Best TV Series of All-Time: 5 Drama/5 Comedy

[Dattier]

If you're putting together a list of your top 5 shows of all time I think it should go without saying that the show has to be brilliant from start to finish of it's run. there's no way you should be including a show that fizzled out at the end.

What about a show that had a down season somewhere in the middle of its run?

I'd say it's relative. If a show was your very, very favorite, it might be able to withstand a bad series finale. It might be the tie-breaker that works against another show, though. I thought the finale of The Sopranos was a cop-out, for example, but the show was so strong overall it stays in my top 5.

Interesting question: What shows do you think had the best finishes?

For me, off the top of my head it's Breaking Bad and The Shield. Those two had perfect endings...especially the Shield with the ironic ending of the Vic Mackey's character.

Breaking Bad, M*A*S*H

 

[Big_Blue79]

If you're putting together a list of your top 5 shows of all time I think it should go without saying that the show has to be brilliant from start to finish of it's run. there's no way you should be including a show that fizzled out at the end.

I think it's much more important for a drama than a comedy. You could truncate The Office after, what, 6 seasons and it's still a great show. Or The Simpsons - who cares what the 2005 episodes were like? Most comedies fizzle out because ultimately they're investments that are pushed until they no longer yield a profit. Should Arrested Development get bonus points for having crappy ratings? No.

 

[jhmossy]

Weighted for peak performance, tried not to deduct too much for holding on too long.

Dramas:

• The Wire
• Game of Thrones
• The Leftovers
• Battlestar Galactica
• Breaking Bad

Comedies:

• The Simpsons
• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
• Parks and Recreation
• The Office
• Arrested Development

On the cusp: 30 Rock, The Americans (have only watched 3 seasons), Veep (haven't seen enough episodes), Curb (same), Seinfeld (aged poorly), Sopranos (didn't watch when relevant, feels aged now).

Not even close: anything by Aaron Sorkin.

And Band of Brothers is a miniseries, not a TV show, or it makes the list and bumps Battlestar.

Excellent call on Veep. Can’t believe that show slipped my mind when making my list.

 

[lurkeraspect84]

Excellent call on Veep. Can’t believe that show slipped my mind when making my list.

Veep is good, but not top 5 all time. Although some of her dresses she wears are top 10.

 

[Tampa_cat54]

Not even close: anything by Aaron Sorkin.

This is bizarre to me!

Aaron Sorkin:
West Wing (one of the best TV shows of all-time, both on ratings and viewership)
The Newsroom (Award winning TV series)
Moneyball (great movie)
The Social Network (great movie)
Charlie Wilson's War (great movie)
A Few Good Men (great movie)

Sorkin is responsible for the famous line "You can't handle the truth!" from a Few Good Men, one of the most iconic movie scenes in history.

But nothing he does is even close?

Sorkin is extremely talented, and just about everything he has touched has succeeded.

 

[Big_Blue79]

This is bizarre to me!

Aaron Sorkin:
West Wing (one of the best TV shows of all-time, both on ratings and viewership)
The Newsroom (Award winning TV series)
Moneyball (great movie)
The Social Network (great movie)
Charlie Wilson's War (great movie)
A Few Good Men (great movie)

Sorkin is responsible for the famous line "You can't handle the truth!" from a Few Good Men, one of the most iconic movie scenes in history.

But nothing he does is even close?

Sorkin is extremely talented, and just about everything he has touched has succeeded.

I was thinking of his TV shows. The Newsroom might be the single worst show I've ever seen; I wanted to like it, but Jeff Daniels can only do so much. Everyone else on that show was just awful. And it's one of the few HBO dramas to fail despite a tailor-made audience. Golden touch! West Wing I have less familiarity with, but I could never get into it and it suffered from the same terrible dialogue issues as The Newsroom. Has he ever seen people actually talk to each other? It's Gilmore Girls level bad, but it takes itself seriously. And Sports Night? Junk.

His movies are solid but irrelevant here. Social Network (terrific movie), Moneyball (bleh, and much worse than the book) and Charlie Wilson's War (okay but forgettable) were adaptations of books. A Few Good Men is a terrific movie precisely because it's over the top ridiculous, like a well-produced cousin of The Room. That works for movies because in small doses it's fun. We go home, work in a few choice quotes with family and friends, and then flush out the rest like a well-crafted dump. But for a TV show where it's purportedly reflective of how things can/should/do work (i.e. not comparing it to things like GoT)? Nauseating.

