Best TV Show Ever?

[Dragonstoned]

It's not such an outlandish claim, but put it up against The Wire and I would be interested to see why people would have it come out on top.

[Aldi_AA]

For me breaking bad is number one then GOT then true detective but I still haven't seen many of the shows others have suggested.

[Warhawk137]

It's not such an outlandish claim, but put it up against The Wire and I would be interested to see why people would have it come out on top.

They're pretty similar shows in terms of having a really wide scope, huge cast, great acting, visceral and thought-provoking storylines, and a slightly brutal kind of cynicism. The biggest difference is setting, obviously.

I think a subjective opinion either way would be valid.

I prefer Game of Thrones because of setting and visual style.

[Daske]

I enjoyed the Wire, Sopranos and Breaking Bad very much, and thought they deserved the hype. And I have no problem putting both Battlestar Galactica and Game of Thrones in that same league of quality adult dramas. I think it's almost impossible to say one is the absolute best, though. So much depends on what you are in the mood for at any given time, the zeitgeist, how recently you have watched them or have re-watched them etc. I find it's impossible to consistantly rank the same best 1-to-10 even at a personal level.

[JonCon's Red Beard]

To be honest, I think Star Trek TNG was better.

I still enjoy Game of Thrones, though.

[Ilúvatar]

Best show ever? Not a chance.

It's fantasy-lite mixed with soap opera storylines and sex. What depth and charm the books have seems largely absent most of the time.

It's not even the best HBO show of all time, let alone the best show ever.

[Rashtibram]

I completely agree but that's to be expected. You get it with every book to screen adaptation.

I think that 'Game of Thrones' is entirely different from most other adaptations, the distinction being that the majority of the show's fanbase and hype comes from an audience which has never read the source material. It's kind of hard not to judge movies like 'Harry Potter' and 'The Hunger Games' in comparison to the books, because in those cases, the movies' primary reason for existence was to appeal to fans of the original series, and unnecessary changes were reasonably and understandably frowned upon. The aim of 'Game of Thrones' is to reach a wide variety of television audiences, not just to provide a visual transcription of 'A Song of Ice and Fire,' and should (IMO) be considered as an adaptation to the same extent that 'The Walking Dead' is. When viewed in this light, I think it's easily way better than shows like 'Breaking Bad,' which provide admittedly more solid narratives in less ambitious settings, with less ambitious goals and outcomes. Of course, as I said earlier I'm not much of an authority on what constitutes good television, but I'll say again that 'Game of Thrones' is easily the best show I've ever seen, both in terms of being an adaptation and on its own merits.

It's fantasy-lite mixed with soap opera storylines and sex. What depth and charm the books have seems largely absent most of the time.

That's an incredibly simplistic view of the show. Intoxicating complexity, massive scope, excellent acting, beautiful landscapes, a fascinating plethora of morally grey characters…I could go on. This is all subjective, of course, but that comment seems really unfair.

[Faint]

Certainly not, though, the real disappointment for me is that a sterling adaption would have made consideration for that title achievable.

[Ran]

McNamara is the sort of writer who has a new "best show ever" every couple of years. Big Love was one, for awhile -- a show I enjoyed and thought was unique and interesting, but so good as to be a "best ever"?

And as someone else noted, adaptations are often at a disadvantage. Short works can be adapted very well indeed (consider Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy or The Godfather.) But the larger a work is, the more constraining the advantages of novels -- multiplicity of characters, storylines, themes -- start to become a disadvantage. GoT makes for an extavaganza, but if we rated things solely by how spectacular they are, Michael Bay would be considered the greatest auteur that ever lived.

[Ilúvatar]

That's an incredibly simplistic view of the show. Intoxicating complexity, massive scope, excellent acting, beautiful landscapes, a fascinating plethora of morally grey characters…I could go on. This is all subjective, of course, but that comment seems really unfair.

It's visually impressive, i'll give it that... although I don't always agree with the way they choose to portray certain locations and cultures. The acting and choice of cast is very hit / miss, which is to be expected of a show with so many characters. As for morally grey characters, I don't think there's anything particularly special about that anymore. Lots of TV shows are doing it.

[Faint]

It should be noted that the Los Angeles Times article made no genre distinctions with their grandiose pronouncement, which makes it all the more sillier.

