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Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest TV Shows Of All Time

DA60 said:
The Sopranos? Way overated, IMO.

Any idiot - especially a guy - can write a good mop shop/movie.

Some fat slob gets rich by killing some people, extorting some others, threatening some other people, bribe police, boss weak women around (usually good looking) and being loyal to other fat slobs who do the same thing. Throw in a shrink - to make it all seem 'deep' - and it's a hit...guaranteed.

Any heterosexual guy could write a decent script for a show like that and have it make money.


America is obsessed with mob movies/shows because they portray losers becoming winners by being lazy, sexist and violent...just what most men want at their base level.
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I'm sure you could write something better.
 
DA60 said:
The Sopranos? Way overated, IMO.

Any idiot - especially a guy - can write a good mop shop/movie.

Some fat slob gets rich by killing some people, extorting some others, threatening some other people, bribe police, boss weak women around (usually good looking) and being loyal to other fat slobs who do the same thing. Throw in a shrink - to make it all seem 'deep' - and it's a hit...guaranteed.

Any heterosexual guy could write a decent script for a show like that and have it make money.


America is obsessed with mob movies/shows because they portray losers becoming winners by being lazy, sexist and violent...just what most men want at their base level.
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Don't forget the gratuitous stripper scenes where they dance them around a pole just to show some tits.
 
Apocalypse said:
I can only agree with the top 3 of that list.
Sopranos is indeed the best series ever and The Wire and Breaking Bad are the only shows that come close. I'd have Game of Thrones instead of Mad Men as no. 4 though.
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Having seen them both, I can appreciate the depth of character that typifies the Sopranos, but prefer the Wire for the same reasons and the depiction of the utter futility of almost every endeavor in the show.
 
Tanngrisnir said:
Having seen them both, I can appreciate the depth of character that typifies the Sopranos, but prefer the Wire for the same reasons and the depiction of the utter futility of almost every endeavor in the show.
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Yup, The Wire is the greatest TV show Ive ever seen. What a horrible list. How they can put American Idol on that list and omit shows like I Love Lucy is a travesty.
 
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PoS said:
Yup, The Wire is the greatest TV show Ive ever seen. What a horrible list.
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Yup. The entire world-weary theme of the show can be seen in almost every scene w/Lester Freamon. Seen it all. Done it all. Knows in advance how things will play out.

And even moreso than the Sopranos, WHAT an effing cast!
 
Geoist said:
Alright, so Rolling Stone regularly rolls out these kinds of lists, but I am curious just how much time they actually spend on them. Hard to argue with the top five, they played that safe. But, to me, there is one major omission: the show that has won more Emmy's (37) than any on the list: Frasier. I can understand how one writer can make such a glaring mistake but a whole staff of writers/editors? It could easily replace Friends (which was NOT a great show, just a popular show, might as well add The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men to the list). Other favorites I would have liked to see are Futurama (arguably more relevant in the internet age than The Simpsons) and Rocko's Modern Life (yes, more for fanboy reasons, but still a great show).



Okay, end rant. Link.
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Because of the aberrant format of this website, I only made it to the upper 70's before I threw in the towel, all I saw was a lot of stuff I wasn't really sure about. There's a lot of shows that look like they paid to get their show on that top 100 list --way to many shows that literally haven't finished yet or else haven't attained cult status. (Like, of currently running shows, Game of Thrones is the only unimpeachable example I can think of that deserves to be on this list and is still currently running.)
 
What does it say about me that I knew almost all of the shows on the list?

I don't think current shows should be on a list of greatest shows of all time.
 
Tanngrisnir said:
Having seen them both, I can appreciate the depth of character that typifies the Sopranos, but prefer the Wire for the same reasons and the depiction of the utter futility of almost every endeavor in the show.
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I'd give The Wire the 1st place but it was actually inspired by The Sopranos, so it just wouldn't be right.
Both shows were brilliant and both shows have had this unique portrayal of criminal society through which they made their statements on human society as a whole, it's just the fact that without The Sopranos there would be no The Wire that really gives the 1st place to Sopranos IMO. The Sopranos changed TV like no other show ever did or ever will do. Besides, it had a lot more episodes and still managed to stay at top form, I'm not sure The Wire could pull the same with the same amount of episodes.
 
