What were your top 20 all time favorite TV shows?

[MightyGiants]

From any era, just list your top 20

[Jolly Blue Giant]

From any era, just list your top 20

I doubt I could come up with twenty, but I'll give it a shot...I'll go by era because tastes changes with time

When I was a kid: Lost in Space, Batman

As a teen: Mission Impossible, Hawaii 5-O, Mannix, Magnum PI, Miami Vice, The Smothers Brothers Show, Laugh-in

As a young married man with a family: Twin Peaks, SNL, Seinfeld, Cheers

In the last twenty years as an old man: Lost, Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, Becker, Everybody Loves Raymond, Blacklist, Fargo (the series), Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul...

Huhhh...guess I could come up with 20

[DaveBrown74]

1. Sopranos
2. Curb Your Enthusiasm
3. Oz
4. Homeland
5. Breaking Bad
6. Mad Men
7. Law And Order (regular, SVU, and Criminal Intent)
8. Succession
9. The Wire
10. Entourage
11. Dexter
12. House Of Cards
13. Saturday Night Live (was top 5 through the 90s but has deteriorated badly since)
14. Black Mirror
15. Six Feet Under
16. Sex and The City
17. Boardwalk Empire
18. The Simpsons
19. Boardwalk Empire
20. The Crown


I may have missed a couple but that's what I came up with after spending about 15-20 min on this.

[Bob In PA]

The easiest question ever asked here... listed in no particular order. I heartily recommend them all (each for a different reason). IMO, even the "silliest" (and a few were blatantly light-weight) added something more to the viewers' lives than just a brief respite or "escape" from everyday life (which varied depending on the era during which it appeared).

1 M*A*S*H
2 Barney Miller
3 Hogan's Heroes
4 Northern Exposure
5 Star Trek, The Original Series
6 Star Trek, The Next Generation
7 Star Trek, Deep Space Nine
8 The Drew Carey Show
9 The West Wing
10 The Twilight Zone
11 Seinfeld
12 The Prisoner
13 American Dreams
14 The Goldbergs
15 The Honeymooners
16 Young Sheldon
17 The Big Bang Theory
18 All In The Family
19 SpongeBob SquarePants
20 The Simpsons

Two bonus picks: "The Sopranos" (HBO) and "Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" (Amazon Prime). Although they were indeed shown on TV, I personally consider only shows aired on broadcast ("free") channels to be true TV shows. The bonus picks occupy a separate category in my mind.

Bob

[DaveBrown74]

1. Sopranos
2. Curb Your Enthusiasm
3. Oz
4. Homeland
5. Breaking Bad
6. Mad Men
7. Law And Order (regular, SVU, and Criminal Intent)
8. Succession
9. The Wire
10. Entourage
11. Dexter
12. House Of Cards
13. Saturday Night Live (was top 5 through the 90s but has deteriorated badly since)
14. Black Mirror
15. Six Feet Under
16. Sex and The City
17. Boardwalk Empire
18. The Simpsons
19. Boardwalk Empire
20. The Crown


I may have missed a couple but that's what I came up with after spending about 15-20 min on this.

Oops. Mentioned Boardwalk Empire twice. Will think about my 20th favorite and revert.

Two huge shows that were immensely popular that I never got that into were Game of Thrones and Seinfeld. Seinfeld just never quite did it for me. Which is odd because I think Curb Your Enthusiasm is incredible and definitely my favorite comedy series of all time, by far, not even close. Seinfeld I always just found too quirky and sit-commy, albeit there were some scenes/episodes that were genius.

Game of Thrones is just not my type of genre. I'm sure it's excellent, but I've just never been into that type of stuff and I'm not going to force myself to watch something just because other people like it.

One thing I didn't include was mini-series or series where there was only one season. If we're including things like that, my list probably changes a little. Some of the recent single-season series or miniseries I've loved were Dopesick and Chernoby. But I wouldn't call those "shows" and any series that's just one season probably shouldn't qualify in an all-time type list.

[Jolly Blue Giant]

The easiest question ever asked here... listed in no particular order. I heartily recommend them all (each for a different reason). IMO, even the "silliest" (and a few were blatantly light-weight) added something more to the viewers' lives than just a brief respite or "escape" from everyday life (which varied depending on the era during which it appeared).

1 M*A*S*H
2 Barney Miller
3 Hogan's Heroes
4 Northern Exposure
5 Star Trek, The Original Series
6 Star Trek, The Next Generation
7 Star Trek, Deep Space Nine
8 The Drew Carey Show
9 The West Wing
10 The Twilight Zone
11 Seinfeld
12 The Prisoner
13 American Dreams
14 The Goldbergs
15 The Honeymooners
16 Young Sheldon
17 The Big Bang Theory
18 All In The Family
19 SpongeBob SquarePants
20 The Simpsons

Two bonus picks: "The Sopranos" (HBO) and "Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" (Amazon Prime). Although they were indeed shown on TV, I personally consider only shows aired on broadcast ("free") channels to be true TV shows. The bonus picks occupy a separate category in my mind.

Bob

 

[Jolly Blue Giant]

After seeing Bob add SpongeBob Square Pants, it dawned on me that I (as an old man...not necessarily from a mental perspective) loved an animated tv series that I definitely should have added to my list: Archer

[Bob In PA]

Jolly: Yeah, I know, but there's a teachable moment opportunity for parents watching w/kids in every episode! Bob

[Jolly Blue Giant]

Jolly: Yeah, I know, but there's a teachable moment opportunity for parents watching w/kids in every episode! Bob

I can see that 

[Sem]

Harder than I thought. At first I wasn't sure I could come up with 20. But as I got into it I found it very hard to decide, as Bob Seger sang, "What to leave in, what to leave out..."

In no particular order:
Twilight Zone
The Avengers (Emma Peel years)
The Bob Newhart Show
All in the Family
Taxi
Cheers
Breaking Bad
Better Call Saul
Seinfeld
NYPD Blues
Hill Street Blues
Tonight Show With Johnny Carson
Late Night With David Letterman
Mission Impossible
Mary Tyler Moore
Mannix
The Odd Couple
60 Minutes
The X-Files
Monty Python's Flying Circus

Ask me tomorrow and I may just have a different answer.

[Bob In PA]

I can see that 

Jolly: Conversely, there are few, if any, teachable moments in Two-and-a-Half Men. 

[Bob In PA]

The Avengers (Emma Peel years)

Steve: Yeah, Diana Rigg was really f-i-n-e. lol  AND she was a highly-regarded talent among her peers. Bob

[ozzie]

Not sure how many I can come up with but here is a list of favorites:
1. The X-Files
2. Elementary
3. Seinfeld
4. M*A*S*H
5. Breaking Bad
6. Santa Clarita Diet
7. Combat
8. Speed Racer
9. Gigantor
10. Archer
11. Rules of Engagement
12. Family Guy
13. Twilight Zone
There are many more shows I enjoyed very much, but these are the ones that I made sure I was home for because some of them were in the days before VCR's and DVR's.

Here are a few more that I will bet most won't remember. None of them are too old, but these are shows that lasted only one season (or less) but I was absolutely on board with them and wish they'd continued...
1. Alcatraz
2. Emergence
3. The Whispers
4. Timeless

[Jolly Blue Giant]

Jolly: Conversely, there are few, if any, teachable moments in Two-and-a-Half Men. 

Sure there are...like how not to talk to girls...LOL

[Bob In PA]

6. Santa Clarita Diet

Oz: Don't know this one. What was the premise? Bob