Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

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ValenN
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Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

Post by ValenN »

I've decided to restart work on my project to calculate the most recommended TV Series of All Time. I'm still working out the process of how I'll do this, but in the meantime feel free to post any lists you'd like me to consider. They have to come from a publication of some sort, but I'm not the pickiest.
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

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Have you considered having a separate section for best television episodes too?
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

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TV Guide has done a "greatest" list once or twice, and Entertainment Weekly has done one at least three different times. Time Magazine has done an unranked one.

===============================================================
Rolling Stone

100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time / September 21, 2016

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-list ... me-105998/
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

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Time Magazine - All-Time 100 TV Shows (published 2007?) / James Poniewozik

http://time.com/collection/all-time-100-tv-shows/
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

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Entertainment Weekly's Top 100 TV Shows (2013)

#76-100
https://www.google.com/amp/s/ew.com/gal ... 00-76/amp/

#75-51
https://www.google.com/amp/s/ew.com/gal ... 75-51/amp/

#50-26
https://www.google.com/amp/s/ew.com/gal ... 50-26/amp/

#25-11
https://www.google.com/amp/s/ew.com/gal ... 25-11/amp/

#10-1
https://www.google.com/amp/s/ew.com/gal ... atest/amp/

Entertainment Weekly published a book in 1998 of the 100 best TV shows. I own this book, but the list would probably be considered outdated now, even by Entertainment Weekly itself (hence the 2013 list). I mentioned there was a 3rd list -- that was in an old issue that would be even older than the 1998 list (early or mid-'90s).
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

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TV Guide's 50 Best Shows of All Time (2002)

1. Seinfeld (NBC)
2. I Love Lucy (CBS)
3. The Honeymooners (CBS)
4. All in the Family (CBS)
5. The Sopranos (HBO)
6. 60 Minutes (CBS)
7. Late Show with David Letterman (CBS)
8. The Simpsons (Fox)
9. The Andy Griffith Show (CBS)
10. Saturday Night Live (NBC)
11. The Mary Tyler Moore Show (CBS)
12. The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (NBC)
13. The Dick Van Dyke Show (CBS)
14. Hill Street Blues (NBC)
15. The Ed Sullivan Show (CBS)
16. The Carol Burnett Show (CBS)
17. Today (NBC)
18. Cheers (NBC)
19. thirtysomething (ABC)
20. St. Elsewhere (NBC)
21. Friends (NBC)
22. ER (NBC
23. Nightline (ABC)
24. Law & Order (NBC)
25. M+A+S+H (CBS)
26. The Twilight Zone (CBS)
27. Sesame Street (PBS)
28. The Cosby Show (NBC)
29. Donahue (syndicated)
30. Your Show of Shows (NBC)
31. The Defenders (CBS)
32. An American Family (PBS)
33. Playhouse 90 (CBS)
34. Frasier (NBC)
35. Roseanne (ABC)
36. The Fugitive (ABC)
37. The X-Files (Fox)
38. The Larry Sanders Show (HBO)
39. The Rockford Files (NBC)
40. Gunsmoke (CBS)
41. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (WB/UPN)
42. Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (NBC)
43. Bonanza (NBC)
44. The Bob Newhart Show (CBS)
45. Twin Peaks (ABC)
46. Star Trek: The Next Generation (syndicated)
47. Rocky and His Friends (ABC)
48. Taxi (ABC/NBC)
49. The Oprah Winfrey Show (syndicated)
50. Bewitched (ABC)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tv-guide-n ... -50-shows/
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

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This 2018 TV Guide list gets at the problem of compiling best-of TV lists. TV programming is in a hot phase, and any best-of list has to reckon with not just "Where does The Sopranos go?" but where does The Wire go, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Better Call Saul, Handmaid's Tale (and a lot of hot shows I can't even keep much track of but have their binge-watching audiences). The new landscape makes TV Guide's 2002 list seem pretty dated now. They now have a 100-count list just for shows that are still showing new episodes!

TV Guide -- We Rank the 100 Best Shows Right Now (October 2018)
https://www.tvguide.com/news/we-rank-th ... right-now/
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

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Live in Phoenix wrote:This 2018 TV Guide list gets at the problem of compiling best-of TV lists. TV programming is in a hot phase, and any best-of list has to reckon with not just "Where does The Sopranos go?" but where does The Wire go, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Better Call Saul, Handmaid's Tale (and a lot of hot shows I can't even keep much track of but have their binge-watching audiences). The new landscape makes TV Guide's 2002 list seem pretty dated now. They now have a 100-count list just for shows that are still showing new episodes!

TV Guide -- We Rank the 100 Best Shows Right Now (October 2018)
https://www.tvguide.com/news/we-rank-th ... right-now/
Anyone here who agrees that the current list is almost as good or even equally as good as the all-time lists from a few years ago?

But the current list could have been the best list of all, if it just had included (more) foreign-language tv-series as well. I found one (!) at #46... How can non-English tv-series be so neglected (or unwatchable in the US?) when non-English films have been acclaimed all through the years?
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

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For some reason foreign TV never seems to be part of the mix of what U.S. audiences are devouring, in the way that foreign films can sometimes break out. I have no idea if there is a Fellini or Bergman or Kurosawa of television, and that's kind of distressing. I guess it's been out of sight, out of mind. I have no idea what a TV best-of would look like from other countries. Not only that, but as far as I know, I couldn't watch something international (besides anime, or British or non-subtitled Mexican programming) even if I wanted to. Some service here like Netflix or Hulu would probably have to be pushing it.
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

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Like, anyone who doesn't live in America or the U.K., name a native TV show that you can't imagine not watching, and I probably can't even watch it, not that it makes me happy. This includes Australia too.

