What would you consider to be the smartest TV show? You can define “smart” however you want but non fiction shows like Cosmos or Frontline are not eligible.
I would nominate “Frasier”. It had a protagonist that was smart, worldly and cultured which doesn’t happen anymore. It told jokes that would possibly go over audience members heads with confidence but it was still relatable.
What would you say?
Futurama has to be on the list. Lots of science in-jokes amidst all the cartoony stuff. They even invented their own theorem for one episode.
I know advocating for The Wire is a cliche, but the way it was structured, in which the criminals and the po-po were constantly solving the mysteries created by the other, was pretty wonderful. It relied very little on cheap exposition and was willing to let mysteries hang for a long time. I’d put one vote there, and the other vote on the rococo iambic pentameter beauty of Deadwood.
Frasier, alas, wouldn’t show up in my top ten.
Certain seasons of The Simpsons, certainly. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was written by English majors, and it showed in its use of language and metaphor.
My votes would be for MacGyver and House M.D.
(and, way way back, Quincy M.D.)
–G!
Big Bang Theory is a special combo platter of smarts and dumb-ass-ness. I think that’s why it’s so popular with the denizens of this board.
I thought “The Wire’s” older brother, “Homicide: Life on the Street”, was also smart and willing to let storylines slow cook.
I’ve never seen “Deadwood” but that description makes me want to at the first opportunity!
In order to not say exactly the same, I’m going to put Deadwood first. It required intellectual effort to understand the motivations of people from what they said, but things always made sense.
I’m not sure what would be number three. Perhaps Death Note, at least until […] dies.
Homicide, Deadwood, Key: The Metal Idol, The Sandbaggers, and Breaking Bad.
If anyone seriously says Big Bang Theory I will build an alligator pit just to dump you all in.
Although I wouldn’t claim it as the smartest TV show ever, Arrested Development is one of the most clever (if not exactly of high intellect) comedies I’ve seen.
If by “smart” one were to mean “an awful lot of thought and subtlety went into the writing and construction of each and every episode,” then I would nominate Mad Men.
Oh yeah. I’ve only seen the first two seasons so far, but I second your nomination.
Aren’t most story-based TV shows, indeed, most fiction of any kind,written by English majors these days? (No doubt there are lots of exceptions, but even so, most.) I think why most people become English majors is that they want to be writers. Most won’t make it, but some do.
If you go back in the history of TV, The Dick Van Dyke Show was so far above its contemporaries in both script quality and sophistication that it really stood alone in its era.
There are more shows today that have smarts, but I’m willing to argue that judged in its own class, DVD was the smartest show of all time.
Homicide and The Sandbaggers, definitely.
There’s also the short-lived British series Star Cops, which is the most scientifically accurate science fiction show ever on TV (a low bar, but still…)
Hill Street Blues
The first two seasons of Hu$tle.
QI from BBC. A very smart quiz show… except all the contestants are comedians and score keeping is vague and not related to any prizes.
This article from The New York Times is a few years old but it goes into how the complex interlocking plot threads of shows like Hill Street Blues and The Sopranos demands more attention and patience from the viewing audience.
I’m going with the show that often referenced ancient philosophers, classics of literature, sociological and psychological theorems: Monty Python’s Flying Circus!
We can count in quiz shows from the BBC? How about Only Connect? Holy cow, from what I’ve seen it’s very difficult and exciting, in its quiet, nail-biting way. And the players are a brainy, brainy bunch. Very enjoyable to watch.