Sopranos Named Best Written TV Show

The SopranosHBO’s The Sopranos tops the list of the 101 Best Written TV Series as compiled by the Writers Guild of America. WGA members voted online to determine the series which deserved recognition for outstanding writing, sifting through 70 years of television shows and miniseries in order to compile a list of the best of the best.
 
Announcing the winners, WGA Presidents Chris Keyser and Michael Winship stated: “At their core, all of these wonderful series began with the words of the writers who created them and were sustained by the writers who joined their staffs or worked on individual episodes. This list is not only a tribute to great TV, it is a dedication to all writers who devote their hearts and minds to advancing their craft.”
 
1 – The Sopranos (HBO, Created by David Chase)
 
2 – Seinfeld (NBC, Created by Larry David & Jerry Seinfeld)
 
3 – The Twilight Zone (1959 CBS, Season One writers: Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson, Robert Presnell, Jr., Rod Serling)
 
4 – All in the Family (CBS, Developed for Television by Norman Lear, Based on Till Death Do Us Part, Created by Johnny Speight)
 
5 – M*A*S*H (CBS, Developed for Television by Larry Gelbart)
 
6 – The Mary Tyler Moore Show (CBS, Created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns)
 
7 – Mad Men (AMC, Created by Matthew Weiner)
 
8 – Cheers (NBC, Created by Glen Charles & Les Charles and James Burrows)
 
9 – The Wire (HBO, Created by David Simon)
 
10 – The West Wing (NBC, Created by Aaron Sorkin)
 
11 – The Simpsons (FOX, Created by Matt Groening, Developed by James L. Brooks and Matt Groening and Sam Simon)
 
12 – I Love Lucy (CBS, “Pilot,” Written by Jess Oppenheimer & Madelyn Pugh & Bob Carroll, Jr.)
 
13 – Breaking Bad (AMC, Created by Vince Gilligan)
 
14 – The Dick Van Dyke Show (CBS, Created by Carl Reiner)
 
15 – Hill Street Blues (NBC, Created by Michael Kozoll and Steven Bochco)
 
16 – Arrested Development (FOX, Created by Mitchell Hurwitz)
 
17 – The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (COMEDY CENTRAL, Created by Madeleine Smithberg, Lizz Winstead; Season One – Head Writer: Chris Kreski; Writers: Jim Earl, Daniel J. Goor, Charles Grandy, J.R. Havlan, Tom Johnson, Kent Jones, Paul Mercurio, Guy Nicolucci, Steve Rosenfield, Jon Stewart)
 
18 – Six Feet Under (HBO, Created by Alan Ball)
 
19 – Taxi (ABC, Created by James L. Brooks and Stan Daniels and David Davis and Ed Weinberger)
 
20 – The Larry Sanders Show (HBO, Created by Garry Shandling & Dennis Klein)
 
21 – 30 Rock (NBC, Created by Tina Fey)
 
22 – Friday Night Lights (NBC, Developed for Television by Peter Berg, Inspired by the Book by H.G. Bissinger)
 
23 – Frasier (NBC, Created by David Angell & Peter Casey & David Lee, Based on the Character “Frasier Crane” Created by Glen Charles & Les Charles)
 
24 – Friends (NBC, Created by Marta Kauffman & David Crane)
 
25 – Saturday Night Live (NBC, Season One: Writing Supervised by Walter Kempley, Harry Shearer; Written by: Ann Beatts, Chevy Chase, Tom Davis, Al Franken, Rosie Michaels, Garrett Morris, Michael O’Donoghue, Herb Sargent, Tom Schiller, Alan Zweibel)
 
26 – The X-Files (FOX, Created by Chris Carter)
 
27 – Lost (ABC, Created by Jeffrey Lieber and J.J. Abrams & Damon Lindelof)
 
28 – ER (NBC, Created Michael Crichton)
 
29 – The Cosby Show (NBC, Created by Ed Weinberger & Michael Leeson and William Cosby, Jr., Ed. D.)
 
