Variety: The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time
https://variety.com/lists/greatest-tv-shows-of-all-time/i-love-lucy/
shareThe Honeymooners, Star Trek (TOS), Mission: Impossible, Monty Python's Flying Circus didn't make the list?
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MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Variety: The 100 Greatest TV Shows of Al...
No Frasier??
Not including Frasier is a gross oversight. Also, David Letterman ranks higher than Johnny Carson? Noooooooo!
I am seeing way too many current and recent TV shows that haven't even congealed yet.
I know! Johnny did it better than anyone else, before or since.
Seems like they should have separated the shows by decades or something. Over the years, times have changed, tastes have changed, society has changed. Heck, the world has changed, too. Plenty of older shows seem cheesy by today's so-called standards, but for their time, the cheesy shows worked.
No Andy Griffith, either. And then there's Happy Days, which I was surprised to see on the list, considering it gave us the "jumped the shark" descriptor.
Good idea about decade separations. I think your tastes and mine correspond. Andy Griffith should definitely be in the top 25 at least. I would be willing to bet a table full of later Millennials and Gen Zs compiled the list for so many new shows, some still in production, to be canonized as the best of all time.
shareYou're probably right about the Mils and Z-ers. If it existed before they were born, well...they're not interested or curious about it. Just look at how many good movies/TV shows were made mid-20th century. For many Mils and Z-ers, those don't count and I bet a lot of them wouldn't even consider watching them. Some people still refuse to watch anything in black & white! Sheesh.
I will say that I'm glad the the Dick Van Dyke, Bob Newhart, and Mary Tyler Moore shows were on the list.
I think every show on this list, barring some long-lasting ongoing talk shows and cartoons are complete.
shareI feel like they should have also split it up by type of show.
Talk/Game/Quiz Shows are their own thing, you can't compare them with something like Breaking Bad.
Sitcoms are their own thing.
And I would argue Animation too.
Serialised programming for the final type.
I agree! Jeopardy may be a good game show, but how can that compare with shows such as St Elsewhere, NYPD Blue or so many others?
shareThese things should be split up:
Animation, Serial, Sitcom and Talk Show.
Terrible list. This list consists of 95 American shows and 5 British shows. Literally no other country is represented. Explain to me how "RuPaul's Drag Race" is better than "Sherlock" (which isn't even on the list) and how "The Real World" is better than "Dekalog" (which isn't on the list either). And what the hell is General Hospital doing there?
shareIt says in the introduction "With apologies to countless programs that deserve celebration, we limited ourselves to English-language series that aired or streamed stateside — because the entire world of television is prohibitively broad for this undertaking"
List still blows.
Nothing from Canada, New Zealand, Australia and only 5 from the UK?!?!?
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I had similar thoughts. In fairness, it is Variety. I wouldn't expect anything different. They are catering towards an American audience, after all. Quite a lot of those shows -- including most of the heavyweights of US TV history (Mary Tyler Moore, I Love Lucy, SNL, Johnny Carson, &c) -- are utterly meaningless over here. They were either never broadcast in the first place or had next to no cultural impact.
A list by, I dunno, the Radio Times would look very, very different.
As a Canadian, if I made a list like this, there would be a hell of a lot more British shows than there are here. I'm not even a fan of Fawlty Towers but it deserves to be here.
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