The Top 300 Greatest TV Shows of All Time: FBG Consensus: 50 Lists received. 2: Seinfeld 1: Breaking Bad (20 Viewers)

[Dr. Octopus]

I've never had any interest in watching The Wire. I had HBO when it was on, and would see the promos when I would watch Six Feet Under. Based on those promos, I had zero interest in checking it out. I'm also averse toward shows/movies where journalists are main characters, because I am one and Hollywood almost always gets the profession "wrong".

I don't think any journalists are main characters on the Wire - sort of in the last season, I guess.

 

[Barry2]

Snoop buys a nail gun

it took me a while to realize that Snoop was a girl.

 

[guru_007]

Mark me down in the Wire good, not great camp. A lot of the characters were well done, but I dunno, there was nothing special about it in my eyes.
Drunk McNulty was a million times better than sober/homey McNulty
Also, I liked season 2

 

[zamboni]

I found it quite amazing how Gilligan managed to get suspense built with characters where we already knew their ultimate outcomes. Master class.

Yes, we always knew that he and his castaway mates were never going to get off that island.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

Idris Elba making two top 10 appearances.

 

[Barry2]

I've never had any interest in watching The Wire. I had HBO when it was on, and would see the promos when I would watch Six Feet Under. Based on those promos, I had zero interest in checking it out. I'm also averse toward shows/movies where journalists are main characters, because I am one and Hollywood almost always gets the profession "wrong".

I don't think any journalists are main characters on the Wire - sort of in the last season, I guess.

David Simon was a Baltimore journalist.

 

[AAABatteries]

Two and Half Men. Might be my favorite comedic sitcom. Didn't see it on the list? Blasphemy.

I had it as my #16 ranked show. I am flabbergasted it wasn't in the top 300. I didn't expect it to be top 10 but top 100? But to not even be top 300 is wrong.

Think it suffered the same fate as Raymond - probably would have landed in the 71-125 range for a ton of folks if we went beyond top 70.

 

[McBokonon]

where journalists are main characters

This isn't the case with the Wire outside of one of the season's arcs, but the creator of the show was himself a journalist.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

I've never had any interest in watching The Wire. I had HBO when it was on, and would see the promos when I would watch Six Feet Under. Based on those promos, I had zero interest in checking it out. I'm also averse toward shows/movies where journalists are main characters, because I am one and Hollywood almost always gets the profession "wrong".

I don't think any journalists are main characters on the Wire - sort of in the last season, I guess.

David Simon was a Baltimore journalist.

He was a writer of the show - was he also a main character?

 

[BlackCrowes]

It would have been fantastic to watch these fresh with BCS and then BB - for any of you who haven't done it, obviously make sure you do it in that order. God, that makes me so jealous of anyone who can do it.

I think Better Call Saul works better knowing what becomes of Jimmy.

absolutely. and Mike. it would still be great by itself, but not its magnificent self

 

[AAABatteries]

Up next, a show on 29 lists, which is a bit low for this spot, but 25 are pickles. That's a 86% pickle rate which I think is unmatched here.

This is where I expected it to show up and why - not enough people watched it.

 

[Nick Vermeil]

5 - The Wire​

Crime
Score: 1879
Average Rank: 6.2

Baltimore drug scene, seen through the eyes of drug dealers, and law enforcement.

List Breakdown

Nick Vermeil 1
Yo Mama 1
titusbramble 1
krista4 1
whoknew 1
Barry2 2
Runkle 2
Chaos34 2
The Gator 2
ilov80s 2
kupcho1 2
landrys hat 3
Tick 3
Sullie 4
Dan Lambskin 4
Hastur 4
simey 5
Dr Octopus 6
shuke 6
AAABatteries 7
Tau37 9
Binky 9
Psychopav 10
Frostillicus 10
Scoresman 10
McBokonon 11
Gally 12
BlackCrowes 15
Maik Jeaunz 34

I was sure this would be number 1. I love this damn show. Even the "down" seasons.

 

[Barry2]

I've never had any interest in watching The Wire. I had HBO when it was on, and would see the promos when I would watch Six Feet Under. Based on those promos, I had zero interest in checking it out. I'm also averse toward shows/movies where journalists are main characters, because I am one and Hollywood almost always gets the profession "wrong".

