Well, according to a survey conducted by the totally unbiased and scientifically right on the nose team over at People Magazine and ABC’s 20/20 news show, TV’s all-time best series is…I LOVE LUCY!
(Wonder if anybody who took part in the survey actually saw that show first-run.)
Not exactly a shock, huh?
It does seem kind of surprising, though, that the top five finalists all were comedies:
- I LOVE LUCY
- M*A*S*H
- SEINFELD
- ALL IN THE FAMILY
- CHEERS
Presumably because of this injustice, the survey also announced the “best drama series of all time,” which we find a little more difficult to agree with:
- ER
- THE TWILIGHT ZONE
- THE SOPRANOS
- THE WEST WING
- MAD MEN
To our way of looking at things, the dramas are a little heavy on recent shows, with nothing earlier than THE TWILIGHT ZONE, and we’re asuming that’s the original version, that started in 1959. Guess those surveyed forgot all about PLAYHOUSE 90 and its ilk.
See more winners in a variety of categories (including “Best Reality Show,” honest) and lots of clips at ABC BEST-IN-TV.
Are there recordings of those really early TV dramas? If so, I bet they are kinescopes that don’t look very good. I Love Lucy is still watchable because Ricky had the idea to use film cameras to record the shows, rather than do the shows live and film a TV screen to make kinescopes.