Rolling Stone encompass all that is TV and film, so it seems only fitting that they have compiled a list of the best TV shows from thoughout the years.
According to Rolling Stone this list is ‘a ranking of the most game-changing, side-splitting, tear-jerking, mind-blowing, world-building, genre-busting programs in television history.’
Of course, ranking the ‘greatest’ shows is a subjective task. One person may have Friends as top of their list, whereas it doesn’t even rank on someone else’s.
So, if you don’t agree with this ranking, see it as a task to make your own!
Top 20
- 20. 30 Rock
- 19. I May Destroy You
- 18. Saturday Night Live
- 17. The Leftovers
- 16. Twin Peaks
- 15. The Larry Sanders Show
- 14. The Americans
- 13. Veep
- 12. The Twilight Zone
- 11. Succession
Top 10
- 10. The Mary Tyler Moore Show
- 9. Atlanta
- 8. Cheers
- 7. Mad Men
- 6. Seinfeld
Top 5
5. Fleabag
Coming in at number five is the hilarious and heartfelt sitcom Fleabag, written by and starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
Rolling Stone write, ‘Waller-Bridge held the audience in the palm of her hand throughout. She made Fleabag as raunchy, as funny, and as sad – sometimes more than one of those at the same time – as she wanted it to be.’
This show gave us so much. From the Hot Priest that had us all questioning our morals, to wondering if Claire’s haircut was really chic, or if she indeed looked like a pencil.
Fleabag said goodbye to us in 2019 after only it’s second series, but it is firmly a staple in people’s lives now.
4. The Wire
Spanning six years, with five seasons and 60 episodes, The Wire had, and continues to have a fierce and loyal fanbase.
This show ended 14 years ago, but people still talk about its impact and rewatch it time and time again. Describing it as a show that is ‘often imitated, never duplicated’, Rolling Stone have given this breakout series fourth place in it’s ranking.
‘The Wire preached that “all the pieces matter,” then put the concept into action, so that the slow pacing and narrative sprawl made all the show’s tragedies and all of its criticisms of the state of modern America, hit harder each time.’
3. Breaking Bad
Even Rolling Stone note that Breaking Bad ‘travels step by agonising step through Walt’s journey’, but the payoffs throughout each season are truly worth the wait.
Through five seasons, 62 episodes across five years, we saw a lower-middle class high school teacher turn into the ultimate drug lord with his own empire. What isn’t to love?
According to Rolling Stone, ‘no series before or since has taken better advantage of the medium’s ability to track a character’s journey over a long period of time, while also crafting the kind of memorable individual installments that distinguish TV from movies.’
2. The Simpsons
The Simpsons is the longest-running American animated series in history. Debuting in 1989, we have been given over 700 hilarious episodes of this show, and it doesn’t look to be stopping any time soon.
This show has single-handedly shaped generations of comedy and pop culture. From Abe Simpson sporting an onion on his belt because it was ‘the style’, to actually prediciting the future on multiple occasions, this show is so engrained in our culture, it is impossible to ignore.
1. The Sopranos
And top of the list, the big number one, is… The Sopranos.
David Chase’s New Jersey, Italian-American mobster, organised crime show always seems to come out on top. After 86 intense, hilarious, psychotic episodes over the span of eight years, this gang made its stamp on the world of TV forever.
‘Chase’s unapologetically dark examination of turn-of-the-century America took a torch to every written and unwritten rule that TV storytelling had been governed by since the days of Gunsmoke.’