Top 100 best written shows, voted by Writers Guild of America

[deepak]

http://www.wga.org/content/default.aspx?id=4925

[blessingx]

Interesting how it differs from Entertainment Weeklys.

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)

[Dusty Chalk]

Disappointed not to see Sports Night nor Veronica Mars on either of those lists, happy to see some others (Deadwood, Buffy, Twin Peaks, Freaks and Geeks -- I really need to finish watching that).

 

That reminds me -- every several years, I check to see if Wonder Years or My So-Called Life ever made it to DVD...(does the 'wanders off' thing)...I guess it's been a few years, because they both have.  Of course, now I don't buy DVD's any more, I just stream or rent everything.

[blessingx]

Reasons #213 & #214 Josh Whedon is overrated: Buffy the third greatest television drama of all time (over Breaking Bad, etc.) and above The Twilight Zone for greatest sci-fi series. Can anyone justify those positions?

Edited July 28, 2013 by blessingx

[robm321]

^ agreed, that is ridiculous.

[Dusty Chalk]

I'll admit, I'm kind of surprised Mary Tyler Moore ranked as highly as it did on both lists.

[Wmcmanus]

Three Stooges missing from both lists.  Not that there was a lot of brilliant writing... but still a landmark series in the history of television, even though just a series of disconnected "shorts".

[Wmcmanus]

I'll admit, I'm kind of surprised Mary Tyler Moore ranked as highly as it did on both lists.

 

It really was good writing though, and somewhat innovative in its time.  One of the first long running sitcoms that spoke to social issues.  Andy Griffith, All in the Family, I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, Abbott & Costello, Carol Burnett, etc., were all pure comedies.  Well, arguably Andy Griffith attempted to do a little more, but it too rated well in both polls.  Sort of a forerunner to Cheers, Taxi, Frasier, Friends, and even Seinfeld in some ways just in terms of the closeness of Mary's circle of friends.

Edited July 29, 2013 by Wmcmanus

[blessingx]

It really hasn't aged so well from the modern comedy perspective, but it pretty much changed everything. From what Wayne said to a real 3D female perspective, to independent minded MTM production company (responsible for many other titles on the list - Bob Newhart, St. Elsewhere, Hill Street Blues, etc.), to the writers power to experiment that flows up modern series. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpE7ZiBCyd8

EDIT: Thought of this while walking with the daughter - maybe the most telling importance of the Mary Tyler Moore show is when reviewing Lena Dunham’s Girls (a show which deserves already to be on the list) last year, everyone needed to go back forty years to find a reference (though I never want to forget the importance of Murphy Brown and Roseanne). Nearly every review made the same connection. I think this is the best one. 

This discord between how vehemently we’re told to believe in ourselves as young girls and how dismissively we’re treated as young women — captured so heartbreakingly in “Girls” — is part of what fuels the shudder brought on by that word, “girl.” As vivid as our culture’s fantasy of this magical juncture between childhood and adulthood might be, it’s hardly a carefree time occupied by effusive pixies, let alone a period to which most of us would happily return. Because one day, we wake up ready — not to wag our fingers in someone’s face (which is just another way of twirling when you get right down to it) but to present our true selves without apology. This is the trajectory that Lena Dunham and her collaborators have set out to portray, with humor and subtlety and realism. You can turn the world on with your smile for only so long before it gets a little dull. Or as Hannah tells her parents, trying to remain calm despite the fact that her extended childhood is suddenly in peril: “I have work, and then I have a dinner thing, and then I am busy, trying to become who I am.”

Eventually, we learn to explain, calmly, who we are and what we will and won’t accept. That’s how you make it on your own, as Mary Richards often demonstrated, though her voice sometimes trembled and her hands sometimes shook. That’s the reason that scene of Mary throwing her hat in the air still feels exhilarating, 42 years later. No, that girl didn’t break. But she was never all that fragile to begin with.

Edited July 29, 2013 by blessingx

[n_maher]

EW are unabashed Whedon fans and while I'd say it deserves a spot on the top 100 I agree that #3 is way too high.  That said, the writing on Buffy was borderline phenomenal most of the time and pretty much nailed a lot of topics that most shows miss horribly at.  If you watched that show when you were in your late teens, early 20's I think it resonated a lot more than for other generations. 

[deepak]

I think overall the WGA list is pretty solid, many lesser known but excellent shows made the list. Much of what is in the top 20 predates me, so I am not too familiar with them. Though Mad Men is a well written show, it's something I put on if I need to fall asleep.

[Dusty Chalk]

EW are unabashed Whedon fans and while I'd say it deserves a spot on the top 100 I agree that #3 is way too high.  That said, the writing on Buffy was borderline phenomenal most of the time and pretty much nailed a lot of topics that most shows miss horribly at. 