 

[MOX-MOX]

.

 

[anon_0astpxev9h4gk]

What are you watching? Kevin Hart? I can get if the humor doesn't appeal to someone but that show is nowhere close or anyway similar to anything Kevin Hart has done.

Wasn’t relating the two, just correlating facts that a lot of people find each funny, I don’t.

 

[mebeblue2]

I've probably watched 5 total dramas..
I liked Weeds
And the last three seasons of Sons of Anarchy
I'm currently on Shameless..?

I bore easy.

Comedies are easier
Bob's Burgers
Parks and Rec
Friends
Who's Line..
Mama's Family

Shameless is great
Frank makes the show

 

[KisteK]

I've probably watched 5 total dramas..
I liked Weeds
And the last three seasons of Sons of Anarchy
I'm currently on Shameless..?

I bore easy.

Comedies are easier
Bob's Burgers
Parks and Rec
Friends
Who's Line..
Mama's Family
Married with Children

 

[Danger 35 Zone]

Not top 5, but I do really miss the League. Jon Lajoie was hilarious in it.

 

[Up State Jacket]

Comedy- 1. Seinfeld , 2. Cheers, 3. Ren and Stempy, 4. 90's-early in 2000's SNL, 5. Beavis and Buthead.

Drama- 1. Sopranos, 2. Miami Vice, 3. Walking Dead , 4. Oj trial, 5. Burn Notice.

 

[keeler932]

Gunsmoke
Hill Street Blues
Sopranos
Killing. Eve
Billions

 

[KDcats11]

Not really an all-timer, but Silicon Valley is pretty funny.

 

[829305]

Not really an all-timer, but Silicon Valley is pretty funny.

I have tears of laughter at some moment in nearly every episode. I always say it’s Entourage with nerds, and funny as shit. Way better than Entourage imo. Entourage grew old and dopey.

 

[829305]

Shameless is great
Frank makes the show

Shameless is great. Top 10 dramedy

 

[LetsGoDuke301]

Shameless is great. Top 10 dramedy

We started it from the beginning again on Netflix. They crammed so many events into the first and second seasons, first especially, that it is amazing that they have been able to live up to it's title for so long. It is the one show that you can describe just by saying the name of the show, Shameless. I often say out loud that Frank has no shame and of course my wife has to say, well, the name of the show IS Shameless.

 

[CardinalBoiler]

Drama
The Wire
The Sopranos
Game of Thrones
Breaking Bad
The Shield

Comedy
Seinfeld
The Office
Curb Your Enthusiasm
East Bound and Down
Cheers

Beat that.

Drama
1. The Wire
2. Breaking Bad
3. The Sopranos
4. Mad Men
5. The West Wing

6. Better Call Saul
7. Friday Night Lights
8. Game of Thrones
9. The Good Wife
10. Luther

Comedy
1. Veep
2. Parks & Rec
3. The Office
4. New Girl
5. Friends

6. 30 Rock
7. Community
8. Seinfeld
9. Modern Family
10. Master of None

 

[Scotty00]

Andy Griffith
Married With Children

That is all!

 

[ExitFlagger]

No Twin Peaks? The original was great until it went off the rails about halfway through season 2. The new series was good too, but not for everybody.

Felt like Curb became the most popular comedy in the world overnight. The average person didn't know or care about it til this past season. Suddenly there are references everywhere you turn.

 

[TheDude1]

No Twin Peaks? The original was great until it went off the rails about halfway through season 2. The new series was good too, but not for everybody.

Felt like Curb became the most popular comedy in the world overnight. The average person didn't know or care about it til this past season. Suddenly there are references everywhere you turn.

Wait... what? The average person didn’t know or care about Curb? Do you mean Curb Your Enthusiasm? That’s nuts. It was the best comedy on tv from seasons 1 to 5,and hugely popular... more so than now, for sure. This last season was terrible.

 

[TheDude1]

Btw... The Wire, Sopranos, Band of Brothers, Breaking Bad... all great.

A few real head scratchers being thrown out here.

 

[ExitFlagger]

Wait... what? The average person didn’t know or care about Curb? Do you mean Curb Your Enthusiasm? That’s nuts. It was the best comedy on tv from seasons 1 to 5,and hugely popular... more so than now, for sure. This last season was terrible.

