Dave Wheelroute

A ranking of the Hulu original series! This is a pretty varied collection, as most streaming services tend to be, but I do hope Disney doesn't "half-ass" two things with their streaming services.

It's not television? Why, of course it is, dear boy! HBO isn't just television; it's really damn high quality television. Their Sunday nights have become a barometer for the cultural conversation. Long before that, HBO changed the entire medium. That's a hell of a legacy to live up to, but every year, HBO manages to do just that.

NBC might just be my favorite. Lots of my lists are dominated by HBO and FX shows, but I don't think any network has as many shows near the top as NBC does. Obviously, they have historic classics, like Cheers and Seinfeld and other programs that crushed the ratings back in the day. But to me, nothing compares to Thursday night comedies on NBC from around 2009 to 2013. That's as good as it gets, baby, and we have NBC to thank, against all odds. Love to go to Rockefeller Center!

For a while there, it seemed like AMC would be right on par with FX and HBO when it came to the world of prestige television. Instead, some real hits fell in favor of AMC becoming the "Walking Dead" network. It's not my thing, but I imagine the American Movie Classics fans were dismayed by Don Draper, so life is cyclical I guess.

Is it Fox or is it FOX? I never really can tell. Anyway, I guess the first thing to address is that Fox (I'm running with that one) has a reputation for canceling most of their shows. I don't think this is any more true than most other networks, save NBC. There will always be more misfires than smash hits. It's the way of things, sadly. Plus, Fox took a ton of chances on things many others wouldn't, back when they were the cutting edge network. Hell, mainstream television animation exists because of them. Credit where it's due, I guess, even though that's a cliche. At least it's not Fox News.

NBC is probably my favorite of all-time and HBO might be closest to the "objective" best. But boy, in the Peak TV era, no network has been as fun as FX is. Some of the most uproarious comedies, some of the most thoughtful, intelligent dramas. On FX, there's something for everyone, even when it feels like everything is extremely for my tastes.

What an interesting story CBS has! For two decades, they practically dominated popular programming, all-time classic sitcoms, and acclaimed series. Now, they've gone the opposite direction and, for my money, they're perennially the weakest network. I suppose that's why we need the Paley Center and reverence for the history of television. The medium is nothing without CBS, but now, it's been forgotten. I'll root for a comeback because why not? It's good to have good things.

This is a big one. House of Cards bowed in 2013 and television was changed forever. Entire seasons all at once, attempts to cater to anyone, unknown talent with no reins, revivals and rescues of beloved series! At first, Netflix promised to be unlike any other. The shine may have since faded as realism and budgets creep closer onto a subscriber count that is destined for a plateau. However, Netflix remains aces in the field because it was the only one there for so long. And for what it's worth, they have made some truly great, all-time series. This isn't LeBron going to the Heat. Netflix is LeBron now.

Growing up, there were three kinds of kids. Disney Channel kids, Cartoon Network kids, and Nickelodeon kids. I know I might seem like I was a Disney Channel kid because I now love the Plooos and I love Disney World. However, Nickelodeon shows were always the funniest to me. They were the ones with genuine storytelling that wasn't the bad kind of stupid. Great to grow up with! It'll always hold the belt, for me!

I will be counting The WB in here, too! Because, honestly, what's the difference? Anyway, this is like the New Orleans Pelicans of networks, where there is a clear juggernaut (Zion/Gilmore) and everyone else is just a role player. Who will be our Brandon Ingram?

This is one of the outlets we've seen kind of fall off in recent years. There's an unimpeachable heyday here with a massive farm of genius comedic talent, rather than just comedic talent. And for that, Comedy Central will always be special. I'll be rooting for them to return to those days. Maybe greenlighting the BriTANick pilot would have helped.

The title is attributed to Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald, of The Watch. Disney has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember and I've always had a strong affinity for its music, movies, theme parks, and more. Here, we're exploring television, which has been less kind to Disney, in my mind, over the years. But to me, their streaming service didn't just knock it out of the park; they tore down the entire arena.

The streaming endeavors of Apple are very interesting to me. With almost no back catalog, Apple relied on a couple originals and banked on an elite bracket of viewers who valued quality over quantity. It's the original HBO model to an extreme extent, but so far, it's kind of paid off way better than I expected. Apple has some real winners here. Sometimes, it's not a bad idea to throw money at talent, I suppose.

