IMDB網站紀念20周年,
選出過去20年的20大電視節目(Top TV Series of the Past 20 Years)
評選標準是根據"importance, impact and popularity" , 而非"Best"
IMDB還有選出其它不同指標的電視節目.
http://www.imdb.com/list/gm7xsjP4vD8/
1.The Sopranos (1999 TV Series)
“ Examinations of mobsters navigating their loyalties to their regular
families and their crime families are numerous. But from the moment Tony
Soprano had his first panic attack and sought the help of a therapist, this
drama announced itself as a different animal altogether. And as Tony examined
his soul and morality, embracing his darkness and failing to evolve as the
seasons passed, executive producer David Chase and his writers forced the
audience to take a hard look at themselves and figure out why they were drawn
to this mean, cruel, womanizing bear of a man and his violent, opportunistic
crew. ”
2.Law & Order (1990 TV Series)
“ The series from which all modern procedurals borrow is actually little
more than a modern update to a crime-solving formula that began in the 1950s
with "Dragnet." But it also innovated the crime drama by placing the focus on
the crime and perps as opposed to the detectives and lawyers, and closing
each case at the end of every hour. This formula makes it easy to watch
reruns of "Law & Order" time and again, which is why it's one of the most
successful and ubiquitous syndicated series in history. It's not much an
exaggeration to posit that "Law & Order" will likely air in some form
somewhere on earth until the sun burns out. ”
3.Seinfeld (1990 TV Series)
“ Yes, it was a show about nothing, yadda yadda yadda. It also was the first
to challenge the traditional idea of what a sitcom could be as we followed
four selfish, greedy New Yorkers navigating a variety of inane situations,
usually having to do with the annoying quirks of people who, in the real
world, would be considered normal. "Seinfeld" became the poster child for
NBC's Thursday night comedy line-up in the '90s, and its co-creators Jerry
Seinfeld and Larry David became stars. When it ended, this inimitable
half-hour laugher also left a void from which the network, and the sitcom
genre in general, has yet to recover. ”
4.The Wire (2002 TV Series)
“ Crime procedurals will come and go, but no other series examined the
levels of political will and personal foibles - within a police precinct, in
city hall, and in the criminal underworld - that go into working a case like
"The Wire" did. No hero is completely clean, and in fact, the favorite
character of the series, Omar, is a street thug who preyed on other
criminals. And while other great series have been compared to cinema, "Wire"
creator David Simon approached each episode like chapters of a great novel,
painting its characters in various shades of grey. As a result, we are forced
to look at seasons as a whole as opposed to episode by episode. It's an
approach that won't soon, if ever, be replicated on television, largely
because it was impossible to drop in in the middle of a season. Because of
this fact, the series earned the show very low ratings while it was in
production. ”
5.Survivor (2000 TV Series)
“ The show that defined the reality competition genre initially hooked
audiences with the proposition of challenging average Americans to survive
for over a month with limited supplies on an uninhabited island. But it soon
became an examination of predatory psychology, as the top contestants
revealed themselves to be the most adept at scheming as opposed to the
physically strongest. Hence one of the most unforgettable speeches in history
about choosing between the snake or the rat. ”
6.ER (1994 TV Series)
“ The longest-running medical drama in American history brought the
triumphs, heart-pumping action and tragedies of life in an emergency room to
audiences through the perspective of some of the most memorable and romantic
characters on television, tackling issues such as AIDS, health crises in
Africa and urban violence along the way. If you can't respect it for those
things, it at least deserves props for launching George Clooney into stardom.
”
7.American Idol (2002 TV Series)
“ Simon Cowell and Nigel Lythgoe borrowed the tried-and-true talent show
format, took the role of creating stars out of the hands of professional
judges and, for better or worse, assigned that power to the American people.
The result: television's most popular program. The success of the "Idols"
over the years has been mixed, but one aspect that cannot be questioned is
the show's ability to unite an audience otherwise fragmented by the
proliferation of choices across broadcast and cable - and vacuum up ratings
from any other series that dares to go up against it. ”
8.CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000 TV Series)
“ If "Law & Order" modernized the police drama popularized by "Dragnet," the
"CSI" franchise took it to an entirely different level by sexing up the
forensics science behind case-solving. At the same time, while Dick Wolf's
procedurals largely kept the personal lives of its detectives and lawyers out
of the stories, "CSI" hooked viewers by revealing small details one bit at a
time, making fans completely invested in the lives of its investigators as
the years have gone by. ”
9.Friends (1994 TV Series)
“ "Friends" made being a young adult getting started in the world into a
light-hearted fantasy, buoyed by the idea of friendship and romance and, much
to the ire of many real twenty-somethings, easy living in well-appointed,
roomy New York City apartments. It also blessed the world with the gigantic
coffee cup, for which caffeine fiends must be eternally grateful. ”
10.Lost (2004 TV Series)
“ From the opening moment of the pilot, when heroic doctor Jack Shephard
opened his eyes to realize his plane had crashed, it was clear that ABC had
stumbled upon something special. Not to mention frustrating. Provided you
stayed around to find out why the survivors of Oceanic 815 were stuck on an
island inhabited by an insane French woman, violent villagers with a penchant
for kidnapping children and an ageless handsome man, where scientific
equipment was hidden in hatches and traveling through time became an accepted
aspect of reality - well, you were rewarded with one of the more emotionally
satisfying and intellectually complex series in the history of television.
