I was wondering what TV shows you all thought were the best of all time?  Perhaps everyone could give their top ten and rank them in order.

Here are the parameters though:

(1) You can suggest any TV show you like (it doesn't matter where it is a drama or comedy).
(2) Reality shows and documentaries should not be included because I would like the focus to be on good plots, characters, etc. and not just the ability to put a camera in front of some silly attention-hungry person.
(3) By "best" I mean what TV shows did you most enjoy watching?  Don't pick obscure shows just so you can look cultured or cool (but by all means, do pick obscure shows if you enjoyed watching them).
(4) TV shows from any year are fair game (I am hoping a few older shows that I haven't seen will be suggested so that I might actually check them out).
(5) It doesn't matter how long the show ran on TV.  If the show only lasted one season, that is fine!

I haven't come up with my top ten yet, but here is a list of some of my favorites (in no particular order with the exception that LOST and Dallas are my top two).

-LOST
-Dallas (the original)
-Parks and Rec
-Dinosaurs
-Gilligans Island
-The Office (U.S. version)
-The Walking Dead
-Sliders
-The Americans (I know it just started, but it is good)
-Cheers
-Chicago Hope (I'm not a big fan of ER)
-Heroes
-Wilfred
-South Park
-The Boondocks
-Star Trek: The Next Generation
-Quantum Leap
-Arrested Development

Not a huge TV fan, but there's nothing to touch The Office (UK, of course) for absolute comedic perfection. Scrubs was great, too. There are always the classics like Twin Peaks, X-Files, Twilight Zone, etc, etc, but The Office (UK) will probably always be my favourite.

I'd find it very hard to do a top-10, but below are some shows I really enjoy... Although, I am more of a film versus a TV guy. I'm probably forgetting a few, as well.

Comedy:
- Arrested Development
- Curb
- Seinfeld
- Friends (yeah, I said it, so shoot me).
- The Office (UK)
- Peep Show
- Outnumbered
- Community
- Drake and Josh (so what if it's a Nickelodeon show, it's actually very well written).
- Saved by the Bell (yeah, it's crap, but I can never turn down an episode if it's on).


Drama:
- The Wire
- Sopranos
- Breaking Bad
- Twin Peaks

Don't watch any of the newer shows or any TV at ll, but some of my faves are/were:

The Shield
King Of Queens
Drew Carey Show
Becker

24
Dexter
Veronica Mars

Hill Street Blues
The Killing
Mad Men
Justified
Breaking Bad
St. Elsewhere
Twin Peaks
Sopranos

I watch way too much TV, student life.

Shamless (BEST)
Party Down
Friday Night Lights
Girls
Arrested Development
House of Cards
Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23 (Embarrassing, but guilty pleasure, James Van Der Beek playing himself? too good.)
Freaks and Geeks
Workaholics
Hidden Palms (Only ran a season but I was hooked)

I wish I could say I didn't watch reality tv but I'm a sucker for cheesy competition shows, Big Brother has me under its spell every summer.

I'm repeating some of the others here, but:

The Honeymooners;
Twin Peaks;
Carnivale;
Gigantor;
Speed Racer;
Twilight Zone;
Doctor Who;
MASH (the earlier episodes)
Big Bang Theory.


Phil

Obviously, not enough people here have seen The Wire. Easily the best written show I've ever seen in my life, not to mention the most true to life. It's so good, I can't believe it exists. The producers took so many chances on it and got away with them all. There are some saints working over at HBO to have let these guys do what they did.

I'm also one of many biting my nails waiting for the final eight episodes of Breaking Bad. The fifth season was better than most films last year and the series as a whole has just been firing on all cylinders since the beginning.

These two can't be beat in my opinion. I'm honestly at a loss what to get into after BB is over.

I've heard great things about Twin Peaks but after seeing Fire Walk With Me, I was completely turned off.

SPOILERS!!!!!

