The 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME

G - M

The Honeymooners

Article Tools
Print
Sphere
RSS

The story of bus driver Ralph Kramden and wife Alice was an unfancy celebration of unfancy people. The episodes—most of them sketches within The Jackie Gleason Show—were limited to sparse sets, usually the Kramdens' bare bones Brooklyn walkup. But the dynamics between rubber-faced Gleason, Audrey Meadows and swivel-hipped jack-in-the-box Art Carney as sewer guy Ed Norton made the setting seem expansive. OK, so it was TV's most famous example of spouse-abuse-threats-as-comedy. But knowing that there was no way Alice was ever actually going to go to the moon only added to Ralph's blobby comic ineffectuality.

Next: I, Claudius >>

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

Top Stories on Time.com