And if you didn't stick around, that's OK. It's probably better to experience
"Lost" on DVD anyway. ”
11.South Park (1997 TV Series)
“ What began as a crudely rendered cartoon using animated construction paper
cut-outs of four Colorado grade-school kids with foul mouths evolved into one
of the most subversive, ruthlessly un-P.C. critiques of American culture and
politics on television. Cool! ”
12.Desperate Housewives (2004 TV Series)
“ Credit the resurrection of ABC's scripted primetime lineup to four women -
and a rotating fifth over the years - whose problems may have been heightened
for melodramatic effect but, at their core, reflect many of the same
struggles encountered by the men and women who watch them each week. Yes,
life on Wisteria Lane is often unbelievably bizarre and frothy, but themes of
sisterhood spun through creator Marc Cherry's biting wit magically holds it
all together. ”
13.The West Wing (1999 TV Series)
“ This is first show to give us a window into the mechanics of day-to-day
life and work in the White House, and though it frequently took knocks for
its unrealistic optimism, it was the humanity within the stories and its
central characters that made it one of the finest hours of television in its
time. ”
14.Mad Men (2007 TV Series)
“ Announcing AMC as a force to be reckoned with in the basic cable TV
landscape - and making stars of previously little known actors Jon Hamm,
Elizabeth Moss, Christina Hendricks and January Jones - "Mad Men" captures
the stunning glamour and free-wheeling social mores of the '60s as well as
its darker truths. Casual references to racism, homophobia and sexism serve
shatter our Pleasantville visions of yesteryear. At the same time, it
continually builds on the idea that everything we present to the world is
illusion and advertising, and the best of us sell lies about ourselves to get
ahead. ”
15.Sex and the City (1998 TV Series)
“ In defiance of a culture obsessed with youth, this series turned the idea
of a woman's being single - and sexually adventurous - over 30 into something
to be celebrated as opposed to feared. Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and
Charlotte are financially successful, independent minded women who gorge
themselves on all the gifts New York City has to offer. All that, and they
have great taste in shoes too. ”
16.24 (2001 TV Series)
“ Never mind that the series conceit of being presented in real-time was
tossed out the window soon after it took off. Over the years as Jack Bauer
faced one bad day after another, he was put in situations so outrageously
unbelievable that Wile E. Coyote would have questioned their veracity. Yet it
spoke to the world's post-9/11 angst like few other series did, and when it
was great, it was ridiculously addictive. ”
17.Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV Series)
“ Syfy channel's re-imagined version of ABC's 1978 series changed the idea
of genre programming as something to be ashamed of. Even with its space
battles and cylons "Battlestar" evolved into one of the more intellectually
challenging dramas of the last 20 years, becoming an allegory of religious
fundamentalism and an examination of what it truly means to be human in the
face of utter annihilation. ”
18.Dexter (2006 TV Series)
“ Before Dexter Morgan first appeared on our screens, the idea of rooting
for a serial killer must have been beyond comprehension for most. Yet in the
age of the television anti-hero, Michael C. Hall's magnetic portrayal of a
sociopath vigilante fascinates us and, perhaps even more squeamishly, makes
us empathize with his plight of being a monster cursed to hide right in front
of our faces. ”
19.Everybody Loves Raymond (1996 TV Series)
“ As sports writer Ray Barone, comedian Ray Romano gives us a kind, if
beleaguered, family man embraced by millions over the course of his show's
run. "Raymond" endured for nine successful seasons thanks to its spot-on
portrayals of marriage, family, and negotiating your own way through life in
spite of interference by one's well-meaning adult parents and siblings. More
than this, it established CBS's Monday night comedy line-up as the contender
to beat as competitor NBC's dominance waned on Thursdays. ”
20.The X-Files (1993 TV Series)
“ A hybrid of detective series and sci-fi anthology, "The X-Files"
captivated viewers with its entertaining mixture of thrills, conspiracy
theory, religious mythology and humor. During its run it also spoke to the
growing distrust of government and authority flowering throughout the late
'90s, turning tagline "The truth is out there" into a motto among its legions
of fans. ”
--
--
選出過去20年的20大電視節目(Top TV Series of the Past 20 Years)
評選標準是根據"importance, impact and popularity" , 而非"Best"
IMDB還有選出其它不同指標的電視節目.
