WGA/TV Guide: ’101 Best Written TV Series Of All Time’

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blainethemono said:
Deadwood should be #1

either way putting it below Lost is some serious bullshit
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Maybe the best show Ive ever seen. Deserves a better ranking.
Also, Everybody Loves Raymond ahead of The Shield!?
I like ELR (Robert is a great character) but who could agree with these illogical placements?
 
The Shield at 72? What? There's a whole lot of other things I'd take issue with, but that stands out the most.

Dexter at 66 just seems like a joke. They must have only watched the first season.
 
The Shield = Top 5, at least.
 
I noticed 'The Simpsons' barely missed the Top 10 at number 11.

How do you judge a show like this, anyway? A show that was great for a significant number of years(a whole decade), but obviously lost it's groove a long time ago and is still going. Do you judge it only by it's good years while ignoring the bad? There's more bad than good at this point, amazing as that is.
 
pretty inoffensive if you take it as a survey of significant tv from america with a few british offerings, but lack of stuff like scenes from a marriage or the decalogues is a bit damning.
 
Pretty bad list. Lost, Dexter, Game of Thrones on a list of the best written shows of all time? There aren't enough lols in the world for that.
 
SonicMegaDrive said:
I noticed 'The Simpsons' barely missed the Top 10 at number 11.

How do you judge a show like this, anyway? A show that was great for a significant number of years(a whole decade), but obviously lost it's groove a long time ago and is still going. Do you judge it only by it's good years while ignoring the bad? There's more bad than good at this point, amazing as that is.
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I disagree. It's different in comparison to the prime episodes, but some of the writing is far more clever than most comedic sitcoms.
 
Wow, I just realized Firefly didn't even make the top 101. I think the Top 101 rated shows on the IMDB is a much better list.
 
The Sopranos was such a tiresome snooze after the third season. Is there anybody that watched it for any reason other than habit?

I wasn't one of the people that demanded the show be nothing but mob murders and shakedowns, but jesus that asshole's family got tiresome. Oh great, AJ's being a useless douche whose plot threads go nowhere....Tony's got another girlfriend who he will ultimately find unsatisfying....Chris is fuckin' up on drugs again....Tony and Carmella are having another shouting match....repeat ad infinitum.

I don't get all the retroactive love for the show when arguably more than half the episodes are forgettable.
 
Sanjuro said:
I disagree. It's different in comparison to the prime episodes, but some of the writing is far more clever than most comedic sitcoms.
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For nostalgia's sake, I watched about 5 minutes of it last night before turning back to the Boston/New York game. I can't speak for every episode, but...from what I've seen, it's bad.
 
border said:
The Sopranos was such a tiresome snooze after the third season. Is there anybody that watched it for any reason other than habit?

I don't get all the retroactive love for the show when arguably more than half the episodes are forgettable.
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I agree with you 100%, I have to admit I watched The Sopranos for its reputation only, and not its quality. By S3, the show was treading so much water I was scratching my head why the show is put on any sort of pedestal. I could easily name tons of dramas that demolish The Sopranos... Breaking Bad, Friday Night Lights, The Shield, The Wire, Justified, etc.
 
andycapps said:
Breaking Bad should be in the top 5. Some of those are deserving of top 10.
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no series that has yet to be completed should be in the top 5. especially one as plot driven as Breaking Bad. not saying it couldn't be there when it's all said and done, but let's see how Vince ends it first.

Nemesis_ said:
LOST at least has fantastically written characters so I am not mad about it being above Dexter.
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dexter's writing is embarrassingly terrible on just about every level. the fact that it is on this list (even on the strength of 2 half-decent seasons) is laughable.
 
It's funny, because not having The Wire as number one (or at least above The Sopranos) invalidates the entire list to me.
 
Good God, The Shield @ 72. Might as well leave it off the list, they apparently didn't watch the show. Band of Brothers in the 80's is absolutely horrible. Probably should just leave it off as well (hey, it was a miniseries rather than a show).
 
