Hollywood Reporter Critics Pick the 50 Best TV Shows of the 21st Century (So Far)

[Edmilson 7,466]

The writers on THR chose what are the 50 best shows since the turn of the millenium.

 

You can read it on the link below, but if you don't have time for such a huge article, just look at the list I've made:

 

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/best-tv-shows-21st-century/

 

• 50 - 'Sex and the City' (HBO, 1998-2004)
• 49 - 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' (Nickelodeon, 2005-2008)
• 48 - 'South Side' (Comedy Central and Max, 2019-2022)
• 47 - 'Vida' (Starz, 2018-2020)
• 46 - 'The Underground Railroad' (Amazon Prime, 2021)
• 45 - 'The Crown' (Netflix, 2016-present)
• 44 - 'The Leftovers' (HBO, 2014-2017)
• 43 - 'Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown' (CNN, 2013-2018)
• 42 - 'Station Eleven' (HBO Max, 2021)
• 41 - 'Beef' (Netflix, 2023)
• 40 - 'Insecure' (HBO, 2016-2021)
• 39 - 'The Deuce' (HBO, 2017-2019)
• 38 - 'Band of Brothers' (HBO, 2001)
• 37 - 'Crazy Ex-Girlfriend' (The CW, 2015-2018)
• 36 - 'The Shield' (FX, 2002-2008)
• 35 - 'Chernobyl' (HBO, 2019)
• 34 - 'Jane the Virgin' (The CW, 2014-2019)
• 33 - 'Orange Is the New Black' (Netflix, 2013-2019)
• 32 - 'Veep' (HBO, 2012-2019)
• 31 - 'Fleabag' (BBC Three and Amazon Prime Video, 2016-2019)
• 30 - 'Game of Thrones' (HBO, 2011-2019)
• 29 - 'Broad City' (Comedy Central, 2014-2019)
• 28 - 'How To With John Wilson' (HBO, 2020-2023) 
• 27 - 'Parks and Recreation' (NBC, 2009-2015)
• 26 - 'Battlestar Galactica' (Sci-Fi/Syfy, 2003-2009)
• 25 - 'Review' (Comedy Central, 2014-2017)
• 24 - 'I May Destroy You' (BBC One and HBO, 2020)
• 23 - 'Survivor' (CBS, 2000-present)
• 22 - 'Better Things' (FX, 2016-2022)
• 21 - 'Deadwood' (HBO, 2004-2006)
• 20 - 'Peep Show' (2003-2015, Channel 4)
• 19 - 'Rectify' (SundanceTV, 2013-2016)
• 18 - 'Friday Night Lights' (NBC and The 101 Network, 2006-2011)
• 17 - 'Halt and Catch Fire' (AMC, 2014-2017)
• 16 - 'Breaking Bad' (AMC, 2008-2013)
• 15 - 'Atlanta' (FX, 2016-2022)
• 14 - 'Enlightened' (HBO, 2011-2013)
• 13 - '30 for 30' (ESPN, 2009-present)
• 12 - 'The Americans' (FX, 2013-2018)
• 11 - 'The Daily Show' (Comedy Central, 1996-present)
• 10 - 'BoJack Horseman' (Netflix, 2014-2020)
• 9 - 'Freaks and Geeks' (NBC, 1999-2000)
• 8 - 'Girls' (HBO, 2012-2017)
• 7 - 'Better Call Saul' (AMC, 2015-2022)
• 6 - 'Reservation Dogs' (FX/Hulu, 2021-2023)
• 5 - 'The Wire' (HBO, 2002-2008)
• 4 - '30 Rock' (NBC, 2006-2013)
• 3 - 'Succession' (HBO, 2018-2023) 
• 2 - 'The Sopranos' (HBO, 1999-2007)
• 1 - 'Mad Men' (AMC, 2007-2015)

 

 

[Bellosh 3,419]

Sopranos should be #1

 

Also no curb your enthusiasm?

[Jay 37,369]

Plenty of great shows on that list, but Better Call Saul should not be ranked higher than Breaking Bad, and many terrific shows are omitted (Arrested Development, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Fargo, Six Feet Under, Mr. Robot, Severance, Godless, Watchmen, House of the Dragon)

[Bellosh 3,419]

I miss shows that had episodes that weren't filler to an overall season arc.  So many of these shows have episodes that just stand alone and are amazing.

