A show that really shows off the power of the short story, The Twilight Zone had a different cast, premise, and theme every week. An anthology series doesn't always work, because audiences want to get involved with characters, they want to connect and come back and see what these people are doing again and again. The Twilight Zone, however, stimulated people's minds with its exploration of existential dread, horror, fantasy, and everything in between. As such, there are episodes that are good and those that are bad and most that are in between. But, I think this show deserves mention among the greats ever because of its ability to intrigue us, even if we're going back today and watching it 50+ years after it aired. It still works.
14. Saturday Night Live
SNL isn't as good today as it was back in my day.
Obviously that sentence is bullshit, the show has always had funny actors and sketches, even in its worst seasons. But that familiar refrain of "it's not as funny as it used to be" must've started around Season 2 and just continued on, because every cast has heard it. Bill Murray heard he wasn't as funny as Chevy Chase or Dan Akyroyd, Mike Myers heard he wasn't as funny as Eddie Murphy or Billy Crystal, Will Ferrell heard he wasn't as funny as Chris Farley or Adam Sandler, and Kristin Wiig heard she wasn't as funny as Amy Poehler or Tina Fey. The truth is that putting on an hour and a half long show, live!, every week is gonna produce great sketches and terrible sketches. That's just the nature of the beast. You have to accept the good with the bad, and know there's gonna be plenty of ugly as well. As Lorne Michaels has always said "the show doesn't go on because it's ready, it goes on because it's 11:30." Or as standup comedian and former show writer Hannibal Burress says, people tend to "over romanticize the Belushi era." But there have been too many amazing and timeless sketches over the years to even recount. There's no way you could put together even a top 25 SNL sketches list without leaving out a ton of incredible other sketches. And that ability to reach the highest highs is what puts the show here on my list.
13. I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is a show that I first started watching when I was a child. It was funny then. I go back and watch it as an adult and it's funny now. Lucille Ball is deservedly praised for all of her work, Vivian Vance and William Frawley too (all won multiple awards for their work on the show). Desi Arnaz goes overlooked because he tended to underplay his work and let the others go big, but Ricky is as much the show's heart as Lucy is. Ricky is the straight man to all the craziness that Lucy injects into their lives, and Arnaz is brilliant in his way of showing us he loves Lucy, but gets frustrated by her as well. And I can appreciate today what kind of trailblazer this show was, especially with a female lead and creative force behind it, and an interracial central relationship. I Love Lucy was hilarious as well as door opening. As much as I love Friends, Big Bang Theory, or other shows, I Love Lucy is still the pinnacle of the traditional network sitcom, for me.
12. Breaking Bad
Walter White is one of the best characters we've ever seen on TV. And he grows and changes, not usually for the best, throughout the course of the show. He begins selling drugs just to make money so that his family has something when he's gone (as he's dying of cancer), but he grows over the seasons to become someone who sells drugs because it makes him feel good about himself. It gives him a sense of accomplishment, a sense of power that he's never felt, and the adrenaline rush of living in a world where he doesn't really belong. Like every show, it's not perfect. There are episodes that don't work quite as well, or don't add anything to the mix, and sometimes it's a slow burn of a show that I wished would ramp up. But, carried by the great cast and characters, led by Bryan Cranston's career defining central performance, Breaking Bad became a cultural phenomenon and one of the great shows TV has ever seen.
11. Scrubs
If Scrubs had ended after season 4 or 5, it would likely be much much higher on this list. It's brand of surreal cutaways and narration juxtaposed against medical situations (based on real life medical cases) makes for a wonderful journey as we follow John Dorian through his life as a doctor. But with behind the scenes troubles (constant threat of cancellation and eventually changing networks) that took their toll on the show, it went STEEPLY downhill following season 5. It became an unintended parody of itself. And that's too bad because it really spoiled those first few seasons that are about as good as a major network comedy can get. It has heart, it has laughs, it has a teensy bit of drama. It has one of the best ensemble casts in comedy. I just wish it didn't leave with a bad taste in my mouth.
10. South Park
I remember when South Park first came out. I remember reading in the newspaper (which is a very old fashioned saying now) about how this show about 4 foul mouthed elementary school kids in Colorado was ruining the youth of today and how it was the worst thing on TV because of its bad language and inappropriate storylines. Obviously 14-year-old me sought it out and had to see it immediately. It was the weirdest show I'd ever seen. It was amateurishly animated, crudely voiced, and absolutely hysterical. What's funny now is that those first few seasons got so much hatred and bad press for being the downfall of society and whatnot but if you go back and watch them now they are very very tame and hardly get a giggle out of me. South Park normalized itself by staying around so long and going so far out that it wasn't pushing the boundaries because it stopped caring about boundaries. It still has great episodes, even if the show isn't as good as it used to be. But seasons 4-8 are almost untouchable, 9-13 has many amazing episodes, and the other seasons are at least worth seeing even if they're not the highest highs the show has achieved.
