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

South Park

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Trey Parker and Matt Stone's Comedy Central cartoon has been America's best source of rapid-fire satire for a decade now, blasting hypocrites left and right and giving the final (and usually, the dirtiest) word on Elian Gonzalez, Terry Schiavo and numerous celebrity flip-outs. But the show's authentic, filthy heart is the four foul-mouthed, truth-telling Colorado boys at its center. Eric Cartman, especially, is a creation for the ages—America's wants and appetites rolled up into one pudgy package. The show's best episodes are not the current-events riffs but the stories about the boys, like "Scott Tenorman Must Die," in which Cartman concocts a Grand Guignol revenge against a tormentor involving cannibalism and a trained pony. Parker and Stone put the "id" in kid, and for that, we respect their authoritah.