We all have our favorite TV shows, those comfort views that get rolled out again and again when we’re chilling out, sick in bed, or just bored out of our minds. But do our personal top picks match up with the true greats of all time?
Now you can find out. X / Twitter user NikMilanovic has shared a smart chart ‘ranking the best TV shows of all time.’ The methodology sees critic and user scores and votes tallied from aggregate sites including IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, and Just Watch to figure out an overall picture of TV’s greatest hits.
And, arguably surprisingly, Apple TV Plus TV show hit Severance has made the cut in a pretty healthy position.
But first… what came out on top?
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Innie and Outtie of the top 50 TV shows
It’s a pretty inarguable top tier here — drug-trafficking drama Breaking Bad sits comfortably in first position, followed by Game of Thrones, Chernobyl, The Sopranos, and Band of Brothers. All classics.
I was surprised to see The Wire down at #6 on the list of best shows of all time.Guess it's time to watch Breaking Bad. pic.twitter.com/U6xMoSKpcLJuly 6, 2024
But it's position 27 that Apple’s Severance finds itself in, sandwiched between Heartstopper at 26, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia at 28. This is before Severance season 2 even has a release date!
Is the Apple TV Plus show’s position justified, given its run has only lasted a single season so far? Well, according to this list, it’s in good single-season company — Chernobyl was a limited-run series, and The Last of Us hasn’t reached its second season yet either and still makes the cut in position 32. There are a few shows here that definitely are riding on the early success of formative seasons, too — True Detective (position 47) never really reclaimed the magic of its first season, even after making it to season 4. And Lost (position 35) went wacky as it dragged on long after the show’s best period.
There are some huge shows missing here, though — no matter what you think about its later seasons, you can’t deny the global appeal of The Simpsons or the influence of comedies like Curb Your Enthusiasm and South Park. X-Files? I Love Lucy? Both missing. There’s definitely a bias towards drama, live-action, and English-speaking audiences here, while with the single exception of The Twilight Zone, there’s only one show present from before the mid-1980s.
But as a crude subsection analysis of modern TV popular culture, the list is representative of the taste of today. And by its measurement, Apple has a bonafide hit on its hands with Severance.
The full top 50 TV shows of all time, according to the list, are as follows…
- Breaking Bad
- Game of Thrones
- Chernobyl
- The Sopranos
- Band of Brothers
- The Wire
- Better Call Saul
- Stranger Things
- Sherlock
- Peaky Blinders
- The Twilight Zone
- Fleabag
- Fargo
- House
- Friends
- Dark
- The Office
- Succession
- Battlestar Galactica
- Freaks and Geeks
- Mad Men
- Narcos
- Mind Hunter
- Mr. Robot
- Black Mirror
- Heartstopper
- Severance
- It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
- The Boys
- Seinfeld
- Peep Show
- The Last of Us
- When They See Us
- The Mandalorian
- Lost
- Line of Duty
- Deadwood
- Mare of Easttown
- Hannibal
- The Bear
- Boardwalk Empire
- Atlanta
- Vikings
- Twin Peaks
- The Shield
- Happy Valley
- True Detective
- The Haunting of Hill House
- The Americans
- Justified