9. The Sopranos
Tony Soprano is one of the most memorable characters in TV history. He's the one that most gets me to think about morality in fiction. We like Tony. We shouldn't like Tony. But James Gandolfini's performance is so charismatic and endlessly fascinating that we follow Tony through his family troubles, his mafia politics, his infidelity and murder, and his emotional breakdowns and even his humor. Tony is a funny character. And again, we like him. But why? It's not just because he's our main character, there are plenty of protagonists throughout fiction that we dislike. We may not look up to Tony, we don't admire him, but we do like him. And I think that's because The Sopranos got us to empathize with Tony. Tony is not at all like any of us, but we feel his feelings. We identify with his frustration with his spoiled kids and nagging wife. We understand his anger at his coworkers and employees. We relate to his need to process his emotions, and the way that feels like weakness sometimes. Tony is us. An extreme version of us, yes, but he represents just about all the emotions on the human spectrum (this set the stage for future takes on this type of man, like Mad Men's Don Draper). And although the mafia intrigue and machinations make for great drama and thrill, Tony is the center of this show, and is why it succeeds.
Oh, and that final episode that gets so much hate? It's absolutely brilliant. It doesn't matter what you think happened, the point is that Tony will always have to be on the lookout. He'll always be hunted. He won't ever be able to just sit and have dinner with his family without being on alert. It's a genius end to a genius show.
I remember when South Park first came out. I remember reading in the newspaper (which is a very old fashioned saying now) about how this show about 4 foul mouthed elementary school kids in Colorado was ruining the youth of today and how it was the worst thing on TV because of its bad language and inappropriate storylines. Obviously 14-year-old me sought it out and had to see it immediately. It was the weirdest show I'd ever seen. It was amateurishly animated, crudely voiced, and absolutely hysterical. What's funny now is that those first few seasons got so much hatred and bad press for being the downfall of society and whatnot but if you go back and watch them now they are very very tame and hardly get a giggle out of me. South Park normalized itself by staying around so long and going so far out that it wasn't pushing the boundaries because it stopped caring about boundaries. It still has great episodes, even if the show isn't as good as it used to be. But seasons 4-8 are almost untouchable, 9-13 has many amazing episodes, and the other seasons are at least worth seeing even if they're not the highest highs the show has achieved.
9. The Sopranos
Tony Soprano is one of the most memorable characters in TV history. He's the one that most gets me to think about morality in fiction. We like Tony. We shouldn't like Tony. But James Gandolfini's performance is so charismatic and endlessly fascinating that we follow Tony through his family troubles, his mafia politics, his infidelity and murder, and his emotional breakdowns and even his humor. Tony is a funny character. And again, we like him. But why? It's not just because he's our main character, there are plenty of protagonists throughout fiction that we dislike. We may not look up to Tony, we don't admire him, but we do like him. And I think that's because The Sopranos got us to empathize with Tony. Tony is not at all like any of us, but we feel his feelings. We identify with his frustration with his spoiled kids and nagging wife. We understand his anger at his coworkers and employees. We relate to his need to process his emotions, and the way that feels like weakness sometimes. Tony is us. An extreme version of us, yes, but he represents just about all the emotions on the human spectrum (this set the stage for future takes on this type of man, like Mad Men's Don Draper). And although the mafia intrigue and machinations make for great drama and thrill, Tony is the center of this show, and is why it succeeds.
Oh, and that final episode that gets so much hate? It's absolutely brilliant. It doesn't matter what you think happened, the point is that Tony will always have to be on the lookout. He'll always be hunted. He won't ever be able to just sit and have dinner with his family without being on alert. It's a genius end to a genius show.
8. Futurama
What was often thought of as "Matt Groening's other show" is really one of the best sci-fi pieces of fiction ever created in any medium. Futurama tackles just about all the classic sci-fi concepts, and all the while has the zany Planet Express crew to take us on that journey. Now, like Scrubs, it went on too long. 7 seasons when it really should've been 4 or 5, but that's still not fair because those last two seasons aren't bad, they just aren't as good as what came before it. Also like Scrubs, one of the best things about Futurama is that it so deftly balances the laughs with the tears. Episodes like "Jurassic Bark" "Parasites Lost" "Time Keeps on Slippin'" and "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings" are hilarious and pull at your heartstrings as well. Futurama is as crazy and wacky as a show can get, and there's not that dramatic heft to every episode, nor does there need to be. But when they turn on the waterworks, it flows big time. And all of that from a show that boasts lead characters of Fry (an idiot), Leela (a one eyed mutant), Bender (an alcoholic robot), and Dr. Zoidberg (a crab-like doctor who I put as my #3 animated character ever).