I don't think any journalists are main characters on the Wire - sort of in the last season, I guess.

David Simon was a Baltimore journalist.

He was a writer of the show - was he also a main character?

The reply was to pip and the idea that journalists weren't realistic in the show.

 

[Anarchy99]

Mark me down in the Wire good, not great camp. A lot of the characters were well done, but I dunno, there was nothing special about it in my eyes.
Drunk McNulty was a million times better than sober/homey McNulty
Also, I liked season 2

I'm mostly similar to this position. I liked it, but it didn't strike me as a nectar of the gods type show. I think I liked it a little more than you . . . I wouldn't call it "nothing special," but I have no desire to watch it again, and I've never recommended it to anyone. When people ask if I saw it and what I thought, I tell them I enjoyed it and it was decent . . . but IMO not as good as the hype.

 

[KarmaPolice]

5 - The Wire​

Crime
Score: 1879
Average Rank: 6.2

Baltimore drug scene, seen through the eyes of drug dealers, and law enforcement.

List Breakdown

Nick Vermeil 1
Yo Mama 1
titusbramble 1
krista4 1
whoknew 1
Barry2 2
Runkle 2
Chaos34 2
The Gator 2
ilov80s 2
kupcho1 2
landrys hat 3
Tick 3
Sullie 4
Dan Lambskin 4
Hastur 4
simey 5
Dr Octopus 6
shuke 6
AAABatteries 7
Tau37 9
Binky 9
Psychopav 10
Frostillicus 10
Scoresman 10
McBokonon 11
Gally 12
BlackCrowes 15
Maik Jeaunz 34

I was sure this would be number 1. I love this damn show. Even the "down" seasons.

I dont think hbo has the viewers that the show that will be #1 has on their service.

 

[Ilov80s]

The only season with journalism playing any role that I can remember is season 5. It's more about cops, criminals, politicians, dock workers and teachers.

 

[Instinctive]

7 - Better Call Saul​

Drama
Score: 1820
Average Rank: 12.3

The trials and tribulations of criminal lawyer, Saul Goodman, in the time leading up to establishing his strip-mall law office in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

List Breakdown

Pip's Invitation 2
Binky 2
krista4 2
BlackCrowes 2
steelerfan1 3
Scoresman 3
Yo Mama 4
Runkle 4
Chaos34 5
Todem 5
AAABatteries 6
Don Quixote 6
kupcho1 7
Instinctive 7
landrys hat 7
Dan Lambskin 7
timschochet 9
whoknew 11
Sullie 11
Atomic Punk 13
shuke 14
McBokonon 15
Maik Jeaunz 15
zamboni 15
Frostillicus 17
Rand al Thor 20
The Gator 23
John Madden's Lunchbox 27
Psychopav 32
Jayrod 41
Nick Vermeil 46

This may be a hot take: The last two seasons of Better Call Saul may be better than any season of Breaking Bad. They are exceptionally well-written and acted (and in the case of the final season, despite the cast and crew being rattled after Bob Odenkirk almost died of a heart attack. Like, he probably would have died had he not been on set at the time.) The payoff of a story that we were all fascinated by for so many years absolutely delivered.

Spoiler

Howard's murder

is probably the most shocking scene I have ever witnessed all my years of TV viewing.

I did find some of the Chuck scenes in the first three seasons to be a drag, but that's a minor quibble.

I had it ranked like 15 spots higher than BB

 

[falguy]

I might be the only guy in the planet that has never seen an episode of The Office. I've seen a lot of clips just never watched an actual episode.

 

[Instinctive]

Two and Half Men. Might be my favorite comedic sitcom. Didn't see it on the list? Blasphemy.

I talked about it earlier. It makes me laugh and I guess I enjoy it. The Sheen years were much better than the Kutcher years though. The way I approached this was much different than I think most people did. I tried to strike a balance between something that I enjoyed AND that I think was well done (there's some overlap anyways) but 2.5 men was very low brow and I felt other comedy shows were better. I did rank the Goldbergs and Raising Hope and My name is Earl and there are other shows like Life in Pieces or Happy Endings that were good. top 300? yes it should have been there, better than that nerd show.

