Empire's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time

[audrey notwhatsheusedtobe]

Hmm this got me thinking:

www.empireonline.com/50greatesttv/default.asp?tv=50

I can't believe how highly-placed Lost is, but it's something to ponder. Perhaps, a bit like The LowCulture Top Ten of Men, we could nominate our, say, 10 favourite shows? I need to have a major think though. This is just too important to be flippant about!

[Rad]

Their list is very heavy on sc-fi and US comedy. I think Star Trek needs to be a generic category (because I wouldn't want to use multiple spaces in a list up with all its variants)

[audrey notwhatsheusedtobe]

Oh yeah, I though that too: waaaaay too much of a sci-fi bias, although I think much US comedy is amazing and so it deserves a mention. Battlestar Gallactica is completely great, but Angel?!?

[Dennis]

I've seen shockingly little of that list. This'll be a good starting point for my LowCultureSabbatical this summer. I am pleased Arrested Development made the cut.

[LoveMusic]

I haven't seen much on the list.

Alias is stupidly high.

[coxy1979]

I really like Empire magazine, but this is completely lazy and very limited in its scope.

I'm glad Buffy was almost number one, but to disregard a lot of UK stuff (Cracker should be MUCH higher) is a joke.

And they missed out Hollyoaks. The fuckers

[David Hunter]

What a strange list. I wonder if it was like a Channel 4 poll where they're all chosen for you and you're really just voting to put them in an order.
No 'Avengers' or 'The Prisoner'. In fact the majority of the stuff is fairly new for an 'all time' poll. Without 'I Love Lucy' most of the modern sitcoms wouldn't exist.
My own personal list would have to have 'Prisoner - Cell Block H' of course, but it doesn't surprise me it hasn't been included on a poll of mainly heterosexual men under 30!

[Muinimula]

It seems to be basically 50 Greatest TV Shows From The Past Five Years With A Few Classics And A Few Sci-Fi Shows Thrown In, but that's not as catchy.

Oh, and Six Feet Under should be higher, obviously.

[Elly]

Apr 9, 2008 22:49:14 GMT Muinimula said:

Oh, and Six Feet Under should be higher, obviously.

That's the first thing I looked for. 27? Ridiculous. Considering Heroes - a show that had a great first series, a hugely disappointing second series, and, uh, that's it so far! - is way above it, I can tell that this is the same old wank that Empire rates films on.

And don't even get me started on Lost.

[Steven]

Apr 10, 2008 14:31:58 GMT Elly said:

And don't even get me started on Lost.

Can I get started for you? Because Lost is so fucking overrated. Fifth-best show of all time? I'm not even sure it's the fifth-best show on Sky Onc.

While I'm pleased to see Veronica Mars on the list (whether it deserves to be there is another matter, since it only had one great season, but since we're apparently only looking at programmes from the last five years, so I'd have been really fucked off if it was missing), fuck off is 'Not Pictured' the best episode. Not even slightly. 'Mars vs Mars' or 'A Trip To The Dentist' are infinitely superior.

[Feral]

So the greatest television show EVER is one that hasn't even been funny for at least half a decade???

And Angel at #21! ANGEL!?! Oh and any list that tries to claim that fucking Farscape is a better show than DS9 is clearly written by twats and idiots.

Oh, thats got me right annoyed, that has...

[Bungle]

Oh, I could give you a long list of what I think should be in the top 10, but I won't for the moment - I'd like to come to the defence of The Simpsons though. Although it is not my personal #1 I think that it is an incredible television series, even if it has been a bit meh for, as you say, quite a few years. Its first decade was near perfect, however. Hell, even I, Claudius has three dodgy episodes out of thirteen and that is the actual greatest show of all time.

[pauliepoos]

It's a poll made up by readers of a movie magazine, who review dvds each month. It's hardly surprising that shows being screened at the moment get more prominence than "classics". Any readers' poll is going to be out of tune with someone or other, but the only way you can make sure it doesn't happen again is to vote yourselves.

And I'm sure if there was a lowculture poll then I'd be probably be whinging that The Book Group wasn't in the top ten and that This Life wasn't higher than Teachers.

[fused]

I agree- I don't take these kind of lists seriously. Not everybody is going to be happy with what's included, what isn't and what order they are in.

[amphibian23]

That's not the worst top 10 I've ever seen. Buffy's last season aside, it deserves a high space; The Wire gets a mention; it's surprising and cool that Spaced is in there and Simpsons at no1 isn't particularly offensive.
Did they miss Peep Show off though?? It's written by just 2 blokes and manages to be consistently hilarious and touching, and has been for four series...

[Ceeb]

Apr 9, 2008 11:22:24 GMT Dennis said:

I am pleased Arrested Development made the cut.

Same here - and much higher than Curb Your Enthusiasm as well which I'm pleased about since Arrested Development is a much better show.

The thing with including shows like Lost/Heroes/Prison Break in these lists are that these shows are still on the air and their stories haven't been completed yet so how can they be properly judged?

[Deleted]

I'm glad that Buffy is so high, it clearly deserves it, but the Office?!? Why?

And they missed out The Golden Girls!

[dadioflex]

Apr 11, 2008 0:23:43 GMT amphibian23 said:

Did they miss Peep Show off though?? It's written by just 2 blokes and manages to be consistently hilarious and touching, and has been for four series...

imdb lists 5 writers and as far as I know neither Mitchell or Webb are the main writers. I think Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong wrote the original shows. Not so sure about the later less funny series.

[Sweet Sweet Mimura]

It's unfair to compare Matt Groening's other show [Futurama] to The Simpsons. Because what is as good as The Simpsons?

Urm...Futurama?

I'm not being subjective at all here. Futurama being better than the Simpsons is a fact. ;-)

[mcqueen]

Apr 20, 2008 15:28:44 GMT Sweet Sweet Mimura said:

It's unfair to compare Matt Groening's other show [Futurama] to The Simpsons. Because what is as good as The Simpsons?

Urm...Futurama?

I'm not being subjective at all here. Futurama being better than the Simpsons is a fact. ;-)

Again its hard to compare- I LOVE Futurama and would choose to watch it a million times over instead of the hideous mess that the Simpsons has become but if you look at the 1st say 6 seasons of The Simpsons- they are almost perfect.

The Simpsons have tarnished their legacy by not stopping when they were on top- its so embarressing now.

[amphibian23]

Apr 18, 2008 20:11:57 GMT dadioflex said:

Apr 11, 2008 0:23:43 GMT amphibian23 said:

Did they miss Peep Show off though?? It's written by just 2 blokes and manages to be consistently hilarious and touching, and has been for four series...

imdb lists 5 writers and as far as I know neither Mitchell or Webb are the main writers. I think Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong wrote the original shows. Not so sure about the later less funny series.

I'm pretty sure Bain and Armstrong have been the main writers for all four series.

Mitchell and Webb are occasionally listed in the credits for writing additional material but no, they don't write Peep Show-it would be odd if they started with that and went on to do that painfully bad sketch show.

By the by, I think series 2 is probably best, but it's hard to identify much of a decline.

[Scarlett]

I don't know, many episodes in series 4 had me in stiches. Particularly the last one where they are hiding out in the church and Jez pisses himself.

[amphibian23]

I love that ep too. "It was a hilarious joke!"
I also like when Jeremy accidentally becomes a prostitute for 'the orgazoid'

[Smudge]

Anyone who honestly believes that there exist 23 shows better than Twin Peaks deserves to spend the rest of their life with diarrhoea spewing from their ears and nostrils.