100 Favorite Shows: By the Numbers

Image from WBUR

“We have to go back.”

Per the suggestions of some readers and friends, I thought it would be fun to crunch the numbers a bit and see what kind of patterns arise from the list. I’m not going so in depth as to determine Mike Trout’s WAR or anything like that, but a simple tally should suffice for interesting categories and the like.

First up, here’s the order in which I took notes on and wrote essays for these one hundred shows. (For example, I took notes on Parks and Recreation first, but didn’t finish the essay until eleven other shows had been tapped.) Then, I divided them into chunks of ten for the sake of this statistical analysis:

1. Big Little Lies, Deadwood, Silicon Valley, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, True Detective, 30 Rock, Run, Gilmore Girls, Band of Brothers, The Wire
2. Succession, Parks and Recreation, The Sopranos, The Leftovers, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The Haunting of Hill House, Arrested Development, Mad Men, Glee, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp
3. Love, Cheers, Dickinson, Party Down, The Larry Sanders Show, Stranger Things, Drake & Josh, High Fidelity, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Veep
4. Mindhunter, Animals., The Twilight Zone, Scrubs, Psych, How I Met Your Mother, The Office (U.K.), Fosse/Verdon, Breaking Bad, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
5. Fargo, The Mandalorian, Laverne & Shirley, Atlanta, Black Mirror, The West Wing, Santa Clarita Diet, The Golden Girls, The Simpsons, What We Do in the Shadows
6. American Vandal, Friends, Rugrats, Fleabag, Lost, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Chuck, Insecure, DuckTales (1987 & 2017), Curb Your Enthusiasm
7. American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson, Catastrophe, Game of Thrones, GLOW, Never Have I Ever, Wilfred (U.S.), The Spoils of Babylon, M*A*S*H, SpongeBob SquarePants, Mrs. America
8. You’re the Worst, Love Life, Happy Days, The Mindy Project, The Office (U.S.), The Mary Tyler Moore Show, 11.22.63, Girls, Bob’s Burgers, Better Call Saul
9. Master of None, Man Seeking Woman, House of Cards, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Seinfeld, Freaks and Geeks, The Good Place, Barry, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, BoJack Horseman
10. Happy Endings, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Americans, Galavant, Community, I Love Lucy, Normal People, Flight of the Conchords, Full House, New Girl

Using the first show in each grouping as the representative for them, here is the ranking of these ten chunks. They have been ranked by the average placement on the list between them. (For example, Community was #3 on the list, so its contribution to the calculations was a three.) The lowest score is the most impressive because that means the particular chunk of ten was a solid streak of the best of the best for me!

1. The Succession group (average placement of 35.1)
2. The You’re the Worst group (average placement of 49.1)
3. The Master of None group (average placement of 49.7)
4. The American Vandal group (average placement of 49.8)
5. The American Crime Story group (average placement of 50.6)
6. The Fargo group (average placement of 51.2)
7. The Mindhunter group (average placement of 51.8)
8. The Happy Endings group (average placement of 52.2)
9. The Love group (average placement of 56.9)
10. The Big Little Lies group (average placement of 58.6)

So, yes. Turns out watching episodes of Succession, Parks, Sopranos, Leftovers, CEG, Hill House, AD, Mad Men, Glee, and Wet Hot is going to be a ripper of a time.

One friend also suggested showing what the list would have looked like if I tried to evaluate the shows through the lens of “best.” I know IMDb is not the most demographic-friendly website, but it is the most numerous at the moment. I organized the list according to highest IMDb rankings and then affixed my ranking to see how they stack up to each other. (Clearly, my tastes vary from the traditional “canon.” I dig it, though. Who wants to read the same top ten over and over again?) Shows with a star were also included in Alan Sepinwall’s and Matt Zoller Seitz’s TV: The Book.

