What are the ten GREATEST television shows of all time?

Cafe Society
41
  1. Mystery Science Theater 3000
  2. Taxi
  3. Quantum Leap
  4. Newhart
  5. All In The Family
  6. MASH
  7. Cheers
  8. South Park
  9. Futurama
  10. Roseanne
42

In no particular order:

Mary Tyler Moore
Cheers
Simpsons (first 5 sesons)
Newhart
The Wire
Arrested Development
Andy Griffith
Mythbusters
Looney Tunes
Letterman on NBC

43

In no particular order -

Blackadder
Black Books
Match of the Day
The Wire
The Simpsons
Fawlty Towers
Top Gear
Monty Python’s Flying Circus
Michael Palin’s travel series (bit of a cheat but he has done more than 2 series!)
How I Met Your Mother

44
  1. MST3K
  2. House MD
  3. Lost
    4 The Twilight Zone
  4. The Daily Show
  5. Seinfeld
  6. Kids in the Hall
  7. Whose Line is it Anyway
  8. The Simpsons
  9. Monty Python’s Flying Circus

I’d include explanations for my choices, but that would be too much trouble. Maybe later.

But probably not.

45

MASH
Arrested Development
Sports Night
Soap
Frasier
Cheers
Scrubs
Sesame Street
The Daily Show
The Tick (cartoon)

46

I present these ten programs in no particular order:

All in the Family - Brought a sense of realism into the family sit-com. Magnficently acted.

Barney Miller - Funny, yet absolutely fascinating in what many cops say was the most realistic cop show ever.

Monty Python’s Flying Circus - Perfect absurd humor. Changed comedy from its formerly rigid structures.

Twilight Zone - Did for drama what Monty Python did for comedy.

The Simpsons - Brought animation into the adult world.

MASH - Had a lot of important things to say.

Soap - Took up where All in the Family left off. First acknowledged repeating gay character.

Sesame Street - Absolutely wonderful. Some of the segments were pure art. Also handled Mr Hooper’s death brilliantly.

60 minutes - Brought up vital subjects to be discussed.

47

Before someone notices, I only posted nine programs above. I was going to post Roots and Roots II which I believe was the greatest miniseries ever filmed. However that might not quite fit the OP’s two season rule.

If it doesn’t, then I dunno. Maybe F Troop? I liked that one as a kid.

48

This takes my list up to 11, but I can’t leave it off - Shameless.

49

MASH
The Simpsons
South Park
Law and Order, all variants
All In The Family
60 Minutes
SNL
Star Trek, original
CSI, original
Animal Kingdom

50

The Simpsons continues to rule. Here are the shows that received 6 or more votes:

The Simpsons (22)

The Sopranos (12)

All in the Family (11)

MASH (10)
Seinfeld (10)

Lost (9)
The Wire (9)

Arrested Development (8)
Cheers (8)
The West Wing (8)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (7)
Monty Python’s Flying Circus (7)
Sesame Street (7)
Star Trek: The Original Series (7)

Battlestar Galactica (6)
Frasier (6)
I Love Lucy (6)
Mary Tyler Moore (6)
Saturday Night Live (6)
South Park (6)
The Twilight Zone (6)

51

Out of idle curiosity, is MAS*H given an honorable mention because you think it not quite as good as your top ten, or because you can’t decide whether it belongs in comedy or drama?

You do have a good point about breaking the comedies out from the dramas, but I’d argue that there needs to be a third category for fantasy (including sci-fi) action-adventure. When you get down to it, Buffy, Xena, and DS9 are not doing the same sort of thing as Mad men or The West Wing.

52

On second thought, let’s swap Monty Python for Nova.

53

As to point 1, I don’t know where to put it.

As to point 2, I don’t see why dramas about people aboard spaceships deserves its own category but dramas about people in, say, the Wild West, or cop and lawyer shows, don’t. I put Battlestar Galactica and Buffy on my list 'cause they’re great shows. Xena was not. IMHO, YMMV.

Another category I WOULD split out, though, would be children’s programs, thought that’s Sesame Street at positions one though seven.

And I didn’t even count news programs, science programs, documentaries, miniseries, variety shows, talk shows…

54

I’m judging these shows by their better seasons, not their overall quality:

ER
Frazier
Lost
Mary Tyler Moore
MASH
Monty Python
NYPD Blue
Northern Exposure
Star Trek: TNG
The Tonight Show with Jack Paar
Twilight Zone

I know that’s 11. I can’t eliminate any of them. In fact I really want to add I Love Lucy.

55

Any BBC natural history documentary(Planet Earth,Life in the Freezer,The Blue Planet,South Pacific etc.)

The West Wing

Black Adder

Red Dwarf

Q.I.

Inspector Morse

Dr. Who

Married with Children

Family Guy

The Sky at Night

56
  1. Lost
  2. Twilight Zone
  3. Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction
  4. Gilmore Girls
  5. Rescue Me
  6. Futurama
  7. Gilmore Girls
  8. How I Met Your Mother
  9. Pushing Daisies
  10. Dinosaurs
  11. John From Cincinnati (that’s my cheat)
57

[ol]
[li]The Singing Detective[/li][li]Buffy the Vampire Slayer[/li][li]NYPD Blue[/li][li]Upstairs Downstairs[/li][li]The Sopranos[/li][/ol]

58

Fie on your colonial rubbish. The correct answer is;

  1. The Fast Show.
  2. Blackadder.
  3. Father Ted.
  4. I’m Alan Partridge.
  5. Fawlty Towers.
  6. Brass Eye.
  7. Darkplace.
  8. Spaced.
  9. The Mighty Boosh
  10. Red Dwarf.
59
  1. Deadwood
  2. Sopranos
  3. the Wire
  4. Nova
  5. Frontline
  6. 60 Minutes
  7. Rome
  8. West Wing
  9. Monty Python
  10. South Park
    I thought 10 was going to be tough but I could have done more easily.
60

The West Wing
Gilmore Girls
Northern Exposure
Six Feet Under
Monk (first few seasons, then it went downhill)
Jeopardy (do game shows count?)
Pushing Daisies
Homicide: Life on the Streets
MASH
The Daily Show