I can think of a handful of foreign TV items ever that became internationally famous (and thus likely available domestically): Berlin Alexanderplatz, Dekalog, Scenes from a Marriage. That's still kind of different from a long-running TV show. (In fact, the way I heard about them was from seeing them on greatest films lists.)
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

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Thanks a lot for the great discussions and contributions! I'm definitely gonna be taking a look at these lists. I'm currently in the process of transferring over all the old work I've done to my new compiler. So far I have about 450 lists in the giant calculator.

I'm using a new and improved formula, and you'll be glad to hear that a lot of foreign shows are placing higher than before, especially Anime. Hopefully once this is all done the top 100 will feature a great variety of shows from all over the globe, across all kinds of eras and genres.
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

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Well, what do you know... Thanks to the new world of streaming services, it looks like there *is* stuff on Hulu and Netflix, and a couple of services I've never previously heard of.
New York Times
TV Shows to Watch From Hong Kong, Brazil, Sweden and More


CRITIC’S NOTEBOOK
By Mike Hale
March 15, 2018

What are you missing if you’re not watching international television? A significant slice of the peak-TV pie, far beyond the few shows — most recently “Babylon Berlin” from Germany and “The End of the _______ World” from Britain — that break out.

In preparation for this highly selective roundup, I compiled a list of non-American scripted shows that have had new seasons available in the United States, on traditional TV or streaming, so far in 2018. It came to a dizzying 108. That’s almost a show and a half a day, and it understates the true total, because it doesn’t cover myriad specialty sites.

So forget about keeping up. If you’d like to sample, here are six recent (or coming) series from major streaming services that are worth checking out.

‘The Bridge’
Sofia Helin stars as a damaged Swedish detective in “The Bridge.” Season 4 is available on Hulu.
The American version of this benchmark Nordic-noir crime series has come and gone, but the Danish-Swedish original keeps chugging along, offering a new season every two or three years. The show famously opened with two half-corpses discovered on the Oresund Bridge, straddling the Denmark-Sweden border, and Season 4 (reportedly the last), available on Hulu, keeps up the tradition of theatrically gruesome murder — this time the mystery starts with a woman stoned to death underneath the bridge.

The focus is still on multiple strands of elaborately, sometimes confusingly plotted detection (with more red herrings than necessary). But the body count has come down, and an improbable, oddly moving love story between the emotionally damaged Swedish detective Saga (Sofia Helin) and her new Danish partner (Thure Lindhardt) has become central to the show. The true constant is Ms. Helin’s tightly controlled performance — without any showboating, she continues to find both heartbreak and humor in a difficult character.

‘Jordskott’
This Swedish series uses the house style of Nordic noir — subdued but highly charged, like a dream always on the verge of a nightmare — but it crosses a typical conspiracy-minded crime story with a spooky eco-horror fable. The resulting hybrid, a police procedural with elements of contagion thriller and vampire tale, is handled so adroitly that it requires surprisingly little suspension of disbelief.

That credibility flows from the trio of characters at the show’s center: Eva (Moa Gammel), the detective who in Season 1 becomes infected with the parasite that slowly turns humans into forest creatures; Wass (Goran Ragnerstam), the federal cop who secretly works for the alternately benign and threatening forces of nature; and Tom (Richard Forsgren), the stouthearted and hopelessly square local cop who pines for Eva. All three return, and are again excellent, in Season 2, now available on the horror streaming site Shudder.

‘OCTB’
This Web series, named after the real-life Organized Crime and Triad Bureau of the Hong Kong police, was such a faithful evocation of 1990s-vintage Hong Kong police dramas that its 30 episodes reportedly drew 1.3 billion views on the Chinese video service Youku — and that was before Netflix picked it up for streaming in the rest of the world.

The story — about an undercover cop who gets pulled back into the game one last time, posing as a rising gang boss — is set in the years before the British handover of Hong Kong in 1997. The sprawling series’s time-capsule quality is accentuated by an enormous cast full of performers familiar to Hong Kong action aficionados, including Carrie Ng, Frankie Ng Chi-Hung Ng, Philip Chan and Ng Man-Tat. Jordan Chan, who played Chicken Chiu in Andrew Lau’s “Young and Dangerous” movies in the ’90s, stars here as another bird — the detective’s mob-boss name is Phoenix.

The Mechanism
The Brazilian filmmaker José Padilha, who directed the first two episodes of Netflix’s popular drug-kingpin series “Narcos,” is the creator of this new crime saga, which arrives on Netflix on March 23. It opens with a policeman’s declaration that crime in Brazil is not just about shootouts with drug dealers, which sounds like a reference both to “Narcos” and to Mr. Padilha’s bloody “Elite Squad” feature films.

“The Mechanism” (“O Mecanismo,” if you choose to watch the subtitled version) is instead a long-game examination of a tortuous investigation of money-laundering and bribery at the top levels of Brazilian business and government, based on the real-life scandal that has embroiled the former presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff. Starting with an idealistic cop’s laborious reconstruction of shredded financial documents, it aspires to some of the quotidian procedural force of “The Wire,” but Mr. Padilha’s moralistic and melodramatic instincts quickly assert themselves. The timing may be right, though, for his rabble-rousing, populist style.

The Score
Joren Seldeslachts and Oscar Willems in “The Score,” streaming on Walter Presents.

One brother gets his shot at the big leagues, the other falls back into menial jobs and petty crime. Dad insists on negotiating with the team himself rather than hiring a professional agent. The established star resents and hazes the new arrival. All the story lines we’ve seen in baseball, basketball and football stories work just as well in this Belgian soccer series, originally titled “Spitsbroers” or striker brothers, streaming on Walter Presents.