[Jay 37,369]

 

Also some shows on that list are really not very good (Girls, Orange Is The New Black)

 

There also seems to be little point in including something like "The Daily Show" in a ranking like this

[Mr. Who 919]

Love Sopranos and Mad Men but GOT at 30 is a joke. Breaking Bad should also be higher. And some significant ones are also missing like HOTD, Westworld Curb, Severance and HOC.

[Jay 37,369]

House of Cards?  No way!

[Yavar Moradi 2,599]

22 minutes ago, Jay said:

Plenty of great shows on that list, but Better Call Saul should not be ranked higher than Breaking Bad, and many terrific shows are omitted (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Fargo, Mr. Robot, Severance, Godless, House of the Dragon)

 

Godless was a miniseries just like The Queen's Gambit. Do those count?

 

Yavar

[Bellosh 3,419]

I know The Office (US) is basically bordering on 'basic bitch' territory but that show has way better developed characters than Parks and Rec and actually heartwarming moments not to mention it's basically the template that parks uses. It should be on that list in its place.

 

I will also die on the hill that The Office (US) is genuinely funnier than the UK version, which has it's moments but is too cold. US version just got too popular for it's own good.

[Jay 37,369]

1 hour ago, Yavar Moradi said:

 

Godless was a miniseries just like The Queen's Gambit. Do those count?

 

Yavar

 

Of course.  I might not have mentioned it, had I not observed that "Band of Brothers, "Chernobyl", "Beef", "Station Eleven", and "The Underground Railroad" are all on the list. 

[Yavar Moradi 2,599]

I glanced through it but I must have missed their inclusion. Did you like Godless better than The Queen's Gambit? I loved them both and I'm not sure which I prefer.

 

Yavar

[TolkienSS 407]

Lost

[Damien F 1,742]

1 hour ago, Bellosh said:

I know The Office (US) is basically bordering on 'basic bitch' territory but that show has way better developed characters than Parks and Rec and actually heartwarming moments not to mention it's basically the template that parks uses. It should be on that list in its place.

 

I will also die on the hill that The Office (US) is genuinely funnier than the UK version, which has it's moments but is too cold. US version just got too popular for it's own good.

 

I love The Office (US) but I struggled with Parks and Rec for some reason. I stopped during season 2. I might try to give it another chance.

 

Good to see The Americans high on that list. I think it suffered a little from being on FX. If it was on HBO or Netflix people would be talking about it a lot more.

 

I would have included For All Mankind especially for the first two seasons. I definitely think it is better than some other shows on that list.

[Bellosh 3,419]

18 minutes ago, Damien F said:

 

I love The Office (US) but I struggled with Parks and Rec for some reason.

 

same, and i think it's because the show lacks 'emotional' moments.  The Office hits those notes, for instance Pam's art show scene with Michael, where you say "oh okay, so this show can go there" amidst the goofiness..."

 

56 minutes ago, TolkienSS said:

Lost

 

One of the last shows to have people salivate for the next episode. Should be high on this list.

 

Another one missing from this list, True Detective Season 1 --- i'd argue it belongs in the top 10.

[Glóin the Dark 1,222]

1 hour ago, Bellosh said:

I will also die on the hill that The Office (US) is genuinely funnier than the UK version...

Not remotely! I’ll be on the opposite hill yelling that The Office is hilarious and masterful throughout. The Office: An American Workplace is like a kids’ version of the concept, with the usual draining of subtlety that the US networks seem to insist upon in their comedy translations (similar to the dumbing down that’s evident in the comparison between The Thick of It and Veep).

[Edmilson 7,466]

Some shows that absolutely should've been on the list:

• True Detective (only for S1, which is one of the best seasons of television I ever saw);
• Fargo (I only saw until S3, and loved all of them);
• Westworld (screw the haters, S1 and 2 are awesome);
• Severance (even if S2 is not as good as 1, 1 was so good that it should've been here);
• Lost (absolutely one of the best and most memorable television events of this century);

Those are more deserving than these sports programs and cooking shows that somehow ended up on the list.

