Why not! We might get some decent recommendations from it! What are your favourite TV shows of all time?
After much deliberation, here’s my own list…
1. Deadwood
2. The Wire
3. Mad Men
4. True Detective
5. Lost
Lost is likely to be the most controversial one on that list, mainly because a lot of people think it’s garbage, made no sense, and lost its way around season 2.
Yes. Maybe, but still. It was awesome. It still had some truly incredible moments, amazing episodes, and – in my opinion – really helped kick-start event television as we currently know it.
A couple of other shows I thought about adding: Homeland. That show is good. The Walking Dead: when it’s good it’s very good. When it’s bad? It’s the worst show on TV. It’s never anything in-between.
Shows I never wanted to add ever because I think they’re a bit rubbish? Breaking Bad. Urgh, I can’t believe I watched all five seasons of that. Some really terrible writing in that show in my opinion. I know I’m in the massive minority on this one.
Dexter. What a literal shit-show. True Blood: has a show ever fallen so far from grace?
Okay, I’ll go now. What are you favourite shows of all time?
Comments
206 responses to “Off Topic: Rank The Greatest TV Shows Of All Time”
1. Six Feet Under
2. Battlestar Galactica
3. The West Wing
4. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
5. Treme
That last one could be swapped out for countless amazing shows. The X-Files. The Leftovers. Alias. The Americans. The Killing. Star Trek: The Next Generation. Orange is the New Black. The list goes on. Television? I love you! :’)
I always preferred Angel over Buffy, but if it wasn’t for Buffy I wouldn’t have Eliza Dushku at the top of my list 😀
Me too, I thought Angel was better, but it did seem aimed at a more mature audience then Buffy was so that may have had something to do with it.
It was more mature, but it still had the inward humour going through it. I find it hard to connect with teen shows, even when I was a teenager, but I still enjoy Buffy but because Angel is more mature I enjoy it that bit more.
Plus Smile Time is probably my most favourite tv episode of anything ever
Oh Lord, I thought Angel was boring by the numbers stuff, and the face half lit thing got old fast. I found Buffy to be the more ‘mature’ show, especially in later episodes. Handled Marriage, Minimum Wage, abusive relationships, handling of power etc. and perhaps the best treatment of Death and Grieving ever in ‘The Body’
Thumbs up for BSG and Buffy, going to have to think deeply about my other three.
I guess Buffy and Angel are different styles of mature. Buffy more about connecting to what you might be going through in real life and how to deal with that alongside being a superhero, great how they showed Buffy as unable to handle things like keeping a low level job and really struggled with raising Dawn when you consider she brushes off the responsibility of being a slayer with ease. Whedon really made the characters human.
Angel though was darker (not just in the mood lighting sense :P) and once past the first season of Angel not being as moody, one of the reasons I don’t like him as a character in Buffy episodes, the characters open up brilliantly.
At the end of the day though, I just think the stories are better in Angel than Buffy. I can’t stand Riley and the Initiative and while the later Buffy seasons do have more mature content, I’m not so much of a fan of the overall stories like Glory.
Well yeah, no one liked the Initiative, but generally I found the stories in Angel to be thin. Both shows had moments of greatness though.
I was literally just thinking ‘YES SMILE TIME YES YES YES’
But you beat me to it. Shame on you!
You’re a wee little puppet man 😀
Buffy resonated with me more when I first watched cause all the characters were only a couple of years older than me. I could relate. Both shows I love, though.
A few years ago I was reminiscing about an old TV show I watched in the early 80s called Forever Knight, and then I was pleasantly surprised when it came on foxtel. I’d really forgotten the meat of the show, and I laughed endlessly at how much Angel was a clone of it. But in a good way.
Currently watching The West Wing for the first time after being hassled by the wife. Love it!
Six Feet Under, my brother! You also missed the Sapranos. Pretty much anything from the 90’s HBO is gold.
Six Feet Under was fantastic.
The Wire S1
The Wire S4
The Wire S3
The Wire S2
The Wire S5
In no particular order, I assume :p
Shhheeeeeeiiiiiiiiittttttt.
1
2
4
3
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5
S2 beats S5? Close call.
S1 and 4 though…..wont get anything better on tv than that.
S2 is a taste thing, but it’s still well done. S5 was a little underbaked.
It’s what white people like 😀
I don’t think I could rank them in order but my top 5 would be:
The X-Files
Futurama
Angel
Stargate SG-1
Mythbusters
Honourable mention goes to Black Adder.
1. Seinfeld
2. Entourage
3. Game of Thrones
1. Game Of Thrones
2. The Walking Dead
3. Sons Of Anarchy
4. Friday Night Lights
5. True Detective
6. Homeland
Great list though I have wiped the final season of SOA from my memory. And lets not even talk about that corny final Jax scene..