ABC, well known for being the network arm of Disney, has a truly wonky history. I mean, there's so many game shows here, but also Saturday morning cartoons and soap operas. And then family comedies, but also one of the best dramas ever made? It's too bad only the family comedies have special episodes where they go to Disney World. It would've been fun to see Max and Penny go there, too. Anyway, ABC is weird and not always for me, but I'm such a slut for Disney that it's embarrassing. So here we are anyway. So many honorable mentions! Also, I prefer Charles Nelson Reilly to Alec Baldwin!

Playhouse Disney, Disney Junior, Disney Channel, Disney XD. They're all here under this umbrella of a cable children's channel with extremely numbered days. As every exciting new story ends up on the Plooos and the last remnants of the mighty Disney Channel (wand ears and all) begin to fade, we'll see the future of syndicated television. It's on demand, not in weird, vault-defying boxes. But thanks for all the fun along the way, even if DCOMs were rarely my thing (HSM gang) and I preferred Nickelodeon. It was still nice to know you were there.

Amazon is terrible and Bezos is terrible and capitalism is terrible, but here are a few nice shows all the same. I am uninterested in commenting further, as this already seems morally dubious to me.

We all understand Animal Planet. It's the channel we used to put on to keep my dogs company whenever we'd go out and it was a very adorable concept. Animals are one of the best things about this planet and we must protect them at all costs. How valuable it is to give a voice to the voiceless. Can't do that with treehouses.

Bless PBS forever. Like libraries and NPR, PBS is one of those things that, if it was proposed today, it'd be laughed out of the arena as dumb liberal BS or whatever. I say, we should always encourage the arts and education and equal access for all. If the world reflected more of what PBS embodies, it'd be a better place.

I know the BBC has a lot of prestige, but guess what, baby? I'm lumping it in with all the international shows I've seen! Let's be real, I'm not going to have one list for some French network that aired a kids' show and that I'll never revisit. So, that is why some French shows here, some Australian shows are here. Yet, it's still most prominently British because that's the most transactional country with American entertainment. The Aussie one is actually pretty funny! I hope to revisit Stan soon!

I am pretty sure IFC's slogan is something like, "Always on, slightly off." Really, it should just be more along the lines of, "Look, folks, the niche comedy stuff is here." Because really, IFC has been a godsend for those of us who will follow our wacky talents anywhere and through any project. Independent stories will always be welcomed by those who care to seek them out.

A lot of cable channels have an intrinsic identity, like Food Network or Travel Channel. You know what you're getting! What do you get on TruTV? I sure don't know! Grab bag! They give chances to some pretty high-quality, high-concept comedy ideas, but they also pad the schedule out with some of my least favorite television series ever. Them's the breaks on TruTV, identity pending! (Maybe the truth?)

I will always have some reverence for USA and its "Characters Welcome" era. They don't really do that sort of thing on television anymore. Everything is either extremely broad or extremely serialized. USA occupied a space that was just about fun, talented characters working at their jobs during the summer at pristine locations across the country. It was a special, nostalgic time. Characters will always be welcome, to me.

This was an interesting one to unpack. Essentially, a YouTube series is one where you know it when you see it. Not every YouTube channel is a television show (see: Chats and Reacts). However, some YouTube channels have become television. I've never ventured into YouTube Premium and I'm not quite so generous to say that Where the Hell Is Matt? is a show. However, I think it's worth including all the same because YouTube is likely going to be a part of our lives forever.

I have no real relationship with CNN as a news network because it's never been my outlet of choice. They have fairly decent journalism on CNN, but I just can't with the 24/7 cable news cycle. Jon Stewart was right to eviscerate Crossfire, Anthony Bourdain is innocent, and we should all be voting blue whenever we get the chance. Don't need CNN to tell you that.

I have a polar relationship with HGTV. On the one hand, I really don't have time for the home renovation shows and I find them to be very much not my thing and dull and too Home Depot-y, if that makes sense. But I also love when people travel the world and look for houses. I'm glad HGTV has room for both, so everyone can find a way to spend a half-hour on a Sunday in 2006.

Because I like things to be just so, I didn't want to have a slew of networks only have one or two shows in them because it doesn't match the aesthetic pattern I'm cultivating. And because I don't imagine I'll be revisiting the original programming of E! anytime soon, I figured I'd group this nonsense together. So, included here are shows from E!, Starz, TLC, MTV, TNT, TBS, TV Land, MyTV, Spike, and Esquire. ABC Family, too, except we all use that for Christmas specials. Radical!