The Kutcher stuff was so bad. i think I've seen every Sheen episode and it was consistently funny, if a bit lowbrow. I don't think there was any genius in it, but it always delivered above average entertainment IMO.

 

[AAABatteries]

It would have been fantastic to watch these fresh with BCS and then BB - for any of you who haven't done it, obviously make sure you do it in that order. God, that makes me so jealous of anyone who can do it.

I think Better Call Saul works better knowing what becomes of Jimmy.

absolutely. and Mike. it would still be great by itself, but not its magnificent self

I think aspects of this are true but there’s other aspects that would have been better and more suspenseful if you watch it chronologically.

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

Another show that won't be on this countdown but I had early on before taking it off but might have made a top 300 if this was done differently

Finding Your Roots

Maybe it's just a me thing but I think Geneology is so neat. Have any of you done a dna kit or anything like that?

 

[Ilov80s]

You follow the drugs, and you're going to get drug addicts and drug dealers. But you start to follow the money... and you don't know where the **** it's going to take you.

 

[Instinctive]

Two and Half Men. Might be my favorite comedic sitcom. Didn't see it on the list? Blasphemy.

I had it as my #16 ranked show. I am flabbergasted it wasn't in the top 300. I didn't expect it to be top 10 but top 100? But to not even be top 300 is wrong.

Think it suffered the same fate as Raymond - probably would have landed in the 71-125 range for a ton of folks if we went beyond top 70.

I had Raymond on my first pass and it got bumped down so i think thats a solid hypothesis.

 

[Instinctive]

Up next, a show on 29 lists, which is a bit low for this spot, but 25 are pickles. That's a 86% pickle rate which I think is unmatched here.

This is where I expected it to show up and why - not enough people watched it.

Yeah this was my top guess for highest average ranking but figured it would be heavily unranked. I've always heard great stuff, never seen it.

 

[AAABatteries]

Up next, a show on 29 lists, which is a bit low for this spot, but 25 are pickles. That's a 86% pickle rate which I think is unmatched here.

This is where I expected it to show up and why - not enough people watched it.

Yeah this was my top guess for highest average ranking but figured it would be unranked. I've always heard great stuff, never seen it.

It really is great and worthy of this ranking - I don’t love it quite as much as some but I’ve bit found many people who watch it and don’t like it.

 

[Yo Mama]

Two and Half Men. Might be my favorite comedic sitcom. Didn't see it on the list? Blasphemy.

I had it as my #16 ranked show. I am flabbergasted it wasn't in the top 300. I didn't expect it to be top 10 but top 100? But to not even be top 300 is wrong.

Think it suffered the same fate as Raymond - probably would have landed in the 71-125 range for a ton of folks if we went beyond top 70.

Wouldn’t have made my top 300.

 

[Yo Mama]

The Wire is awesome for those who haven’t seen it. I’ve watched it through multiple times. Season 4 is probably my favorite season of any show ever. My #1 ranking (I had a clear top 3, but this is my favorite).

 

[Dan Lambskin]

Bushmills? That’s Protestant Whiskey

 

[Dr. Octopus]

I've never had any interest in watching The Wire. I had HBO when it was on, and would see the promos when I would watch Six Feet Under. Based on those promos, I had zero interest in checking it out. I'm also averse toward shows/movies where journalists are main characters, because I am one and Hollywood almost always gets the profession "wrong".

I don't think any journalists are main characters on the Wire - sort of in the last season, I guess.

David Simon was a Baltimore journalist.

He was a writer of the show - was he also a main character?

The reply was to pip and the idea that journalists weren't realistic in the show.

Sorry - didn’t put that together and my question was sincere because for some reason I can’t really remember the last season. That’s why I said maybe that one had a journalist as a main character (I do remember the fake serial killer storyline, which was lame and that had some journalistism involved.

 

[Schmeabs]

To make my top 75 a show would have to at least keep my interest enough to finish it. I never finished The Wire and quit in season 4 as it was just too boring.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

Up next, a show on 29 lists, which is a bit low for this spot, but 25 are pickles. That's a 86% pickle rate which I think is unmatched here.

This is where I expected it to show up and why - not enough people watched it.

Yeah this was my top guess for highest average ranking but figured it would be unranked. I've always heard great stuff, never seen it.