Babylon 5 up until season 5,
the first season of Prison Break,
the first season of Heroes (omg, sylar, what a great bad guy),
X files until Mulder left,
SG-1 up until the end of season 8,
SG-A up until the final few rushed episodes,
Scrubs, up until season 9.
that’ll do for me, i am sure i am missing some.
edit; can’t believe I forgot Firefly, thanks wa1dofoo
Now we are talking. Should be a whole sub category for Best First Season or Best Until…
1. Prison Break S1 – Best show on tv…until they broke out.
2. Heroes S1 – Best show on tv….until Silar end bit of last ep.
3. The OC S1 – Awesome first season….rest is truly terrible.
4. The Office (US Version) – Amazing (except for S1) until Michael Scott left.
5. 30 Rock – First three seasons….best show on tv.
Such a shame when shows are fantastic, but only for a limited time 😉
Supernatural was awesome I thought for the first few seasons, kind of the new X-Files. But then I lost interest after the overarching story started getting really stupid (sometime after both boys had died and been resurrected at least once). From what I understand most other guys also lost interest in the show around that time, but they continue to make new seasons of it because the girls love the eye candy.
Heroes is coming back, homez. I believe it’s still in continuity, but they may be cutting out certain storylines/seasons. Zach Levi (Chuck) is now in it, and HRG is back. I will check it out but I’m not holding my breath.
hmm could be worth a check as you say, but often I have found after a show has a hiatus, it just hasn’t got the same feels. For reference, see Futurama before and after fox cancellation. Still good, just not quite the same however.
Wow, other than Prison Break, which I avoided, this is my list.
Well personally I would say you have a fine taste in TV 😉
fyi it is totally worth checking out the first season of prison break, it was seriously good 🙂
1. Seinfeld
2. The Wire
3. Game of Thrones
4. Grand Designs (hey you didnt say it could not be reality. that show is a marvel)
5. shit….this is too hard.
5th spot would either be ST:TNG, Fringe, 30 Rock, The Office UK AND US (yes I loved the US version too), X-Files, Breaking Bad, True Detective, Mad Men, Selling Houses Australia….not joking, that Andrew Winter is a funny bastard.
+1 for Grand Designs. Even if you hate the people and the design, Kevin makes it compelling.
Agreed. Even if it is a disaster Kevin saves it with his last little monologue that probably espouses on the fleeting moment of life and what we leave behind….or some shit. I genuinely love it.
And the music….wooow. good times.
Something about romanticism, history, place, and good old fashioned British determination… yep, that split-storey oak beamed glass-fronted eco-friendly art-deco modernist conversion of a crumbling old barn doesn’t seem at all like a failed experiment any more.
How does he do it?
He has a true skill. Loved your comment by the way. So good. And true.
I quite enjoy it when he doesnt like the property and he ends on something akin to this:
“While Anthony and Judy may have created a monstrosity with a genuine lack of class or social responsibility…..it doesnt matter, they did it for them…..it is personal and they did it together. They now have this hulking monoloith to show for their hard work and it will stand as a testament to their journey to build a perfect place for their family. And in the end….isnt that what we are all looking for?”
….yes.
The Simpsons
Star Trek (all series)
Father Ted
Dad’s Army
I’ll leave the 5th spot open for whatever mood I’m in.
Father Ted FTW
Geez, dad’s army, that was on the old ‘visual radio’ wasn’t it sonny boy? 😉
Don’t tell him Pike
“You stupid boy.”
Without Star Trek TNG’s success, we wouldn’t have modern day massive budget sci fi TV series’
There are people who DON’T like Breaking Bad? Really?!
1. Breaking Bad
2. Game of Thrones
3. The Wire
4. Firefly
5. Mad Men
Yeah, I thought Breaking Bad was terrible cliched lazy writing.
Love everything else on your list 🙂
People look at me like I’m crazy when I tell them I didn’t like Breaking Bad…
Are you sure they’re not just checking out your dapper straitjacket?
1. The Wire
2. The Wire
3. GoT
4. TWD
5. Banshee
Edit : Fringe, X-Files, Star Trek and Firefly would easily swap into 5. Loved those shows
Season 3 for Lost was where I fell off. Just felt like they were trying too hard to impress. Wish I got into Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy and Prison Break. Tried and just couldn’t do it.
Good to see some Banshee love. Newest season was excellent.
It’s amazing! Did you watch the last ep?
Yup. Some big stuff happened. Shame now a 9 month wait.
1. Star Trek The Next Generation or 1. Seinfeld
2. X-Files
3. The Wire
4. Star Trek Deep Space Nine
5. Firefly
no particular order :
Orphan Black, Harpers Island, Game of Thrones, Firefly, Fringe, Breaking Bad
Glad to see orphan black finally represented here. One of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Consistently just brings quality or raises the stakes
1. The Bang
2. Mom
3. 2 Broke Girls
4. Two and a Half Men
5. Sonic X
hahaha living up to your name I see.
