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Top 100 shows of the 21st century according to the British Broadcasting Corp

posted 3 years ago by joej2923 (3021)
50 replies | jump to latest

The top three are among my favorites. I would have dropped game of thrones out of the top 25 after the lackluster final season. I think the US version of the Office surpassed the short UK version even though it faded without Michael Scott. I loved the Americans so I'm glad to see it in the top ten.

I believe that shows should have to be at least two seasons to be on the list since some shows really tank after a great first season. Pose and RuPaul's Drag Race are freak shows about men in skirts that lack broad appeal. Watchmen and The Underground Railroad are both woke propaganda that will quickly be forgotten.

I would have liked to have seen Ozark, Peaky Blinders, Boardwalk Empire, Justified and Longmire on the list. These lists are so subjective and different genres are not comparable.

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20211015-the-100-greatest-tv-series-of-the-21st-century

My top ten shows off this list:
1. The Wire
2. Breaking Bad
3. Downton Abbey
4. Game of Thrones
5. Mad Men
6. Better Caul Saul
7. House of Cards
8. Stranger Things
9. The Americans
10. The Office (US)

[–] MartyDeniro (4171) 3 years ago

Fleabag cracks the top five, but Deadwood is at 18, and Lost at 19?? And I like Succession, but S3 just started. And I May Destroy You is at 6, but neither Mr. Robot nor Rectify make the top 100?

[–] joej2923 (3021) 3 years ago

I might check out Fleabag on Amazon to evaluate it. I see just as many posts from people wondering why Fleabag is so highly regarded. I wonder if Waller-Bridge has been tapped by industry power brokers as the next big star. She was brought in to write the James Bond flick and she is supposed to be the next Indiana Jones. I have zero interest in I May Destroy You. I liked Deadwood but I couldn't get into Lost. Mr. Robot and Rectify look interesting.

[–] M1sterDoct0r (4423) 3 years ago

Wait, Mr Robot isn't on the list? Wtf? That show is absolutely brilliant. From the writing, directing & performances, everything about the show is fantastic

Also, the cinematography is absolutely gorgeous

[–] Carrot (1702) 3 years ago

As soon as I saw BBC, I expected a biased list and I wasn't disappointed. A garbage tier show like Watchmen is 26, but Battlestar Galactica is 70. WTF?

[–] capuchin (3182) 3 years ago

I expected a biased list and I wasn't disappointed.

Biased against/towards what?

[–] Carrot (1702) 3 years ago

Would politicized make more sense? Watchmen is a show only blue checkmarks seem to like.

[–] capuchin (3182) 3 years ago

Would politicized make more sense?

I don't know. It's your opinion. You tell me.

[–] joej2923 (3021) 3 years ago

I thought the Watchmen show was a perversion of the original comic/movie. I was mad about the time spent on the Tulsa race RIOT. I liked BSG overall but I didn't like the big reveal/twist towards the end of the series.

[–] Carrot (1702) 3 years ago

I didn't like the ending either, but overall it was a riveting series.

[–] samoanjoes (56646) 3 years ago

I wouldn't say Watchmen is garbage, but it shouldn't be there.

[–] kukuxu (5409) 3 years ago

Modern BBC is woke as hell. I expected them to put some diversity shows at the top. And it's not that biased. It's biased, but it's less than I expected. BG at #70 or Dexter at #89 is ludicrous, but honestly, I expected the list to be worse than that.

The list starts with two inclusivity quota shows at #4 (females) and #6 (blacks). As I said, it's not as bad as I expected, which was seeing inclusivity quota shows at the very top, and the top 10 filled almost entirely with them.

That doesn't mean BBC stopped being biased. C'mon, they literally banned white males as trainees a few years ago because they already had "too many white males". It just means that inclusivity shows are so shitty that they can't even make a list and fill it with them without being laughed.

[–] moviechatterer (15583) 3 years ago

Journalsits dont have time to be biased , they just put a survey out and copy n paste the results in
why would they weaste time fucking about with the order?
whats would be the motivation?

What I gathered from reading the first 10 results is that its in no way a list of "best ever"
and more likely the results of asking 100 people "whats the best boxset you watched last week"

[–] AndyKing1967 (38076) 3 years ago

Great post, thanks 👍

[–] NotoriousRio (12927) 3 years ago

Idiots left out Rome and that was part BBC funded with HBO!

[–] samoanjoes (56646) 3 years ago

Did that have an ending?

[–] NotoriousRio (12927) 3 years ago

Yup, just two seasons.

[–] samoanjoes (56646) 3 years ago

I thought it never got a real ending. I only saw the first episode.

[–] NotoriousRio (12927) 3 years ago

It was supposed to last a season or two longer but BBC/HBO bawked at the production costs so they wrapped up the story earlier than it should have been, this was before the success of Game of Thrones.

[–] samoanjoes (56646) 3 years ago

Makes sense. I knew I wasn't imagining something about the ending not what it was supposed to be.

[–] NotoriousRio (12927) 3 years ago

I know you don't like TV shows much but it's worth a watch with a great cast, especially Kevin McKidd, Ray Stevenson and Ciarán Hinds.

[–] samoanjoes (56646) 3 years ago

I liked the episode I saw. My friend let me borrow the first season DVD but I never got around to watching the rest.

[–] samoanjoes (56646) 3 years ago

They have "RuPaul's Drag Race" and "The Big Bang Theory" but they can't find room for "The IT Crowd" or "The Inbetweeners"?

[–] capuchin (3182) 3 years ago

To me, the most stunning absence - unless my eye has skipped it - is Doctor Who. The BBC's top international export (barring, I think, Top Gear) and biggest cash cow. Did they decide it was ineligible as a 'twenty-first century' show because it's a continuation of a show that started in the 1960s?

