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

60 Minutes

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"You know I hate to miss 60 Minutes," Elaine says in the "Puerto Rican Day" episode of Seinfeld. "It's part of my Sunday weekend wind-down." For nearly 40 years, 60 Minutes has been simultaneously confrontational and as comforting as a mug of warm milk. The show has been much imitated (where would your local-news' Shame On You segment be without it?) and has had its embarrassments (the tobacco back-down chronicled in the movie The Insider, a good number of Andy Rooney segments). But it sticks to the ideal that a camera could be a crowbar to pry out truths. In a medium that depends on millions sitting and watching, it reminds us that TV can be most effective (or scary) when watching you.

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  1. The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting
  2. The '00s: Goodbye (at Last) to the Decade From Hell
  3. Is Gene Therapy Finally Ready for Prime Time?
  4. The Gospel of Glee: Is It Anti-Christian?
  5. How to Get Smarter, One Breath at a Time
  6. Workers of the World vs. China Inc.
  7. Obama's 'Mistakes': Way Too Early to Judge
  8. In Italy, A Sex Scandal to Rival Berlusconi's
  9. Dearborn's Muslims Fear a Fort Hood Backlash
  10. Satyam Computer Fraud Grows to $2.5 Billion
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