You really are a shithead, love it
1. Firefly
2. Reaper
3. Dr Who
4. South Park
5. Naruto
I forgot about Reaper, great show
The Simpsons
Arrested Development
BLACK MIRROR
The Office (UK)
Breaking Bad
No particular order:
-Breaking Bad
-The Walking Dead (Always enjoyed, but damn did it lift it’s game after the S4 mid season break – just keeps getting better)
-Game of Thrones
-Fringe
-Adventure Time (It took me the longest time to figure this out, but once I realised you never will, you’re not supposed to and to just have fun with it, it became my favorite veg out/junk food TV show)
1. Firefly
2. Battlestar Galactica
3. Sons of Anarchy
4. Game of Thrones
5. Vikings
6. True Detective
7. Hannibal
8. Ray Donovan
9. Avatar
10. Cowboy Bebop
11. Attack on Titan
……. I could keep going….
Woohoo Vikings!
Keep Going!
Breaking Bad is the best show ever!
1. Faulty Towers
2. Game of Thrones
3. Red Dwarf
4. All of the old Looney Tunes stuff
Ups for Red Dwarf.
Did somebody say they wanted toast?
Pool God. King of the cues. Prince of the Planet Potters
Oh man, Faulty Towers would have to be on my list.
1.) The Wire
2.) Millennium
3.) Game of Thrones
4.) Deadwood
5.) Archer (Mandatory comedy entry)
Also Mark, definitely in agreement with True Blood. The first couple of seasons were fantastic, some of the best TV in years, then it all went overboard with silliness and I lost all interest midway through season 3/4.
The same happened to me with Mad Men though. I absolutely love the first maybe 2 seasons. After that it became the Don Draper show and again, I lost all interest. It was a great show about advertising back in the 50s. That was fascinating as hell to me. Then it turned into generic drama with advertising in the background
The Shield
Deadwood (shame about the abrupt cancellation)
Breaking Bad
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
True Detective
Good to see some Shield love. I did watch all 5 seasons of The Wire, but The Shield was my personal favourite.
1. Seinfeld
2. The Wire
3. Soprano’s
4. GoT
5. Breaking Bad
Special mention to “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst”. This show has just had its finale and has been in the news the last couple of days. Highly recommend it, but try to avoid any news about it. It will make the finale so much better.
1. Band of Brothers (if you count miniseries).
2. Game of Thrones
3. Avatar/LoK
4. The Simpsons (before it went south)
5. Sherlock
True Detective
Breaking Bad
Boardwalk Empire
Probably the Wire but I haven’t watched it
Probably the Sopranos but also haven’t watched it
GOT and Walking Dead are both shit in my opinion. Former is pretend-intelligent convoluted nonsense, latter is just dumb, treats its viewers like they’re morons.
Also, since when did it become acceptable for every normal person to get into a glorified version of Dungeons and Dragons?
tits and blood and swearing
also incest, everyone loves some incest… right?
Breaking News: nobody gives a shit about the dragons, it’s the sex and violence 🙂
Walking Dead has some great moments, and some really good dialogue and some franly harrowing/nail biting action sequences. The scene in the Walmart type place with the roof falling in was just incredibly tense.
There are times it has poor writing, but other times it really is quite brilliant and leads you down thinking they are heading for a cliche and then turn it nicely.
It is patchy, but I think it has some great episodes.
I thought Breaking Bad treated its audience like idiots, so there ya go, TV is a funny beast.
I did like the first series of BE.
Fair enough. I enjoyed watching it for a bit but the concept of ‘how will people treat each other in the zombie apocalypse’ wore off fairly quickly. They do nail the intensity, but I felt the characters weren’t given enough personality generally for me to really care about them.
@mrxion you got it. Now if only those live action role playing game people would incorporate a little more sex and violence, they’d be a hit
1. Firefly
2. Neon Genesis Evangelion
And the rest in no particular order
Futurama
Gravity Falls
Tokyo Ghoul
Spartacus (nothing against GoT but Spartacus had better action scenes and less fluff)
Dragon Ball Z
In no particular order
True Detective
Breaking bad
Avatar: The last air bender
IT Crowd
The Eric Andre Show
Sliders.
/endthread
Forever Sliders!
Aw man I loved that show. I remember being in high school and a friend asked if I wanted to do something or other on a Friday night and I was all no SLIDERS IS ON YOU IDIOT. I had a VCR, but why wait a moment longer than I had to.
oh shit! how good was it. until they brought in his brother charlie. wtf moment.
Sliders is responsible for my lifelong crush on Kari Wuhrer.
Shit, does it have to be just five. In no particular order.
Breaking Bad
The Walking Dead
Game Of Thrones
Sons Of Anarchy
Deadwood
Family Guy
The Simpsons
Mrs. Brown’s Boys
Seinfeld
Fawlty Towers
I could go on forever, still an absolute buttload of shows I have yet to watch Extant, Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., Arrow, The Flash, Gotham, Vikings, Sherlock, Hell On Wheels, True Detective etc etc.
I’ve had Hell on Wheels on my computer for ages too and haven’t gotten round to it. I got 7 eps into Gotham and then took a break from it but got the rest of them last night so that’s my watching for the rest of the week and then I might give HoW a go on the weekend. Hoping it’s class
1. Entourage
2. Friends
3. Breaking Bad
4. The Office (UK)
5. Workaholics
Honourable mentions: The Simpsons, Family Guy, It’s Always Sunny, Californication, The Wire (I haven’t even finished season 1 yet, so this could well be in top 3.)
