“Let’s be careful out there.” “Winter is coming.” And, last but not least, “We were on a break!” If those phrases don’t ring a bell, then, well, where have you been for the past 50 years? Perhaps not watching enough TV! Even more than baseball, television is America’s pastime. And “watch” is used loosely—we laugh, cry, thrill, analyze and feverishly discuss our favorites. (And we’ve done it since long before streaming was an option.) Here’s a salute to the 20 best TV shows to ever light up our screens. “Lucy, we’re home!”
20 Best TV Shows
I Love Lucy(1951–57)
20 Emmy nominations; 4 Emmy wins In 1951, CBS approached Lucille Ball about turning her radio show, My Favorite Husband, into a TV comedy. She agreed, with the provision that her real-life husband of 11 years, Desi Arnaz, be cast as her spouse. She also bucked tradition by insisting on filming in Los Angeles, instead of New York City, so she could be close to her new baby, Lucie. An estimated 44 million people watched her character, Lucy Ricardo, give birth to Little Ricky in season two.
The Carol Burnett Show (1967–78)
70 Emmy nominations; 25 Emmy wins Carol Burnett broke ground as the first female host of a sketch-comedy show and encouraged her fellow performers to break character and laugh during the sketches. Everyone from Dick Van Dyke and Sonny & Cher to Steve Martin and then-governor Ronald Reagan made appearances. The only star who ever said no was Bette Davis, who demanded too much money.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–77)
67 Emmy nominations; 29 Emmy wins If you watched this sitcom focusing on Mary Richards, an independent, intelligent newswoman with spunk, then you knew—as her theme song always reminded us—she was sure gonna make it after all. For the legendarily hilarious “Chuckles Bites the Dust” episode (centered around the death of a clown), Moore admitted that she avoided laughing aloud by chewing the inside of her cheeks during the taping.
All in the Family (1971–79)
55 Emmy nominations; 22 Emmy wins Loosely adapted from the British series Till Death Us Do Part, the sitcom starring Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton remains so influential that its 2019 live restaging—with Woody Harrelson as bigoted Archie Bunker and Marisa Tomei as his forever put-upon wife, Edith—is now nominated for an Outstanding Variety Special (Live) Emmy. Archie’s original chair is on display in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History.
MAS*H(1972–83)
109 Emmy nominations; 14 Emmy wins Alan Alda wasn’t an Army doctor; however, the actor—who portrayed Capt. Hawkeye Pierce and co-wrote 18 episodes and directed 32—did indeed serve in the Army reserve for six months during the Korean War. (Co-star Jamie “Klinger” Farr also enlisted.) And while the series about the fictional 4077th unit lasted eight years longer than the actual Korean War, its series finale is still the most-watched episode of TV in American history. Also, Alda is still the only actor to have Emmys for writing, directing and acting in the same series.
Saturday Night Live (1975– )
306 Emmy nominations; 78 Emmy wins “Well, isn’t that special?” The iconic comedy sketch show is the most Emmy-celebrated TV series in history. (Its record 306 nominations include 21 in 2021.) What began on October 11, 1975, with host George Carlin remarkably hasn’t changed much over the past 45 seasons. By the way, it was Chevy Chase—originally hired just as a writer—who uttered the very first “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”
Taxi (1978–83)
34 Emmy nominations; 18 Emmy wins They were a bunch of quirky and highly memorable blue-collar workers employed at Sunshine Cab Company in New York City. (That’s Tony Danza driving his Checker cab across New York’s Queensboro Bridge on a loop in the opening credits.) Danny DeVito, then an unknown stage actor, landed the part of brash Louie De Palma by throwing his pilot script across the audition room in front of the producers!
Hill Street Blues (1981–87)
98 Emmy nominations; 26 Emmy wins Its urban setting was never specified, but creator Steven Bochco once said he intended it to resemble Pittsburgh, Chicago and Buffalo. Indeed, the Windy City’s Maxwell Street police station was used as the exterior shot of the Hill Street Blues precinct building. The series also popularized the use of handheld cameras, an ensemble cast and multi-episode story arcs. And coined the phrase “Let’s be careful out there.”
Cheers (1982–1993)
117 Emmy nominations; 28 Emmy wins The beloved Boston bar where everybody knows your name was originally going to be set…in Barstow, California, in a hotel. And though the show tanked in the ratings its first season, 84 million people watched its finale. It also spawned the classic Kelsey Grammer-starring spinoff, Frasier, which collected five Outstanding Comedy Series Emmys in its 11 seasons.