1. Breaking Bad (9.5 on IMDb) [#42 on this list]*
2. Band of Brothers (9.4 on IMDb) [#70 on this list]
3. Game of Thrones (9.3 on IMDb) [#2 on this list]
4. The Wire (9.3 on IMDb) [#55 on this list]*
5. The Sopranos (9.2 on IMDb) [#28 on this list]*
6. Avatar: The Last Airbender (9.2 on IMDb) [#62 on this list]
7. The Twilight Zone (9.0 on IMDb) [#40 on this list]*
8. Friends (8.9 on IMDb) [#30 on this list]*
9. The Office (U.S.) (8.9 on IMDb) [#1 on this list]*
10. Fargo (8.9 on IMDb) [#10 on this list]
11. True Detective (8.9 on IMDb) [#75 on this list]
12. The Mandalorian (8.8 on IMDb) [#67 on this list]
13. Seinfeld (8.8 on IMDb) [#13 on this list]*
14. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (8.8 on IMDb) [#27 on this list]
15. Black Mirror (8.8 on IMDb) [#58 on this list]
16. Freaks and Geeks (8.8 on IMDb) [#52 on this list]*
17. The West Wing (8.8 on IMDb) [#72 on this list]*
18. Stranger Things (8.7 on IMDb) [#51 on this list]
19. Arrested Development (8.7 on IMDb) [#11 on this list]*
20. Better Call Saul (8.7 on IMDb) [#21 on this list]
21. BoJack Horseman (8.7 on IMDb) [#14 on this list]
22. House of Cards (8.7 on IMDb) [#98 on this list]
23. Fleabag (8.7 on IMDb) [#45 on this list]
24. Curb Your Enthusiasm (8.7 on IMDb) [#33 on this list]*
25. The Simpsons (8.6 on IMDb) [#12 on this list]*
26. Parks and Recreation (8.6 on IMDb) [#6 on this list]*
27. Mad Men (8.6 on IMDb) [#5 on this list]*
28. Mindhunter (8.6 on IMDb) [#66 on this list]
29. Deadwood (8.6 on IMDb) [#63 on this list]*
30. The Haunting of Hill House (8.6 on IMDb) [#19 on this list]
31. Succession (8.6 on IMDb) [#47 on this list]
32. Atlanta (8.6 on IMDb) [#23 on this list]
33. Community (8.5 on IMDb) [#3 on this list]*
34. Big Little Lies (8.5 on IMDb) [#92 on this list]
35. Silicon Valley (8.5 on IMDb) [#64 on this list]
36. The Office (U.K.) (8.5 on IMDb) [#56 on this list]
37. What We Do in the Shadows (8.5 on IMDb) [#49 on this list]
38. Normal People (8.5 on IMDb) [#86 on this list]
39. Flight of the Conchords (8.5 on IMDb) [#95 on this list]
40. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (8.4 on IMDb) [#26 on this list]
41. American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson (8.4 on IMDb) [#44 on this list]
42. The Americans (8.4 on IMDb) [#22 on this list]
43. M*A*S*H (8.4 on IMDb) [#37 on this list]*
44. The Larry Sanders Show (8.4 on IMDb) [#57 on this list]*
45. I Love Lucy (8.4 on IMDb) [#8 on this list]*
46. How I Met Your Mother (8.3 on IMDb) [#34 on this list]*
47. Lost (8.3 on IMDb) [#25 on this list]*
48. Scrubs (8.3 on IMDb) [#7 on this list]*
49. Psych (8.3 on IMDb) [#41 on this list]
50. The Leftovers (8.3 on IMDb) [#31 on this list]
