Next month, everyone here at TV Squad will be giving their picks for the best TV shows of the '00s (zeros? aughts?). One critic has the jump on us and has picked his ten, and ABC's new sitcom Modern Family is one of them.I'm not sure how this can be. I mean, I like it OK, but has it been around long enough to put it on the list of the best TV shows of the past ten years? To be fair, he picks some shows I definitely think should be in the running, including The West Wing, Mad Men, 30 Rock, Lost, and The Sopranos, but I think there are a lot of shows we could pick to go in the number ten spot where Modern Family sits.
Last month I did a post on how a lot of critics think the show is one of the ten best of the year, and I said that although I find the show good I don't yet find it great. So that means I certainly wouldn't have it on my list of the decade's best. How about you?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
11-30-2009 @ 2:22PM
Destin said...
Modern Family is a good show, with a cast that generally seems better than the material. It may become a great show, but it isn't yet.
The omission of Arrested Development means the list lacks any real credibility, though, so it doesn't really matter.
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11-30-2009 @ 2:29PM
BDUB said...
I really like Modern Family but not more than AD or The Wire. I can't believe those two shows did not make it. Plus, I would put Breaking Bad in before Damages.
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11-30-2009 @ 2:34PM
David said...
The Reuters article you linked to doesn't include, "The Wire". Therefore, it is wrong :)
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11-30-2009 @ 2:43PM
Kyp said...
What Destin said.
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11-30-2009 @ 2:49PM
Midnight13 said...
There seems to be a "Modern Family" backlash of late. Just because some critics love the show and find it to be really great. Let's be honest for most shows thier first season is thier best season. Even shows that are considered some of the best of television (Nip/Tuck, Six Feet Under, 24). That doesn't means thier following seasons haven't been good, but just not as good as that first season. So whether that ends up being the case for "Modern Family" or not, right now its one of the best shows you can watch right now. Its new, its fresh, and near flawless. Whether it can maintain that quality in its second or even its fifth season remains to be seen, but right now, its great, and that's what matters.
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11-30-2009 @ 6:05PM
Jason B said...
Nope. The final season of Six Feet Under was far and away its best, and one of the best seasons of any drama, ever.
11-30-2009 @ 6:22PM
Chris said...
I will not take seriously any list that doesn't mention BOTH 'The Wire' and 'Arrested Development'.
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11-30-2009 @ 3:01PM
Ryan said...
I love love love Modern Family and will most likely place it in my Top 10 Shows of 2009 and definitely gets the award as Best New Show... but one of the best of the decades? Definitely not enough time/episodes.
Then again I plan on putting "Firefly" in my list and that had 13 episodes and was canceled even before all was shown. So whatever. Lists are arbitrary anyways.
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11-30-2009 @ 3:17PM
Telechimp said...
I love 'Modern Family.' It's a great show, I look forward to it every week, but it's not a show that should be on that list.
'Arrested Development' definitely should be. More importantly, though, where is 'The Daily Show' or 'Battlestar Galactica'?
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11-30-2009 @ 3:29PM
rick cokely said...
It's getting there. It feels very Arrested Development to me so I'm still in the mode of shaking that off. It's a good show so far and hopefully will be on for a while, but it still feels like it's missing something to set it apart from previous shows.
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11-30-2009 @ 3:48PM
Joshed said...
Ed O'Neill is genius.
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11-30-2009 @ 4:11PM
Willmore2000 said...
No way Modern Family gets in. It's a cute show, I watch it, but it's not even a top 5 comedy on TV right now.
My top ten of the decade, from memory. No particular order.
The Wire
The Sopranos
Curb Your Enthusiasm
The West Wing
Battlestar Galactica
Lost
House
The Office (UK)
Arrested Development
Hustle
And that's before The Office (US), 30 Rock, Entourage, Deadwood and a dozen other very good shows.
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11-30-2009 @ 4:30PM
Jimmy said...
Modern Family wouldn't even make my list of the top three shows on Wednesday night! (FWIW, I'd put it behind SVU, The Middle and Glee.)
I like the Julie Bowen storyline, but the other two-thirds of the show doesn't interest me at all.
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12-01-2009 @ 8:53AM
grumpiestoldman said...
No. But "The Middle" definitely is!
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11-30-2009 @ 4:48PM
tony said...
Fun list but without The Wire in the top 10 it has no credability. I also believe Arrested Development should be somewhere in there as well.
I enjoy Modern Family and I believe it can be a top 10 show but with only 12 episodes to go by I can't give it the vote it deserves.
1.The Wire
2. The Sopranos
3. Lost
4. Mad Men
5. Arrested Development
6. The Shield
7. Damages
8. Curb Your Enthusiasm
9. Battlestar Galactica
10. Six Feet Under
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11-30-2009 @ 4:54PM
izikavazo said...
This is why we should let time pass before we choose our top ten. Let's let the decade end and then we can look at it objectively.
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11-30-2009 @ 5:00PM
Tim said...
You've just hit on one of my complaints about this decade. How will it ever acquire its own personality if no one knows how to refer to it? The next decade is going to have the same problem. It's almost like 20 years of our life will have disappeared. /drama
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11-30-2009 @ 5:05PM
Tim said...
One more thing. Phil from Modern Family is exactly the same character as Michael Scott.
11-30-2009 @ 5:16PM
Ryan said...
I don't know about others, but I just refer to it as the Aughts.
Next decade will be the Tens/Teens. Ok, I don't know. Haha.
11-30-2009 @ 5:27PM
Mike said...
It makes the list of best comedies of the decade, but not overall shows.
And I do want to disagree about one thing... it's simply not true to say that most comedies are their best in the first season. It is often true of dramas, sci-fi, action/adventure plots, because those are often mapped out to an extent... the sitcom is a different critter. It's more like a procedural in that nothing much really changes in the fundamental structure of the show or relationships therein. The only thing that changes is the comfort and timing among the cast... Seinfeld got much better. Cheers got much better. Even Frasier, based on a character already on tv for a decade, got much better. I'd say the sweet spot of a lot of shows is mid-season 2 through season 5... It's true of a lot of shows, including things like ST:TNG. The point is, I wouldn't remotely discount this as their best material for this series.
That said, was West Wing one of the best series of the 1990's? It was on in that decade just as much as Modern Family will be during this one.....
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