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Best TV show evAr

8K views 187 replies 70 participants last post by  Waboman 
#1 ·
I came across this post earlier --



hopefully HBO releases a small teaser for Game of Thrones final season before the Westworld finale this Sunday...even a small tease with no new footage or just dialogue would be great...GoT is the greatest show ever made and needs a long buildup/farewell to the final 6 episodes


-- and it got me thinking. GOT is right up there, but it may have been hindered by the last couple seasons when the books ran out. I'm still not sure I can argue against it. We have been inundated with fantastic TV for the last twenty or so years. My gut reaction is Band of Brothers at the very top, but man, there is a ton of contenders. What do you fine folks think?
 
#8 ·
The Prisoner (the 1967 original with Patrick McGoohan, not the godawful AMC remake). It was the "WTF drama" of the 1960s. ITC made the series in the U.K. hoping to syndicate it worldwide as a follow-up to McGoohan's spy series. They thought they were gonna get some kind of "007 in a high-tech prison" premise; instead, McGoohan created a "Orwell meets Kafka and they drop acid" kind of scenario, unlike anything that came before it, and very influential on a lot of film and TV that followed. Worth checking out if you've never seen it; you'll freak when you realize it was made FIFTY years ago! CBS ran it as a summer "filler series," and they were so astounded by viewer response to it that they re-ran the 17 episode limited run series again the following year, something they had never done before.
 
#13 · (Edited)
I came across this post earlier --

-- and it got me thinking. GOT is right up there, but it may have been hindered by the last couple seasons when the books ran out. I'm still not sure I can argue against it. We have been inundated with fantastic TV for the last twenty or so years. My gut reaction is Band of Brothers at the very top, but man, there is a ton of contenders. What do you fine folks think?
Twilight Zone (and it's not close):

... room for one more, honey!

... you are obsolete!

... it isn't fair, it isn't fair!

... my name is Talking Tina and I'm going to kill you!

--- one to the other ... one to the other ... one to the other ...

... it's a COOKBOOK!
 
This post has been deleted
#50 · (Edited)
The Good Wife
I agree. Certainly one of the best especially on the networks...

Why 'The Good Wife' Might Be Network TV's Last Great Drama

At its best, The Good Wife was a showcase for the advantages of longer seasons, and the mixture of ongoing drama and procedural bedrock that makes many network shows tick. There was room to experiment with the form — something it never got as much credit for as Breaking Bad or True Detective — and to let conflicts play out at a pace approximating real life. The weight of nearly a hundred episodes gave the fifth season's "Hitting the Fan," in which the tensions inside Alicia's law firm finally explode, an accumulated power that cable's more concentrated seasons can't muster.

The last time a season longer than 13 episodes won the Emmy for Best Dramatic Series was 2006; the last time one was even nominated was 2011. The Good Wife was that final nominee — to date, and possibly forever.

Non network it would be hard not to go with Mad Men. The pilot grabs you into its world and you never leave.
 
#29 · (Edited)
Not sure GoT would make my top 10, although it's clearly in the top 20. It got to where it is on a combo of high production values and popular appeal. I know few people who don't watch it, but even fewer who have ever rewatched an episode. It's more of a cultural phenomenon than a work of art - a lot of non-genre viewers got exposed to a genre show, which amplified its effect.

Twilight Zone, Firefly, Breaking Bad, BtVS, DS9, The Wire, Southland, White Collar, and if they go well The Expanse and Better Call Saul, in no particular order, make for a strong enough top 10 across the genres, IMHO. Picking one, BB has ticked so many boxes that it edges out The Wire.

Honorable mentions - where you have to exclude some bits, or the opposite, they didn't make enough: Dollhouse (we don't want one producer to make half the list, do we?), Dexter (minus the last season), True Detective (S01 only), Person of Interest (not sure about the last bits), Jericho (last season cut midway), TWD (early), Profit (old, canned), Top Gear (it's only technically "non-scripted").
 
