Best TV Shows of the Decade and Maybe of All Time, Who Knows

[Matt]

[Lost] is still most likely going to go down in history as the best television show of this decade, and one of the best ever, and I still think that distinction is justified.

Thanks for your reasoned post that puts a lot into perspective. As big a fan as I am of this show, though, I'd have a very hard time putting it ahead of The Wire and Arrested Development, mainly because of its failure to live up to its ambitions.

[Zumpano]

Can we agree that this was the best network dramatic series? Possibly ever? It's not likely we'll see a similar series come down the pipe anytime soon (if ever...)

[mfunk9786]

I'll throw my hat in the ring for that distinction.

[domino harvey]

Homicide, Veronica Mars, first four seasons of West Wing, &c

[Murdoch]

Not best network drama ever since Twin Peaks is still top of its class, but I'll call it the best network drama not to be canceled.

[mfunk9786]

first four seasons of West Wing

Oh that's a cop-out, if we're using that logic one could say "First season-and-a-half of Twin Peaks," or "First season of Heroes," etc

Domino, even with the declining quality of the second and third seasons, you think Veronica Mars is up there with the best network television dramas ever? I'm not jumping all over you, I just think that's interesting. I mean, it was really good for a while and all, but

[domino harvey]

West Wing post-Sorkin is essentially an elaborate fanfic, the series ended when he left.

Domino, even with the declining quality of the second and third seasons, you think Veronica Mars is up there with the best network television dramas ever? I'm not jumping all over you, I just think that's interesting. I mean, it was really good for a while and all, but

There's a drop in the third season but I'm an apologist for it regardless. Second season rivals the first. And yes, I still think it's probably the best

[John Cope]

This nearly gave me an epileptic seizure but it's funny as hell and dead on; it should also be evidence enough for why this is most definitively NOT the best network drama ever.

[mfunk9786]

West Wing post-Sorkin is essentially an elaborate fanfic, the series ended when he left.

See: Twin Peaks after Laura's killer is revealed and before the series' final episode. (the span of the series that prevents me from saying it's network television's best drama of all time)

[Polybius]

Absolutely no fucking way that I will ever be a party to any such agreement.

It was fun, I'm glad I watched it but, ultimately, it was the dramatic equivalent of cotton candy.

[knives]

If we're keeping just to the US Twin Peaks, even with the season two drop off trounces Lost. That's not saying Lost is bad, but it's best moment is no where near Peaks, and Peaks worse moment is no where near Lost's. That's not to say that Twin Peaks is the best network drama ever though as I don't have the memory for West Wing, ect.
Assuming NHK, BBC, and like networks count in this little fit than I'd probably say something like Cowboy Bebop (okay, not really that dramatic) would be in the top spot.
It appears Polybius stole my next line of speech, so I'll just throw out The Prisoner as the right way to do what Lost did.

[Polybius]

It appears Polybius stole my next line of speech

Sorry, although I'm happy we're on the same wavelength.

The dichotomy of fandom that mfunk mentions is very much the case. Almost all of the defenses I've read and heard are of the "All our friends had happy endings!!" variety.

I wonder how much of a hoot Jin and Sun's little girl's life was?

I feel weird taking this position. I'm normally the guy who is more interested in character and dialogue than plot and linear story development, but this case was just, for reasons laid out with surgical precision in 90% of mfunk's post, something very different.

[Murdoch]

I don't think such a distinction between network and cable shows is necessarily warranted. If I had to make a top ten dramas on TV the only network shows with even a chance of making it would be Twin Peaks, Buffy, perhaps Lost although the decline in the last season was almost too much for me, and the original incarnation of the Twilight Zone. I don't really like TV drama though, it just strings you along until it runs out of steam.

[knives]

TZ counts as drama? Well that's the best thing that teevee has ever produced. Also I think everyone agree a distinction between cable and network is needed, though I do have problems with how that distinction works in places outside the US and Canada.
As to your last sentence, agreed 100%. That's why I care for Japanese and English shows much more than American ones. Just take a look at the two offices and I don't think anyone would have to say more. I have that same issue with comics to the degree I have all but given up on them.

[mfunk9786]

Considering that the characters, stories, locations (well, they were all technically taking place in... The Twilight Zone) changed every episode, I'm not sure that TZ would qualify for a spot in this discussion.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Assuming NHK, BBC, and like networks count in this little fit than I'd probably say something like Cowboy Bebop (okay, not really that dramatic) would be in the top spot.

I'd agree with that!

[Murdoch]

Considering that the characters, stories, locations (well, they were all technically taking place in... The Twilight Zone) changed every episode, I'm not sure that TZ would qualify for a spot in this discussion.

I didn't think it did, I included mostly because I was running out of shows.

[Robin Davies]

How did we get from "best TV shows of the decade" to "best TV shows of all time"?
Anyway the answer to the former is The Wire.
The answer to the latter is The Prisoner (the original of course. Dammit, I hate the fact that I now have to say that every time I refer to that mighty series. A pox on the pallid "remake"!)

[mfunk9786]

Because this newly-spun-off thread wasn't all that well named.

[Sloper]

The [best TV show of all time] is The Prisoner (the original of course)

Amen to that.

[godardslave]

I'm going with American Idol.

[James]

The Office (US) and Weeds.

[Murdoch]

The Office (US) and Weeds.

Weeds would make my list, one of the best comedies of the decade and the best satire of Middle America on TV. US Office went from bad to worse and has jumped the shark so many times someone should put it out of its misery.

[domino harvey]

If we're going all time, NewsRadio is line for line the funniest sitcom ever

[Highway 61]

My personal taste may be coloring my opinion somewhat, but I'd maintain that The Shield is easily the rival of The Wire and Arrested Development for the best of the decade. It suffers from some of the pitfalls of TV, like an ensemble that gets stretched too thin and b-stories that get repetitive, but I think the narrative arc across all seven seasons is as strong as anything television has ever given us. Plus, Michael Chiklis's performance is certainly among the greatest in TV history, if not the greatest. Walton Gogins is equally amazing, though only in the later seasons.

That said, if The Simpsons had ended after season eight or nine, there's no doubt in my mind that it would have gone down as the greatest television show of all time. Its fall has been agonizing to watch. It's certainly one of the most precipitous artistic declines across any medium.