Sopranos named best written show of all time

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Rabbuk

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The wire would be mine. I was an absolute fiend for that show.
 

Mr Janny

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I'd throw in the Daily Show/Colbert Report. I'm not sure if they're done by the same people, but they're both brilliantly written.

The Larry Sanders Show. It gets forgotten a lot, but it was an amazing show.

The Venture Brothers. Yes, it's a cartoon, but Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer are friggin geniuses when it comes to layered dialog and overall continuity. It's the type of show where you can watch an episode for the 10th time and still discover new jokes and callbacks that you never noticed before.
 

kentkel

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I agree with the OP on the West Wing (especially seasons 1-4 when Aaron Sorkin was penning the episodes). I also think Frasier is worth a mention here.
 

klamath632

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Wow, that list has a lot of recent shows on it. I looked up the author, and can't believe that he's the same age as me. Apparently he didn't watch much television growing up? "30 Rock" is at #21 but "Moonlighting" is nowhere to be found? Wow. "30 Rock" is entertaining. #21 of all time? Whoa.

Edit: nevermind, Moonlighting is stuck tied at #60. Boo.
 
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Rabbuk

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Lost ended up being real dumb according to most of the people I know who followed it.
 

Mr Janny

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Lost ended up being real dumb according to most of the people I know who followed it.

that's the danger of having a show go too long.

Lost was written well until it wasn't.
Scrubs? The Office? Same thing.
 

Althetuna

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ISUME

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that's the danger of having a show go too long.

Lost was written well until it wasn't.
Scrubs? The Office? Same thing.

The first 4 seasons of Lost were great. The last 2 seasons they were running out of time to tie up the story-lines, so they didn't finish a lot of them well.
 

Tre4ISU

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Lost ended up being real dumb according to most of the people I know who followed it.

I liked Lost. I also loved Prison Break. I can't watch a TV show that doesn't leave me hanging every episode. I would not, however, say the writing of either was great. It was creative but both got a little far fetched. The Wire was extremely well written but it wasn't a show that i just couldn't help but watch the next episode.
 

theantiAIRBHG

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Plus one for West Wing. Incredible writing. I also think Larry David is a genius, not only for Seinfeld but also for Curb.

Ive never seen an episode of Lost, and I don't intend to.

However, I am ashamed to admit I've never seen the Sopranos or The Wire. I'm assuming I should?
 

Mr Janny

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I liked Lost. I also loved Prison Break. I can't watch a TV show that doesn't leave me hanging every episode. I would not, however, say the writing of either was great. It was creative but both got a little far fetched. The Wire was extremely well written but it wasn't a show that i just couldn't help but watch the next episode.


That's a good point. A show that achieves suspense by going from cliffhanger to cliffhanger at the end of every episode is really taking the easy way out. HBO's OZ, which is another one that should be on this list (at least the first two seasons anyway) really fell victim to this as it got further into it's life. You need a shocking cliffhanger for the promos, and it just devolved a game of, okay what loose end are they going to leave this time? It became very soap opera-ish, and really drug down the show. That happens with a lot of dramas. The cliffhanger is an easy way to keep your audience wanting more. It's not necessarily an indicator of good writing though.
 
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DistrictCyclone

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Yeah, but what's the best unwritten show of all time?
 

jbindm

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The first 4 seasons of Lost were great. The last 2 seasons they were running out of time to tie up the story-lines, so they didn't finish a lot of them well.

After the first couple seasons I felt like the show caught everyone (including the writers) by offguard by being such a huge hit, so they were always scrambling and making stuff up in lieu of having a long term plan of how the show would unfold. Throw in the curveballs like the kid who played Walt aging way too quickly in real life to remain relevant in the show's timeline, Michelle Rodriguez's sudden and unexpected firing (so the rumor goes, at least), and Maggie Grace leaving the cast and it made for a lot of abandoned storylines and a choppy narrative.

My personal favorite is The West Wing when the episodes were written by Aaron Sorkin. Honorable mention to Sports Night, another Sorkin project that never could get traction with ABC because they couldn't figure out how to market it.
 
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DistrictCyclone

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I like almost everything Aaron Sorkin's done, but The West Wing in particular is so over-the-top dramatic at times. The Newsroom (also excellent) is the same way. It's almost like crying wolf to me; too much seriousness becomes overplayed.