51. Master of None (8.3 on IMDb) [#18 on this list]
52. Veep (8.3 on IMDb) [#17 on this list]
53. Barry (8.3 on IMDb) [#54 on this list]
54. The Dick Van Dyke Show (8.3 on IMDb) [#38 on this list]*
55. Chuck (8.2 on IMDb) [#48 on this list]
56. The Good Place (8.2 on IMDb) [#4 on this list]
57. 30 Rock (8.2 on IMDb) [#24 on this list]*
58. SpongeBob SquarePants (8.2 on IMDb) [#9 on this list]*
59. 11.22.63 (8.2 on IMDb) [#68 on this list]
60. DuckTales (1987 & 2017) (8.2 on IMDb) [#59 on this list]
61. American Vandal (8.2 on IMDb) [#87 on this list]
62. Catastrophe (8.2 on IMDb) [#73 on this list]
63. Party Down (8.2 on IMDb) [#97 on this list]
64. Gilmore Girls (8.1 on IMDb) [#15 on this list]*
65. Bob’s Burgers (8.1 on IMDb) [#43 on this list]
66. You’re the Worst (8.1 on IMDb) [#61 on this list]
67. Galavant (8.1 on IMDb) [#74 on this list]
68. The Mary Tyler Moore Show (8.1 on IMDb) [#81 on this list]*
69. GLOW (8.0 on IMDb) [#85 on this list]
70. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (7.9 on IMDb) [#88 on this list]
71. The Golden Girls (7.9 on IMDb) [#50 on this list]*
72. Never Have I Ever (7.9 on IMDb) [#60 on this list]
73. Insecure (7.9 on IMDb) [#79 on this list]
74. Mrs. America (7.9 on IMDb) [#90 on this list]
75. Fosse/Verdon (7.9 on IMDb) [#76 on this list]
76. Cheers (7.8 on IMDb) [#32 on this list]*
77. Wilfred (U.S.) (7.8 on IMDb) [#16 on this list]
78. Santa Clarita Diet (7.8 on IMDb) [#78 on this list]
79. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (7.8 on IMDb) [#84 on this list]
80. Man Seeking Woman (7.8 on IMDb) [#99 on this list]
81. New Girl (7.7 on IMDb) [#29 on this list]
82. Drake & Josh (7.7 on IMDb) [#36 on this list]
83. Happy Endings (7.7 on IMDb) [#46 on this list]
84. Love (7.7 on IMDb) [#93 on this list]
85. High Fidelity (7.7 on IMDb) [#96 on this list]
86. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (7.6 on IMDb) [#71 on this list]
87. Love Life (7.5 on IMDb) [#82 on this list]
88. Rugrats (7.4 on IMDb) [#69 on this list]
89. Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp (7.4 on IMDb) [#39 on this list]
90. The Mindy Project (7.4 on IMDb) [#35 on this list]
91. Happy Days (7.4 on IMDb) [#80 on this list]
92. High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (7.4 on IMDb) [#53 on this list]
93. Girls (7.3 on IMDb) [#20 on this list]
94. Dickinson (7.3 on IMDb) [#65 on this list]
95. Animals. (7.3 on IMDb) [#89 on this list]
96. Laverne & Shirley (6.9 on IMDb) [#94 on this list]
97. The Spoils of Babylon (6.8 on IMDb) [#91 on this list]
98. Glee (6.7 on IMDb) [#83 on this list]
99. Full House (6.7 on IMDb) [#100 on this list]
100. Run (6.2 on IMDb) [#77 on this list]