Joren Seldeslachts plays Alan, the older of two soccer-playing siblings, who’s incensed when his brother, Dennis (Oscar Willems), gets the tryout with a first-division club that he thought was his. “The Score” is no “Friday Night Lights,” but it succeeds on its own more prosaic terms as a credible and warmhearted but spiky family drama.

Ackley Bridge
Poppy Lee Friar and Amy-Leigh Hickman portray best friends in “Ackley Bridge,” available on AcornTV.

This lightweight, old-fashioned, feel-good school-and-family dramedy — perched between sitcom and soap opera — streaming on AcornTV has a likable cast and an engaging premise: Two British schools, one predominantly white and one predominantly South Asian, are consolidated for financial reasons. Stock situations on the rugby pitch, in the classroom and on the playground lead to predictable lessons, but they unfold in ways just unfamiliar enough to hold your interest. (When the priggish mean girls turn in unison to stare down an undesirable, their sneering faces are framed by hijabs.)

Poppy Lee Friar and Amy-Leigh Hickman star as white and Asian best friends; Liz White and Sunetra Sarker play the two cool moms, a compassionate teacher and a no-nonsense pragmatist who sports neon-blue pants with her shalwar kameez while working on the cafeteria line at the school. The real mark that “Ackley Bridge” is not an American show: When one teacher loses his cool and punches an extremely irritating student, and another has a heavy flirtation with one of her female students, the consequences are addressed but moralizing is withheld. (Judgment is reserved for the wealthy Muslim businessman who has an affair with the head teacher.)

A version of this article appears in print on March 15, 2018, on Page C1 of the New York edition with the headline: What in the World Are You Watching?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/15/arts ... weden.html
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

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A poll for this would be fun, too!
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

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10 highly recommended non-English language tv-series:

SKAM (Shame)
L'amica geniale (My Brilliant Friend)
La Casa de Papel (Money Heist)
Bron/Broen (The Bridge)
Bonusfamiljen (Bonus Family)
Narcos
El Chapo
Le Bureau des Légendes (The Bureau)
Les Revenants (The Returned)
Dark
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

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No matter how we slice it, an international TV poll covering different eras and countries would be a mess, but it would be an interesting mess. Perhaps a series of decade polls would be best. Then we take finalists from each decade, and some brave souls can try to vote on the best of all the different eras for an all-time list. (Shows that have spanned numerous decades could maybe be their own category.) The video game poll from a few years ago had been going along like this (by console, wasn’t it -- each of which had a limited shelf life before the followup console debuted). The decade poll breakdown favors voters who know specific eras of TV or video games very well and doesn't ask them to know all eras.

It's along these lines that I don't mind posting the older Entertainment Weekly list now. It covers eras almost exclusively dominated by network TV (The Larry Sanders Show being the solitary great cable show at the time), but it's fine as a survey of '50s to '90s TV, even if it's no longer useful as an all-time list.

Entertainment Weekly - The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time (1998 book)

Top 20
1. The Mary Tyler Moore Show
2. Seinfeld
3. All in the Family
4. Cheers
5. The X-Files
6. I Love Lucy
7. The Larry Sanders Show
8. Hill Street Blues
9. The Tonight Show
10. The Simpsons
11. The Honeymooners
12. M*A*S*H
13. Star Trek
14. The Ed Sullivan Show
15. The Twilight Zone
16. Gunsmoke
17. 60 Minutes
18. Roseanne
19. Dallas
20. Sesame Street

Comedies (seemingly unranked)
Frasier
The Wonder Years
Leave It to Beaver
The Odd Couple
The Abbott and Costello Show
Howdy Doody
Rocky and His Friends
The Jeffersons
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
Sanford and Son
The Andy Griffith Show
Barney Miller
Taxi
Everybody Loves Raymond
Bewitched
The Dick Van Dyke Show
Friends
The Jack Benny Show
The Bob Newhart Show
The Cosby Show
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Family Ties
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman

Game Shows (ranked)
1. Jeopardy!
2. Wheel of Fortune
3. The Gong Show
4. What's My Line?
5. Hollywood Squares
6. The Newlywed Game
7. The Price Is Right
8. Let's Make a Deal
9. You Bet Your Life
10. Family Feud

Dramas (seemingly unranked)
The Fugitive
Moonlighting
The Avengers
Kojak
Cagney & Lacey
Miami Vice
Magnum, P.I.
Perry Mason
Peyton Place
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Prime Suspect
Law & Order
Dr. Kildare
Columbo
Family
thirtysomething
Dragnet
I Spy
ER
Twin Peaks
Mission: Impossible
Little House on the Prairie
The Waltons
NYPD Blue
Homicide: Life on the Street
Maverick
The Rifleman
L.A. Law
St. Elsewhere
Wiseguy
The Rockford Files
Rawhide
Bonanza

Miniseries (seemingly unranked)
Rich Man, Poor Man
I, Claudius
Roots
The Thorn Birds
The Winds of War
V
Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City
The Singing Detective
Lonesome Dove
Shogun

Talk/Variety (seemingly unranked)
Saturday Night Live
The Carol Burnett Show
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Your Show of Shows
Today
Late Show with David Letterman
SCTV Network
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Ernie Kovacs Show

Guilty Pleasures (seemingly unranked)
Charlie's Angels
Lost in Space
Gilligan's Island
Beverly Hills 90210
Happy Days
The Mod Squad
Hawaii Five-O
Batman
The Lone Ranger
Dynasty
Melrose Place
The Munsters
The Brady Bunch
The Beverly Hillbillies
Green Acres
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

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I was surprised that I was able to find this. Oh, the wonders of the Internet. This is a local newspaper list that I saw over 20 years ago, back when I used to visit Omaha, Nebraska in the summertime. This is what I would call the old-codger version of the Entertainment Weekly list that also came out in 1998. Numerous shows that wouldn't usually receive any sort of mention make the list. Again, this is kind of a '50s to '90s or 20th century or end of decade(s) list, never mind that The Sopranos debuted in January 1999 (oops with those premature end-of-the-century lists ... though I imagine it became easier to definitively rank The Sopranos in the following decade).
Omaha World-Herald (NE)
July 30, 1998
Section: Living
Edition: Sunrise
Page: 41

Here's Another Top 100 List: Prime-Time American TV Series
DOUG NYE THE STATE
This article includes opinions of the author.

