TIME Magazine's 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME

From The TV IV

The 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME is a best-of list published in 2007 by TIME Magazine critic James Poniewozik.

It is unusual in a number of ways. First, the show is not ranked but merely listed in alphabetical order. Second, for a major publication's list, it is chosen by only one person—Poniewozik himself. Most magazines have panels to choose best-of lists, and even though TIME eschewed the panels typical of Entertainment Weekly or TV Guide, it had previously that year published lists of 100 Greatest Movies and 100 Greatest Novels which were t least chosen by two critics. However, as the magazine's only TV critic, Poniewozik made his choices alone. What's more, the list was not truly of "all-TIME," because it was limited only to those shows which premiered prior to 2006, thereby disqualifying the most recent shows (including Poniewozik's favorite Friday Night Lights). It also included moves as well as series, and in at least one case, an entire network (MTV).

What's not unusual, by Poniewozik's own admission, is that the list is as subjective as any other best-of list. However, Poniewozik made an attempt to be as objective as possible. According to his introduction, he tried to include shows from all genres and time periods. He tried to judge shows based on their individual merits and not their popularity or how much better they could have been under different circumstances. He tried to include influential shows of which he himself was not a big fan.

One of his more controversial rules was, "Where two shows with the same creators or talent had similar themes, milieus, characters or narrative styles, I generally picked one." This decision led to many criticisms, as, for instance, he included both British and American versions of The Office, which he claimed were "different achievements," although British creators Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant are executive producers on the American version, which also used the original's pilot script as its own and has closely mirrored the British version's story arcs. On the other hand, his "Two Shows, One Slot" rule eliminated, for example, Fawlty Towers from consideration with Monty Python's Flying Circus. In fact, of the 10 people with involvement in the creation of either show, only two (John Cleese and John Howard Davies) were heavily involved in both. (Fawlty Towers co-creator Connie Booth was an occasional guest actress on Python, although rarely in any role of note, and then usually because Carol Cleveland was otherwise occupied or unavailable.) They are two different genres (sketch comedy vs. sitcom); two vastly different structures—in that Python made it a point not to have an episodic structure and to break conventional structure at every opportunity, while Fawlty Towers was one of the most rigidly structured sitcoms from episode to episode in television history—and, by Cleese's admission, two completely different philosophies of comedy. (He has referred to Python as "a comedy of the mind," while Fawlty Towers he calls "a comedy of emotion.")

Nonetheless, again, Poniewozik admitted the list is subjective and imperfect, but, he said, "It's my list. ... If you have read my list and think I am a moron, that's all the thanks I need."