The Greatest TV Shows of All Time (Kinda): The Top 10

[Steampunkette]

Farscape was made in Australia, so per thread rules it cannot be a good show, or something.

While Farscape was made in Australia it is very "American-y" in that it was made for American Audiences through the Sci-Fi channel. That's why the main character is an American and all the Aliens are Aussies and Kiwis. (Playfully stated)

 

[payn]

Really hard to see Buffy/Angel belonging on this list. Too schlocky and too much filler (even if it's often well-done as far as that goes).

I thought this too. Then again, OP put action soft core porn series Banshee down as an honorable mention.

 

[TwoSix]

Just because of the sheer volume involved, ranking TV is really, really hard. Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz, who are two well-known TV critics, put out a book about 5 years ago (TV: The Book) where they had a good discussion about the merits of comedy versus drama, older shows versus new shows, etc. For the record, their top ten (which included comedies, but also focused on North American TV) was:

1) The Simpsons
2) The Sopranos
3) The Wire
4) Cheers
5) Breaking Bad
6) Mad Men
7) Seinfeld
8) I Love Lucy
9) Deadwood
10) All in the Family

 

[payn]

Just because of the sheer volume involved, ranking TV is really, really hard. Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz, who are two well-known TV critics, put out a book about 5 years ago (TV: The Book) where they had a good discussion about the merits of comedy versus drama, older shows versus new shows, etc. For the record, their top ten (which included comedies, but also focused on North American TV) was:

1) The Simpsons
2) The Sopranos
3) The Wire
4) Cheers
5) Breaking Bad
6) Mad Men
7) Seinfeld
8) I Love Lucy
9) Deadwood
10) All in the Family

I dont typically like sit-coms, but Cheers was all sorts of greatness. All in the Family was amazing, I cant imagine anything like it ever hitting the small screen again.

 

[Cadence]

Now that comedies are being bandied around contrary to the rules, I'll throw in documentaries and science shows...

Nature (591 episodes)
NOVA (884 episodes)

if I double break the rules and go for shorter than two seasons...

The Civil War (11.5 hours over 9 episodes)

and if I triple break it and add on made in the UK...

The Life of Birds (8.3 hours over 10 episodes).

 

[Dioltach]

On a more serious note: White Collar, Justified, The Dragon Prince and (so far) Lucifer.

 

[TwoSix]

Now that comedies are being bandied around contrary to the rules, I'll throw in documentaries and science shows...

To be fair, Snarf didn't post any rules. He simply posted the criteria he used for making his list. I wouldn't use the same criteria if I was making a top 10 list. Not that I think his are wrong, because there's no right or wrong here.

 

[Cadence]

To be fair, Snarf didn't post any rules. He simply posted the criteria he used for making his list. I wouldn't use the same criteria if I was making a top 10 list. Not that I think his are wrong, because there's no right or wrong here.

I mean, judging by your list, I like whatever criteria you were using better anyway

 

[Gradine]

In order:

1) DuckTales (2017)

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

... so per thread rules it cannot be a good show, or something

Just pointing this out. I find that having rules in place makes things easier ... for me. That's why I listed the criteria I was using.

This doesn't mean that non-American shows cannot be good shows. This doesn't mean that comedies cannot be good shows. This doesn't mean that older shows cannot be good shows. Nor does this mean that shows I have not watched cannot be a good shows.

Instead, as I went to some length in describing when I went through the criteria, there is a difficulty in comparing some of these things, and the purpose was not simply to list shows I like.

But sure, if people prefer to list "shows I think are cool for no particular reason," then have at it.