WINNER TO THE END
‘Sopranos’ ranks high in new all-time fave lists
THIS MONTH’S random rash of “Best TV Show Ever!” lists added one more note of poignancy to the death of James Gandolfini.
Entertainment Weekly’s list, which will be released in full in the magazine’s new issue on Friday, puts “The Sopranos” in fifth place.
Since Gandolfini was the centerpiece, Tony Soprano, this reminds us why his death a f fected so many people: Whatever his personal ups and downs, he created a TV character that most Americans know and millions of Americans remember well.
“The Sopranos” did even better with the Writers Guild of America (WGA), which also released its list this month.
Of the 100 shows deemed the best-written of all time, “The Sopranos” came in first.
The series has been to this rodeo before.
When TV Guide did a best-shows-ever list in 2002, “The Sopranos” was only three years into its eight-year run and it still finished at No. 5.
The way best-of lists work, older shows tend to get pushed down the list as new generations of voters give more recent ser ies t heir attention.
The 2002 TV Guide list, for instance, had two of the icons of early 1950s television, “I Love Lucy” and “The Honeymooners,” at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively.
The 2013 WGA list had “Lucy” at No. 12 and “The Honeymooners” at No. 31.
At least for a while, though, certain shows tend to show up on almost every list.
“Seinfeld” was No. 1 on the 2002 TV Guide list. It is No. 2 on the WGA list and No. 3 on the EW list. It will be interesting to see if widely praised current shows like “Game of Thrones,” “Mad Men,” “Homela nd” and “Downton Abbey” start showing up on future lists.
Those series have the advantage of winning awards and being popular — which is an issue for almost any TV fan who loves a program that got canceled after a year or two.
Fans of “My So-Called Life” or “I’ll Fly Away” or “Southland” will rarely see them on lists, largely because their profiles are so low.
Here’s the top of the new
EW list:
1. “The Wire” 2. “The Simpsons” 3. “Seinfeld” 4. “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” 5. “The Sopranos”
The WGA’s top 10:
1. “The Sopranos” 2. “Seinfeld” 3. “The Twilight Zone” 4. “All in the Family” 5. “M*A*S*H” 6. “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” 7. “Mad Men” 8. “Cheers” 9. “The Wire” 10. “The West Wing”