The 50 Best Television Shows of this Century!

[billd91]

In one sense, I'm glade they didn't stick to fiction because Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown is an awesome show. Easily one of the top 50 things to watch on television in the 21st Century. But Survivor?!? Eeesh!

I am completely appalled that The Good Place wasn't even an honorable mention, though it's very cool that Sense8 is.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

In one sense, I'm glade they didn't stick to fiction because Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown is an awesome show. Easily one of the top 50 things to watch on television in the 21st Century. But Survivor?!? Eeesh!

I am completely appalled that The Good Place wasn't even an honorable mention, though it's very cool that Sense8 is.

I absolutely loved sense8 (and The OA as well), but ... not entirely sure they'd be in the Top 50.

The Good Place, definitely.

The more I look over the list, both in terms of exclusions and what's on it, the more I realize just what an over-abundance of amazing television we've had in the last two decades.

 

[Willie the Duck]

In one sense, I'm glade they didn't stick to fiction because Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown is an awesome show. Easily one of the top 50 things to watch on television in the 21st Century. But Survivor?!? Eeesh!

I'm a little confused by this. It and How To With John Wilson are the only... what I'll call non-fiction shows on the list (I don't know what to call Survivor, but it seems to be both scripted and fiction by any reasonable definition, so we'll just leave it as 'reality tv' and maybe 'game show'), and then The Great British Bake Off in the honorable mentions. If they had simply excluded the category, I would be fine with it (top 50 of a more restricted population of shows). Including them makes the absence of any others glaring. There are definitely shows (Planet Earth, The Blue Planet, any of the 'revisit the big news events of the 1980-90s' shows we've had in the past half-decade) that, if not in the top 50, I expected to be included in the discussion, honorable mentions, etc. It feels like maybe some of the critics polled thought those ought be on the list, and others were thinking strictly scripted fiction shows.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Huh. I haven't done one of these in a while, have I? Well, for once you are not subject to the slings and arrows of my arbitrary and capricious rules, because ... it's not my list!

Hollywood Reporter Critics Pick the 50 Best TV Shows of the 21st Century (So Far)

Over the course of a few months, several Zoom meetings, lots of emails and countless Excel spreadsheets, three THR TV critics joined forces to hash out, and rank, what they consider the greatest shows since 2000.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

That's right, I stumbled across the Best 50 TV Shows of this Century ... as determined by the critics of the Hollywood Reporter. Now, let me start by saying that I don't necessarily agree with every selection, or with the placement of every show, but I think that you could do a lot worse than just watching the shows on this list that you haven't seen yet.

All that said, what were the arbitrary and capricious rules that they used?
1. Any show that had any episodes that aired after Dec. 31, 1999, was eligible. But only for the episodes that aired after that date. Which meant that Buffy would lose the first 3 1/2 seasons. Yeah.
2. Only English-language shows.

What are my thoughts?

Shows I Would Have Found A Way to Include:
Arrested Development
Curb Your Enthusiasm
The Good Place
Hannibal
Harley Quinn
Justified
Legion
Mr. Robot
Watchmen
What We Do In The Shadows

Shows That I Was Somewhat Puzzled by the Inclusion (not that these are bad shows ... at all! Just that I would have chosen other shows):
48. South Side
47. Vida
46. The Underground Railroad
34. Jane The Virgin. Eh.
23. Survivor. This show is super popular. And other than that, I have been told that if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing.
22. Better Things. It's a good show. Sometimes really good. Just not a top 50 for me.
18. Friday Night Lights. Unpopular opinion. The show is fine. But a wee bit overrated.
13. 30 for 30. It's fine! It's not one of my 50 best.
11. The Daily Show. Nope. If I had made the list, it would have been fiction only. Suck it, reality TV and faux news programs.

Other Comments:
44. The Leftovers. At least 40 spots too low.
42. Station Eleven. Happy to see it here, happy to see it properly recognized.
39. The Deuce. Weirdly, I was shocked to see it, but it's also ... not wrong.
35. Chernobyl. So many good HBO miniseries. But this one really lingers.
27. Parks and Recreation. Fun fact ... The Office isn't on the list. Suck it, Michael/Creed 'shippers.
25. Review. YES YES YES YES! Admit, you haven't seen this. And you need to.
20. Peep Show. Was I surprised this was here in a sea of mediocrity American TV? Yes. Does it belong here? Oh yeah.
19, Rectify. Shocked it placed higher than The Leftovers; my quick review of it is that it has all depression of that show, but none of the magical realism.
17, Halt and Catch Fire. Watch Brother Day in a tour de force about the rise of the computer industry.
15. Atlanta. What a great show. Deserving of the rank.

