The New York Times just published a ranked list of the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century, and the top of it is less surprising than the rules underneath it. Breaking Bad is first. The Wire is second. Mad Men is third. Succession and Fleabag complete the five. The rest of the top ten is a comedy run: Game of Thrones, then Veep, 30 Rock, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Atlanta.
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This is not a critics' roundtable. Canon editor Gilbert Cruz told The Hollywood Reporter the paper invited more than 1,000 people from television and about 500 took part. Each could name up to ten shows. Voters could also pick winners in random head-to-head matchups, and The Upshot folded those results in with the ballots. A show had to premiere on or after January 1, 2000 and run more than one episode. That single date is why The Sopranos, which started in 1999, was never in the conversation, even though most of its life happened in this century.
The shape of the hundred is the more interesting document. Prestige cable still owns the podium, but the list keeps letting other kinds of television in. Survivor sits at 31, between Severance and Andor. RuPaul's Drag Race, Planet Earth, and The Great British Baking Show all make it. Anthony Bourdain appears twice, as Parts Unknown and as No Reservations, counted as separate shows. So do the two Offices. True Detective and Beef are in for a single season each.
Newer work is not treated as provisional. The Pitt, which started in 2025, is 36th. Adolescence, also 2025, is 40th. The Comeback, Hacks, and The Bear are dated through 2026 on the Times' own checklist. The bottom of the list is not a junk drawer either. Halt and Catch Fire, Community, The OA, Gilmore Girls, and Scandal close it out.
The omissions are the part people will argue about, and the checklist makes them easy to check. There is no Walking Dead, no Sherlock, no West Wing. A ranking built by people who make television was always going to reward the shows those people still quote at each other. What it will not do is settle the century. The printable version even leaves two boxes beside every title: seen it, or want to see it.
1. Breaking Bad (2008-2013). 2. The Wire (2002-2008). 3. Mad Men (2007-2015). 4. Succession (2018-2023). 5. Fleabag (2016-2019). 6. Game of Thrones (2011-2019). 7. Veep (2012-2019). 8. 30 Rock (2006-2013). 9. Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000-2024). 10. Atlanta (2016-2022).
