FTA-TV The BigFooty Top 100 TV Shows Countdown (Top 10 Counting Down)

[benji2]

Here they are at last, 60-51. Thanks to Kyptastic for all his assistance.

60. Flight of the Conchords (2007 – 2009)

Created by: James Bobin, Jemaine Clement, Bret McKenzie
Starring: Jemaine Clement, Bret McKenzie, Rhys Darby
Channel: HBO
IMDB Rating: 8.2
Bigfooty
Votes: 79
Highest Position: 1st
Appeared on: 9 Lists
Bret and Jemaine are Flight of the Conchords, a folk-rock band from New Zealand living in New York City in search of stardom.

59. Mr Bean (1990 - 1995)

Created by: Rowan Atkinson, Richard Curtis
Starring: Rowan Atkinson, Teddy, Matilda Ziegler
Channel: BBC
IMDB Rating: 8.5
Bigfooty
Votes: 82
Highest Position: 3rd
Appeared on: 8 Lists
Life is a difficult challenge for Mr Bean, who despite being a grown adult, has trouble completing even the simplest of tasks. Thankfully, his perseverance is usually rewarded, and he finds an ingenious way around the problem.
58. Rome (2005 - 2007)

Created by: Bruno Heller, William J. MacDonald, John Milius
Starring: Kevin McKidd, Ray Stevenson, Polly Walker|
Channel: BBC/HBO
IMDB Rating: 8.9
Bigfooty
Votes: 82
Highest Position: 7th
Appeared on: 9 Lists
A down-to-earth account of the lives of both illustrious and ordinary Romans set in the last days of the Roman Republic.

57. Louie (2010 - 2013)

Created by: Louis C.K.
Starring: Louis C.K., Hadley Delany, Ursula Parker
Channel: FX
IMDB Rating: 8.6
Bigfooty
Votes: 82
Highest Position: 6th
Appeared on: 9 Lists
Sitcom in which we follow Louie's everyday ordeals, quest to find love and pursuit of humor.

56. How I Met Your Mother (2005 - 2013)

Created by: Carter Bays, Craig Thomas
Starring: John Radnor, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders, Alyson Hannigan, Neil Patrick Harris
Channel: CBS
IMDB Rating: 8.5
Bigfooty
Votes: 87
Highest Position: 3rd
Appeared on: 9 Lists
Ted searches for the woman of his dreams in New York City with the help of his four best friends.

55. The IT Crowd (2006 - 2010)

Created by: Graham Linehan
Starring: Richard Ayoade, Chris O’Dowd, Katherine Parkinson
Channel: BBC
IMDB Rating: 8.5
Bigfooty
Votes: 87
Highest Position: 6th
Appeared on: 10 Lists
Deep in the sub basement of the ambiguous company of Reynholm Industries, are not one, but two socially awkward IT guys. Moss, an electronics wizard and overly naive man and Roy, a lazy disgruntled co-worker have to provide support for Reynholm Industries with their inept boss, Jen, that doesn't know the difference between hardware and software. The show revolves around Moss and Roy's antics both at work and out socially, which always ends badly.
54. Get Smart (1965 - 1970)

Created by: Mel Brooks, Buck Henry
Starring: Don Adams, Barbara Feldon, Ed Platt
Channel: CBS
IMDB Rating: 8.2
Bigfooty
Votes: 89
Highest Position: 1st
Appeared on: 8 Lists
Bumbling Maxwell Smart, Agent 86 for CONTROL, with a great deal of help from his competent partner Agent 99, battles the forces of KAOS.

53. Black Books (2000 - 2004)

Created by: Graham Linehan, Dylan Moran
Starring: Dylan Moran, Bill Bailey, Tamsin Greig
Channel: BBC
IMDB Rating: 8.6
Bigfooty
Votes: 91
Highest Position: 1st
Appeared on: 9 Lists
Meet Bernard Black. Bernard is an anti-social, heavy drinking chain-smoker who owns a small London bookshop - an unusual vocation, given that he detests customers and delights in physically and verbally abusing them at every opportunity. His best (and only) friend in the world is his lunch time drinking partner Fran, a neurotic and boyfriend-desperate woman who owns the pretentious arts and crafts shop next to his. Bernard is cynical, abrasive and lazy, and is perfectly happy that way - but his life takes an unexpected turn when he sells 'The Little Book of Calm' to hyper-stressed accountant Manny Bianco, who against all odds ends up swallowing it. When the dust is settled, Manny will have a new job, Fran will have a new friend, and Bernard's life will be far more surreal (if that's possible).

