Top 10 TV Shows of All Time

I have watched a lot of TV shows over the years and recently I’ve been thinking about them and their impact on me. I’ve written about a lot of them individually over the years, but now I’ve decided to compile a list of my top 10 favorite TV shows of all time. I am judging these not only on my personal nostalgia (or if I’m currently watching them), but if they still are just as good with a rewatch. Also based on the quality of the general plot, how good the characters are, etc.

I’ve listed them out not just for my own enjoyment, but in case anyone was looking for recommendations.

This was WAY harder than I anticipated, but let’s dive right in:

10) Psych

Shawn Spencer possesses almost supernatural abilities with a photographic memory and is able to notice the smallest details and draw conclusions from them. When he is accused of committing a crime he actually solved, the only way out is by claiming to be a psychic. He then sets up a private detective agency with his much more reluctant and skeptical friend. He then solves many cases with the increasingly impressed police force.

If you want a good laugh mixed with a fun mystery and a lot of 80s references thrown in, this is the show for you. Again, it is the characters that really sell this show. The two main leads are hilarious! But the supporting cast is just as great. I would laugh myself into oblivion at every episode.

There often wasn’t a lot of overarching stories and the show mostly stuck with smaller, individualized episodes. This didn’t make it any less fun to watch and it always let us get to know our characters more. The mysteries were good and would sometimes get sort of intense (for the most part, it’s a lighthearted show).

9) Doctor Who

The Doctor is a 900+ year old alien who travels through time and space in a telephone police box that’s bigger on the inside. He battles monsters, saves planets, and makes friends on his travels. He is one of the wisest, most powerful beings in the universe, and also the quirkiest. 

I think this is the show that’s been in my life the longest (on this list at least). The show itself has been around for 50+ years. I’m talking about the reboot series that started in 2005 though. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs with this show, but in the end, I always come back to it. It may be a little corny sometimes, but it’s so endearing. It is a lot of fun, has such great messages, and is super creative. The Doctor himself (and I guess, now herself) is such an amazing character and is the reason the show has lasted as long as it has.

One thing to explain (and possibly warn you about) is that the Doctor changes faces. Every couple seasons, a new actor is brought in to play the Doctor. This is because, being an alien, whenever the Doctor is about to die, he has the ability to regenerate (renew himself). He is able to save his life at the cost of getting a whole new body. This is a warning because some people get very attached to the actor they are watching and refuse to watch future actors even though the show continues to be good. We’ve actually just got our very first female Doctor which should be interesting.

8) Get Smart

Made in the 1960’s, Get Smart is a spoof on all spy shows/movies that were coming out at the time, particularly James Bond. 

Maxwell Smart aka Agent 86 is the top agent at the secret government agency known as CONTROL which fights against the international organization of evil, KAOS. Despite being top agent, Max is a bumbling, clumsy idiot who is often carried by his much more competent female partner Agent 99. With shoe phones, agents hidden in mail boxes, robots with feelings, the Cone of Silence, and so on, this show is iconic.

If you’re into old classics, this is one to check out. I can’t remember when I started watching this, but I know that I loved it instantly. It’s just my style with parodies, slapstick, visual and dialogue puns, and overall ridiculousness. For example, there’s one episode where Max and his arch nemesis keep kidnapping each other’s agents to hold hostage until they run out of agents to kidnap. One thing to get past are some of the racial insensitivities since the show was made in the 60’s in the midst of the Cold War (though, one of my favorite lines that always pops up whenever a double agent is uncovered is: “wait a minute, you’re talking with a foreign accent” “I am not. I’m speaking perfectly. Before I was speaking with an accent.”). Other than that, it’s just a funny show that’s fun to watch and enjoy.

7) Pushing Daisies

Ned is a pie maker with an unusual git: he can wake the dead by only touching them. One touch alive, second touch dead again for good, if they stay alive for more than a minute, something else has to die in its place. Ned’s gift is discovered by a money-loving private detective and the two of them solve murder mysteries by asking the deceased who killed them. 

