Your Top Ten TV Shows of All Time

[AndyDufresne]

Good Eats

This show use to be one of my late night shows I'd watch before heading off to bed, since it was always on around midnight or so.


--Andy

[jay_a2j]

1. Seinfeld
2. Golden Girls
3. Honeymooners
4. Cheers
5. Dr. Who (original)
6. Star Trek (original)
7. The Incredible Hulk
8. Three's Company
9. All In The Family
10. Two and a Half Men

[AndyDufresne]

1. Seinfeld

This might be the one thing you and I agree on, Jay.


--Andy

[thegreekdog]

1. Seinfeld
2. Golden Girls
3. Honeymooners
4. Cheers
5. Dr. Who (original)
6. Star Trek (original)
7. The Incredible Hulk
8. Three's Company
9. All In The Family
10. Two and a Half Men

You liked original Star Trek over Next Generation? Unless you are over the age of 50, I'm surprised.

[spurgistan]

This list is heavily skewed towards what's available on Netflix Instant and shows that have been airing during my recent Nothing Going On phase, and furthermore isn't really ranked in anything but the order I think of them.

1. Arrested Development
2. Louie
3. Archer
4. Sherlock (the new BBC version)
5. Parks and Recreation
6. TNG
7. Community
8. Lost (still haven't seen the end of the last season, and I'm ok with that)
9. Mr. Show with Bob and David (should be higher)
10. Justified

[Woodruff]

1. Seinfeld
2. Golden Girls
3. Honeymooners
4. Cheers
5. Dr. Who (original)
6. Star Trek (original)
7. The Incredible Hulk
8. Three's Company
9. All In The Family
10. Two and a Half Men

You liked original Star Trek over Next Generation? Unless you are over the age of 50, I'm surprised.

I very much prefer TOS over TNG. I don't dislike TNG, don't misunderstand...I just don't like it as much. While the visual affects were certainly inferior, I find the storylines to be better (in the general sense...TOS probably had worse "bottom three episodes" than TNG did.

I'm 46 though, so that's close to your cutoff.

[Woodruff]

Ok, it was damn near impossible for me to do this. Hell, you guys made it even more difficult as I read through your lists and was reminded of others I love:

1. Monk (such a great show!)
2. The Original Star Trek
3. Frazier
4. Seinfeld
5. The Daily Show
6. Have Gun, Will Travel
7. Soap
8. I Love Lucy
9. Rome
10. Family Ties

Also definitely in the mix, so may depend on my mood for the Top Ten:
Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom
Kung Fu
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
Bonanza
The Office (American version, never seen the original, but only before Michael leaves)
M*A*S*H
Star Trek: The Next Generation
The Colbert Report
Dexter's Lab
The Big Bang Theory
Jeopardy

Others I enjoy greatly:
Mission Impossible (the original...was there a remake?)
Cosmos
Quantum Leap
Two and a Half Men
Battlestar Gallactica (the original)
Columbo
Little House on the Prairie
Spin City
Magnum P.I.
Benson
Cheers
Green Acres (ahead of it's time!)
Hogan's Heroes (love the opening music!)
Babylon 5
Johnny Bravo
King of Queens

[jay_a2j]

1. Seinfeld
2. Golden Girls
3. Honeymooners
4. Cheers
5. Dr. Who (original)
6. Star Trek (original)
7. The Incredible Hulk
8. Three's Company
9. All In The Family
10. Two and a Half Men

You liked original Star Trek over Next Generation? Unless you are over the age of 50, I'm surprised.

I remember watching the original as a kid (possibly re-runs I'm 40) but never watched the shoot offs of it.

[Dukasaur]

6. Taxi - before it became the inane Ladka show

There was no Taxi before Latka. He was one of the initial characters, present in all 5 seasons. He was in only about half of the episodes, but they were pretty evenly distributed over the whole run of the show.

[gannable]

i understand that.
at some point in the later seasons the entire show revolved around Latka and his stupid wife. Thats when the show went down the toilet. In the beginning he was a minor character.

The show should have continued to revolve around Judd hirsch, danny devito, marilou henner, with tony danza and christopher lloyd having strong roles as well. The stupid Latka character should have never become a major character.

6. Taxi - before it became the inane Ladka show

There was no Taxi before Latka. He was one of the initial characters, present in all 5 seasons. He was in only about half of the episodes, but they were pretty evenly distributed over the whole run of the show.

[Symmetry]

In no particular order, and not saying they're necessarily the best:

Life (the David Attenborough series)
Black Books
Blue Planet
Sharpe
Cowboy Bebop
Breaking Bad
Spaced
The Singing Detective
Doctor Who
Arrested Development

[InkL0sed]

Doctor Who
Luther
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Angel
Firefly
Twin Peaks
Archer
Torchwood
The Twilight Zone
Being Human

[Symmetry]

Damn it Inklosed, how did I forget Archer?

