There are a lot of great television shows on the air now, and one of them is not American Horror Story: Asylum, which is a ridiculously entertaining, nutballs genre show that is more suitable to a list of the 10 Best Shows In Which the Showrunners Work Out Their Psychosexual Issues. Yet, it occupies a place on AFI’s List of the 10 Best Shows of 2012 instead of Justified because there is no Santa Claus. There’s one television movie (HBO’s Game Change) and also only one representative from network television. You think it’s Parks and Recreation? Community? Happy Endings? New Girl? No, of course not. It’s the one these critics organizations ALWAYS pick: Modern Family.
Here is a list of the 10 Best Shows, according to AFI. They don’t rank them, but I’m going to rank their choices on their behalf.
10. American Horror Story: Asylum
9. Game Change
8. Modern Family
7. Girls
6. Homeland
5. The Walking Dead
4. Louie
3. Mad Men
2. Game of Thrones
1. Breaking Bad
This list displeases Ava Crowder.
(Source: AFI)
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No Parks and Rec: list is illegitimate and the rest of its conclusions invalidated. Full stop.
Honest question: why do people love Parks and Rec? There are a decent amount of network comedies I’ve loved in recent years like New Girl, Happy Endings, Community, 30 Rock and Cougar Town but I’ve never remotely understood what people saw in PnR. Earlier in the fall I made a point to watch season two and some of season three before giving up.
Like I said, I don’t understand it.
@ReasonablySober Agreed. It’s good, but I don’t think it’s the end all that the interwebs seem to make it out to be. I mean, Louie, I can understand because it twists just about every sitcom convention, but PnR is just a well-written, funny show. I pretty much watch it, because it’s on.
P.S. Full disclosure…I also don’t hate BBT as much as everyone on here seems to.
^^,^. “a well written, funny show.” This is precisely why the show gets love. Especially given the dearth of shows that fit that rubric.
Also, Plaza = pants party.
I like it sorta b/c I like to see Amy Poehler has been so underrated in the past. I’m glad to see her finally getting her due. I know that doesn’t really impact the actual quality of the show, and truthfully I wouldn’t put it in the top 10.
I think it gets a lot of love because the show delivers story lines with a lot of heart. It’s an enjoyable to watch, leaves you feeling good, and does so with clever writing and good performances. It’s an easy show to love because the characters are so lovable.
People love PnR for a couple of reasons
A. It is totally awesome (that one might be a little biased though.)
B. YOU”RE STUPID, I DON”T LIKE YOU.
Have I made my point?
Why do people love P&R? Two words: Ron Swanson
^^ Touche good sir, touche.
That is LITERALLY the best reason why I love Parks and Rec.
I used to like P&R, but lately it’s just become too sappy for me. I still watch it, but i find myself cringing at it more now than laughing at it. It’s almost like Modern Family.
Also, Modern Family SUCKS. There, I said it.
Oh thank God, I thought I was the only one.
It doesn’t suck like Big Bang Theory sucks but it certainly doesn’t belong on the list
A lot of shows don’t belong on this list, but there they are.
It was great in the first season. Then the writers seemingly got lazy and decided to fall back on every stereotypical sitcom trope. It isn’t bad, but it doesn’t deserve the amount of praise that is continuously heaped upon it.
I think a better way to say this is that Modern Family didn’t earn a spot on the list of top 2012 TV shows. It doesn’t suck, it just underperformed.
I like Modern Family because of the characters, not the writing. Cam, Phil, Luke, Jay and Gloria are wonderful.
I thought Modern Family was funny for a couple of seasons, but it’s gotten old. The characters are all one note caricatures, they never grow, (not counting the obligatory “feel good” moment at the end of every episode where a 22 minute lesson is learned) and to be honest, it’s fucking tiring. My husband was still making me watch this shit and thank god the CW moved “Supernatural” into a competing time slot, which he likes more and I tolerate better.
Modern Family used to be great because it played around with stereotypes.
Remember how Cam used to be? “I collect antique fountain pens, I’m quite adept at Japanese flower arrangements – Ikebana – and I was a starting offensive lineman at the University of Illinois for four seasons.”
We’ve lost “Fizbo the Ass-Kicking Clown” and gotten “Screaming Queen #2″ from a 1998 episode of “Will and Grace.” Meh.
Yeah…American Horror Story should definitely not be on there. It’s amusing in the way True Blood is amusing (albeit sans boobs), but it isn’t one of the best shows on tv this year. It’s over the top fluff and it’s not really all that scary, considering the fact that “horror” is in the title.
Same with “Richard Scarry’s Busytown”, not frightening at all!
I don’t know, that cat in lederhosen is pretty scary.
But Goldbug might get run over!!!
Exactly. AHS = True Blood. I love both, in a campy stupid way, but that’s just it. They’re both campy and stupid shows.
Briarcliff really does have no regulations. The Massachusetts Board of Health really has done a terrible job giving them permits.
(Sorry, Massachusetts BAWD of Health)
I made it through 1 episode of Girls. That was enough.
Yeah I don’t steal HBO’s TV shows to watch a fat bitch get fucked.
Girls and Game Change, but no Justified?
/shakes fist at shitty list
KEEP SHAKING, BOY!
Any list that includes Girls loses instant credibility, regardless of how many other shows are on it that I may watch.
I have avoided it, but is it that bad?