I love the style of this show. It’s like Tim Burton meets Mary Poppins. It’s very upbeat and whimsical for being a mystery show. The plot itself is a lot of fun; I always get wrapped up in what’s going to happen and unlike the last mystery show on this list (Psych) where most episodes are individualized, this show has several overarching stories. Also, the narrator makes it a hundred times better with his sophisticated voice and quirky little nicknames.

The sad thing is that it had a very short sun; only two short seasons.

6) Gotham

Before Batman, there was just Gotham and everything in it. Before he was commissioner, Jim Gordon was simply a detective trying to hold the city together while crime rates rose as new whacky villains appeared.

One of two shows that is still airing and that I am currently watching on this list. When I first started watching this show, I was very irritated with a lot of things-- lots of the characters bugged me, the plot was weak, the writing was poor and cliched-- I almost stopped watching. However, as I pushed on, it started to grow on me. Stupid characters got better arcs or were written out, the plots got better, the writing got stronger; and by the end of the second season I was way more intrigued. Now going into the fifth and final season, I am counting the days for the first episode. I am SO hooked! The last season was AMAZING!!! 

The villains are what really sell it. The acting is phenomenal and the costumes and atmosphere are just fantastic! The guy who plays Penguin is seriously the best actor to play the character to date; it’s like he was born to play him. I will say, the show can get pretty dark and gruesome sometimes, so avoid it if you’re not into that, but it is seriously one of the best comic book adaptions I have ever seen.

5) Sherlock

Based on the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but set in modern-day London. Dr. John Watson has returned from the Afghan War and is looking for a flatmate. He finds accommodations through a mutual acquaintance with Sherlock Holmes; a hyper-observant consulting detective. Soon, John is off on adventures with his new friend, observing and even helping solve crimes.

This is one of the most perfectly-crafted TV shows out there. It has it all; mystery, suspense, comedy, romance, heartbreak, friendship. And then the music is awesome, the cinematography is very unique, the costumes are amazing, the acting is phenomenal, the special effects are great... just everything is superb! 

It sort of turned into a superhero show by the end and became a lot of fan service and cliches instead of focusing on its uniqueness and originality which is why it isn’t higher up. However, for sure its first two season are basically perfect. (Also, as a warning: each season is only three hour-and-a-half episodes long.)

4) Galavant

Sir Galavant is the greatest knight in all the land until his true love is abducted by a nearby evil king. When he goes to rescue her, she decides to stay with the king for his fame and fortune, breaking Galavant's heart and spirit. Sometime later, Galavant is a washed-up has been and is approached by a princess who begs him for his help in reclaiming her kingdom which has been conquered by the same evil king who stole his true love.

This show might not seem like much, but it is truly a hidden diamond in the rough. Totally underrated. Its humor and jokes are absolutely priceless! It makes fun of all the fairytale cliches out there and breaks the fourth wall like nobody's business. I always describe it as Monty Python and the Holy Grail meets The Princess Bride splashed with a little bit of Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Also, it's a musical! With songs composed by the master himself, Alan Menken (the Disney guy). Even if you're not really into musicals, you'll like this one because it's meant to be stupid and ridiculous and the fact that people break into song fits that just right (also, isn't singing part of the fairytale cliche?)
The real shame is that this show too had a very short run that was cut short: two very short seasons. You could seriously watch the entire show in a day if you wanted.

3) Supernatural

Two brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester, travel around the country hunting down the supernatural-- monsters, demons, ghosts, etc.-- and kill them. 

I’ve loved this show since season nine came out and it has now wrapped up season thirteen and still going (I love this show, but I think it needs to stop. It should’ve quit on like season eight. That was a good stopping point). 

