The 100 Best TV Shows of the 21st Century
Last week, the NY Times dropped a list of The 100 Best TV Shows of the 21st Century, as picked by a panel of “more than 500 influential stars, showrunners and other notable names in the world of TV”. The rankings have already been dissected online six ways from Sunday, but the link got lost in my forest of browser tabs and so here it is, a bit late but still interesting.
Here are some of my personal favorites from the list and arrowed opinions on whether some should be higher or lower on the list: Halt and Catch Fire (↑), Reservation Dogs (↑), Shogun (↑↑↑), The Great British Bake Off, Planet Earth, Downton Abbey (↓), The Good Place (↑), Normal People, Schitt’s Creek, Andor (↑↑), Severance (↓), Band of Brothers (↑), Deadwood (↑), The Crown (↓), Chernobyl (↑), The Americans (↑), Six Feet Under (↓), Girls (↓), Arrested Development, The Office (US), 30 Rock, Game of Thrones, Fleabag (↑), Succession, Mad Men, The Wire (↑), and Breaking Bad (↓).
There are many excellent shows that didn’t make the list — the one that immediately pops into my mind is My Brilliant Friend. As for stuff that’s on there that perhaps could be replaced with something more worthy, I’ll hold my tongue. I do think the inclusion of some of the more recent shows on the list will not age well when this is looked back on in, say, 10 years.
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I agree with much of your assessment. Deadwood is my favorite show and I'm disappointed it's not higher up. One show that didn't get a listing that I absolutely love is Taskmaster. Considering how many countries have their own "franchises" of it, I'm really surprised it's not there. The original UK version is in its 22nd seres right now! Oddly, as a NYT reader, when you go to vote for shows, Taskmaster is there, but it wants you to choose a particular season rather than voting for the show as a whole. Strange.
Taskmaster did pop up as #118 on the readers' list. I wonder if its place outside of conventional broadcasting media and streaming services didn't affect its ranking.
Deadwood and Taskmaster were both robbed!
(I think they treat shows with mostly new casts each season (like Fargo and True Detective) as anthology shows, and that's likely what happened to Taskmaster. ETA: but not the Great British Baking Show, so who knows?)
Battlestar Galactica should be replaced by The Expanse.
Shogun is definitely way too low at 86.
Spoiler for the list ranking
I enjoyed the general variety of shows as I scrolled through the list. "OA in the same list as Watchmen, Lost, and Slow Horses? Excellent."
Then when I got to the top 4 (Succession, Mad Men, The Wire, and Breaking Bad), I was struck by something that's hard to articulate; a certain sameness, maybe?
It's not that an antihero or dysfunctional character can't be center stage, but there was something...off...about how very unlikeable all of those main characters are and that they're clustered at the top. I dunno, like I said, sort of hard to describe. Genuinely curious if anyone else picked up on that vibe.
*For myself*, Pluribus would immediately qualify in the top 10, and Westworld (admittedly, maybe just season 1) somewhere on the list.
And I love Jason's Must-Haves and ranking adjustments!
Yes, this is a very specific prestige tv that I think of as disallusioned Boomer man tv. Not that it can’t be great, but it’s all great in the same way
Thanks for your thought on that, Sara, I appreciate hearing how other people perceived that dynamic!
And, I was remiss not to celebrate the inclusion of Reservation Dogs in this list. Some shows catapult me forward to find out what the heck happens next (lookin' at you, Severance), and others - like Reservation Dogs - makes me want to breathe in the story, sit with it, watch it again.
I wish more non-English-language shows would be included in lists like these. Many subtitled and/or dubbed shows are available on streaming services and some of them are really good! I am not a critic, but I loved the Chinese drama Pursuit of Jade so much I watched through it a second time.
I really enjoyed the limited series Fleishman Is In Trouble.
I saw a show once called 30 Degrees in February. Swedish show. Absolutely loved it and found it totally unique and unpredictable. Can't remember where I streamed it but have never been able to find it again. Anyone else seen it or know where to find it? I'm in Canada and it seems unfindable.
I’m with you on Breaking Bad. Great show, but nowhere near as good as The Wire. I started BB after watching the first few seasons of Dexter and couldn’t help but think that Dexter was a more daring, edgier take on the mild-mannered family man with a dark secret.
Although it had high highs and some great characters, BB had too many episodes that strayed from the core plot and dragged. IMO.
While I may be a lone voice crying in the wilderness here, the exclusion of the excellent "slow TV" drama Rectify saddens me. Also agree that the failure to recognize The Expanse (best sci-fi of this century, and maybe ALL the centuries, IMHO) was a major oversight.
I'm curious which of these shows you all feel are good to watch with a tween?
We LOVED the Good Place with her, we're on season 6 of Gilmore Girls (which is a bit of a slog in the later seasons). We enjoyed Andor with her. The Office didn't fly. She might like 30 Rock. We're not too too fussy about adult content within reason.
Maybe try Parks and Rec?
I'll take Reservation Dogs over "prestige tv" every single time.
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