30 – Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO, Created by Larry David)
 
31 – The Honeymooners (CBS, Season One writers: Herbert Finn, Marvin Marx, A.J. Russell, Leonard Stern, Walter Stone, Sydney Zelinka)
 
32 – Deadwood (HBO, Created by David Milch)
 
33 – Star Trek (NBC, Created by Gene Roddenberry)
 
34 – Modern Family (ABC, Created by Steven Levitan & Christopher Lloyd)
 
35 – Twin Peaks (ABC, “Pilot,” Written by Mark Frost & David Lynch)
 
36 – NYPD Blue (ABC, Created by David Milch & Steven Bochco)
 
37 – The Carol Burnett Show (CBS, Season One: Written by Bill Angelos, Stan Burns, Don Hinkley, Buz Kohan, Mike Marmer, Gail Parent, Kenny Solms, Saul Turtletaub; Writing Supervised by Arnie Rosen)
 
38 – Battlestar Galactica (2005) (SYFY, Developed by Ronald D. Moore, Based on the Series Battlestar Galactica Created by Glen A. Larson)
 
39 – Sex & the City (HBO, Created by Darren Star, Based on the Book by Candace Bushnell)
 
40 – Game of Thrones (HBO, Created by David Benioff & D. B. Weiss, Based on A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin)
 
41 – The Bob Newhart Show *TIE (CBS, Created by David Davis and Lorenzo Music)
 
Your Show of Shows *TIE (NBC, Season One: Written by Mel Tolkin, Lucille Kallen, Max Liebman)
 
43 – Downton Abbey *TIE (PBS, Created by Julian Fellowes)
 
Law & Order *TIE (NBC, Created by Dick Wolf)
 
thirtysomething *TIE (ABC, Created by Marshall Herskovitz & Edward Zwick)
 
46 – Homicide: Life on the Street *TIE (NBC, Created by Paul Attanasio, Based on the Book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon)
 
St. Elsewhere *TIE (CBS, Created by Joshua Brand & John Falsey, Developed by Mark Tinker / John Masius)
 
48 – Homeland (SHOWTIME, Developed by Howard Gordon & Alex Gansa, Based on the Original Israeli Series Prisoners of War by Gideon Raff)
 
49 – Buffy the Vampire Slayer (WB, Created by Joss Whedon)
 
50 – The Colbert Report *TIE (COMEDY CENTRAL, Season One writers: Stephen Colbert, Rich Dahm, Eric Drysdale, Peter Gwinn, Jay Katsir, Laura Krafft, Allison Silverman)
 
The Good Wife *TIE (CBS, Created by Robert King & Michelle King)
 
The Office (UK) *TIE (BBC, Created by Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant)
 
53 – Northern Exposure (CBS, Created by Joshua Brand & John Falsey)
 
54 – The Wonder Years (ABC, Created by Neal Marlens & Carol Black)
 
55 – L.A. Law (NBC, Created by Steven Bochco & Terry Louise Fisher)
 
56 – Sesame Street (PBS, Created by Joan Ganz Cooney)
 
57 – Columbo (NBC, Created by Richard Levinson & William Link)
 
58 – Fawlty Towers *TIE (BBC, Written by John Cleese & Connie Booth)
 
The Rockford Files *TIE (NBC, Created by Roy Huggins and Stephen J. Cannell)
 
60 – Freaks and Geeks *TIE (NBC, Created by Paul Feig)
 
Moonlighting *TIE (ABC, Created by Glenn Gordon Caron)
 
62 – Roots (ABC, Written by William Blinn, M. Charles Cohen, Ernest Kinoy, James Lee; Based on the Book by Alex Haley)
 
63 – Everybody Loves Raymond *TIE (CBS, Created by Philip Rosenthal)
 
South Park *TIE (COMEDY CENTRAL, Created by Matt Stone & Trey Parker)
 
65 – Playhouse 90 (CBS, Season One writers: Edna Anhalt, Edmund Beloin, Harold Jack Bloom, Marc Brandel, George Bruce, James P. Cavanagh, Whitfiled Cook, Helen Doss, Scott Fitzgerald, Devery Freeman, Frank D. Gilroy, Helen Howe, Speed Lamkin, Ernest Lehman, Herbert Little, Jr., Don Mankiewicz, Elick Moll, Paul Monash, Dean Reisner, Norman Retchin, Selma Robinson, William Sackheim, Rod Serling, Leonard Spigelgass, Leslie Stevens, Brandon Thomas, David Victor, Charles M. Warren, Hagar Wilde, Cornell Woolrich)
 
66 – Dexter *TIE (SHOWTIME, Developed for Television by James Manos, Jr., Based on the Novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter
by Jeff Lindsay)
 
The Office (US) *TIE (NBC, Created by Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant, Developed by Greg Daniels, Based on the BBC Series The Office)
 
68 – My So-Called Life (ABC, Created by Winnie Holzman)
 