With all the fanfare and discussion sparked by the American Film Institute's recent announcement of the 100 Greatest American Movies and another panel's list of the 100 greatest English - language novels published this century, I wondered if that exercise could be applied to television.

Like, what are the 100 greatest American prime - time television series of all time?

The most difficult thing about putting together a list of top 100 movies is limiting it to only 100. The biggest problem with trying to come up with a similar list for TV shows is finding enough worthy candidates to fill the 100 slots.

After combing through the prime - time schedules for the past 50 years, there was one thing I did become convinced of: There are at least 20 series for which arguments could be made that each deserves to be No. 1. Still, I managed to come up with a top 100.

Is it completely objective? No way. I don't think anyone can put together such a list and not allow his or her personal tastes to affect the selections.

My only criteria for picking a show was that it must have been on for at least one season. Thus, among this list, you'll find the all but forgotten "East Side/West Side," a fine social drama from the early 1960s starring George C. Scott. Viewers rejected its often dark view of the world.

There's also the short - lived "Palmerstown, U.S.A.," about the friendship between two young boys, one black and one white, in the South of the 1930s.

But most of the series you should recognize. Those who think there is some nostalgia at work here should consider one thing: Many of these shows are still aired today and remain as popular as ever, constantly being discovered and enjoyed by new generations.


Here are the top 100:

1. "Playhouse 90" (1956 - 61, CBS) This was the apex of live television drama during the medium's alleged "golden age." First - rate writers, directors and actors brought viewers such outstanding productions as "Requiem for a Heavyweight," "The Miracle Worker," "Days of Wine and Roses" and so many, many more. We will never see its like again.

2. "All in the Family" (1971 - 83, CBS) Norman Lear's landmark series tackled various social issues barely touched upon by previous series. And, thanks to the character of Archie Bunker, it showed us the absurdity of prejudice.

3. "The Ed Sullivan Show/Toast of the Town" (1948 - 71, CBS) Ed Sullivan didn't have any talent, but he knew how to spot it. For an hour each Sunday night, Sullivan brought Americans a wide variety of entertainment, including opera selections, animal acts, excerpts from Broadway plays and most of the era's top music performers.

4. "The Twilight Zone" (1959 - 65, CBS) Norman Lear looked at social problems through comedy; writer Rod Serling did it with science - fiction. This series featured some of the greatest and most chilling endings in TV history.

5. "Your Show of Shows" (1950 - 54, NBC) Each Saturday night, this series presented 90 live minutes featuring some of TV's most hilarious skits and spoofs. It bulged with talent, including Mel Brooks, Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner and Howard (Ernest T. Bass) Morris.

6. "M.A.S.H." (1972 - 1983, CBS) One of the few times a TV series became more popular and better than the movie on which it was based. Alan Alda, Wayne Rogers and Loretta Swit were members of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital stationed behind the lines during the Korean War. There were plenty of comedic moments, but also plenty of serious ones, too.

7. "Hill Street Blues" (1981 - 87, NBC) This rough, gritty and sometimes funny series focused on the police officers at Hill Street Station, located in a ghetto of a large (unnamed) Midwestern city. Capt. Frank Furillo (Daniel J. Travanti) was in command. (The fact that only one show originating in the 1980s is on this list is testimony to the declining creative quality of network television.)

8. "Gunsmoke" (1955 - 1975, CBS) James Arness was Marshal Matt Dillon in this long - running series, which is considered TV's first adult Western. It was entertaining and thoughtful and had enough action to please just about anyone.

9. "The Andy Griffith Show" (1960 - 68, CBS) It was No. 1 for several seasons during its network run and time has not diminished its small - town humor. The show was filled with memorable characters: Deputy Barney Fife, Floyd the Barber, Gomer and Goober Pyle, and Sheriff Andy Taylor.

10. "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1993 - , NBC) Despite going through numerous cast changes during its run, this sometimes grim series has maintained high - quality scripts and performances throughout. One of the best edited shows ever.

The rest:
11, The Defenders" (1961 - 65, CBS); 12, "I Love Lucy" (1951 - 57, CBS); 13, "Texaco Star Theater/The Milton Berle Show" (1948 - 56, NBC); 14, "In the Heat of the Night" (1988 - 95, NBC, CBS); 14, "Victory at Sea" (1952 - 53, NBC); 15, "The Jackie Gleason Show/The Honeymooners" (1952 - 70, CBS); 16, "The Fugitive" (1963 - 67, ABC); 17, "The Red Skelton Show" (1951 - 71, CBS, NBC); 18, "Wise Guy" (1987 - 90, CBS); 19, "The Bob Newhart Show" (1972 - 78, CBS); 20, "Cheers" (1982 - 94, NBC).

21, "The Cosby Show" (1984 - 92, NBC); 22, "Wagon Train" (1957 - 65, NBC, ABC); 23, "Dragnet" (1953 - 59, 67 - 70, NBC); 24, "Disneyland/Walt Disney" (1954 - , ABC, NBC, CBS); 25, "I'll Fly Away" (1991 - 93, NBC); 26, "Dick Van Dyke" (1961 - 66, CBS); 27, "Sanford & Son" (1972 - 77, NBC); 28, "The Perry Como Show" (1955 - 63, NBC); 29, "Star Trek" (1966 - 69, NBC); 30, "Cavalcade of America" (1952 - 57, ABC).

