TV (The Book)

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TV (The Book):
Two Experts Pick the Greatest
American Shows of All Time
TV (The Book).jpg
Paperback edition
Author Alan Sepinwall
Matt Zoller Seitz
CountryUnited States
SubjectArt, media, pop culture, television, television criticism
GenreEssay
Publisher Grand Central Publishing
Publication date
September 6, 2016
Media typePaperback
Pages432 pp
ISBN 978-1-4555-8819-0 (Paperback)

TV (The Book): Two Experts Pick the Greatest American Shows of All Time is a collection of essays written by television critics Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz. It was published in 2016. The main purpose of the book was to provide a canonical list of the top 100 greatest television programs in American history. [1]

Contents

Background

Seitz and Sepinwall began as colleagues at The Star-Ledger , where they spent ten years together working on a column in the newspaper titled "All TV." [2] Since then, both had gone their separate ways. At the time of the book's publishing, Sepinwall was a television critic for HitFix, while Seitz was a television critic for New York and the editor-in-chief for RogerEbert.com. Sepinwall has since gone on to become the chief television critic for Rolling Stone .

Criteria

According to the book, Seitz and Sepinwall considered a television series for their ranking if it matched the following criteria:

Once a television series passed these criteria, they were ranked on a ten-point scale by either one of or both of the critics in six categories: [5] "Innovation" (whether or not it did stuff that had been seen in the medium before), "Influence" (how a show served as inspiration for those that came after it), "Consistency" (whether or not the show's quality fluctuated season-by-season), "Performance" (how good the actors/performers were on the show), "Storytelling" (the quality of the writing on the show), and "Peak" (how great the show was at its best compared to the rest of American television's history). [6] Shows which aired for only one season were slightly penalized, receiving a maximum of nine points for most categories except for "Consistency", where they were only given a seven as a maximum. The series which were among the 100 highest placed in the points tally were counted in the rankings. [7]

Top 100

RankName of television seriesYear of premiereYear of latest episodeNetworkTotal Score
1.1989present FOX 112
2.19992007 HBO 112
3.20022008 HBO 112
4. Cheers 19821993 NBC 112
5. Breaking Bad 20082013 AMC 112
6. Mad Men 20072015 AMC 110
7. Seinfeld 19891998 NBC 110
8. I Love Lucy 19511957 CBS 109
9. Deadwood 20042006 HBO 107
10. All in the Family 19711979 CBS 106
11. M*A*S*H 19721983 CBS 105
12. Hill Street Blues 19811987 NBC 104
13.20022008 FX 102
14.19592020 CBS (1959–64, 1985–89), UPN (2002–03), CBS All Access (2019-20)101
15. Arrested Development 20032019 FOX (2003–06), Netflix (2013–19)100
16.19921998 HBO 100
17.19551956 CBS 99
18. Louie 20102015 FX 99
19.19701977 CBS 98
20.19932018 FOX 97
21. Curb Your Enthusiasm 20002024 HBO 96
22. SpongeBob SquarePants 1999present Nickelodeon 96
23. Twin Peaks 19902017 ABC (1990–91), Showtime (2017)96
24. Lost 20042010 ABC 95
25. Buffy the Vampire Slayer 19972003 The WB (1997–2001), UPN (2001–03)94
26. Freaks and Geeks 19992000 NBC 94
27. My So-Called Life 19941995 ABC 94
28. Oz 19972003 HBO 93
29.19611966 CBS 92
30. Friday Night Lights 20062011 NBC (2006–08), The 101 Network/NBC (2008–11)92
31. NYPD Blue 19932005 ABC 91
32. Frasier 19932023 NBC (1993-2004), Paramount+ (2023-present)90
33. Homicide: Life on the Street 19931999 NBC 90
34. Battlestar Galactica 20042009 Sci-Fi 89
35. In Treatment 20082021 HBO 89
36. South Park 1997present Comedy Central 89
37.19992006 NBC 89
38. Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman 19761977 Syndication 88
39.19601968 CBS 87
40.19841992 NBC 87
41. Moonlighting 19851989 ABC 87
42. Taxi 19781983 ABC (1978–82), NBC (1982–83)87
43. East Side/West Side 19631964 CBS 86
44. Hannibal 20132015 NBC 86
45. ER 19942009 NBC 85
46. Parks and Recreation 20092015 NBC 85
47. Roseanne 19882018 ABC 85
48. 30 Rock 20062013 NBC 84
49.19721978 CBS 84
50. Malcolm in the Middle 20002006 FOX 84
51. Miami Vice 19841990 NBC 84
52.20052013 NBC 84
53. St. Elsewhere 19821988 NBC 84
54. Community 20092015 NBC (2009–14), Yahoo! Screen (2015)83
55.19851992 NBC 83
56. Police Squad! 19821982 ABC 83
57. 24 20012014 FOX 82
58.19611965 CBS 82
59. Gunsmoke 19551975 CBS 82
60. Sex and the City 19982004 HBO 82
61. Star Trek 19661969 NBC 81
62. Firefly 20022003 FOX 80
63. Law & Order 19902022 NBC 80
64. Maude 19721978 CBS 80
65.19741980 NBC 80
66. China Beach 19881991 ABC 79
67. Enlightened 20112013 HBO 79
68. Everybody Loves Raymond 19962005 CBS 79
69.19881993 ABC 79
70. Barney Miller 19741982 ABC 79
71. Frank's Place 19871988 CBS 78
72. It's Garry Shandling's Show 19861990 Showtime 78
73.19501965 CBS (1950–64), NBC (1964–65)78
74. Justified 20102015 FX 78
75.19591964 ABC (1959–61), NBC (1961–64)78
76. thirtysomething 19871991 ABC 78
77. Columbo 19682003 NBC (1968–1978), ABC (1989–2003)77
78. Friends 19942004 NBC 77
79. Futurama 19992023 FOX (1999–2003), Comedy Central (2008–2013), Hulu (2023-present)77
80.19631965 ABC 76
81. Northern Exposure 19901995 CBS 76
82. Batman 19661968 ABC 75
83. King of the Hill 19972010 FOX 75
84. Veronica Mars 20042019 UPN (2004–06), The CW (2006–07), Hulu (2019)75
85. Cagney & Lacey 19821988 CBS 74
86. EZ Streets 19961997 CBS 74
87. Gilmore Girls 20002007 The WB (2000–06), The CW (2006–07)74
88. Six Feet Under 20012005 HBO 74
89. Sports Night 19982000 ABC 74
90. Wiseguy 19871990 CBS 74
91. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 19931999Syndication73
92. Batman: The Animated Series 19921995 FOX 72
93. Boardwalk Empire 20102014 HBO 72
94. NewsRadio 19951999 NBC 72
95. Picket Fences 19921996 CBS 72
96. Scrubs 20012010 NBC (2001–08), ABC (2009–10)72
97. WKRP in Cincinnati 19781982 CBS 72
98. How I Met Your Mother 20052014 CBS 70
99. Soap 19771981 ABC 70
100. Terriers 20102010 FX 70

