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Best TV Shows

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  • TheTVDB.com List ID 14166
  • Created By Sr.Kin
  • List Type Custom
  • Favorites 1
  • Created October 2, 2022 by
    Sr.Kin
  • Modified February 18, 2024 by
    Sr.Kin

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

1997

In every generation there is a Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer. Buffy Summers is The Chosen One, the one girl in all the world with the strength and skill to fight the vampires. With the help of her close friends, Willow, Xander, and her Watcher Giles she balances slaying, family, friendships, and relationships.

Hill Street Blues

1981

This groundbreaking and award-winning NBC crime drama provided a very realistic view into the lives of the dedicated cops and detectives of an urban police station. From January 1981 to August 1986, the show ran on Thursdays at 10/9 Central, with occasional repeats on Saturdays at 10/9 Central. From August 1986 to August 1987 first-run episodes aired Tuesdays at 10/9 Central.

Arrested Development

2003

Level-headed son Michael Bluth takes over family affairs after his father is imprisoned. But the rest of his spoiled, dysfunctional family are making his job unbearable.

Twin Peaks

1990

The body of a young girl is washed up on a beach near the small Washington state town of Twin Peaks. Eccentric FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper is called in to investigate her strange demise only to uncover a web of mystery that ultimately leads him deep into the heart of the surrounding woodland and his very own soul. Season 3 - also known as Twin Peaks: The Return - is set 25 years after the events of Seasons 1 and 2.

Mad Men

2007

In 1960s New York, alpha male Don Draper struggles to stay on top of the heap in the high-pressure world of Madison Avenue advertising firms. Aside from being one of the top ad men in the business, Don is also a family man, the father of young children.

Lonesome Dove

1989

Retired Texas Rangers Gus McRae and Woodrow Call are content to live out their remaining years in the tiny Texas town of Lonesome Dove. Then their old friend Jake comes to town, and tells them about the incredible opportunities for cattle ranching in Montana. Encouraged by this, Call convinces Gus and many other townspeople to go on a perilous cattle drive to Montana. Gus has another agenda though: his former sweetheart now lives in Nebraska, and he hopes for a second chance with her. As the drive goes on it takes on an epic scale, ultimately becoming what could well be called the central event in the lives of all involved.

Deadwood

2004

In the Black Hills Indian Cession, the town of Deadwood is a settlement violating treaty obligations; a violent and uncivilized outpost that attracts outlaws and entrepreneurs, ex-soldiers and racketeers, Chinese laborers, prostitutes, city slickers and gunfighters.

Firefly

2002

In the far-distant future, Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds is a renegade former brown-coat sergeant, now turned smuggler & rogue, who is the commander of a small spacecraft, with a loyal hand-picked crew made up of the first mate, Zoe Warren; the pilot Hoban "Wash" Washburn; the gung-ho grunt Jayne Cobb; the engineer Kaylee Frye; the fugitives Dr. Simon Tam and his psychic sister River. Together, they travel the far reaches of space in search of food, money, and anything to live on.

Band of Brothers

2001

The story of Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, U.S. Army. Based on interviews with survivors of Easy Company, as well as soldiers' journals and letters, the series chronicles the experiences of these young men who knew extraordinary bravery and extraordinary fear.

Angel

1999

Angel, a 240-year old vampire cursed with a conscience, haunts the dark streets of Los Angeles alone. But after he meets a half-demon with mysterious visions, Angel realizes his true purpose: to help those in danger with the hope that he may have a chance to redeem himself and save his own soul. With Cordelia and Doyle at his side, he forms Angel Investigations. He is soon joined by Wesley, Gunn, Lorne and Fred, and he will need all their expertise to fight the growing forces of evil, and the supernatural law firm of Wolfram and Hart.

Northern Exposure

1990

Dr. Joel Fleischman graduates from Columbia University medical school thanks to a scholarship from the state of Alaska. Though he was promised a placement at the large hospital in Anchorage, he is instead whisked away to the tiny town of Cicely, where he must work off his education debt as the local General Practitioner. The location is remote, the people are weird and quirky, and all Joel wants is to return to New York.

Jim Henson's The Storyteller

1988

An old storyteller tells European folk tales to his sarcastic dog.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

1987

A century after Captain Kirk's five year mission, the next generation of Starfleet officers begins their journey aboard the new flagship of the Federation. Commanded by Captain Jean-Luc Picard the Galaxy class starship Enterprise NCC-1701-D will seek out new life and new civilizations - to boldly go where no one has gone before.

