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What is the greatest American TV show of all time?
- Thread starter GameChanger
- Start date
The Wire.
Everything seemed so bland and tasteless after this.
- I was recommended The Sopranos and I didn't enjoy that. Sure the setting is promising but the cast... Between his sister, his mother, fucking Paulie... and almost everyone really, it's a wonder he manages to make money. I like watching shows to see some evolution, some character development and such but season after season, it's like every character was digging his tomb without relent. The cunts from last season will be bigger cunts next one, and the show goes on and on until the cunt is question is dead.
And if you're not a cunt, well, too bad, you're going to die anyway.
- Then I was recommended The Shield. Not terrible but compared to The Wire everything seems so fake it felt like a sitcom most of the times : everything that can go wrong WILL go wrong because. I had 0 love for the main character (a fat, balding womanizer, just like in Sopranos but apparently the opposite sex just CAN'T resist them !). I had some love for Claudette and Dutch though... until Dutch killed the cat, because again, this is a sitcom apparently and everything must happen, despite making 0 sense.
- Breaking Bad could have been the one, but the character of Jesse is just nerve grating. Unreliable, crybaby, junkie, you name it. Clearly the BEST associate one could want when going into the drugs business.
Sorry for badmouthing some shows of such magnitude but I think each of them has one or more glaring/crippling defaults that just can't make them sit on the first place.
As I said, had I seen these shows before The Wire my opinion would probably be different or more nuanced.
Everything seemed so bland and tasteless after this.
- I was recommended The Sopranos and I didn't enjoy that. Sure the setting is promising but the cast... Between his sister, his mother, fucking Paulie... and almost everyone really, it's a wonder he manages to make money. I like watching shows to see some evolution, some character development and such but season after season, it's like every character was digging his tomb without relent. The cunts from last season will be bigger cunts next one, and the show goes on and on until the cunt is question is dead.
And if you're not a cunt, well, too bad, you're going to die anyway.
- Then I was recommended The Shield. Not terrible but compared to The Wire everything seems so fake it felt like a sitcom most of the times : everything that can go wrong WILL go wrong because. I had 0 love for the main character (a fat, balding womanizer, just like in Sopranos but apparently the opposite sex just CAN'T resist them !). I had some love for Claudette and Dutch though... until Dutch killed the cat, because again, this is a sitcom apparently and everything must happen, despite making 0 sense.
- Breaking Bad could have been the one, but the character of Jesse is just nerve grating. Unreliable, crybaby, junkie, you name it. Clearly the BEST associate one could want when going into the drugs business.
Sorry for badmouthing some shows of such magnitude but I think each of them has one or more glaring/crippling defaults that just can't make them sit on the first place.
As I said, had I seen these shows before The Wire my opinion would probably be different or more nuanced.
This is what I came in to post. Obviously you have to restrict yourself to the first 7-9 seasons or so, but that show set the gold standard for intelligent television.
Breaking Bad is GREAT but it doesn't say anything about America or it's laws or feature a diverse group of people dealing with those laws.
The Wire shows us the politics of an entire city from the police system, multiple organized crime organizations all the way from the street dealers to the suppliers, working class workers, the community that lives in the perpetual drug war, school children and teachers, ex convicts trying to return to civilian life, the courtroom and newsroom.
Your younger brother not getting into it is a poor reason to put Breaking Bad over the Wire. As much as a first time viewer might smirk at the characters being introduced to text messaging, the story the Wire tells is all too relevant.
See, Jesse is a great character and was only dragged that deep into the drug game because of Walt's bullshit.
I did watch the Wire after Breaking Bad though and obviously the former has a lot more to say about American society while the other is just a really exciting and incredibly well done gangster movie.
It's a show that is criminally under-watched (though if you look up any review of the later seasons it's thankfully at least not under-appreciated) show. Four seasons, which cover ten years (from 1983-1993) of the lives of several people working on computers, video games, and technology.
It's a story that gets to the heart of creation. This incalculable drive to make something. And that drive can create the strongest relationships we have along the way. It can also destroy us. And we're always thrilled to be chasing after a dream, to be building towards something, but it's a show that cuts to the heart of creation: creation is only the thing that gets us to the thing. And the thing is the people around us, on that adventure.
It's an incredibly well written human drama, and so much of its success comes from the imperfection of its cast it embraces. How these people succeed, and (more importantly) how they fail are rendered with incredible vision. It's also worth noting that the show is able to tell what feels like an incredibly complete story with their four seasons. Looking back on season 1 from season 4 is astounding.
