Writers Guild of America's 101 Best Written TV Shows of All-Time

[RollWave35]

Top 25:

1) The Sopranos
2) Seinfeld
3) The Twilight Zone
4) All In The Family
5) M*A*S*H
6) The Mary Tyler Moore Show
7) Mad Men
8) Cheers
9) The Wire
10) The West Wing
11) The Simpsons
12) I Love Lucy
13) Breaking Bad
14) The Dick Van Dyke Show
15) Hill Street Blues
16) Arrested Development
17) The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
18) Six Feet Under
19) Taxi
20) The Larry Sanders Show
21) 30 Rock
22) Friday Night Lights
23) Frasier
24) Friends
25) Saturday Night Live

Full list: http://www.wga.org/content/default.aspx?id=4925

Some other personal favorites of mine:

26) The X-Files
32) Deadwood
35) Twin Peaks
50) The Colbert Report
54) The Wonder Years
79) Alfred Hitchcock Presents
86) Justified
88) Band of Brothers

 

[PhilliesDeacs]

Methinks The Simpsons would be higher if they just considered seasons 3-9, although you could probably say that about most long-running shows.

 

[Deacfreak07]

I think Mad Men is a little overrated. I wouldn't put it ahead of The West Wing.

 

[RJKarl]

Mine would be:

1. West Wing
2. All in the Family (changed TV)
3. Twilight Zone
4. M*A*S*H
5. The Daily Show (have to do it four nights a week)
6. Sopranos
7. Soap
8. SNL
9. Northern Exposure
10. Cheers

EDIT: I flipped Soap and Cheers. Soap went off the air before most of you were born. It was an almost perfectly written satire of soap operas. It was so over the top but so funny.

 

[CHillDeac]

I think Mad Men is a little overrated. I wouldn't put it ahead of The West Wing.

Seasons 1-4 of the West Wing are awesome. Seasons 5-7, not so much. The big difference is that Aaron Sorkin quit writing the series at the end of season 4.

 

[Deacfreak07]

Seasons 1-4 of the West Wing are awesome. Seasons 5-7, not so much. The big difference is that Aaron Sorkin quit writing the series at the end of season 4.

I'm aware of that. I think current running TV shows get a little overrated when stacked against shows that have finished their run because the lulls of the complete run are never forgotten. Mad Men has had, and will probably have again lulls in the quality of the writing. When the book is closed on it, that will all be considered in perspective.

 

[DeaconCav06]

I'm currently rewatching the West Wing and it is definitely a Top 5 for me.

 

[RollWave35]

The West Wing (with Sorkin writing) had the best dialogue of any TV show I've ever seen.

 

[Wakeforest22890]

I think West Wing should be top 5. It easily has three or four of my favorite top ten individual episodes of any show.

 

[Deacfreak07]

There are a lot of shows on that list that I need to watch though.

 

[qcdeac]

Mine would be:

1. West Wing
2. All in the Family (changed TV)
3. Twilight Zone
4. M*A*S*H
5. The Daily Show (have to do it four nights a week)
6. Sopranos
7. Soap
8. SNL
9. Northern Exposure
10. Cheers

EDIT: I flipped Soap and Cheers. Soap went off the air before most of you were born. It was an almost perfectly written satire of soap operas. It was so over the top but so funny.

Soap was pretty awesome. Watched it in syndication when I was young. No idea how it would hold up now.

 

[RJKarl]

Jody (Billy Crsytal) would not be as well taken today. but it was ground breaking in the show having an openly gay character, showing him as human and, of course, funny.

It was very brave for Crystal to take the part. Along with All in the Family, it was the first show to broach the subject of gays playing pro sports. I thought it was hilarious for gold medalist Bob Seagran to play the gay QB.

It was so well written and directed that you couldn't believe the show was over when it ended. It seemed to soon.

 

[bigdoublezero]

There are some pretty lousy episodes of Cheers, Seinfeld and Twilight Zone especially.

 

[WakeTheNation]

The West Wing should definitely be top 5.
While I enjoyed FNL (still miss that show), I wouldn't put it in the top 25 best written shows of all time.
Friends should absolutely be ahead of FNLs, and several of the other shows ahead of it.
Its a disgrace to have Band of Brothers that low on the list. Phhht.
Cheers did have some stinker episodes but overall for the series, it was great.
ER deserves higher (#28), IMO.
TAGS should also be at least top 40 (#70). The story lines and dialogue may be simple but sometimes simple is great. Particularly if you throw in Don Knotts.
24 tied with Roseanne (#71). Are you effing kidding me? Roseanne? The list blows.

 

[TBR]

There are some pretty lousy episodes of Cheers, Seinfeld and Twilight Zone especially.

Gotta think Cheers was a nostalgia pick. It's a great show, but, as far as traditional sitcoms go, Frasier for one is better written.

 

[Deacfreak07]

Roseanne was a pretty well written sitcom. Say what you want about the woman, but I think the show carried a certain honesty with it that was not really present on TV at the time.

I loved FNL, but it doesn't belong that high. If you are penalizing the later seasons of TWW, S2 of FNL was exponentially worse than the worst non-Sorkin West Wing episode.

 

[redwing42]

A much better way of looking at this would probably be to list individual seasons of a show, since the quality can change greatly from one season to the next. I do agree that Soap should be at least top 25. That was a hilarious show, and extremely clever.

 

[Deacfreak07]

Once upon a time, sitcoms used to be such a wonderful showcase of writing talent. Now, not so much.

 

[Milhouse]

roseanne was an excellent show

 

[TBR]

Roseanne was a pretty well written sitcom. Say what you want about the woman, but I think the show carried a certain honesty with it that was not really present on TV at the time.

I loved FNL, but it doesn't belong that high. If you are penalizing the later seasons of TWW, S2 of FNL was exponentially worse than the worst non-Sorkin West Wing episode.

Roseanne was a very underrated show. The last season or two blew, but the early stuff was great.