I didn't post because I couldn't figure out how to say this, so...this!

 

Also the writing on the entirely made up topics was pretty phenomenal too (being revived after dying, being a monster and yet not, etc.).  Even the humor was worked in in such a way that it was "real" -- I.E. they weren't gags, like Monty Python or Get Smart, but rather they were...er...it was humor that the characters within the show generated, and whether or not you found it funny is the only thing that made it comedy.

 

And I'll say -- I was late to the show, didn't discover it until after it was over, at which point I was over 40, and I still found the show to have excellent writing.

[aardvark baguette]

No way Buffy is better sci-fi than fucking X files.  Ridiculous.

[en480c4]

Buffy isn't sci-fi.  It's a coming-of-age drama/comedy wrapped in a supernatural/horror wrapper.

[aardvark baguette]

yeah but they packaged it in the top 10 sci fi list

[blessingx]

At least it didn't make the top ten British comedies list.

[tkam]

Nice to see Homicide and BSG on the list(s) though both should be higher, especially on the EW list.  How BSG is only #8 on the EW sci-fi list is beyond me.

[Voltron]

At least it didn't make the top ten British comedies list.

 

I lol'd. 

[Pars]

Not much of a Joss fan from what I've seen.

 

The Shield should be higher (much) on the list IMHO. Breaking Bad should also be higher. Never have really gotten Mad Men either.

 

I really need to watch The Wire as well.

[TMoney]

This list is also interesting. Seeing as how our British cousins appreciate well written TV more than we do I'm shocked that more of these British shows did not make the American lists.

 

In 20 years are people still going to be thinking shows like Breaking Bad and Modern Family are classic TV?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100_Greatest_British_Television_Programmes

[deepak]

Not much of a Joss fan from what I've seen.

 

The Shield should be higher (much) on the list IMHO. Breaking Bad should also be higher. Never have really gotten Mad Men either.

 

I really need to watch The Wire as well.

Also Rubicon didn't make the list

[Pars]

^ True dat!

 

I'm surprised that its replacement, The Walking Dead, isn't on the list...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not.

Edited July 29, 2013 by Pars

[blessingx]

This list is also interesting. Seeing as how our British cousins appreciate well written TV more than we do I'm shocked that more of these British shows did not make the American lists.

 

In 20 years are people still going to be thinking shows like Breaking Bad and Modern Family are classic TV?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100_Greatest_British_Television_Programmes

Maybe not classic TV, but the best of American TV? Maybe. Probably. Best writing versus best show are of course a different thing (listen to a raging cinephile argument over Kurosawa v. Ozu to show that clearly), but I suspect both those shows have legs.

 

Breaking's main narrative path is unique in American television, no? All while being popular. There are already shows that seem impossible without it (The Americans?). I place it way, way up on the list as a managed project (something American serial series rarely are). As a whole it's an amazing story and as episodes name a bad one? The Fly? It seems you think it's overrated. Care to explain?

 

Barring shifting cultural norms where Modern Family would age quickly (say the gay parents and immigrant jokes), signs point it to already bumping others off top slots (watch the 30 Rock and Parks and Rec Emmys plummet once MF showed up). The writers have a pedigree and it's wrestled comedy back from total snark/sarcasm while its jokes come as fast as Seinfeld. I'm less sure on this one, but I think it would be a mistake to write MF off as another Home Improvement, Three's Company, Will & Grace, etc. 

 

Then again if you told me while The Sopranos was still on the air it was already being overthrown, I'd not have believed it. 

 

All the talk of The Wire in the other thread has me thinking about my favorite shows. I try to be cautious about recent/contemporary shows, and to be fair I haven't steadily had a television for years so somewhat blind. That said here's my list (sorry comedies).

 

1. The Twilight Zone - No one handled the episode format better. 

 

2. The Wire - No one handled the season format better.

 

3. Breaking Bad - We'll know for sure shortly, but likely no one has handled the series format better.

 

Edited July 29, 2013 by blessingx

[Dusty Chalk]

No way Buffy is better sci-fi than fucking X files.  Ridiculous.

By 'sci-fi', they probably mean 'sci-fi/fantasy'.

 

And yes, it's much better.  X-Files got kind of repetitive.  Mulder:  "Scully, you're not going to believe this explanation..."  Scully:  "I am skeptical."  (turns away)  (something happens that corroborates the supernatural explanation, that only Mulder gets to see)  Mulder:  "Did you see that?"  Scully, turning back around:  "No, I missed it." -- pretty much half the episodes (with Mulder and Scully), and I'm not even going to address the seasons with less Mulder.  That was just a horrible way for a show to die off.

[Edwood]

Buffy #1 for TV Sci-Fi?    Uh.... no.