I always say about this show, you’re either laughing or crying. There’s really no in between. One episode is really hilarious and ridiculous, then the next episode is super dramatic and you just want to go cry into your pillow because THE FEELS!!! The acting is super great and I love the two main leads with all my soul. As a warning, most of the show is perfectly fine, but on occasion, there is some gore.

2) The Office/Friends

I put these two shows together because I seriously couldn’t decide between the two of them. I love them so much and they’re quite similar in a lot of ways. I quote both of them all the time. 

The Office follows a small paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Told in a documentary style, it follows the different office workers’s lives and dramas. All the characters are someone we’ve seen before in our lives (or someone to cringe at). There’s Michael, the boss with no boundaries; Jim, the likable goofball; Pam, the shy receptionist; Dwight, the eccentric weirdo; Ryan, the intern everyone picks on; and more.

Friends is about six friends, Rachel Greene, Phoebe Buffay, Monica Gellar, Joey Tribianni, Chandler Bing, and Ross Gellar living in New York and their troubles with work, romance, and living in general. 

The Office is a show that kind of has to grow on you. I remember trying to watch it once years ago and I only got through maybe half of the first season before finally giving up on it, wondering why everyone thought it was so hilarious when it barely got a chuckle out of me every once in a while. Years later, I tried it again and pushed through the first couple episodes. Once I finally understood the characters, it started to become funny and the more I understood them, it became all the more hilarious. I think that could be said for the writers of the show and the actors playing their characters too because the first season was sort of the experimental season where they were testing the waters. Once everyone was comfortable with the characters, the show became so much funnier. Second season really steps up its game and I was laughing my head off. However, I needed that first season to warm up to the characters and test the waters just like everyone else. 

I’ll never forget this one time before I had watched the show when my family tried showing me this one scene in Season 5x14- “Stress Relief Part 1” where everyone is panicking because of a fire and my family was almost peeing their pants from laughing so hard whereas it barely got a chuckle out of me. Then sometime later when I watched the show all the way through and watched that scene with full knowledge of the characters, I was absolutely dying.

Friends, on the other hand, caught me almost right away. Friends is extremely relatable on pretty much every level because all the characters are like us in one way or another. I remember watching the show with my roommates and we were trying to figure out which friend we were most like. I determined I was most like Chandler- sarcastic, awkward (and aware of it), lazy, bad with the opposite gender, and exists to point out others follies. The show is flat out hilarious and extremely quotable. There’s an episode for any situation in life. 

1) Avatar: The Last Airbender

In a world that revolves around the elements (water, earth, fire, and air), there are different people in different tribes that can control these elements known as benders. However, there is only one person in the entire world that can control all four elements known as the Avatar who brings balance and peace to the world. However, one day the Fire Nation attacks to other tribes just when the Avatar disappears and the world falls into chaos. A hundred years later, two Water Tribe kids find the new Avatar, an eleven-year-old Airbender, frozen in an ice burg and accompany him on his journey to master the other elements so that he can take down the Fire Nation.

I only came across this show recently, but let me just say that this as close to a perfect show as I’ll ever get. The story and characters are beyond phenomenal. The world it creates is just amazing. I can’t think of any plot holes or anything. There’s no stone unturned. The humor is on point, it never tries too hard. The action, though animated, is so much fun to watch and is amazingly choreographed. I can’t emphasize enough how awesome this show is! 

It might start out a little slow, but by the time you get about halfway through the first season, you’ll be hooked. I haven’t met anyone yet you gives the show a chance (meaning, they get more than halfway through the first season) who hasn’t fallen in love with it. It only has three seasons, but it’s the perfect amount that tells the story that needs to be told. Every character’s story gets wrapped up nicely. Another great thing about it is that there are no annoying filler episodes. Sure, like any TV show, there are filler episodes, but even those have a purpose. They may not be furthering the plot per say, but they’re exploring the characters or showing more of the world or something. It’s such a fantastic TV show and most definitely worth checking out.