# The most consistent television series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 30, 2018, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-consistent-television-series/818824 "2018-07-30T18:50:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-consistent-television-series/818824/41 "2018-07-31T18:40:44Z")
> [@MostlyClueless](#): > > Brooklyn 99 for me. I’ll agree with this! Every time I watch the show I think “This show is never not funny!!” I’ll add in **Bob’s Burgers** , too. It makes me think the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![RadioWave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/91b2a8/32.png) [@RadioWave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadioWave)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-consistent-television-series/818824/42 "2018-07-31T18:48:53Z")
I’ve tried and I can’t remember a bad episode of Arrested Development from the original run. Likewise Fawlty Towers as mentioned above. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-consistent-television-series/818824/43 "2018-07-31T19:27:12Z")
I came here to mention _Fawlty Towers_. Cleese deliberately stopped making it in order to maintain consistency. Unlike _Monty Python_, which definitely went downhill in its later series. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-consistent-television-series/818824/44 "2018-07-31T20:25:25Z")
I agree with several of the shows already mentioned, but I’ll add\* Numb3rs\* and _Rick and Morty_. I’m only mentioning shows that I’ve seen every episode of. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-consistent-television-series/818824/45 "2018-07-31T21:05:07Z")
For consistency, it’s hard to beat _Scooby Do._ Every episode was nearly identical! ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-consistent-television-series/818824/46 "2018-07-31T22:22:29Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > For consistency, it’s hard to beat _Scooby Do._ Every episode was nearly identical! Wait, that’s not Gatopescado… tackle him, Shaggy; you sit on 'im, Scoob! I’ll just… remove this… mask. And, it’s old Mr. Zotti!" “You mean, the caretaker from the Haunted Barn House?” “The _allegedly_ Haunted Barn House, you mean! I guess _someone_ got caught… with their barn door open!” [cue laugh track] ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-consistent-television-series/818824/47 "2018-07-31T22:39:02Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Many people didn’t see it because it wasn’t on a major network and ran for only two seasons, but I’ll suggest _A&E’s_ _A Nero Wolfe Mystery_, starring Timothy Hutton and Maury Chaykin. Every aspect of this series (the acting, the writing, the direction, the set design, the costumes, etc.) was superb, and remained so for the entire run of the series. The problem is, any episode with Kari Matchett beats any episode without her. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-consistent-television-series/818824/48 "2018-07-31T22:47:20Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > Any episode of Andy Griffith that features Helen Crump sucks. Except the one with the gypsies. “Through the forest, wild and free…” ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-consistent-television-series/818824/49 "2018-07-31T23:02:15Z")
**Justified** **Deadwood** **Larry Sanders** Also, my memory of **Southland** was that it was consistently good. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-consistent-television-series/818824/50 "2018-07-31T23:32:54Z")
I’ll second _The Expanse_, which has been outstanding. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-consistent-television-series/818824/51 "2018-07-31T23:56:52Z")
You have to look at the low end for the most consistency. Take something like Joanie Loves Chaci, every single episode sucked horribly, no exceptions. It’s difficult to beat consistency like that. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2018, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-consistent-television-series/818824/52 "2018-08-01T00:01:08Z")
_“And I would have gotten away with it, if it weren’t for you meddling Dopers!”_ ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2018, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-consistent-television-series/818824/53 "2018-08-01T00:21:27Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > I don’t think I ever saw a bad episode of \*NCIS \*or _House_. My thing with NCIS is, while I didn’t exactly _like_ DiNozzo, I can’t fucking stand Wilmer Valderrama as a generic cop (Was Jon Seda unavailable or something?). Valderrama is a comedy god, but that newfound musculature is wasted on him. And I have come to dread anything with the words “guest-starrting Scott Bakula.” One show I loved from start to finish was **The Closer**. I love that the entire cast (except for Kyra Sedgwick) were veterans of classic cop show procedurals. And while posterity may blanch at their treatment of transgender issues, I thought they handled those two episodes with at least an honest cop’s-eye view of the issues involved. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2018, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-consistent-television-series/818824/54 "2018-08-01T01:09:32Z")
_The Detectorists_. Not a single foot wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2018, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-consistent-television-series/818824/55 "2018-08-01T06:59:23Z")
I’ll second Justified. I can’t think of any episodes that I would skip on a rewatch. > [@TRC4941](#): > > House There were definitely a number of episodes where they were just filling time with anything they could think of, because they’d run out of ideas. Really, the show peaked at the end of season 2 with the big contest between House and Foreman. The setup of having Foreman get done in by a laughing cop was a bit silly, but otherwise that set of episodes was probably the “real” end of the show. Everything after that was just continuing to make more of the show for the bux. I’d say that the whole battle between House and the one policeman was a pretty poor excuse of a plotline. The episode where he’s on a plane and everyone’s suffering from mass hysteria-turned rash was pretty bad. I’m sure I could think of a number of other one-off episodes that are pretty skippable. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2018, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-consistent-television-series/818824/56 "2018-08-01T09:18:56Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > You have to look at the low end for the most consistency. Take something like Joanie Loves Chaci, every single episode sucked horribly, no exceptions. It’s difficult to beat consistency like that. Then let’s add Small Wonder! 😃 For most consistent, one I haven’t seen mentioned in sit-coms, is [SOAP](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwDbd4jQpkA). ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2018, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-consistent-television-series/818824/57 "2018-08-01T11:14:54Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I’ll second Justified. I can’t think of any episodes that I would skip on a rewatch. That’s too bad. I saw the first half dozen episodes and I thought it was pretty dull; I was hoping it might get better over time. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2018, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-consistent-television-series/818824/58 "2018-08-01T12:19:07Z")
From _Inspector Morse_ through _Lewis_ and now with _Endeavour_, the mysteries based on the characters of Colin Dexter have been great TV. The series began in 1987 and is still going strong with outstanding acting and writing. Poor Oxford has had more than its fair share of multiple murders and so many erudite killers. But it sure is fun watching them get caught. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2018, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-consistent-television-series/818824/59 "2018-08-01T14:29:41Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > **Justified** > **Deadwood** > **Larry Sanders** > Also, my memory of **Southland** was that it was consistently good. Oh yea! How could I forget about Justified!? One of the best. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2018, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-consistent-television-series/818824/60 "2018-08-01T14:52:45Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > _The Detectorists_. Not a single foot wrong. Agreed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-consistent-television-series/818824.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-consistent-television-series/818824.md?page=4)