http://www.imdb.com/list/gm7xsjP4vD8/
1.The Sopranos (1999 TV Series)
“ Examinations of mobsters navigating their loyalties to their regular
families and their crime families are numerous. But from the moment Tony
Soprano had his first panic attack and sought the help of a therapist, this
drama announced itself as a different animal altogether. And as Tony examined
his soul and morality, embracing his darkness and failing to evolve as the
seasons passed, executive producer David Chase and his writers forced the
audience to take a hard look at themselves and figure out why they were drawn
to this mean, cruel, womanizing bear of a man and his violent, opportunistic
crew. ”
2.Law & Order (1990 TV Series)
“ The series from which all modern procedurals borrow is actually little
more than a modern update to a crime-solving formula that began in the 1950s
with "Dragnet." But it also innovated the crime drama by placing the focus on
the crime and perps as opposed to the detectives and lawyers, and closing
each case at the end of every hour. This formula makes it easy to watch
reruns of "Law & Order" time and again, which is why it's one of the most
successful and ubiquitous syndicated series in history. It's not much an
exaggeration to posit that "Law & Order" will likely air in some form
somewhere on earth until the sun burns out. ”
3.Seinfeld (1990 TV Series)
“ Yes, it was a show about nothing, yadda yadda yadda. It also was the first
to challenge the traditional idea of what a sitcom could be as we followed
four selfish, greedy New Yorkers navigating a variety of inane situations,
usually having to do with the annoying quirks of people who, in the real
world, would be considered normal. "Seinfeld" became the poster child for
NBC's Thursday night comedy line-up in the '90s, and its co-creators Jerry
Seinfeld and Larry David became stars. When it ended, this inimitable
half-hour laugher also left a void from which the network, and the sitcom
genre in general, has yet to recover. ”
4.The Wire (2002 TV Series)
“ Crime procedurals will come and go, but no other series examined the
levels of political will and personal foibles - within a police precinct, in
city hall, and in the criminal underworld - that go into working a case like
"The Wire" did. No hero is completely clean, and in fact, the favorite
character of the series, Omar, is a street thug who preyed on other
criminals. And while other great series have been compared to cinema, "Wire"
creator David Simon approached each episode like chapters of a great novel,
painting its characters in various shades of grey. As a result, we are forced
to look at seasons as a whole as opposed to episode by episode. It's an
approach that won't soon, if ever, be replicated on television, largely
because it was impossible to drop in in the middle of a season. Because of
this fact, the series earned the show very low ratings while it was in
production. ”
5.Survivor (2000 TV Series)
“ The show that defined the reality competition genre initially hooked
audiences with the proposition of challenging average Americans to survive
for over a month with limited supplies on an uninhabited island. But it soon
became an examination of predatory psychology, as the top contestants
revealed themselves to be the most adept at scheming as opposed to the
physically strongest. Hence one of the most unforgettable speeches in history
about choosing between the snake or the rat. ”
6.ER (1994 TV Series)
“ The longest-running medical drama in American history brought the
triumphs, heart-pumping action and tragedies of life in an emergency room to
audiences through the perspective of some of the most memorable and romantic
characters on television, tackling issues such as AIDS, health crises in
Africa and urban violence along the way. If you can't respect it for those
things, it at least deserves props for launching George Clooney into stardom.
”
7.American Idol (2002 TV Series)
“ Simon Cowell and Nigel Lythgoe borrowed the tried-and-true talent show
format, took the role of creating stars out of the hands of professional
judges and, for better or worse, assigned that power to the American people.
The result: television's most popular program. The success of the "Idols"
over the years has been mixed, but one aspect that cannot be questioned is
the show's ability to unite an audience otherwise fragmented by the
proliferation of choices across broadcast and cable - and vacuum up ratings
from any other series that dares to go up against it. ”
8.CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000 TV Series)
“ If "Law & Order" modernized the police drama popularized by "Dragnet," the
"CSI" franchise took it to an entirely different level by sexing up the
forensics science behind case-solving. At the same time, while Dick Wolf's
procedurals largely kept the personal lives of its detectives and lawyers out
of the stories, "CSI" hooked viewers by revealing small details one bit at a
time, making fans completely invested in the lives of its investigators as
the years have gone by. ”
9.Friends (1994 TV Series)
“ "Friends" made being a young adult getting started in the world into a
light-hearted fantasy, buoyed by the idea of friendship and romance and, much
to the ire of many real twenty-somethings, easy living in well-appointed,
roomy New York City apartments. It also blessed the world with the gigantic
coffee cup, for which caffeine fiends must be eternally grateful. ”
10.Lost (2004 TV Series)
“ From the opening moment of the pilot, when heroic doctor Jack Shephard
opened his eyes to realize his plane had crashed, it was clear that ABC had
stumbled upon something special. Not to mention frustrating. Provided you
stayed around to find out why the survivors of Oceanic 815 were stuck on an
island inhabited by an insane French woman, violent villagers with a penchant
for kidnapping children and an ageless handsome man, where scientific
equipment was hidden in hatches and traveling through time became an accepted
aspect of reality - well, you were rewarded with one of the more emotionally
satisfying and intellectually complex series in the history of television.