Apocalypse said:
I'd give The Wire the 1st place but it was actually inspired by The Sopranos, so it just wouldn't be right.
Both shows were brilliant and both shows have had this unique portrayal of criminal society through which they made their statements on human society as a whole, it's just the fact that without The Sopranos there would be no The Wire that really gives the 1st place to Sopranos IMO. The Sopranos changed TV like no other show ever did or ever will do. Besides, it had a lot more episodes and still managed to stay at top form, I'm not sure The Wire could pull the same with the same amount of episodes.
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Wait, wut? It was inspired by the Sopranos? I've never heard that before.

And I value the Wire more because the character studies are, IMO, MUCH deeper than in the Sopranos.
 
Tanngrisnir said:
Wait, wut? It was inspired by the Sopranos? I've never heard that before.

And I value the Wire more because the character studies are, IMO, MUCH deeper than in the Sopranos.
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The Wire came out around the 4th season of The Sopranos IIRC and used a lot of its properties to aid its success.
As they say in the RS article you could divide the history of television to the part before The Sopranos and the part after it.

If I had to choose based on the quality of the show alone I'd actually go with Breaking Bad that was the closest to perfection entertainment wise. But IMO when you're picking the greatest TV show ever you need to take into mind the influence that show has had on every other show that came after it as well. The Sopranos was simply something that you've never seen on TV before.
 
Apocalypse said:
The Wire came out around the 4th season of The Sopranos IIRC and used a lot of its properties to aid its success.
As they say in the RS article you could divide the history of television to the part before The Sopranos and the part after it.

If I had to choose based on the quality of the show alone I'd actually go with Breaking Bad that was the closest to perfection entertainment wise. But IMO when you're picking the greatest TV show ever you need to take into mind the influence that show has had on every other show that came after it as well. The Sopranos was simply something that you've never seen on TV before.
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they were many firsts....

shows that did things no one had ever seen or heard before....

but just because someone does something new, does that make them great?

the smothers bothers variety show gave us some of the best comedy, and caused nightmares for the censors back in the 70's....but is it a top 100 show?

all in the family was a show that was groundbreaking in so many way....

my top 100 would have some of these shows in it.....and some others

for me, it is about not just entertaining me, but making me think, or laugh, or cry....hitting me in one of those zones

shows like the x-files, or star trek tng would have to be on my list
 
Tanngrisnir said:
Wait, wut? It was inspired by the Sopranos? I've never heard that before.

And I value the Wire more because the character studies are, IMO, MUCH deeper than in the Sopranos.
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The Wire is a totally different beast, there's never been a TV show like it.

The Sopranos was an okay show, but many of their characters were stock gangster stereotypes. There was also plenty of forgettable storylines (like pretty much all of AJ's scenes). It was more of a soap opera with gangsters in it.
 
PoS said:
The Wire is a totally different beast, there's never been a TV show like it.

The Sopranos was an okay show, but many of their characters were stock gangster stereotypes. There was also plenty of forgettable storylines (like pretty much all of AJ's scenes). It was more of a soap opera with gangsters in it.
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I thought the Wire was a bit stereotypical. Black man bad; white man good. Even the season when the white guys were the criminals...they were a bunch of misfits, totally unlike the murderous Stringer Bell and Barksdale clan. But, maybe that was just my take on the show.

I absolutely loved the Omar Little character though. And, Marlo's bunch, although over the top, were well played by the actors.
 
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FieldTheorist said:
Because of the aberrant format of this website, I only made it to the upper 70's before I threw in the towel
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I agree. The format drove me nuts. Don't think they really HAD to embed a video for every pick.
 
