The 101 Best Written TV Shows of All-Time

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PapaG

PapaG

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1. THE SOPRANOS
Created by David Chase
"A mobster in therapy, having problems with his mother," was how The Sopranos initially sparked, according to creator David Chase, though he was thinking about the premise for a feature film... READ MORE


2. SEINFELD
Created by Larry David & Jerry Seinfeld
At the end of Seinfeld’s run, Jerry Seinfeld commented that one of the more underrated aspects of his show was the number of its locations and sets, creating a sense of indoor-outdoor movement... READ MORE


3. THE TWILIGHT ZONE
Season One writers: Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson, Robert Presnell, Jr., Rod Serling
No show in the history of television has lingered in the imagination quite like Rod Serling’s anthology series... READ MORE


4. ALL IN THE FAMILY
Developed for Television by Norman Lear, Based on Till Death Do Us Part, Created by Johnny Speight
Asked how he’d been able to be so controversial on All in the Family, creator Norman Lear said in 2009: “I don’t really know how to explain it...” READ MORE


5. M*A*S*H
Developed for Television by Larry Gelbart
M*A*S*H remains the only long-running series, comedy or drama, set around a war zone... READ MORE


6. THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW
Created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns
The MTM brand, under Moore and then-husband Grant Tinker, was responsible for an iconic run of comedies (and dramas) in the 1970s, beginning with The Mary Tyler Moore Show... READ MORE


7. MAD MEN
Created by Matthew Weiner
Matt Weiner wrote the Mad Men pilot nearly a decade before it found a home as the first scripted drama at AMC, where the series debuted in the summer of 2007... READ MORE


8. CHEERS
Created by Glen Charles & Les Charles and James Burrows
The qualities that made The Mary Tyler Moore Show a seminal sitcom in the 1970s gave Cheers the same importance to the ’80s... READ MORE


9. THE WIRE
Created by David Simon
No series, arguably, is more responsible for the novelistic ambitions possible for television writers now... READ MORE


10. THE WEST WING
Created by Aaron Sorkin
“The people who get angry at us on one Wednesday night will be standing up and cheering the next Wednesday night,” Aaron Sorkin
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BB could be Top 5 if the second half of the final season is as good as I think it will be.

13. BREAKING BAD

Created by Vince Gilligan

READ A LIST OF THE SHOW’S CREDITED WRITERS

Aired: AMC, 2008-Present

Creator Vince Gilligan said he was joking with Tom Schnauz that the two former X-Files writers might have to rent an RV and cook crystal meth if their stalled Hollywood careers didn’t turn around. From the quip came a character who wouldn’t leave Gilligan’s imagination: Walter White, an undone Everyman – a high school chemistry teacher in dire health, with money problems, who partners up with an ex-failing student to produce and sell the finest meth in New Mexico. “As we were talking,” Gilligan recalled to the WGAW Web site of his conversation with Schnauz, “the idea for this character just kind of popped into my head. It was that proverbial lightning strike. It felt unusual because that doesn’t happen for me.” Still, the concept met with plenty of resistance. “If I’d spent too much time thinking about how tough it was going to be to sell, I might have psyched myself out of even trying.”

Vince Gilligan on the unexpected lessons he learned from writing Breaking Bad
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Fez Hammersticks said:
Mad Men over Breaking Bad?!

No.
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I agree, and Mad Men has become a bit stale this season. Too many story lines. Still a great show, but the first 3 seasons were much better than the recent seasons.
 
The first couple of years of Married With Children.
 
Pretty much all my favorite shows, past and present, are on that list. I love a well written show with a strong ensemble cast.

My current favorites are Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire. I've always been a huge Arrested Development fan, and despite some criticism (post in another thread) of the first 3 episodes, I am thoroughly enjoying season 4 - it just keeps getting better. Mad Men is so well written. The story lines were obviously diagrammed several seasons in advanced, as they all tie together without being predictable. The character development is also first rate.

Never missed an episode of St. Elsewhere back in the day. It was my favorite TV show at the time and highly underrated and overlooked. Glad to see it made the list. Another past favorite was Freaks and Geeks. I have the entire series on DVD and have watched it repeatedly with my kids. Absolutely loved the first three seasons of Northern Exposure, but it went downhill when Joshua Brand and John Falsey got distracted with other projects.

BNM
 
PapaG said:
I agree, and Mad Men has become a bit stale this season. Too many story lines. Still a great show, but the first 3 seasons were much better than the recent seasons.
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I just started watching Mad Men on DVD less than 2 months ago. My girlfriend turned me onto the show. I just finished the 3rd season on Friday and started watching season 4 last night. The final episode of season 3 was great. Haven't seen any of the current season yet.

BNM
 
Boob-No-More said:
I just started watching Mad Men on DVD less than 2 months ago. My girlfriend turned me onto the show. I just finished the 3rd season on Friday and started watching season 4 last night. The final episode of season 3 was great. Haven't seen any of the current season yet.

BNM
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It's still a great show. I watched it last night over Game of Thrones, which I'll watch tonight. Of course, I've read all of the GoT books, so it's not like that show can surprise me like Mad Men.
 
Mary Hartman Mary Hartman
Fernwood Tonight
Perry Mason
Batman
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
Bonanza
Second City TV
Doctor Who
Leave it to Beaver
 
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46. HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET

Homicide was based on the book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, written by David Simon from his time as a crime reporter at The Baltimore Sun. The book was given to Barry Levinson for a possible feature adaptation; Levinson, in turn, gave it to Tom Fontana to make into a TV series. Simon would go on to create The Wire, a more strictly serialized crime series set in inner-city Baltimore, but he cut his TV writing teeth working under Fontana on Homicide. “I think we’re more schlub-like than most shows and I think there’s something crudely appealing about that,” Simon noted in Written By, back when Homicide was in its second, critically acclaimed season.



One of the best cop shows ever.
 
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