50 best TV shows "of all time"

[matgb]

Heh, another amusing "best ever" list that, for the most part, concentrates on the last few years only at Empire Magazine. Aint it Cool smugly observes: Britain’s Empire magazine has chosen the 50 best TV shows ever made. Turns out they think only 39 of them are American shows! which partially reflects the nature of Empire's readership and the point that until recently British TV didn't normally even try to make the sort of shows listed, let alone get given a decent budget. As Film Fodder points out, and as you'd expect from Empire, about 40% of the best TV *ever* was in our genre. with "our" meaning SF&F there, naturally. It's actually not a bad little list. So, y'know, couldn't resist...

1. Bold the ones you've got some DVDs of
2. italicise the ones you'd happily watch, rent or buy the DVDs for
3. strikeout what you didn't like or actively avoided
4. leave the ones you have no knowledge of blank.
5. Bold and italic for not got everything but would like.

NB: I'm including SB's collection (I'm sat next to the combined shelves), but our likes/dislikes don't exactly coincide—she'd put multiple strikethroughs on #42 whereas I'm a bit meh having previously liked a fair bit.  Feel free to tell me how wrong headed I am for liking something and/or not having watched something already, The Wire is italicised despite never having seen it, purely on strength of recommendation from the last time I saw this sort of thing.

50. Quantum Leap
49. Prison Break
48. Veronica Mars
47. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
46. Sex And The City

45. Farscape
44. Cracker
43. Star Trek (TOS)
42. Only Fools And Horses
41. Band of Brothers

40. Life On Mars
39. Monty Python's Flying Circus
38. Curb Your Enthusiasm
37. Star Trek: The Next Generation
36. Father Ted

35. Alias
34. Frasier
33. CSI: Las Vegas
32. Babylon 5
31. Deadwood

30. Dexter
29. ER
28. Fawlty Towers
27. Six Feet Under
26. Red Dwarf

25. Futurama
24. Twin Peaks
23. The Office UK
22. The Shield
21. Angel

20. Blackadder
19. Scrubs
18. Arrested Development
17. South Park
16. Doctor Who

15. Heroes
14. Firefly
13. Battlestar Galactica
12. Family Guy
11. Seinfeld

10. Spaced
09. The X-Files
08. The Wire
07. Friends
06. 24

05. Lost
04. The West Wing
03. The Sopranos
02. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
01. The Simpsons

Original story via, meme by me because, well, why not?

ETA: A bit of digging reveals this to be from a poll of Empire readers. I've bought the mag once or twice for a special feature, buying it regularly? Takes a very special type of person...

Comments

[andrewducker]

You don't own all the first four seasons of The West Wing?

What are you thinking???

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Okay, they're clearly insane.

They've got Heroes on there, and 24, and then the top 5... Buffy? Lost? The Fucking Simpsons?

If this was a list of the top 50 most pointless wastes of celluloid in history, sure, I'll agree with the Simpsons in spot #1. Until then, fuck no. There has *never* been a joke in The Simpsons that wasn't both A) done somewhere else, better, first, and B) clearly identifiable as such.

PS: Three Star Trek Shows make the list, and yet there's no House? Definitely defective.

[burkesworks.livejournal.com]

Another worthless list. And the omission of The Prisoner on any list so dominated by sf is criminal; are the pollsters' powers of recall and critical faculties as frothy and ephemeral as the bubbles on their Starbuck's lattes?

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

I'd do this, but, you know... ;)

[caramel-betty.livejournal.com]

19. Scrubs

WHAT IN THE NAME OF GOD?

Jesus H Christ.

[ginasketch.livejournal.com]

I knew this list was going to be utter shite when I saw Friends was ranked higher than Blackadder.

Technically it should not be ranked higher than anything.

[blue-condition.livejournal.com]

I agree with the presence of 03, 08, 10, 16, 28, 40 and 41 there.

But where's The Prisoner? Where's Edge of Darkness?

Was this written by sixteen year olds?

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

I can heartily recommend Dexter as one of the current must-see ones (a serial killer who kills "those who deserve it" i.e. bad guys and works as a blood spatter expert at the crime lab). It's on ITV 1, Wednesdays, 10:35. It's an ongoing plot arc, though so you might want to grab the first 5 eps from a torrent before you start.

But yeah, as an all time best of list, it's rather poor.

[susanne-est-moi.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh you don't like CSI?

*myocardial infarction*

[andrewhickey.livejournal.com]

Dear God...even just looking at SF/genre stuff there's no Original Who (accept no substitutes), Prisoner, Quatermass, or The Avengers.
Not a single documentary or factual program on the list - no Life On Earth, Civilisation, Ascent of Man. No Sky At Night. No Power Of Nightmares.
No Boys From The Blackstuff or Saturday Night Live or Beiderbecke Affair.
*NO MORECAMBE AND WISE*
No Brass Eye or Look Around You.
No Old Grey Whistle Test or The Tube.
No Young Ones.
No Yes Minister.
No children's programming - no Chocky or Grange Hill or Dangermouse.
No Goodies or Newsnight, no Steptoe or University Challenge.
No Hancock. No Face To Face. No Unpleasant World of Penn & Teller.
No Jackanory

And I don't own a TV. Have these people even *seen* one?!