The Simpsons 34 28.33%
Buffy 27 22.50%
Firefly 27 22.50%
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 24 20.00%
Seinfeld 24 20.00%
Arrested Development 23 19.17%
Battlestar Galactica 23 19.17%
Dexter 20 16.67%
Futurama 18 15.00%
Jeopardy! 18 15.00%
The Sopranos 17 14.17%
The Wire 16 13.33%
House 14 11.67%
M*A*S*H 14 11.67%
Doctor Who 13 10.83%
Lost 13 10.83%
The Twilight Zone 13 10.83%
The X-Files 13 10.83%
Deadwood 12 10.00%
Monty Python's Flying Circus 12 10.00%
South Park 12 10.00%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 120
If there’s already been a “Favorite Game Show” thread I haven’t noticed it, but somebody might like to start one. Just for the sake of naming the good ones, if nothing else. Might jog some memories.
The Sopranos was the Godfather of cable TV.
The Wire was so real and well written and acted.
The West Wing was another very well written and acted show.
My fav was Deadwood.
But I can not omit South Park which was one of my original reasons for ponying up for cable.
Eclectic tastes, for sure. I agree on the first four, and I have enjoyed South Park on several occasions. It just wore thin for me after a while and I stopped watching it. I think my problem is with animated shows, which explains my lack of enthusiasm for The Simpsons.
But who am I to agrue with the vast majority of Voters here?
We are exactly halfway to the number of voters who participated in the original poll of 51 shows. Here’s how we stand now versus the way the other poll finished. Shows below the 10% mark are excluded.
View Poll Results: Your Top Five Most Preferred TV Shows (Final Poll)
This poll will close on 07-15-2010 at 01:33 PM
The Simpsons 40 26.85%
Firefly 36 24.16%
Buffy 32 21.48%
Seinfeld 31 20.81%
Arrested Development 26 17.45%
Battlestar Galactica 26 17.45%
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 26 17.45%
Dexter 24 16.11%
Futurama 24 16.11%
Jeopardy! 23 15.44%
South Park 20 13.42%
House 19 12.75%
The Wire 19 12.75%
Big Bang Theory 18 12.08%
The Sopranos 18 12.08%
Deadwood 17 11.41%
Lost 17 11.41%
M*A*S*H 17 11.41%
Monty Python's Flying Circus 16 10.74%
The Twilight Zone 16 10.74%
The X-Files 16 10.74%
Mythbusters 15 10.07%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 149
View Poll Results: What is the Best TV Show of All Time?
The Simpsons 133 44.63%
M*A*S*H 79 26.51%
Seinfeld 76 25.50%
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 74 24.83%
Monty Python's Flying Circus 71 23.83%
Firefly 69 23.15%
The Twilight Zone 68 22.82%
The Wire 63 21.14%
The Sopranos 63 21.14%
Arrested Development 58 19.46%
Cheers 54 18.12%
All In The Family 52 17.45%
Fawlty Towers 50 16.78%
Buffy 49 16.44%
Futurama 48 16.11%
The West Wing 47 15.77%
Star Trek: TOS 46 15.44%
Doctor Who 46 15.44%
Star Trek: TNG 44 14.77%
NOVA 43 14.43%
Dick Van Dyke Show 41 13.76%
WKRP In Cincinnati 39 13.09%
Battlestar Galactica 38 12.75%
Northern Exposure 37 12.42%
Deadwood 34 11.41%
Lost 33 11.07%
Barney Miller 33 11.07%
Band of Brothers 31 10.40%
House 31 10.40%
The Bob Newhart Show 30 10.07%
The Office (Original -- UK) 30 10.07%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 298
I appear to have very ordinary tastes for the SDMB; I voted for Buffy, the Simpsons, The X-Files, Star Trek DS9, and Dexter. I would have voted for Firefly if I’d noticed it in the list, doh! Frasier comes very close, as do the other Star Treks.
Actually, it’s a funny list, for me - a mix of shows I really like and shows I’ve never seen a single episode of with not much in between.
That’s pretty much how it strikes me, too. If I were to make up my own Top 50 list of shows I have really liked over the years, especially the last ten years, I’m sure half the shows on this poll would be absent, and some shows that didn’t even get the first mention in the preliminary “data gathering” phases would be there.
The thing is that to come up with my own Top 50, I’d probably have to go to somebody’s list of shows to jog my memory.
It would make for a fun thread (after this poll closes maybe) to list shows you love that didn’t even make the poll.
I’m not surprised not to see a couple of my favorite shows on the list, because after all we all have different tastes. For the most part, though, the top-ranked shows are pretty much what I would expect the SDMB to pick. The only ones that I really expected to see make the final 50 (or whatever) that didn’t are The Shield (it seems to me I’ve seen a lot of dopers rave about this; then again I’m always mixing it up with “The Wire”), and The Mary Tyler Moore Show (just because it’s such a beloved show in general).
I concur with The Shield and if we had gone ahead and included all the shows from the three previous polls instead of just the trimmed down list for this “Final Poll” and had allowed a Top Fifteen instead of a Top Five for this voting, I would have included in my vote:
The Shield
Six Feet Under
Breaking Bad
Mad Men
In Treatment
Rome
Bones
Sons of Anarchy
Cosmos
Antiques Roadshow
Perhaps someone else will do a follow-up “Beyond the Final Poll” poll. If so, not only would I not object, but I would vote in it!
It’s just that I’ve done all I feel I should in this venture. It’s been fun, but I see no end in view.
Voting appears to be stalled out. Maybe getting this thread back in view will give it a kick.
