Our parents told us TV would melt our brains. While it’s possible “Punky Brewster” and “A-Team” did just that, along the way we saw some genius art. Television can’t play 90 minutes on the big screen and vanish into the bargain bin. And it lacks one author to take it from introduction to the final page. Yet within these boundaries, there are a small number of shows that capture our attention, our obsession, and create enduring stories. How many? 35. They’re listed here. Don’t see your favorite television show? That’s probably because, while entertaining, it didn’t rise above mere packaging for a car commercial.These programs, decided on by a group of obsessive New York Post writers who never listened to their parents, are something more. Popular and compelling, yes, but groundbreaking as well, each one changing what was possible – and what sometimes was allowed – on TV.This is television’s most perfect network, playing on repeats in the TiVo of our minds.
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1 THE SOPRANOS
(1999-2007, HBO)
When “The Sopranos” drama was in great form, there was nothing else like it. Episodes such as “College,” from season one were simultaneously funny, frightening and startling. Tony toured New England universities with his daughter Meadow and took some time out to murder an old enemy while at home, his wife Carmela almost seduced her favorite priest, Father Phil, while watching a movie. Viewers never knew what was going to happen next, a policy creator David Chase enforced to the very last scene. The show also introduced us to fantastic actors who would have never been cast had the show been produced in Los Angeles. It is impossible to imagine anyone else playing Tony and Carmela besides James Gandolfini and Edie Falco. Their portrayal of a sometimes ugly marriage had never been seen on television before.
2 ALL IN THE FAMILY
(1971-79, CBS)
Archie Bunker (Carroll O’Connor) hated everybody who wasn’t a white, middle-class American like himself. Regularly using such pejoratives as “fag,” “spade,” “wop” and “chink,” he was so politically incorrect he wouldn’t be allowed to set foot on a television show anymore. But in “All In The Family,” creator Norman Lear found an anti-hero through which he could parody such serious subjects as intolerance in America. Based on the British series “Till Death Do Us Part,” the comedy was a risky choice for CBS, but when it went to number one and stayed there for five years, the network spun off “Maude,” “The Jeffersons” and “Good Times,” among other series.
3 THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW (1986-present, syndication) Phil Donahue gets the credit for ushering in this era of daytime talk, but no one has mastered the genre like Oprah Winfrey, who has turned TV into her temple. Winfrey is a goddess to American women, a humanitarian who never runs out of ways to make the world a better place and the most influential media personality in America. In one classic episode, Winfrey, who has been publicly battling her weight since we met her, walked on stage some 40 pounds lighter on Nov. 5, 1988, after spending three months on a liquid diet. In the show’s highest episode ever, she pulled an equivalent amount of fat behind her in a wagon. Today, Winfrey is a multi-media, multi-billion dollar brand, and her syndicated talk show, where she addresses pressing social issues of special concern to women, runs a book club, and gives away prizes to her loyal audience, is just the start. “O, the Oprah Magazine,” boasts a circulation of 16 million; “Oprah and Friends” airs each day on XM Satellite Radio; and in 2009, Winfrey is partnering with Discovery to launch the Oprah Winfrey Network, or OWN. It truly is Oprah’s world; we’re all lucky to be living in it.
4 AMERICAN IDOL (2002- present, FOX)
When the decade is over, “American Idol” will go down in history as its most-watched program. Monstrously successful, this talent show had the kind of numbers envious producers would sell their first-borns for. And at a time when the music industry saw CD sales plummet thanks to the Internet, “Idol” empowered the audience – mainly 13-year-old girls – to create the music it wanted to hear by voting for the singers it liked best. The concept was so simple, you wonder why the blowhards in Los Angeles didn’t think of it first. The brainchild of British TV producer Simon Fuller, “Idol” made multi-platforming the wave of the future. The show shot to the top of the ratings, becoming the No. 1 for the season, even though it only ran from January through May. Then the winners – or even the runners-up – catapulted to the top of the charts, and in the case of Jennifer Hudson, to the winner’s circle on Oscar night. Hate it or love it, “American Idol” was the one show broadcast TV producers spent ten years looking for and couldn’t come up with: a phenomenon.
5 THE WEST WING (1999-2006, NBC)
Who knew policy wonks could be sexy? “The West Wing,” with its rapid-fire dialogue – and trademark walk-and-talks through the corridors of power – could make your ears hurt trying to keep up. But in the hands of Martin Sheen , Stockard Channing, Allison Janney, Rob Lowe, Richard Schiff and Bradley Whitford, even arguments about subjects as dry as the free trade agreement could catch fire.They said it would never work, that no one would be interested in the sausage-making of government. But creator Aaron Sorkin proved everyone wrong. Relying on Washington insiders, he built a world around the Democratic administration of President Josiah Bartlet (Sheen) that had the distinct whiff of authenticity. It went on to capture three Golden Globes and 26 Emmy Awards, tying “Hill Street Blues” for the most Emmys ever for a dramatic series.
