The TV List

When does one say one has seen a TV show? Do I have to watch every episode of the last, Duchovny-less seasons of The X-Files to say I've seen The X-Files? No, never mind The X-Files -- how about all 635 episodes of Gunsmoke? Just -- no. Not going to happen. The goal is to see good stuff before I die, not make myself wish for death. So here's the rule: All the so-called seminal episodes, plus whatever other ones I personally want to see. Arbitrary? You betcha. Do I care? Six hundred thirty-five episodes of Gunsmoke. James Arness, I salute you, but I cannot with that.

1. 24 
2. Alias 
3. All in the Family 
4. Andy Griffith Show, The 
5. Angel 
6. Arrested Development 
7. Babylon 5 
8. Band of Brothers 
9. Battlestar Galactica 
10. Blackadder 
11. Breaking Bad 
12. Brideshead Revisited 
13. Buffy the Vampire Slayer 
14. Cagney & Lacey 
15. Carol Burnett Show, The 
16. Cheers 
17. Columbo 
18. Cosby Show, The 
19. Cracker 
20. Curb Your Enthusiasm 
21. Deadwood 
22. Dexter 
23. Dick Van Dyke Show, The 
24. Doctor Who 
25. Dragnet 
26. ER 
27. Farscape 
28. Father Ted 
29. Fawlty Towers 
30. Firefly 
31. Freaks and Geeks 
32. Friday Night Lights 
33. Friends 
34. Fugitive, The 
35. Gilmore Girls 
36. Gunsmoke 
37. Hill Street Blues 
38. Honeymooners, The 
39. I Love Lucy 
40. Inspector Morse 
41. Kojak 
42. L. A. Law 
43. Larry Sanders Show, The 
44. Law & Order 
45. Lost 
46. M*A*S*H 
47. Mad Men 
48. Mary Tyler Moore 
49. Miami Vice 
50. Mission: Impossible 
51. Monty Python's Flying Circus 
52. Moonlighting 
53. My So-Called Life 
54. NYPD Blue 
55. Office (UK), The 
56. Playhouse 90 
57. Prime Suspect 
58. Prisoner, The 
59. Quantum Leap 
60. Red Dwarf 
61. Rockford Files, The 
62. Roots 
63. Roseanne 
64. Second City Television 
65. Seinfeld 
66. Sesame Street 
67. Sex and the City 
68. Shield, The 
69. Simpsons, The 
70. Singing Detective, The 
71. Six Feet Under 
72. Sopranos, The 
73. Spaced 
74. St. Elsewhere 
75. Star Trek 
76. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 
77. Star Trek: The Next Generation 
78. State of Play 
79. Taxi 
80. thirtysomething 
81. Twilight Zone, The 
82. Twin Peaks 
83. Veronica Mars 
84. West Wing, The 
85. Wire, The 
86. Wiseguy 
87. WKRP in Cincinnati 
88. X-Files, The