EW: "10 All-Time Greatest TV Shows"

[JamesG]

10 All-Time Greatest TV Shows
by EW Staff
6/27/13


10. "Your Show of Shows" (1950-54)

The best-written, best-acted comedy/variety show in history, this showcase for Sid Caesar's fearless slapstick and endlessly inventive verbal frenzy was the first to perfect a now-lost genre.





9. "Mad Men" (2007-present)

An exquisitely textured retrodrama, "Men" isn't just about impeccably dressed ad execs selling the American dream — it's about the perils of secrets, success, and the struggle to lead an authentic life.





8. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997-2003)

Joss Whedon's poppy, profound cult saga starring Sarah Michelle Gellar is the best coming-of-age fantasy…ever?

Even Harry Potter wonders.





7. "The Andy Griffith Show" (1960-68)

This is television's consummate portrait of a rural idyll, with Griffith as the wisest, kindest, gentlest authority figure.

Don Knotts' jittery deputy helped pump up the laughs.





6. "All in the Family" (1971-79)

The notion of a lovable bigot was unheard-of until producer Norman Lear and actor Carroll O'Connor brought us Archie Bunker, a man who was endearing in his love for his wife, Edith (played to dingbat perfection by Jean Stapleton), and a role model...in how not to behave.





5. "The Sopranos" (1999-2007)

David Chase's landmark mobster drama introduced us to what has become a ubiquitous presence on TV: the antihero.

Whether you rooted for Mob boss Tony Soprano (the fearsomely intense James Gandolfini) or against him, you couldn't help but be riveted by him, no matter which family he was battling.





4. "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" (1970-77)

Only the greatest, most detailed portrayal of a single career woman in TV history. With laughs and guts, MTM established the paradigm of ''the workplace family.''

Moore proved to be one of the medium's finest straight-women as well as one of its most beautiful comedians.





3. "Seinfeld" (1989-1998)

Less the famous ''show about nothing'' than a show about the amusing, stressful, neurotic intricacies of friendship, "Seinfeld" converted Jerry Seinfeld's observational stand-up routines into hilarious universal truths about the banality of life, value-added with catchphrases (not that there's anything wrong with that).

The most endlessly rewatchable sitcom since "The Honeymooners".





2. "The Simpsons" (1989-present)

It became the gold standard of the subversive dysfunctional-family comedy — animated or live-action — when the focus was shifted early on from punky son Bart to dad Homer, an id-driven but bighearted manchild whose IQ is inversely proportional to his cholesterol levels.

''I'm in no condition to drive. Wait, I shouldn't listen to myself. I'm drunk!'' is stupidity at its smartest.





1. "The Wire" (2001-08)

The most sustained narrative in television history, "The Wire" used the drug trade in Baltimore, heavily researched by creator David Simon, to tell tales of race and class with unprecedented complexity. (Perhaps that's why the show never won a much-deserved Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series and earned only two nominations for writing.)

Politics, the war on drugs, labor unions, public education, the media — these were among the big themes, all examined through exquisitely drawn characters, such as the brilliant yet broken detective Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West) and the great avenging thug Omar Little (Michael K. Williams), who will live on in legend.

http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,2071....html#21225093

[Zoneboy]

Another joke of a list.

[Adamantium]

They call Seinfeld "the most endlessly rewatchable sitcom since The Honeymooners and yet The Honeymooners isn't on this list, lol.

Some of these shows I understand being on the list but not all and certainly not The Wire at #1!

[mets82]

The Wire? Really? The Simpsons should be on there. I dont know if it should be number 2 or a bit lower because the show isnt what is was in its heyday.

I think Seinfeld should maybe be number 1. A show about nothing. Classic. If you watch Seinfeld like I did, you notice it was all comedy, all the time. There wasnt a sad storyline or a sad episode. Very hard to do.

[PrettyinPink55]

Where's I Love Lucy? The Cosby Show?
This list is incomplete. There are so many greats they have left out!!
I've never seen The Wire, but I'm sure it's not the all-time greatest show to trump all shows!!

[JamesG]

Former Cast Members React to "The Wire" Being Named The Greatest TV Show Ever by EW
by Dalton Ross
7/1/13


The TV landscape has been filled with cultural touchstones beloved by an entire generation, but when Entertainment Weekly revealed its list of the 100 Greatest TV Shows Ever (as part of our current The 100 All-Time Greatest issue) it was not "The Simpsons", "Seinfeld", "The Sopranos", "Sex and the City", "Saturday Night Live" nor any other show that begins with the letter S that topped the list.

Instead it was a little-watched HBO drama that could not even crack 1 million viewers an episode for its final season.





Created by David Simon, "The Wire" started in 2002 as a tale of the Baltimore drug trade, but evolved over its five sensational seasons to tackle corruption in all departments of big city life — education, politics, and media included. And now it has been dubbed by EW the best TV show ever.

I happened to be on the set of "The Walking Dead" right as the news broke and was able to get reactions from two former "Wire" — and current "Walking Dead" — cast members: Lawrence Gilliard, Jr., who played doomed dealer D’Angelo Barksdale, and Chad Coleman, who was reformed killer Cutty.





So does it amaze Gilliard that a show that had such a hard time finding viewers when it was on is now receiving such accolades?

“It doesn’t amaze me,” says the man who will be joining "The Walking Dead" cast in season 4 as a new character named Bob Stookie.

“I knew when we were shooting the show, just reading it, when I read the first episode, I knew this is big. It’s different, it’s huge, it’s never been done. I just felt like I had to be on it. When I read the pilot, I thought, ‘I need to book this part. I need to get on this show.’”





Not only that, but it seems Gilliard is something of a seer.

“I remember the first season we actually did an interview and they asked me — I think it was for the DVDs or something like that — and they were asking me questions and I said, ‘In 20 years from now, The Wire is going to be the show that they will say was the best show on television that nobody watched.’ I was prophetic! I knew it was a big deal when we were doing it, and it was just a shame that people didn’t watch it when it was on. But everyone is catching up now, and it’s a big hit. I really loved being on that show. It was just a magical show — the cast, the crew, the writing, everything. That’s why it’s number one at EW.”





Although Gilliard and Coleman’s time did not overlap on the show due to D’Angelo’s tragic end in season 2 and Cutty not arriving until season 3, they both work together now on "The Walking Dead", and it was Gilliard who informed Coleman of "The Wire’s" number one position as word spread around the set the day the issue came out.

“I think that’s awesome,” says Coleman who now plays Tyreese on "The Walking Dead". “Lawrence just told me. That’s kick-ass, man. You know, it was like a slow-rolling wave. Finally, it got to a height. It’s had strange legs, that wave. The impact came after the storm.”





Coleman’s character Cutty was particularly beloved because he was a man trying his best to right the wrongs from his past by opening up a boxing gym to help keep kids off the street.

“That was a gift to play that role,” says Coleman. “To be able to represent African-American males, many who fight that battle and don’t make it to the other side, to be able to come on to the right side of the track and be able to help the community, that was huge. It was huge.”

http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/07/01/th...-chad-coleman/

[DVDLover]

Terrible list

What about X-Files, Star Trek Next Generation, ER? There is alot of great shows that are not listed and is that all they can think of?

[Mrs. Ducky]

Not the worst list I've seen. I've yet to watch The Wire, but many of my friends and professors swear that it's the greatest show they've ever seen. Apparently it has a lot of depth and amazing symbolism.
It's also interesting that Your Show of Shows made the top ten but I Love Lucy did not.