Geoist said:
I agree. The format drove me nuts. Don't think they really HAD to embed a video for every pick.
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Or that I had to manually ****ing scroll through each goddamn option... #nope
 
gdgyva said:
they were many firsts....

shows that did things no one had ever seen or heard before....

but just because someone does something new, does that make them great?

the smothers bothers variety show gave us some of the best comedy, and caused nightmares for the censors back in the 70's....but is it a top 100 show?

all in the family was a show that was groundbreaking in so many way....

my top 100 would have some of these shows in it.....and some others

for me, it is about not just entertaining me, but making me think, or laugh, or cry....hitting me in one of those zones

shows like the x-files, or star trek tng would have to be on my list
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The kind of character depth the Sopranos brought with it was limited before its time to the big screen alone.
It changed TV forever and all masterpiece shows like The Wire, Breaking Bad, Dexter(that wasn't on the list btw although its first 4 seasons were perfection) and others owe a lot to it.

It did to TV what the Godfather did to movies.
 
Tanngrisnir said:
Having seen them both, I can appreciate the depth of character that typifies the Sopranos, but prefer the Wire for the same reasons and the depiction of the utter futility of almost every endeavor in the show.
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I honestly dont get the reason why the Wire is so great.

I didnt watch it in real time, but I went thru all the seasons but the last (which tells you something that I never finished) and I dont see it as being in the top ten shows of all time at all. Sopranos and BB are clearly two of the best though.
 
calamity said:
I thought the Wire was a bit stereotypical. Black man bad; white man good. Even the season when the white guys were the criminals...they were a bunch of misfits, totally unlike the murderous Stringer Bell and Barksdale clan. But, maybe that was just my take on the show.

I absolutely loved the Omar Little character though. And, Marlo's bunch, although over the top, were well played by the actors.
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The Wire was based on real life stories and it centered on a predominantly black community so I can understand why the show was done that way. If they had made the Barksdale crew white it would have turned out silly. I never figured that there were any real bad guys in the show, everyone had their own motivations as to why they did what they did. I thought Stringer had a lot of style in him and the most annoying character to me was Ziggy Sobotka.
 
PoS said:
The Wire was based on real life stories and it centered on a predominantly black community so I can understand why the show was done that way. If they had made the Barksdale crew white it would have turned out silly. I never figured that there were any real bad guys in the show, everyone had their own motivations as to why they did what they did. I thought Stringer had a lot of style in him and the most annoying character to me was Ziggy Sobotka.
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Ziggy was perfect for the stereotype white privileged moron he portrayed: a dumb nepotistic spoiled brat living off dad's moderate success.

The portrayal of the Black drug culture was obviously the intent of the show, and I do not fault it for that. I do, however, question the extreme violence these characters supposedly engaged in. Damn. THe show certainly did not show Black males as someone you want to meet in a dark alley. Realistic or not---and, the serial killers, Snoop and Chris, of Marlo's gang were not at all realistic---it was a terrible show for the image of blacks. That so many of them liked it is kind of odd though.
 
calamity said:
Ziggy was perfect for the stereotype white privileged moron he portrayed: a dumb nepotistic spoiled brat living off dad's moderate success.

The portrayal of the Black drug culture was obviously the intent of the show, and I do not fault it for that. I do, however, question the extreme violence these characters supposedly engaged in. Damn. THe show certainly did not show Black males as someone you want to meet in a dark alley. Realistic or not---and, the serial killers, Snoop and Chris, of Marlo's gang were not at all realistic---it was a terrible show for the image of blacks. That so many of them liked it is kind of odd though.
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Well like I said, David Simon really based the events in the show with what really happened. When Omar jumped from the fifth floor of an apartment building when he ran out of ammo, Simon claimed that the guy they based Omar on actually jumped and survived from a higher drop. As far as the black portrayals, well if they had sanitized it then the show wouldn't have been so highly regarded. To me the true villains of the show were the politicians and the unseen federal government that made drugs illegal and in so doing created a black market for them. The show really illustrates the pointlessness of the drug war more than anything else.
 
