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.
And in general, I find limited series pretty gratifying, even when they aren't excellent - I think sometimes its because they can get strong actors for the short series. (Fleishman has Jesse Eisenberg, Clare Danes and great supporting roles for Adam Brody and Lizzy Caplan).
We recently watched the pretty-ok series about James Garfield called Death By Lightning (with Michael Shannon, Matthew McFadden, Nick Offerman), and the poorly structured but interesting limited series Unorthodox (mostly Israeli actors speaking in Yiddish, which was interesting).
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.
Wife really enjoyed it a few years ago. A website I recommend to find stuff is called "justwatch.com". It shows 30° only in Europe.
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.
YES!!!! I'm here to make the same comment. Rectify is on my alltime pantheon, and yet so few people have even heard of it, let alone watched it. I only checked each installment of the NYT list wondering if any of the "experts", let alone readers remembered it still. Found it way, way down on the also rans, several hundred names down. Alas. I can still remember how absolutely wrecked I was when his next door cellmate was led away for execution - "Because I know you. Because I know you. Because I know you."
Rectify is in my personal top 5 and, while I would never expect it to make this kind of list, I wish we lived in a world where it could.
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?
New Girl is silly and fun and the characters are well drawn.
Reservation Dogs 100% (might want to review for content, lots of heavy topics, language, starts with them mourning their friend)
Stranger Things, Ted Lasso
My kids kind of liked Schitt's Creek which is a fantastic show.
I was wondering if Friday Night Lights is worth watching. My kids are getting towards high school age.
Unjustly passed over on this list, but Veronica Mars is a great show. It's aimed at teens, but really for adults. (It's mostly bout high school, but it does have pretty heavy content, including rape, so might be tough for a young tween.)
How about Lost? Lots of episodes, and it was on ABC so it’s not too violent, etc. It was fun/frustrating to watch live, but the puzzle elements of “what the heck is with this island?!” can be good conversation starters.
I'll take Reservation Dogs over "prestige tv" every single time.
Pretty good list overall, but am struck by the lack of animated series outside of Bojack (highly deserving, imo). Bob's Burgers was a pretty glaring omission, in my opinion.
Animation lost out big time. Adventure Time? Gravity Falls? Steven Universe? All amazing, profound, smart shows that went waaaaay beyond "kid stuff."
Totally agree with your adjustments. I don't know why My Brilliant Friend is so slept on, I thought the series was as beautiful and heartbreaking as the (also fabulous) books.
I was born in the wrong century. Best show of all time: Columbo.
My understanding is that Poker Face is extremely referential of Columbo.
(You might know this already, "YMKTA"?) If you like Columbo, you might like Maigret which (I have been told from French sources) inspired Columbo: https://fusac.fr/maigret-and-columbo/
Bored to Death deserves a spot on this list, surely.
That was a great one.
Even if it's not your cup of tea (it's very much mine), the cultural impact and best-in-class craft of Bluey makes it a crazy omission. It has a real argument for a spot in the upper echelon of this list.
Oh Bluey is a huge miss on that list.
It does seem very English-language focused (and US-focused within that). As well as My Brilliant Friend, how about Spiral (Engrenages), Babylon Berlin, The Killing (Forbrydelsen), The Bridge (Bron/Broen), Trapped (Ófærð)? I'm sure there are plenty I've forgotten or don't know about.
The Bridge is one of those shows I think about all the time. Like a smaller, less bonkers version of Fringe.
Not my favorite show of the 21st, but my favorite unappreciated show was Kevin Can F**k Himself. The uncovering of the premise was fantastic in the way that The Good Place at the end of Season 1 was. I think about that show all the time.
I feel like no Schitt's Creek and True Detective season 1 are big misses. But the whole thing is pretty subjective
They are both on the list, back to back at 35 & 34.
Great list, great discussion and great additional recommendations.
I few years ago, I unexpectedly started episode 1 of My Brilliant Friend while stay at a hotel than had HBO. A few minutes into that first episode, I felt an instinct that this would be a great series. I immediately paused it and checked if the book was available on Amazon. Fast forward a few years, and now I've read the first book of the series of four. Now, I can look forward to watch the series on TV. :)
On the subject of Tokyo, watching Midnight Diner pairs well with walking around the streets of Shinjuku. If you walk from the north-east intersection outside of Shinjuku Stn, going east under the Yamanote Line tracks on to Yasukuni Ave., you can experience the opening sequence of Midnight Diner. Further into the streets of Golden-Gai, you might even find the fictitious diner!! :)
https://maps.app.goo.gl/XMykBkBkhcfgS8fn7
I adore Normal People and Band of Brothers is a modern classic but those are what we used to call “miniseries” and IMHO should be on another list. Pluribus is spectacular, and based on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul will likely continue to be, but I also think a show should not be on the list if it’s just one season in. Unless it’s a one season/ cancelled too soon deal like Freaks and Geeks, which if it had premiered a couple months later would be on this list somewhere.
I’m not sure if it was ever released in the States, but the French Canadian show Empathie is something really special and deserved to be on the NYT list.
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