31, "Magnum, P.I." (1980 - 88, CBS); 32, "The Waltons" (1972 - 81, CBS); 33, "The Steve Allen Show" (1956 - 61, NBC); 34, "The Paper Chase" (1978 - 79, CBS; 1983 - 86, Showtime); 35, "Bonanza" (1959 - 73, NBC); 36, "Newhart" (1982 - 88, CBS); 37, "Mary Tyler Moore" (1970 - 77, CBS); 38, "The Rockford Files" (1974 - 80, NBC); 39, "Law and Order" (1990 - , NBC); 40, "The Untouchables" (1959 - 63)

41, "Combat" (1962 - 67, ABC); 42, "Crime Story" (1986 - 88, NBC); 43, "Leave It To Beaver" (157 - 63, CBS, ABC); 44, "Rowan & Martin's Laugh - In" (1968 - 73, NBC); 45, "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" (1955 - 61, ABC); 46, "The Dean Martin Show" (1965 - 74, NBC); 47, "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (1955 - 65, CBS, NBC); 48, "ER" (1994 - , NBC); 49, "Picket Fences" (1992 - 96, CBS); 50, "Frasier" (1994 - , NBC)

51, "The Jack Benny Show" (1950 - 65, CBS, NBC); 52, "Columbo" (1971 - 90, NBC, ABC); 53, "The Rifleman" (1958 - 63, ABC); 54, "The X - Files" (1993 - , Fox); 55, "The Flip Wilson Show" (1970 - 74, NBC); 56, "Miami Vice" (1984 - 89, NBC); 57, "Tour of Duty" (1987 - 90, CBS); 58, "Lassie" (1954 - 71, CBS); 59, "The Larry Sanders Show" (1994 - 98, HBO); 60, "Father Knows Best" (1954 - 60, CBS, NBC).

61, "Palmerstown, U.S.A." (1980 - 81, CBS); 62, "Cheyenne" (1955 - 63, ABC); 63, "Dallas" (1978 - 91, CBS); 64, "The Virginian" (1962 - 71, NBC); 65, "Make Room for Daddy/The Danny Thomas Show" (1953 - 65, ABC, CBS); 66, "The Life of Riley" (1953 - 58, NBC); 67, "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" (1967 - 69, CBS); 68, "The Outer Limits" (1963 - 65); 69, "Gomer Pyle, USMC" (1964 - 70, CBS); 70, "Moonlighting" (1985 - 89, ABC)

71, "Perry Mason" (1957 - 66, CBS); 72, "Mama" (1949 - 56, CBS); 73, "Lou Grant" (1977 - 82, CBS); 74, "Naked City" (1958 - 63, ABC); 75, "L.A. Law" (1986 - 94, NBC ); 76, "Rawhide" (1959 - 66, CBS); 77, "Little House on the Prairie" (1974 - 83, NBC); 78, "Murder She Wrote" (1984 - 95, CBS); 79, "Happy Days" (1974 - 84, ABC); 80, "East Side/West Side" (1963 - 64, CBS),

81, "Seinfeld" (1990 - 98, NBC); 82, "The Wild, Wild West" (1965 - 70, CBS); 83, "Welcome Back, Kotter" (1975 - 79, ABC); 84, "Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" (1952 - 66, ABC); 85, "Maverick" (1957 - 62, ABC); 86, "Peter Gunn" (1958 - 61, ABC); 87, "Medic" (1954 - 56, NBC); 88, "The Lone Ranger" (1949 - 57, ABC); 89, "Green Acres" (1965 - 71, CBS); 90, "Tombstone Territory" ((1957 - 59, ABC)

91, "The Beverly Hillbillies" (1962 - 71, CBS); 92, "Police Story" (1973 - 78, NBC); 93, "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." (1964 - 68, NBC); 94, "Odd Couple" (1970 - 75, ABC); 95, "Mork & Mindy" (1978 - 82, ABC); 96, "Hawaii Five - 0" (1968 - 80, CBS); 97, "Medical Center" (1969 - 76, CBS); 98, "The White Shadow" (1978 - 91, CBS): 99, "The Flintstones" (1960 - 66, ABC); 100, "The Brady Bunch" (1969 - 74, ABC).

Copyright (c) 1998 Omaha World Herald
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

Post by NPG0607 »

I don't know if they're already in your 450 lists,but here are AFI's top 10 TV programs every year,I'll post the 2010s lists first
All lists are in alphabetical order
2018:https://www.afi.com/afiawards/AFI-Awards-2018.aspx
The Americans
American Crime Story
Atlanta
Barry
Better Call Saul
The Kominsky Method
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Pose
Succession
This Is Us

2017:https://www.afi.com/afiawards/AFI-Awards-2017.aspx
Big Little Lies
The Crown
Feud
Game of Thrones
The Good Place
The Handmaid's Tale
Insecure
Master of None
Stranger Things
This Is Us

2016:https://www.afi.com/afiawards/AFI-Awards-2016.aspx
The Americans
American Crime Story(Listed as “The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story)
Atlanta
Better Call Saul
The Crown
Game of Thrones
The Night Of
Stranger Things
This Is Us
Veep

2015:https://www.afi.com/afiawards/AFIAwards15.aspx
The Americans
Better Call Saul
Black-ish
Empire
Fargo
Game of Thrones
Homeland
Master of None
Mr. Robot
Unreal

2014:https://www.afi.com/afiawards/AFIAwards14.aspx
The Americans
Fargo
Game of Thrones
How to Get Away With Murder
Jane the Virgin
The Knick
Mad Men
Orange Is the New Black
Silicon Valley
Transparent