My dad once said something I found interesting about Food Network. He asked, "Do Food Network purists get upset about the number of cooking competition shows they have now? It seems like all there is." To be honest, they all kind of blend together for me, so the ones that are about more than competition are clearly the standouts. I would be curious to learn the opinion of a Food Net-head.

I really dig the Travel Channel. I have a ton of affinity for it and it was always my favorite of the cable networks growing up. Engaging, rich, magnanimous. I actually cared about the stories told on the network and the stories never really blended together. The Travel Channel would've been excellent escapism in 2020. After all, the name of it reminds us of what we would all love doing the most.

I was a Nickelodeon kid growing up. The Disney kids were the wholesome, sheltered ones. The Cartoon Network kids were the ones who learned self-sufficiency first, due to the channel's collection of meth addict characters. Just because it's not my thing, doesn't mean it didn't have some merit along the way! After all, they gave a home to some more offbeat stories, BriTANick spokespeople, and, eventually, Adult Swim. Godspeed.

ESPN was probably my favorite network as a kid. That or Nickelodeon. When I got obsessed with sports, I went in hard. I devoured SportsCenter every morning, stumbled into periodic talk shows, and anticipated the ESPYs all the livelong year. Now, I don't really hang around ESPN anymore. The Neil and Stan years have faded even with the original "These guys have all the fun" times. Now, they do have some good hires. Mina Kimes is great, for example. But I'll always have some affection, at least.

I have no faith that Peacock will actually survive as a streaming service, but I do think it will last long enough to meet my base requirement of seeing five shows on it. I've seen one already and, eventually, this will round up. But really, just a botched, careless rollout of a flagship service for a company. It exists only because it has immense backing and The Office, but I doubt its permanence.

Yesterday, I wrote that I don't really see a prosperous future for Peacock. All in all, I think the streaming services will eventually be Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plooos, Amazon, and HBO Max, with some more niche, cheap services filling in the margins for those who can't be without. But those seem like the clear heavyweights. HBO Max was not a champion out of the gate, but it's going to get there by sheer force of will, apparently. It helps people like me that it launched with Love Life, rather than The Trench or whatever.

We've had two impeccable television years in a row, so it seems like Peak TV is hardly dead. Here's to a third!

Side-note: Instead of ranking the shows as I go (this became all-consuming), I'm going to use this to keep track of the shows I watch in 2022 and then rank them at the end of the year. Have a great year, everyone!

I do this kind of thing on Letterboxd to help me keep track of the shows of the year. This is subject to change, but also subject to lots of love for television :). It's also fun because we have a broad idea of which movies are coming this year, but television is so "close to the vest" and "market at the last second" that, you know, who knows? Could we have Succession? Maybe! Let's end that drought!

Special: Nickelodeon's NFL, Soderbergh's Oscars, Pedroia's retirement, Oatly ad

Honorables: The Premise, Behind the Attraction, Man in the Arena, Scenes from a Marriage, The History of the Atlanta Falcons, Saturday Morning All-Star Hits, The Next Thing You Eat, Insecure, Underground Railroad, Reservation Dogs, Hemingway, series finale of DuckTales, Bob's Burgers, Always Sunny, How To, and Shadows.

Update: This list is now finished and blurbs are at Saoirse Ronan Deserves an Oscar! Fun ride! https://medium.com/saoirse-ronan-deserves-an-oscar/the-best-of-2021-television-6dd66e345898?source=collection_home---4------1-----------------------

I'm going to do my best with this particular list endeavor. Not sure how far I'll go back or when I'll just transition it to a Decades sort of thing. For now, I'll say I'm doing my best to stick to a top ten and it will require thorough research that will be fun and painstaking. I'm stuck like this!

Always subject to change!

Anyway, 2020 was a good year for television! Just amazing! Expanded thoughts here:
https://medium.com/saoirse-ronan-deserves-an-oscar/my-30-favorite-television-shows-of-2020-3538fc7b8732?source=collection_home---4------1-----------------------

Some honorable menchies, since I just do top tens here: BoJack's final season, Queen's Gambit, Curb, Run, Aunty Donna, Love Life, Normal People, Briarpatch, Mando, Ugly Delicious.