1. Archer
2. Invader Zim
3. The Angry Beavers
4. The Simpsons (everything pre-season 10)
5. Robot Chicken
Yeah, it’s a weird list. Confession time, i never could get into GoT or True Detective. GoT never hooked me, i watched the first few episodes but it never grabbed me and True Detective, again i watched the first couple of episodes and was painfully slow.
Yeah… im weird.
Got to see Richard Horvitz do the voices of Zim AND Daggit at Supanova a while back…
It was glorious.
1. Game of Thrones
2. Workaholics
3. Breaking Bad
4. Seinfeld
5. X-Files
1. Banshee
2. Sons of Anarchy
3. Battlestar Galactica
4. Futurama
5. Game of Thrones
6. Six Feet Under
Question never specified a list of five. Here’s my list. I can’t pare it down any further than this.
The Shield
Six Feet Under
The Sopranos
The Office (UK)
Outnumbered
Game of Thrones
The Wire
Treme
M*A*S*H
Once upon a time I would have included Sons of Anarchy in here, but the last season was such a goddamned disappointment that it’s off the list. Same with Breaking Bad, actually – could not stand the second half of season 5 at all. Other honourable mentions include True Detective, OZ, Californication, and early seasons of The Simpsons.
the last 3 seasons of sons of anarchy were utter rubbish
Agreed to a limited extent. They never hit the brilliance of S1-4, that’s for sure, and structurally, they were a bit of a mess, but seasons 5 and 6 still had great character moments and maintained the overall arc of the show in a decent way. Season 7 was just nonsensical, though.
the last few seasons should have been renamed “sons of montages”
1. The Sopranos
2. The Wire
3. Boardwalk Empire
peep show
oz
the wire
rome
deadwood
Oz is amazing. First thing I saw JK Simmons in 😀
It’s very under rated, especially here in Australia where it aired later at night
Yeah, I was surprised how few people had seen it over here when I moved over but then again no-one had really seen it back in England either, it was on at 11pm on a weeknight I think, that’s when I remember watching it.
Got the boxset though and once a year we’ll put it on. Such great characters
It was on SBS on a Monday night, I think only a year or so after it’s original run in the US (which was pretty standard back then – no fast tracking, torrents hadn’t really taken off). No one else I knew watched it (except my brothers), and I couldn’t understand why.
I had one friend at school who watched and later my sister started. My friend tried to buy it back then and the only store that stocked it near us was a gay and lesbian adult store. Back then I think most hbo type stuff was not locally distributed and had to be imported. I think it was on mondays at 10pm and a lot of the adverts (and the show before or after) were for the sexual relations side of it.
Yeah, I used to watch it on SBS, I think it may have been a bit harrowing for most people, plus the name didn’t immediately get people to tune in.
Upvote for mention of Rome
Peep Show.
Yep.
1 Orphan Black
2 Reaper
3 Firefly
4 The Regular Show
5 Mythbusters
1. Red Dwarf
2. Vikings
3. Rome
4. Seinfeld
5. Entourage
1. Firefly
2. M*A*S*H
3. Space: Above and beyond
4. Hungry beast
5. Sherlock
1. Farscape
2. The Office [US]
3. Breaking Bad
4. Malcolm In The Middle
5. Seinfeld
Honourable Mentions: The X-Files, Lexx, 30 Rock, Upper Middle Bogan
In No order, these would be the series I religiously watched. I don’t know if any rank as the best though, I don’t know what really resonates with me as the best:
-Dawson’s Creek I was hooked on
-Simpsons I wouldn’t miss (until I wanted to actually start missing them….around season 12 or so)
-Watched all of Lost (I just wanted this show to be the most captivating show on television ever…alas it didn’t quite captivate me).
-That 70’s show
-Futurama
-Star Trek TNG, DS9
-Babylon 5
-Game Of Thrones
-Top Gear
-The OC
-Survivor (come back to this on and off over the umpteen years it has been going on)
-WWE the attitude era (1997ish to 2002 ish)
“Shows I never wanted to add ever because I think they’re a bit rubbish? Breaking Bad. Urgh, I can’t believe I watched all five seasons of that.”
Personally I made it to the 2nd half of the last season and thought ‘why am I watching this its garbage’ and never watched an episode again.
1. The Wire
2. Seinfeld
3. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
4. Band of Brothers
5. South Park – think I might be generous here as I feel a bit like Mark said of the Walking Dead when South Park is firing it is probably number 1 on my list but there is a lot of garbage littered in there.
I think it’s a similar story with The Simpsons… the early seasons (1-9, maybe as far as 10 or 11) were utterly fantastic, then it went to shit.
I made it through 2.5 episodes before I never watched Breaking Bad again. It was so horribly unpleasant to watch. The only other experience I’ve had quite like it was watching the movie Pain and Gain.
South park is a bit mis represented these days. A lot of people seem to think it’s all fart jokes and swearing but these days it’s actually pretty well written and funnier than ever.