52. Extras (2005 - 2007)

Created by: Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant
Starring: Ricky Gervais, Ashley Jensen, Stephen Merchant
Channel: BBC
IMDB Rating: 8.5
Bigfooty
Votes: 91
Highest Position: 6th
Appeared on: 10 Lists
Andy Millman is an actor with ambition and a script. Reduced to working as an extra with a useless agent, Andy's attempts to boost his career invariably end in failure and embarrassment.

51. Battlestar Galactica (2004 - 2009)

Created by: Ronald D. Moore, David Eick, Glen A. Larson
Starring: Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Jamie Bamber
Channel: NBC/Sci-Fi Channel
IMDB Rating: 8.7
Bigfooty
Votes: 95
Highest Position: 1st
Appeared on: 7 Lists
When an old enemy, the Cylons, resurface and obliterate the 12 colonies, the crew of the aged Galactica protects a small civilian fleet - the last of humanity - as they journey toward the fabled 13th colony of Earth.

 

[screech]

The British always know how to do comedy

 

[JP Sauce]

That's a very strong 10.

 

[flight23]

Battlestar not in the top 50

 

[worbod]

Technically, this has been the bottom 50. I wouldn't fret about Battlestar just yet. Let the force be with you.

 

[Gasometer]

Get Smart.

Missed....by that much....

 

[PP34]

It's back!

 

[benji2]

Get Smart.

Missed....by that much....

Would you believe ... it appeared on 4 lists, has a IMDB average of 7.7 and it's highest position was 5th?

.... it appeared on one list at No.20 and has an IMDB average of 0.3?

50-41 will be up this evening.

 

[benji2]

Halfway there, now we enter the premiership quarter. Here are 50-41...

50. The Goodies (1970 - 1981)

Created by: Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie
Starring: Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie
Channel: BBC, LWT
IMDB Rating: 7.6
Bigfooty
Votes: 97
Highest Position: 4th
Appeared on: 7 Lists
Long running British situation comedy with the vaguest of situations. The Goodies are a three man agency whose brief is to do 'anything, anytime'. This gave the series carte blanche to do whatsoever it pleased, with a cartoon-like surrealism and a heavy reliance on slapstick. Ran for ten years on BBC TV before returning for one final series to the commercial channel London Weekend Television.


49. Survivor (2000 - 2013)

Starring: Jeff Probst, Rob Mariano, Jerri Manthey
Channel: CBS
IMDB Rating: 6.5
Bigfooty
Votes: 98
Highest Position: 2nd
Appeared on: 10 Lists
A reality show where a group of contestants are stranded in a remote location with little more than the clothes on their back. The lone survivor of this contest takes home a million dollars.

48. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997 - 2003)

Created by: Joss Whedon
Starring: Sarah-Michelle Gellar, Alyson Hannigan, Anthony Stuart Head, Nicholas Brendon
Channel: Fox
IMDB Rating: 8.1
Bigfooty
Votes: 101
Highest Position: 1st
Appeared on: 7 Lists
After the traumatizing ordeal in the movie with the same name, Buffy Summers and her mother move to Sunnydale, only to discover that L.A. was just a walk in the park...

47. Frontline (1994 - 1997)

Created by: Rob Sitch, Tom Gleisner, Santo Cilauro, Jane Kennedy
Starring: Rob Sitch, Jane Kennedy, Tiriel Mora
Channel: ABC
IMDB Rating: 7.6
Bigfooty
Votes: 105
Highest Position: 4th
Appeared on: 10 Lists
Based on the making of a fictitious Australian CURRENT AFFAIRS show, Frontline blends invented events with REAL LIFE events. A true reflection of THE TIMES we live in.

46. Firefly (2002 - 2003)

Created by: Joss Whedon
Starring: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin
Channel: Fox
IMDB Rating: 9.2
Bigfooty
Votes: 106
Highest Position: 2nd
Appeared on: 11 Lists
Five hundred years in the future, a renegade crew aboard a small spacecraft tries to survive as they travel the unknown parts of the galaxy and evade warring factions as well as authority agents out to get them.

45. Twin Peaks (1990 - 1991)

Created by: David Lynch, Mark Frost
Starring: Kyle McLachlan, Michael Ontkean, Madchen Amick
IMDB Rating: 9.0
Bigfooty
Votes: 106
Highest Position: 1st
Appeared on: 11 Lists
An idiosyncratic FBI Agent investigates the murder of a young woman in the even more idiosyncratic town of Twin Peaks.

44. Monty Python’s Flying Circus (1969 - 1974)

Created by: John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam
Starring: John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam
Channel: BBC
IMDB Rating: 9.0
Bigfooty
Votes: 110
Highest Position: 1st
Appeared on: 8 Lists
The original surreal sketch comedy showcase for the Monty Python troupe.

