Official RedCafe Top 50 Television Shows of All Time - The Countdown

Which countdown would you like to see next?

  • Total voters
    73
32. Parks & Recreation - 2009-Present
o-PARKS-AND-REC-570.jpg

Genre: Comedy
Score: 31
Who Voted: @Shane88 @Red Sky At Night @Alock1 @Cina @jakec @KiD MoYeS @Sally Cinnamon @Wittmann45 @Eboue @Twigg
Number 1 Votes: 0
Why Is It Here:
Caf Members who voted for this show are asked to submit a short paragraph on why they selected it for their lists.

 
31. Bottom - 1991-1995
bottom.jpg

Genre: Sitcom
Score: 32
Who Voted: @2 Man Midfield @a_devil_inside @JP77 @Olly
Number 1 Votes: 1
Why Is It Here:
Caf Members who voted for this show are asked to submit a short paragraph on why they selected it for their lists.

 
28. Dexter - 2006-2013
Dexter-Series-Ranking.jpg

Genre: Drama
Score: 37
Who Voted: @akash @Alock1 @Bury Red @Dirty Schwein @dmode @ha_rooney @jem @JP77 @Randall Flagg @Waldner @MajorTom @Revan @bosnian_red @Shinjisan @Pink Moon
Number 1 Votes: 0
Why Is It Here:
Caf Members who voted for this show are asked to submit a short paragraph on why they selected it for their lists.




___________________________________________________________________
27. House Of Cards (US) - 2013- Present
Claire-Underwood-House-of-010.jpg

Genre: Political Drama
Score: 37
Who Voted: @AldoPaine18 @jakec @KiD MoYeS @Rooney in Paris @simonhch @JmRssll555 @RexHamilton @Tarrou @Uniquim @Wibble
Number 1 Votes: 0
Why Is It Here:
Caf Members who voted for this show are asked to submit a short paragraph on why they selected it for their lists.
 
Last edited:
I wonder where would have Dexter been if it was finished after the fourth season finale. Probably on top 10. Season 1 and Season 4 are some of the best TV show stuff ever made. The last episode of both those seasons were brilliant. In fact, the finale of season 1 (Born Free) is one of my favorite episodes on TV show (together with The Rains of Castamere, Ozymandias and Exodus: Part 2).
 
Revan said:
I wonder where would have Dexter been if it was finished after the fourth season finale. Probably on top 10. Season 1 and Season 4 are some of the best TV show stuff ever made. The last episode of both those seasons were brilliant. In fact, the finale of season 1 (Born Free) is one of my favorite episodes on TV show (together with The Rains of Castamere, Ozymandias and Exodus: Part 2).
Click to expand...

I agree. Based on the first 4 seasons, it's my favourite series of all time. Not the best, but I enjoyed those 4 seasons more than any other show - and it was definitely some great stuff.

Trinity killer was so fecking great. Did John Lithgow win any awards for this role?





'Shut up, cnut'
 
Last edited:
There's the first 25, all. I will hopefully be able to do the top 25 tomorrow evening before the game, if not I'll do 15 and then countdown the top 10 on Thursday.
 
acnumber9 said:
It saddens me to see Friends in here.
Click to expand...
It was not on my list but it is not of place at all though a bit higher than it should be. It was great for what it was, gets too much bad press among snobs now because it was popular with so many people and got hyped a lot as well.
 
crappycraperson said:
It was not on my list but it is not of place at all though a bit higher than it should be. It was great for what it was, gets too much bad press among snobs now because it was popular with so many people and got hyped a lot as well.
Click to expand...
I don't think it's that at all. It's aged horribly and I don't think great tv does. I enjoyed the first couple of series but they all became ridiculous parodies of themselves.
 
Nice stuff, Duffy.

Prison Break the only eyesore so far. Minder getting in there with just two votes is also a bit weird.
 
Great effort, @Duffy

I regret not paying much attention to the points system and randomly ranking the shows post the initial few. PB over Curb or the office is a travesty.

Will give a more determined go the next time around.
 
:lol: Friends was great for what it was, I agree with what crappycraperson said above. Too much snobbery towards it. I don't agree it's aged badly either, I can watch episodes no problem today (of course their clothes in the first seasons look bad, but that's about it). A lot of hilarious moments, great charactors, good chemistry between the "friends" and excellent secondary characters make it a classic for me.
 