Yeah I agree coach, people that don’t watch it def have that opinion.
1. Doctor Who
(After this everything is in a very rough order, I’ve always been terrible at ranking things))
2. Game of Thrones
3. True Detective
4. Stargate SG-1
5. Firefly
6. Gotham (just kidding)
7. Community (seasons 1-3)
8. The IT Crowd
9. Futurama.
10+. Whatever else I think of after posting this.
1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2. Game of Thrones
3. Doctor Who
4. Firefly
5. Breaking Bad
Lots of thought into that list, because I love each of those shows for different reasons!
1) The West Wing
2) Dr Who
3) X-files
4) Game of Thrones
5) Fringe
Honourable mentions – SG1 & SG Altlantis, Walking Dead (when it’s not shit), South Park, Supernatural.
Dexter was great seasons 1-4… It went to absolute shit when the showerunner left, and the finale is now my new benchmark for shittest finale ever
Yes, see Dexter
My list:
1) Stargate franchise
2) Battlestar Galactica
3) Fringe
I have many other favourite shows, but those three are definitely my top of all time.
OMG me too. My brother asked me if he should bother with the last season and I said no, so he asked me how it ended and i just said
he faked his death and became a lumberjackLAMEWe have the term “Jumping the shark” for when a show hits its peak and starts going downhill. We have the term “nuking the fridge” to refer to a similar point in a movie series. I’ve begun using “Lumberjack it” to describe shitty finales.
The biggest problem with the Dexter finale is it just ended as if the universe would no longer exist.
“Oh Dexter just killed that dude on video, it was clearly self defence so we’ll just let him go… Wait, where’s his sister… She was just in the hospital… Ah who cares”… Also the fact that Whatsherface that took Harrison to Paris would be a wanted fugitive… After all she did leave Elroy as a live witness who clearly saw her with Harrison…+1 just for this 🙂
Pleasantly surprised to see a fair few Gaters in this thread… favourite ep?
1. Game of thrones
2. Twin peaks
3. The walking dead
4. South park
5. Jackass
Hey how about some love for Australian shows here. We have been able to produce some exceptionally good TV shows that rank with any of the foreign entries already listed here.
For instance:
Phoenix
Underbelly (but really only the first season)
Any or all of Frontline/Hollowmen/Utopia
Howzat! Kerry Packer’s War
Blue Murder
I had Hungry beast on mine
Utopia is great
Didn’t consider Howzat! and the like as they are more mini-series/movies rather than TV show
Underbelly is goddamn terrible. The first series got a lot of hype and hoopla because it was one of the few Australian dramas with halfway decent production value, and it was actually based on interesting source material. Then it just went out-of-this-world ridiculous.
If you honestly think half those shows are ‘as good’ as some other contemporary drama like The Wire, Breaking Bad or The Sopranos, you’re cracked.
1. Les Revenants (The returned)
2. Avatar the Last Airbender
3. Breaking Bad
4. True Detective
5. Game of Thrones
1. and 2. switch on a fairly regular basis, basically equal.
Edit: Twin Peaks probably should be here, but season 2 brought it down too far.
Edit the second: Fawlty Towers is bloody fantastic, but I never know how to rank comedy amongst the other genres that I tend to watch more of. Seinfeld is pretty great too.
Major thumbs up for featuring Les Revenants! I started watching the US version the other day and turned it off after 5 minutes. It pales in comparison to the original.
What?! There’s a US version… Ugh.
You’re a far braver man than I.
This is one of those situations where bravery and stupidity are barely distinguishable.
1. Battlestar Galactica
2. Star Trek (all series)
3. Frasier
4. M.A.S.H
5. Dexter
6. Walking Dead
7. X-files
8. Good Game (heh)
I’m just going out there to say that True Detective, while still great, is massively overrated. Tons of people herald it like the finest thing that ever graced the television, it’s not.
I’m inclined to agree here actually. I watched it over a weekend just recently and whilst the first few episodes really set it up for me and I thought it was going to live up to the hype, it sort of just plateaued and I was left thinking it didn’t quite get there. Good but not amazing.
I’m in this camp. I was jumping up and down when I heard about it. HBO? Anthony series? Fukunaga? Harrelson and McConaughey? (I was already on board with him), and… it’s alright? It’s beautifully shot and just dripping in character. 2 knock-out performances, but that writing is.. eurgh, and some of the dialogue is just terrible, then it took a really weird turn and SPOILERS: the villain is just a guy in a knife at the end of the tunnel.
@markserrels You didn’t put Lost high enough!
1. Lost
2. Breaking Bad
3. Seinfeld
These are the only three shows which I’ve watched in their entirety, have ended, and which I feel comfortable putting forward in a list of greatest TV shows of all time.
Six Feet Under
Buffy TVS
Life on Mars
Sherlock
The Wire
Oh shit yeah, I forgot about Life on Mars, that was amazingly brilliant.
Made me feel old, but man was it good.
US or UK? ‘Cause I’ve got to be honest… I kind of liked the US version. And while I wasn’t 100% happy with the ending, I liked that it had one.