The Top 10, with brief notes-
10. Bojack Horseman. No notes. Perfect show.
9. Freaks and Geeks. OBJECTION! It had one season, and one third of its one season aired before the cutoff. It's a great show, but rules are rules. Shouldn't be on the list.
8. Girls. Totally should be on the list; question if it should be in the top 10.
7. Better Call Saul. Can't argue with this. For reference, Breaking Bad is 16. Argue amongst yourselves as to whether this is an outrage, or This Is The Way.
6. Reservation Dogs. Love it. Surprised and gratified to see it in the top 10.
5. The Wire. Perfect. No notes.
4. 30 Rock. Top 50 show, sure. Not top 10.
3. Succession. Oooh ..... okay. Number 3? Top 10, probably. But 3?
2. The Sopranos. Rules mean you lose Season 1. So ... still, can't argue.
1. Mad Men. Seems fair.


So, how does this compare to my personal top 10 list of the 21st century? Well, here it is. It's not in an ordinal order, and it's restricted to American shows. And no Buffy, because no first 3 1/2 seasons.
The Leftovers
The Americans
Better Call Saul
The Wire
Halt and Catch Fire
Mad Men
Reservation Dogs
BoJack Horseman
Rectify... but sure, I could see The Sopranos here. Still, Rectify is really really good. Or The Good Place.

Any list that has Halt and Catch Fire can't be all bad. That's my personal #1 show this century. I'm not saying it's actually the best, though I believe it is hugely underrated and underwatched but it's certainly up there. Add in Peep Show (!?!?!?! Americans have seen this?) and I'm actually kind of impressed with this list.

Freaks and Geeks though I'm sorry should absolutely not be on top 10 (and barely top 50) of the 21st century. I feel like only nostalgia from People Of A Certain Age can possibly be the reason. It wasn't a great show, it didn't last, it didn't have a lasting impact, and I question whether it even did anything new (all imho of course). It was just very specific, and if that's why it's on there, I feel like we could do better. Skins would be a much better choice (albeit lower down the list) and I know enough Americans have seen that that it should have be considered. It's got more to say, it says it with more verve, it launched more careers (I think), and it heavily influenced a bunch of shows, including ones being made now, like Euphoria.

I think there are a number of others that absolutely will not be on this list if it was made again in 5-10 years. Specifically:
The Underground Railroad (It's good but it's not left an impact)
Station Eleven (I know some people loved this, but I just don't see it resonating longer-term - it's just a little too up itself)
Beef (which I really liked, but which is, ultimately, rather lightweight!)
Enlightened (I love Laura Dern but this show is not a long-term contender)

Huh.

That's it. That's the only ones I expect to be "forgotten by history" from this list. So, again, pretty good list.

Survivor is a tricky one, because here's the problem - it's 100% outclassed by Australian Survivor. Australian Survivor, is on all possible levels, a more entertaining, surprising, and generally compelling show (even the presenter is far more fun and charismatic and also nuclear-grade ripped). Australians were built to make this sort of nonsense entertaining in a way Americans were not. But I get the impression few Americans have seen Australian Survivor - I guarantee if more had, it could shove Survivor off this list though. Season 7 of that is maybe peak Survivor, like, everything is downhill from here. And any reality show is going to be pretty divisive - but if you're going to have one - have the very best iteration of it.

The Daily Show being on there is bizarre to me. It's not even the best exemplar of the weird super-American-middle-class genre of "guy cracks semi-amusing jokes about the news whilst also making Serious Points" (but they have to be super MoR points, politically, only things that are incredibly safe with the core audience), imho. I guess they're saying it represents that genre, but that's obviously not on, because the rest of the list doesn't work that way!

Also yeah Curb Your Enthusiasm is way better than most of the shows on this list (especially the comedies) - I "hate" cringe-reflex-based comedy, and I avoided it for years until the pandemic but it's an amazing show, just very clever and very funny.

