The All-time Best TV Shows
by Ted Crawford (Last updated 9/29/18)
I don't claim to have watched all the TV shows ever made. If fact, I only included over-the-air network TV programs in this list because I have never watched cable television or any of the new Internet shows. I also left out non-fictitious programs such as documentaries and talk shows. Of the ones that were left, these were the best by the criteria of being well-written, thought-provoking, or entertaining. There are several obscure shows that lasted only a season or two, and deserve recognition even more so for that reason. Some of the longer-running shows listed started out top notch but declined in quality in their later seasons (ER, Friends, Buffy, and Smallville, among others). Disagree with my choices? Want to add something? Comment below.
- Kolchak: The Night Stalker
- Lost
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Seinfeld
- ER
- Siberia
- Star Trek (original series)
- The Twilight Zone
- The X-files
- 666 Park Avenue
- Angel
- Fringe
- The Office
- Friends
- M*A*S*H
- Sabrina the Teenage Witch (90s sitcom)
- Supernatural
- The Fantastic Journey
- Arrested Development
- The Sixth Sense
- Smallville
- Will and Grace
- Newhart
- Red Dwarf
- Night Gallery
- Heroes
- The River
- The Pretender
- Murphy Brown
- Get Smart
- 24
- The Six Million Dollar Man
- Ellen (90s sitcom)
- Kung Fu
- Space: 1999
- Ghost Story / Circle of Fear
- Columbo
- Mission: Impossible
- Keeping Up Appearances
- The Mentalist
- The King of Queens
- Parks and Recreation
- Fantasy Island (70s version)
- The A-Team
- The Bionic Woman
- Laverne and Shirley
- The Good Place
- Designing Women