2019 was a year in which we bid farewell to some of the all-time most legendary stalwarts. I was prone to paying homage to them because they deserved it!

https://medium.com/saoirse-ronan-deserves-an-oscar/my-20-favorite-television-shows-of-2019-16ebf40b294c

Some more honorable menchies: Barry, Brooklyn, Fosse/Verdon, Mindhunter season 2, HSM:TM:TS.

2018 was a supremely busy (but incredible) year for me, so I didn't have as much time for television. But there were still some stalwarts that became all-time favorites from it. (Some revisionist history allowed here because I completely lapsed on Hill House at the time.)

https://medium.com/saoirse-ronan-deserves-an-oscar/the-15-best-television-shows-of-2018-516850694e39

Some honourables: Maniac, DuckTales, Crikey!, final seasons of Love & New Girl.

2017 was a solid year for television! So many shows came out of nowhere to really deliver a calendar of unexpected classics. Great seasons of stalwart shows and prestige breakout arcs for newcomers. 2017 was crushing it on all fronts. No reason not to love that!

Read more: https://medium.com/saoirse-ronan-deserves-an-oscar/top-25-television-shows-of-2017-2a311e3352e2

Honorable mentions: Mindy, Rapunzel, Veep, Curb, Leftovers, Saul.

2016 was quite a time for my relationship with television. I was beginning to toe the waters of prestige in real time, as well as adding compendium materials to enhance the experience (Ringer podcasts, Sepinwall's writing). 2016 was a watershed moment for the industry, as Netflix had long since proven it was viable and everyone else kickstarted their catch-up efforts. But it was also a watershed moment for me, as I realized television could be more than ABC sitcom Wednesdays. I have reverence for some programming blocks, but the only reverence I harbor for that one is time spent with family. I was lucky to experience some television that way and in a self-motivated exploratory way with my independence!

Some honorables here: Baskets, House of Cards, Night Manager, Drunk History, Black Mirror, Galavant, Gilmore, Atlanta, Fleabag, Parts Unknown, Chris Gethard, David Pumpkins, Saul.

As I looked ahead to a more critical, somewhat academic (if that's fair to say) relationship with television, 2015 saw the end of some of the old stalwarts that had led to my understanding of the form and the beginning of the new short-form orders that illustrated what it would more likely be going forward. Both had merit, but 2015 shone the best of both, in many respects. A transition year with some genuine winners, I reckon!

Some honorable ones: Thrones 5, Documentary Now!, Nathan for You, Leftovers, "Charlie Work," Soup, Galavant, Decorating Disney, SNL40, "12 Angry Men Inside Amy Schumer," Catastrophe, Last Man's pilot, Jessica Jones, Chef's Table, Brooklyn.

2014 was about the year when I started getting really into movies. Television was a ways away, but I was beginning to think more about my experience with it, rather than just passively watching it or obsessing over The Office and Community. 2014 marked the ends of some eras, but I think it was really marked by a lot of experimental, bold storytelling. As if the mainstream had finally earned it.

Some honorables: First half of Mad Men's end, Psych's end, the soaring heights of HIMYM's end, Veep, BoJack, "Background Check," Girls, Americans, Brooklyn, Sweden, "Optimal Tip-to-Tip Efficiency," Cosmos, Spoils of Babylon, Billy on the Street, Late Night with Seth Meyers.

It's hard for me to really unpack what television was during 2013 because I was of a one-track mind during the year. Yes, 30 Rock ended. Yes, Breaking Bad ended. But if 2013 was about one thing for me, it was about The Office. My life was defined by it! I was so emotional!

Honorable mentions: The return of AD, Hotel Impossible, "O.T.," "Be Right Back," Neighbors, New Girl, Mindy, SNL, Girls, Franco Roast, Soup, Sunny, Veep, Happy Endings, Whodunnit, Wilfred, Parks, Americans debut, 30 Rock finale, and you know what? Rules of Engagement ended, too.

A lot of comedians have talked about the kind of bits they showed their friends and obsessed over while growing up. For me, I think 2012 is emblematic of that. There are so many episodes from this year that I showed over and over again to my friends. They must have been so sick of me. But seriously, those Thursday night lineups on NBC were so formative. I'll appreciate and miss them forever. Community & Parks were SO neck and neck here. My god.

The honorable ones: Final seasons begin for The Office & Breaking Bad, CBB, Phantom Gourmet, Halloween Wars, the East/West Bowl, Girls & Veep begin, Today, the Chuck finale, Colbert, and A Young Doctor's Notebook.

