The 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME

A - F

The Ernie Kovacs Show

CBS

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It's hard to imagine today that, half a century ago, TV was essentially the Internet: a wicked cool invention that experimentalists would toy with just to see what crazy stuff they could make it do. Ernie Kovacs was the most innovative of TV's early mad scientists, using his comedy hour to spoof such then-new creations like newscasts and ads and using visual effects like upside-down pictures and tilted sets to appear to defy gravity. Comedy is lying done amusingly, and Kovacs knew that TV—which purported to show all but hid everything beyond the outline of the box—was a divine medium for lies. Kovacs would have been a natural in the age of YouTube; instead he made TV into HimTube.

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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...

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