See what I mean about demographics? The biggest discrepancies in either direction were that I had House of Cards seventy-six spots lower than the average IMDb user drawing from the same collection of shows and that I had Girls seventy-three spots higher. I did “get” Santa Clarita Diet, Seinfeld, and Fargo right on, though, at seventy-eighth, thirteenth, and tenth, respectively.

Here are creators and showrunners with more than one show on the list. (I do not include shows that some of these creators wrote or directed for without having a creation credit.)

Three Shows

Michael Schur (Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Good Place)

Two Shows

Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords, What We Do in the Shadows)

Greg Daniels (The Office (U.S.), Parks and Recreation)

Larry David (Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm)

Tina Fey (30 Rock, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt)

Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul)

Mindy Kaling (The Mindy Project, Never Have I Ever)

Damon Lindelof (Lost, The Leftovers)

Garry Marshall (Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley)

Here are the actors with more than one appearance as a series regular on the list. (Even if they were only regulars for one season, they count here.)

Three Shows

Alison Brie (Community, BoJack Horseman, GLOW)

Ted Danson (Cheers, Fargo, The Good Place)

Jane Krakowski (30 Rock, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Dickinson)

Bob Odenkirk (Breaking Bad, Fargo, Better Call Saul)

Martin Starr (Freaks and Geeks, Party Down, Silicon Valley)

Two Shows

Aziz Ansari, Will Arnett, Jonathan Banks, H. Jon Benjamin

Carrie Coon, Brian Cox, Giancarlo Esposito, James Franco, Martin Freeman

Janeane Garofalo, Donald Glover, Woody Harrelson, Glenn Howerton

Tony Hale, Dulé Hill, Michiel Huisman, Gillian Jacobs, Mindy Kaling

Ellie Kemper, Zoë Kravitz, Joe Lo Truglio, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Rob Lowe

Ken Marino, Michael McKean, Mary Tyler Moore, Elisabeth Moss

Timothy Olyphant, Timothy Omundson, Adam Pally, Pedro Pascal

Aaron Paul, Sarah Paulson, Amy Poehler, Danny Pudi, David Schwimmer

Adam Scott, Jason Segel, John Slattery, Jeffrey Tambor

Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Damon Wayans, Jr., Betty White, Henry Winkler

Here is where the recency bias probably comes into play. Looking at the numbers by the decades definitely shows I’m more of a twenty-first century television aficionado. But hey, Landgraf doesn’t call this peak TV for no reason.

6 shows began in the 2020s.

49 shows began in the 2010s.

24 shows began in the 2000s.

8 shows began in the 1990s.

6 shows began in the 1980s.

4 shows began in the 1970s.

1 show began in the 1960s.

2 shows began in the 1950s.

The genres were a bit trickier to parse. There can be a ton of overlap between a musical and a comedy, for example! But I did my best.

39 shows were comedies.

13 shows were romances.

10 shows were thrillers or crime stories.

8 shows were dramas.

7 shows were animated.

6 shows were musicals.

6 shows were sci-fi.

5 shows were fantasies.

3 shows were horror.

2 shows were war stories.

1 show was a western.

Here are the episodes I revisited to take notes on for each show:

Lastly, here are the numbers by the network/service that aired/owned these shows. NBC might not be the leader, but I think it’s worth nothing that half of the top ten was made up of NBC shows, including five of the top seven and three of the top four. That’s a good pedigree!

HBO: 19

• Game of Thrones, Veep, Girls, The Sopranos, The Leftovers, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Succession, Barry, The Wire, The Larry Sanders Show, Deadwood, Silicon Valley, Band of Brothers, True Detective, Run, Insecure, Animals., Big Little Lies, Flight of the Conchords

NBC: 14

• The Office (U.S.), Community, The Good Place, Parks and Recreation, Scrubs, Seinfeld, 30 Rock, Friends, Cheers, Chuck, The Golden Girls, Freaks and Geeks, The West Wing, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Netflix: 13

• BoJack Horseman, Master of None, The Haunting of Hill House, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, Stranger Things, Never Have I Ever, Mindhunter, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Santa Clarita Diet, GLOW, American Vandal, Love, House of Cards

FX: 10

• Fargo, Wilfred (U.S.), The Americans, Atlanta, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson, What We Do in the Shadows, You’re the Worst, Fosse/Verdon, Man Seeking Woman

Fox: 7

• Arrested Development, The Simpsons, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, New Girl, The Mindy Project, Bob’s Burgers, Glee

ABC: 6

• Lost, Happy Endings, Galavant, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Full House

CBS: 6

• I Love Lucy, How I Met Your Mother, M*A*S*H, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Twilight Zone, The Mary Tyler Moore Show

Hulu: 4

• 11.22.63, Normal People, Mrs. America, High Fidelity

Nickelodeon: 4

• SpongeBob SquarePants, Drake & Josh, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Rugrats

AMC: 3

• Mad Men, Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad

BBC: 2

• Fleabag, The Office (U.K.)

Channel 4: 2

• Black Mirror, Catastrophe

Disney Plooos: 2

• High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, The Mandalorian

Apple TV+: 1

• Dickinson

IFC: 1

• The Spoils of Babylon

Disney Channel: 1

• DuckTales (1987 & 2017)

The CW: 1

• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

HBO Max: 1

• Love Life

Starz: 1

• Party Down

USA: 1

• Psych

The WB: 1

• Gilmore Girls

If anyone has further ideas for stats, let me know and I’d be happy to do the math. Until then, stay tuned this week for two more wrap-up articles to close out The Television Project: 100 Favorite Shows! Woo!