Compare things after 60 Voters with the current standings (184).
View Poll Results: Your Top Five Most Preferred TV Shows (Final Poll)
This poll will close on 07-15-2010 at 01:33 PM
The Simpsons 20 33.33% (1)
Arrested Development 15 25.00% (5)
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 15 25.00% (6)
Buffy 14 23.33% (3)
Firefly 14 23.33% (2)
Dexter 13 21.67% (9)
Futurama 13 21.67% (8)
Seinfeld 11 18.33% (4)
The Sopranos 11 18.33% (12)
M*A*S*H 10 16.67% (15)
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 60.
The Simpsons 50 27.17%
Firefly 43 23.37%
Buffy 39 21.20%
Seinfeld 37 20.11%
Arrested Development 32 17.39%
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 32 17.39%
Battlestar Galactica 30 16.30%
Futurama 29 15.76%
Dexter 26 14.13%
Jeopardy! 24 13.04%
House 23 12.50%
The Sopranos 23 12.50%
South Park 23 12.50%
The Wire 23 12.50%
M*A*S*H 20 10.87%
Monty Python's Flying Circus 20 10.87%
The X-Files 20 10.87%
Big Bang Theory 19 10.33%
Deadwood 19 10.33%
The Twilight Zone 19 10.33%
The West Wing 19 10.33%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 184
Joss Whedon and Matt Groening together account for over 100% of the vote! OK, I know it doesn’t work that in a multiple choice poll. Still, pretty impressive for those two gents.
Here’s how things look at the 200 Voters point, versus the 60 Voters point. It’s pretty clear that the top shows are mostly staying where they were back then.
View Poll Results: Your Top Five Most Preferred TV Shows (Final Poll)
This poll will close on 07-15-2010 at 01:33 PM
The Simpsons 20 33.33% (1)
Arrested Development 15 25.00% (6)
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 15 25.00% (5)
Buffy 14 23.33% (3)
Firefly 14 23.33% (2)
Dexter 13 21.67% (9)
Futurama 13 21.67% (8)
Seinfeld 11 18.33% (4)
The Sopranos 11 18.33% (15)
M*A*S*H 10 16.67% (11)
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 60.
The Simpsons 55 27.50%
Firefly 46 23.00%
Buffy 45 22.50%
Seinfeld 38 19.00%
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 35 17.50%
Arrested Development 33 16.50%
Battlestar Galactica 30 15.00%
Futurama 30 15.00%
Dexter 26 13.00%
Jeopardy! 25 12.50%
M*A*S*H 25 12.50%
South Park 25 12.50%
The Wire 25 12.50%
House 24 12.00%
The Sopranos 23 11.50%
The X-Files 22 11.00%
Monty Python's Flying Circus 21 10.50%
The Twilight Zone 21 10.50%
The West Wing 21 10.50%
Big Bang Theory 20 10.00%
Deadwood 20 10.00%
Doctor Who 20 10.00%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 200
It’s also kind of interesting to note that in the current rankings, only one of the top 10 shows started on one of the “big 3” networks. Four were on the “fourth network,” three were on cable, one was on a “net-let” and one is syndicated.
I agree that that’s interesting! Perhaps you (or anyone) might arrange the shows in the entire poll by network, just to see where the favorites have come from. Without even seeing that breakdown, I can be pretty sure my favorite shows have been from HBO, Showtime, Fox, AMC, FX, and very few from the Big 3.
I wonder how that holds for others, but I’m not that familiar with the networks on most of the shows I don’t watch, or haven’t watched.
These days, the shows I try to see on the Big 3 would include:
CBS:
Medium
The Good Wife
The Mentalist
Survivor
Big Brother (summer only)
Flashpoint
ABC:
Grey’s Anatomy
There could be some I’m just not remembering, too. But the other non-premium shows I try to see are on Fox, FX, AMC and PBS.
Here’s a comparison between the rankings after the first 60 Voters and the latest after 225.
The Simpsons 20 33.33% (1)
Arrested Development 15 25.00% (6)
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 15 25.00% (5)
Buffy 14 23.33% (3)
Firefly 14 23.33% (2)
Dexter 13 21.67% (12)
Futurama 13 21.67% (7)
Seinfeld 11 18.33% (4)
The Sopranos 11 18.33% (14)
M*A*S*H 10 16.67% (10)
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 60.
The Simpsons 61 27.11%
Firefly 52 23.11%
Buffy 50 22.22%
Seinfeld 44 19.56%
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 39 17.33%
Arrested Development 35 15.56%
Battlestar Galactica 33 14.67%
Futurama 33 14.67%
The Wire 29 12.89%
Jeopardy! 28 12.44%
M*A*S*H 28 12.44%
Dexter 27 12.00%
South Park 26 11.56%
House 25 11.11%
The Sopranos 25 11.11%
The West Wing 25 11.11%
The Twilight Zone 24 10.67%
The X-Files 24 10.67%
Mythbusters 23 10.22%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 225.
Maybe someone can tell me: Does “Buffy” get dramatically better at some point? I finally succumbed to all the positive stuff I’ve heard about the show and started watching the series from the beginning. After three episodes I absolutely could not stand to watch another minute.
It wouldn’t be the first time a series started off lousy and eventually became great. If I had sat through the first season of ST:TNG I would have given up on it. Luckily, I didn’t pick up on it until Season 3 when the writers and actors had hit their stride. I disliked the Simpsons shorts on the Tracey Ullman Show too. So if you think Buffy went through that kind of metamorphosis, tell me what season to pick up the series and maybe I’ll try again.