Greatest Television Shows of All Time

[Dubrow555]

Looking good, all in all.

I'm wondering if Death Note is a little high. I don't know if it truly beats Chappelle's Show, for instance. The latter could be just low, too.

Firefly seems somewhat high as well. A beloved cult classic with some influence on sci-fi, but more niche compared to other shows in that range.

I have similar feelings with "Community" - seems a bit high for such a niche show. I'll be posting some ideas/suggestions hopefully in a few days. This is a super strong/impressive list for sure.

[ManPerson]

I moved Community down a couple spots.

[Tim]

You plan on making the list for shows which debuted in the 2020s, Man?

[ManPerson]

I'm going to give shows at least 5 years after they debuted to put them on the list due to how much a show's reception can change in the first couple seasons.

[Dubrow555]

so that means "The Idol" will not be eligible???

[ManPerson]

Sadly.

[Tim]

2. Lost
3. The Wire

Looking for a fight I see

I'd say
Popularity: Lost
Influence: Lost
Acclaim: The Wire

None of these being particularly debatable.

What do you have in mind for Lost's and The Wire's influence?

[ManPerson]

The Wire: Increasing academic interest in television, perhaps pushing boundaries for narrative complexity in television,. Despite this, not many shows were directly influenced by it.
Lost:
- Plenty of cultural references

Due to the show's popularity, references to it and elements from its story have appeared in parody and popular culture usage. These include appearances on television, such as on the series Fringe, Will & Grace, Curb Your Enthusiasm, 30 Rock,[173] Scrubs, Modern Family, Orange Is the New Black, Community, The Office, Family Guy, American Dad!, The Simpsons, Futurama, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (under the sketch parody title "Late"), and The Venture Bros..[174] Lost is also featured as an Easter egg in several video games, including Dead Island, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Fallout 3, World of Warcraft, Just Cause 2, Batman: Arkham City, Grand Theft Auto V, and Singularity.[175] Similarly, several songs have been published whose themes and titles were derived from the series, such as Moneen ("Don't Ever Tell Locke What He Can't Do"), Veil of Maya ("Namaste"), Cosmo Jarvis ("Lost"), Senses Fail ("Lost and Found" and "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues"), Gatsbys American Dream ("You All Everybody" and "Station 5: The Pearl"), and Punchline ("Roller Coaster Smoke"). Weezer named their eighth studio album Hurley after the character, with a photo of actor Jorge Garcia on the cover

- Clear influence on many other shows that came later

Lost has been cited as a key influence on several of its contemporaries.[181][182] The ABC series FlashForward was heavily compared to Lost, because of its similar use of nonlinear narrative and mysteries.[183][184] The NBC series Heroes drew comparisons to Lost during its run, because of some similarities such as its ensemble cast. Damon Lindelof was involved in the early stages of the creative process of Heroes, as he was friends with Heroes creator Tim Kring.[185] Ever since its premiere, The 100 has been compared to Lost because of its similar setting and the importance of survival in its story.[186] The TBS comedy Wrecked has been defined as a parody of Lost, because of its very similar premise and multiple references to the drama.[187][188]

Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, former writers of Lost, created the fantasy series Once Upon a Time, which has also been compared to Lost. Even though their series started after Lost ended, they conceived it in 2004.[189] Damon Lindelof was involved in the development of their series.[190] Despite the comparisons and similarities to Lost, the writers intended the shows to be very different from each other. To them, Lost concerned itself with redemption, while Once Upon a Time is about hope.[191] As a nod to the ties between the production teams of Once Upon a Time and Lost, the former show contains allusions to Lost. For example, many items found in the Lost universe, such as Apollo candy bars, Oceanic Airlines, Ajira Airways, the TV series Exposé and MacCutcheon Whisky can be seen in Once Upon a Time.[192]

Both during and after Lost's run on ABC, its success led to dozens of new shows attempting to enter the same "mystery-driven sci-fi" genre as networks sought to cater to viewers' evolved affinity and demonstrated loyalty to this specific subset of drama.[193] In 2018, NBC introduced Manifest, a show about the mysterious disappearance of a commercial passenger jet. While the show's preview and pilot alone sparked media coverage highlighting the show's central mystery to be seemingly the same as that of Lost, subsequent seasons have furthered controversy around the extent of key similarities. Noted parallels include the passengers' collective experience of displacement in spacetime, the acquisition of supernatural abilities and medical phenomena post-disappearance, the use of flashback/flashforward sequences to expose dark secrets harbored by passengers, the revelation of unusually high levels of interconnectedness between the lives of passengers, the polarized beliefs held by passengers regarding science versus faith as a means to explain their shared experience in different ways.[194] Season 4 of Manifest reveals a plot twist suggesting the passengers were in some way chosen, prompting critics to point out this same key plot twist introducing predestination was featured in Lost.[195]

+ led to higher production values and increased popularity/commercial viability of serial dramas

I'd say Lost clearly wins here, which seems to be general consensus among other TV rankings I've seen.

[Tim]

Point taken, Man. What's next for the all time list?

[ManPerson]

Ill start working on it soon.

