The Guardian's top 50 television dramas of all time

TarfHead

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2010/jan/12/guardian-50-television-dramas

Basq

8 of the top 10 television dramas of all time are British? Utter b*llocks! to be honest!

Fairly ridiculous listing IMO..

Mr E

basquille wrote: »

Utter b*llocks! to be honest!

Let it all out, basquille. There, there.

Eh, yeah... crap list. Being a British newspaper, they had to pander to their audience I suppose.

Sopranos :rolleyes: ... Its good, but #1?

Basq

Mr E wrote: »

Let it all out, basquille. There, there.

800 years.. and all that!

The Sopranos was absolutely superb, but don't think it's deserving of the top spot.

rjb80

Terrible list, and did I miss something? Buffy in the top 30 dramas of all time? Does this mean I'm gonna have to borrow all the boxsets from my gf and watch them over the weekend?

Mr. E, what would you put ahead of The Sopranos? Just cos its the obvious choice doesn't mean its the wrong choice.

Mossy Monk

Coronation Street finishes ahead of 24, The Shield, Band of Brothers and Oz? The Wire at number 14?

LOL is all I say to this list.

Riskymove

they were also british TV critics so obvioulsy watch a lot of British TV

to be fair I dont see too many turkeys

"Our friends in the North" was a great series, wouldnt be No. 3 for me but great all the same

Riskymove

Mossy Monk wrote: »

Coronation Street finishes ahead of 24, The Shield, Band of Brothers and Oz? The Wire at number 14?

LOL is all I say to this list.

in fairness the list is diverse, Corrie and The Wire cant really be compared against eachother

as I say i think its inevitable it would be biased, I;m sure Irish TV Critics would have some Irish shows

rovert

Trolling list, disregard

AnonoBoy

The Singing Detective is better than The Wire?

Okaaayyyy.... I have to go now, Guardian Critics, because I, I'm due back on the planet Earth.

alastair

If 'Our Friends...' is justified (and tbh, I think it is) then the Italian 'The Best of Youth' should be in there too (Heimat too now that I think of it).

No 'Edge of Darkness' either? It doesn't stand the test of time, but nor does 'This Life'.

The Sparrow

Ridiculous enough list all right. How does the L Word make it anywhere near the list let alone 36th. Band of Brothers should be much higher though. How is Coronation St higher than Band of Brothers??

Glad to see House of Cards at 18. That was a great drama that is very under appreciated.

Footoo

rjb80 wrote: »

Terrible list, and did I miss something? Buffy in the top 30 dramas of all time? Does this mean I'm gonna have to borrow all the boxsets from my gf and watch them over the weekend?

Mr. E, what would you put ahead of The Sopranos? Just cos its the obvious choice doesn't mean its the wrong choice.

Surely the obvious (and correct) choice would have been The Wire.

AnonoBoy

I've watched some Buffy.

It's a program about a teenage girl who kills vampires and whatnot. It's not high art, it's not great drama. I still don't quite understand grown men who watch it.

To have it in a serious list of the greatest TV dramas all time is ridiculous.

Basq

To be fair.. you've "watched some Buffy".

They've had some absolutely magnificent dark and dramatic episodes in there - "The Body" to name just one.

It is a drama.. it's written with comedic flair and plenty of tongue-in-cheek humour but it's a drama all the same.

The Sparrow

Footoo wrote: »

Surely the obvious (and correct) choice would have been The Wire.

The only saving grace of this list imho is that Wire is not first or even in the top ten. So many people blindly pronounce it as the best thing since sliced bread and it just isn't.

At least The Guardian had the balls to say something different and move away from the crowd with some controversial choices.

Basq

The Sparrow wrote: »

The only saving grace of this list imho is that Wire is not first or even in the top ten. So many people blindly pronounce it as the best thing since sliced bread and it just isn't.

At least The Guardian had the balls to say something different and move away from the crowd with some controversial choices.

Mr E

rjb80 wrote: »

Mr. E, what would you put ahead of The Sopranos? Just cos its the obvious choice doesn't mean its the wrong choice.

I'm not going to comment on a show that I've only seen one series of (its on my to-watch list, honest!)

Where is Breaking Bad? Deadwood? Dexter? Life on Mars? Underbelly?

A top 50 list that has Eastenders, Coronation Street, Brookside and Grange Hill on it ahead of the ones I've listed is just .... wrong.

Sorry.

Basq

Mr E wrote: »

I'm not going to comment on a show that I've only seen one series of (its on my to-watch list, honest!)

Where is Breaking Bad? Deadwood? Dexter? Life on Mars? Underbelly?

A top 50 list that has Eastenders, Coronation Street, Brookside and Grange Hill on it ahead of the ones I've listed is just .... wrong.

