The 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME

"First, I apologize. I know I left some of your favorite shows off this list. How do I know that? Because I left some of my favorite shows off this list. The happy and unfortunate fact is that there are far more than 100 great shows, and more created every year. Lists are incredibly important: they are how we define what matters to us, what we want entertainment and art to do, what we expect of our culture."
—TIME TV critic James Poniewozik

Freaks and Geeks

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Adolescence never hurt so good as it did in this comedy-drama about outcasts in a Michigan high school circa 1980. Created by Paul Feig and produced by Judd Apatow, it had the hallmarks of Apatow's later movies: uncomfortable yet sweet relationship humor and a refusal to typecast (the nerds, for instance, are not especially brainy). F&G was also a rare realistic depiction of small-town life, with its class divisions and dawning realizations that some kids' escape fantasies are more likely to come true than others. All that, plus an outstanding soundtrack (Styx, Rush, Neil Young) and Dungeons & Dragons too; this ur-text of outcast comedy rolled its duodecahedron die and hit 20 every time.