UK for me. The ending for that was in Ashes to Ashes I guess.
1. Game of Thrones
2. Breaking Bad
3. Entourage
4. The Inbetweeners
5. The Walking Dead
1. Seinfeld.
I’d have to think about some others to fill the list but Jerry and pals is without peer.
In no particular order (because, like a parent, you can’t make me choose which one of my children I love the most)
Firefly
The Wire
GoT
Black Adder (goes Forth was the best, but they’re all great)
Mr. Bean (how you can be that funny with no nearly no dialogue… genius)
Monty Python’s Flying Circus
Black Books
Modern Family (not as great now as it has been, but still one of the funniest shows on TV)
Simpsons (S01 – 09)
Southpark (S01-10)
Archer / Bob’s Burgers
All parents know that they really love one kid the most, and the others kind of suck…
As the not-most-loved-child, I wish I could disagree with you.
Also, I am archiving this post and showing it to your current and/or future children.
Kids always think it’s someone else that’s the favourite, not them.
As the eldest brother, with a sister who is younger than my brother and I by 9 and 7 years respectively, I can definitively say that she is the favourite.
I think my parents realized what f#$&ups my brother and I were, and learned from their mistakes.
1. The Sopranos
2. Arrested Development
3. The Wire
4. Breaking Bad
5. Seinfeld
Futurama
Midsomer Murders
Game of thrones
Red Dwarf
Good Game
1. Star Trek: TNG
2. Breaking Bad
3. Community
4. American Horror Story
5. Red Dwarf
I’m not doing this, it’s too hard. There have been many shows that I have watched beginning to end that were ruined by bad last seasons, just dragged too long or were cancelled abruptly or something else to ruin them; I watch a bunch of shows that are still going and for all I know they might all turn to shit at any moment. Nip/Tuck had a really intriguing first season with a really neat finale, but then went down hill fast after that. I actually thought that it had been cancelled they wrapped up season 1 so nicely. Justified had an incredible first and second season, and while I still like it, it’s no where near as good as it used to be.
1. The Sopranos
2. The Office (UK)
3. Deadwood
4. Game of Thrones
5. Boardwalk Empire
Honourable mentions: House of Cards, Downtown Abbey, Bored to Death, The Walking Dead, Rome, Breaking Bad, Homeland, Battlestar Galactica, Faulty Towers, True Detective, The Office (US)…
Edit: Not Bored to ‘Dead’….
I need to watch the new house of cards, bought the first 2 series the other day but haven’t started it yet
Unless you’re already clued into US politics, the first few episodes (and first season) require you to listen and potentially pause the show to chat to your friend/wife/husband/partner about what just happened, who is backing/backstabbing who etc. It’s quite convoluted and detailed, but you do pick it up with patience. I highly recommend it.
Aaaahhhhhh
I think I might get driven crazy by watching this with my wife.
Really enjoyed the BBC version so hopefully this pushes lots of the same buttons
It’s also quite intriguing with dashes of black comedy and quirk to it all as well. You’ll see. 🙂
I was incredibly surprised just how great Downton Abbey is. I usually hate those kinds of shows.
It’s a very, very charming show. 🙂
1.Scrubs is my Ultimate Number 1
2.Fresh Prince of Bel Air
3.Entourage
4.Game of Thrones
5.Breaking Bad
+1 to Scrubs. It fell off at the end when JD left, but it’s still a great show. Guy-love for life. Yeah, I said it.
Yes to the Fresh Prince of Bel Air! https://youtu.be/VUbDZNSoPxI
1. Breaking Bad
2. Hannibal
3. Game of Thrones
4. Arrested Development (sans season 4)
5. Extras
Honourable mentions: Seinfeld, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, The Walking Dead, The Office (UK), Veronica Mars.
Oh, and Party Down.
Extras is hilarious. The scene where Andy goes to audition with Ian McKellen is brilliant.
Veronica mars, ooohhh another one that could easily make the list
Here would be my list, which is in no way complete but would probably be some of the best to come to mind:
Battlestar Galactica
House of Cards
The Americans
True Detective
Boardwalk Empire
Followed by:
Lost
Justified
Alias
24
Seems like I’m going to have to check out The Wire sometime – consistently in most people’s top 5. If I had to have a quick crack at it
1. Scrubs – watched it through about 12 to 13 times
2. The Office US
3. Stargate – going to cheat and put both SG1 and Atlantis here
4. The Simpsons – if people were honest I’m sure it would be in most top 5s
5. Fringe – glad they got their final season in
Firefly (had great potential but really its only 14 episodes), Band of Brothers, Black Adder (bladder), Futurama and Sherlock all come close
Ah forgot Frasier, Invader Zim and IT Crowd… too many
I won’t name the greatest but I will name my favourites in no particular order, because publicly quantifying mixed genres by rank of personal taste and opinion makes very little sense.
Futurama
True Detective
Sherlock
Game of Thrones
The X-Files
Neon Genesis Evangelion
House of Cards
The O.C.
