The best TV show of the decade

[Lissa]

The decade is almost over and Channel 4 are preparing one of their clip show things to celebrate the so called "noughties". The Guardian are running a poll - sadly hijacked by Top Gear fans - to find the best programme in their readers' opinion. But what is your best TV programme of the 2000-2009 era? Just one - or at a pinch one UK and one US - and why?

[WhiteCrowNZ]

How incredibly difficult.

From a UK perspective it's going to be Doctor Who hands down, I can't think of another BBC/Ch4 series which comes close. Sorry did I forget ITV? Yeah on purpose. They're rubbish - only seeming to do reality TV or something with Ross Kemp in.

I'd perhaps go Farscape, but really I think the most spectacular piece of TV I've seen from the US is the mini-series Band of Brothers. An amazing and true story, good production values, superb dramatic pieces, and good characters - you really care about who is going to stay alive to the end, which is always a good sign.

[Alex]

Hmmm, this is fairly difficult stuff. UK-wise it may seem obvious, but for me Who really is the best show of the decade, despite having some fairly dodgy episodes. But when it shines it's truly wonderful stuff.

What bothers me is how little competition I could think of, only Adam Curtis' amazing documentary The Power of Nightmares comes close. And a few comedy series like Fifteen Stories High, Spaced, Peep Show and Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle. But it really should be much harder than this to come up with a winner.

On the US front I found it much more difficult, with amazing series like Six Feet Under, Carnivale, Battlestar Galatica, Lost (at least S.3 onwards), Harvey Birdman Attorney At Law, South Park (up to S.10), The Venture Brothers, The Sopranos, and so many others. But for me it's Arrested Development that wins (and just beats Who, too), it's so densely packed with incredibly funny gags, lovable characters, and storylines that delight each and every time I watch it.

As for Top Gear even appearing on the list, well that seems ludicrous to me, it's fairly entertaining stuff admittedly but in no way deserves a place on it. Imho, at least.

[shada pavlova]

Doctor Who is the best thing ever, and if it doesn't make at least the top 15 I will write a stern letter to the boss of Channel 4.

[Andrew Curnow]

What bothers me is how little competition I could think of

I agree, Alex. I can probably name all the shows I've watched regularly over the past decade, there are so few.

Doctor Who
Torchwood
Waking the Dead (which sadly never seems to be as good as I think it's going to be nowadays)
Life On Mars
Ashes to Ashes (finally started to emerge from Mars' shadow with season 2, I'm pleased to say)
Primeval
Sarah Jane Adventures!!

On the US front, we started to watch Lost, but Zel lost the will to live midway through S1, and although I staggered to the end of that first season I couldn't face any more. I'll glady add Fringe to the list at the moment, on the hope that season 2 consolidates the potential of the first season.

Then there are the usual suspects, I guess - HIGNFY and Buzzcocks, and to that list of panel shows I'll add QI and Mock the Week which both started in the noughties. And, yes, we watch Top Gear too!

That really is about it, which isn't a particularly healthy state for TV to be in over a ten-year period!

So, in terms of 'Top Fifty Shows' I think they'll struggle to list fifty even good ones. As for the top of the list, I really do think Who should be in, certainly the top five, maybe even at number one, and so should Life on Mars.

[Antony Cox]

I'd say overall that 24 is the best TV I've seen over the last nine years.

[Jon Masters]

The difficulty with this type of show is no-one remembers all the good shows from the start of the decade, so the top 30 odd are all likely to be shows that are still running now (and probably from last week - General Public again ). Any one off dramas have got no hope whatsoever.

[Dino]

I'm backing the calls for Doctor Who to top the list, but am also bracing myself for the appearance of "Skins" and "The Jeremy Kyle Show" to be in there. If "Top Gear" can get a mention then really anything goes!
At least when we get the results we can safely say the noughties were the worst years in living memory for television.
Oh no wait! We've got all the credit crunch crap to sit through next decade... and were still keep paying that licence fee for diminishing returns...

[Lissa]

I'd say "House" is the best show of this decade. It's funny, clever, fast paced and shows no sign of slowing down even in its fifth season. Hugh Laurie gives one of television's greatest ever performances and even though the structure of every medical emergency is basically the same, every episode feels fresh and different. It's also more politically incorrect that you'd imagine a prime time network show could be. And it's a Sherlock Holmes pastiche to boot. It doesn't get any better than House.

From the UK I'd nominate QI because it never has a bad episode, it has a rewatchability that no other panel game has, it's always funny and informative and it's like spending half an hour each week (42 and a half minutes if you watch the extended repeat) inside the head of Stephen Fry.

[MacNimon]

I'd agree with Anthony's choice of 24, it's an excellent series overall but when I see some of the other US series mentioned above it's got some stiff competition. Unfortunately there really isn't much to give DW a run for it's money from the UK, with the possible exception of Life On Mars (and some people on here would rate LOM above new 'Who')

[Pip Madeley]

My shortlist:

Doctor Who
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
Dexter
The Mighty Boosh
The IT Crowd
Catterick
Family Guy
Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe
Life On Mars & Ashes To Ashes
American Dad!
Torchwood: Children Of Earth
Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law
Never Mind The Buzzcocks (with Simon Amstell)
Black Books
Saxondale
Ideal

All classic stuff, but obviously Who wins out.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

God forbid if Channel 4 did this survey and made one of their "top TV programs of the 21st Century" with Jimmy Carr ...