Maybe it's just because I make games, or just because I'm the kind of person who is very much into that kind make-things mentality, but no other show has ever felt more definitive in showcasing the value in chasing after a dream with other people.
I'm in the middle of another rewatch and this show is just incredibly special. Beautiful scene after scene of great music and emotion.
My man.
Larry Sanders is #1 in my heart.
SNL has a pretty broad influence, although the quality has ebbed and flowed quite a bit over the years. It's hasn't been consistently great, but it has had some pretty high highs over the years.
If I gotta pick a more "serious" drama or whatever, then I guess I'd go with the Wire too.
The Wire, then I would round out the top five with Breaking Bad, Sopranos, Six Feet Under, and Mad Men. Honorable mentions Game of Thrones and Better Call Saul
Sopranos or The Wire. I'll probably give it to the Sopranos because it rebirthed serialized TV as a popular format, and now everything is serialized. The Wire might be the best, but the Sopranos is my favorite, I'd say, it's infinitely rewatchable. While the Wire is difficult to rewatch because each episode really requires that you've seen the previous episode... tough to just jump into a random episode if you haven't watched the whole series in a while.
A toss up between The Simpsons and Seinfeld.
Definitely not.
P.S.: A non-american not living in U.S.A.
Definitely not.
P.S.: A non-american not living in U.S.A.
60 Minutes
Listen, I love Seinfeld, Breaking Bad, and all the others mentioned. But none of them are nearly as important or stimulating as any episode of 60 Minutes.
Listen, I love Seinfeld, Breaking Bad, and all the others mentioned. But none of them are nearly as important or stimulating as any episode of 60 Minutes.
This. No other series has made me understand the US from an outsiders perspective any better. There's a reason it is taught in a variety of disciplines in college over here in Europe.
The Shield.
The show did something that no other TV series has done before.
It began good. It got better and better and better and then had one of the greatest series finales of all time. No dip in quality, ever, over 7 seasons. No other show can claim that, not Breaking Bad, not Game of Thrones, not The Wire, nobody. The Shield had no weak or extraneous episodes or subplots. It is as close to perfect as any TV show could ever hope to be.
For the uninitiated, the show is essentially a Shakespearean epic presented as a cop show. Some of the absolute highest highs of emotional beats and the most tense situations you will ever experience in a TV series. It established the framework of storytelling that Breaking Bad would then copy to great success.
See this man? In any other series, it would be a throwaway part. Instead, he became one of the most memorable, complex, and tragic characters on the silver screen.
The show did something that no other TV series has done before.
It began good. It got better and better and better and then had one of the greatest series finales of all time. No dip in quality, ever, over 7 seasons. No other show can claim that, not Breaking Bad, not Game of Thrones, not The Wire, nobody. The Shield had no weak or extraneous episodes or subplots. It is as close to perfect as any TV show could ever hope to be.
For the uninitiated, the show is essentially a Shakespearean epic presented as a cop show. Some of the absolute highest highs of emotional beats and the most tense situations you will ever experience in a TV series. It established the framework of storytelling that Breaking Bad would then copy to great success.
See this man? In any other series, it would be a throwaway part. Instead, he became one of the most memorable, complex, and tragic characters on the silver screen.
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The answer to this question is largely a matter of taste and what generation you grew up in, but for me I feel like it has to be a toss-up between Seinfeld, The Simpsons, and The Office.
Honorable Mention to Community, of course.
Honorable Mention to Community, of course.
If you're not feeling it at this point, then you probably won't enjoy the rest of it. I tend to gravitate more toward characters over story in general, and I enjoy these characters, so watching them interact and bounce off each other was satisfying for me. If you're at the point where the characters and story aren't doing much for you, then you're in for more of the same. Without spoiling anything, the show has a satisfying conclusion and does right by its characters.
Also, the show is a massive nostalgia rush for me, due to the place and time. I was in my 20s during the '90s and involved in that early web/tech boom, so that might color my feelings a bit, but I've seen other shows that take place in that time period and don't do anything for me other than, "yeah, I remember that." The fact that this is a fictional tale set during that period elevates it for me.
I would like someone who is not from the US to answer with what they think.
I personally believe it to be: Breaking Bad.
I personally believe it to be: Breaking Bad.
