The 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME

A - F

The Beavis and Butt-Head Show

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To those who would call this MTV cartoon the boob tube at its most puerile, I have but one rejoinder: You said "boob." This show's fart-knocking, frog-smashing anarchy might have put it on the list alone, but B&B was so much more. It was a surreal comedy ("I am the great Cornholio!"). It was one of TV's great inside critiques, peeling back the MTV fantasy of unattainable cool and personifying the sugar-buzzed idiot-children who paid the channel's bills. Like creator Mike Judge's later King of the Hill, Office Space and Idiocracy, it was an unsparing, minutely observed and surprisingly good-hearted picture of consumer America. And to the list of great philosophical dialectics—good/evil, yin/yang—it added another: "That's cool" / "That sucks." B&B was on the right side of that one.

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How I Chose The List

Adding to this list would be easy; taking shows off is the tricky part. How did I settle on this list? I set a few guidelines...

Talk Back

What is your all-time favorite TV show?

Which films should have been included and weren't? Did we leave off any of your favorites? Were any shows on the list more influential than others? Tell us what you think

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Tuned In

TIME's TV critic James Poniewozik blogs daily on all visual media. Join the discussion here

A - F

From Abbott and Costello to Friends

G - M

From General Hospital to Mystery Science Theater 3000

N - S

From The Odd Couple to Survivor

T - Z

From Taxi to Your Show of Shows

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