43. Blackadder (1983 - 1989)

Created by: Steven Curtis, Rowan Atkinson, Ben Elton
Starring: Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Hugh Laurie, Tim McInerny, Stephen Fry
Channel: BBC
IMDB Rating: 8.7
Bigfooty
Votes: 111
Highest Position: 3rd
Appeared on: 11 Lists
In the Middle Ages, Prince Edmund the Black Adder constantly schemes and endeavours to seize the crown from his father and brother/In the Tudor court of Elizabeth I, Lord Edmund Blackadder strives to win Her Majesty's favour while attempting to avoid a grisly fate should he offend her/In the 19th century Regency era, Mr E. Blackadder serves as butler to the foppish numbskull Prince George amidst the fads and crazes of the time/Stuck in the middle of World War I, Captain Edmund Blackadder does his best to escape the banality of the war.

42. Friday Night Lights (2006 - 2011)

Created by: Peter Berg
Starring: Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, Aimee Teegarden
Channel: NBC
IMDB Rating: 8.4
Bigfooty
Votes: 113
Highest Position: 2nd
Appeared on: 10 Lists
The trials and tribulations of small town Texas football players, their friends, family, and coaching staff.

41. The Chaser’s War On Everything (2006 - 2009)

Starring: Julian Morrow, Chris Taylor, Chas Licciardello, Craig Reucassel, Andrew Hansen
Channel: ABC
IMDB Rating: 7.9
Bigfooty
Votes: 116
Highest Position: 3rd
Appeared on: 11 Lists
George W. Bush waged a war on terror, but only The Chaser has had the vision and courage to wage a War On Everything.

 

[flight23]

man i've watched a lot of TV

quality quality shows in the last 20 and so much more to come

 

[benji2]

Have just spotted that I got the tiebreaks wrong for some of 51-60 - fixed now. Some ranks have changed slightly. Hopefully no bets have come unstuck as a result.

 

[alfy!]

Survivor and Friday Night Lights so low

Every sport or drama fan needs to watch FNL, quick stat.

 

[screech]

Wow that set had 3 of my top 4
2 - Survivor
3 - The Chaser's War On Everything
4 - Frontline

... and it looks like I had each the highest

all should be in the top 10

 

[PP34]

I've heard that Twin Peaks is very good, possibly too low in this list.

It's relatively unknown though, I think.

 

[Vincent Chase]

Survivor and Friday Night Lights so low

Every sport or drama fan needs to watch FNL, quick stat.

Agreed.

At least they finished ahead of 'How i met your Mother'.

 

[grizzlym]

Battlestar not in the top 50

Astonishing.

 

[Caesar]

I've heard that Twin Peaks is very good, possibly too low in this list.

It's relatively unknown though, I think.

Depends how old you are.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

I've heard that Twin Peaks is very good, possibly too low in this list.

It's relatively unknown though, I think.

Fairly unknown among most on this forum I expect, more widely known (if not remembered) among the over 35s.
I still remember the bumper stickers when it first reached Aus TV, at about the same time as the Simpsons. The big spolier (before the word was invented) BART SIMPSON KILLED LAURA PALMER

It had huge pre-broadcast publicity, and the first season was watched by a lot of people. Way more than would be expected for a show which was fairly strange and outlandish for its time. Once the murder was solved, I think viewing dropped off. (p.s. It turned out the stickers were wrong, and it wasn't Bart. Nor did Maggie shoot her.)
I must admit thinking about it, I'm a little surprised it hasn't turned up as a repeat on Eleven or Go! at some point.

Back to the countdown, glad The Goodies made the top 50. Awesome show for its time, and perhaps more than Flying Circus the true fore-runner to things like The Young Ones, in that it was a sit-com with an oddly disjointed story line and a reliance on visual humour to supplement te story and character stuff. Dated poorly simply because of the effects on a BBC budget at the time and jokes tend to be repeated and expended on by somebody else later. It was still one of the most expensive programs the BBC made, largely due to those effects.
Twinkles climbing the post office tower is still one of Briatin's iconic television moments, despite the Goodies having never been repeated in the UK (it has been here numerous time). Also very educational, with an early gender education video pointing out all the rude bits; and explaining the real reason the dodo became extinct.

 

[benji2]

And now ... 40-31. What a pity Celebrity Splash missed the deadline

40. Red Dwarf (1988 – 1999, 2009, 2012)

Created by: Rob Grant, Doug Naylor
Starring: Craig Charles, Chris Barrie, Danny John-Jules, Robert Llewellyn
Channel: BBC
IMDB Rating: 8.4
Bigfooty
Votes: 119
Highest Position: 1st
Appeared on: 11 Lists
The adventures of the last human being alive and his friends, stranded three million years into deep space on the mining ship Red Dwarf.