What was often thought of as "Matt Groening's other show" is really one of the best sci-fi pieces of fiction ever created in any medium. Futurama tackles just about all the classic sci-fi concepts, and all the while has the zany Planet Express crew to take us on that journey. Now, like Scrubs, it went on too long. 7 seasons when it really should've been 4 or 5, but that's still not fair because those last two seasons aren't bad, they just aren't as good as what came before it. Also like Scrubs, one of the best things about Futurama is that it so deftly balances the laughs with the tears. Episodes like "Jurassic Bark" "Parasites Lost" "Time Keeps on Slippin'" and "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings" are hilarious and pull at your heartstrings as well. Futurama is as crazy and wacky as a show can get, and there's not that dramatic heft to every episode, nor does there need to be. But when they turn on the waterworks, it flows big time. And all of that from a show that boasts lead characters of Fry (an idiot), Leela (a one eyed mutant), Bender (an alcoholic robot), and Dr. Zoidberg (a crab-like doctor who I put as my #3 animated character ever).
7. Game of Thrones
One of those strange cases where the adaptation is better than the books (sorry book fans, I can't get into the novels, the shifting viewpoints robs the narrative momentum and makes the books feel like a collection of short stories rather than a cohesive book). Game of Thrones is the epic fantasy series I wished for when I was growing up. Something that wasn't "for kids", and had darkness, but wasn't cheap or silly either. I've always loved medieval set fantasy stories, even tried to write some when I was younger, but this is the new standard bearer for the genre on screen. Hugely budgeted, terrific SFX and sets and costumes, with a sprawling cast of characters who may or may not survive, the technical aspects of the show are top notch. But it's the constantly twisting narrative and the game-as-can-be cast that sells it, ultimately. One of my favorite aspects is that there isn't even a main character. Ned, the closest thing we had to one, is only in the first season. But with Daenerys, Tyrion, John Snow and everyone who surrounds them, we go on their journeys week by week as we delve into what has become the best fantasy series ever put on screen (yes, I'll even take it over Lord of the Rings). It's got all the political intrigue of House of Cards, all the bloody action of any cop show, plus dragons and ice zombies! What's not to love?
One of those strange cases where the adaptation is better than the books (sorry book fans, I can't get into the novels, the shifting viewpoints robs the narrative momentum and makes the books feel like a collection of short stories rather than a cohesive book). Game of Thrones is the epic fantasy series I wished for when I was growing up. Something that wasn't "for kids", and had darkness, but wasn't cheap or silly either. I've always loved medieval set fantasy stories, even tried to write some when I was younger, but this is the new standard bearer for the genre on screen. Hugely budgeted, terrific SFX and sets and costumes, with a sprawling cast of characters who may or may not survive, the technical aspects of the show are top notch. But it's the constantly twisting narrative and the game-as-can-be cast that sells it, ultimately. One of my favorite aspects is that there isn't even a main character. Ned, the closest thing we had to one, is only in the first season. But with Daenerys, Tyrion, John Snow and everyone who surrounds them, we go on their journeys week by week as we delve into what has become the best fantasy series ever put on screen (yes, I'll even take it over Lord of the Rings). It's got all the political intrigue of House of Cards, all the bloody action of any cop show, plus dragons and ice zombies! What's not to love?
6. Doctor Who
I've always been a fan of science-fiction. It's the genre of ideas, of exploration, of expansion. There's literally nothing that sci-fi can't explore. While I've seen and enjoyed some of the original series of Doctor Who, what I'm including here is really the 2005-present series. Although it can occasionally look cheap, especially the SFX in the first season back, the show never hesitates to explore headier themes than most popular shows would do. The show takes on classic sci-fi concepts as well as creating ones of their own. And it does this with a revolving door of leading men. The revival series started with respected dramatic actor Christopher Eccelston as the Ninth Doctor, followed by David Tennant, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, and now by Jodie Whittaker as the first female Doctor. Everyone has "their" Doctor, either the one that's their favorite or was in the role when they started watching the show. They all have their strengths, but I think David Tennant is still my favorite, as he perfectly balanced the moral strength, dramatic heft, humor, and curiosity of The Doctor. The Doctor travels through all of space and time, he's hundreds of years old, he's seemingly seen it all. He's one of the great characters, leading one of the great shows.
