0002: Favorite Television Shows of All Time

Tags: 
  1. The Wire (HBO)
  2. The Simpsons (Fox)
  3. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (WB/UPN)
  4. Arrested Development (Fox)
  5. Battlestar Galactica (Sci-Fi)
  6. Lost (ABC)
  7. Futurama (Fox)
  8. Freaks and Geeks (NBC)
  9. Seinfeld (NBC)
  10. South Park (Comedy Central)
  11. Chappelle's Show (Comedy Central)
  12. This American Life (Showtime)
  13. 30 Rock (NBC)
  14. Firefly (Fox)
  15. Kathy Griffin's My Life on the D-List (Bravo)
  16. Angel (WB)
  17. Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Comedy Central/Sci-Fi)
  18. Clarissa Explains It All (Nickelodeon)
  19. Planet Earth (Discovery)
  20. Project Runway (Bravo)
  21. Are You Afraid of the Dark? (Nickelodeon)
  22. Wishbone (PBS)

I've said it before and doubtless I will say it again: Homicide: Life on the Street... Among many other "firsts" I believe it was the first to integrate songs into episode montages. Okay, Miami Vice. So it wasn't the first, but it was the best. I don't know when the episode was filmed but "A Model Citizen" aired just eight months after The Downward Spiral was released in early '94. (It helped convince me I didn't dislike NIN.) The show is still one of the most graphic ever aired on broadcast television.

And The Wire was just a copy... "Boom Boom Boom."

I've seen a couple of Homicide episodes, and while it seems like a great show (plus, I'm from MD [20 mins from Batimore]) I would argue that The Wire is a completely different entity.

Both shows have similar origins (both are based on the same reporter's writing), but Homicide focuses on the cops, while The Wire has a much wider gaze.

An all-out brilliant list.

Well thank you very much!