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Top 25 Shows of the Past 25 Years

Fairfax writers have crafted another of their favourite Lists and put Mad Men on top.

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Fairfax TV and Entertainment writers have crafted another of their favourite Lists, this time the Top 25 Shows of the Past 25 Years (that’s 1987 onwards in case you weren’t sure).

Mad Men wins their vote.

The  Top 10 are:

1. Mad Men
2. The Sopranos
3. Seinfeld
4. The Wire
5. The West Wing
6. Arrested Development
7. Frontline
8. The Simpsons
9. Breaking Bad
10. Homeland

You can check out the other 15 here and there is also another 30+ titles described as “Next Best.”

Thanks to: Paul Kalina, Frances Atkinson, Andrew Murfett, Debi Enker, Melinda Houston, Craig Mathieson, Daniel Burt, Greg Hassall, Michael Idato, Karl Quinn and Matthew Burgess.

30 Responses

  1. Six Feet Under should have been much higher on that list.It’s probably one of the most creative and original dramas ever screened.One of the best American dramas ever in my opinion.

  3. Battlestar Galactica was a remake (as in new reimaging of the original story, where as Doctor Who is a continuation of the original.

    There’s only four I like in the top 10, Seinfeld, Frontline, The Simpsons and Mad Men. And only Seinfeld would be in my personal top 10. The others are just not my cup of tea.

  4. Back again: I meant to add a final thought – that it’s refreshing to see a positive article about TV!
    It’s been mostly gloom and doom lately, so it’s nice to be reminded of how good TV can be when it tries.

  5. As said below by various commenters, the list is a good one and its only the matter of ranking that causes any debate.
    Bit sorry to see that ‘Boston Legal’ & ‘BlAdder ‘ missed out. I thought those shows have a better claim to Top 25 than some others.
    Thrilled to see that ‘Larry Sanders’ made it – I’m a big fan.
    @SusanP – I agree re ‘Family Guy’ and I would add ‘South Park’.

  9. A damn good list. Could debate the order but not much on there that I would disagree with. Thought Dexter might have cracked “The Next Best”, if not Top 25. I presume that it’s only shows that have been shown on Aus FTA, otherwise I would have expected Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire to be there.

    Doctor who can be enjoyable and is a “classic” but it’s prob not good enough for a top 50 let alone top 25. Comparing it with the re-imagined BSG is like equating CSI with The Wire and that’s just silly.

  10. I think Nathan has a point. The original BattleStar series fell before this 25 year period. I just looked it up and it first ran as a TV series in late 70’s. It’s had a few different lives since then of course with some name amendments. Dr. Who started in the 60’s. I guess Dr. Who has been a more solid format and brand throughout that time than BS but I think Nathan offers a decent point. Would be interesting to put this to the selection panel because technically both shows began prior to the 25 years past and I do think they should have considered Dr Who if Battlestar was considered. Perhaps this is a problem arising from not researching the history of some shows.

  11. I would suggest that South Park should be in the extended list.
    Mad Men at #1 may match current opinions, but how will it be viewed in 15 years Vs say Seinfeld which still stands the test of time.
    Survivor could have been higher also, as it was a key event in reality TV that still produces the goods.

    Also WWE Monday Night Raw – 20 years next year, and is currently the longest running weekly episodic show ever.

  12. Hard to be a crdible list when Summer Heights High is placed above Deadwood, and Frontline ahead of The Simpsons. Also as said below, not having Breaking Bad as number one just makes you look reallly silly.

  14. I’ve only just started watching Breaking Bad now (after it being recommended to me for a while) and my gosh… What a fantastic piece of television

    It would be my number 1

  18. The Wire, The Sopranos, Mad Men, The Simpsons and Seinfeld have all been the best shows of their time and were great from the get go (well the second block of episodes for Seinfeld). They will be fondly remembered for ever.

    I don’t think Breaking Bad will be remembered like that. It is mostly thought of an antihero drama — a a brilliant study of Walter’s journey. But who wants to watch 30 or 40 episodes of horrible, unlikable, characters doing awkward and awful stuff you can’t bear watch until it reaches it best bits?

    The 5th season may be good enough to threaten Mad Men’s record 5th straight Best Drama Emmy but I don’t think it a contender for the best ever show looking at it in its entirety. .

  20. Loved the Sopranos at the time and although there could be some reshuffling, the list looks basically ok to me. @nicks…I would have loved to see Attenborough in there too but that sort of show rarely gets picked in such lists.

  22. I can sure live with most of these choices.Who can argue against Sopranos,Seinfeld and Simpsons?.and glad to see Twin Peaks getting recognized.I arrived at Mad Men late in the game,and did about seven seasons of catch up on the internet in a couple of weeks last year,and that was great.I would have included David Attenborough’s body of work on the life of our planet.

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