[ManPerson]

Here's the top 200 I came up with
1. The Simpsons
2. I Love Lucy
3. The Sopranos
4. Seinfeld
5. M*A*S*H
6. All in the Family
7. Friends
8. Breaking Bad
9. Game of Thrones
10. Star Trek
11. The Twilight Zone
12. Twin Peaks
13. Doctor Who
14. Cheers
15. Saturday Night Live
16. Lost
17. South Park
18. The X-Files
19. Dragon Ball Z
20. The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
21. The Wire
22. Sesame Street
23. Stranger Things
24. The Office (US)
25. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
26. Gunsmoke
27. Band of Brothers
28. The West Wing
29. Star Trek: The Next Generation
30. ER
31. Mary Tyler Moore Show
32. Sex and the City
33. The Andy Griffith Show
34. The Honeymooners
35. Hill Street Blues
36. Survivor
37. The Walking Dead
38. Monty Python's Flying Circus
39. Mad Men
40. SpongeBob Squarepants
41. The Cosby Show
42. The Dick Van Dyke Show
43. The Flintstones
44. The Golden Girls
45. Roseanne
46. Dallas
47. One Piece
48. Avatar: The Last Airbender
49. Planet Earth
50. Jeopardy!
51. The Ed Sullivan Show
52. Roots
53. Fawlty Towers
54. Freaks and Geeks
55. Frasier
56. Happy Days
57. The Jack Benny Program
58. Neon Genesis Evangelion
59. Law & Order
60. Rick and Morty
61. Astro Boy
62. Mobile Suit Gundam
63. Family Guy
64. The Big Bang Theory
65. Married... With Children
66. Dexter
67. Sherlock
68. House M.D.
69. Modern Family
70. Dragnet
71. Columbo
72. Sanford and Son
73. Pokemon
74. Better Call Saul
75. Arrested Development
76. Parks and Recreation
77. Dragon Ball
78. Bewitched
79. The Carol Burnett Show
80. The Muppet Show
81. Black Mirror
82. Futurama
83. Brooklyn Nine-Nine
84. 24
85. Bonanza
86. Cowboy Bebop
87. Batman: the Animated Series
88. How I Met Your Mother
89. Your Show of Shows
90. Oz
91. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
92. The Larry Sanders Show
93. Malcolm in the Middle
94. Mission: Impossible
95. The Daily Show
96. Dekalog
97. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
98. Alfred Hitchcock Presents
99. Will & Grace
100. Curb Your Enthusiasm
101. 30 Rock
102. The Mandalorian
103. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
104. Top Gear
105. The Beverly Hillbillies
106. Succession
107. Community
108. Battlestar Galactica
109. Chernobyl
110. My So-Called Life
111. Six Feet Under
112. The Office (UK)
113. The Wonder Years
114. The Shield
115. Gilmore Girls
116. Scrubs
117. Taxi
118. Death Note
119. Grey's Anatomy
120. Everybody Loves Raymond
121. Attack on Titan
122. King of the Hill
123. The Wonderful World of Disney
124. The Jeffersons
125. Get Smart
126. The Brady Bunch
127. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
128. Scooby Doo, Where Are You!
129. Batman
130. Fleabag
131. Bojack Horseman
132. The Bob Newhart Show
133. The Boys
134. Gilligan's Island
135. NYPD Blue
136. The Good Place
137. Little House On the Prairie
138. Hawaii Five-O
139. The Lone Ranger
140. Firefly
141. Stargate SG-1
142. Friday Night Lights
143. Deadwood
144. True Detective
145. Supernatural
146. The Addams Family
147. Good Times
148. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
149. Fargo
150. Chappelle's Show
151. Beavis and Butt-Head
152. Perry Mason
153. Laverne & Shirley
154. Family Ties
155. The Price is Right
156. Mystery Science Theater 3000
157. Quantum Leap
158. The Jetsons
159. Mr. Robot
160. Orange is the New Black
161. The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle and Friends
162. The Prisoner
163. St. Elsewhere
164. The Fugitive
165. The Ren & Stimpy Show
166. Sailor Moon
167. Rugrats
168. The Vampire Diaries
169. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
170. Daredevil
171. American Horror Story
172. Desperate Housewives
173. NCIS
174. House of Cards
175. Naruto
176. Lupin III
177. Leave it To Beaver
178. The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet
179. The Outer Limits
180. Wagon Train
181. That '70s Show
182. Animaniacs
183. DuckTales
184. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
185. Hannibal
186. Sons of Anarchy
187. Peaky Blinders
188. Rome
189. Mork & Mindy
190. Archer
191. The Monkees
192. Daria
193. Barney Miller
194. The Rockford Files
195. Home Improvement
196. Boy Meets World
197. Three's Company
198. Maude
199. The Odd Couple
200. The Red Skelton Show

[Tim]

Looks good on the first glance.

[ManPerson]

Extended to 200

[Fido]

The Wire: Increasing academic interest in television, perhaps pushing boundaries for narrative complexity in television,. Despite this, not many shows were directly influenced by it.

I don't know, increasing academic interest and pushing the boundaries of the medium seems like the kind of thing that influences everything that comes later, even if it's harder to pinpoint a direct reference by a later show. I mean, it's what you hear most about Sgt. Pepper's and we have that as our top album.

[ManPerson]

I think The Wire deserves credit for its innovation and importance in academia but let's not act like there have been that many shows trying to replicate what The Wire has done in the years since, while tons of shows were clearly directly inspired by Lost. I'd even argue there's a stronger case that Lost influenced 'everything that comes later' than The Wire, as the most successful shows of the last 10-15 (Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, The Walking Dead) were arguably made possible by the large cultural impact and production value Lost had as a serial drama.

[Tim]

How long you plan on the all time list to be?