Justice League

2001

An American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from 2001 to 2004 on Cartoon Network. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation, it is based on the Justice League and associated comic book characters published by DC Comics. After its second season, it became Justice League Unlimited, and ran an additional three seasons.

Documentary Now!

2015

Documentary Now! is a comedy series that pays loving homage to the world's best-known documentaries. Each episode adopts a different style of nonfiction filmmaking to honor the most important stories that didn't actually happen.

Boy Meets World

1993

Boy Meets World chronicles the events and everyday life lessons of Cory Matthews who grows up from a young boy to a married man.

Freaks and Geeks

1999

Two unique groups of teenagers deal with life in high school during the 1980s. Lindsay Weir rebels and begins hanging out with a crowd of burnouts, the "freaks," while her brother Sam Weir navigates a different part of the social universe with his nerdy friends, the "geeks."

Babylon 5

1994

Babylon 5 is a five-mile long space station located in neutral space. Built by the Earth Alliance in the 2250s, its goal is to maintain peace among the various alien races by providing a sanctuary where grievances and negotiations can be worked out among duly appointed ambassadors. A council made up of representatives from the five major space-faring civilizations - the Earth Alliance, Minbari Federation, Centauri Republic, Narn Regime, and Vorlon Empire - work with the League of Non-Aligned Worlds to keep interstellar relations under control. Aside from its diplomatic function, Babylon 5 also serves as a military post for Earth and a port of call for travelers, traders, businessmen, criminals, and Rangers.

The IT Crowd

2006

The comedic misadventures of Roy, Moss and their grifting supervisor Jen, a rag-tag team of IT support workers at a large corporation headed by a hotheaded yuppie.

Profit

1996

Jim Profit works for a multinational company, and isn't above using any means necessary to get ahead, and that includes bribery, blackmail, intimidation, extortion, and even murder.

Community

2009

The student body at Greendale Community College is made up of high-school losers, newly divorced housewives, and old people who want to keep their minds active. Within these not-so-hallowed halls, Community focuses on a band of misfits, at the center of which is a fast-talking lawyer whose degree was found to be fake, who form a study group and end up learning a lot more about themselves than they do about their course work.

The Prisoner (1967)

1967

The series follows a British former secret agent who is held prisoner in a mysterious coastal village resort where his captors try to find out why he abruptly resigned from his job. Although sold as a thriller in the mould of the previous series starring McGoohan, Danger Man (1960–68), the show's combination of 1960s countercultural themes and surreal setting had a far-reaching effect on science fiction/fantasy programming, and on popular culture in general.

The Venture Bros.

2004

Hank and Dean Venture, with their father Doctor Venture and faithful bodyguard Brock Samson, go on wild adventures facing megalomaniacs, zombies, and suspicious ninjas, all for the glory of adventure. Or something like that.

Police Squad!

1982

In this cult parody of cop dramas, replete with farce and sight gags, Lieutenant Frank Drebin and his fellow officers from Police Squad bungle their way though crime investigations.

Star Trek

1966

Space. The Final Frontier. The U.S.S. Enterprise embarks on a five year mission to explore the galaxy. The Enterprise is under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, who is assisted by First Officer Mr. Spock, from the planet Vulcan, and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy. With a determined crew, the Enterprise encounters Klingons, Romulans, time paradoxes, tribbles and genetic supermen led by Khan Noonien Singh. Their mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.

The Muppet Show

1976

The Muppet Show is a British-American television program produced by puppeteer Jim Henson and featuring Muppets. After two pilot episodes were produced in 1974 and 1975, the show premiered on September 5, 1976, and five series were produced until March 15, 1981, lasting 120 episodes. The program shows a vaudeville- or music hall-style song-and-dance variety show, as well as glimpses behind the scenes of such a show. Kermit the Frog stars as a showrunner who tries to keep control of the antics of the other Muppet characters (and his temper), as well as keep the guest stars happy. The show was known for outrageous physical slapstick, sometimes absurdist comedy, and humorous parodies. Each episode also featured a human guest star. As the show's popularity rose, many celebrities were eager to perform with the Muppets on television and in film.

Batman

1966

Wealthy entrepreneur Bruce Wayne and his ward Dick Grayson lead a double life: they are actually crime fighting duo Batman and Robin. A secret Batpole in the Wayne mansion leads to the Batcave, where Police Commissioner Gordon often calls with the latest emergency threatening Gotham City. Racing to the scene of the crime in the Batmobile, Batman and Robin must (with the help of their trusty Bat-utility-belt) thwart the efforts of a variety of master criminals, including The Riddler, The Joker, Catwoman, and The Penguin.

