WGA: 101 Best Written TV Series Of All Time

[scpanther22]

Writers Guild of America 101 best written TV series of all time. Rest of the list in the link. The wire definitely needs to be higher.

 

1. The Sopranos – HBO – Created by David Chase

2. Seinfeld – NBC – Created by Larry David & Jerry Seinfeld

3. The Twilight Zone (1959) – CBS – Season One writers: Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson, Robert Presnell, Jr., Rod Serling

4. All in the Family – CBS – Developed for Television by Norman Lear, Based on Till Death Do Us Part, Created by Johnny Speight

5. M*A*S*H – CBS – Developed for Television by Larry Gelbart

6. The Mary Tyler Moore Show – CBS – Created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns

7. Mad Men – AMC – Created by Matthew Weiner

8. Cheers – NBC – Created by Glen Charles & Les Charles and James Burrows

9. The Wire – HBO – Created by David Simon

10. The West Wing – NBC – Created by Aaron Sorkin

 

http://www.deadline.com/2013/06/wgas-101-best-written-tv-series-of-all-time-complete-list/

 

[Captroop]

24. Friends

 

 

Wut? The geniuses who brought us Smelly Cat are on the list of 101 best written shows of all time? They beat South Park by over 40 slots?

 

Glad Mad Men cracked the top 10. Amazing writing. How Weiner writes so many diverse characters so well blows my mind; it almost makes up for what a prick he is. I was afraid it would get dinged for being a show that's currently on the air.

[Captroop]

Also:

 

 

Where is Batman: The Animated Series????

 

 

True. Good pull, random commenter. Amazing show from my childhood. It was the first cartoon show, and up until Adventure Time, the only children's show that didn't pander to kids.

 

[TheRumGone]

The Wire should have been ranked higher, but the Sopranos is my favorite TV show of all time.

[TANTRIC-NINJA]

Sopranos is good but never tying up loose ends or having tight contuniuity hurts the Sopranos for me. Now I watched every second of it with baited breath and even liked the finale..but overall it left you a bit empty for something that was revolutionary.

Soprano's and Oz really set the bar high with gritty dramas that transcend to network tv...amazing to see the evolution of shows on major networks with content similar to the movie Seven.

Friends at 24 makes this list suspect.

[TheRumGone]

Sopranos is good but never tying up loose ends or having tight contuniuity hurts the Sopranos for me. Now I watched every second of it with baited breath and even liked the finale..but overall it left you a bit empty for something that was revolutionary.

Soprano's and Oz really set the bar high with gritty dramas that transcend to network tv...amazing to see the evolution of shows on major networks with content similar to the movie Seven.

 

That is what i liked most about it. It was the most realistic drama on television.

[TANTRIC-NINJA]

That is what i liked most about it. It was the most realistic drama on television.

You like Chris being chased by the Russian Mob into the woods at the end of the episode..then nothing ever to show what happened, how he got away and not ever mentioned in the next episode or any episode..

[TheRumGone]

You like Chris being chased by the Russian Mob into the woods at the end of the episode..then nothing ever to show what happened, how he got away and not ever mentioned in the next episode or any episode..

 

Yep. 

[CarolinaNCSU]

Mad Men, The Wire, Seinfeld all belong in the Top 10, but I've sadly never seen the rest.  

 

Move Breaking Bad up, Arrested Development is about right, Game of Thrones will climb eventually, and South Park should be much higher.  

[cookinwithgas]

The idea that Star Trek of the 60s was better written than the BSG reboot is laughable. and I say that as a staunch defender of TOS Trek.

 

More influential certainly but that's a totally different thing.

[Zaximus]

Top 10 seems ok.  I think M.A.S.H. should be a bit higher though.   It was amazing how they wove drama and comedy into a show about a bad situation.  

 

Louie that far at the bottom?  So wrong.  Top 5 comedy IMO especially going by "writing".

[pstall]

Justified is working its way up the list.

 

To me and I'm probably in the very small minority, I think Sopranos are....umm....overrated.

 

 

Anything by Matheson from Twilight Zone DEMOLISHES most other shows.

[CarolinaCoolin]

I think we are so spoiled in tv right now. We will look back 20 years from now and see shows like the walking dead game of thrones mad men and breaking bad as some of the greatest tv produced ever

[Zaximus]

Well, not Walking Dead.  They'll look back at it having some of the worst acting ever for such a popular show lol.