And if you didn't stick around, that's OK. It's probably better to experience
"Lost" on DVD anyway. ”
11.South Park (1997 TV Series)
“ What began as a crudely rendered cartoon using animated construction paper
cut-outs of four Colorado grade-school kids with foul mouths evolved into one
of the most subversive, ruthlessly un-P.C. critiques of American culture and
politics on television. Cool! ”
12.Desperate Housewives (2004 TV Series)
“ Credit the resurrection of ABC's scripted primetime lineup to four women -
and a rotating fifth over the years - whose problems may have been heightened
for melodramatic effect but, at their core, reflect many of the same
struggles encountered by the men and women who watch them each week. Yes,
life on Wisteria Lane is often unbelievably bizarre and frothy, but themes of
sisterhood spun through creator Marc Cherry's biting wit magically holds it
all together. ”
13.The West Wing (1999 TV Series)
“ This is first show to give us a window into the mechanics of day-to-day
life and work in the White House, and though it frequently took knocks for
its unrealistic optimism, it was the humanity within the stories and its
central characters that made it one of the finest hours of television in its
time. ”
14.Mad Men (2007 TV Series)
“ Announcing AMC as a force to be reckoned with in the basic cable TV
landscape - and making stars of previously little known actors Jon Hamm,
Elizabeth Moss, Christina Hendricks and January Jones - "Mad Men" captures
the stunning glamour and free-wheeling social mores of the '60s as well as
its darker truths. Casual references to racism, homophobia and sexism serve
shatter our Pleasantville visions of yesteryear. At the same time, it
continually builds on the idea that everything we present to the world is
illusion and advertising, and the best of us sell lies about ourselves to get
ahead. ”
15.Sex and the City (1998 TV Series)
“ In defiance of a culture obsessed with youth, this series turned the idea
of a woman's being single - and sexually adventurous - over 30 into something
to be celebrated as opposed to feared. Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and
Charlotte are financially successful, independent minded women who gorge
themselves on all the gifts New York City has to offer. All that, and they
have great taste in shoes too. ”
16.24 (2001 TV Series)
“ Never mind that the series conceit of being presented in real-time was
tossed out the window soon after it took off. Over the years as Jack Bauer
faced one bad day after another, he was put in situations so outrageously
unbelievable that Wile E. Coyote would have questioned their veracity. Yet it
spoke to the world's post-9/11 angst like few other series did, and when it
was great, it was ridiculously addictive. ”
17.Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV Series)
“ Syfy channel's re-imagined version of ABC's 1978 series changed the idea
of genre programming as something to be ashamed of. Even with its space
battles and cylons "Battlestar" evolved into one of the more intellectually
challenging dramas of the last 20 years, becoming an allegory of religious
fundamentalism and an examination of what it truly means to be human in the
face of utter annihilation. ”
18.Dexter (2006 TV Series)
“ Before Dexter Morgan first appeared on our screens, the idea of rooting
for a serial killer must have been beyond comprehension for most. Yet in the
age of the television anti-hero, Michael C. Hall's magnetic portrayal of a
sociopath vigilante fascinates us and, perhaps even more squeamishly, makes
us empathize with his plight of being a monster cursed to hide right in front
of our faces. ”
19.Everybody Loves Raymond (1996 TV Series)
“ As sports writer Ray Barone, comedian Ray Romano gives us a kind, if
beleaguered, family man embraced by millions over the course of his show's
run. "Raymond" endured for nine successful seasons thanks to its spot-on
portrayals of marriage, family, and negotiating your own way through life in
spite of interference by one's well-meaning adult parents and siblings. More
than this, it established CBS's Monday night comedy line-up as the contender
to beat as competitor NBC's dominance waned on Thursdays. ”
20.The X-Files (1993 TV Series)
“ A hybrid of detective series and sci-fi anthology, "The X-Files"
captivated viewers with its entertaining mixture of thrills, conspiracy
theory, religious mythology and humor. During its run it also spoke to the
growing distrust of government and authority flowering throughout the late
'90s, turning tagline "The truth is out there" into a motto among its legions
of fans. ”
--
--
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