Okay. So I'm on the fence. I know the film isn't indicative of the show's quality. Those of you who are fans of the show, tell me the whole thing isn't about otherworldly beings turning humans into creamed corn. Because that's kinda bullshit.

Arrested Development is by far my favorite TV comedy of all time.
I also enjoy Curb Your Enthusiasm and used to enjoy the Amercian version of The Office (to be fair, I think you usually end up preferring the version you saw first). Here's some more:

Golden Girls
Dick Van Dyke
Fawlty Towers


On the drama side I'd say:

Mad Men
Twin Peaks (though it dabbles in comedy)
Friday Night Lights
Season 1 of True Blood
Dexter
The Twilight Zone
Season 1 of The Killing (American. Have no seen season 2)

Reality:

Survivor
Project Runway

I can't remember what else. I haven't seen The Wire yet. I just started season 2 of Breaking Bad. While I do enjoy it, I don't see what's so great about it yet. Never enjoyed Boardwalk Empire. The walking Dead has been going out of its way to be awful recently so it gets cut off from my list.

Phil nailed a couple of my favs...

MASH
THE TWILIGHT ZONE
THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW
ALL IN THE FAMILY
LAW AND ORDER (SVU)
MONTY PYTHONS FLYING CIRCUS
NO RESERVATIONS
FRAZIER
HILL STREET BLUES
TAXI

Here's one out of left field.

THE LAWRENCE WELK SHOW
&
LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRARIE

Rebecca loves these shows...

So by proxy,

I do too...

Shawn.....><

Quoted from Felipe I just started season 2 of Breaking Bad. While I do enjoy it, I don't see what's so great about it yet.

I hear this a lot and as much as I hate to say it... it gets better. It's a cheap excuse but if it's true for anything, that anything would be Breaking Bad. The first season sets the stage and provides what is essentially a series of insane events, which can be very entertaining. The second season, particularly the second half, is where it really takes off. After that, it doesn't let up.

Among other things, you have one of the greatest villains in television history to look forward to.

EDIT: Perhaps you can answer my Twin Peaks question from above? No pressure...

All in the family

The odd couple

Twilight Zone (and night gallery, Alfred Hitchcock presents, tales from the crypt, etc...)

Better off Ted.  Didn't last too long, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and keep it in my Netflix queue.

Quoted from Shelton The odd couple

Fluck!

How'd I miss that one?

Great show... :)

Shawn.....><

Quoted from James McClung Obviously, not enough people here have seen The Wire. Easily the best written show I've ever seen in my life, not to mention the most true to life. It's so good, I can't believe it exists. The producers took so many chances on it and got away with them all. There are some saints working over at HBO to have let these guys do what they did.

Seconded. The Wire raised the bar so high that everything I've watched since, TV or film, has failed to get anywhere near it. I worry I'll never experience the sort of satisfaction I got from watching again. It also has my favourite character of all time in Omar Little who stands out for me amongst a huge cast of fantastic characters. I could happily talk about The Wire all day, but I'll leave it there.

Some of my other favourites are...

24
The Office (Both versions)
Top Boy
Heroes
Lie To Me
White Collar
Misfits
Band of Brothers
Friends
Scrubs
Boardwalk Empire
Game of Thrones
Deadwood.

I picked The Honeymooners because, despite the fact it's sixty years old, today's audience can still feel for the characters.  The show is ageless.


Phil

So is "I Love Lucy"

This is tough.

in no particular order:

Fawlty Towers
Game of Thrones
Sons of Anarchy
Big Bang Theory
Red Dwarf
Heroes
Torchwood Season 3
Boon (British show - loved the theme song)
Brush Strokes
Entourage

These are not in order.