Growing up, my impression of television's quality barometer was decided by my parents. As such, the actual year of 2011 was defined by lots of network fare. At the time, something like Modern Family was all I knew, so I assumed it was what quality television was. Fortunately, the NBC Thursday night blocks existed and slowly pushed me closer to becoming the kind of person who could open his mind to FX and give Wilfred a try. That debuted in 2011 (so did Thrones, Bob's, & New Girl). It was about more than network television, even if I'd come to a lot of the era's top entries much later in life. Just glad they were there at all, even if I wish I could have experienced them in real time!

The honorably worth mentioning: SNL, Craig Ferguson, "15 Million Merits," the premieres of New Girl & Bob's Burgers, Colbert, Curb, HIMYM, No Reservations, and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

We're diving quite deep into the past now. It's weird to think of 2010 as the past, but it was over a decade ago and without Thrones or Bob's Burgers or even Wilfred, it certainly feels like a lifetime ago. I wasn't even a teenager yet here! As such, a lot of this will be reflective, but I do pay homage to some of the biggest hits of the moment. In my little mind, anyway.

Honorable Mentions: 30 Rock, Colbert, Glee, Party Down, Chuck, Penguins of Madagascar, SNL, Parks, Persons Unknown, Hawaii Five-0.

Talk about NBC in upheaval this year! At first, shuttling Scrubs off might have seemed like a horrible move, but it allowed ABC to give it a beautiful send-off and it allowed NBC to go ahead with two of the all-time greats. I'm still largely thinking about this in a network mindset because that was my exposure at the age of eleven, but we're also seeing a boom elsewhere. Two years after The Sopranos ended and one year left until Lost ends, we're seeing the ripple effects of that as "peak TV" really began in earnest around this time (and following the writer's strike). The prestige groundwork had been laid; they just started excelling from here on.

Honorable friends: Breaking Bad, Psych, Party Down, Man v. Food, Between Two Ferns, Better Off Ted, HIMYM, Lost, Dating in the Dark, Baseball Tonight, Desperate Housewives

2008 is a year that's obviously marred by the writers' strike. Many shows were clipped at the heels and cut short. Episode counts in binge watches are askew forever! Major crossroads for television here. Practically a miracle anything worthwhile crept through at all.

H.M.: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, The Soup, SportsCenter

Full disclosure, I was a bit caught up in the Red Sox, Patriots, and Celtics around this time. But in the succeeding years, I've doubled back a bit and explored some of the goings on of television at the time. Big year for finales, I reckon! Some seismic ones it took me a while to get to, but this is also when I began watching The Office. I'll take it!

Worthy exclusions: Curb, HIMYM, Scrubs, Gilmore finale, Conchords, Amazing Race, Soup, Avatar, House Hunters International, Sunny, Daily Show

In this project I'm doing, 2006 is essentially the first year that I don't actually remember what television was like when it was happening. Beyond SpongeBob and Drake & Josh reruns, I had no relationship to it. I miss the blind bliss a bit, but I also enjoy grappling with amazing stories. Both have merits! Life is complicated. Don't obsess over any one thing, Robert Graysmiths of Trakt.

Honorable Mentions: George Lopez, Whose Line, Price Is Right, Idol, Billy & Mandy, Drake & Josh, SNL, HIMYM, Sunny

Obviously, you can probably tell that I'll always regard 2005 as the year when The Office bowed. I'll always be open to remakes because one of my favorite things in the entire world is a remake. The rest of the year is dwarfed by this! Television was splintering like never before when this became the hit instead of Joey.

H! M!: Unwrapped, Peep Show, Drake & Josh

2004 marked the end of Friends and Frasier, which was seismic for NBC obviously but also for television. Comedies have rarely been monoliths ever since. This was kind of the death of "Must See TV." But it was also the heyday for me growing up with television. And I don't really recognize the massive Friends phenomenon model anymore anyway.

The Worthies: Jimmy/Timmy Power Hour, Friends finale, Lost pilot, SpongeBob, Deadwood

Weird year to qualify in the history of television. Really, I think that's because the medium was arriving at this irreversible inflection point where it was a proven pattern that people loved reality television and there was no stuffing the genie back into the disposable bottle. The landscape really reflects that because we're not quite in the Peak TV era yet, but there's a clear reshuffling of the deck where's the ace tier series and everything else competing for the heaps below. MTV is emblematic of this probably!