Sorry.

Agree with Mr E.. there's far too many superb shows that didn't make the list ahead of some of the dregs of British TV. Might be putting in harshly.. but far too many soaps instead of good honest drama.

I'm honestly suprised Hollyoaks isn't in there..

Scorpion Sting

Stupid list.

Footoo

The Sparrow wrote: »

The only saving grace of this list imho is that Wire is not first or even in the top ten. So many people blindly pronounce it as the best thing since sliced bread and it just isn't.

At least The Guardian had the balls to say something different and move away from the crowd with some controversial choices.

Would this be The Guardian whose writers up to now, had almost unanimously proclaimed The Wire as the greatest TV show of all time and then gave it unprecedented coverage which led to them publishing a book about the show?

Them not putting it in the top3 or so is a direct attempt to be controversial and create traffic to their blogs imo.

Mossy Monk

A clever ruse from the Guardian. There is no way that list is serious.

Aidric

I have no objections to The Sopranos being number 1, I'd nominate the same myself. The rest of the list is all over the place and plain wrong in places. Good to see Mad Men scoring high.

The Sparrow

Footoo wrote: »

Would this be The Guardian whose writers up to now, had almost unanimously proclaimed The Wire as the greatest TV show of all time and then gave it unprecedented coverage which led to them publishing a book about the show?

Them not putting it in the top3 or so is a direct attempt to be controversial and create traffic to their blogs imo.

Probably spot on. But I still rejoice nonetheless and applaud The Guardian for finally finding some perspective about The Wire.

alastair

Footoo wrote: »

Would this be The Guardian whose writers up to now, had almost unanimously proclaimed The Wire as the greatest TV show of all time and then gave it unprecedented coverage which led to them publishing a book about the show?

Them not putting it in the top3 or so is a direct attempt to be controversial and create traffic to their blogs imo.

Richard Vine, TV editor of the Guide, still feels that The Wire was "richer". Mark Lawson thought The Sopranos "exceptionally well written" but considers both The Wire and The West Wing more radical and daring. Grace Dent however thought The Wire "a slog" in parts and said the acclaim had made it "socially *painful" for people to admit they weren't wild fans. "It's incomprehensible to lots of people."

Footoo

alastair wrote: »

Richard Vine, TV editor of the Guide, still feels that The Wire was "richer". Mark Lawson thought The Sopranos "exceptionally well written" but considers both The Wire and The West Wing more radical and daring. Grace Dent however thought The Wire "a slog" in parts and said the acclaim had made it "socially *painful" for people to admit they weren't wild fans. "It's incomprehensible to lots of people."

Doesn't Grace Dent predominantly write about soap operas and reality TV?

Her opinion is meaningless

Elmo

26. Coronation Street
38. Brookside
48. EastEnders
50. Grange Hill

No. :rolleyes:

Elmo

basquille wrote: »

Agree with Mr E.. there's far too many superb shows that didn't make the list ahead of some of the dregs of British TV. Might be putting in harshly.. but far too many soaps instead of good honest drama.

I'm honestly suprised Hollyoaks isn't in there..

There is even better British drama that didn't get in over those British soaps. Why not put down the Young and the Restless.

humanji

In fairness, it's not that bad a list. Everyone keeps complaining about all these lists that pop up because thier own opinions are different. Instead of complaining, think of the lists as 50 great dramas and check out the ones you haven't seen. There's some absolute gems on there from the BBC's back catelogue, like Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and House of Cards that most people won't of heard of, let alone seen. Makes me want to pick them up, actually.

ixoy

The Sparrow wrote: »

The only saving grace of this list imho is that Wire is not first or even in the top ten. So many people blindly pronounce it as the best thing since sliced bread and it just isn't.

'The Guardian' were the biggest champions of 'The Wire' in the British press for ages so I'm surprised it didn't feature higher. I think it'd deserve the #1 spot as well and I'm not blinding saying that - I was watching since the first airing of the first episode here and built up my own opinion rather than be told it was good.

The exact same argument could also of course be made for 'The Sopranos' always ranking so high. I think it's over rated - it's good, but there's many shows I've liked more.

Stupid list anyway.

Elmo

humanji wrote: »

In fairness, it's not that bad a list. Everyone keeps complaining about all these lists that pop up because thier own opinions are different. Instead of complaining, think of the lists as 50 great dramas and check out the ones you haven't seen. There's some absolute gems on there from the BBC's back catelogue, like Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and House of Cards that most people won't of heard of, let alone seen. Makes me want to pick them up, actually.

Yeah but to ad the soaps is a bit ridiculous. When those space could have been filled with other DRAMAS that people haven't heard of.

alastair

Elmo wrote: »

There is even better British drama that didn't get in over those British soaps. Why not put down the Young and the Restless.