The Simpsons (1989– )
97 Emmy nominations; 35 Emmy wins Creator Matt Groening made all the characters yellow so channel surfers could instantly recognize them, and many of their last names (including Lovejoy and Quimby) are named after streets in his hometown of Portland, Oregon. With 706 episodes and counting, he’s probably long run out of geography.
NYPD Blue (1993–2005)
84 Emmy nominations; 20 Emmy wins The gritty series had its share of drama on and off the screen, as cast members David Caruso, Jimmy Smits, Sharon Lawrence and Amy Brenneman all departed because of behind-the-scenes disputes. In fact, Dennis Franz—who won four Emmys for playing tough-as-nails detective Andy Sipowicz—was the only person to appear in all 261 episodes.
Friends (1994–2004)
62 Emmy nominations; 6 Emmy wins Insomnia Café. Friends Like Us. Six of One. Those were all potential titles before producers decided the simplest option was the best one. David Schwimmer was cast first; Jennifer Aniston was cast last. And guess which pair was originally set as the central romantic couple? Courteney Cox’s Monica and Matt LeBlanc’s Joey!
ER (1994–2009)
124 Emmy nominations; 23 Emmy wins It’s a medical drama that turned a struggling actor named George Clooney into a global superstar. His character, pediatrician Dr. Douglas Ross, looked down a lot because Clooney often wrote his lines—which included tricky medical jargon—on props so he could see them during scenes. And though he left in 1999, he made two surprise appearances in later seasons.
The West Wing (1999–2006)
95 Emmy nominations; 26 Emmy wins President Josiah “Jed” Bartlet was scheduled to appear only sporadically in this Aaron Sorkin–created take on contemporary politics. But viewers were so enamored with Martin Sheen’s portrayal that he became a key member of the award-winning ensemble. Ironically, he wasn’t even the first choice for the role: that would be legendary Oscar winner Sidney Poitier.
The Sopranos (1999–2007)
112 Emmy nominations; 21 Emmy wins The epic New Jersey mob drama made stars out of Emmy winners James Gandolfini, Edie Falco and Michael Imperioli. But it also shares a whopping 27 cast members with Martin Scorsese’s 1990 mafia masterpiece Goodfellas, including Lorraine Bracco and Tony Sirico. And interestingly, that movie’s star, Ray Liotta, has said he turned down the role of boss Tony Soprano.
30 Rock (2006–13)
103 Emmy nominations; 16 Emmy wins It was originally supposed to take place behind the scenes of a cable news show. Then Saturday Night Live alum Tina Fey was advised to write what she knows—and the result was the adventures of a female head writer of a sketch TV series. She wrote the part of suave network honcho Jack Donaghy with Alec Baldwin in mind after working with him on an episode of SNL. He won two Emmys.
Mad Men (2007–15)
116 Emmy nominations; 16 Emmy wins Tortured ad whiz Don Draper (Jon Hamm) was loosely based on Draper Daniels, the legendary creative head of Chicago’s Leo Burnett agency, who invented the Marlboro Man in the 1950s. (Creator Matt Weiner, a former Sopranos producer, later referred to him as “one of the great copy guys.”) And while the fictional Draper ruled New York City’s Madison Avenue in the 1960s, the Emmy-winning drama was filmed in Los Angeles—the pilot episode notwithstanding.
Modern Family (2009–2021)
82 Emmy nominations; 22 Emmy wins Watch the pilot episode of this family comedy and notice that Julie Bowen’s Claire Dunphy walks around with her stomach concealed by a laundry basket and a kitchen counter. That’s because she was eight-and-a-half months pregnant with twins during filming. The series, which won five straight Outstanding Comedy Emmys, is about to enter its final season.
Game of Thrones (2011–2019)
161 Emmy nominations; 47 Emmy wins And in the end, Jon goes North with the Wildlings, Sansa is queen and Arya sails away. But creator George R.R. Martin has announced that he will be proceeding with his own version of the finale in his A Song of Ice and Fire book series. Either way, the fantasy extravaganza is poised for victory with a record-breaking 32 Emmy nominations for its final season, which concluded earlier this year.
Veep (2012–19)
68 Emmy nominations; 17 Emmy wins In just seven seasons, the political satire has snagged 17 Emmy statuettes and is up for nine more for its swan song. If star Julia Louis-Dreyfus—who took a year off after her breast cancer diagnosis—wins once again for portraying snippy, scandal-plagued Veep-turned-POTUS Selina Meyer, she’ll have nine total acting Emmys and will best Cloris Leachman as the most decorated actor in Emmy history. Next, The 100 Best TV Shows to Binge on Netflix Right Now