Honny Menches: Fairly OddParents, Today

I'm not really sure how much world events shaped the series of 2002. You could definitely say that shows like The Sopranos and The West Wing were influenced, but most of the ones I hung with were just coming into some strides that had long been established. It may be a better art form for reacting to the greater world than movies, but there will still be a delay and such a disparity of tones. Alan Sepinwall once wrote a piece about shows that defined presidential eras (Parks & Rec for Obama, for example). Trust that kind of historical documentation.

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-lists/president-tv-series-defined-era-994869/

Just missed the cut: Whose Line, Fairly OddParents, Steve leaves Blue's Clues

It's probably safe to say what a lot of television was dedicated to in 2001: live events. I hate the 24 hour cable news cycle, but if O.J. invented that style of coverage, 2001 ensured we'd never go back. It has to be mentioned. Fortunately, 2001 also served as a year during which many of the era's great television characters were thriving and/or beginning. I'm always one for optimism.

Honorable: HOMR

The turn of the century, baby! The wheels of television were turning into a prestige era already, but while the 1990s were acclaimed for the medium, it's no surprise that this is the dividing line. HBO was forever established here, which was obviously seminal for TV history. I'm not sure what this project will look like the further back I go, but for now, I feel the twenty-first century has been well-accounted for here.

Hon. Men.: SNL

Here's the plan going forward. At least for the 1990s, the list will reduce to a Top Five for each year, as things get slimmer and grimmer. We'll re-assess how to progress when we arrive at the 1980s. For now, 1999 was as solid a television year as it was a movies and music year. The Sopranos gave the medium credence. SpongeBob gave it boundless joy. Both debuted this year. Both begin with S. Both are among the greatest shows ever made. And that's just the surface of this backwards entrance into the '90s.

Honorable mentions: The West Wing's debut, Frasier's Valentines Day episode, the first Millionaire win, and Walking with Dinosaurs

My birth year! I definitely didn't know what the hell was going on with television at the time, never mind just how seismic it was. People really started to reckon with the consequences of watching stories about irredeemable people. But it was also a lesson in how the most popular shows of the time would be stalwarts forever. Nothing like Cheers has persevered the same way that binge-worthy shows from 1994 onward have. 1998 is distinctly representative of that notion.

Honored: Franklin, Whose Line, Simpsons, MST3K

I don't really have a whole lot of context for what 1997 was like on television, aside from the fact that NBC probably wishes it could be 1997 all the time. Back when Must-See TV was actually Must-See and everyone else was a fringe hipster. The latter sets the culture now, but television culture was what NBC made it in 1997. Everyone else played for second.

Honourable: Arthur, Larry Sanders

In 1996, the television culture was being set by some of the alternative cable channels. This was essentially the medium's counterculture, as Friends and Seinfeld were more popular than anything, but the people "in the know" were over on MTV and HBO. Eventually, it all falls down and nostalgia is affixed to any era. I'm also noticing that comedies have a storied history on television, but it took a long time for dramas to become genuinely compelling. Procedurals aren't my thing. Onward!

H: Magic School Bus, Kenan & Kel

This is the year in which my sister was born! I think the true mark of this generation begins two years prior or so, but it's in full momentum by 1995. I wasn't a '90s kid, I admit, but my impression of the historicism in 1995 is that it really set the tone for all that was still to come.

Honorable mentions: Sam on Frasier, Rugrats' Passover, Full House finale, All That, Little Bear

Hmm, let's see. What was going on in television history in 1994? Clearly, this was a starmaking sort of year and that's probably evident just by which shows are listed here and in the menchies. Obviously, television stars existed before, but 1994 felt like the start of real phenomenons and not just fame by virtue of there being only four networks. Is this accurate? Who knows? Is anyone even reading this? I'm in a vacuum! Yeehaw!

The aforementioned menchies (aforemenchy mencies?): Friends, Larry Sanders, GUTS, Hidden Temple

This feels like a big year for television and I have no way to back that up aside from gut feeling. I don't know I just feel like a lot of non-scripted programs were really clicking here. Yet they dominate the list anyway. Nothing like a good story! I don't know, clearly my knowledge on TV history is limited to the 21st century lol.

Honorifics: Fresh Prince, Rugrats, Cheers finale, MST3K, Larry Sanders

What do I know about television history in 1992? Honestly. We should head to Sepinwall or the Paley Center for that kind of thing. Come to me for 21st century history or maybe the 50s and 60s. Even then. And then sitcoms probably, at that. I do my best. I have my taste, but I never said it was good!