[heavycola]

Doctor Who
Luther
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Angel
Firefly
Twin Peaks
Archer
Torchwood
The Twilight Zone
Being Human

Twin Peaks! yes yes yes yes yes

I was at a wedding last weekend where the groom ended his speech by looking at his new wife and saying, a la Albert, 'I love you Sherriff Truman'. It was superb. (they fell in love during a twin-peakathon)

[BigBallinStalin]

Question about Twin Peaks:

Up to how many seasons would I enjoy of Twin Peaks?

(1) I've enjoyed Blue Velvet and Eraserhead but not Inland Empire.
(2) My enthusiasm falters for almost any TV series after the second season--depends on repetition of the stories and characters and especially on the additional "silliness" to compensate for staleness from (unavoidable) repetition.

[BigBallinStalin]

Fawlty Towers



I really enjoyed seeing Mr. Fawlty bury himself in excruciating depths of lies, self-denial, delusion, and incompetence as the short TV series progressed.

[Symmetry]

Fawlty Towers



I really enjoyed seeing Mr. Fawlty bury himself in excruciating depths of lies, self-denial, delusion, and incompetence as the short TV series progressed.

You're missing the key bit that makes the series great. It's the element that lifts it above other series:

Mostly he's right.

[thegreekdog]

That's another good question, maybe for another thread, but I'm going to put it here: Which television shows did you enjoy that you feel were cancelled before the appropriate time?

- Arrested Development
- Firefly
- Freaks and Geeks

Those are the ones that come to mind off the top.

[spurgistan]

I'd add Terriers to that list.

[nietzsche]

I wish there were more The Big Bang Theory episodes. It's great, watching it I both have fun and feel very comfortable.

Sheldon, Howard and Kootrapali (or however is spelled) are excellent characters.

[maxfaraday]

I wish there were more The Big Bang Theory episodes. It's great, watching it I both have fun and feel very comfortable.

Sheldon, Howard and Kootrapali (or however is spelled) are excellent characters.

New season starts 09/28.

[maxfaraday]

That's another good question, maybe for another thread, but I'm going to put it here: Which television shows did you enjoy that you feel were cancelled before the appropriate time?

- Arrested Development
- Firefly
- Freaks and Geeks

Those are the ones that come to mind off the top.

Tru Calling
Dan for Mayor

[Dukasaur]

That's another good question, maybe for another thread, but I'm going to put it here: Which television shows did you enjoy that you feel were cancelled before the appropriate time?

- Arrested Development
- Firefly
- Freaks and Geeks

Those are the ones that come to mind off the top.

Toma. It was at the time my favourite cop show. When Tony Musante didn't sign for a second season, they killed the show outright instead of trying to sell a different actor as Toma. Instead, they repackaged the whole show under a completely new name as Baretta, starring that idiot Robert Blake. The thing is, Toma was based on true stories and had that air of authenticity, whereas Baretta was completely made-up Hollywood silliness, and at times was closer to a comedy than a serious cop show.

Really one of the great tragedies of television.

[InkL0sed]

Question about Twin Peaks:

Up to how many seasons would I enjoy of Twin Peaks?

(1) I've enjoyed Blue Velvet and Eraserhead but not Inland Empire.
(2) My enthusiasm falters for almost any TV series after the second season--depends on repetition of the stories and characters and especially on the additional "silliness" to compensate for staleness from (unavoidable) repetition.

Twin Peaks only has two seasons.

And you're clearly not choosing the right shows. They're not truly great if they don't keep evolving. That's part of what's so brilliant about Joss Whedon's shows.

[BigBallinStalin]

Question about Twin Peaks:

Up to how many seasons would I enjoy of Twin Peaks?

(1) I've enjoyed Blue Velvet and Eraserhead but not Inland Empire.
(2) My enthusiasm falters for almost any TV series after the second season--depends on repetition of the stories and characters and especially on the additional "silliness" to compensate for staleness from (unavoidable) repetition.

Twin Peaks only has two seasons.

And you're clearly not choosing the right shows. They're not truly great if they don't keep evolving. That's part of what's so brilliant about Joss Whedon's shows.

I've seen at least 80% of all seasons of Buffy, a few episodes of Angel, and most of Firefly...

I can't conclude these shows are top ten. Buffy is remarkable for remaining profitable for so long--I'd agree with that, and this reflects the shows performance in regard to the customer demand, but I'm not in that target market, so... now what?

We argue about subjective preferences?

(Firefly was cool though).