That's why I said we are in a golden age of drama. It's just that most of it isn't found on network TV which has to worry about the FCC.

I would probably go with the 90s for comedy and the current decade for drama. People who don't think there have been many good shows in this decade must not be familiar with HBO.

I think old TV shows suck.

I would go with the 80s...

Miami Vice
The A-Team
Knight Rider
Married with the children
Macgyver

and the 70s..
Sanford and Son!!!!!! Hands down!!!!!!

While I think Movies and Music are in serious free-fall, I think Television has been in arguably its best era starting about 1990.

So the best decades in order, IMO:
(1) 1990s
(2) 2000s
(3) 1960s
(4) 1970s
(5) 1950s
(6) 1980s
(7) 1940s

I don't (and won't) get cable, so I can't argue the premise that premium channels have elevated the quality of TV in the 2000's. Perhaps they have. But I do know that network television is at an all-time nadir in the current decade, even exceeding the corniest low-brow stuff of the 1970's and 1980's. Eight million clones of Survivor and American Idol (each mindless drivel in their own right) have seen to that.

I think the 1990's were far and away the best decade for sit-coms, in any case (with only a slight nod to the 1970's). And the 1960's produced the most entertaining escapist/genre shows by far.

I can't think of any decade that was really strong on serious drama, unless you want to count the 1950's live drama anthology shows, or PBS and its British imports over the decades as the best of TV drama (both arguably true). So it may be that the 2000's can claim that category as its own, after all.

I guess you also don't (and won't) watch TV shows on DVD, huh?

It is unfair to include cable networks. Cable wasn't around in the the 50's, 60's and most of the 70's. So it is an apples and oranges comparison. The unique nature of cable programming skews the results.


I think that is more of a function of how you view things today than of the writing. We're all jaded. If we don't look at those old shows through more innocent eyes, the dialog of shows 40 years ago seem simplistic and naive.
I'm thankful that I can do that... others just think that I'm going senile.

The 90s

Farscape
ST: DS9
Babylon 5
Batman: The Animated Series
X-Files
Stargate SG-1
Buffy
Millennium

That's a huge point. Most people's answers appear to be in the context they SAW them.

The question should be ...

If you were given a free network to watch and you could pick the shows, but they all must be from one decade. What decade would you want?

2000 without a doubt.

1970's was the best for me ... at that time. But now, it would be torture and not entertainment.

I personally think it would be unfair NOT to include cable networks. Artificially excluding them when they are a viable option in television viewing would be skewing the results.

I wouldn't say that, Watch shows like Sanford & Son, early seasons of the Jefferson's & Maude which still hold up extremly well today.

I vote for the 80s.

How can anyone vote for the 2000s with all the reality shows, some good some bad?
Survivor
Amazing Race
American Idol
The Bachelor
Last Comic Standing
Flavor of Love
I Love NY
The Swan
My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance
Fear Factor
Temptation Island
Britney & Kevin: Chaotic

and the list goes on...

Because I don't watch any of that shit. There are more great TV shows on today than there were in the 80s, so why should I care how many bad shows are on today? It's real easy to not watch shit. How many shows from the 80s were as good as stuff like The Wire? Answer: None.

Yep. The 80's appears to be home to guilty pleasures. There are a TON of shows that were hits back in the day, but 99% of them don't hold up at all. Cheers is the only show that comes to mind that fits in that 1%.

I don't know. I find a lot of the shows I loved in the 80s are almost unwatchable as anything but nostalgia these days. I would say 2000s just because the gap between movie and tv quality is so slim, with tv actually winning in many regards. But I can't think of a tv show from the 80s that would hold a candle to any of my favorite 80s movies.

I would agree with that assessment, since I'm voting for the 1960's.

Having said that, I do think that the 60's had better quality than the preceding decades & more variety than the succeeding decades. One could choose between drama, comedy, western, science-fiction, horror/thriller, adventure, variety shows, soaps, spy shows, war dramas, talk shows, cop, legal...you name the genre, and you could probably find several fine examples.

Most of the 60's writers came out of literary traditions (stage, screen, fiction, etc.) and seemed to have a better sense of plot structure than many contemporary writers. Keep in mind that the writers were constrained by a strict censorship code that precluded them from examining many "taboo" topics or going into graphic detail. That meant they had to be more imaginative in order to achieve a serious impact upon the audience or to shock the audience. Many of the writers (as well as directors & actors) had considerable experience with motion pictures or would become future stars (Sam Peckinpah, Clint Eastwood, etc.) and you have to remember that a continued storyline back then was a major (and rare) event. The writers had to introduce the conflict, go through the rising action to the climax, and then come to some resolution...often within 30 minutes for dramas!

Another thing to keep in mind is that decades that predated cable were confined to only 3 major networks (even PBS didn't start to make an impact until the 70's). When you look at so many of the excellent shows since 1990 (Buffy, Deadwood, The Shield, Sopranos, Angel, X-Files, Prime Suspect, and many, many others) and realize that those shows were on cable tv or "alternative" networks (Fox, WB, BBCAmerica), then the 60's seem even more impressive.

Every decade has had a few gems and many losers, but the 60's still seems to have standouts in almost every genre that has stood the test of time and remain fresh & entertaining today: Andy Griffith, The Defenders, The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, Rawhide, I Spy, The Prisoner, Combat...way too many to list.

Setting aside nostalgic biases and not taking into account the vast number of cable outlets today (in addition to the many BBC, Showtime & HBO series, even Sundance & IFC offer original series), we seem to be enjoying a wealth of great television right now. Still wish the westerns would make a comeback, though.

We're in it IMO.