Honorable Mentions: Full House, Fresh Prince, Darkwing Duck, Ben Stiller Show, and the Golden Girls finale

Clearly, I'm not sure what genuinely meaningful things I have left to say about television history in the 1990s (Full House, baby! Those Seinfeld lads!), so I'm going to say what I will do going forward (once I finish the 1990 list). I will instead just do a top five for each decade moving backwards. Here's a visualization:

Top Ten Shows of the 1980s
Top Ten Shows of the 1970s
Top Five Shows of the 1950s and 1960s

Sound good? Neat. Asterisks abound for those ones, but hey, if you dominate a decade, you're probably a Hall of Famer all the same. Like Bill and Wilt!

Honorable Mention: The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

And now we arrive at the last year of the year-by-year endeavor and the first year of when television morphed into a different medium altogether, even if some vestiges remained. The '90s were the decade of a lot of things and as you've seen from some flip-flopping, some pretty damn good television, too.

Honorable mentions: TaleSpin, Fresh Prince, Golden Girls

We arrive now at the (obviously truncated) decades portion of the Years project! We'll loop back around to the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. But for now, it's all about the decade with big hair, big outfits, middling dramas, and after school specials. It's when we became a bit more at peace with our inherent lack of wholesomeness. It's the way of being human. (I will not be making reference to WandaVision's channel chasing through the decades. Except I just did. "Damn it." - Darlie Bunkle.)

The '80s HM: Double Dare, MST3K

Groovy, baby! I don't know. Is that what they said in the '70s or is that an Austin Powers vibe? Not too well-versed in either, as you'll be able to tell from this list. Not many Norman Lear shows resonated with me (he's a legend; leave me alone), but some of them broke through. Pretty much everyone was on drugs anyway, so who cares? To the denouement of the counterculture pre-greed baby!

Groovy menchoos: Land of the Lost, Mr. Rogers

This is when television began, baby! Was there something that aired in the 1940s? Probably. I can't be bothered by this point. I Love Lucy is the oldest show I've ever seen so there's no point anyway. Great decade(s) for television! Probably better than the '70s. It's not good because it's vintage, it's vintage because it's good! This was fun and really got away from me at the end, but I'm a record-keeper by nature. Yeehaw! Thanks everyone for crafting my favorite medium. :)

Honorable! That is Bewitched, Carol Burnett, and Flintstones!

I was technically born in the 1990s, but I'm not a '90s kid. I do feel like I have a firm grasp on what television was like during the 1990s, though, and my personal takeaways will always be the sitcoms. Drama was still tinkering, but comedy had arrived, folks. Just trading bops with one another. Nothing like it. Lots to love. Love to all!

Honorables: Cheers denouement, Animaniacs, SNL, Sports Night, Freaks and Geeks first half

The 2000s is the decade I first truly tussled with television. As such, it's going to get really challenging to narrow down (and even more so from here). Just rest assured that an honorable mention here is worth a ton more than some on the '70s list. That's because this is when television became sweepingly good, y'all! Comedies lean smarter, dramas become serialized, miniseries prove viable. The whole thing gets blown open across the landscape of stations. This list is also tough because in the example of 30 Rock, it's obviously an all-timer. But it splits its classics between the 2000s and the 2010s and therefore might not be an ace of either? We'll see. Either way, the field must expand to fifteen here.

Honorable mentions: Avatar, Planet Earth, The Wire, Daily Show, Friends, HIMYM, West Wing

I'm not wavering from the list I've already come up with for the sake of integrity, but I don't know, these things can change. The sitcom form was shattered, peak TV truly peaked, the 2010s is the best decade for television and there's not a close second. Is this recency bias? Am I just a lad? I am correct and doing my best. I also reserve the right to change this whenever! This was fun, but it's definitely time to be moving on! See you in 2029!

https://medium.com/saoirse-ronan-deserves-an-oscar/my-75-favorite-television-shows-of-the-decade-b438bab4cbf6

Honorables: 30 Rock, Documentary Now, New Girl, Barry, Atlanta

Recently, I wrote 100 essays totaling 260,000+ words about my 100 favorite shows ever made! You can find all of them here: https://medium.com/the-television-project-100-favorite-shows

Shows watched at home during the pandemic. Fun times!