I hate to say this but I feel 30 Rock hasn't stood the test of time. It was absolutely hysterical, but rewatching it a couple of years back, it felt way more dated and irrelevant that I had presumed. Still, it's way better than Parks and Rec so there's that.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I'm a little confused by this. It and How To With John Wilson are the only... what I'll call non-fiction shows on the list (I don't know what to call Survivor, but it seems to be both scripted and fiction by any reasonable definition, so we'll just leave it as 'reality tv' and maybe 'game show'), and then The Great British Bake Off in the honorable mentions. If they had simply excluded the category, I would be fine with it (top 50 of a more restricted population of shows). Including them makes the absence of any others glaring. There are definitely shows (Planet Earth, The Blue Planet, any of the 'revisit the big news events of the 1980-90s' shows we've had in the past half-decade) that, if not in the top 50, I expected to be included in the discussion, honorable mentions, etc. It feels like maybe some of the critics polled thought those ought be on the list, and others were thinking strictly scripted fiction shows.

Well, there's also The Daily Show.

That said, I do agree with your theory. I think that it's possible that since this was a consensus list, some of of the people might not have thought about the category at all.

I didn't call out How To With John Wilson for two reasons. One, because it's absolutely amazing. Two, because it kinda sorta straddles the line of reality TV and scripted TV, akin to The Rehearsal. I'm not sure if I'm fully comfortable calling it either non-fiction or fiction, TBH.

 

[Umbran]

Freaks and Geeks though I'm sorry should absolutely not be on top 10 (and barely top 50) of the 21st century. I feel like only nostalgia from People Of A Certain Age can possibly be the reason.

"I didn't personally like the show, so I can trivialize it and anyone who liked it," is a really poor way to approach this kind of thread.

It wasn't a great show, it didn't last, it didn't have a lasting impact, and I question whether it even did anything new (all imho of course).

I'm going to stop you right there. Let us set aside how the show was instrumental to the careers of James Franco, Seth Rogan, Linda Cardellini, Jason Segal, and John Frances Daly, and their collective impacts on the media landscape since....

Let us remember that the big teen shows of the 90s were The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Saved By The Bell, That 70s Show, Beverly Hills 90210, and Dawson's Creek.

Freaks and Geeks did something new - it presented a look at the teen experience without a either glamorizing or trivializing a sugarcoated, Saturday Afternoon Special approach to real issues, while keeping a sense of humor about it, a trick even My So-Called Life couldn't manage. Every TV show afterwards that presents teen lives in real terms likely owes it to Freaks and Geeks.

 

[Deset Gled]

The list missed True Detective, Hannibal, and The Good Place? All of them? Meh. Kinda hard to consider it to be of any value if none of those show up in the top 50. I can accept missing one, maybe even two. But if Jane the Virgin makes it and none of those do, I'm going to just write it off.

Also, Brooklyn 99 is better than Parks and Rec.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Every TV show afterwards that presents teen lives in real terms likely owes it to Freaks and Geeks.

Shows were doing that long before Freaks and Geeks - My So-Called Life, as you mentioned, in 1995. Freaks and Geeks just did a very specific setting - that's really what really distinguished it imho - not more realism, which it didn't really have - but rather being ultra-specific to time and place.

And in the UK, it was fairly routine to have teen shows which were semi-realist and specific to certain places in the 1990s (and even the 1980s to some extent). Maybe that influenced my opinion of it.

James Franco, Seth Rogan

I'll give you those two but the others are all fairly minor (to my mind), and god love her but I consider inflicting Linda Cardellini on us to be a solid negative hit rather than a positive - though I did love her in Dead to Me, for the first time ever so maybe that opinion will soften with time!

"I didn't personally like the show, so I can trivialize it and anyone who liked it," is a really poor way to approach this kind of thread.

I think expressing an explicitly IMHO opinion (I even outright said it - "(all imho of course)") about a show in a thread about expressing opinions about shows is probably okay, even if it's negative. I get that some people will adore any given show, but I don't think that means you have soft-pedal personal criticism of the show so long you understand it's personal criticism, not "facts".

And I do feel like nostalgia is absolutely the reason is placed so highly in that specific list. I'm not saying that's a fact. That isn't "trivializing" people in any way.

 

[AnotherGuy]

Banshee? Frasier?

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Banshee? Frasier?

I love Banshee!

Don't think it belongs in the top 50, however.

Frasier is the 90s, and the majority of seasons (especially the best ones) are ineligible.