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I’ve been thinking about television lately.

Not just what I’m watching now, but how much television has changed during my lifetime.

And when I say changed, I mean really changed.

I grew up with three networks, rabbit ears, a television that weighed approximately 400 pounds, and the exciting possibility of getting up from the couch to change the channel.

Then came cable.

Then premium channels.

Then hundreds of channels.

Then DVRs.

Then streaming.

And now we have so much television available that choosing something to watch has become a full-time administrative position.

So I decided to take a look back at television from 1970 through today.

But rather than create another completely subjective list of “the greatest television shows ever,” I decided to make this one a little more scientific.

Or at least scientific enough that I can blame the rules when somebody gets angry.

The Rules

For a television show to make this list, it has to meet two simple requirements:

1. It must have run for at least five seasons.

2. It must have won at least one Primetime Emmy.

That’s it.

I don’t care whether critics loved it.

I don’t care whether viewers hated it.

I don’t care whether I personally watched every episode or couldn’t make it through ten minutes.

If it ran for five seasons and won at least one Primetime Emmy, it qualifies.

That means this isn’t a list of what I think are the best shows.

It’s a list created by rules.

And that’s important because otherwise we’re going to end up arguing about whether Seinfeld is better than Friends, whether The Sopranos was better than Breaking Bad, whether The Big Bang Theory deserves to be anywhere near a list like this, and whether anybody actually watched all 15 seasons of ER.

For the record, I have opinions about all of those things.

But the rules don’t care.

The Emmy totals come from the Television Academy’s awards database. Rotten Tomatoes is included as a second reference point because I thought it would be interesting to see how critical reception compares with Emmy recognition. Rotten Tomatoes’ television score is an average based on the seasons for which it has a Tomatometer, so the numbers can change over time.

So, with that out of the way, here is the list. DISCLAIMER – The list below was generated with ChatGPT

The Television List

Show	Years	Seasons	Emmy Wins	Rotten Tomatoes
The Mary Tyler Moore Show	1970–1977	7	29	95%
All in the Family	1971–1979	9	22	—
M_A_S*H	1972–1983	11	14	90%
Barney Miller	1975–1982	8	3	—
The Jeffersons	1975–1985	11	2	—
Saturday Night Live	1975–present	51+	94	—
Taxi	1978–1983	5	18	90%
Dallas	1978–1991	14	4	—
Cheers	1982–1993	11	28	87%
Family Ties	1982–1989	7	5	89%
Hill Street Blues	1981–1987	7	26	97%
The Cosby Show	1984–1992	8	6	69%
Night Court	1984–1992	9	8	—
The Golden Girls	1985–1992	7	11	95%
The Wonder Years	1988–1993	6	4	—
Roseanne	1988–1997	9	4	—
Murphy Brown	1988–1998	10	18	86%
The Simpsons	1989–present	37+	37	—
Seinfeld	1989–1998	9	10	89%
Law & Order	1990–2010, 2022–present	25+	6	77%
Northern Exposure	1990–1995	6	7	—
NYPD Blue	1993–2005	12	20	89%
Frasier	1993–2004, 2023–present	13+	38	95%*
ER	1994–2009	15	23	80%
Friends	1994–2004	10	6	78%
The X-Files	1993–2002, 2016–2018	11	16	81%
Everybody Loves Raymond	1996–2005	9	15	84%
The Daily Show	1996–present	30+	20+	94%
Sex and the City	1998–2004	6	7	71%
Will & Grace	1998–2006, 2017–2020	11	18	84%
The Sopranos	1999–2007	6	21	92%
The West Wing	1999–2006	7	26	75%
Curb Your Enthusiasm	2000–2024	12	2	92%
Six Feet Under	2001–2005	5	9	81%
24	2001–2010	8	20	82%
The Amazing Race	2001–present	38+	15	82%
Arrested Development	2003–2019	5	6	—
Lost	2004–2010	6	10	86%
House	2004–2012	8	5	81%
The Office	2005–2013	9	5	81%
Grey’s Anatomy	2005–present	22+	5	84%
Dexter	2006–2013	8	4	71%
30 Rock	2006–2013	7	16	78%
Mad Men	2007–2015	7	16	94%
The Big Bang Theory	2007–2019	12	10	81%
Breaking Bad	2008–2013	5	16	96%
Modern Family	2009–2020	11	22	85%
RuPaul’s Drag Race	2009–present	18+	29	—
Boardwalk Empire	2010–2014	5	20	92%
Downton Abbey	2010–2015	6	15	92%
Homeland	2011–2020	8	8	85%
Game of Thrones	2011–2019	8	59	89%
Veep	2012–2019	7	17	93%
The Americans	2013–2018	6	4	96%
Black-ish	2014–2022	8	1	92%
Schitt’s Creek	2015–2020	6	9	93%
Stranger Things	2016–2025	5	13	92%
The Crown	2016–2023	6	24	81%
This Is Us	2016–2022	6	4	—
The Handmaid’s Tale	2017–2025	6	15	83%
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel	2017–2023	5	22	90%
Abbott Elementary	2021–present	5+	4	—
Hacks	2021–present	5	—	—