[Jonno]

Definitely Doctor Who and its two spinoffs for that matter. However, I've also really enjoyed, off the top of my head, Life on Mars (and to a lesser extent Ashes to Ashes, Gene Hunt already being a modern TV legend), Spooks, The Apprentice and Merlin was very promising and enjoyable last year.

My favourite US series of the decade has undoubtedly been 24 - having caught the first season when it had a quick repeat run on BBC Choice (remember that?!) with 6 episodes per week over a 4 week period, I was hooked!

[Rob McCow]

OK - Yes to Doctor Who, but the single most moving and possibly important show over the past ten years was Terry Pratchett's documentary - Living With Alzheimer's. Alzhimer's could be a huge problem for the Western world to deal with and the coverage of it's effects, possible cures and future through the eyes of someone afflicted with the disease was fascinating.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

I can't think of much that has really been must-see TV for me in the last decade. I would definitely go with Dexter, and I think House probably deserves a spot too. Life on Mars definitely too, but probably not Ashes to Ashes. I'm sure something like The Apprentice deserves to be in simply because of how well it's done and how the format has gone international.

Controversially, I wouldn't put Doctor Who in at all. It's been must-see for me, just because I'm a Doctor Who fan. But really I don't think it's been anywhere near good enough to warrant a place in the top ten shows of the Decade. Far too many duff episodes. To be in the top ten a programme really needs to be consistently good.

Edit: Oh and from what I hear of it, Battlestar Gallactica probably deserves a look-in too. I've only seen some of Season 1, so don't really know much about it, but what I did see was consistently good.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Oh... I have no idea where I got "Top Ten" from, I must have misread the thread title.

[Perry Vale]

Sorry did I forget ITV? Yeah on purpose. They're rubbish - only seeming to do reality TV or something with Ross Kemp in.

Whilst that's generally true, I would nominate RTD's 'The Second Coming' as one of the finest pieces of 'noughties' tv.....

If I had to choose a UK show, it definitely wouldn't be DW, as it's been far too varying in quality, imo, I've enjoyed Robin Hood far, far more. I think though that my vote would probably have to be for Shameless, as for six years out of the decade it's given me the most enjoyment. Notable other runners-up, Bleak House, The Mighty Boosh, IT Crowd & Screenwipe.

From the US, South Park without a doubt as again it's entertained me (and I think continued to be innovative) every single year for 10 years. Notable runners-up would be BSG, 24, Firefly, and (although I've yet to see S2) Mad Men.

[Lord President]

My list

Doctor Who
House MD
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
Firefly
24
Casanova
Dexter
The IT Crowd
Life On Mars
The Second Coming
Torchwood
Black Books
QI
Spooks
Jekyll

These are in no particular order and I'm sure I've missed out loads. DW is the top of the tree of course! ;-)

[Si Hunt]

It's probably "Doctor Who", though I tend to underestimate it because it gets compared in my mind to the best TV show of the previous 50 years.

It's deeply unfashionable, but I would probably choose "The Office", simply because it was original, very well written, and truly funny on broadcast. But like claiming to like "The Darkness" in 2009, it was so trendy at the time that now it seems naff to even consider it.

Si.

[Perry Vale]

Guardian Online:
Monday 2pm: we are aware that there has been some *ahem* multiple voting and we are investigating how to eliminate this. In the meantime, please keep voting - legitimately

[Perry Vale]

Been thinking about this a little more, and think I have to say my favourite single piece of television from the last decade is the Buffy musical episode "Once More With Feeling".

[Larry]

I'd say "House" is the best show of this decade. It's funny, clever, fast paced and shows no sign of slowing down even in its fifth season. Hugh Laurie gives one of television's greatest ever performances and even though the structure of every medical emergency is basically the same, every episode feels fresh and different. It's also more politically incorrect that you'd imagine a prime time network show could be. And it's a Sherlock Holmes pastiche to boot. It doesn't get any better than House.

.

I would agree with you 100% on that one. House is one of those programms that I just stumbled across a few years ago while channel hopping and was pretty much hooked from the start.


As for best British tv programm ok we all know about Doctor Who, but it's certainly the most successfull programm of the last decade but I'm not sure that makes it the best. I'd certainly have it in my top 5 but if I was put on the spot and asked to name the best programm I'd plump for Life on Mars.It's original and a brilliantly acted and written piece of drama and of course Gene Hunt, has to be one of the great tv characters.


so my top 5 would be

Life on Mars
Doctor Who
Spooks
Torchwood: Children Of Earth
House

[Philipnet]

I've been thinking about this one a bit.
10 years is a fair bit of time; 10 years ago Buffy and StarGate SG1 was on the screen. Since then there's been Alias, Lost, BSG, DW, The Wire and others that I've enjoyed but I wouldn't rate in the Best TV Show of the Decade category.

If push came to shove, then my top five from the last decade would be:

1. Battlestar Galactica
2. Alias
3. Lost
4. Doctor Who
5. The Wire

[Perry Vale]

As for best British tv programm ok we all know about Doctor Who, but it's certainly the most successfull programm of the last decade...

I'd disagree with that statement. Most 'column inches', perhaps, but I reckon 'Planet Earth' (for one) was more successful....