I don't know the ratings, but in my experience it seemed like a huge new batch of fans crawled out of the woodwork this past season.

Season 9 had a few duds but some classics too.

 

[GE Nole]

Drama
The Wire
The Sopranos
Game of Thrones
Breaking Bad
The Shield

Comedy
Seinfeld
The Office
Curb Your Enthusiasm
East Bound and Down
Cheers

Beat that.

I’ve never seen the Shield, but everything else on your list is spot on...except for Curb. Larry David is just grating.

Replace The Shield with The Killing and Curb with Family Guy

 

[GE Nole]

Strongly agree on both bold. I still like Seinfeld and rank it in my top 5 all-time, but it hasn't aged well. It's not one I've tried to introduce to my kids, which I will do w/ other classics.

That’s weird. I feel exactly the opposite about Seinfeld. Think it holds up very well for being 20-27 years old.

 

[GE Nole]

Not really an all-timer, but Silicon Valley is pretty funny.

Jin Yang!

Jared makes the show, however.

 

[GE Nole]

Drama
1. The Wire
2. Breaking Bad
3. The Sopranos
4. Mad Men
5. The West Wing

6. Better Call Saul
7. Friday Night Lights
8. Game of Thrones
9. The Good Wife
10. Luther

Comedy
1. Veep
2. Parks & Rec
3. The Office
4. New Girl
5. Friends

6. 30 Rock
7. Community
8. Seinfeld
9. Modern Family
10. Master of None

You would fit in very well in our household.

But GoT at 8?! Say whaaaaat?

Also, I’m starting to believe that Better Call Saul will end up above Breaking Bad for me.

And how about Downton Abbey? I know I’m not the only guy on this board who really liked that show...

 

[GE Nole]

Shameless is great. Top 10 dramedy

Shameless is very solid.

You know what else is a fantastic dramedy? Chuck.

 

[CardinalBoiler]

You would fit in very well in our household.

But GoT at 8?! Say whaaaaat?

Also, I’m starting to believe that Better Call Saul will end up above Breaking Bad for me.

And how about Downton Abbey? I know I’m not the only guy on this board who really liked that show...

GoT is such a hard one to evaluate for me because of it's reliance of huge action scenes and it being the only one on my drama list that's an adaptation.

I'm totally with you on BCS. I think one or two more seasons on the same trajectory and it will probably be top four at least.

I actually haven't watched Downton Abbey yet. It's in my queue, along with getting caught up on The Americans, The Shield, and Justified.

What five would you go with in each category?

 

[GE Nole]

GoT is such a hard one to evaluate for me because of it's reliance of huge action scenes and it being the only one on my drama list that's an adaptation.

I'm totally with you on BCS. I think one or two more seasons on the same trajectory and it will probably be top four at least.

I actually haven't watched Downton Abbey yet. It's in my queue, along with getting caught up on The Americans, The Shield, and Justified.

What five would you go with in each category?

Honestly, my 5 change over time as my moods change. Especially for comedies. But I’ll go with:

Drama:
1. The Wire
2. Game is Thrones (that action scenes are part of what make it fantastic)
3. The Killing
4. Breaking Bad
5. Mad Men

6. Downton Abbey
7. Better Call Saul
8. The Americans
9. House of Cards (was much higher until the last season really jumped the shark)
10. Boardwalk Empire

Things like Broadchurch, Homeland, Ray Donovan, Stranger Things, and Bosch could jump up into the rankings depending on the month or how they finish. Sneaky Pete is impressing me as well, but still too early.

Comedies:
1. Seinfeld
2. The Office
3. Family Guy
4. Parks and Rec
5. Fresh Prince

6. Eastbound and Down
7. Friends
8. Workaholics
9. New Girl
10. Everybody Loves Raymond

My wife loves Always Sunny, but Charlie Day’s voice grinds my gears. Things like Frazier, Cheers, Modern Family, Will and Grace (original version), That 70s Show, and 30Rock could all be top 10 at times. So could others I’m probably forgetting. Silicon Valley was headed to top 10 but then TJ miller quit and it ended.

Honorable mention to the Steve Harvey version of Family Fued. It’s a game show but that show is hilarious. And Chuck is the best Dramedy.

I’ve never seen Veep. Sounds like I should?