The Americans (2013)

2013

Set during the Cold War period in the 1980s, The Americans is the story of Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, two Soviet KGB officers posing as an American married couple in the suburbs of Washington D.C. and their neighbor, Stan Beeman, an FBI Counterintelligence agent.

My World and Welcome to It

1969

My World and Welcome to It was a half-hour situation comedy based on the writings of humorist and cartoonist James Thurber, and episodes of the show incorporated stories and cartoons by Thurber. The show used a combination of live action and animation to represent the world of John Monroe, like Thurber a writer and cartoonist, who worked for The Manhattanite, a magazine very much like The New Yorker, for which Thurber wrote and illustrated for many years. All the animation was based on Thurber's drawings, including the show's opening credits. John Monroe had to contend with his hot-tempered, often obtuse boss, Manhattanite editor Hamilton Greeley, who usually found John's cartoons incomprehensible. (Greeley was loosely based on New Yorker editor Harold Ross.) Fortunately for John, he could share his frustrations with his writer friend, the sardonic Phil Jensen (based on writer Robert Benchley).

Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman

1976

Louise Lasser delivers a masterful performance in the title role of Norman Lear's sublimely twisted soap opera, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman -- at once a parody of the format and a twisted satire of American media/consumer culture. In the fictional town of Fernwood, Ohio, suburban housewife Mary Hartman seeks the kind of domestic perfection promised by Reader's Digest and TV commercials. Instead she finds herself suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune -- mass murders, low-flying airplanes, and waxy yellow buildup on her kitchen floor.

Rectify

2013

Rectify follows the life of Daniel Holden upon his release from jail after serving nineteen years on Georgia's Death Row before DNA evidence disputed the State's original case. Holden, who was only eighteen years of age when convicted and sentenced to die for the brutal rape and murder of a sixteen year old girl, returns to his family and to his hometown where the murder occurred and where many still believe he is guilty. Daniel spent all of his adult life waiting to die. Now he must learn how to live again or decide if he even wants to while others choose whether or not he will have that chance.

Monty Python's Flying Circus

1969

And now for something completely different: Monty Python's Flying Circus was simply the most influential comedy program television has ever seen. Five Englishmen, all working under the constraints of conventional TV shows such as The Frost Report (for which the five Englishmen wrote), gathered together with an expatriate American in the spring of 1969 to break the rules. The result, first airing on BBC-1 on October 5, 1969, has influenced countless future men and women in the media and comedy since.

Combat!

1962

This WWII show centered on the lives of the men from King Company. For 5 1/2 years the men of King Co. faced the enemy starting with the landing on Omaha Beach-D Day June 6, 1944. You see how they evolved from a squad of men to a family.

The Waltons

1972

In the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, during the Great Depression, the Walton family makes its small income from its saw mill on Walton's Mountain. The story is told through the eyes of John Boy, who wants to be a novelist and go to college. The saga follows the family through depression and war, through growing up, school, courtship, marriage, employment, birth, aging, illness and death.

24

2001

"24" is a TV thriller presented in "real time" with each minute of airtime that corresponds to a minute in the lives of the characters. "24" employs fast-paced and complex stories, and often contains unexpected plot twists. Though each day's events typically revolve around thwarting an impending terrorist attack, each season is made up of various interwoven story threads. These may run for just one hour, but more usually run over several hours. These typically involve investigations of leads on terrorists, tracking suspects, and averting attacks. The exact objective of the day evolves over the course of the season as the antagonists adapt, contingencies arise, and larger scale operations unfold.

Recess

1997

Six brave fourth-graders at Third Street School make it their mission to protect the other kids on the playground. Despite the rule of King Bob and his minions, who enforce his unwritten laws, T.J, Ashley, Vince, Gus, Gretchen and Mikey seek a rational balance between conformity and individuality.

Road to Avonlea

1990

Set against the stunning backdrop of Prince Edward Island, Canada, Road to Avonlea follows the adventures of the King family and the residents in the quaint town of Avonlea at the turn of the 20th century.

Mission: Impossible

1966

Elite special agents undertook top-secret assignments in crackerjack episodes, which kicked off with the team leader receiving instructions via a tape-recorded message that self-destructed in five seconds. What followed were usually breakneck spyjinks set to a pulsating Lalo Schifrin score. Martin Landau turned down the Spock role in 'Star Trek' to play IMFer Rollin Hand. When Landau left the series in 1969, his replacement was the man who built a career on Spock, Leonard Nimoy.

How I Met Your Mother

2005

A father tells his children, through a series of flashbacks, the journey that he and his four best friends undertook, which would lead him to meet their mother.