A few weeks back the WGA released their list of what they consider to be the Top 100 Best-Written TV Shows (you can check my earlier post on it). Now Entertainment Weekly has released their own list.
There are a great many shows that made both lists, albeit in different positions. Both have nearly the same shows in their top ten, including The Wire, Seinfeld, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Sopranos, All in the Family and Mad Men.
I was thrilled to find one of the best cult shows ever made - Buffy The Vampire Slayer - in EW's top ten. WGA had it at #49. The wonderful Freaks and Geeks made both lists, and I was happy to find EW included many shows that I personally loved, including Alias, Gilmore Girls, Felicity, Beverly Hills 90210 and Ally McBeal. My newest passion - Doctor Who - was included as well.
EW obviously loves HBO, giving healthy representation of the cable net's programming including Six Feet Under, Game of Thrones, The Wire, Deadwood, Sex and the City, The Larry Sanders Show, Oz and The Comeback.
There were quite a lot of variety and sketch shows included (Saturday Night Live, The Abbott and Costello Show, The Smothers Brothers Hour, The Carol Burnett Show) as well as some reality (Survivor, Project Runway, The Real World) and one head-scratcher - Beavis and Butt-Head. I mean, it was a funny show, but one of the best ever? Daria was a better quality show in my opinion.
Not making this list but included on the WGA's are shows like Dexter, Justified, The Wonder Years, House and Murphy Brown. Bryan Cranston made EW's list twice, with Malcolm in the Middle and Breaking Bad. And both lists' #100 show couldn't be more different (WGA had Oz, EW has The Brady Bunch).
Perhaps I'll get around to making my own Top 100 list - trust me, it would have a lot of the same shows but my toppers would be far different and more genre-spread. Till then, here is EW's full list. Enjoy!
The Wire (HBO)
The Simpsons
(FOX)
Seinfeld
(NBC)
The Mary
Tyler Moore Show (CBS)
The Sopranos
(HBO)
All in the
Family (CBS)
The Andy
Griffith Show (CBS)
Buffy The
Vampire Slayer (The WB/UPN)
Mad Men
(AMC)
Your Show of
Shows (NBC)
I Love Lucy
(CBS)
Saturday
Night Live (NBC)
The Twilight
Zone (CBS)
The Office
(UK) (BBC)
Cheers (NBC)
The Cosby
Show (NBC)
Roseanne
(ABC)
Breaking Bad
(AMC)
Arrested
Development (FOX/Netflix)
The
Honeymooners (CBS)
Friends
(NBC)
My So-Called
Life (ABC)
Law &
Order (NBC)
Lost (ABC)
Alfred
Hitchcock Presents (CBS/NBC)
Prime
Suspect (UK) (ITV)
Monty
Python’s Flying Circus (BBC)
The Abbott
and Costello Show (Syndicated)
The X-Files
(FOX)
ER (NBC)
M*A*S*H
(CBS)
The Golden
Girls (NBC)
The Carol
Burnett Show (CBS)
The Larry
Sanders Show (HBO)
Hill Street
Blues (NBC)
Maude (CBS)
Columbo
(NBC/ABC)
The Bob
Newhart Show (CBS)
The Fugitive
(ABC)
The Real
World (MTV)
Twin Peaks
(ABC)
Taxi
(ABC/NBC)
St.
Elsewhere (NBC)
Frasier
(NBC)
Gilmore
Girls (WB/CW)
The Rifleman
(ABC)
The Rockford
Files (NBC)
Friday Night
Lights (NBC)
The Muppet
Show (CBS)
Survivor
(CBS)
The West
Wing (NBC)
Soap (ABC)
American
Idol (FOX)
NYPD Blue
(ABC)
thirtysomething
(ABC)
30 Rock
(NBC)
The Shield
(FX)
Sex and the
City (HBO)
Freaks and
Geeks (NBC)
Deadwood
(HBO)
Dallas (CBS)
Homicide:
Life on the Street (NBC)
Absolutely
Fabulous (BBC)
Modern
Family (ABC)
Doctor Who
(BBC)
Chappelle’s
Show (Comedy Central)
The Prisoner
(ITV)
Family (ABC)
Star Trek:
The Next Generation (Syndicated)
Will &
Grace (NBC)
Beavis and
Butt-Head (MTV)
Battlestar
Galactica (SyFy)
Six Feet
Under (HBO)
Homeland
(SHO)
Beverly
Hills, 90210 (FOX)
Game of
Thrones (HBO)
Ally McBeal
(FOX)
Dawson’s
Creek (WB)
Everybody
Loves Raymond (CBS)
The Office
(US) (NBC)
In Living
Color (FOX)
Good Times
(CBS)
Oz (HBO)
Family Ties
(NBC)
Little House
on the Prairie (NBC)
24 (FOX)
South Park
(Comedy Central)
Perry Mason
(CBS)
Mystery
Science Theatre 3000 (various channels)
Felicity
(WB)
Star Trek
(NBC)
Sanford and
Son (NBC)
The Smothers
Brothers Comedy Hour (CBS)
Project
Runway (Bravo/Lifetime)
Grey’s
Anatomy (ABC)
Malcolm in
the Middle (FOX)
The Comeback
(HBO)
Bewitched
(ABC)
Alias (ABC)
The Brady
Bunch (ABC)
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ReplyDeleteThank you! loved the list and i agree with almost everything
ReplyDeleteIt`s also great to see Buffy in top ten
Actually, the list does not include Route 66, which was the best show that's ever been produced on television. Aside from that its not a bad list.Take a look at "Trap at Cordoba"! or "Twp Strangers and an Old Enemy". Cheers
ReplyDeleteI was reading your article and wondered if you had considered creating an ebook on this subject. Your writing would sell it fast. You have a lot of writing talent.
ReplyDeleteEntertainment news
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletemy list: youre the worst, the originals, weird loners. welcome to the family, masters of sex, tyrant, the slap, the royals, the valleys, plebs, about a boy, baby daddy, black jesus, black-ish, blue mountain state, empire, fresh off the boat, married, power, reckless, suits, switched at birth, the o.c
ReplyDeletei sell tv series for a living and people love me because of my taste.
#REal niGga shIT
I can't believe The Dick Van Dyke Show dint make the list! WTF!
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ReplyDeleteIn fact, the following list does not include TV shows of the last decade. If you have nothing to watch in the evening, open this blog post, and select the most appropriate show for your family!
ReplyDeleteI personally loved, including Alias, Gilmore Girls, Felicity, Beverly Hills 90210 and Ally McBeal. My newest passion - Doctor Who - was included as well. Celebrity Entertainment
ReplyDelete