101 Best Written TV Series

Jason P · June 2013

A pretty solid list by the writer's guild.

http://wga.org/content/default.aspx?id=4925

There are some notable exclusions, namely The Dukes of Hazzard and The A-Team are nowhere to be found.

Top 10

1 Sopranos
2 Seinfeld
3 The Twilight Zone
4 All in the Family
5 MASH
6 The Mary Tyler Moore Show
7 Mad Men
8 Cheers
9 The Wire (still have not watch an episode)
10 The West Wing

follow the link for the rest ...

LloydXmas · June 2013

Cool. Thanks for providing a summary. Some of those lists are annoying. I really have to watch the wife. May e after dexter season 7

pjhawks · June 2013

like most of those shows but I got to vote for M.A.S.H. as the best written. none of those other shows listed did both comedy and drama at such a high of level as M.A.S.H. did. amazing show, funny as hell but serious at times as well.

PureandEasy · June 2013

Love that the West Wing made the top 10, loved that show

Jason P · June 2013

Star Trek at 31?

Heck, the A-Team should have made the top 100 if Star Trek is at 31. :fp:

Jason P · June 2013

The only downfall of M.A.S.H. is that they were supposed to be fighting a war that took place in 1950 ... yet everyone had a 70's hairdo.

:fp:

jamburger · June 2013

Jason P wrote:

The only downfall of M.A.S.H. is that they were supposed to be fighting a war that took place in 1950 ... yet everyone had a 70's hairdo.

:fp:

That, and it ran 4x longer than the actual war did.

No NewsRadio or Sports Night on this list?

BinauralJam · June 2013

No Firefly :(

cubBEE_girl · June 2013

I'm happy to see Twin Peaks made the list.

JonnyPistachio · June 2013

If the Joy of Painting with Bob Ross is not on there, I fully intend to do a naked fasting protest.

PJ_Soul · June 2013

Jason P wrote:

The only downfall of M.A.S.H. is that they were supposed to be fighting a war that took place in 1950 ... yet everyone had a 70's hairdo.

:fp:

When it was originally airing, it was apparently hard to find anyone in the general public who didn't think it was about the Vietnam war.

PJ_Soul · June 2013

cubBEE_girl wrote:

I'm happy to see Twin Peaks made the list.

I've got the whole series on VHS tape.

ldent42 · June 2013

BinauralJam wrote:

No Firefly :(

if firefly isnt on this list then the list has no credibility. But yay West Wing. i still havent watched the last two episodes.

Edit: There's actually a lot of good shows on that list. Including Buffy. So. I think the Firefly thing might have been an oversight.

PJ_Soul · June 2013

The list reminded me to see if Northern Exposure is in reruns right now. That show is awesome.

Enkidu · June 2013

I was surprised to see Band of Brothers so far down on the list. Maybe because it was a mini-series. That might be the best written show I've ever seen on TV. (I, Claudius isn't bad either.) I'll look again to see if Jewel in the Crown is there - wow, that was great, too.

The top ten seems great. (I still have never seen The Wire either. Whoops.)

LukinFan · June 2013

Curb at 30? I didn't think Curb was "written"

intodeep · June 2013

Lets be honest...
Any list that does not start with the wire at number one is flawed. :nono:

I think in 5 years if this is made Breaking Bad easily slips into the top 10

I can understand leaving Firefly off. It only had one season and when it was shown on TV out of order it wasn't exactly the best view of it.

Glad Battlestar is on there.

where is DR WHO?? It is a genre defining show that ran for over 20 straight years and then was started up again and continues to have sucess.

Game of Thrones and Downton Abbey in the 40's seems a little low on the list considering we need to see how they end and where they go. (not bashing them i'm a BIG fan of both but they could start to suck)

Jason P · June 2013

I'm OK with where Game of Thrones is on the list. It may even be too high even though it is a great show. But it's based on a book so it pretty much writes itself. There are a few plot lines that differ from the books, but I'd say 90% of it follows it word for word.

MayDay10 · June 2013

"Best Written" adds an extra murky layer of subjectivity. I couldnt tell you because I confuse "Best Written" with "Best" with my "Favorites".

cubBEE_girl · June 2013

PJ_Soul wrote:

cubBEE_girl wrote:

I'm happy to see Twin Peaks made the list.

I've got the whole series on VHS tape.

So, do I and Laura Palmer's diary.

