Look at LOST: that last season absolutely destroyed any residual goodwill that I had towards the solid seasons that preceded it. I don’t see that happening to BB or MM, but you never know.
Off topic, I know, but it blows my mind that 18 minutes ago this thread was pre-9/11.
On topic, I would have to go with (in no particular order):
X-Files
Twin Peaks
Arrested Development
Justified
The Amazing Race
Spaced
Veronica Mars
AThe A-Team is the…Greatest Tv Series. A fantastic cast led by George Peppard as Colonel John “Hannibal” Smith. Each week…Face, B.A., HM and Intrepid Reporter Amy Amanda Allen would outwit their military pursuers, protect innocents, and unleash enough puns, Quips and Bullets to entertain all their fans each week.
True. I was down on much of last season’s MM, for example. (Although I thought much of it was still superb.) I gave Lost a lot of leeway throughout its run, as it was never really perfect, but I think the nature of the show’s structure also led to its rewatchability being hurt. Fingers crossed.
I thought the same. I can’t believe this thread hasn’t been dug up before now.
I blanked on Justified and Game of Thrones, two of the four reasons (along with Mad Men and football) that I still have cable.
Yep, forgot about GoT as well. Also SHERLOCK and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. I’m not sure either of those would make my top 10, but they’d be up there.
Ah, BSG . . . amazing and frustrating for me, especially in the final season. Another example of the final season hurting my rewatch of the show. I think BB and MM will both benefit by not being bound to series-long mysteries regarding the shows’ mythology.
The Prisoner has been available on Crackle for the last few weeks . . . it’s the big blind spot in my TV viewing. I need to catch up.
Homeland was excellent until about halfway through the second season, then it had 3-4 episodes in a row that were really bad. I think this points to why BB is in the convo for best ever: the sustained quality of the episodes. There have been so few missteps. Sopranos and The Wire may have hit higher highs (at least for me), but BB has never had flubs like the Wire’s newspaper storyline or Sopranos’ Season 6 Vito/Johnnycakes storyline.
Get on that, you won’t regret it. Be seeing you!
The Prisoner is amazing. Wild generalization: Imagine Kafka writing Bond, with a heavy dose of 60s psychedelia. It also tried out the idea of intelligent TV made with cinematic production values several decades before HBO.
Add in a heavy dose of FUCK YOU sentiment, especially in the finale.
Be warned: the finale will probably piss you off when you first watch it. It takes a rewatch for the sheer audacity of it to sink in.
Can’t this be broken up by “Current/Unfinished” and “Ended”? These woudn’t include talk, news or reality shows.
Current/Unfinished
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Breaking Bad
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Game of Thrones
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Justified
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Sons of Anarchy
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Simpsons (would be higher, but I really only care about 90’s-era episodes)
Ended
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The Wire
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Cheers
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Star Trek: The Original Series
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Monty Python’s Flying Circus
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Freaks & Geeks
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Homicide: Life on the Street
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M*A*S*H
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Arrested Development (2003-2006)
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The West Wing
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Hill Street Blues
I will admit to checking out of The Sopranos after about a season and a half. Also, is Band of Brothers a tv series or a mini-series? If the former, my list will have to change…
It’s tough because how do you compare a 30 minute sitcom to an hour long drama.
That said…I’d vote for Cheers. The only sitcoms anywhere close are Seinfeld and The Simpsons, beyond those two it laps the rest of the field (yes even Louie and Arrested Development).
You need to see THE MARY TYLER MOORE show and THE DICK VAN DYKE show. Both featured the same kind of ‘lightning in a bottle’ chemistry that you enjoyed in CHEERS. Brilliant stuff.
I’ve seen plenty of them both (I hate that TV Land stopped really airing them) and it’s still Cheers by a wide margin.
Ah, Freaks and Geeks. Another personal favorite.
Comedy-wise, I have to throw out love for The Larry Sanders Show. It’s probably dated the most, due to its “current stars of the time” format, but so much good is there. Rip Torn is a God on that show.
I like making a distinction between hour long serial dramas and the 30 minute comedies, makes making a list wayyyy easier.
Hour Long
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Mad Men
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Breaking Bad
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Deadwood
AMC has been very good to me
30 Min
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South Park (up and down overall, but when it’s good, its goooooooood)
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The Simpsons
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Futurama
Just looking at this thread makes you realize how blessed we’ve been the past 13 years. Since TV covers such a wide range of genres I’m going to break it down into categories…
- Best Comedy: Arrested Development. There have been some great TV comedies over the last few decades but few are as funny, complex, and intelligent as AD. As one poster said in one of the many AD threads we’ve had, and I’m paraphrasing, “If you are watching AD for the first time, you’re missing 50% of the jokes”
Runner ups:
The Simpsons: The 90’s were brilliant but it’s been horrible way longer than it’s been good at this point. Still the first few seasons are so amazing that even 50 seasons of horrible Simpsons won’t erase the golden age of the show.
Freaks and Geeks: One of the most accurate depictions of high school and the 80’s I’ve seen. It’s one of those shows that can make you laugh or cry and most times within minutes of each other.
Best Drama: Breaking Bad
I might eat my words in a few weeks but there’s so much good that’s been built up over the years that a final half season can’t possibly cancel out so much greatness. There’s also the fact that the ending seems well planned out and not pulled out of Gilligan’s ass. I might end up hating it but it won’t feel cheap at least.
Best Cancelled Series (10 eps or less): Police Squad. Easily the funniest show of the 80’s not named “Cheers”
I think The Simpsons is still the easiest answer, because it really did mold the sense of humor of a generation, and it conveniently sidesteps the need to pit a bunch of cable dramas about male antiheroes against each other. Though a potentially stronger argument could be made for Saturday Night Live, it’s even less consistent than the whole of The Simpsons (such is the nature of sketch comedy).
For dramas, the contenders for me are Deadwood, The Wire, Breaking Bad and The Sopranos. Game Of Thrones could get there, but it is going to be much more dependent on nailing it’s (necessarily) much more complex ending to figure out where it lands. My top ten would probably be rounded out by The Shield, Justified, Buffy, and probably Friday Night Lights and Battlestar if Freaks and Geeks counts as a comedy despite being hourlong. Rankings are entirely dependent on mood.
Holy shit, I don’t know how I could have left off Freaks and Geeks and Friday Night Lights. Especially FNL.
Wings. This discussion is over.