2013:https://www.afi.com/afiawards/AFIAwards13.aspx
The Americans
Breaking Bad
Game of Thrones
The Good Wife
House of Cards
Mad Men
Masters of Sex
Orange Is the New Black
Scandal
Veep

2012:https://www.afi.com/afiawards/AFIAwards12.aspx
American Horror Story
Breaking Bad
Game Change
Game of Thrones
Girls
Homeland
Louie
Mad Men
Modern Family
The Walking Dead

2011:https://www.afi.com/afiawards/AFIAwards11.aspx
Boardwalk Empire
Breaking Bad
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Game of Thrones
The Good Wife
Homeland
Justified
Louie
Modern Family
Parks and Recreation

2010:https://www.afi.com/afiawards/AFIAwards10.aspx
30 Rock
The Big C
Boardwalk Empire
Breaking Bad
Glee
Mad Men
Modern Family
The Pacific
Temple Grandin(TV Movie,not a TV Show,so it's most likely not eligible)
The Walking Dead
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

Post by NPG0607 »

I also have two questions to ask:
1.How many lists do you approximately need to make for the comprehensive list?
2.When do you expect to finish the project?(Classic prick question,I know)
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

Post by NPG0607 »

And here are the 2000s lists
2009:https://www.afi.com/afiawards/AFIAwards09.aspx
The Big Bang Theory
Big Love
Friday Night Lights
Glee
Mad Men
Modern Family
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
Nurse Jackie
Party Down
True Blood

2008:https://www.afi.com/afiawards/AFIAwards08.aspx
Breaking Bad
In Treatment
John Adams
Life
Lost
Mad Men
The Office(US)
Recount(TV Movie,not a TV Show,so it's most likely not eligible)
The Shield
The Wire

2007:https://www.afi.com/afiawards/AFIAwards07.aspx
30 Rock
Dexter
Everybody Hates Chris
Friday Night Lights
Longford(TV Movie,not a TV Show,so it's most likely not eligible)
Mad Men
Pushing Daisies
The Sopranos
Tell Me You Love Me
Ugly Betty

2006:https://www.afi.com/afiawards/AFIAwards06.aspx
24
Battlestar Galactica
Dexter
Elizabeth I
Friday Night Lights
Heroes
The Office(US)
South Park
The West Wing
The Wire

2005:https://www.afi.com/afiawards/AFIAwards05.aspx
24
Battlestar Galactica
Deadwood
Grey's Anatomy
House
Lost
Rescue Me
Sleeper Cell
Sometimes in April(TV Movie)
Veronica Mars

2004:https://www.afi.com/afiawards/AFIAwards04.aspx
Arrested Development
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Deadwood
Desperate Housewives
Lost
Nip/Tuck
The Shield
Something The Lord Made(TV Movie)
The Sopranos
South Park

2003:https://www.afi.com/afiawards/AFIAwards03.aspx
24
Alias
Angels in America
Arrested Development
Everybody Loves Raymond
Joan of Arcadia
Nip/Tuck
Playmakers
Soldier's Girl(TV Movie)
The Wire

2002:https://www.afi.com/afiawards/AFIAwards02.aspx
The Believer(TV Movie)
Boomtown
Door to Door(TV Movie)
Everybody Loves Raymond
The Gathering Storm(TV Movie)
Gilmore Girls
The Simpsons
Six Feet Under
The Sopranos
The West Wing

2001:https://www.afi.com/afiawards/AFIAwards01.aspx
(There are more than 10 TV programs listed this year and I don't know why)
Anne Frank
Band of Brothers
Boycott(TV Movie)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Conspiracy(TV Movie)
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Everybody Loves Raymond
Malcolm in the Middle
Sex and the City
Six Feet Under
The Sopranos
The West Wing

2000:There are no TV shows for the 2000 section of the AFI awards
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

Post by ValenN »

You guys are awesome! Thank you so much for these lists and the great discussions! I've paid close attention to this forum, so thank you for the contributions. All the lists that have been posted are now in the giant calculator :)

To answer some of your questions so far:

Q: Have you considered having a separate section for best television episodes too?
A: At the very start of the project, I considered making a section for the individual episodes of each series. My dream was to have the site setup where you could click on a series and view its most acclaimed episodes (among other neat features). Unfortunately, the amount of work for such a feature would be beyond massive and overwhelming for me given my current work heavy status. I do like this idea though and would want to explore it in the future, but currently I want to get the basic top 1000 rankings done first before I get super fancy.
TL;DR: Yeah, but it's too much work. Want to do it at some point though.

Q: How many lists do you approximately need to make for the comprehensive list?
A: About 1000. I'm a HUGE fan of Acclaimed Music and PlayThatGame, and both sites have surpassed this number. Really the trick is to get the rankings to the point where the lowest ranked show has appeared on at least 15 different lists, and 1000 gets it to this level.
TL;DR: ~1000.

Q: When do you expect to finish the project?
A: At the end of this year I hope to have 1000 lists in. I'm currently sitting at 484 lists, with all my old work from 2017 now ported into the new calculator. Before I also had awards added into the calculator (Golden Globes, Emmys, Crunchyroll, etc.), but this over-inflated the amount of work I had done. I do wanna eventually include awards into the calculation, but for now I'm prioritizing lists, especially all-time lists over genre and era-specific ones. After I reach 1000 lists, I'll focus on making the site and getting it out there. I'll continue to work over time once this is done, just not quite as hectic.
TL;DR: End of this year (I hope).
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

Post by Jirin »

Barry is a show where I completely do not understand the appeal.