6 MARY TYLER MOORE (1970-77, CBS)
You have to look pretty hard these days to find a show or a movie that has several good roles for women. But in the long ago, there was a comedy built around Mary Tyler Moore that had three of them. There was Mary Richards, the warm and independent woman starting out in her career at a Minneapolis TV station. There was Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper), Mary’s friend and neighbor, a windowdresser whose earthy candor made her the perfect foil. And then there was Phyllis Lindstrom (Cloris Leachman), uptight landlady to both Mary and Rhoda, a woman who was so self-involved that she made everyone do double takes with her crazy remarks. One of the smartest sitcoms, “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” had a gallery of well-drawn characters, three of whom – Rhoda, Phyllis and Mary’s boss, Lou Grant – eventually got shows of their own.
7 DALLAS (1978-91, CBS)
Without “Dallas,” we never would’ve had to wait all summer to find out if Peter Petrelli exploded into smithereens on “Heroes,” how Jack Bauer would survive imprisonment by the Chinese on “24,” if Buffy would come back from the dead… Why not? Because “Dallas” and its season-two finale “A House Divided”(a k a “Who Shot J.R.?”) ignited a frenzy for the jaw-dropping cliffhanger that continues to this day. It was the highest rated episode in U.S. history at the time, with numbers that were like those of “American Idol” and “Grey’s Anatomy” combined. If that doesn’t convince you, the series also rode the coattails of current events (gas crunch, energy crises, Iran), featured overripe plotlines involving sex, money, family and lies – what could be more American? – and had the ultimate villain, J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman, below with Linda Grey). It was the one 1980s series that other shows wanted to be, and its imitators – “Dynasty” “Falcon Crest” and “Knots Landing” – all enjoyed long runs.
8 24 (2001- present, FOX)
Set aside the groundbreaking real-time format and the split-screen action. Think about the plots. An African-American senator on the verge of becoming president. Terrorist threats against the US including an exploding jetliner. Patriot Act-level surveillance and wiretapping. Secret prisons and torture. So much of what this show does has come true, you start to worry that a heroin-addicted special agent is at this moment stopping a weaponized virus from wiping out Los Angeles. Kiefer Sutherland’s Jack Bauer is a hero for the modern age, amoral in motion, conflicted at rest. “24” shamed other cop dramas with its movie-size action, its breakneck plotting, but most of all its immediacy. After “24,” you can’t pretend your characters don’t live in the real world. Now, the clock is always ticking.
9 TWIN PEAKS (1990-91, ABC)
Black lodges, damn fine pie, log ladies – “Peaks” was something television hadn’t been before: Weird. Once viewers figured out “Who Killed Laura Palmer?” the noir soap veered into chaos, but you see its influences in everything from “X-Files” to “Lost.” The show was also the first to bring “cinema” to the small screen. Film director David Lynch included visually riveting but plotless side scenes, a seasoned cast, and on-location shooting in the Pacific Northwest instead of a studio lot. “Peaks” didn’t look like TV. Backward-talking dwarves? Creepier than anything but Bea Arthur. And the next time you think “ER” is gutsy for killing off a major character, consider this. In the series finale, Lynch killed off half the cast of “Peaks” and left the main character possessed.
10 SESAME STREET
(1969-present, PBS)
Many an aging Generation Xer can thank “Sesame Street” for teaching them to read. Bert, Ernie, Big Bird and the gang created the first TV show parents and kids could watch together. Segments were short enough to engage the kiddies, and funny enough to keep mom and dad from changing the channel. The series also inspired entire networks dedicated to kids, like Nickelodeon, lessening the program’s power, but not its importance. No one hammered home what kids needed to know about the letter “E” and the number “8” like Grover and the Count.
11 THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JOHNNY CARSON (1962-92, NBC)
Like Lucille Ball, Johnny Carson (below) set the bar for late-night talk-show hosts and no one since has managed to combine his charm, wit and genuine ability to converse with his guests.
12 60 MINUTES
(1968-present, CBS)
From Vietnam and Watergate to the Iraq War, Mike Wallace and this team have kept reported the world’s most riveting news.
13 THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW (1948-71, CBS)
Ed Sullivan owned Sunday night and his show can always brag about two pop culture milestones: breakthrough performances by Elvis Presley, in 1956, and The Beatles, in 1964. 60 million Americans watched.