PoS said:
Well like I said, David Simon really based the events in the show with what really happened. When Omar jumped from the fifth floor of an apartment building when he ran out of ammo, Simon claimed that the guy they based Omar on actually jumped and survived from a higher drop. As far as the black portrayals, well if they had sanitized it then the show wouldn't have been so highly regarded. To me the true villains of the show were the politicians and the unseen federal government that made drugs illegal and in so doing created a black market for them. The show really illustrates the pointlessness of the drug war more than anything else.
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It did a good job of portraying political corruption, Russian mob influence, futility of the drug war, etc. My bitch is that it really painted blacks in a poor light--and, I mean a really poor light. I doubt you are OK with black men being shown as murderous thugs. Amazing is that the show never got slammed for it.
 
calamity said:
Ziggy was perfect for the stereotype white privileged moron he portrayed: a dumb nepotistic spoiled brat living off dad's moderate success.

The portrayal of the Black drug culture was obviously the intent of the show, and I do not fault it for that. I do, however, question the extreme violence these characters supposedly engaged in. Damn. THe show certainly did not show Black males as someone you want to meet in a dark alley. Realistic or not---and, the serial killers, Snoop and Chris, of Marlo's gang were not at all realistic---it was a terrible show for the image of blacks. That so many of them liked it is kind of odd though.
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And yet those characters were completely offset by the amazingly human and relatable black characters on the side of the police. It was a great show for the image of universal humanity.

That was sort of the point.
 
Tanngrisnir said:
And yet those characters were completely offset by the amazingly human and relatable black characters on the side of the police. It was a great show for the image of universal humanity.

That was sort of the point.
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I really liked the season with the school kids. It was perfectly done--showing the struggles those poor kids face. That season certainly deserved accolades.

My favorite character was Omar. His "code." Totally awesome.

I really liked Cutty, the guy who got out of prison and then realized he wasn't up for the game anymore. His struggle to adjust to life outside of gang banging was well portrayed as well.

The cops were well played. All of them. The dumb white, bald cop (Herk?) was hilarious. And, the smart, dry black lieutenant, Daniels---excellent acting. Female cop, Greggs, was very likable. Bunk---who wouldn't like the homicide cop?

If anything, I give the show an A for it's character development. Even the bad guys: Stringer, Marlo, Avon, Prop Joe...all excellent portrayals.
 
calamity said:
I really liked the season with the school kids. It was perfectly done--showing the struggles those poor kids face. That season certainly deserved accolades.

My favorite character was Omar. His "code." Totally awesome.

I really liked Cutty, the guy who got out of prison and then realized he wasn't up for the game anymore. His struggle to adjust to life outside of gang banging was well portrayed as well.

The cops were well played. All of them. The dumb white, bald cop (Herk?) was hilarious. And, the smart, dry black lieutenant, Daniels---excellent acting. Female cop, Greggs, was very likable. Bunk---who wouldn't like the homicide cop?

If anything, I give the show an A for it's character development. Even the bad guys: Stringer, Marlo, Avon, Prop Joe...all excellent portrayals.
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Oh, man, that episode with the scene where Bunk was rip roaring drunk and ended up having to be rescued from some woman's house where he was in a bright pink nightgown.....
 
calamity said:
I really liked the season with the school kids. It was perfectly done--showing the struggles those poor kids face. That season certainly deserved accolades.

My favorite character was Omar. His "code." Totally awesome.

I really liked Cutty, the guy who got out of prison and then realized he wasn't up for the game anymore. His struggle to adjust to life outside of gang banging was well portrayed as well.

The cops were well played. All of them. The dumb white, bald cop (Herk?) was hilarious. And, the smart, dry black lieutenant, Daniels---excellent acting. Female cop, Greggs, was very likable. Bunk---who wouldn't like the homicide cop?

If anything, I give the show an A for it's character development. Even the bad guys: Stringer, Marlo, Avon, Prop Joe...all excellent portrayals.
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Stringer Bell was my favorite on that show, more than Omar even.
 
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