The original post: /r/television by /u/Eddie_Robertson on 2024-07-02 12:55:50.

Howdy-

Just for a little background I take care of my older sister who is late stages of Alzheimer’s. We rarely talk current events because her short term memory is very spotty. She can however talk about only TV shows, music, and cultural events from decades past still so that’s what we do.

Yesterday the conversation came of about our top TV Shows Of All Time which was a fun little debate. This inspired med to write this down today just as a fun thought experiment as I will wage that everyone’s lists and list orders will be marginally to wildly different. Who knows, someone may put a show at number 1 that will make me research it and give it a whirl.

Lastly, my list is not a top ten of highest viewership, most awards or anything like that. These are shows that I personally was interested in. I also gave more weight to shows that have longevity, not in run time but in culture. If a show ran for 2 seasons in 1964 but 60 years later you see current generation kids wearing that shirt that really swayed my rankings.

I decided this should have some structure so here are the rules I came up with:

  1. Show must have ran for at least 2 seasons.
  2. No daytime TV. No General Hospital, The Price is Right and so on.
  3. No late night TV. No Letterman, SNL or Johnny Carson etc.
  4. No News shows.
  5. The show selected for best in a decade must have started in that decade. Meaning a show that lasted 22 years could only be on your list once.

In my personal rankings I tend to skew my list in favor of the shows that I enjoyed more then the most successful and also shows that were cultural phenomenons or shows that had significant impact on future TV Culture.

I hope this is a fun little distraction for people. It was for us.

1960s

  1. Bewitched
  2. Gilligan’s Island
  3. Bonanza
  4. Andy Griffith Show
  5. Batman
  6. Dark Shadows
  7. Twilight Zone
  8. I Love Lucy
  9. Gunsmoke
  10. Star Trek

Honorable Mentions

I Dream of Jeannie

The Addams Family

1970s

  1. Dukes of Hazard
  2. Fantasy Island
  3. The Love Boat
  4. The Walton’s
  5. Little House on the Prairie
  6. Taxi
  7. All in the Family
  8. Happy Days
  9. Dallas
  10. M.A.S.H.

Honorable Mentions

Three’s Company

CHIPs

The Jefforsons

1980s

  1. The Golden Girls
  2. Cheers
  3. Family Matters
  4. Roseanne
  5. Murder She Wrote
  6. Married with Children
  7. The X-Files
  8. The Simpsons
  9. Seinfeld
  10. Dynasty

Honorable Mentions

Magnum P.I.

The A-team

Quantum Leap

1990s

  1. Mad About You
  2. Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
  3. In Living Color
  4. Beverly Hills 90210
  5. South Park
  6. Star Gate SG-1
  7. Law and Order / Law and Order SVU
  8. That 70’s Show
  9. X-Files
  10. Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Angel

Honorable Mentions

Lois and Clark: The New Adventured of Superman

Charmed

2000s

  1. Prison Break
  2. Parks and Recreation
  3. House
  4. Grey’s Anatomy
  5. How I Met Your Mother
  6. True Blood
  7. Smallville
  8. Lost
  9. The Big bang Theory
  10. Breaking Bad

Honorable Mentions

Continuum

Monk

24

Glee

Sex and the City

2010s

  1. Orange is the new Black
  2. Fargo
  3. Downton Abbey
  4. Arrow
  5. The 100
  6. Person of Interest
  7. Better Call Saul
  8. Stranger Things
  9. Game of Thrones
  10. The Walking Dead

Honorable Mentions

Veep

The Americans

Fargo

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

2020s -

  6. Loki

  7. The Boys

  8. Succession

  9. Squid Game

  10. The Mandalorian

Thanks one and all. I hope this is a fun read for everyone.

er