Metalocalypse and Moonlighting, sometimes.
Deadwood is fantastic and in a list of greats it is up near the top. I have a problem saying it’s the best but I have a problem saying anything is the best as there are so many reasons why things are great that it’s impossible IMO to name something as number 1.
That said, I have never seen a better character as Al Swearengen. McShane is brilliant, the writing is brilliant, the character is so complete and nuanced. IMO Al is the most complete creation I have ever seen on TV, on the big screen or stage. A masterful creation on every level.
For the record, here are all the nominations it received during its run:
Actor (Ian McShane once)
Art Direction (3 noms; won 1)
Casting (2 noms)
Cinematography (2 noms; won 1)
Costumes (3 noms; won 1)
Directing (2 noms; Walter Hill won for the pilot)
Editing
Hairstyling (3 noms; won 1)
Makeup (3 noms; won 2)
Sound Editing (1 nom; won)
Sound Mixing (2 noms)
Supporting Actor (Brad Dourif once)
Supporting Actress (Robin Weigert once)
Title Music
Writing (David Milch once)
Total nominations: 27
Total wins: 8
Total wins major categories: 1
Hmmm… Tough Call I think I’ll edge ROME over Deadwood (Also had a more Satisfying conclusion) as far as Writing and design. Marc Antony is close to Swearengen but Swigen wins out.
For Comedy… All in the Family still is one of the best. Oddly enough it has become relevant again to today’s audience. (Just Substitute Bush for Nixon, Iraq for Vietnam, and Limbaugh for John Wayne 
)
This is getting less and less likely to happen. Milch is working on another series for HBO, a cop series, set in the 1970’s. Plus, the more time passes, the harder it’s going to be to get the cast back together. McShane isn’t available until late 2008. If Milch had actually wanted to do the Deadwood movies, he would have held off on John from Cincinnati and got them done. Now he’s off doing the cop show, and when that’s done, he’ll be doing something new, I’ll bet’cha.
Yeah, by me, but I was surprised when it didn’t show up on anyone else’s list, so I brought it up again. 
Firefly, unfortunately, never had a chance. It had every intention of becoming one of the greatest shows on TV, but with only 14 episodes, we’ll never find out.
If somebody asked me to name the best show on television, I’d name the Wire without much hesitation. It’s not my favorite show, but I have no trouble recognizing the amount of care that goes into the production. It’s one of the fews shows I’ve seen that actually overestimates the viewer’s intelligence (Deadwood would be another example). I’m so used to shows talking down to me that it’s a treat to see one that assumes I will understand difficult, complicated situations.
My other favorites have already been mentioned a few times. Deadwood, the Sopranos, Northern Exposure, Buffy/Angel, the Simpsons (at first anyway). I think Veronica Mars probably has a place on some list somewhere, if only for the first season.
I’ll agree with The Dick Van Dyke Show. I’ve been saying it for years. Great stuff, and amazingly adult and long-lasting.
I’ll also seconf The Twilight Zone. It wasn’t ahead of its time, though. It was OF its time. You’d never get so talky a half hour on TV these days. And the short, punchy, twist-ending stories were the staple of 1950s pulp sf magazines (People think Serling wrote them all, but he split the writing mostly with Charles Beaumont and Richard Matheson, pulp-published authors, and many of the stories – like “To Serve Man” – were from the pulps as well.
And MAS*H, which ran for so long because it really was a good show, and innovative.
To which I’ll add The Prisoner (nobody said it had to be US television) – hugely innovative and unusual.
I would have agreed with you a long time ago, I’ve been revisiting Northern Exposure recently (Season 3) and it is still good… However, after Joel left, I did watch an occasional episode and found it had lost all its magic (I think the Producers left about the same time)… Didn’t even Maggie leave before the end? I don’t think I even watched the final episode.
The Wire is such a wonderful TV show though, and if not first, its in top 3 at least.
Comedy would be Seinfeld, Young Ones, Spaced and Red Dwarf (uk taint here).
Drama would be The Wire, Sopranos, The Shield, Deadwood and perhaps Farscape too…
Drama: Homicide: Life on the Street
Comedy: The Office [UK]
There are many, many other shows that are great, but these two are transcendent.
I agree with most of these, but I think the most recently debuted best TV series is “House.”
Wow…I’m almost afraid to write it, but I hated The Dick Van Dyke Show. I must have been routinely beaten by a DvD lookalike at an early age, but I wince every time I see him on screen.
On the other hand, I loved MASH. I also liked the middle-era of The Simpsons (post-Ullman, pre-Moronic Homer).
What, no love for The Phoenix or Manimal???
-Cem