[Jay 37,369]

1 hour ago, Yavar Moradi said:

I glanced through it but I must have missed their inclusion. Did you like Godless better than The Queen's Gambit? I loved them both and I'm not sure which I prefer.

 

Yavar

Godless for me, easily! But I loved both for sure. 

[Bellosh 3,419]

20 minutes ago, Glóin the Dark said:

Not remotely! I’ll be on the opposite hill yelling that The Office is hilarious and masterful throughout. The Office: An American Workplace is like a kids’ version of the concept, with the usual draining of subtlety that the US networks seem to insist upon in their comedy translations (similar to the dumbing down that’s evident in the comparison between The Thick of It and Veep).

 

i agree with this somehow

 

Gervais did eventually learn to weave emotion into his works though.

[Glóin the Dark 1,222]

Come over to our hill!

[Bellosh 3,419]

2 minutes ago, Glóin the Dark said:

Come over to our hill!

 

how about this, the UK version has moments that are funnier than ALL of the US version combined, but still somehow I prefer the characters in the US version.

 

One thing I do love about the US version, the side characters never go further than their schtick --- they knew that would kill the humor of the characters.

 

fuck me guys, i'm defending the US version of the office on a friday night...send help.

 

also if it helps, Gervais's Life's Too Short with Warwick Davis is my favorite show of all time next to The Sopranos.

[mrbellamy 6,287]

Parks does have very sweet moments but they always come out of farcical characters and situations that I couldn't totally buy as 100% real. Like Leslie creating the perfect surprise birthday party for Ron Swanson, which was to wait until the end of the workday then once everybody leaves the building, have security stationed outside the door while Ron just sits and eats giant plates of meat alone and watches the entirety of The Bridge on the River Kwai AND The Dirty Dozen? It's played totally straight but this is a cartoon person. You just have to intuit what shade of reality they're in depending on the context. 

 

The Office at its best (mainly season 2-3), I was invested in those people as real, but they morphed into caricatures eventually and the reality of the show became similarly cartoonish. However at least Parks was wise to never pretend the documentary style was anything more than a stylistic facade, which was something The Office had to contend with and was some of the worst shit about the last season in particular.

 

The show got most tiresome for me whenever they were making it absolutely explicit that this was a very real documentary but also please please PLEASE do not think about any of the actual implications that would come with a camera crew physically being present for any of this lol. I never had to split my brain in half like that with the UK version from my memory, or the three or four best Christopher Guest mockumentaries. 

[Schilkeman 964]

No West Wing and no Arrested Development. And just about every other Schur show is better than The Office.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

 This is a pretty bad list. 

[mrbellamy 6,287]

Still better than Variety's recent list of all-time greatest action movies that had United 93 on it. 

[Mephariel 451]

Breaking Bad and Battlestar Galactica needs to be way higher. 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,544]

No SIX FEET UNDER???!!! 

Criminal. Absolutely criminal.

[Jurassic Shark 12,079]

10 hours ago, Bellosh said:

I will also die on the hill that The Office (US) is genuinely funnier than the UK version,

 

Of course it's not, but some viewers don't get the UK version because it looks more like a real documentary. 

 

Spoiler

It's not. 

 

10 hours ago, Edmilson said:

1 - 'Band of Brothers' (HBO, 2001)

 

Fixed.

[A24 4,339]

Never even heard of Reservation Dogs. (sixth place)

 

 

11 hours ago, Edmilson said:

• 44 - 'The Leftovers' (HBO, 2014-2017)

 

I know that someone here isn't going to be happy with this.

[JTN 2,031]

10 hours ago, Jay said:

 

Of course.  I might not have mentioned it, had I not observed that "Band of Brothers, "Chernobyl", "Beef", "Station Eleven", and "The Underground Railroad" are all on the list. 

In that case BAND OF BROTHERS should be #1.

[Thor 7,513]

Not enough science fiction.

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

There are a lot of shows that should not be in there to be honest.

 

But that's what you get when 3 people make a list. It's very one sided I feel

[Jay 37,369]

Wouldn't it be 3-sided in that case? 

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

Hahha. Technically yes

[GerateWohl 4,370]

7 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

No SIX FEET UNDER???!!! 