I am quite confident people will still be watching I Love Lucy, Seinfeld, and The Simpsons long after Tony Soprano, Omar Little, Don Draper, Walter White, and Tyrion Lanister have long since been forgotten.

[MoIaF]

Hard to be objective about it. It's my personal #1. The rest of my top 5 would probably be populated by M*A*S*H, Fringe, Stargate SG-1, and The Wire, in some order.

...just realized that's a pretty weird grouping, actually...

I love Fringe and Stargate SG-1, both excellent shows.

I like Game of Thrones, it's a very good show but to say it's the greatest ever without having reached the finally is a bit silly.

The acting has improved greatly season by season but there was some pretty inconsistent acting the first two seasons, and that to me takes points away from it.

[Rashtibram]

I'd say the fact that GOT hasn't reached its finale yet speaks for it, actually; if people are already hailing it as the best show of all time before we've even reached the halfway point, it must be doing something right. The first three seasons of it can easily stand up to many dramas in their entirety, and that's a pretty impressive achievement if you ask me.

[Warhawk137]

I'd say the fact that GOT hasn't reached its finale yet speaks for it, actually; if people are already hailing it as the best show of all time before we've even reached the halfway point, it must be doing something right. The first three seasons of it can easily stand up to many dramas in their entirety, and that's a pretty impressive achievement if you ask me.

True. I mean, Breaking Bad was always very highly regarded, but the last few episodes really cemented it in the pantheon of great TV shows in history. OTOH, Lost kind of flubbed it toward the end, if you ask me.

We'll probably have a better view of it in restrospect some years from now.

[Ilúvatar]

I'd say the fact that GOT hasn't reached its finale yet speaks for it, actually; if people are already hailing it as the best show of all time before we've even reached the halfway point, it must be doing something right. The first three seasons of it can easily stand up to many dramas in their entirety, and that's a pretty impressive achievement if you ask me.

Just because a show is highly praised early on doesn't mean it'll be even more highly regarded once it's finished.

I remember people talking about Dexter the same way they talk about Breaking Bad when it first started, and just look what happened after season 4. I also recall a lot of people saying Boardwalk Empire was going to surpass The Sopranos after just the first season, and that hasn't exactly lived up to its hype.

GoT isn't immune to going off the rails just because the source material is so good. We already know that A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons are going to be a lot harder to cover than the previous books, and if the show eventually overtakes GRRM there's every chance the final seasons could turn out very badly.

[Hagen of Tronje]

I think Breaking Bad, Six Feet Under, The Sopranos and The Wire are the very best (or at least among them). But GOT isn't far behind.

And @Ran, I think you're too deeply involved with the books for many years now to really appreciate the show. I enjoy your reviews, but my impression is that you simply can't watch the episodes without having the original chapters in mind. I'm sure you try to be as fair and objective as possible, but to be honest, there's alway some sense of bias.

[Knez Snow]

I don't think GoT is among the best; they had solid first season, but second season could almost be described as "cluster fuck". Third one improved some things, but not all. Especially Jon Snow character and arc is maybe even FUBAR at this point.

Also, dialogues are sometimes good, but sometimes pretty bad in my opinion. I am guessing there is difference in level of skill of show writers.

Anyway, I will reserve my final judgement of the show at least after season 4. After that it will be more interesting for surpassing the books.

[Ran]

I agree with the shows you list (though SFU was more notably uneven than the other three). I'd add Deadwood to the list (ridiculous, how many HBO shows can seriously be discussed in that vein).

Knez Snow,

There are certainly shows that are more consistent, and consistently good, in their writing. But those shows are almost universally all less ambitious from a production standpoint, so one supposes the showrunners can focus more on that aspect.

Personally, I think it'd do the show good if D&D dropped down to 4-5 scripts a year, rather than 7. Next season there's potentially 6 they're writing, assuming Cogman sticks to 2 episodes and Dave Hill and GRRM provide one each. But six is still an awful lot.

[Knez Snow]

Yes, I agree that adapting GoT is very hard. But I am just commenting on the final result.

[JonCon's Red Beard]

I remember many people said that GoT was the best tv show of the tv history after Blackwater. Makes sense, but I think some shows have also made great with the budget they got. We shouldn't judge a tv show because "omg FX!".