The Twilight Zone ('59-'65). What else needs to be said?
Lost. See above.
24. Entirely trashy, but shows that one really good season could make it seem legitimate, if only for a moment.
PlayMakers. Features my favorite series finale of any show on this list.
Breaking Bad. Yeah.
Justified. What other show on TV can consistently start their seasons badly but end with them being so good?
Sons of Anarchy. Right up there with BB as the best show currently on cable.
The X-Files. Had a JFK-like effect of getting people to believe in aliens and government conspiracies. That's some strong writing right there.
Tales from the Crypt. I like to focus on how awesome seasons 1-5 were instead of thinking about how bad 6 and 7 were.
Tiny Toon Adventures. Writing was too good to be limited to a kids cartoon.

Honorable mention:

American Horror Story. Someone just reminded me that I missed it. I'd like to put it in my top 10, but if I forgot it here, how could I possibly?

(Dis)honorable mention:

The Simpsons (through season 9). Could have easily been in the top 5, but not anymore. Too many years of mediocrity and being just plain bad.

Quoted from Grandma Bear So is "I Love Lucy"

Completely agree, Pia. Perfectly timeless and funny to this day.

Nip/Tuck - the first 2 seasons.
Heroes
Office (US version)
Twilight Zone
Tales from the Crypt
Are you Afraid of the Dark
Dexter
An American Horror Story
Breaking Bad
24

This is a really tough question because to me there's good seasons of shows and nothing is really that consistently good throughout its complete run.  I find generally that lots shows have either  an excellent 1st or 3rd season, never both.  If the third season is excellent then usually that will spill over to an excellent 4th season.  The rest of the seasons of the show aren't necessarily bad but they aren't of the same quality as the excellent seasons.  

Examples of excellent 1st season then downhill.

24
Homeland
Ab Fab
Fringe
Carnivale
Dexter
The Walking Dead
Heroes
Torchwood

Unusual example of excellent 2nd season

Mighty Boosh

Examples of excellent 3rd and 4th season.

X-files
Red Dwarf
Buffy

As mentioned there is plenty of excellent classic television that probably follows the same rules in terms of consistency but I'm not as familiar with the seasons.    

There are lots of shows, too numerous to mention, that have good writing so I won't even go into that here.   Plus there are mini-series that blow the roof off the house, but I won't cover them here either.        

I haven't watched any T.V. for the last five or six years or so, but I was an avid watcher very early on.

My favorites as a kid:

Hogan's Heroes
The Odd Couple    (Incorporated both of them into my short 'Fix'.)

Dukes of Hazzard
Mr. Ed
You Can't Do That On Television
Twilight Zone
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Quantum Leap
Joey Bishop


My favorites as a teenager:

Brisco County Jr.
The X-Files
Sledgehammer
NewsRadio

Shows I'll check out very rarely now if I'm bored:

Law & Order: Criminal Intent  (Only the ones with Vincent D'Onofrio)
High Stakes Poker (when I used to have cable)
Burn Notice
Criminal Minds
Any documentary I come across

Forgot about Carnivale - that was brilliant, pity the dough ran out before the third season.

And we used to watch American Gothic in the nineties, that was a top show too.

uk and Irish shows

Fawlty towers
Red dwarf
Only fools and horses
blackadder
father ted
the fast show
doctor who
top gear
the young ones
Harry Enfield
Spitting image


American

early simpsons
south park
family guy
cheers
American horror 1st season
early house
the cosby show
early CSI (with grissom)
The daily show
The colbert show
planet earth
VH1 storytellers
MTV when it was music

Mark

I don't get around to watching TV that often, so I doubt my selection is particularly good.

Among the comedies are the classics:

1)Only Fools and Horses
2)Blackadder
3)MASH

And Dramas:

1) Downton Abbey (I'm so old-fashioned)
2) Criminal Minds
3) Sons of Anarchy
4) The Walking Dead

Dan

So only Shelton and Mark mentioned THE ODD COUPLE? Ah, I can only be friends with them from now on....

Sorry if this sounds arrogant but a discussion of great TV begins with that show. Klugman and Randall took perhaps Neil Simon's best known work and improved upon the characters created by two giants of the industry, Lemmon and Matthau. (Granted, the play had multiple iterations with various pairings before the movie.)

