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

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The most watched TV drama ever, Roots reached the height of TV's ability to spur social discussion by surveying the depths of America's original sin. The show, viewed by over 100 million Americans, provided a surrogate family story for millions of African Americans whose histories were lost in the culture-obliterating diaspora, and confronted whites with the brutalities of slavery. How authentic Roots' history was remains open to question: scholars have cast doubt on Alex Haley's novel (which he said was based on genealogical research into his own family); the miniseries itself tended toward melodrama. But it started an important conversation about race in America and spurred popular interest in long-neglected African American history. Whether Roots offered the right answers or not, its power came from getting America to ask the right questions.

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