Criminal. Absolutely criminal.

That was my first thought as well.

 

On a German radio station regularly a jury of so called music and genre experts presents the listeners one top 100 list after another of a certain category of songs. These top 100 hundred lists are always random, terrible and full of essential ommissions. 

Just like this list. 

 

This forum could also publish such toplists. They wouldn't be worse than any of the so called "expert choices".

[Jurassic Shark 12,079]

29 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

This forum could also publish such toplists. They wouldn't be worse than any of the so called "expert choices".

 

I see what you did there.

[Bellosh 3,419]

8 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

No SIX FEET UNDER???!!! 

Criminal. Absolutely criminal.

 

only finale of a show to make me bawl my eyes out

[Jay 37,369]

Definitely one of the best series finales ever made

[Naïve Old Fart 9,544]

Everything. Everyone. Everywhere. Ends.

[A24 4,339]

2 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

 

This forum could also publish such toplists. They wouldn't be worse than any of the so called "expert choices".

 

I dunno ...

 

JWFan Best TV Series Of All Time

 

1) The Mandalorian

2) Obi Wan Kenobi

3) Ahsoka

4) The Book Of Boba Fett

5) Andor

6) Star Wars Rebels

7) The Bad Batch

8) Star Wars The Clone Wars

9) Star Wars Visions

10) Star Wars Tales Of The Jedi

 

[Datameister 2,044]

This list is shit. No offense to whoever put it together. But it's shit. Breaking Bad all the way down to 16? No Good Place, Lost, or The Office? The Americans near the top 10? I can't take that seriously.

[JTN 2,031]

4 hours ago, Datameister said:

This list is shit.

Tbh all lists are. Art and taste are highly

subjective things. What I love, you might hate and vice versa, but that wouldn’t make our tastes inadequate or wrong. 
 

In my own personal Top 10 list there would be Band of Brothers, Mindhunter, Boardwalk Empire, Babylon Berlin (I know it’s not American), The Wire. I can’t even list 10 off the top of my head. Many I haven’t seen, e.g. Breaking Bad. It’s a matter of taste, there are stories one just isn’t interested in. 

[Datameister 2,044]

9 minutes ago, JTW said:

Tbh all lists are. Art and taste are highly

subjective things. What I love, you might hate and vice versa, but that wouldn’t make our tastes inadequate or wrong. 
 

In my own personal Top 10 list there would be Band of Brothers, Mindhunter, Boardwalk Empire, Babylon Berlin (I know it’s not American), The Wire. I can’t even list 10 off the top of my head. Many I haven’t seen, e.g. Breaking Bad. It’s a matter of taste, there are stories one just isn’t interested in. 

 

Oh, it's all subjective. When I say it's a shitty list, all I'm really saying is that it doesn't align with what I enjoy, but their opinion is still completely—

 

… ah, screw it, come on, Breaking Bad is objectively top 3 material! 

[Bayesian 1,363]

On 8/10/2023 at 12:06 AM, Datameister said:

 

Oh, it's all subjective. When I say it's a shitty list, all I'm really saying is that it doesn't align with what I enjoy, but their opinion is still completely—

 

… ah, screw it, come on, Breaking Bad is objectively top 3 material! 

Yup. BB is an all-time great. Never stumbled as it neared the home stretch, which sometimes seems like a common fate for prestige shows.

 

The Americans should have ranked a lot higher. That show was so good.
 

This thread reminds me I need to watch Six Feet Under at some point. 

[Glóin the Dark 1,222]

On 07/10/2023 at 12:55 AM, Bellosh said:

Gervais did eventually learn to weave emotion into his works though.

 

I kind of wish he didn't! Gervais's trajectory has been towards excessive soppiness for me, starting with the later half of Extras. The Office is imbued with all the emotion that it needs, and it's all the more potent for not wearing it on its sleeve.

[crocodile 8,017]

No Community, Six Feet Under or Lost? Love them or hate them, but they were all significant for one reason or another.

 

And where's Watchmen?

 

Karol

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

On 19/10/2023 at 8:04 PM, crocodile said:

No Community

[Tom 4,664]

Fringe had moments of greatness, but also some clunkiness.  I would have it on a top 50 list.