AJR

Gonna throw one in the ring I haven't seen out there yet...

Babylon 5.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105946/

Not only was this show everything ST: DS9 wanted to be...
It introduced me to the concept of the CONTINUING STORY ARC.

The basic universe/character arcs were in place before s single frame was shot.
Twas the first show to feel like watching a sprawling novel unfold for years.

May not be the best show on TV.
But it was one of the first to successfully pull off this kind of storytelling.
And now that style is prevalent on the idiot box.

E.D.

Current and modern stuff I watch:
Boardwalk Empire
Game of Thrones
Dexter
The Mentalist
Homeland

Older stuff from yester year:
American Gothic
X-Files
Carnivale
Band of Brothers

Some British stuff:
Top Gear
Jonathan Creek
Only Fools and Horses
Father Ted
The IT Crowd
Spaced
The Office
Black Books
Auf Wiedersehen Pet
Green Wing
Blackadder
The Young Ones
Bottom
The Comic Strip

damn I could go on all day....

For me:

Golden Age Classics-
I Love Lucy
The Twilight Zone
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle
Star Trek

70s Classics that hold up well-
Laverne and Shirley
MASH
Mary Tyler Moore
The Carol Burnett Show
Taxi

Modern Classics-
The West Wing
Seinfeld
Cheers
Family Ties
LOST
Friends
The X-Files
The Wonder Years
Coach
(special recognition for) Sunday Night SportsCenter with Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick, 1992-1997

Currently running, likely classics
Big Bang Theory
The Simpsons

Likely Classics but I haven’t watched the DVDs yet:
Friday Night Lights
24
Homeland
The Newsroom
Battlestar Galactica (modern version)

Cancelled too soon:
SportsNight
Don’t Trust the B----
The Gary Shandling Show (on Fox)
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Freaks and Geeks

I don't watch much TV but in the age of downloading I'm starting to watch complete series (old and new) in a short time period, just the way I like it.

In no particular order:

The Office (UK version)
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Father Ted
Extras
Fawlty Towers
Twin Peaks
Seinfeld
The Sopranos
Screenwipe
I'm Alan Partridge


The Wire, Breaking Bad and Deadwood are on the "to watch" list

- The West Wing
- Sopranos
- Dexter
- X-Files
- Homeland
- Lost
- Family Ties

im going to refrain from listing currently running shows.... i want to see how they end before i rank them (certainly Breaking Bad and Dexter are headed for this list though)

these are just personal favorites... in no way is this the bible of great TV

The Shield
Lost
Friday Night Lights
Star Trek (TOS)
Home Improvement
Battlestar Gallactica
Beavis and Butthead
The Wonder Years

(and the best parts of X-Files, Roseanne, ER)

=====Also====

Doctor Who
Twin Peaks
Moonlight
Night Court
Person Of Intrest
The Walking Dead
Law & Order / Law & Order SVU
Quantum Leap
Greatest American Hero
Star Trek Deep Space Nine
The X-Files
Happy Days
Mork & Mindy
What's Happening!
Ultraman

and last but not least
The Famous Teddy Z ---still looking for it on DVD/BR!

Game of thrones
Breaking bad
24
Homeland
Seinfeld
Tales from the crypt
Malcolm in the middle
The X Files
Justified
Amazing Stories
Twin Peaks
American Horror Story
Picket fences
Law & Order SVU
Freaks & Geeks

You all are making some excellent suggestions!  

I totally forgot about The Wonders Years...I think that might make my top 10.  

Is there a way we can maybe make some type of poll and have a vote for the Simplyscripts top 10 TV shows of all time?  (Maybe we could allow a full month of voting before we announce the winners)  I would try to do this myself, but I am not sure how to set it up.

Side note, have any of you watched the original Dallas?  I watched it when I was young, and now I am rewatching it again (I all the way through season 9).  There are some moments when the series drags a bit, but good ole JR Ewing always finds a way to make things interesting!