• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Top 50 TV Dramas

Bob The Skutter

Bob The Skutter

Complete Arse Cleft
In Memoriam
This is according to the Guardian's critics. No one offs just serials and series.

The Guardian

The list in full:


1. The Sopranos
2. Brideshead Revisited
3. Our Friends in the North
4. Mad Men
5. A Very Peculiar Practice
6. Talking Heads
7. The Singing Detective
8. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
9. State of Play
10. Boys From the Blackstuff
11. The West Wing
12. Twin Peaks
13. Queer as Folk
14. The Wire
15. Six Feet Under
16. How Do You Want Me?
17. Smiley's People
18. House of Cards
19. Prime Suspect
20. Bodies
21. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
22. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
23. Cracker
24. Pennies From Heaven
25. Battlestar Galactica
26. Coronation Street
27. The Jewel in the Crown
28. The Monocled Mutineer
29. Clocking Off
30. Inspector Morse
31. This Life
32. Band of Brothers
33. Hill Street Blues
34. The Prisoner
35. St Elsewhere
36. The L Word
37. The Shield
38. Brookside
39. 24
40. The Twilight Zone
41. Pride and Prejudice
42. Red Riding
43. Oz
44. The Street
45. The X-Files
46. Bleak House
47. The Sweeney
48. EastEnders
49. Shameless
50. Grange Hill
Click to expand...

I have to admit I've not seen a good deal of these and I'm surprised to see so many Soaps on there. I'm sure there'll be many people who disagree with a lot of these shows.
 
From 2010, this is slightly out of date, but an interesting list. Not a lot of sf represented, though, including a complete absence of Trek, which is unusual for a list like this. And no Breaking Bad? Bah.
 
I just saw it tweeted today, I didn't notice the date it was originally posted. Well to be fair, Breaking Bad had only had 3 seasons at that point and only 1 of those seasons had been shown on a widely available Channel in the UK and one more on a pay channel.
 
I have to say, what's the obsession with Breaking Bad? I mean yeah it's a good show, but it's a fairly new show, without a wide distribution in the UK, where this list is from.
 
I think it is the best thing on TV right now, although I understand why it isn't on the list.

I'm also not so sure why The Wire doesn't even crack the top ten. I did like the original version of State of Play, though.

Another question -- 24 makes the list, but the superior British spy show, Spooks, doesn't? That seems like a travesty. The wheels came off of 24 in season three, and it only regained its momentum intermittently after that.
 
^I'd say the same was true of Spooks. Personally I think The Wire and West Wing are both over-rated from what I've seen. I mean on paper they sound great, and the West Wing was very good for about 3 seasons, then I lost interest, the Wire on the other hand I couldn't make it through 1 seasons.
 
Nice to see some SF in there like The Prisoner. I disagree with The Sopranos being #1. I was never particularly impressed with it and often thought it was only popular because it featured a middle aged bald guy getting laid by sexy women. Seriously.

I also feel Buffy is overrated, and The X-Files doesn't necessarily belong in the Top 50 because it was so extremely variable, even before Duchovny left and the last season or two went to pot.

But for the most part I think the list is OK, though I'd have also gone with Doctor Who (2005 revival) (and Matt Smith was nominated for Best Actor in a Drama by BAFTA so it's considered a drama). And since the door is open for other SF, Farscape should definitely have been on there.

Alex
 
Oz in the top 50, really?

They need to get their hands on current series so they can update the list: Breaking Bad, Dexter, Justified, Sons of Anarchy.

And of course the original Star Trek should be listed if The Twilight Zone is - both are groundbreaking, influential series from the same era.
 
^Just adding recent series because they are recent doesn't make it a better list. All of those shows have been shown though at the start of last year only 1 or 2 seasons of Breaking Bad and Sons of Anarchy from what I remember. Dexter is alright but they just do the same thing over and over. Don't know about Justified but Sons of Anarchy didn't seem all that good to me when I watched it.
 
Like most lists of that type, they have a short memory. For US TV, you can make a pretty effective dividing line between "before Hill Street Blues" and "after Hill Street Blues." If breaking ground and depth of influence are any criteria, that show should be near the top instead of in the bottom half.



Justin
 
auntiehill said:
I really think the Sopranos is highly overrated, but YMMV.
Click to expand...
Agreed, at least with regard to seasons three and on. It's an historic TV show, but I kind of got the impression that it received respect and street cred largely due to its uncensored use of language, nudity and violence rather than its intrinsic merits. Battlestar at its best was every bit as good, and IMHO Buffy had superior writing.

ETA: Was Doctor Who disqualified on general principles?
 
It's a pretty fair list, to be honest. The exact order of shows in these kinds of list is pointless, but the 50 they've chosen are a very good range of shows.

My personal favourites from their 50 would be Brideshead Revisted (I wouldn't say it drove me to apply to Oxford, but it certainly didn't hurt!), Our Friends in the North (I usually dislike left-wing drama, but the sweeping execution of this one is just so damn perfect with brilliantly human characterisation across the decades), House of Cards (FU is THE best TV antihero, bar none), and The X-Files (I preferred the Monster-of-the-Week eps though).

On their day, Grange Hill and EastEnders could be surprisingly good too.
 
Happy to see Buffy the Vampire Slayer and BSG make the list. They also give nods to 24 and The X-Files, which I guess is okay... but no love for Lost? Are you kidding?
 
Yeah, it's really hard to take the list seriously without Law & Order. Also, the John le Carré adaptations shouldn't be crowding out The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes with Jeremy Brett; Smiley's People is good but it's not #17 material.
 
I realize British TV works a bit differently than it does over here; a number of the titles on that list I wouldn't have included not because they weren't good, but because I'd regard them as miniseries, not a regular TV series. The Singing Detective and the le Carré adaptations are a perfect example.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top