on their reputation than my experience of them--I write about American TV for a living, what can I say?--and that would make the list rather phony.

That said, certainly the shows you mention have gotten exposed here, and of them I seriously considered the 7 Up series, but I finally decided that they were more filmic works. (Likewise for Berlin Alexanderplatz... but not for The Singing Detective, which I will admit is a subjective decision.)

I thought about making a rule that if people wanted to suggest shows to be added to the list, they suggest corresponding deletions, but (1) that would have been petty and (2) everyone would have picked on Felicity.

Wow, very impressive. My only beef is the omission of Band of Brothers. It looks like miniseries were eligible, and that's the best one I've ever seen. The Corner was outstanding, too, but you've got The Wire on there already from the same creators. Slings & Arrows would be on my list, but it's Canadian.

Also, mad props for leaving out Law & Order. You just know Dick Wolf is the kind of person who reads these lists, too.

@beerbaron: Yes, it's possible that I have interviewed Dick Wolf for the last time, we'll see. And that I should fear for my security in a Fred Thompson administration.

Law & Order--I know a *lot* of people will disagree with that one. To me, it's an example of a show that does, extremely and consistently well, something that has already been done, a lot. I mean, I have Dragnet on the list, and Wolf says himself that L&O is an homage to Dragnet. I have a *lot* of cop shows on the list, none of which--The Wire, The Shield, etc.--I could conceive dumping to make room for L&O.

Ultimately, it comes down to the fact that, for me, the serial drama has possibilities that the procedural doesn't, and that originality and innovation count a lot toward a show's greatness. Those are, ultimately, subjective critical priorities--but, whaddyagonnado.

I'm surprised King of the Hill is on there instead of Futurama, the "other" Matt Groening show which was horribly abandoned by Fox. I have a sneaking suspicion that my opinion is due to my background as a nerd and understood some of the more obtuse references. Still, for my money, there aren't many more emotionally charged animated episodes than Fry's dog or the one where Fry ends up digging up the grave of his nephew thinking it was his brother.

I didn't get passed Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which is my favorite TV show of all time.And I happen to believe, creatively speaking, it's one of the best shows in the history of television.

I'm enjoying other TV shows now, but I've yet to find one that has characters quite as rich, multi-layered, funny and sexy as the likes of Buffy and Spike.

I hate this stupid list with every fiber of my being.

L&O is like crack. Once I turn on an episode, I can't turn it off. I have to avoid TNT at all costs or my evening is shot. I'm not sure if that's a vote for or against the show.

@whennow: Yeah, that was me about two months ago when I was writing it.

@gerik: Futurama was definitely on the shortlist, or longlist, or whatever you want to call it. Ultimately I decided (conveniently) that it fell under the two shows / one slot rule with The Simpsons. Why didn't I make the same decision for Beavis & Butt-head and King of the Hill, you ask? No further questions! This interview is over! [Stalks off.]

I take extreme exception to the inclusion of Married... With Children. It's a shining example of almost all of the things I don't like in sitcoms, and TV in general. Otherwise, I got no complaints.

Thanks for ruining my entire productivity this afternoon, and probably all night, too.

But nice list. I may have more trenchant commentary later on, but a couple quick impressions:

1. I guess I'll call you out on Felicity. Someone has to.
2. No morning shows? Today or GMA would seem a natural for the list, given the two shows' "infotainment" pioneering, which has (in many ways) bled over to all other news, network or cable (let's put it this way - I doubt Kronkite would ever have reported on Paris Hilton).
3. Sesame Street is a great (and necessary) call. Sad to see, though, that Mr. Rodger's Neighborhood didn't make it. Probably fair (given its similarities generally speaking to the former), but still a bummer.
4. Price is Right but no Jeopardy? I suppose this goes back to your article/post on the egalitarianism of PoR. Still, egghead television is pretty amazing.
5. Sorry, I can't see King of the Hill. Simpsons (clearly) yes. Even Beavis and Butthead. But not King of the Hill.
6. No Entertainment Tonight? I mean, just look at the genre it gave birth to - Extra, Access Hollywood, pretty much the entire E! network....

More thoughts later, since I really do have to do work....

(Mad props, though, for the list. And for putting Lost, The Wire, and Arrested Development on there.....and no anger from me for excluding Veronica Mars, either, since Buffy is on the list....although both COULD have been included.)

No Lonesome Dove? Preposterous. You shouldn't be allowed to make a dime writing about television.

@chaddogg: I'll just address your #6, because it brings up a point I'll probably write more about later. Syndicated and certain basic cable shows were tough for me--just from the standpoint of representing the totality of TV, there should have been more on there. But when it came to ones I felt I could single out as "great"... I wished for instance, that there was a single HGTV or Food Network show that stood out enough to go on the list--or E! or VH1, etc.--but really, you watch those channels as channels, not just for individual shows. In a way, selecting MTV as a video network stood in for some of this, but in that sense, the list incompletely represents how I watch TV.

As for ET, there were definitely shows I put on in part because they were influential, but I didn't want to include shows *only* because they were influential.