Leapin_Lizards, it’s not that bad, it just gets hate because after it aired suddenly EVERYONE on the internet became race conscious and noticed that the show was called “Girls” and had as its lead four white girls living in Brooklyn. I’m not saying this is why Armorcladinosor doesn’t like the show nor am I saying there aren’t race issues on television, because there are (how many shows actually write meaningful plot lines for minority characters?), but Girls somehow bore the brunt of abuse for TV’s collective failure to represent minority voices at the acting, writing and producing levels. Also it gets hate because all of the leads have famous or rich parents, which is a criticism I really don’t understand–Hollywood is full of people who have jobs based not on merit but based on who they know (when Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman and Owen Wilson get cast in a new Wes Anderson movie, no one screams “Nepotism!” on the internet because that would be ridiculous). You will notice, Leapin_Lizards, that none of this has to do with the actual content of the show. Anybody can totally not like something because…it just doesn’t hit you as funny or worthwhile (or any other reason that falls under the category of “subjective”), but to not like a TV show because of potentially dubious casting protocol and a bias toward caucasian representation means you should probably stop watching television altogether.
Girls was bad because an episode ended unironically with two women dancing their cares away to music in a bedroom to make everything a-ok. I actually was amazed more people weren’t insulted by that hackery than anything about the whitewashing of TV.
Eh, I kind of enjoyed it. It would be low on my list of top ten, but it would beat out AHS:Asylum, Modern Family (I assume, though I have never watched it). But I would probably just put Community and Parks & Rec on there instead.
AFI has just released a statement stating that there was a typo on this list; “Modern Family” should read “Boardwalk Empire”
I guess iCarly belongs on the Showrunners Work Out Their Psychosexual Issues list.
How about Boardwalk Empire?
My thoughts exactly! This season was AMAZING
One could argue for Boardwalk at least in the Top 5. Outside the top 10 is a joke.
More like Boredwalk Empire.
By far the best show on TV.
I was willing to let that slight pass, but then I saw “American Horror Story” on there and now I’m mad enough to punch out a nun.
That’s at least a Top 5 I can get behind (and make sweet, teary-eyed love to COME BACK TO ME GAME OF THRONES/BREAKING BAD)
Archer and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia should replace Modern Family and Game Change. Boardwalk Empire is wayyyyy better than Girls.
I think most critics dismiss ‘Always Sunny’ as a trashy, low-brow comedy, but the writers’ development of the Dennis character this season alone makes it top 10 worthy in my book.
and this post makes you top 10 worthy in our hearts.
Archer, IASIP, and Boarwalk Empire should all be on there. Holy shit, I just mistyped that but I think I have an idea for a new show now. People trying to walk a boar down a boardwalk. I would watch it, just saying. A single leash to rule them all.
Maybe even have some of the sow’s piglets at the other end of the boardwalk just to make things interesting. Yes, I am from the South so I actually know what a sow is.
HEY THANKS CATHERINED WHERE CAN I GET A LABTOP?
Are you Charlie Kelly?
Yeah this list kinda sucks because of Modern Family. Although I don’t hate it, it’s just very meh every week and I don’t get why it is praised SOOOO much. But then again at least it’s not Two and Half Men or Big Bang Theory because holy shit.
Okay so question to my trusted UPROXX commenters, I don’t get HBO or Showtime because I am a poor college student. I am going home for Winter Break and have tons of time to kill with my Netflix account and also my friends HBO-GO account. What do I start watching? Do I immediately jump into Game of Thrones? Or do I look somewhere online for Homeland or Boardwalk Empire? OR do I just browse Netflix and finally watch Firefly, The IT crowd, and Terriers that everyone has been telling me to watch.
If you’re going HBO, Game of Thrones first. It comes back in March, so you’ll be able to catch up. The other shows you could always watch over the summer since the new seasons won’t be on until Summer/Fall.
You can’t get TV shows on the internet? Sweet Jesus son. I don’t even own a TV anymore and only watch them on sites like sidereel.
What are you majoring in, how to disappoint me?
You could also read the Game of Thrones books. When I was your age, television was called books.
CATHERINED should be a thing now
Alright, any spammer who writes “I be certain” definitely has a “De” in front of their name. Isn’t that right DeCatherine?
Boyd Crowder: Raylan Givens and I don’t always see eye to eye. If I was to be truthful, we rarely do… see eye to eye, that is. But that don’t change the fact that we’re friends, and I’ll not have you disrespect my friend in this manner. I think it would be best for everyone involved if you, perhaps, went and re-did your list.
Remove American Horror Story, Game Change (good tv movie, BUT NOT A SHOW), and Girls. Replace with Archer, Community, and Justified. Then praise me with candies.
Justified should be top ten for sure, though it would be top five for me, but I could more easily understand why critics would put it in a 5-10 spot. And Boardwalk Empire should be two or three. Edit that shit, AFI!
Could. Not. Agree. More.
Numbers 7-10 need to be replaced with the following shows:
10. Parks and Recreation
9. New Girl
8. It’s Always Sunny
7. SONS OF ANARCHY (which should actually be at least #3 or #2 on this list)
How da hell do they leave that show off? Jax Teller is my baby daddy.
If we are talking SOA seasons 1 & 2 then I would fully support that. The show is still trying to find that magic that made the first two seasons ultra good.
Why is there NEVER any love for SouthLAnd? It is one of the best shows on television and it gets constantly snubbed! I blame NBC for dumping it and making it look like a crap show.