1. Firefly (watched it an embarrassingly large number of times)
2. The Wire (incredibly realistic/close to what it’s really like!!)
3. Game of Thrones
4. The Office (UK)
5. Deadwood / New Battlestar Galactica / First two seasons of The Walking Dead / too many good choices for 5th.
My list is based on stuff that i just keep coming back to… (except to GOT, ill wait a bit longer before i re-watch any of it)
1. Seinfeld
2. Firefly
3. Star Trek TNG
4. Game of Thrones
5. The IT Crowd
Both the wife and I re watch GoT each year before the new season starts, and love it.
In no particular order…
-The Wire
-Seinfeld
-Avatar/Korra
-Six Feet Under
-The original Twilight Zone
1) A lot of honourable mentions: Arrested Development, Curb your Enthusiasm, Breaking Bad, Fawlty Towers, Frasier, Mr Show, Love My Way, Peep Show, Pushing Daisies, and Justified.
2) Black Mirror’s my most anticipated, still-running show now, and it’s heading towards top 5 (at the expense of six feet under). The Christmas Special was fantastic, but I’ll wait to see how this show works out in the third series because like many short British shows, as even a single dud episode can spoil the whole thing.
3) I really don’t understand the True Detective endorsements. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very beautifully shot show resting on two powerhouse performances but I credit it to Fukunaga putting Nic Pizzolatto’s borderline unreadable scripts to screen.
The Simpsons
Top Gear
Mythbusters
That 70’s Show
GoT or maybe Dexter
In no particular order
Game of Thrones
Vikings
The Wire
Deadwood
Sopranos
Firefly
The Shield
Banshee
Hell on Wheels
The West Wing
Justified
In no particular order:
Breaking Bad
True Detective
Seinfeld
An Idiot Abroad
Game of Thrones
House of Cards (flawed I know, huge Spacey fan)
in no particular order
flash forward (no way this show should have been canned after one season)
prison break
dexter
the walking dead (everone knows season 4b sucked balls, but the rest is great)
californication
breaking bad (although it was a little overhyped)
sons of anarchy (once you get past the whole ‘all bikies are cool badasses’ cheesiness it is a really good show)
arrow (take it for what it is, ignore the cheesiness and it is very entertaining).
honourable mention to steins gate and death note, two anime shows i really love.
Those happen to be my two favourite anime series also. You have good taste.
Allo Allo, Monkey Magic
These diserve a mention at least?
Oh yes, Monkey Magic! https://youtu.be/LAbE36IBTZY
X-Files
Yes (Prime)Minister
Life on Mars
People Like Us
Gilmore Girls
My wife makes fun of me for liking Gilmore Girls..
West Wing (first 4 seasons)
Deadwood
M*A*S*H
Time Team
Neon Genesis Evangelion (+ final movie)
And just missing the cut:
The Wire
Battlestar Galactica (original, first season plus last episode of second season)
30 Rock / Scrubs / Seinfeld / Friends
Dexter (haven’t seen final season yet)
The Games
Still waiting to see:
Game of Thrones
True Detective
Vikings
neon genesis
firefly
lost
the 100
breaking bad
heroes
star trek
orphan black
stargate universe
falling skies
almost human
the dome
V
red dwarf
(Sigh, I lost my original post with all my comedic stylings to an errant keystroke. Now I have to do the short version that people won’t complain about.)
Top 5
Red Dwarf
Community
Firefly
The Wire
Quantum Leap
Honourable mentions
Game of Thrones
Monkey
Scrubs
Key and Peele
Elementary
Strike Back
Stargate SG1
Band of Brothers
The Unit
1. The Bill (Don Beech was the best character ever, although Frank Burnside came close);
2. North Square (love Phil Davis’s character – full eps on the tube https://youtu.be/HC6F2jJ8hzg);
3. One Foot in the Grave (I don’t believe it!);
4. Dad’s Army (They don’t like it up ’em Captain Mainwaring!);
5. Slayers (Dragon Slave!!! https://youtu.be/aoHxUuHu_WU Also best name for a villain ‘Ruby Eye Shabranigdo’ – in Japanese it sounds like Shaburanigudoo)
This is a really, really tough one. For some people it seems the difficulty is with counting to 5, For others it seems they’re only aware that TV has existed for some 5 years, ahem. Anyway….
Favourite shows of all time…top 5. I’ll go with those that have had the most enduring effect & memories, that I remember having the most ’emotional resonance’ for me. In no particular order:
1. Star Trek (particularly Voyager)
2. B5
3. Spartacus:Blood & Sand
4. Dr Who (original & new)
5. Firefly
Honourable mentions in recent years: Californication, House of Cards, Vikings, Newsroom, Big Bang Theory, Two & a Half Men, House of Lies, Broadchurch, Dog Whisperer :), Entourage, Episodes, ER, GoT, Grand Designs, Lexx (sue me!), Mad Men, Misfits, Modern Family, Mom, Mozart in the Jungle, Mrs Brown’s Boys, Not Going Out, How I Met Your Mother, Rules of Engagement, BBC Horizons/Universe/PBS Nova, Supernatural (early years), The IT Crowd, True Blood, Walking Dead (1st 3 seasons?), West Wing.