I tried to get into it. None of the characters are either funny, interesting or sympathetic. Bill Hader's performance is kind of dull and flat. The writing is all over the place. Characters die without earning it and the show neither has a moral center nor creates the kind of drama that shows without a moral center thrive on.
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

Post by ValenN »

Jirin wrote:Barry is a show where I completely do not understand the appeal.

I tried to get into it. None of the characters are either funny, interesting or sympathetic. Bill Hader's performance is kind of dull and flat. The writing is all over the place. Characters die without earning it and the show neither has a moral center nor creates the kind of drama that shows without a moral center thrive on.
Haven't seen the show yet, but I've heard nothing but great things and I like Hader quite a lot. I'll have to see what all the hype is about, but definitely cautious. I suppose a lot of crime shows are like that though. Do you usually like those kind of shows?

Barry is still a fairly new show, so you might like it in 5 years with its new seasons. One of the great things about TV is how shows have the ability to change over time and adapt to criticism. Granted, this can have negative effects as well, with many shows refusing to die well past their expiration date (Simpsons, Pokémon, Supernatural, One Piece, Walking Dead).
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

Post by Jirin »

Nel_Valen wrote:
Jirin wrote:Barry is a show where I completely do not understand the appeal.

I tried to get into it. None of the characters are either funny, interesting or sympathetic. Bill Hader's performance is kind of dull and flat. The writing is all over the place. Characters die without earning it and the show neither has a moral center nor creates the kind of drama that shows without a moral center thrive on.
Haven't seen the show yet, but I've heard nothing but great things and I like Hader quite a lot. I'll have to see what all the hype is about, but definitely cautious. I suppose a lot of crime shows are like that though. Do you usually like those kind of shows?

Barry is still a fairly new show, so you might like it in 5 years with its new seasons. One of the great things about TV is how shows have the ability to change over time and adapt to criticism. Granted, this can have negative effects as well, with many shows refusing to die well past their expiration date (Simpsons, Pokémon, Supernatural, One Piece, Walking Dead).
I like crime shows, just those shows either have a main character interesting enough to root for even though he's doing horrible things, or they have a moral center that creates a sense of tragedy around the criminal.

Barry is an assassin who joins an acting class. He wants to stop being an assassin but circumstances and his employers keep putting him in positions to kill more people to protect himself, but he never takes any moral responsibility for his actions, and the writing of the other characters is completely erratic.
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

Post by NPG0607 »

Nel_Valen wrote: Q: How many lists do you approximately need to make for the comprehensive list?
A: About 1000. I'm a HUGE fan of Acclaimed Music and PlayThatGame, and both sites have surpassed this number. Really the trick is to get the rankings to the point where the lowest ranked show has appeared on at least 15 different lists, and 1000 gets it to this level.
TL;DR: ~1000.

Q: When do you expect to finish the project?
A: At the end of this year I hope to have 1000 lists in. I'm currently sitting at 484 lists, with all my old work from 2017 now ported into the new calculator. Before I also had awards added into the calculator (Golden Globes, Emmys, Crunchyroll, etc.), but this over-inflated the amount of work I had done. I do wanna eventually include awards into the calculation, but for now I'm prioritizing lists, especially all-time lists over genre and era-specific ones. After I reach 1000 lists, I'll focus on making the site and getting it out there. I'll continue to work over time once this is done, just not quite as hectic.
TL;DR: End of this year (I hope).
Thank you for you dedication to the project!I recall seeing many foreign lists a couple months ago,I'll try my best to find them again.
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

Post by NPG0607 »

Paste Magazine's Top 25 2018 TV Shows:https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/ ... -2018.html
1.Atlanta
2.Killing Eve
3.GLOW
4.The Americans
5.The Good Place
6.American Crime Story
7.The Good Fight
8.Barry
9.Jane the Virgin
10.BoJack Horseman
11.The Haunting of Hill House
12.Adventure Time
13.Better Call Saul
14.Brooklyn Nine-Nine
15.The Handmaid's Tale
16.Steven Universe
17.Lodge 49
18.One Day at a Time
19.The Expanse
20.High Maintenance
21.Pose
22.Big Mouth
23.Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
24.Random Acts of Flyness
25.Sorry for Your Loss
I have yet to find other EOY lists from paste
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

Post by NPG0607 »

Complex's Best TV Dramas of All-Time(2018):https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/201 ... f-all-time
1.The Wire
2.The Sopranos
3.Mad Men
4.Deadwood
5.The Twilight Zone
6.The Shield
7.NYPD Blue
8.Lost
9.Breaking Bad
10.Six Feet Under
11.Buffy the Vampire Slayer
12.Twin Peaks
13.The West Wing
14.Friday Night Lights
15.24
16.ER
17.Oz
18.The Americans
19.Game of Thrones
20.Star Trek: The Next Generation
21.The Walking Dead
22.Hill Street Blues
23.Battlestar Galactica(2004 series)
24.Veronica Mars
25.Law & Order
26.Justified
27.Alias
28.The Leftovers
29.Beverly Hills,90210
30.The O.C.
31.The X-Files
32.Firefly
33.Black Mirror
34.American Crime Story
35.Rome
36.Boardwalk Empire
37.Miami Vice
38.Babylon 5
39.St. Elsewhere
40.In Treatment
41.My So-Called Life
42.Hannibal
43.Felicity
44.Queer as Folk
45.Dark Shadows
46.Fringe
47.Big Love
48.Carnivàle
49.This Is Us
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

Post by NPG0607 »

Writers Guild of America West's 101 Best Written TV Series: https://www.wga.org/writers-room/101-be ... eries/list
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

Post by nquoid »

Two very good TV critics took a stab at the top 100 shows a few years ago. They purposefully didn't include non-US shows just because they felt they wouldn't do them as much justice as American shows, most shows must have finished (The Simpsons is the notable exception) and only narrative shows.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_(The_Book)
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

Post by NPG0607 »

INSIDER's 50 TV shows everyone should watch in their lifetime:www.insider.com/best-tv-shows-of-all-time-2017-6(2019)
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Re: Most Recommended TV Series Project Update

Post by Live in Phoenix »

This is the first list that I ever saw TV Guide put together. Hopefully it can be of some use; or it can at least make for some interesting reading. Including ads, the original article was spread out over 92 pages. This wasn't even on the Internet, so I'm just going to post everything, though I'm going to red out the actor and entertainer awards.

