I feel like Game of Thrones is going to get crushed in this which imo is not fair when it’s viewed overall. That show was appointment TV for everyone at its peak. It dominated 2+2 tv discussions for years, even after they ran out of book material and lost their way (minds)
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I didn’t even consider it.
Didn’t watch lol
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Going to pick at my own list to reiterate my main grievance with these list making exercises in the prestige TV era, that there is a distinct anti-television ideology around the rankings. Very strong bias to self contained titles with film like production. At the extreme (True Detective, Chernobyl) they are really just extended movies. And not a few contemporary shows would be much better as movies (The Night of is a good example). Fargo is even worse - a series of long movies that inhabit another movie universe. Twin Peaks: The Return is a long movie that I read in part as a polemic about the very existence of television. Other prestige titles like The Wire and Deadwood have indefinite narratives but still are defined by a film vernacular. I really liked Hannibal a lot, but my favorite part of the series was the first few episodes where it looked like the show was going to be Will and Hannibal solving a new case each week like a regular cop show.
Nothing necessarily wrong about this, but it seems to me that an exercise like this should be a celebration of television, not an implicit rejection of it. Some of the more celebrated shows out there (Tim and Eric, 30 Rock, UK Office, Atlanta, Nathan for You, The Rehearsal, The Comeback) are very much about television. You could argue that is also out of the spirit of the discussion, but I will take up the essence of Clement Greenberg’s argument that modern art forms should concentrate on their own unique properties and call attention to the medium itself.
The more I think of it the more I feel like On Cinema project is the foremost artistic project of the century so far. And the fact that it is in part about televisions own preoccupation with movies actually makes me appreciate it more now that I thinking about TV lists. Feels like Pawn Stars and the crabfisherman reality show need a good look as well.
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I’m voting for Smallville and One Tree Hill.
Well, prestige TV is basically a bunch of failed movie directors so it tracks.
The challenge is that we all have to look deep into our hearts and decide whether that show that was amazing for x number of seasons and then absolute shit by the end deserves a vote based on its peak, or whether the way it ended up is disqualifying.
And I’m not just talking about Game of Thrones. Barry is another example, and probably Lost for some people, though I don’t think it would make my list even if it had nailed the ending. I don’t remember the ending of BSG at all but I think Devil has some strong feelings.
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All the pieces matter! 
So you’re saying I should drop The Wire way down based on season 5?
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Why do people hate season so much? I thought Clark Johnson really carried it.
A bunch of whining about a newspaper from a disgruntled former reporter turned showrunner, and that ridiculous plot line with McNulty concocting a red ribbon serial killer
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Something about these lists that always struck me as weird is how they try to pack all the genres in together.
Like how do you properly compare:
- The Good Place
- Band of Brothers
- Planet Earth
- I Think You Should Leave
- The Great British Bake Off
Those seem like 5 completely different buckets of shows. Even a 5 hour mini-series like Chernobyl and a multi-season prestige drama don’t really seem like they’re operating in the same space.
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how do you even compare an episodic procedural like The Rookie or Blue Bloods to something with season long arcs like The Wire. Pretty impossible to compare the two and judge which is better
Nah it’s really easy to know which of Blue Bloods and The Wire is better
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…maybe by the Dickensian aspect?
I can’t believe I left Barry off. I just plum forgot.
I can understand the crime issue but I liked the newspaper stuff
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(at least I think so)
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Blue Bloods because it has far more seasons