I've always been a fan of science-fiction. It's the genre of ideas, of exploration, of expansion. There's literally nothing that sci-fi can't explore. While I've seen and enjoyed some of the original series of Doctor Who, what I'm including here is really the 2005-present series. Although it can occasionally look cheap, especially the SFX in the first season back, the show never hesitates to explore headier themes than most popular shows would do. The show takes on classic sci-fi concepts as well as creating ones of their own. And it does this with a revolving door of leading men. The revival series started with respected dramatic actor Christopher Eccelston as the Ninth Doctor, followed by David Tennant, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, and now by Jodie Whittaker as the first female Doctor. Everyone has "their" Doctor, either the one that's their favorite or was in the role when they started watching the show. They all have their strengths, but I think David Tennant is still my favorite, as he perfectly balanced the moral strength, dramatic heft, humor, and curiosity of The Doctor. The Doctor travels through all of space and time, he's hundreds of years old, he's seemingly seen it all. He's one of the great characters, leading one of the great shows.
5. Seinfeld
Although I called I Love Lucy "the pinnacle of the traditional network sitcom", that's because Seinfeld isn't a traditional sitcom. It's the show about nothing that managed to stay funny from Season 1 all the way through Season 9, leaving at the top of the ratings and the pop culture landscape. Going back now, since I was a kid and teenager through most of the show's run, it's amazing to look back and see how many classic episodes there are. It's even crazier that the B-stories are often just as memorable as the A-stories. I can't tell you how many times I've been watching a rerun and not even remembered that this A-story was in the same episode as that B-story, because you might think of it as "the episode where George gets the security guard a rocking chair" only to find out it's also the episode where Elaine dates "The Maestro" AND the episode where Kramer gets free coffee after spilling some on himself but ruining his lawyers plan by using a balm to clear up the burn. "Who told you to put the balm on? I didn't tell you to put the balm on!" Seinfeld is a show amazingly rich with characters and endless humor. By focusing on so much of the minutiae of life, Seinfeld ensured that it stayed relevant many years after it ended. By being so specific, it became universal.
Although I called I Love Lucy "the pinnacle of the traditional network sitcom", that's because Seinfeld isn't a traditional sitcom. It's the show about nothing that managed to stay funny from Season 1 all the way through Season 9, leaving at the top of the ratings and the pop culture landscape. Going back now, since I was a kid and teenager through most of the show's run, it's amazing to look back and see how many classic episodes there are. It's even crazier that the B-stories are often just as memorable as the A-stories. I can't tell you how many times I've been watching a rerun and not even remembered that this A-story was in the same episode as that B-story, because you might think of it as "the episode where George gets the security guard a rocking chair" only to find out it's also the episode where Elaine dates "The Maestro" AND the episode where Kramer gets free coffee after spilling some on himself but ruining his lawyers plan by using a balm to clear up the burn. "Who told you to put the balm on? I didn't tell you to put the balm on!" Seinfeld is a show amazingly rich with characters and endless humor. By focusing on so much of the minutiae of life, Seinfeld ensured that it stayed relevant many years after it ended. By being so specific, it became universal.
4. The X-Files
Another show that went on too long, but which reached insanely high highs during its peak. The X-Files was able to be a monster show, a police procedural, an action buddy comedy, a paranoid conspiracy thriller, and more. With the greatest lead duo characters in TV history, FBI Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, we are taken on an amazing journey through this world of worm monsters and alien abductions. Everything fringe became fodder for the show, which used it as a constant battle between the believable and unbelievable. Mulder implicitly believes all these crazy stories and mutant sightings and everything. Scully is a trained doctor who puts her faith in scientific explanations. It's then flipped by Scully being a practicing Catholic and Mulder being a religious skeptic. Add that to the fact that they're two good looking people who will naturally have some sexual tension and you've just got the two most watchable characters on TV.
Another show that went on too long, but which reached insanely high highs during its peak. The X-Files was able to be a monster show, a police procedural, an action buddy comedy, a paranoid conspiracy thriller, and more. With the greatest lead duo characters in TV history, FBI Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, we are taken on an amazing journey through this world of worm monsters and alien abductions. Everything fringe became fodder for the show, which used it as a constant battle between the believable and unbelievable. Mulder implicitly believes all these crazy stories and mutant sightings and everything. Scully is a trained doctor who puts her faith in scientific explanations. It's then flipped by Scully being a practicing Catholic and Mulder being a religious skeptic. Add that to the fact that they're two good looking people who will naturally have some sexual tension and you've just got the two most watchable characters on TV.