Jason P · June 2013

I would have to add Futurama to this list, especially if The Simpsons are at #11. That show is super clever and funny.

ldent42 · June 2013

intodeep wrote:

where is DR WHO?? It is a genre defining show that ran for over 20 straight years and then was started up again and continues to have sucess.

This was my second thought after Firefly. The reason I can understand leaving Who off is because of the sheer scope of it. And not all Who was created equal. They split Star Trek up by the series on that list, Who doesn't do that, so it would make it kind of awkward to really rate.

Doctor Who still wins in my book :P

MayDay10 · June 2013

Jason P wrote:

I would have to add Futurama to this list, especially if The Simpsons are at #11. That show is super clever and funny.

Yeah, I agree. I would argue that it is better-written, but the Simpsons has so much material and longevity. Its great how those shows start in one direction, and get slingshotted into the actual unrelated plot.

Mr Show with Bob and David should have been on the list. That show is the Apex of comedy IMO

intodeep · June 2013

duska3419 wrote:

intodeep wrote:

where is DR WHO?? It is a genre defining show that ran for over 20 straight years and then was started up again and continues to have sucess.

This was my second thought after Firefly. The reason I can understand leaving Who off is because of the sheer scope of it. And not all Who was created equal. They split Star Trek up by the series on that list, Who doesn't do that, so it would make it kind of awkward to really rate.

Doctor Who still wins in my book :P

Doctor Who always wins because he is cool Thus he has a Fez

shep · June 2013

Glad to see Arrested Development in there at 16. Such a great show, I was afraid it was going to get overlooked...

one that needs to be on there what is conspicuously missing is Californication... the writing in that show is spectacular.

I could argue about the positioning of a lot of shows, but I do want to say this... Based shearly on the terrible way the writers elected to end the Soprano's, I'd knock it out of the number one spot... that ending almost ruined the whole series for me...

And where's Bubbles, Ricky and Julian??

Jason P · June 2013

shep wrote:

I could argue about the positioning of a lot of shows, but I do want to say this... Based shearly on the terrible way the writers elected to end the Soprano's, I'd knock it out of the number one spot... that ending almost ruined the whole series for me...

And where's Bubbles, Ricky and Julian??

Yeah, that ending sucked. Add in the random dream sequence episodes each season and that's a two spot penalty. :geek:

Also ... I am the liquor.

MayDay10 · June 2013

The Sopranos IMO was great the 1st 2 seasons and would deserve consideration for top 5.
Then the Italian-American community got up in arms and the show seemed to bog down a ton. There were too many loose ends/events that vanished. The show didnt seem to take me anywhere. The demise of some characters was anti-climactic. Then the ending was awful IMO. The entire reason I hung on for the final 3 seasons was to see what happens to Tony. Then to do that was awful.

PJ_Soul · June 2013

MayDay10 wrote:

The Sopranos IMO was great the 1st 2 seasons and would deserve consideration for top 5.
Then the Italian-American community got up in arms and the show seemed to bog down a ton. There were too many loose ends/events that vanished. The show didnt seem to take me anywhere. The demise of some characters was anti-climactic. Then the ending was awful IMO. The entire reason I hung on for the final 3 seasons was to see what happens to Tony. Then to do that was awful.

Breaking Bad is about a zillion times better than the Sopranos IMHO.... and so are a bunch of the other shows on that list.... But obviously that list is just as subjective as all of our opinions. It's a pretty good list though, as those lists go. The ranking is meaningless, but I'm impressed by a lot of what is included.

shep · June 2013

Jason P wrote:

shep wrote:

I could argue about the positioning of a lot of shows, but I do want to say this... Based shearly on the terrible way the writers elected to end the Soprano's, I'd knock it out of the number one spot... that ending almost ruined the whole series for me...

And where's Bubbles, Ricky and Julian??

Yeah, that ending sucked. Add in the random dream sequence episodes each season and that's a two spot penalty. :geek:

Also ... I am the liquor.

Chicken Fingers anyone?

pjradio · June 2013

Deadwood not in top 20??....25!????....30!!????

got a problem with Friday Night Lights (22) being 10 spots higher than DEADWOOD (32) in ANY list

"The emotional heft of even the most compact exchanges, all sum to arguably the most distinctive dialogue style written in TV history, an art of speech uniquely American and weirdly untheatrical."

Newch91 · June 2013

LukinFan wrote:

Curb at 30? I didn't think Curb was "written"

"detailed outline." Dialog is completely improvised.

101 Best Written TV Series

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