TV shows

Did you see the New York Times' list of the 100 Best TV Shows of the 21st Century?

https://www.reddit.com/r/blankies/comments/1wq2x65/the_new_york_times_final_list_of_the_100_best_tv/

It's quite boring, as would be expected. I mean, what else are they going to say? Lots of prestige American dramas, culminating in the fair-enough decision not to include The Sopranos because it began in 1999.

I don't watch enough TV to have a very very strong counter-opinion. My favourite TV programme of the 21st century is SPORT! Nothings beats it for drama and comedy.

I have a few times tried to make a list of "greatest tv shows" or whatever, but I'm not really invested enough in the idea of "great TV" to take myself seriously enough for that.

In this NYT list, there are a reasonable number of British shows, though the obvious ones that Americans like, and not much from anywhere else in the world.

It's almost entirely scripted drama and comedy, which is tiresome. I think America has less of a culture than Britain of vast communal watching, where things like Big Brother, Traitors, Strictly etc are truly part of the national conversation, where shows like Match of the Day and Top of the Pops used to be weekly markers across the country.

There are no kids' shows, no news broadcasts.

Anyway, what does it matter?

I'll just offer a few shows which aren't on the list and are great.

Inside Number 9 - I genuinely think Inside Number 9 is one of the greatest TV feats of all time, no messing. 50+ distinct stories, wrapped up in half an hour, at times hilarious, at times deeply moving, at times genuinely frightening. Doing all that with their own distinct but limited acting pallette. I don't think any show has produced as many episodes of TV that live in my memory as Inside Number 9.

Treme - The Wire is Number 2, which is fine. Treme, David Simon's follow-up, was a very different thing. Drifting, almost drama-free, certainly short on bad guys, it was about a city and its people. The acting is universally superb, it makes you fall in love with New Orleans (though also be pretty scared of going there), it is about music, and community, and rebirth, corruption, fight. I once looked it up and it had stunningly low viewing figures, and would certainly have not got to four series if it hasn't been written by the guy that did The Wire, but I loved it as much as any other.

Bluey - I was pretty surprised Bluey wasn't on the list. That really did show up quite how limited the outlook of the voters was.

Colin from Accounts - also a beloved Australian dog show, the third series was just so good, it should have snuck in.

Partridge - I know AP's truly most iconic work is pre-2000, but still, if Americans can't recognise the greatest TV character of all time, that's their problem.

Extras - I'm not saying Extras was a masterpiece but now people hate Gervais, there's a tendency to say the only good thing he did was The Office, but Extras, though not as influential as The Office, was flat-out funnier more often, and did have a pretty interesting perspective, of what happens when a middle-aged unlikeable guy who is in and around famous successful people without being successful himself suddenly becomes famous and successful...

It's a Sin, Pointless, I could go on ... and finally, vinylly...

Vinyl - Vinyl is, I think, the worst TV show, pound for pound, of all time. Martin Scorsese? Mick Jagger? Starring Bobby Cannavale? About the music industry in the 70s? In New York? How can it possibly go wrong? So badly badly wrong ... people thing The Newsroom was a bad show from good stock but by comparison to this, The Newsroom was a masterpiece.

And to be a bit boring, of all the prestige American shows I watched, it's Mad Men that I remember the best, that nailed the ending, that feels like a complete, multi-layered, unfathomable and beautiful masterwork ... but what do i know ...