I'm surprised 'Red Riding' didn't make the cut given some of the finalists. It's less of a surprise that anything with subtitles didn't make the list, but surely Das Boot should have been mentioned?

Footoo

alastair wrote: »

I'm surprised 'Red Riding' didn't make the cut given some of the finalists. It's less of a surprise that anything with subtitles didn't make the list, but surely Das Boot should have been mentioned?

I think Red Riding was in there, although fairly low on the llist

alastair

Footoo wrote: »

I think Red Riding was in there, although fairly low on the llist

doh! missed it.

humanji

Elmo wrote: »

Yeah but to ad the soaps is a bit ridiculous. When those space could have been filled with other DRAMAS that people haven't heard of.

The soaps are dramas and the very fact that they're still running proves how popular they are. God knows why, though.

Footoo

humanji wrote: »

The soaps are dramas and the very fact that they're still running proves how popular they are. God knows why, though.

This list isn't about most popular though. it's supposed to be representative of what these so called critics rate as the best dramas of all time. o include shows like Brookside and Corrie is insulting to genuinely great TV shows that didn't make it.

Euro_Kraut

1. The Wire
2. The West Wing
3-50 All others

Elmo

humanji wrote: »

The soaps are dramas and the very fact that they're still running proves how popular they are. God knows why, though.

I was agreeing with your point that there are many quality dramas on the list that many people may not have heard of, however those soaps aren't the greatest TV and they are all well known and they displace many of the great shows that should be highlighted.

rjb80

Mr E wrote: »

I'm not going to comment on a show that I've only seen one series of (its on my to-watch list, honest!)

Fair enough, i agree with you on dexter, haven't really got into the other dramas you mention but looking forward to getting into breaking bad.

Personally would've bumped The Wire and Band of Brothers into the top 5.

Elmo

Dexter is overrated IMO. I found again that it was filled with stereotype, I mean a serial killer that is a loner :rolleyes: but pretends to be social :rolleyes:

Mossy Monk

Elmo wrote: »

Dexter is overrated IMO. I found again that it was filled with stereotype, I mean a serial killer that is a loner :rolleyes: but pretends to be social :rolleyes:

This is why these lists are useless. You find Dexter overrated and I think it is one of the best shows I have ever watched. It is all about opinions.

Basq

Elmo wrote: »

I found again that it was filled with stereotype, I mean a serial killer that is a loner :rolleyes: but pretends to be social :rolleyes:

What's stereotypical about that?

How many episodes honestly have you seen Elmo?

An tSaoi

The list is almost worth it just to see the Wire fanatics losing their heads.

rovert

An tSaoi wrote: »

The list is almost worth it just to see the Wire fanatics losing their heads.

Aye again it is a trolling list

abouttobebanned

Not as bad as that crap poll that made Top Gear the best TV show of the 00s.

pickarooney

If there's one progam more overrated than the Wire it's the bloody West Wing.

Odd list, but it has given me some inspiration to watch a couple of serieseses, which can be no bad thing. I'll probably give Brideshead Revisited a miss though.

An tSaoi

pickarooney wrote: »

If there's one progam more overrated than the Wire it's the bloody West Wing.

I don't like The West Wing either, but I don't hear everyone on the internet saying it's "undoubtedly the best show ever, and anyone who thinks otherwise is obviously wrong". Because that's what I hear about The Wire.

Riskymove

An tSaoi wrote: »

I don't like The West Wing either, but I don't hear everyone on the internet saying it's "undoubtedly the best show ever, and anyone who thinks otherwise is obviously wrong". Because that's what I hear about The Wire.

well I did like the West Wing and The Wire but as you say....I would never go around telling people that they must love a show just cause i did..or that one of the them was the best thing ever made!

in fact i think its great when i find something the missus and I will both watch together as its fairly rare!!

at the end of the day this is the list of these 4 people's views nothing more, its no more definitive than any other opinion

cjmcork

WTF, the West Wing no.11 - no House MD???????

alastair

Personally I think The Wire is more rewarding than The Sopranos, and without doubt the most compelling series I've seen in years - but I'd be more inclined to bore people with the merits of Deadwood. Is The Wire the 'Best thing ever on TV'? Probably not - but who cares of it is or isn't - the fuss the Guardian made about it was nearly justified.

Elmo

An tSaoi wrote: »

I don't like The West Wing either, but I don't hear everyone on the internet saying it's "undoubtedly the best show ever, and anyone who thinks otherwise is obviously wrong". Because that's what I hear about The Wire.

Yeah the west wing is just a cheap rip off of The Gilmore Girls