3. The Wire
One of the only shows to ever evoke the feeling of a novel, a feeling that you would think is rampant in the extended form of a TV show, The Wire has all the complexity and characterizations you'll find in the best written fiction. Though it only ran 5 seasons, each season took on a different focal point of the Baltimore area that it takes place in. Season 1 took on drugs, Season 2 illegal importing and human trafficking, Season 3 looks at the political landscape and corruption, Season 4 looks at the school system, and Season 5 looks at media corruption. But all the seasons play into each other, especially the drug trade of Season 1, which threads its way through the entire series. And we follow this through the eyes of the Baltimore Police Department, mostly Detective Jimmy McNulty, but also a wide tapestry of other characters as well. The way the show spreads out, includes so many people and so many stories, that's really what sells it and makes it feel like a wonderful novel. Because of that there's no single episode to recommend, even rarely individual scenes, because everything works together. The show deepens itself and even sneaks up on you in its brilliance. When I first watched Season 1, I didn't even realize how much I cared about these characters until about 2/3 of the way through the season when a big thing happens and all of the sudden we start getting pay off from the tremendous build up. The Wire has to be taken as a whole to be appreciated, the same way you wouldn't take a single chapter out of a book.
One of the only shows to ever evoke the feeling of a novel, a feeling that you would think is rampant in the extended form of a TV show, The Wire has all the complexity and characterizations you'll find in the best written fiction. Though it only ran 5 seasons, each season took on a different focal point of the Baltimore area that it takes place in. Season 1 took on drugs, Season 2 illegal importing and human trafficking, Season 3 looks at the political landscape and corruption, Season 4 looks at the school system, and Season 5 looks at media corruption. But all the seasons play into each other, especially the drug trade of Season 1, which threads its way through the entire series. And we follow this through the eyes of the Baltimore Police Department, mostly Detective Jimmy McNulty, but also a wide tapestry of other characters as well. The way the show spreads out, includes so many people and so many stories, that's really what sells it and makes it feel like a wonderful novel. Because of that there's no single episode to recommend, even rarely individual scenes, because everything works together. The show deepens itself and even sneaks up on you in its brilliance. When I first watched Season 1, I didn't even realize how much I cared about these characters until about 2/3 of the way through the season when a big thing happens and all of the sudden we start getting pay off from the tremendous build up. The Wire has to be taken as a whole to be appreciated, the same way you wouldn't take a single chapter out of a book.
2. Rick and Morty
Okay, I seriously thought about putting Rick and Morty #1 on this list. Since I first discovered it less than a year ago, I've watched the entire series (including this year's long awaited Season 3) more times than I can count. I am actually in the process of writing an episode by episode account of my thoughts about the show, so I won't write too much here. It's one of the most talked about and dissected shows TV has ever seen. It's intelligently written, with deep themes, complex characters, and plenty of dick and fart jokes.
Okay, I seriously thought about putting Rick and Morty #1 on this list. Since I first discovered it less than a year ago, I've watched the entire series (including this year's long awaited Season 3) more times than I can count. I am actually in the process of writing an episode by episode account of my thoughts about the show, so I won't write too much here. It's one of the most talked about and dissected shows TV has ever seen. It's intelligently written, with deep themes, complex characters, and plenty of dick and fart jokes.
1. The Simpsons
Yes, the Simpsons isn't as good today as it was 10 or 15 years ago, but there is such a depth of humor in this show that I had to put it number 1 on the list. It'll make you laugh, cry, and laugh again. It has the same heart that Matt Groening put into Futurama, but here it's mostly contained within the iconic Simpson family. Homer is a glorious idiot, but also a man who loves his family and the show is often at its best in the early years when it showed that Homer just wanted to be a good dad or husband. That's when the show really soared. But The Simpsons also has so many crazy and funny characters that it's overwhelming. Everyone has a favorite (Dr. Frink for yours truly, flavin!) but we all love them all. Even so, the core of the show is the title family, and the show is able to explore everything about the human experience either through Marge, Lisa, Bart, Maggie, or Homer. And over the course of nearly 30 years, 620 episodes and counting, and a movie, The Simpsons has seemingly covered all the ground there is to cover, even exploring science-fiction and horror through their annual Halloween Treehouse of Horror anthology episodes. A wonderful topper to this list of the best TV shows ever made.
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