Additional book material

In addition to providing their Top 100 ranking, Seitz and Sepinwall provided a section titled "Works in Progress," highlighting some of their favorite current shows, as well as a section honoring shows that were not good enough to make it into the rankings titled "A Certain Regard." There were also several essays noting of TV's best miniseries, movies, and televised plays. [8]

Reviews

The book has received positive reviews from other television critics. Jacqueline Cutler of The Star-Ledger described the book as "a great reference tool," with the main top-100 list possessing "enough reflection, knowledge and tidbits that even if you don't care about a show, you will wind up reading." For Cutler, the one negative aspect of the book was the inclusion of the "Outlier Classics" and "Works-in-Progress" sections, which felt like "kiddie sports teams where everyone gets a trophy." [9] Bill Carter, writing for CNN, was also fond of the book, appreciating its effort to stimulate argument and pointing out that even if you were to disagree "it only means you care more about television now more than ever before, which is really the reason to write and read a book like this." [10]

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References

  1. ↑ Rosenberg, Alyssa (September 6, 2016). "Alan Sepinwall on the 100 best shows in american television- so far" . The Washington Post. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
  2. ↑ Wellen, Brianna (September 8, 2016). "Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz wrote the book on TV". Chicago Reader. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
  3. ↑ Sepinwall, Alan; Zoller Seitz, Matt (September 23, 2016), TV (THE BOOK): What Shows Are In The Book, Grand Central Publishing, retrieved January 23, 2024– via YouTube
  4. ↑ Sepinwall, Alan; Seitz (2016). TV (The Book): Two Experts Pick the Greatest American Shows of All Time. New York, NY: Grand Central Publishing. pp. xv–xvii. ISBN   9781455588190.
  5. ↑ Sepinwall, Alan; Zoller Seitz, Matt (August 31, 2016), TV (THE BOOK): How They Decided To Rank the Shows, Grand Central Publishing, retrieved January 23, 2024– via YouTube
  6. ↑ Champagne, Christine (August 31, 2016). "Two Critics Pick the All Time Best TV Shows. And They Already Know You Hate Their List". Fast Company. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
  7. ↑ Sepinwall, Alan; Seitz (2016). TV (The Book): Two Experts Pick the Greatest American Shows of All Time (First ed.). New York: Grand Central Publishing. pp. xvii–xviii. ISBN   9781455588190.
  8. ↑ Sepinwall, Alan (2016). TV (The Book): Two Experts Pick the Greatest American Shows of All Time. New York, NY: Grand Central Publishing. pp. xviii. ISBN   9781455588190.
  9. ↑ Cutler, Jacqueline (September 4, 2016). "Ledger's former critics reunite, pick 100 top TV shows". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
  10. ↑ Carter, Bill (August 30, 2016). "TV finally gets the book it deserves". CNN. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
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