It really is great and worthy of this ranking - I don’t love it quite as much as some but I’ve bit found many people who watch it and don’t like it.

A lot of people that told me they didn’t like it, said it was too technical and required too much attention to details. That almost turned me off, because I space out at times, but I didn’t find that to be the case at all really. It helped that the show was compelling enough I kept my phone down while I watched (I watched for the first time about two years ago).

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

I wonder what these next 4 shows are

 

[Dr. Octopus]

I wonder what these next 4 shows are

I’ll have egg on my face if one of them is Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives after revealing my shows that didn’t make the Top 300.

 

[Ilov80s]

I wonder what these next 4 shows are

I’ll have egg on my face if one of them is Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives after revealing my shows that didn’t make the Top 300.

I would be pretty shocked if flavortown is one of our final stops on this ride

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

I'm pretty sure the top 4 are AFTERMASH, My mother the Car, The Jerry Springer show, and Hee Haw Honeys

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

whoops spoilers, sorry

 

[Andy Dufresne]

The Wire is awesome for those who haven’t seen it. I’ve watched it through multiple times. Season 4 is probably my favorite season of any show ever. My #1 ranking (I had a clear top 3, but this is my favorite).

To make my top 75 a show would have to at least keep my interest enough to finish it. I never finished The Wire and quit in season 4 as it was just too boring.

It takes different strokes to move the world, yes it does!

 

[CletiusMaximus]

Snoop buys a nail gun

it took me a while to realize that Snoop was a girl.

Her final scene was a good one. "How my hair look Mike?"
"You look good girl."
pop

 

[FarFromHome]

I think I know 3 of em left. Those three would also be in my top 10.

 

[Gally]

Two and Half Men. Might be my favorite comedic sitcom. Didn't see it on the list? Blasphemy.

I talked about it earlier. It makes me laugh and I guess I enjoy it. The Sheen years were much better than the Kutcher years though. The way I approached this was much different than I think most people did. I tried to strike a balance between something that I enjoyed AND that I think was well done (there's some overlap anyways) but 2.5 men was very low brow and I felt other comedy shows were better. I did rank the Goldbergs and Raising Hope and My name is Earl and there are other shows like Life in Pieces or Happy Endings that were good. top 300? yes it should have been there, better than that nerd show.

I'm always forget about the Kutcher seasons. They don't count. Ha ha

They definitely don't count. I had completely forgotten about them to the point that I was seriously reminded that Kutcher was on the show after reading these posts.

 

[Hastur]

I'm pretty sure the top 4 are AFTERMASH, My mother the Car, The Jerry Springer show, and Hee Haw Honeys

Go on...

 

[Dr. Octopus]

I'm pretty sure the top 4 are AFTERMASH, My mother the Car, The Jerry Springer show, and Hee Haw Honeys

Only the order of the Top 4 shows are in question.

 

[Tick]

5 - The Wire​

Maik Jeaunz 34

@Maik Jeaunz the only person who thinks The Wire is pretty good.

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

I had completely forgotten about them to the point that I was seriously reminded that Kutcher was on the show after reading these posts.

always glad to be of service, gally

 

[Tick]

Huh - I assumed Gilligan's Island would make this list somewhere around 50. Not even top 300.

 

[Hastur]

Huh - I assumed Gilligan's Island would make this list somewhere around 50. Not even top 300.

I ranked it at #45

The episode where the Russians came to the island and dressed as ghosts to try to scare the castaways off the island scared me as a kid.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

I'm pretty sure the top 4 are AFTERMASH, My mother the Car, The Jerry Springer show, and Hee Haw Honeys

What? After all this discussion, no Cop Rock?

 

[John Maddens Lunchbox]

Cant believe GOT is gonna finish so high. The other 3 i expected

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

I'm pretty sure the top 4 are AFTERMASH, My mother the Car, The Jerry Springer show, and Hee Haw Honeys

What? After all this discussion, no Cop Rock?

just missed my list, had it at 71

 

[Scoresman]

The Wire had the highest average rank across all the lists that included it at 6.21, That's the highest of the whole list. Even the #1 and #2 shows that have many more pickles and scored almost 1,000 points more than the Wire can't boast this.

It may have been seen by fewer people, but those who have seen it and liked it, ranked it high.