The Emmy and Rotten Tomatoes figures can be affected by later revivals or database updates. For example, the Television Academy currently counts the newer Frasier Emmy win in its total, while Rotten Tomatoes separately lists the original and 2023 series.

A couple of important notes

The dash doesn’t mean the show wasn’t critically acclaimed. It means Rotten Tomatoes currently doesn’t provide a usable Series Tomatometer for that program. I would rather leave a blank than manufacture a number just to make the table look pretty.

And there are some shows that people are going to immediately ask about.

That’s where the rules get interesting.

Better Call Saul had six seasons and an absurd number of Emmy nominations.

It won zero.

So it’s out.

Succession won plenty of Emmys.

It only had four seasons.

So it’s out.

Parks and Recreation ran for seven seasons and was nominated for multiple Emmys.

It didn’t win one.

So it’s out.

See what happened there?

The rules have no respect for my feelings.

The 1970s: Television Started Getting Serious

If you were watching television in the 1970s, this list is basically a history lesson.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show, All in the Family, M_A_S_H*, _Barney Miller, The Jeffersons and Taxi all made the cut.

And there is a reason.

Television was beginning to realize that it could do more than make people laugh for 30 minutes.

All in the Family tackled race, politics, religion, sex and generational conflict through Archie Bunker, a character who could offend just about everybody before dinner.

The Television Academy credits the show with 22 Emmys.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show won 29 Emmys, making it one of the most decorated programs of its era.

Then there was _M_A_S_H*.

Eleven seasons.

Fourteen Emmys.

And somehow a comedy about a Korean War surgical hospital became one of the most thoughtful television shows ever produced. The Academy lists 109 nominations and 14 wins.

And in 1975, something else arrived.

Saturday Night Live.

Fifty-plus seasons later, it’s still here.

At the time of this writing, the Television Academy lists 94 Emmys and 349 nominations for the show.

Apparently, nobody told Lorne Michaels when television was supposed to end.

The 1980s: Sitcoms Ruled the World

The 1980s brought Cheers, Family Ties, The Golden Girls, Night Court, The Cosby Show, Hill Street Blues, Roseanne and The Wonder Years.

This was also when television started getting much better at making us care about characters.

Cheers wasn’t really about a bar.

It was about the people in the bar.

And apparently the Television Academy agreed. Cheers accumulated 28 Emmys.

Hill Street Blues changed the police drama, bringing a darker and more realistic approach to television crime.

The Golden Girls proved that four older women could carry a sitcom, and apparently do it extremely well. The Academy lists 11 Emmys for the series.

And then there was Family Ties, which gave us Alex P. Keaton and Michael J. Fox.

The show won five Emmys.

This was also the decade when television figured out that people might actually want characters who had personalities.

Imagine that.

The 1990s: Television Became a Monster

Then came the decade that, for me, really changed television.

Seinfeld.

Friends.

Frasier.

ER.

NYPD Blue.

The X-Files.

Law & Order.

Murphy Brown.

The West Wing.

The Sopranos.

Sex and the City.

This was network television at its peak.

And Seinfeld was right in the middle of it.