69 – The Golden Girls (NBC, Created by Susan Harris)
 
70 – The Andy Griffith Show (CBS, Episode 1, “The New Housekeeper,” Written by Jack Elinson and Charles Stewart)
 
71 – 24 *TIE (FOX, Created by Joel Surnow & Robert Cochran)
 
Roseanne *TIE (ABC, Created by Matt Williams, Based on a Character Created by Roseanne Barr)
 
The Shield *TIE (FX, Created by Shawn Ryan)
 
74 – House *TIE (FOX, Created by David Shore)
 
Murphy Brown *TIE (CBS, Created by Diane English)
 
76 – Barney Miller *TIE (ABC, Created by Danny Arnold & Theodore J. Flicker)
 
I, Claudius *TIE (PBS, Written by Rupert Graves and Jack Pulman)
 
78 – The Odd Couple (ABC, Episode 1, “The Fight of the Felix,” Written by Peggy Elliott & Ed Scharlach)
 
79 – Alfred Hitchcock Presents *TIE (CBS, Season One writers Gwen Bagni, Samuel Blas, Robert Blees, Ray Bradbury, Richard Carr, James Cavanagh, Eustace Cockrell, Francis Cockrell, Marian Cockrell, John Collier, Robert C. Dennis, Mel Dinelli, Stanley Ellin, Fred Freiberger, Irwin Gielgud, Gina Kaus, Terence Maples, Richard Pedicini, Louis Pollock, Joseph Ruscoll, A.J. Russell, Stirling Silliphant, Andrew Solt, Harold Swanton, Victor Wolfson, Cornell Woolrich)
 
Monty Python’s Flying Circus *TIE (BBC, Conceived and Written by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Neil Innes, Terry Jones, Michael Palin)
 
Star Trek: The Next Generation *TIE (SYN, Created by Gene Roddenberry)
 
Upstairs, Downstairs *TIE (PBS, Created by Jean Marsh and Eileen Atkins)
 
83 – Get Smart (NBC, “Pilot,” Written by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry)
 
84 – The Defenders *TIE (CBS, Created by Reginald Rose)
 
Gunsmoke *TIE (CBS, Episode 1, “Matt Gets It,” Written by Charles Marquis Warren & John Meston)
 
86 – Justified *TIE (FX, Developed for Television by Graham Yost, Based on the Short Story “Fire in the Hole” by Elmore Leonard)
 
Sgt. Bilko (The Phil Silvers Show) *TIE (CBS, Created by Nat Hiken)
 
88 – Band of Brothers (HBO, Written by Erik Bork, E. Max Frye, Tom Hanks, Erik Jendresen, Bruce C. McKenna, John Orloff, Graham Yost; Based on the Book by Stephan E. Ambrose)
 
89 – Rowan & Martin’s Laugh – In (NBC, Season One: Written by Chris Beard, Phil Hahn, John Hanrahan, Coslough Johnson, Paul Keyes, Marc London, Allan Manings, David Panich, Hugh Wedlock, Digby Wolfe)
 
90 – The Prisoner (CBS, Premiere Episode: Written by George Markstein and David Tomblin)
 
91 – Absolutely Fabulous (UK) *TIE (BBC, Episode 1, “Fashion,” Written by Jennifer Saunders, Based on an Original Idea by Jennifer Saunders & Dawn French)
 
The Muppet Show *TIE (SYN, Season One: Written by Jack Burns, Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl, Marc London)
 
93 – Boardwalk Empire (HBO, Created by Terence Winter, Based on the Book Boardwalk Empire by Nelson Johnson)
 
94 – Will & Grace (NBC, Created by David Kohan & Max Mutchnick)
 
95 – Family Ties (NBC, Created by Gary David Goldberg)
 
96 – Lonesome Dove *TIE (CBS, Teleplay by Bill Wittliff, Based on the Novel Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry)
 
Soap *TIE (ABC, Created by Susan Harris)
 
98 – The Fugitive *TIE (ABC, Episode 1, “Where the Action Is,” Written by Harry Kronman)
 
Late Night with David Letterman *TIE (CBS, Season One: Writing Supervised by Merrill Markoe, Writers: Andy Breckman, Tom Gammill, David Letterman, Richard Morris, Gerard Mulligan, Max Pross, Karl Tiedemann, Steve Winer)
 
Louie *TIE (FX, Season One: Written and Directed by Louis C.K.)
 
101 – Oz (HBO, Created by Tom Fontana)
 
Source: WGA

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