I can't get the link to the actual article (on wga.org) to work, so I'll post this link instead. Regardless, it's a pretty fun list, I think.

ETA: Did I say "fun"? I meant "bad." It's a bad list. (Sorry, y'all, lol.)

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Exclusive-Best-Written-Shows-Ever-TV-Writers-1066234.aspx

Edited June 4, 201312 yr by Khan

Friends is another one I consider a badly aged and overrated as hell sitcom. I really wish it had ended after season 6 or so.

I haven't watched Friends that often (I am probably the only person in the world who hasn't), so I can't say.

The first few seasons of SATC are dated, but also fun. The third season, when they began taking themselves seriously, were a big mess. I don't know who decided that was a great idea. I wonder if it's on the list because of the New York atmosphere.

I would have never put SNL that high, even if the show had some great moments. I guess that may be another New York thing.

The Sopranos is a great example of a show that makes people feel cool and special, so this wins out. Most writers are straight white guys, and they see this mob atmosphere, with all the angst, and all the hot women, and, for all the talk of a price, nothing truly bad ever happens to Tony (even the last scene is ambiguous).

I don't recall any hot women on the show in a significant role. The mother, the crazy sister, the psychiatrist, even the wife, none of them were hot.

The mistresses/strippers constantly in their lives.

The list is really boring to me. It's not very different from any "Greatest Shows" lists, except this time, the emphasis is on writing. I like a lot of the shows here, but I feel as though the usual canon for "good writing" is always so narrow and elite.

I agree. I love many of the choices, but mostly it feels like a "let's re-organize the same shows that are almost always mentioned." For example, I love love love the Herskovitz/Zwick family dramas, but I think ultimately Once and Again had better writing than thirtysomething--but thirtysomething is the much more well known show title wise, so...

The list is really boring to me. It's not very different from any "Greatest Shows" lists, except this time, the emphasis is on writing. I like a lot of the shows here, but I feel as though the usual canon for "good writing" is always so narrow and elite.

You know what might be fun? Seeing if we could trade some of the shows that ARE on the list for ones that aren't. Because, looking at it again, not only do I see your point, AMS, but I also could think of some really good shows that didn't make it that should have.

Happy to see My So-Called Life made the cut! One season and still remembered and thought of as one of the best-written shows ever! The writing MADE that series.

HOWEVER, I have to say I'm disappointed that neither of my fave David Kelley shows, Ally McBeal and The Practice, made the cut. Both certainly deserved to be there.

Also, I wish people would remember/notice NewsRadio, one of the best written comedies of all-time.

I think David Kelley's egomania and the ugly underbelly of those shows (basically watching women starve themselves) overshadowed the rest as time passed.

You know what might be fun? Seeing if we could trade some of the shows that ARE on the list for ones that aren't. Because, looking at it again, not only do I see your point, AMS, but I also could think of some really good shows that didn't make it that should have.

That would take me ages, as there are so many good shows which should have been on there.

It's too bad Knots Landing isn't on there, although elitism made that impossible.

I think David Kelley's egomania and the ugly underbelly of those shows (basically watching women starve themselves) overshadowed the rest as time passed.

Unfairly- I didn't EVER feel either of those shows were about watching women starve themselves. They were madly inventive, wickedly interesting, beautifully twisted and imaginative shows. Any writer would recognize the profoundness of both series, especially Ally McBeal. John Cage is one of the most offbeat, complicated, and interesting characters ever imagined. The way that he put things and saw the world was so profound (I know, I already used the word, but it's true). To me anyway.

I haven't watched Friends that often (I am probably the only person in the world who hasn't), so I can't say.

Nope, you aren't.

"Sex and the City"'s decline can be summed up in three words: Sarah. Jessica. Parker. The more powerful she became BTS, IMO, the worse the show grew. The show began as a satirical look at young, independent, professional women, living in an age and society where they could be as casual and non-commital about sex as men. Somewhere along the way, however, it became this improbable fairy tale about one alleged fashionista, her elusive d-bag of a Prince Charming and the non-stop drama on their inevitable way to the Happily Ever After.

And yet, because I tend to love continuing stories, I also tend to enjoy the last three or so seasons more than I do the beginning. Go figure, right?

One show (out of several) that I'd include on the list: "Homefront." Next to KNOTS LANDING, it probably was Lynn Marie Latham and Bernard Lechowick's finest hours as writer-producers.

Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke Show are two shows I've always thought of as well written. I can't think of either show having a "bad"(as in awful/jump the shark) writing

I agree with whoever said Once & Again was better in terms of writing/3-D characters then Thirty something.

I think even a weak episode of MTM was heads above some of the current crop of comedies.

I would have put Knots Landing/Dallas on the list if both shows ended earlier then they did. Perhaps if Knots Landing ended by 1989, then I would rank it as a top 101.. and if Dallas had ended around 1985, I would rank it as well on the list.

I think I would have put Designing Women on the list over Friends.. especially since DW had five great seasons out of seven.. while Friends maybe had 4 great season out of 10.

Some of my favorite Knots material ever was from 89-91. You just had to wade through some of the crud.

Edited June 4, 201312 yr by CarlD2

Happy to see My So-Called Life made the cut! One season and still remembered and thought of as one of the best-written shows ever! The writing MADE that series.

I am too--so as a Herskovitz/Zwick fanboy (as well a an of co-cretor Winnie Holzman) I'm pleased, but really it wasn't too srprising--it seemed to be the obvious choice to fit the "teen drama" slot.