I’ll add: Freaks & Geeks (yes, it was cancelled too early, but what’s there is perfect, and it even has a somewhat-satisfying conclusion). Mad Men (I’m rewatching this for the second time, and every episode hits. maybe it lags later, but through Season 5, ep 8, it’s stellar.) Star Wars Rebels (unlike Clone Wars, which was also very good, it doesn’t have lame droid-focused filler episodes) Curb Your Enthusiasm (I don’t think there’s an episode that’s not spectacular, imo. sure, there’s a lot of silliness, but every episode has value. I think Seinfeld is the better show, but there are a few clunkers, especially the last few seasons after Larry David left. I guess I’m just a sucker for LD. I suppose if you hate Larry David, this show is as far from perfect as you can get.) Succession (probably one of the most-engrossing shows I’ve ever watched. couldn’t wait for each new season/episode, and was never disappointed)
Mad Men I’ll agree with heartily, along with Boardwalk Empire, The Americans (I never would have thought I’d end up hating Kari Russell’s guts), and The Sopranos. If I were stranded on a desert island, these would keep me happy for years.
Maybe it’s cheating since the show isn’t over yet but Shrinking is pretty damn perfect. Maybe it will fall off a cliff in season 3.
Fawlty Towers is the perfect sitcom but that might be cheating as well. They kept the amount of episodes low purposely so it wouldn’t dip in quality.
Puberty? Closer to impending middle age. The girls were 25,25, 31 and 31 when the show started. James was 26. Four years later they were looking pretty old for high school.
I was going to say I, Claudius. So good, with so many memorable scenes. Critiques of it mention blocking. The actors and the camera move around flawlessly. This is one of my favorite scenes. They set everything up just so they could catch Tiberius’s little gasp of appreciation when he realizes Caligula’s evil. I love watching John Hurt’s face as Tiberius makes him his heir.
I would nominate HBO’s Deadwood as my “perfect” TV show. Unfortunately, it ended abruptly due to differences between the producer David Milch, who was also the creator and main writer, and HBO execs. It was a very expensive show to make, and HBO needed a larger audience to justify the cost. There was a Deadwood feature film that was released 10 years after the series ended that tied up some loose ends, but I really wish HBO would have let it run at least a few more seasons before it went off the air.
It’s been a long time since I saw Slings and Arrows, so I can’t vouch for no bad episodes, etc. But I really loved that show, by turns funny, thoughtful, quirky. Yes, I’ll admit to being a theater fan.
(I’m also on board for Derry Girls, Firefly, and A Good Place.)
I was talking with my daughter the other day about John Hurt. She knows him from the Harry Potter movies, but has never seen I, Claudius. I told her that no one ever played a pure psychopath better than Hurt did as Caligula.
I don’t think any show can be perfect, but some come really close. IMHO Star Trek DS9 comes close. The characters were all memorable and enjoyable. Even minor / recurring characters like Grand Nagus Zek (played by a top of his game Wallace Shawn), Vic Fontaine, Leeta, and of course Garak, all had more depth and were more interesting to watch than the main characters on some of the other Trek shows. The main villains, Gul Dukat and Kai Winn, fall into the “I love to hate them” territory in a good way, and came across as sympathetic in some of the earlier seasons. The only mis-steps I’d knock DS9 for would be for missed opportunities. I would have enjoyed seeing Data in a DS9 episode, even if for just one scene at Quark’s bar, sitting at a table with Bashir and Garak.
Close, but not perfect. Fleischman was my favorite character. Once he left Northern Exposure went from being at the very top to still really good but not as good as it once was.
Another very good but not perfect show. Oddly enough though, my opinion on why it isn’t perfect would likely be in the minority. I don’t care for Diane and Coach. For me Rebecca and Woody were much better fits for an ensemble comedy. Had they started with Rebecca and Woody, maybe Cheers would have gotten there, or at least even closer than it already is.
This was my first thought. Some episodes aren’t as great as the best but I don’t think any episode dips below a C+ and none made me feel like “Well, that was a suck of an hour”.
I love Cheers. Rebecca was a great character, but I found her perpetual insecurity and whining to be a bit much as the series neared its end. She was originally intended to be an insufferable martinet, but it was found she’d be funnier if she lightened up a bit. Woody taking up the Coach’s role as the loveable idiot was one of the best transitions ever made on TV.
I’d like to slip in a neat little Canadian comedy series here: Corner Gas. I’ve seen every episode from the beginning more than once. It’s pure silliness but silliness of absolutely uniform quality. I can’t find a single flaw in any of its six seasons.
So many that have been mentioned are great - but not quite “perfect” - in my opinion.
Barney Miller, which I have a soft spot for, had several missteps in the early going. Barney’s wife was quickly whisked away for a reason, and the Millers’ at-home scenes were standard sitcom lameness. Wojo’s early gum-smacking dumb Polack (can I say that?) was waaay over-the-top; thankfully, that was reined in.
The Dick Van Dyke Show, another personal favorite, had Ritchie (as mentioned above), but also leaned way too much on Sally’s “old maid” status. And the talent episodes - Sally singing, Buddy telling jokes, Rob & Laura dancing - seemed to have been dropped in from another program.
Cheers hung around too long. I never did warm to Rebecca (I know, that’s just me).
So…I’ll endorse The Wire, The Good Place, and Better Call Saul (which I actually prefer to Breaking Bad).
I’ll also introduce two new players into the mix, one being Homeland.
And, my ultimate perfect show: Frasier.
mmm
ETA: I don’t think Golden Girls ever got sucky, did it?
That’s part of why I liked her better than Diane. Her whining and insecurity plays well into her being a character that can be funny. Diane came across as being too serious, or at least as being someone that should be taken seriously when everyone else was just trying to unwind, goof off, and have a good time. The whining and insecurity kept Rebecca from crossing into the “I’m too serious to care about having fun” territory, which is where I saw Diane at.