Nine seasons.

Ten Emmys.

And absolutely no lesson about personal growth whatsoever.

Which is probably why I liked it.

The Television Academy confirms ten Emmy wins for Seinfeld.

Then came Friends, which ran for ten seasons and won six Emmys.

I recently watched all ten seasons again, and I have to admit something:

I liked it more than I expected.

Seinfeld made me laugh at people.

Friends made me feel like I knew them.

And then there was Frasier.

Eleven original seasons, followed years later by a revival, and now an Emmy total that the Television Academy lists at 38.

That is an absurd amount of television success for a man who spent most of his time sitting in a radio booth talking about himself.

Although, now that I think about it, I may have more in common with Frasier than I originally thought.

Then HBO Decided Television Could Be Something Else

This is where things get really interesting.

The Sopranos arrived in 1999.

And television changed.

Suddenly the main character didn’t have to be a good person.

Tony Soprano was a murderer, criminal, adulterer and generally terrible human being.

And we couldn’t stop watching him.

Then came Six Feet Under, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Wire era television, Deadwood, Mad Men, Breaking Bad and eventually Game of Thrones.

Television stopped being something you watched because nothing else was on.

It became something you actively sought out.

The 2000s: Welcome to Prestige Television

The 2000s gave us one of the strangest collections of television ever assembled.

24.

Lost.

House.

The Office.

Grey’s Anatomy.

Dexter.

30 Rock.

Mad Men.

Breaking Bad.

And yes…

The Big Bang Theory.

I originally left The Big Bang Theory off my list.

That was a mistake.

A rather large one.

The show ran for 12 seasons and won 10 Emmys. Rotten Tomatoes currently gives it an 81% Series Tomatometer.

You don’t have to love The Big Bang Theory.

You don’t even have to admit you watched it.

But if we’re following the rules, there is absolutely no legitimate argument for leaving it out.

It ran for twelve seasons.

It won ten Emmys.

It qualifies.

The spreadsheet has spoken.

The Office also belongs here.

Nine seasons.

Five Emmys.

81% on Rotten Tomatoes.

And Lost?

Six seasons.

Ten Emmys.

86% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Whether the ending satisfied you is another discussion.

Actually, that’s not another discussion.

That’s a separate psychological evaluation.

The 2010s: Television Became Ridiculous

The 2010s might have been the greatest decade for television simply because there was suddenly so much of it.

Game of Thrones.

Mad Men.

Breaking Bad.

Downton Abbey.

Homeland.

Boardwalk Empire.

Veep.

The Americans.

Black-ish.

Schitt’s Creek.

Stranger Things.

The Crown.

The Handmaid’s Tale.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

At this point, television wasn’t just competing with other television.

It was competing with movies.

Game of Thrones won 59 Emmys, according to the Television Academy, an almost ridiculous number.

Breaking Bad won 16.

Mad Men won 16.

Veep won 17.

And Schitt’s Creek came along and completely cleaned up at the 2020 Emmys, winning nine awards.

Then there was Stranger Things, which somehow turned an 1980s-inspired science-fiction story about children, monsters and government experiments into a worldwide phenomenon.

The Academy currently lists 13 Emmys for the series.

And The Crown won 24.

And Then We Got Streaming

This is where the whole idea of television started falling apart.

There are no longer really “seasons” in the traditional sense.

Some shows have eight episodes.

Some have ten.

Some disappear for three years.

Some get cancelled after one season.

Some get renewed before you’ve even figured out whether you like them.

And somehow Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Disney+, Apple TV+, Amazon and everybody else decided that what the world really needed was another streaming service.

The result?

I now spend more time deciding what to watch than actually watching something.

But streaming also produced some excellent television.

The Crown.

Stranger Things.

The Handmaid’s Tale.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

Schitt’s Creek.

And more recently, Abbott Elementary and Hacks have joined the five-season club while collecting Emmy wins along the way.

The Television Academy lists four Emmy wins for Abbott Elementary.

And Hacks completed its fifth season in 2025 and remains heavily recognized by the Academy.

What Does This List Actually Tell Us?

Looking at the entire list, I think there are a few things that stand out.

