Breaking Down the 100 Greatest Television Shows of the 00's

By now I hope you have had the chance to digest The 100 Greatest Television Shows of the 00’s. If not, follow the link to give it a look before reading further. I didn’t do an introduction to the list because I tend to get wordy when I get on a roll and I just wanted the list to speak for itself, only adding a quick note to the requirements. So I will get wordy today instead.

Yesterday kicked off a year long look back at the decade that is about to end. Every month for the next twelve months (sans December where I will be too busy doing my usually year end retrospective) I will release a new comprehensive list remembering the best of the 00’s. I do mean comprehensive because I have been researching these list for the last two years to make sure they are as complete as they could be. Of course I am only an armchair pundit and will not have gotten to experience your favorites, so if they are missing, that most likely be the case. Granted there is an off chance I did catch it and just didn’t like it (I’m talking to you the people who still think Heroes is watchable).

Like I said before, I wanted to have the lists speak for themselves so just like yesterday future list will be just that. But much like today, the day after a “Greatest of the 00’s” list, I will delve a little deeper and over digest each list. I would first like to say that I may the eligibility requirement September 1999 to August 2009 because it seemed easy to include full season and thus eliminating such quandaries like “should Freaks and Geeks included even though it only aired half a season?” So here is the 100 Greatest Television Shows of the 00’s by the numbers:

Shows by Network
NBC - 14
ABC - 11
VH1 - 11
FOX - 10
CBS - 8
MTV - 7
WB - 6
Comedy Central - 5
HBO - 5
CW - 4
Showtime - 4
ESPN - 3
TNT - 3
UPN - 3
ABC Family - 2
Bravo - 2
G4 - 2
National Geographic - 2
Cartoon Network - 1
CMT - 1
DirecTV - 1
FX - 1
MSNBC - 1
PBS - 1
Spike - 1
Tech-TV - 1
USA – 1

Shows by Genre
Drama - 30
Comedy - 19
Competition - 10
Documentary - 10
Sci-Fi - 10
News - 9
Variety - 6
Music - 4
Animation - 2

(Scooter’s Note: There is no “reality” because I divided those shows into Competition and Documentary)

Shows by Debut Year
Pre-1999 – 15
1999 – 5
2000 – 4
2001 – 9
2002 – 8
2003 – 13
2004 – 7
2005 – 9
2006 – 8
2007 – 9
2008 – 7
2009 – 6

Shows by End Year
2000 – 2
2001 – 4
2002 – 6
2003 – 5
2004 – 8
2005 – 7
2006 – 8
2007 – 8
2008 – 2
2009 – 8

Creators with Multiple Shows
Brian Fuller - 3
Joss Whedon – 3
Aaron Sorkin – 2
Denis Leary – 2
Greg Berlanti – 2
J.J. Abrams – 2
Norm McDonald – 2
Rob Burnett and Rob Beckerman - 2
Rob Thomas – 2

Cast Member in Multiple Shows
Adam Baldwin - 3
Denis Leary – 3
Tom Cavanaugh – 3
Allison Hannigan – 2
Chi McBride - 2
Ian McShane – 2
James Purefoy – 2
Jason Segal – 2
Julie Gonzalo – 2
Katie Finneran - 2
Kevin McKidd – 2
Lee Pace - 2
Mark Valley - 2
Nathan Fillion - 2
Norm McDonald – 2
Rachel Nichols - 2
Sarah Paulson – 2
Seth Rogan - 2


Still on the Air - 42

One and Done Seasons – 26

Jumped Networks – 4

(Scooter’s Note: The UPN/WB and G4/Tech-TV mergers and the special Friday Night Lights agreement with DirecTV and NBC are not included in the number. Monday Night Raw is only counted once.)

Disappeared in the Digital Age (no DVD, no streaming, no (legal) downloading): 18

One last thing, since the decade is over and there doesn’t seem to be a consensus on what to call it, when you see me talk about “Greatest of the 00’s” think the last syllable of Cheerio’s.