TV Guide 40th Anniversary Issue (April 17, 1993)
Celebrating the Best of Television's Last Four Decades
"In each category, we've chosen what we editors agreed--sometimes barely!--is the best entry for each decade, followed by our pick of an all-time 'Best.'"

The Best Shows / The Best Personalities / The Best of the Rest

Sitcoms
'50s: I Love Lucy
'60s: The Dick Van Dyke Show
'70s: M*A*S*H (all-time best)
'80s: Cheers

Dramas
'50s: Playhouse 90
'60s: The Fugitive
'70s: Upstairs, Downstairs
'80s: St. Elsewhere (all-time best)

Comic Actor -- '50s: Jackie Gleason (all-time best); '60s: Dick Van Dyke; '70s: Carroll O'Connor; '80s: Bob Newhart

Family Shows
'50s: Leave it to Beaver
'60s: The Donna Reed Show
'70s: The Waltons
'80s: The Cosby Show (all-time best)

Comic Actress -- '50s: Lucille Ball (all-time best); '60s: Carol Burnett; '70s: Mary Tyler Moore; '80s: Roseanne Arnold


Westerns
'50s: Maverick
'60s: Bonanza
'70s: Gunsmoke (all-time best)
'80s: "(There is no winner for Best Western Series in the '80s.)"

Best Dramatic Actor -- '50s: James Garner (all-time best); '60s: E.G. Marshall; '70s: Richard Chamberlain; '80s: Patrick Stewart

Cop Shows
'50s: Dragnet
'60s: Naked City
'70s: Columbo
'80s: Hill Street Blues (all-time best)

Dramatic Actress -- '50s: Loretta Young; '60s: Diana Rigg; '70s: Cicely Tyson; '80s: Tyne Daly (all-time best)

Prime-Time Soaps
'50s: "(There is no winner for Best Prime-Time Soaps Series in the '50s.)"
'60s: Peyton Place
'70s: Dallas (all-time best)
'80s: Dynasty

Nighttime Talk Show host -- '50s: Steve Allen; '60s: Jack Paar; '70s: Johnny Carson (all-time best); '80s: David Letterman


Variety Shows
'50s: The Ed Sullivan Show (all-time best)
'60s: Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In
'70s: Saturday Night Live
'80s: The Tracey Ullman Show

Daytime Talk Show Host -- '50s: Arthur Godfrey; '60s: Merv Griffin; '70s: Phil Donahue; '80s: Oprah Winfrey (all-time best)

Daytime Soaps
'50s: The Edge of Night
'60s: As the World Turns
'70s: The Young and the Restless
'80s: General Hospital (all-time best)

Sportscaster -- '50s: Red Barber; '60s: Howard Cosell (all-time best); '70s: Jim McKay; '80s: Bob Costas

Morning Shows
'50s & '60s: Today (all-time best)
'70s: Good Morning America
'80s: CBS News Sunday Morning

News Shows/Magazines
'50s: See It Now
'60s: The Huntley-Brinkley Report
'70s: 60 Minutes (all-time best)
'80s: ABC News Nightline

Newsperson -- '50s: Edward R. Murrow; '60s & '70s: Walter Cronkite (all-time best); '80s Barbara Walters

Cartoons
'50s: Gumby
'60s: The [Rocky and] Bullwinkle Show
'70s: Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
'80s: The Simpsons (all-time best)

Kids' Shows
'50s: Howdy Doody
'60s: Walt Disney
'70s: Sesame Street (all-time best)
'80s: ABC Afterschool Specials

Game Shows
'50s: What's My Line?
'60s: Password
'70s: Jeopardy! (all-time best)
'80s: Wheel of Fortune

Sci-Fi/Fantasy
'50s: The Twilight Zone
'60s: Star Trek (all-time best)
'70s: Mork & Mindy
'80s: Star Trek: The Next Generation

The Best of the Rest -- TV-Movies [presented chronologically]
Brian's Song (1971)
Duel (1971)
Friendly Fire (1979)
Playing for Time (1980)
The Day After (1983)
The Burning Bed (1984)
An Early Frost (1985)
Wallenberg: A Hero's Story (1985)
Barbarians at the Gate (1993)

The Best of the Rest -- Miniseries [presented chronologically]
Rich Man, Poor Man (1976)
Roots (1977)
Shogun (1980)
The Thorn Birds (1983)
Lonesome Dove (1989)
Prime Suspect (1992)

The Best of the Rest -- HBO [not ranked]
Fraggle Rock; Comic Relief; Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam; The Larry Sanders Show; Dream On

The Best of the Rest -- CNN [not ranked]
Larry King Live; Crossfire; The Persian Gulf War; The attempted Soviet coup of August 1991

The Best of the Rest -- MTV
[not ranked, no particular shows]

The Best of the Rest -- Public Television [seemingly not ranked]
Civilisation (1970); The Ascent of Man (1975); Masterpiece Theatre; An American Family (1973); Great Performances; Cosmos (1980); American Playhouse; Eyes on the Prize (1987); The Civil War (1990); Bill Moyers

The Best of the Rest -- Discussion/Public Affairs Shows [presented chronologically]
Meet the Press; Face the Nation; The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour; This Week with David Brinkley
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