In your opinion, what are the best written TV series of all time?
My two choices are obvious, The Wire and Breaking Bad. Both were extremely tight, where pretty much every shot and every bit of dialogue added to the story. The story had a beginning, middle and end and you walked away knowing you’ve seen something special.
GoT wins for production value, but the writing is very uneven.
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- Six Feet Under
– Better Call Saul
– Fargo
– Breaking Bad
“Psycho dad” theme song for Married With Children.
West Wing and Sports Night.
West Wing
All in the Family
Counterpart
Designing Women
Golden Girls
Seinfeld
Fringe
MASH
The Wire. The West Wing Mad Men
I haven’t watched the majority of current series (current being in the past 20 years LOL). Therefore, it’s hard for me to compare anything. I know when I was young, there were some very entertaining shows like All in the Family which discussed social issues of the day. When I got older, I remember enjoying NYPD Blue and ER. After that, I got busy with other distractions like work and unionism so everything from Friends to Sopranos to Breaking Bad to Mad Men to so many that people talk about now on everything from conventional TV to HBO to Netflix to Hulu to Prime, so many to see, so many I haven’t seen.
MASH
Sherlock
Grace & Frankie
The Big Bang Theory
Friends
Seinfeld
Doogie Howser
Cheers
Frazier
Boston Public
Star Trek The Next Generation
Chicago Hope
NYPD Blues
Allie McBeal
LOST. There are two reasons that made it so successful:
1. There were multiple writers. They provided a wide variety of personalities versus what one writer can offer.
2. The writers listened to the feedback of the fans. Scripts were written to eventually answer all questions, while keeping the audience in suspense.
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Oz
The X-Files
The Twilight Zone
Dexter
Barry
Westworld
Breaking Bad may be my personal favorite. It’s one of the few shows where I enjoyed all the seasons about equally. I never felt a “slump” in any part of the show. The Wire was phenomenal, never seen anything like it, but the fifth season was noticeably weaker (the “corrupt journalist” story didn’t do much for me).
A good show shouldn’t feel like the writers made it up as they went along (even if they did), and while Lost remains one of my shows, its tendency to feel that way in certain story arcs makes me hesitate to add it to this list. It’s certainly the strangest and most fascinating show I’ve ever seen, however.
Others where the strength of the writing shows:
Seinfeld
Freaks and Geeks
Mozart in the Jungle
30 Rock
The Leftovers
Homeland (first 2 seasons)
Arrested Development (original 3 seasons)
Parks and Recreation
The Simpsons (first 8 seasons)
I have not seen The Sopranos, The West Wing, or Mad Men, but I have a feeling if I ever do, I will consider them among the best.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
The Expanse
Crazy Ex Girlfriend (for the songs)
Better Call Saul
Breaking Bad
Band of Brothers
Prime Suspect (maybe not the last one)
Sherlock Holmes (1984–1994)
Jeeves and Wooster
Fawlty Towers
Monty Python’s Flying Circus
The Bob Newhart Show (not Newhart)
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
The Twilight Zone
also very well written:
The Crown
GLOW
Happy Valley
Broadchurch
Foyle’s War
Hill Street Blues
Tales of the Unexpected
Ones mentioned above that I haven’t seen, but now am curious to try:
Six Feet Under
Fargo
Thanks for the viewing suggestions!!!
Braking Bad tops the list for me.
As already mentioned the story was tight well written and continuously good. At no point did it “jump the shark”.
Also you needed to actually watch the show without distractions to get the most out of it. Why did some of the episodes have black and white intros? Where did colors show up in the story? What is the significance of the object in the pool? . What does it mean when someone is seen talking in front of a mirror? What is the significance of the camera’s point of view?
There were things going on at so many different levels. i loved it!
And Seinfeld. The story almost always wrapped around to something insignificant said in the beginning. fusilli pasta, the joy of hitting golf balls off the beach, the difference in returnable bottle prices between states. foreigner’s decision to opening a restaurant, etc.
Many story lines have entire episodes that loop back The finale managed to tie the entire show together. It was a real and spectacular masterpiece of writing.
I just wish the show didn’t have a laugh track.
Fawlty Towers
Boys from the Black Stuff
These are all great answers. @zaku mentioned Maisel. I really like that show too.
Battlestar Galactica
Firefly
Newsroom
Sportsnight
Game Of Thrones
Breaking Bad
Boston Legal
@filmfann I’m not familiar with Sportsnight.
Boston Legal was very sharp. William Shatner was great in it.
Sports night was another series with Aaron Sorkin doing the writing.
The new Netflix series “Dead to Me” sucked me in. You need to really watch it.
The writing and acting is excellent. It feels real. Christina Applegate shows incredible dynamic range.
I watched the first 2 episodes and was hooked. I figured I watch it like I eat a box of fine chocolates – spread out over a week or so. Nope! I had control for the first 2 days but ended up finishing the box the 3rd day.
Ugh. So many series I need to binge! This works out well in the winter, when I may be stuck in the house in a snowstorm. Now with summer coming, so many series, so little time. :)
@LuckyGuy I have always liked Christina Applegate ever since Married with Children. Thanks for the recc!
@Kardamom Jesse was great. That’s actually when I became a big fan of hers.
@Caravanfan It’s British humour which doesn’t always go down well in the States. Here’s an example
^^ It wasn’t that subtle!
@flutherother I like British humour. Blackadder was one of my favorite shows.
You think those are British accents loli?
Possibly Australian or New Zealand with 1Mmurican
Certainly not British; sound pretty American to me.
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