The 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME

A - F

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Article Tools
Print
Sphere
RSS

Who says there are no second chances in Hollywood? Joss Whedon saw his script for the 1992 movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer made into a one-joke travesty of a teen comedy. Five years later, like a mystic being resurrected within a pentagram, it came back to life as a magical dramedy, a ripping thriller and the smartest work of girls-kick-ass feminism ever crafted by a pudgy guy who's into comic books. Sarah Michelle Gellar nimbly handled the show's undead allegories for coming-of-age conflicts (her stunt double nimbly handled the rest). And the show unspooled a rich mythology, realistic family and relationship stories and the best Sondheimian musical episode ever written for hour long television. The demons and ghouls were comically rubber-faced, but Buffy's spirit was achingly real.

View the full list for "The 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME"
Next: The Carol Burnett Show >>

Video

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

Blogs

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

100 Best Movies

Presenting the 100 best films as chosen by TIME's movie critics Richard Corliss and Richard Schickel

All-TIME 100 Albums

A list of the greatest and most influential records ever by Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light

100 Best Novels

TIME critics Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo pick the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present

Most Popular »

Full List »
  1. The State of Hillary: A Mixed Record on the Job
  2. Priests Spar Over What it Means to Be Catholic
  3. Are You Getting Scammed by Facebook Games?
  4. The Ft. Hood Hero: Who is Kimberly Munley?
  5. Troubles for a Deal — and for Obama — in Honduras
  6. The Meaning of Manny Pacquiao
  7. Hasan's Therapy: Could "Secondary Trauma" Have Driven Him to Shooting?
  8. Indie Film Shakeout: There Will Be Blood
  9. Hunting for Tuna: The Environmental Peril Grows
  10. A Christmas Carol Wins — And Loses — the Weekend
  1. Priests Spar Over What it Means to Be Catholic
  2. Are You Getting Scammed by Facebook Games?
  3. The State of Hillary: A Mixed Record on the Job
  4. To Help The Kids, Parents Go Back to School
  5. Let's Bail Out the Pot Dealers!
  6. Indie Film Shakeout: There Will Be Blood
  7. Hunting for Tuna: The Environmental Peril Grows
  8. Why We Look at Some Web Ads and Not Others
  9. Is the Dollar Dying a Slow Death?
  10. The Meaning of Manny Pacquiao