# Best TV series of all time, ranked

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tv-series-of-all-time-ranked/262938>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [September 3, 2004, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tv-series-of-all-time-ranked/262938 "2004-09-03T09:55:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![ReadMore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ccd318/32.png) [@ReadMore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReadMore)\
**Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tv-series-of-all-time-ranked/262938/41 "2004-09-04T06:22:16Z")

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Murder One (first season, of course) \*  
ST:TNG  
West Wing / Babylon 5 / CSI \*\*

- Mr ReadMore says that in our 20+ years together, this is the only show during which he knew not to try to converse with me. (Wow…\*that \* sounded stilted. Sorry.) He’d get a blank stare and a “Uhmm. I’m watching _ **Murder One** _.”

\*\* I travel a lot and just this year am catching up on all three of these.

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**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\
**Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tv-series-of-all-time-ranked/262938/42 "2004-09-04T07:00:35Z")

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Non-comedy list:

Deadwood  
Firefly  
The Sopranos  
Star Trek (just because of the cultural change it spawned)  
24  
Band of Brothers  
Adding in Comedies:

1. The Simpsons
2. M_A_S\*H
3. The Sopranos
4. Firefly
5. Deadwood
6. Star Trek
7. 24
8. Band of Brothers
9. The Mary Tyler Moore Show
10. The Bob Newhart Show

I can’t help but feel that many older shows are getting short shrift here just because they’ve fallen out of our public consciousness. So let’s not forget:

The Honeymooners  
I Love Lucy

Bonanza  
The Waltons  
WKRP in Cincinnatti  
Barney Miller  
All in the Family

Then there are the variety shows:

The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson  
Saturday Night Live  
The Ed Sullivan Show  
The Carol Burnett Show  
Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-in  
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour  
Late Night with Conan O’Brien  
Late Night with David Letterman  
The Tonight Show with Jack Paar

All of these shows have pretty much achieved iconic status.

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