Rooney in Paris said:
:lol: Friends was great for what it was, I agree with what crappycraperson said above. Too much snobbery towards it. I don't agree it's aged badly either, I can watch episodes no problem today (of course their clothes in the first seasons look bad, but that's about it). A lot of hilarious moments, great charactors, good chemistry between the "friends" and excellent secondary characters make it a classic for me.
Click to expand...
I watched 5 minutes of that youtube clip, there's a laughing track but no jokes. It's just like The Big Bang theory and other shows like that.
 
Rooney in Paris said:
:lol: Friends was great for what it was, I agree with what crappycraperson said above. Too much snobbery towards it. I don't agree it's aged badly either, I can watch episodes no problem today (of course their clothes in the first seasons look bad, but that's about it). A lot of hilarious moments, great charactors, good chemistry between the "friends" and excellent secondary characters make it a classic for me.
Click to expand...

hqdefault.jpg


"It's...garbage."
 
Duffy said:
49. Firefly - 2002-2003
firefly.jpg
Click to expand...

A fantastic show that mixed genres really well and had deep and believable characters. Whedon really knows how to handle an ensemble of characters very well. It's one of the most eminently quotable shows out there.

The silver lining to its cancellation is that it avoid the standard Whedon trap of the show becoming too smug and self referential as it goes along.
 
Prison Break and Dexter. What is this. I am (not really) disappoint.
 
Duffy said:
36. Battlestar Galactica - 1978-1979 and 2004-2009
07.png
Click to expand...

The best thing about this show is how on point it stays the whole time. Yes, the point drifts all over the place, becomes slightly incoherent and towards the end kind of falls apart, but it stays on topic. There are so few of the expendable filler "Planet/Bad Guy of the week" episodes that plague other television sci fi.

Importantly it's also not afraid to develop the supporting cast - the richness of this show is probably even more attributable to the sporadically but meaningfully involved characters (Helo, Chief Tyrol, Callie, Dualla, Crashdown, Doc Cottle, Gaeta, Kat, Racetrack etc) than it is to the main cast.

Also space fighter pilot is about the coolest job I can imagine, so you know, there's that.
 
Fresh Prince Of Bel Air
One of my favourite shows whilst I was growing up. Always funny storylines and constant laugh-out-loud moments. The characters all served a great purpose on the show and were integral to the overall charm it had. Made Will Smith's career in my opinion. Plus the Charlton Tom Jones dance always cracked me up. I'm not one who loves comedy so much but this was definitely amazing.

Prison Break
A lot of people dont like this show as it kinda spiralled out of control from the 3rd season onwards but let's not forget how amazing the first season was and the 2nd season was also pretty damn good. Heck, I even enjoyed the 3rd and 4th. It wasn't mind blowing originality and didnt require deep analysing but it was what a good show should be; entertaining and edge of the seat exciting. This show felt like a drug, I was so addicted to it and kept coming back for more.

Dexter
Although it went silly from season 5, the first 4 seasons were SO good that it had to make the list. Had it ended on season 4, I would say this was one of the best TV shows ever, shame they decided to milk it. Michael C. Hall was also brilliant in it.
 
Friends is one of the greatest shows ever created, stop being silly. I'd say I was shocked to see it that low but this is the Caf!

Pretty awesome to see Bottom actually make the top 50. I'd say I'll probably never enjoy a show as much as that. The combination of Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson was genius and Only Fools and Horses is the only comedy to ever come close to making me laugh as much.

I've also recently started watching Parks and Rec properly and am nearing Season 4. I'd have included it on my list now, bloody brilliant.
 
Just for the record I thought the first season of Prison Break was trash, stupid fun shouldn't get you on a best of list imo. Same with Dexter, although that was a tiny bit tighter for a while(similar to early 24 than early PB), it was still insanely silly and gimmicky off the bat.
 
Duffy said:
30. It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia - 2005-Present
joey_always_sunny.jpg
Click to expand...
I think this show is very easy to love. The characters have a good chemistry and they aren't afraid of touching any topic whatsoever. Yes, the show can be a bit hit and miss, however if they do get it right it's one of the very few shows where I catch myself laughing all the time.
 
Zen said:
Just for the record I thought the first season of Prison Break was trash, stupid fun shouldn't get you on a best of list imo. Same with Dexter, although that was a tiny bit tighter for a while(similar to early 24 than early PB), it was still insanely silly and gimmicky off the bat.
Click to expand...
I dont think it's stupid fun. It's just pure entertainment. Has a good story, great characters and was made really well. When asking people about their favourite shows or films, it's all subjective. People enjoy different things. That's why critics charts will always have shows like Sopranos and Mad Men near the top, because they are greatly written shows, but your general public have a varied taste. I wont criticise any thing on this list because I appreciate that different things please different people.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.