@Bill: As I said above, President Thompson will take care of that soon enough.

And now I have to do work, too.

Good List, can't think of anything I'd have liked to have seen other than Firefly but Buffy was a longer lasting and more impactful product so I understand the reasoning.

I do have one question, do you feel that The West Wing was a better show than Sports Night or that it was just more impactful?

Thanks.

@Karma: I really do have to work. Yet I can't resist!

I have a conflicted relationship with Sorkin's work, as you know if you read me on Studio 60 last fall. He can annoy the hell out of me; but also, I don't just admire his work, I often have really enjoyed it. I panned Studio 60; I had a love-hate relationship with both The West Wing and Sports Night. But with Sports Night, it fell a little more often on the hate side, for some of the same reasons I didn't like Studio 60 (tho SN was the *far* superior show). There were episodes of SN that still stick with me--The Apology, e.g.--but there were some of those same elements of unearned self-seriousness, I thought. Whereas with West Wing--and I will admit, it was one of my later additions to the list--it could infuriate me at times, and I could (and did) go on and on abut its faults. But it was a better match of writer and subject, and there were enough episodes that simply blew me away. So it made the list.

I've got a long, boring reason for every one of these, folks!

How about Siskel and Ebert? Yes, it was syndicated and it was influental but it was also very entertaining, especially when the two disagreed, and it brought serious discussions about art into the pop culture mainstream (No matter that the reviews were short). And it introduced us to Roger Ebert who turned criticism into a popular pastime. How many of us are movie fans and hold heated arguments about them because we saw that show?

Thanks. I'll probably end up adding West Wing to my Net Flix list now.

This is probably the best top 100 TV shows list I've seen. Usually, outlets just throw up their hands, toss Hill Street Blues somewhere in the top ten and call it a day.

And THANK YOU for no David E. Kelley on the list.

One question, three quibbles:

Why no rankings? (I presume you didn't want to tear out your hair even MORE.)

Did you consider Newsradio, NYPD Blue and Northern Exposure? I'll just assume the latter two fell off for how awful they got.

Also, grah, a friend wants me to ask how Frasier missed out. Conflict with Cheers? Or, once again, just how awful it got?

@Todd:

- No rankings: I would have gone insane. Also, a certain apples-and-oranges factor.

- Newsradio a little (I guess WKRP got its slot); NYPD Blue very close--the years of melodrama outweighed the first few of greatness (I may do a post on this factor too); Northern Exposure, too twee and cute, sorry.

- Yes, Frasier falls under the "two shows, one slot rule," which was extremely convenient for getting down to 100.

@Alex: I have no good riposte for you and I may ban your IP address if you continue offering such good challenges. Would have been a totally defensible add, but if anything I may have a little too *much* media-about-media on the list.

Uh...how is Northern Exposure more twee and cute than Gilmore Girls?

Nice list James, except for the egregious omission of "Gilligan's Island." [sadly, I'm serious about that one]

As for what I'd leave off... I like Spongebob, sure... but is it one of the 100 best ever? That seems a little fishy (sorry, couldn't resist, but that helps explain why I'd add Gilligan to the list, doesn't it?).

I'd replace "My So-Called Life" with "Thirtysomething." And I'd probably add "The Andy Griffith Show" in there, as well.

But overall, great work. Must have been fun to put together.

Misguided parents and years with just rabbit ears leave me with only passing awareness of a lot of shows on your list, but most of what I could think of that had impressed me you had on the list. I’ll chime in though on the omission of Lonesome Dove, and a convenient cheat might have been to list Mystery! and Masterpiece Theatre. In their heyday of the 70s and 80s, they were a consistent source of great programming.

I had no idea SpongeBob was so significant…

Hey James,

A few quibbles. First, Nightline should not be left off the list. Ted Koppel's ability to directly interview world leaders on the key topics of the day were unique, and definately different from the investigative journalism of 60 Minutes or Cronkite's anchoring.

Louis Rukeyser's Wall $treet Week also paved the way for discussing financial issues.

As for replacement shows, IMHO, Happy Days certainly beats out a show like the Monkey's. A show that is able to generate not one but two successful spinoffs (Laverne and Shirley, and Mork and Mindy) should have a place on the list.

As for the animated cartoons, the Loony Tunes classics are far superior in both story, humor, and musical content than either Bevis and Butthead, or SpongeBob.

Also in the educational category, how could Mr. Wizard's World miss the cut?

Finally, no animal shows? Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, or at least Animal Planet's 'Shark Week' deserve a mention (my vote is for the Late Marlin Perkins)

Wow thanks to the video i finally know the pronunciation of your name, which I will now promptly forget.

About the list: What, no "According to Jim"??

Seriously, it seems like your criteria fluctuated from "best" to "most significant." If it's the latter, then you'd have to make a case for Law & Order -- not because I think it's fantastic, but because of the impact it's had (for better or for worse) on the TV landscape.

On the side of "best," I'd vote for Band of Brothers.

Shows I was pleasantly surprised to see included: The Day After (still chilling), Wiseguy, Soap.