Final Round -- Best All-Time TV Show

Cafe Society
81

I certainly won’t argue that. Over the past few of these polls I have posted, my votes have run to The Wire, The Sopranos and now Breaking Bad. I had (for me) good reasons for shifting my loyalty: the durability of the shows became an issue. And it took the final half-season of BB for it to convince me it was better than those other two.

I suspect there will be a new contender within five years to cause me to adjust my thinking as well.

I certainly hope that Justified can continue its quality level so that I can vote for it in another year or so.

To address your basic concerns, though, I suggest a new poll that prohibits shows from being considered if they are less than x-number years since their finales. I’ll leave that poll’s construction to anybody who want to post it.

82

Just 49 hours left to vote here…

83

Next vote will be #200!



View Poll Results: What's the Best All-Time TV show?  
This poll will close on 10-31-2013 at 10:07 AM 

Breaking Bad       31 15.58% 
M*A*S*H            30 15.08% 
Seinfeld           20 10.05% 

The Wire           18 9.05% 
Star Trek: TOS     17 8.54% 
The Simpsons       17 8.54% 
The West Wing      14 7.04% 
Doctor Who         13 6.53% 
Buffy              12 6.03% 
Firefly            10 5.03% 

The Sopranos        9 4.52% 
Band of Brothers    8 4.02% 

Voters: 199 

=============================================
84

Here’s how things stood after the 200th vote:



=============================================

View Poll Results: What's the Best All-Time TV show?  
This poll will close on 10-31-2013 at 10:07 AM 

Breaking Bad       31 15.50%  15.50%
M*A*S*H            30 15.00%  30.50%
Seinfeld           20 10.00%  40.50%
The Simpsons       18 9.00%   49.50% 
The Wire           18 9.00%   58.50%

Star Trek: TOS     17 8.50%   67.00%
The West Wing      14 7.00%   74.00%
Doctor Who         13 6.50%   80.50% 
Buffy              12 6.00%   86.50% 
Firefly            10 5.00%   91.50% 
The Sopranos        9 4.50%   96.00% 
Band of Brothers    8 4.00%  100.00%

Voters: 200 

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Since there was a tie between The Simpsons and The Wire it’s clear that well over half the votes went to these top 5 shows. As to which of them is THE SDMB choice for BEST, I will accept that there’s room for debate and taste. But I’m also content to say the choice has to be among those shows.

Any strong argument against that position?

Does anybody else want to rephrase the question and post another poll to address the basic issue?

85

Seven more votes have led to this update that leaves just over 25 hours before poll closing time. It would be an amazing feat if the placement of these shows were to change significantly in that time, but who knows?



View Poll Results: What's the Best All-Time TV show?  
This poll will close on 10-31-2013 at 10:07 AM 

Breaking Bad       32 15.46%   15.46%
M*A*S*H            30 14.49%   29.95%
Seinfeld           21 10.14%   40.09%
The Wire           19 9.18%    49.27%
The Simpsons       18 8.70%    57.97% 

Star Trek: TOS     17 8.21%    66.18%
Doctor Who         15 7.25%    73.43%
The West Wing      14 6.76%    80.19%
Buffy              12 5.80%    85.99%
Firefly            11 5.31%    91.30%
The Sopranos       10 4.83%    96.13%
Band of Brothers    8 3.86%    99.99%

Voters: 207 

=============================================
86

For those who participated in this poll, it might be fun to compare notes with TV Guide Magazine’s 60 Best Series of All Time.

What’s your biggest surprise in the differences?

87

Oprah and Ray Romano

88

Yep. Other than those two, I have no problem with those choices. Can’t think of any obvious omissions.

89

I didn’t actually count them but there have to be at least 10 on their list that I never saw more than one episode of, some of them none at all.

I’m glad our list was included on their list. Again, I didn’t count.

I really yo-yo on picking The Sopranos or Breaking Bad or The Wire as the best ever show. But it would have to be one of those three.

90

and no Firefly.

91

It might make for a fun thread to take their list and replace all the crummy shows they list with “good shows” they left off. I do know there were plenty on our earlier lists that I had never seen but which would probably be better than some of their Top 60.

For instance I could replace American Idol with almost anything.

92

Yeah, including our weekday morning local news.

93

Just in case somebody else wants to start another thread on their list – and what’s wrong with it – here it is:

==============================

  1. The Sopranos
  2. Seinfeld
  3. I Love Lucy
  4. All in the Family
  5. The Twilight Zone
  6. The Wire
  7. The Mary Tyler Moore Show
  8. MAS*H
  9. Breaking Bad
  10. The Simpsons
  11. Cheers
  12. Star Trek
  13. The Honeymooners
  14. Law & Order
  15. The Andy Griffith Show
  16. Masterpiece Theatre
  17. The Carol Burnett Show
  18. Saturday Night Live
  19. The Oprah Winfrey Show
  20. The Dick Van Dyke Show
  21. Mad Men
  22. The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
  23. Hill Street Blues
  24. 60 Minutes
  25. The X-Files
  26. The Cosby Show
  27. Gunsmoke
  28. Friends
  29. ER
  30. Sesame Street
  31. The Ed Sullivan Show
  32. Roseanne
  33. Columbo
  34. The Waltons
  35. Taxi
  36. Lost
  37. Your Show of Shows
  38. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
  39. Survivor
  40. Sex and the City
  41. Late Night/Late Show With David Letterman
  42. The West Wing
  43. Modern Family
  44. NYPD Blue
  45. Jeopardy!
  46. Barney Miller
  47. Dallas
  48. American Idol
  49. The Bob Newhart Show
  50. The Shield
  51. St. Elsewhere
  52. The Big Bang Theory
  53. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
  54. The Golden Girls
  55. Homicide: Life on the Street
  56. The Larry Sanders Show
  57. Battlestar Galactica
  58. Monty Python’s Flying Circus
  59. The Good Wife
  60. Everybody Loves Raymond

==============================

94

So Band of Brothers didn’t make their list because it was only one season – a miniseries?