In any case, that's what you get if you ask a panel from 43 different countries: it's gonna be a less parochial list.

[–] kukuxu (5409) 3 years ago

Doctor Who is not the big cash cow anymore. Going woke hit merchandise selling really bad. That's why they're doing less and less episodes per year (it has gone from 12 per year to 10 every two years). It's a expensive show, and it doesn't pay the bills anymore.

That said, it still deserves to be in the top 100. Last seasons are a joke, but before that it's a classic. It was the 007 of SciFi.

[–] capuchin (3182) 3 years ago

That's why they're doing less and less episodes per year (it has gone from 12 per year to 10 every two years). It's a expensive show, and it doesn't pay the bills anymore.

No. The BBC doesn't work like that. Doctor Who never did 'pay the bills'. The BBC operates under a licence fee.

The cut to the number of episodes is due to the cuts in the corporation's budget (in real terms) through the Conservative government freezing that licence fee and then shifting its own responsibility to pay for licence fees for the over-75s back on to the BBC itself. There have been budget cuts throughout the BBC's entire output. Entire services have been abandoned.

The profits made by Doctor Who through merchandising are made by BBC Worldwide, the BBC's commercial arm. And said profits are not allowed by law to go back into the BBC's programme-making budget anyway. So the idea that Doctor Who's budget has been affected by the decline from its peak is simply wrong.

And, naturally, I'd challenge the notion that Doctor Who's rating decline is due to it 'going woke' - because it's a prismatic, tabloid and meaningless term. Whenever someone uses it in an exchange it's like someone farting in an elevator. But I'm not getting into that tedious business as we evidently wouldn't see eye to eye on that.

[–] kukuxu (5409) 3 years ago

The cut to the number of episodes is due to the cuts in the corporation's budget (in real terms) through the Conservative government freezing that licence fee

Which on the other hand is related to the BBC losing its neutrality, which has heavily damaged its image. People are less happy to have a mandatory fee when that fee supports a partisan network.

The profits made by Doctor Who through merchandising are made by BBC Worldwide, the BBC's commercial arm. And said profits are not allowed by law to go back into the BBC's programme-making budget anyway.

BBC budget. About 1/3rd comes from BBC Worldwide:
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/annualreport/pdf/2013-14/BBC_Financial_statements_201314.pdf

And, naturally, I'd challenge the notion that Doctor Who's rating decline is due to it 'going woke' - because it's a prismatic, tabloid and meaningless term. Whenever someone uses it in an exchange it's like someone farting in an elevator.

I've seen that claim before. My answer is always the same: if you think the term is not appropriate, then suggest a more appropriate term. If there's a better term, I'd have no problem using it.

No need to say, I haven't seen a better alternative so far.

[–] capuchin (3182) 3 years ago

I phrased myself badly over the BBC Worldwide point by missing out the word 'individual'. The BBC is not allowed to plough the profits from BBC Worldwide's Doctor Who merchandising into the budget for Doctor Who. It goes into a general pot.

Which on the other hand is related to the BBC losing its neutrality

No. It's more linked to the British Conservative Party having a long-standing ideological dislike of the BBC. People have been arguing - in every direction - over the BBC's 'neutrality' for my entire life. The left think it is biased towards the right. The right think it is biased towards the left. In both cases, it's much more a question of perception than factual analysis. The BBC remains reasonably well balanced and reflective of the nation it serves.

if you think the term is not appropriate, then suggest a more appropriate term.

I didn't use the word 'inappropriate'. I said it was tabloid and meaningless. I have no idea what you imagine yourself to be objecting to in the current incarnation of Doctor Who when you call it 'woke'. You force me to guess. And I may be guessing your objections wrongly.

Clarity of thought and expression is always preferrable to memes.

But we run the danger here of getting too political (and we're obviously not going to come to an agreement anyway), so - out of respect for the rules of the board and not wishing to further derail the thread - I'd suggest we stop here.

[–] kukuxu (5409) 3 years ago

The BBC is not allowed to plough the profits from BBC Worldwide's Doctor Who merchandising into the budget for Doctor Who. It goes into a general pot.

So what? That's how every network works: the profits of any show go into the general pot. That you can't channel the merchandising directly into the budget doesn't mean it's not taken into account when new budgets are planned.

People have been arguing - in every direction - over the BBC's 'neutrality' for my entire life.

Well, not anymore. People debate nowadays about the implications, legitimacy or consequences of its lack of neutrality. That the BBC has become partisan is beyond any doubt.

I didn't use the word 'inappropriate'. I said [the term woke] it was tabloid and meaningless. [...] Clarity of thought and expression is always preferrable to memes.

Well, the meaning is quite clear: Wokeness is the dominant ideology/religion in modern western left, a blend of 4th wave feminism, white guilt and the so-called diversity policies. As I said, if you have a better term, feel free to suggest it. Otherwise, attacking the term is just an attempt to make the term taboo, which is quite a religious attitude. It's hard to criticize Jehovah if it's taboo to say Jehovah.

[–] Carrot (1702) 3 years ago

Daredevil, Better Call Saul, Life on Mars, Ray Donovan, The Mighty Boosh, Banshee, The Mandalorian also left out.

[–] joej2923 (3021) 3 years ago

Better Call Saul actually made the list at #23. Yay! I'm looking forward to the final season of Better Call Saul. Daredevil was good and I enjoyed the first season of the Mandalorian.

[–] Carrot (1702) 3 years ago

Not sure how I missed that.

[–] trevorh321 (5495) 3 years ago

Arrested Development should have been much higher.

[–] Boromir (10005) 3 years ago

How any TV series with one season can be in top 10?