#30 ·
Jericho (last season cut midway)
Actually it wasn't. It was only renewed for the timited number of episodes to resolve things after the fan uproar. Peanuts anyone? :D
 
#31 ·
Hmm, somehow the forum ate my post.

I think Game of Thrones deserves a top ranking, it's definitely broken new ground for a fantasy epic in terms of scale.

I'd also go with The Wire, again, groundbreaking in a lot of ways and the shifting focus between different groups in the city, the police, the drug dealers, the press, the schools, city hall, etc, really helps it rise above.

The original Law & Order deserves a spot, especially the episodes with the original cast.

The Expanse has been groundbreaking as modern sci-fi.

Star Trek DS9 really brought Trek into the modern serialized era, and showed the darker side of the Trek universe without completely losing the ideals and hope that Roddenberry envisioned.
 
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#32 ·
Oh, and how could I forget:

The West Wing - still the best political drama of all time, and Sorkin's masterpiece (though I also enjoyed The Newsroom and Studio 60, brief as the latter may have been).

Honorable mention to Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown for the non-fiction travelogue category.
 
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#33 ·
50s
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
The Red Skelton Show

60s
Bonanza
The Andy Griffith Show
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Carol Burnett Show
The Twilight Zone – Interestingly, TTZ never made the top 25 in ratings

70s
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
All in the Family
M*A*S*H

80s
Cheers

90s
Seinfeld

2000 - 2018
Lost – the ending aside
24
Justified
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Mad Men
The Sopranos
Breaking Bad


Impossible to list a greatest ever.
 
#127 ·
I just noticed all seasons will be available on Prime starting tomorrow.

Been years since I've watched it. Back in the day, seemed there was some big dispute holding up the DVD release of most of it's run.

I remember enjoying the Milchian writing style....and Gail O'Grady ;)
 
#38 ·
Twilight Zone. A ground-breaking, great series, though having watched all episodes recently, some of it really doesn't hold up.

NYPD Blue, which I've recently watched all the way through on Audience. What I think is interesting is how TV has regressed since this was shown.

M*A*S*H. Comedies don't get the respect they deserve.

In my opinion part of what makes these shows great is how much they were a product of the time in which they aired. I was particularly struck by this when watching Twilight Zone, but it is true for all of these.

SMK
 
#41 · (Edited)
Twilight Zone. A ground-breaking, great series, though having watched all episodes recently, some of it really doesn't hold up.

NYPD Blue, which I've recently watched all the way through on Audience. What I think is interesting is how TV has regressed since this was shown.

M*A*S*H. Comedies don't get the respect they deserve.

In my opinion part of what makes these shows great is how much they were a product of the time in which they aired. I was particularly struck by this when watching Twilight Zone, but it is true for all of these.

SMK
Bear in mind that they were cranking out 36 episodes a year, unlike the 10 episodes most shows currently produce in an entire year. In that light, I think TZ is even more remarkable.
 
#42 ·
I feel like there are so many categories for something like this...

For dramas, my list would have to include: Battlestar Galactica, Southland, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, The Wire, Band of Brothers and Deadwood.
For Scifi: Fringe, Black Mirror and The Expanse (And that's quickly climbing the charts overall).
For genre mashups: Veronica Mars and Chuck.
For comedies: Veep, South Park, Archer, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia and Family Guy (The Good Place and Atlanta could join this list).

For animation: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Gargoyles, Animaniacs and Justice League/Unlimited/Batman.

For great shows that lasted 2 seasons or less: Firefly, Journeyman, Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, Carnivale, Better Off Ted and Trophy Wife.

And then there are the shows which were brilliant at times but were shaky other times for various reasons: Community, Lost, Dexter, Futurama, Homeland, Weeds and The X-Files to name a few. There are even more shows like 30 Rock, 12 Monkeys, Stranger Things and Narcos that I really like but I don't quite have the same love for them as I do for those I listed.

And yeah, I know my list doesn't include older shows. I'm not a nostalgic person so when I go back and rewatch shows I used to love that love isn't there anymore. =(
 
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