Rolling Stone Top 100 TV Shows

Why does Dunham infuriate people who claim they don't watch the show? I just don't get it.
We were watching 'Tiny Furniture' before 'Girls' started, and I just stopped watching. I didn't enjoy it, and it annoyed me enough that I turned it off.
When 'Girls' started, I watched a few episodes, I didn't enjoy it. The show annoyed me, and I stopped watching it.
Since that time, Dunham has had zero effect on my life. None.
I don't enjoy her creative endeavors, so I don't watch or read.

Why why anger instead of apathy or indifference?

 

Show is funny and unsettling at the same time. I grew up knowing people like the gallaghers. Dated a version of Fiona in high school. Hung out at bars like the alibi. Have a lot of the same social hang ups as lip.

My wife and I have been together for five years, and finally took her to the neighborhood I grew up in Pa this summer. Her first words were to the affect, "my god, this is the set of shameless, isn't it?"

 

I didn't grow up there, but I'm originally from Chicago and my brothers are born and raised there. And like a lot of families, alcohol often took center stage. I can relate to much of that show. It makes me feel comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time.

 

Seriously. Can't be any show that's been more disparaged by folks claiming they never watch it ..so how would they know it's so awful?

I've not seen the show, but I now kinda want to watch it just to see what all the negative fuss is about.

 

You'll find out.

 

I very much enjoyed Freeks and Geeks but #11? Seems way too high for me.

I loved Mad Men, not sure #4 though.

Quality of the show, episode to episode, I've always thought that Seinfeld was the best; only horrible stretch was when they went to that alternative universe for a few episodes.

I agree that The Wire was definitely top 5; with passage of time, I think the CBS comedies from the 70s and 80s, The Archie Bunker Show, Good Times, Cheers, and The Cosby Show got shorted, that was great writing.

 

Freaks and Geeks is tough to rate. I think it was about as close to perfect as any show ever, but it was a short run compared to shows that were very good for a long time.

 

When was that?

 

I watched it and tried so hard to like it and it was just the stupidest show in the history of television. I have friends who loved it and I just have to accept that they're flawed.

 

Any show that had this scene can't be too terrible.

 

How about a spoiler alert?

 

I never quite understand why, on these lists, longevity is so rarely considered a strength. So I like Freaks and Geeks, and I like Terriers, My So-Called Life and Twin Peaks, but these shows are essentially Mark Fydrich. Had those shows continued (and in the case of Twin Peaks, they did and the quality dropped considerably) they would have been graded down. It seems totally absurd to say they should be ranked higher than other shows that had to clear the bar for quality over and over and over again.

For example...

First season of LOST is great!
First season of True Detective is great!
First season of Homeland is great!
First season of Six Feet Under is very good.

All those shows eventually got downgraded because they had more seasons. I'm not sure how that's fair.

The Wire is a better show than The Sopranos. The Sopranos is a more important show — in terms of what it did for television — than The Wire. The Wire was true to its mission statement. All the pieces matter. The Sopranos was an art house experiment. It was messy and dragged and took weird diversions that served no purpose, but that isn't a bad thing. It truly was more like movie-making than television. Rolling Stone cites Pine Barrens as the show's creative zenith. Holy fuck, this is a stupid statement. Pine Barrens is a nice episode, enjoyable and suspenseful specifically because the we never know if the Russian is out there, but it not even close to being as creative or as daring as Kennedy and Heidi or Test Dream or I Dream of Jeanie Cusamano or University.

Breaking Bad is a really difficult show to properly rank, IMO, because it's really entertaining, but it's also not really willing to tackle the kind of big themes that The Wire, Sopranos, Mad Men, Deadwood, all took on. Cranston's acting is as good as anything, but other than examining Walt's deteriorating masculinity it doesn't really say anything. It relies on all sort of contrived scenarios to advance the plot that don't exactly hold up on second viewing. It has the worst female characters of any show vying for a spot in the Top 10. I enjoyed the ride, but it's just not even close to as good some of the shows high on these lists.

Frankly, Justified is a fun, at times dark, and rich show that has a community (Harlan) as a larger character in ways that Breaking Bad never does with ABQ. I don't see Justified on this list.