Best TV of All Time - Lists - Cinema & Media Studies - Research Guide

Best Television Shows of All Time (U.S.)

This list comes from Rob Sheffield's list of 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time, from Rolling Stone, Sept. 16, 2016. Dates for programs that have ended since the publication of this list are updated.

These links to streaming sources online or DVDs in the Penn Libraries collection are for the benefit of Television Studies and History researchers.

The Van Pelt Video Collection and the video collection at the Annenberg School for Communication Library include many classic and newer television series from the U.S. and other parts of the world, but may not include recently aired seasons or make the full history of a particular series available. If a season of a TV program is missing a link below, or you would like to know about the availability of a program not in this list, please feel free to Suggest a Purchase or Ask a Question.

		Years on air	DVD
1.	The Sopranos	1999-2007	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6pt1 S6pt2
2.	The Wire	2002-2008	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5
3.	Breaking Bad	2008-2013	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 pt1 S5pt2
4.	Mad Men	2007-2015	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7pt1 S7pt2
5.	Seinfeld	1989-1998	S1&2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9
6.	The Simpsons	1989-present	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10
			S11 S12 S13 S14 S15 S16 S17
			S18 S19 S20
7.	The Twilight Zone	1959-1964	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5
8.	Saturday Night Live	1975-present	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5
9.	All in the Family	1971-1979	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6
10.	The Daily Show	1996-present	n/a
11.	Freaks and Geeks	1999-2000	Complete series
12.	Game of Thrones	2011-2019	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8
13.	Late Night with David Letterman	1982-2015	n/a
14.	The Larry Sanders Show	1992-1998	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6
15.	The West Wing	1999-2006	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7
16.	MAS*H	1972-1983	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10 S11
17.	Twin Peaks	1990-1991	S1&2
18.	Star Trek	1966-1969	S1 S2 S3
19.	Curb Your Enthusiasm	2000-present	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10 S11
20.	Cheers	1982-1993	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10 S11
21.	The Office (U.K.)	2001-2003	S1 S2
22.	Louie	2010-2015	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5
23.	Deadwood	2004-2006	S1 S2 S3
24.	Friday Night Lights	2006-2011	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5
25.	Veep	2012-2019	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7
26.	Friends	1994-2004	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10
27.	Arrested Development	2003-2019	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5
28.	The X-Files	1993-2002	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10 S11
29.	Monty Python's Flying Circus	1969-1974	Set 1 - Set 2 - Set 3
30.	The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson	1962-1992	n/a
31.	Sesame Street	1969-present	Select episodes S1-S5
32.	I Love Lucy	1951-1957	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9
33.	South Park	1997-present	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10
			S11 S12 S13 S14 S15 S16 S17 S18
			S19 S20 S21 S22 S23 S24 S25
34.	30 Rock	2006-2013	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7
35.	My So-Called Life	1994-1995	Complete series
36.	Law & Order	1990-2010	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10
			S11 S12 S13 S14 S15 S16 S17 S18 S19 S20 S21
37.	Orange is the New Black	2013-2019	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7
38.	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	1997-2003	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7
39.	Lost	2004-2010	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6
40.	The Shield	2002-2008	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7
41.	The Honeymooners	1955-1956	Complete series
42.	NYPD Blue	1993-2005	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10
			S11 S12
43.	The Americans	2013-2018	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6
44.	Columbo	1971-1978	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10
45.	Battlestar Galactica	2003-2009	S1 S2 S2.5 S3 S4 S4.5
46.	The Mary Tyler Moore Show	1970-1977	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7
47.	The Rockford Files	1974-1980	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6
48.	The Office (U.S.)	2005-2013	Complete series
49.	Taxi	1978-1983	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5
50.	ER	1994-2009	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10
			S11 S12 S13 S14 S15
51.	Fargo	2014-present	S1 S2 S3
52.	The Colbert Report	2005-2014	n/a - Best of
53.	The Bob Newhart Show	1972-1978	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6
54.	The Muppet Show	1976-1981	S1 S2 S3 (S4 S5 n/a)
55.	Six Feet Under	2001-2005	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5
56.	24	2001-2010	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9
57.	Fawlty Towers	1975-1979	Complete series
58.	Roots	1977	Complete set
59.	Hill Street Blues	1981-1987	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7
60.	Beavis and Butt-Head	1993-1997, 2011	S1-8 - Mike Judge collection v1 v2 v3 v4
61.	Your Show of Shows	1950-1957	Excerpts (S1 S2 S3 S4 n/a)
62.	Sex and the City	1998-2004	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6pt1 S6pt2
63.	The Wonder Years	1988-1993	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6
64.	Chappelle's Show	2003-2006	S1 S2 S3
65.	Happy Days	1974-1984	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10 S11
66.	Downton Abbey	2011-2016	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6
67.	The Odd Couple	1970-1975	Complete series
68.	The State	1993-1995	S1&2
69.	The Ed Sullivan Show	1948-1971	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10 S11
			S12 S13 S14 S15 S16 S17 S18 S19 S20
			S21 S22 S23 S24
70.	Roseanne	1988-1997	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10
71.	Mr. Show	1995-1998	S1 S2 S3 S4
72.	Girls	2012-2017	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6
73.	Transparent	2014-2019	S1 S2 S3 S4
74.	The Ren & Stimpy Show	1991-1995	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5
75.	American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson	2016	Complete series
76.	Late Night with Conan O'Brien	1993-2009	n/a
77.	The Walking Dead	2010-present	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10 S11
78.	Thirtysomething	1987-1991	S1 S2 S3 S4
79.	In Living Color	1990-1994	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5
80.	The Fugitive	1963-1967	S1v1 S1v2 S2v1 S2v2 S3v1 S3v2 S4v1 S4v2
81.	Dallas	1978-1991	S1&2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10
			S11 S12 S13 S14
82.	The Jeffersons	1975-1985	Complete series
83.	House of Cards	2013-2018	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6
84.	Real Time with Bill Maher	2003-present	n/a
85.	The Real World	1992-present	S1 S12 (other seasons n/a)
86.	Good Times	1974-1979	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6
87.	Doctor Who	1963-present	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10 S11
88.	Party Down	2009-2010	S1 S2
89.	Homeland	2011-present	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7
90.	The Dick Van Dyke Show	1961-1966	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5
91.	Broad City	2014-present	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5
92.	American Idol	2001-2016	n/a
93.	Mystery Science Theater 3000	1988-1999	Select episodes
94.	Jeopardy	1964-1975, 1984-present	n/a
95.	Key & Peele	2012-2015	Complete series
96.	Gunsmoke	1955-1975	Select episodes
			S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10 S11
			S12 S13 S14 S15 S16 S17 S18 S19 S20
97.	Portlandia	2011-2018	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8
98.	The Golden Girls	1985-1992	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7
99.	Oz	1997-2003	S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6
100.	Eastbound and Down	2009-2013	S1 S2 S3 S4