Happy to see these make the list:

22. Friday Night Lights – NBC – Developed for Television by Peter Berg, Inspired by the Book by H.G. Bissinger

43. Downton Abbey *TIE – PBS – Created by Julian Fellowes
 
jtb said:
no series that has yet to be completed should be in the top 5. especially one as plot driven as Breaking Bad. not saying it couldn't be there when it's all said and done, but let's see how Vince ends it first.
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I guess I was just assuming that he's not going to screw up everything in the last half of this season, but you're right.
 
ElTopo said:
27. Lost – ABC – Created by Jeffrey Lieber and J.J. Abrams & Damon Lindelof

No. After S6 this show doesn't deserve to be anywhere on that list.
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Right, because one arguably mediocre season ruins all the great ones before that.

No Buffy in the Top 10 is the true crime here.
 
LOST more than earned its slot on a Top 101 list with "Through the Looking Glass" and "The Constant". Desmond's entire story arc was insanely well written (as were all the episodes written and produced by Drew Goddard, Brian K. Vaughn, and Jeff Pinkner). Sadly, the 6th season arguably derailed it from being a Top 5 series to a Top 100 series.
 
The Wire on 9? Breaking Bad not in the Top 10? Deadwood on 32? Twin Peaks on 35? The Shield on 72? Boardwalk Empire on 93? And where is Sherlock? And Deep Space 9?

Though nice to see that the original Star Trek (33) and Rockford Files (58) made the list, two of my personal favorites.
 
The Sopranos is worthy of numero 1, Twilight Zone is a good pick it was huuuugely influential and the writing for it's time was out of the world. The Wire tends to be hugely overrated.
 
EDIT: Make it 101.

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

1. The Sopranos
2. Seinfeld
3. The Twilight Zone
4. All In The Family
5. M*A*S*H
6. The Mary Tyler Moore Show
7. Mad Men
8. Cheers
9. The Wire
10. The West Wing
11. The Simpsons
12. I Love Lucy
13. Breaking Bad
14. The Dick Van Dyke Show
15. Hill Street Blues
16. Arrested Development
17. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
18. Six Feet Under
19. Taxi
20. The Larry Sanders Show
21. 30 Rock
22. Friday Night Lights
23. Fraiser
24. Friends
25. Saturday Night Live
26. The X-Files
27. Lost
28. ER
29. The Cosby Show
30. Curb Your Enthusiasm
31. The Honeymooners
32. Deadwood
33. Star Trek: TOS
34. Modern Family
35. Twin Peaks
36. NYPD Blue
37. The Carol Burnett Show
38. Battlestar Galactica (2005)
39. Sex and the City
40. Game of Thrones
41. The Bob Newhart Show/Your Show Of Shows (tie)
43. Downton Abbey/Law & Order/Thirtysomething (tie)
46. Homicide: Life On The Street/St. Elsewhere (tie)
48. Homeland
49. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
50. The Colbert Report/The Good Wife/The Office (UK) (tie)
53. Northern Exposure
54. The Wonder Years
55. LA Law
56. Sesame Street
57. Columbo
58. Fawlty Towers/The Rockford Files (tie)
60. Freaks and Geeks/Moonlighting (tie)
62. Roots
63. Everybody Loves Raymond/South Park (tie)
65. Playhouse 90
66. Dexter/The Office (US) (tie)
68. My So-Called Life
69. The Golden Girls
70. The Andy Griffith Show
71. 24/Roseanne/The Shield (tie)
74. House/Murphy Brown (tie)
76. Barney Miller/I, Claudius (tie)
78. The Odd Couple
79. Alfred Hitchcock Presents/Monty Python's Flying Circus/Star Trek: TNG/Upstairs, Downstairs (tie)
83. Get Smart
84. The Defenders/Gunsmoke (tie)
86. Justified/Sgt. Bilko (The Phil Silvers Show) (tie)
88. Band of Brothers
89. Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
90. The Prisoner
91. Absolutely Fabulous (UK)/The Muppet Show (tie)
93. Boardwalk Empire
94. Will & Grace
95. Family Ties
96. Lonesome Dove/Soap (tie)
98. The Fugitive/Late Night With David Letterman/Louie (tie)
101. Oz
 
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