39. Family Guy (1999 – 2002, 2005 - 2013)

Created by: Seth McFarlane
Starring: Seth McFarlane, Alex Borstein, Seth Green, Mila Kunis
Channel: Fox
IMDB Rating: 8.4
Bigfooty
Votes: 125
Highest Position: 4th
Appeared on: 13 Lists
In a wacky Rhode Island town, a dysfunctional family strive to cope with everyday life as they are thrown from one crazy scenario to another.

38. Frasier (1993 - 2004)

Created by: David Angell, Peter Casey, David Lee
Starring: Kelsey Grammer, David Hyde Pierce, Jane Leeves
Channel: NBC
IMDB Rating: 7.9
Bigfooty
Votes: 126
Highest Position: 2nd
Appeared on: 11 Lists
Dr. Frasier Crane moves back to his hometown of Seattle where he lives with his father and works as a radio psychiatrist.

37. The Inbetweeners (UK) (2008 - 2010)

Starring: Simon Bird, James Buckley, Blake Harrison
Channel: Channel 4
IMDB Rating: 8.4
Bigfooty
Votes: 132
Highest Position: 2nd
Appeared on: 12 Lists
The exploits of four friends, who are socially only marginally above what one of them calls "the freaks", are presented as they grow from their late teen years into adults and as they go on their quest, usually unsuccessfully, for such grown up things as beer and sex.

36. Oz (1997 - 2003)

Created by: Tom Fontana
Starring: Ernie Hudson, J.K. Simmons, Lee Tergesen
Channel: HBO
IMDB Rating: 8.9
Bigfooty
Votes: 132
Highest Position: 4th
Appeared on: 14 Lists
A series chronicling the daily activities of an unusual prison facility and its criminal inhabitants.

35. Chappelle’s Show (2003 – 2006)

Created by: Neal Brennan, Dave Chappelle
Starring: Dave Chappelle, Donnell Rawlings, Karl Lake
Channel: Comedy Central
IMDB Rating: 8.6
Bigfooty
Votes: 136
Highest Position: 3rd
Appeared on: 13 Lists
Comedian Dave Chappelle hosts this sketch-comedy show that parodies many of the nuances of race and culture.

34. Homeland (2011 - 2013)

Starring: Damian Lewis, Claire Danes, Mandy Patinkin
Channel: Showtime
IMDB Rating: 8.6
Bigfooty
Votes: 142
Highest Position: 5th
Appeared on: 19 Lists
Marine Sergeant Nicholas Brody returns home eight years after going missing in Iraq. Carrie Mathison, a driven CIA officer, suspects he might be plotting an attack on America.

33. Doctor Who (1963 – 1989, 2005 - 2013)

Starring: Matt Smith, David Tennant, Christopher Eccleston, David McCann, Sylvester McCoy, Colin Baker, Peter Davison, Tom Baker, Jon Pertwee, Patrick Troughton, William Hartnell
Channel: BBC
IMDB Rating: 8.4
Bigfooty
Votes: 144
Highest Position: 1st
Appeared on: 11 Lists
The adventures of an eccentric renegade time travelling alien and his companions.

32. Band of Brothers (2001)

Starring: Scott Grimes, Damian Lewis, Ron Livingston
Channel: HBO
IMDB Rating: 9.6
Bigfooty
Votes: 148
Highest Position: 2nd
Appeared on: 11 Lists
The story of Easy Company of the US Army 101st Airborne division and their mission in WWII Europe from Operation Overlord through V-J Day.

31. M*A*S*H (1972 - 1983)

Starring: Alan Alda, Loretta Swit, Jamie Farr
Channel: Fox
IMDB Rating: 8.3
Bigfooty
Votes: 158
Highest Position: 1st
Appeared on: 12 Lists
The staff of an army hospital in the Korean War finds that laughter is the best way to deal with their situation.

 

[PP34]

Frasier too low.

 

[Sterge]

31-40 quality 10

some top notch comedy shows and arguably the greatest mini series ever

 

[DIG]

31-40 quality 10

some top notch comedy shows and arguably the greatest mini series ever

Yeah this countdown's been bloody good.

Band of Brothers is a masterpiece.

 

[benji2]

Yeah this countdown's been bloody good.

Band of Brothers is a masterpiece.

I never saw it on its first airing, but the IMDb ratings can't all be wrong - an average of 9.6 - easily the highest in the countdown so far.

Think I'll do myself a favour and see it now.

 

[Sterge]

I never saw it on its first airing, but the IMDb ratings can't all be wrong - an average of 9.6 - easily the highest in the countdown so far.

Think I'll do myself a favour and see it now.

Has held up really well over time as well, people that have'nt seen it are missing out

 

[Buddy23#]

Forgot about The Goodies great show, every young child should be made to watch that show. Don't get the love for How I Met Your Mother.