I tend to pretty much only watch sitcoms and cartoons, so this list is going to be heavy on that:
Arrested Development
Moonlighting
Simpsons (first 7-10 seasons)
Cheers
Mary Tyler Moore Show
Soap
South Park
Peep Show
Seinfeld
Better Off Ted (this is my wildcard)
Yeah, I guess that’s all pretty much comedy fare.
Night Court
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Angel
Firefly
The Avengers (Emma Peel seasons)
Babylon 5
Jeopardy
The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson
Big Bang Theory
Rocky & Bullwinkle
Friends
Freaks and Geeks
Firefly
Friday Night Videos
The Amazing Race (damn - I was hoping all 10 would start with F)
Mad Men
21 Jump Street
Star Trek: The Next Generation
X Files
Sopranos
ETA: Can’t believe I made the same joke as MoonMoon
Magnum PI
Deadwood
Firefly
Justified
Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles
Barney Miller
WKRP in Cincinnati
Band of Brothers
Life
The Shield
Hill Street
St. Elsewhere
Northern Exposure
Wonder Years
Harry O
Orphan Black
Firefly
Top 8, in approximate order:
CHiPs
Unsolved Mysteries
Beavis and Butt-head
The Simpsons
The Price is Right
Kesha: My Crazy Beautiful Life
King of the Hill
Jeopardy
The majority of mine seem to be recent, but that’s probably because my tastes have changed and I look back on most older shows less fondly compared with the golden age of now (whenever “now” may be).
Community
Psych
Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
Doctor Who
Blackadder
Count Duckula
Cheers
Chuck
Pushing Daisies
Better Off Ted
You might find it amusing that employees of the National Park Service pejoratively refer to Independence National Historic Park by that name.
The Sopranos
The Wire
Deadwood
Breaking Bad
Arrested Development
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Cheers
Taxi
Jeopardy
Monday Night Football (is that cheating?)
I have many many favorites, but…
Northern Exposure
thirtysomething
Taxi
Roseanne
Newsradio
Seinfeld
The West Wing
Sports Night
The Big Bang Theory
The Middle
Battlestar Galactica(reboot)
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Firefly
Arrested Development
Blackadder
Walking Dead
Farscape
X-files
Lost
Fringe
The Carol Burnett Show
The Sopranos
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Mad Men
The Office (UK)
thirtysomething
Dexter
Cheers
Seinfeld
The Killing
House
Suits
NCIS
The Twilight Zone
Red Dwarf
Doctor Who
Supernatural
MAS*H
Monday Night Football
Family Guy
Firefly
Buffy/Angel
Doctor Who (NuWho)
The X-Files (first 6 seasons or so)
The Adventures of Pete & Pete
Spaced
Futurama
Blackadder
Wildlife on One
Cosmos (both series)
In approximate year-first-viewed order…
The Clangers
Thunderbirds
Doctor Who
Star Trek TOS
The Rockford Files
Horizon (BBC 2 science program that used to be great. Years ago)
Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Star Trek TNG
Spaced
Futurama
Maybe there could be separate lists for favourite “kids” show and “grown up” show. I could’ve had Tom and Jerry, Top Cat and Marine Boy in there, but also Blackadder, Python, House, Psych and The Mentalist… But do all those belong in the same list? Oh well.
is this limited to fiction or entertainment? if i would add factual non-entertaiment shows over my tv lifetime then it could be 10 shows.
All in the Family
Big Bang Theory
Carol Burnett Show
Daily Show
Frasier
House
Jeopardy!
Mary Tyler Moore Show
Star Trek: TNG
Twilight Zone
Cracker
Six Feet Under
The Sandbaggers
The Wire
The Prisoner
The West Wing
Deadwood
Upstairs, Downstairs
Northern Exposure
Friday Night Lights
Off the top of my head, no order.
Roseanne (funny)
Moonlighting (celeb crush)
The Office (funny)
Dick Van Dyke Show (comfort show)
The Golden Girls (comfort)
All in the Family (comfort)
The Monkees (crush)
Andy Griffith Show (comfort)
Bob Newhart Show (comfort)
Simon & Simon (crush)
Only the first three did I watch in real time. The rest caught on Nick@Nite and cable, etc.
The Singing Detective
Buffy
NYPD Blue
Sopranos
Upstairs Downstairs
X-Files
Medium
True Detective
Mary Tyler Moore Show
Carol Burnett