14 I LOVE LUCY (1951-57, CBS)
Lucille Ball’s genius comedy about a Cuban bandleader, Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz, above, with Ball) his madcap wife and their game neighbors, Fred and Ethel Mertz, created three-camera television and filmed episodes that allowed for rebroadcasts. Every sitcom actress since then has been billed as “the next Lucille Ball.” Never gonna happen.
15 LAW & ORDER
(1990-present, NBC)
If Jack Bauer doesn’t stop the world from blowing up, there will be three things left: cockroaches, Cher and “Law & Order.” The Dick Wolf show removed character from the squad room and the courtroom and riveted audiences that liked stories with a beginning, middle and end.
16 MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS
(1969-1974, PBS)
Chances are every cast member of “SNL” and writer on “The Daily Show” can recite a sketch from this British troupe whose show first aired on the BBC. The Pythons skewered everything you weren’t supposed to bring up at a dinner party (religion, politics, silly walks). Go YouTube “Philosopher’s World Cup” and “How Not to Be Seen.” Oh! “The Hungarian Phrasebook.” “Blackmail”! There, you just lost an afternoon.
17 THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW (1967-79, CBS)
Burnett was not only a great comic, specializing in outrageous satires of melodramas like “Gone With the Wind,” but she cleverly surrounded herself with pros who were often funnier than she was, like the demented Tim Conway and Harvey Korman.
18 THE SIMPSONS (1989-present, FOX)
Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright and Yeardley Smith gave voice to TV’s most endearing animated characters.
19 SEX AND THE CITY (1998-2004, HBO)
The story of four sexually liberated women falling in and out of love in New York was one of two Sunday night HBO shows that you talked about first thing on Monday morning.
20 ER (1994-present, NBC)
Two words: George Clooney . America’s fascination with this handsome devil began on Thursday nights in a high-octane medical drama that grabbed you by the throat with its frantic pace, overlapping dialogue and believably exhausted residents.
21 THE HONEYMOONERS (1955-56, CBS)
This sitcom about a bus driver, his best pal and their wives still sends us to the moon.
22 MIAMI VICE (1984-89, NBC)
The coolest show of the 1980s. The adventures of Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) and Rico Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas) hooked viewers with its funky portrait of an American city drenched in crime. What other show had a hot soundtrack, launched a No. 1 single and made white Armani jackets worn over T-shirts all the rage?
23 SEINFELD (1990-98, NBC)
The antics of four neurotic New Yorkers who preferred each other’s company to kooky girlfriends, sponge-worthy boyfriends and crotchety parents made for quirky, inspired comedy.
24 GUNSMOKE (1955-75, CBS)
Over 30 Westerns came and went during this show’s tenure, but Matt Dillon outlasted them all.
25 ROWAN & MARTIN’S LAUGH-IN (1968-73, NBC)
The fast-paced comedy show really socked it to us. The stars it gave rise to were the best of the day: Lily Tomlin, Goldie Hawn, Ruth Buzzi and Joanne Worley.
26 HILL STREET BLUES (1981-87, NBC)
The pioneering Steven Bochco cop show paved the way for “NYPD Blue,” among many other gritty procedurals.
27 STAR TREK(1966-1969, NBC)
Even though it was only on for four years, “Star Trek” spawned a galaxy of other “Trek” spinoffs and a parallel universe of movies.
28THE X-FILES (1993-2002, Fox)
The first time geeks were heroes. Forget the mythology; its legacy of witty dread is cemented by one episode: “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose.”
29 THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW (1961-66, CBS)
This sitcom about the life of comedy writer Rob Petrie (Dick Van Dyke), his wife Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) and his colleagues was sharp, funny and memorable.
30 SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (1975-present, NBC)
It was “Laugh-In” for the 70s, a hip mix of satire, music and straight comedy. In its early years, everyone was home watching.
31 JEOPARDY! (1964-75; 1978-79; 1984-present, NBC and syndication)Merv Griffin’s game show for smart people has consistently given us the right questions to our answers for over 40 years.
32MOONLIGHTING (1985-89, ABC)
If “Miami Vice” was the ’80s coolest cop show and “Dallas” was the best soap, “Moonlighting” was the hippest romance.
33 MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE (1966-73, CBS)
This stylish “24” precursor was a thrill-ride from the opening credits.
34The Cosby Show (1984-92, NBC)
The most popular sitcom of all time and if you watch “the Monopoly scene” between Cosby and his son, you’ll know why. After Theo gives an impassioned speech about “loving me as I am” after he gets a D, the crowd “aahs.” You expect Cosby to hug him. Instead, he pauses, “that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard in… I am your father. I brought you in this world, I can take you out.”
35 GENERAL HOSPITAL (1963-present, ABC)
Three words: Luke and Laura. Their star-crossed romance catapulted changed the face of daytime television.
Additional reporting by Paige Albiniak, Deborah Starr Seibel and Maxine Shen