The 101 Best Written TV Series

This week the Writers Guild of America released their list of the “101 Best Written TV Series.”

Presumably this was a straight vote among the guild’s members (many of whom have been or currently are creators & staffers of many of the fine programs mentioned on this list). And I say presumably because there are several ties.

And with almost half of the series mentioned this list airing on American television during the last twenty years, the voters either have short-term memories or TV writing has really entered its golden age.

The entire list is listed on the WGA website but let’s consider the top 30 here.

1. The Sopranos
2. Seinfeld
3. The Twilight Zone
4. All in the Family
5. M*A*S*H
6. The Mary Tyler Moore Show
7. Mad Men
8. Cheers
9. The Wire
10. The West Wing
11. The Simpsons
12. I Love Lucy
13. Breaking Bad
14. The Dick Van Dyke Show
15. Hill Street Blues
16. Arrested Development
17. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
18. Six Feet Under
19. Taxi
20. The Larry Sanders Show
21. 30 Rock
22. Friday Night Lights
23. Frasier
24. Friends
25. Saturday Night Live
26. The X-Files
27. Lost
28. ER
29. The Cosby Show
30. Curb Your Enthusiasm

By its very nature, a numbered list of quality programs, even amassed by experts in their field, still leaves plenty of room for interpretation and scrutiny… and maybe even scorn.

Now you might argue with the final order but you really can’t argue that the top ten TV shows don’t deserve to be there. I do, however, have problems further down the list.

Personally, I would move Homeland up from its 48th spot, thanks to its weekly twists and turns. I would also move up the UK version of The Office from its tie in 50th and Fawlty Towers from its tie in 58th tie while blaming American bias against its British comedy forebears.

And I would punish NYPD Blue in its 36th position for weekly allowing hardened criminals to confess their crimes to Dennis Franz simply because he grew agitated with them in the interrogation room.

Plus why is Saturday Night Live at 25th even on this list? Because two sketches out of its ninety minute show actually makes you smile? What about the other eighty minutes of forgettable filler?

You might disagree with that. But that’s okay. That’s what lists are for: to admire and argue and defend.

Some other things worth mentioning:

Clearly, unsatisfying series finales didn’t harm the lofty positions of some of these shows. The Sopranos at #1 had one of the most polarizing endings ever. The fade-to-black ending inside the New Jersey restaurant was either ambiguous or open-ended at best – or a complete cop-out because David Chase couldn’t come up with a better conclusion.

Then there was Seinfeld at #2. After nine seasons of laughs and catch phrases, the sitcom about nothing ended on a sour note when Larry David condemned the bad but hilarious behaviour of his four stars by sending them to jail.

And how great was NBC? Sure, it’s the #4 network now but you have to marvel at its former track record in the 80s and 90s with Seinfeld, Cheers, The West Wing, Hill Street Blues, 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights, Frasier, Friends, Saturday Night Live, ER, and The Cosby Show. That’s 11 modern shows in the top 30!

ABC? Two. Taxi (which ran on the network for four years before finishing on NBC for its final season) and Lost (who at #27 might have placed higher if Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse didn’t produce such a frustrating 6th season where they were clearly more infatuated with their parallel purgatory storyline rather than address the many mysteries they had feverishly introduced during its first five seasons).

Fox fared slightly better than ABC with three modern shows in the top 30: The Simpsons, Arrested Development, and The X-Files. But where is CBS, America’s current #1 network? You have to scroll all the way down to 50th place to find The Good Wife!

Again it must be said that these are the top 101 TV shows of all-time in terms of writing and not audience mass appeal. The top seven scripted shows of the 2011/12 season were NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, The Mentalist, Person of Interest, and Criminal Minds – all on CBS. And I’m sure CBS is much more interested in that list than the one created by the voting members of the Writers Guild of America.

For more lists regarding movies and television, check out:

https://www.johnmeyerbooks.com/12-movies-for-12-days-of-christmas/

https://www.johnmeyerbooks.com/top-10-disturbing-things/

https://www.johnmeyerbooks.com/top-5-movies-that-make-me-cry/