Rolling Stone Committed Multiple Crimes With Their 100 Greatest TV Shows Of All Time List
Rolling Stone has released their list of Top 100 TV shows ever. I will be the first to report, multiple crimes have occurred. That's not an exaggeration, that's not a stretch. There are a few shows that I watched (let's get in front of it, I'm not proud of watching them and not sure why I kept watching them) that belong nowhere near this list.
Here's some of the biggest absolute TRAVESTIES on the list. We'll get to the omissions later.
85. Orange Is The New Black
Like I said, I'm not proud I watched this. When you see me you don't get watches "Orange Is The New Black" vibes, but I did watch it. I liked Jenji Kohan when she did Weeds and it was the pandemic so I binged OISTNB because let's face it there wasn't a whole lot to do back then. I watched a lotta tv and movies like the rest of the world.
There is absolutely no way shape or form this show should be 85 in the history of television. Are we serious? I will say it was interesting how they laid out flashbacks to the characters before they got into prison and how it shaped them as individuals or affected them long term. Other than that, it was never overly funny, a tad bit overdramatized, long, and featured a lot of characters who were never really likable as people. I wasn't rooting for these people. I cannot support this as the 85th best show of all time, and I definitely didn't watch this and rush to tell people how great it was. I just kept watching to pass the time.
65. Girls
Ok so I can explain. I haven't watched this whole series but I did watch enough. I was dating a girl at the time, she would put it on the TV at night to fall asleep. I take a little while to fall asleep and unfortunately found myself watching episodes until I could finally fall asleep. Let me tell you, this show made that seem like an eternity.
The stories were about whiny 20 somethings in New York who had problems with the most basic things everyone struggles with: money, relationships, work etc. Except they did it in such a whiny way that you just wanted to scream "Stop" at the top of your lungs. The episodes felt uneventful, no one was likable and it was in no way funny. It was so bad I changed the channel the minute I could.
65th ever? That is a crime. Flat out crime.
Here are some of the shows Girls ranked ahead of:
The Wonder Years, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Band of Brothers, The Honeymooners, Chappelle's Show, and NYPD Blue. I mean come on! Crimes. All crimes.
Now, if you say you have two shows that don't belong on the list, you have to add two that do.
Here's my two.
1. How about Ozark? There's shows that were just as recent that made the list, so don't give me any shit about recency bias. Ozark was a damn good show. Compelling binge worthy television. Marty Byrd was a perfect mix of evil genius and unlikable asshole all in one. The family dynamic kept you tuned in wanting more, and the drama never seemed to cool down. This was flat out a good show, and given some of the trash on this list, it deserves to be ranked.
2. Call me a homer, but TRL (Total Request Live) was a show that absolutely dominated its demo and was straight up a cult at times. 1000's of kids lined Times Square every day to watch from a window. Votes became WARS of who could move their favorite band up the countdown. Hell, a girl threatened to kill another girl live on air along with my guy Carson Daly.
Go to 57 seconds:
If you were pushing a movie, a new album, or a tv show you did a press tour of a morning show, a late night show and TRL. And given the power of the audience, TRL was the one that had the biggest impact on you. The young demo was tuned in everyday, and this was a time when internet was dial up. Kids and teens were getting their info from TRL more than social media since it didn't even exist yet. TRL was a big player back in the day.
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Also - lastly - shoutout to my man Carson Daly. Always loved that dude. Seemed super cool as a host and embraced the kids like me who watched everyday. Always rooted for him to become a mega star and thought he was built for a transition into a late night TV host but it never happened. I'll never sell my Carson Daly stock.