(that’s mostly from what I have in my current library – there are plenty of much older series I’ve probably forgotten that deserve a mention e.g. Bill & Ben + Puff N Stuff as a kid ).
Going to throw some in the mix (and these are top 10, no particular order)
I’m calling them great because they’re all shows I could watch anytime, in any order, and be 100% happy with my viewing choice. And yes, some of them are kids shows because I spend a considerable amount of time watching kids shows, and if you’ve never watched Peppa Pig, you’re missing out on a lot of fun.
Red Dwarf
Doctor Who
Stargate SG1
The X-Files
Peppa Pig
The Simpsons (seasons 1-10)
The Young Ones
Play School (as long as it’s one without Georgie Parker!)
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Blackadder
(yes, I like British Comedy and Scifi – how can you tell?)
I do not watch much tv really and when I do i tend to wait for a series to be over or at least the season and binge watch it. The only show I really really loved and could not get enough so much so Ive watched all seasons start to finish 3 times since it ended is Breaking bad, really love that show. Apart from that I tend to enjoy all the classic sitcoms.
True detective
Sopranos
MASH
BSG
Firefly
The Wire
Strike Back
True Detective
X-Files
1) Twin Peaks
2) Game of Thrones
3) 24
4) ST:DS9
5) Seinfeld
I struggle to pick True Detective with only one season gone, and a complete change of cast for the second season…. which includes Vince *muffled laughter* Vaughan.
Breaking Bad
Sopranos
Vikings
Game of Thrones
Death Note/Monster
here my Top 5 list :
1.ghost in the shell
2.Psycho-Pass
3.The Big Bang Theory
4.Game of Thrones
5.The Walking Dead
1. Gamotrons
2. Vikings
3. The Walking Dead
4. Banshee
5. Entourage
Shows other people rate but failed me.
1. Breaking bad
2. Boardwalk Empire
3. Sons of Anarchy (I think I owe this one more time to get me hooked)
4. Rome
5. Mostly
6. Girly
7. Shit
8. My
9. Wife
10. Insists
11. Are
12. Good
Strange that no one has mentioned Misfits yet. The first 3 seasons at least were fantastic!
Well, on the assumption that if I bought it on DVD then I must have loved it…
1) Firefly
2) Psych
3) Black Books
4) Red Dwarf
5) Better off Ted
Utopia
True Detective
Sherlock (UK)
Hyde (UK)
Heroes (Season1)
Grand Designs
Utopia for sure. I hear its now getting a HBO remake!
1. Breaking Bad
2. Game of Thrones
3. The Office
4. Pre Finale/Season 9 How I Met Your Mother
5. Scrubs
6. The Walking Dead
7. Dr Who (Season 8 was so bad, left a disgusted taste in my mouth)
8. Attack on Titan
Fawlty Towers would be up there some where, and I’ve just started Chuck
Too difficult for just 5 shows on their own, but an easier way;
1. Absolutely anything by Trey Parker (Time Warped anyone?)
2. Anything by Matt Greoning (Futurama S6 is possibly the best collection of episodes he has put on screen, with a close second going to S4 of The Simpsons)
3. Anything “Stargate” (including Sancturary, and yeah, I enjoyed SGU too, even though it’s the weakest of the 3)
4. Anything by Ridley Scott (who remembers Numb3rs?)
5. Anything by Adam Reed (You’re doom? What does that even mean!?)
Honorable mentions to Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law, Terminator SCC, Alphas, Heroes, Firefly, American Dad, Seinfeld, Jericho (S1), THRESHOLD (2005) and drum roll for the cheesiest TV Show I’ve ever liked and still rewatch every 6 months or so: Terra Nova. (For the good of the colony!)
1. Battlestar Galactica
2. Vikings
3. Game of Thrones
4. The Walking Dead.
5. Silicon Valley
6. Better Call Saul
7. Breaking Bad
8. Dexter (first 2 seasons)
9. Workaholics
10. South Park
11. Homeland
12. Sons of Anarchy (first 2 seasons)
13. Firefly
14. The Following
15. Futurama
16. Top Gear
1) Babylon 5
2) The Prisoner
3) Six FeetUnder
4) The West Wing
5) Fawlty Towers
And I’ve shocked myself by how I didn’t just go for scifi. 😮
Bubbling under, Buffy, GoT, Monty Python, Fringe.
1) The Shield
2) Hornblower
3) Thunderbirds
4) Wiseguy
5) Justified
Boardwalk Empire would be up there but Season 5 just didn’t do it. We missed too much.
mate its SQUIDBILLIES
Squidbillies
breaking bad
Justified
Archer
Metalocalypse
ROME
South Park
true detective
minoriteam
The adventures of Tin-Tin (original series)
fargo
the Borgias
The 100
also- frisky dingo, mighty boosch, Aqua Teen Hunger Force ,
Cowboy Bebop, Black Lagoon, Boondocks,