Television got better at telling stories.

The television of 1970 wasn’t necessarily bad.

It was simply operating under different rules.

By the 1990s, shows were developing characters over years.

By the 2000s, they were telling stories that could rival movies.

By the 2010s, television was routinely producing performances, writing and cinematography that would have been considered extraordinary on the big screen.

Sitcoms aren’t dead.

They just aren’t dominating television the way they once did.

Look at the list.

All in the Family.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Cheers.

The Golden Girls.

Seinfeld.

Friends.

Frasier.

The Big Bang Theory.

Modern Family.

Schitt’s Creek.

Abbott Elementary.

Comedy has survived every technological change we’ve thrown at it.

Apparently humans still like laughing at other humans.

Good to know.

Emmy recognition doesn’t necessarily equal popularity.

And this is probably the most interesting thing about the list.

Some shows were enormously popular without dominating the Emmys.

Others won a ridiculous number of awards but weren’t necessarily the shows everybody was talking about at the dinner table.

That’s why I included Rotten Tomatoes.

It gives us another way to look at the same shows.

And sometimes the numbers are surprising.

The Big Bang Theory sits at 81%.

Friends is at 78%.

Frasier is currently at 95%.

Breaking Bad is at 96%.

The Americans is also at 96%.

Meanwhile, The Cosby Show currently sits at 69%.

That’s one hell of a reminder that popularity, awards and critical opinion are three completely different things.

And What About My Personal Winners?

Well, the rules are objective.

I’m not.

So here are mine. I could also be swayed over a few selections on each. really to hard but I went with these.

Best sitcom: Seinfeld and Friends

Best traditional drama: NYPD Blue

Best medical drama: ER

Best political drama: The West Wing

Best modern drama: Breaking Bad

Best HBO drama: The Sopranos

Best long-running animated show: The Simpsons

Best comedy ensemble: Friends

Best “how the hell did they get away with this?” comedy: All in the Family

Best surprise: Big Bang Theory

Most impressive television achievement: Saturday Night Live simply for still being here after more than five decades.

The Bottom Line

What I like about this list is that it doesn’t try to tell us what we’re supposed to like.

It simply gives us a set of rules and asks:

Which shows actually lasted, and which ones managed to win an Emmy while doing it?

That produces a pretty fascinating history of American television.

The 1970s gave us television that challenged social norms.

The 1980s perfected the sitcom and the traditional drama.

The 1990s gave us an explosion of network television and some of the most recognizable characters ever created.

The 2000s ushered in prestige television.

The 2010s blew the doors off the industry.

And the 2020s?

Well, we’re still trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

But there is one thing I know.

We’ve had an absurd amount of great television.

And somehow, after all these years, all these networks, all these streaming services and all these Emmy Awards…

I still can’t find anything to watch tonight.

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Sources and methodology

• Television Academy — Emmy Awards database: Used as the primary source for determining whether a show had at least one Primetime Emmy and for Emmy-win totals. The Academy’s individual show pages provide the awards and nominations history. Examples include The Mary Tyler Moore Show, All in the Family, M_A_S_H*, _Barney Miller, The Jeffersons, Cheers, Frasier, Seinfeld, Friends, The Big Bang Theory, Game of Thrones, The Simpsons, Veep, Schitt’s Creek, Stranger Things, The Crown and others.
• Rotten Tomatoes: Used for the Series Tomatometer column. Rotten Tomatoes explains that a series receives an Average Tomatometer when at least 50% of its seasons have scores, meaning older shows may not have a current Series score.
• Reality television: The Amazing Race, Survivor, American Idol, The Voice, RuPaul’s Drag Race and Top Chef were treated under exactly the same rules as scripted shows. The Television Academy currently lists 15 Emmys for The Amazing Race, 7 for Survivor, 8 for American Idol, 9 for The Voice, and 2 for Top Chef. RuPaul’s Drag Race has won 29 Primetime Emmys.
• Important exclusion examples: Shows such as Better Call Saul and Succession were not included simply because they were critically acclaimed. They fail one of the actual rules: Emmy wins or five seasons. That’s intentional.