cross-post from: https://lemmy.world/post/32413125

👋 Hi everyone!

💡 A while ago I came across some post on reddit where someone ranked the top-50 TV shows using aggregated ratings from multiple sources — and I got really inspired. Hats off to the original for the inspiration and idea.

After hundreds of hours of data transfer, I expanded the idea into a list of 100 must-see TV shows (no animation/documentaries), based on data from 20+ rating platforms like IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, Letterboxd, TMDB, Kinopoisk, Douban, and more (full list below).

🌎 The goal was to create a ranking that’s as close to objective as possible by combining scores from diverse international platforms — to equally represent critics, casual viewers, and different cultural perspectives across many countries.

To ensure quality and avoid outliers, I only included shows with at least 25,000 IMDb ratings. I tried to make a list of series with a broader audience in mind, which is probably why older shows didn’t make the final top. They tend to get less attention and fewer ratings from modern viewers, though some definitely deserve an “Honorable Mention.”

• (You’ll find the shows that almost made the cut listed at the bottom of the table.)*

I’ve thought about this a lot and eventually came to this conclusion: if I didn’t filter by popularity at all, the list might end up with a bunch of random series that got, say, 85 points from 100 people. Instead, I gave preference to shows that scored around 83 points but from 300+ people - a stronger consensus. But still series that scored 75 points from 10,000 people wouldn’t necessarily make the list just because of the volume

⚖️ To add some balance, I also included a popularity score as one of the metrics — but kept its weight relatively low (just 1 out of 25 metrics). This metric was only applied within the top-100 to give more popular series a slight edge in their final positioning, while still ensuring rating quality remained the primary factor. Even shows with below-average popularity scores (as low as 65 points) could still make the cut if their ratings were outstanding enough.

For any missing ratings — which happened when a show had no data on a specific site — I used the average rating of the top-140 shows on that platform. This ensured that underrated or lesser-known series weren’t unfairly penalized due to lack of data.

If you’re wondering why your favorite show didn’t make the list — 99% chance it’s because it scored lower across aggregated ratings or didn’t have enough ratings compared to top-100 shows. There’s a 1% chance I genuinely missed it somehow, but given how deep I went into this, that’s pretty unlikely.

Hope you’ll find this list interesting or maybe even discover a few new shows to watch. Would love to hear your thoughts!

📊** [Sources used]**

IMDb, IMDb Episodes Rating (W2WTV and Ratingraph), TMDB, Metacritic, Kinopoisk, Rotten Tomatoes, Serializd, JustWatch, Filmaffinity, Reelgood, Criticker, TasteDive, Taste.io, Simkl, Trakt, TV Time, Allocine, Filmweb, Myshows, Douban

🔎 Text version:

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1. Breaking Bad – 92.28
2. Chernobyl – 91.80
3. Band of Brothers – 90.76
4. The Wire – 90.40
5. The Sopranos – 90.28
6. Better Call Saul – 89.12
7. Game of Thrones – 88.88
8. Sherlock – 88.04
9. Fleabag – 87.40
10. Succession – 87.28
11. Severance – 87.16
12. Fargo – 86.80
13. Peaky Blinders – 86.76
14. The Office (2005) – 86.76
15. The Queen's Gambit – 86.44
16. Mindhunter – 86.44
17. The Pitt – 86.44
18. Dark – 86.24
19. Stranger Things – 85.92
20. Narcos – 85.88
21. When They See Us – 85.88
22. House M.D. – 85.80
23. Shōgun (2024) – 85.68
24. Mad Men – 85.48
25. Mare of Easttown – 85.44
26. Twin Peaks – 85.40
27. Andor – 85.40
28. Freaks and Geeks – 85.32
29. Ted Lasso – 85.28
30. The Penguin – 85.24
31. Firefly – 85.24
32. The Boys – 84.96
33. The Haunting of Hill House – 84.92
34. Atlanta – 84.92
35. Friends – 84.84
36. Black Mirror – 84.76
37. Daredevil – 84.76
38. Big Little Lies – 84.64
39. The Last Kingdom – 84.64
40. Downton Abbey – 84.60
41. The Night Of – 84.56
42. Rome – 84.56
43. True Detective – 84.52
44. The Crown – 84.52
45. Boardwalk Empire – 84.52
46. Silicon Valley – 84.44
47. Hannibal – 84.36
48. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel – 84.36
49. Mr. Robot – 84.32
50. The Bear – 84.20
51. The Shield – 84.20
52. Six Feet Under – 84.16
53. Brooklyn Nine-Nine – 84.08
54. The Mandalorian – 83.96
55. Fallout – 83.92
56. Parks and Recreation – 83.88
57. This Is Us – 83.88
58. Broadchurch – 83.84
59. The Expanse – 83.80
60. Unbelievable – 83.80
61. Heartstopper – 83.76
62. The Last of Us – 83.68
63. Shameless (2011) – 83.68
64. The Pacific – 83.68
65. 1883 – 83.68
66. What We Do in the Shadows – 83.64
67. Battlestar Galactica (2004) – 83.64
68. Sons of Anarchy – 83.56
69. Anne with an E – 83.56
70. Community – 83.40
71. Normal People – 83.36
72. Curb Your Enthusiasm – 83.32
73. Lost – 83.28
74. Black Bird – 83.28
75. Vikings – 83.24
76. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia – 83.24
77. Slow Horses – 83.24
78. Dexter – 83.16
79. Modern Family – 83.08
80. Barry – 83.04
81. Peacemaker – 82.92
82. The Good Place – 82.80
83. Person of Interest – 82.80
84. The Leftovers – 82.80
85. Seinfeld – 82.68
86. Banshee – 82.64
87. Adolescence – 82.52
88. Orphan Black – 82.52
89. Maid – 82.52
90. Suits – 82.48
91. Fringe – 82.32
92. The Newsroom – 82.32
93. Doctor Who – 82.24
94. The IT Crowd – 82.20
95. House of Cards – 82.16
96. Ozark – 82.12
97. One Piece (2024) – 81.92
98. Yellowstone – 81.84
99. Scrubs – 81.76
100. Cobra Kai – 81.72

📜 Histogramma:

• 1986–1990: 2
• 1991–1995: 1
• 1995–2000: 2
• 2001–2005: 13
• 2006–2010: 13
• 2011–2015: 24
• 2016–2021: 30
• 2021–2025: 16

Honorable Mentions (Almost Made the Main List): Pride and Prejudice (1995), Line of Duty, Happy Valley, The Twilight Zone (1959), The Chosen, Fawlty Towers, The Bridge (2011), It's Okay to Not Be Okay, Mr Inbetween, The Knick, Peep Show, Deadwood, Olive Kitteridge, SKAM (2015), The Americans, This Is Going to Hurt, Wayne, Oz, Justified, Halt and Catch Fire.

⁉️ If anyone’s interested in what the ranking** would look like without any influence from popularity** (i.e. broader audience appeal), here’s the list. Let me know if you think it’s better - maybe I’ll make this the main one.

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1. Breaking Bad – 92.00
2. Chernobyl – 91.63
3. Band of Brothers – 90.92
4. The Wire – 90.75
5. The Sopranos – 90.33
6. Better Call Saul – 88.88
7. Game of Thrones – 88.42
8. Sherlock – 87.67
9. Fleabag – 87.67
10. Succession – 87.29
11. The Pitt – 87.29
12. Severance – 87.13
13. Fargo – 86.75
14. The Office (2005) – 86.58
15. Peaky Blinders – 86.58
16. When They See Us – 86.50
17. Mindhunter – 86.46
18. The Queen's Gambit – 86.21
19. Freaks and Geeks – 86.13
20. Dark – 86.08
21. Shōgun (2024) – 85.96
22. Narcos – 85.92
23. Pride and Prejudice – 85.83
24. Line of Duty – 85.79
25. Mare of Easttown – 85.71
26. House M.D. – 85.67
27. Atlanta – 85.63
28. Andor – 85.63
29. Happy Valley – 85.54
30. Firefly – 85.54
31. Twin Peaks – 85.50
32. The Penguin – 85.50
33. Stranger Things – 85.42
34. The Twilight Zone (1959) – 85.33
35. Ted Lasso – 85.29
36. Mad Men – 85.17
37. The Chosen – 85.17
38. The Last Kingdom – 85.13
39. Fawlty Towers – 85.13
40. Rome – 85.08
41. Downton Abbey – 85.04
42. The Shield – 85.00
43. Silicon Valley – 85.00
44. The Bridge – 85.00
45. Boardwalk Empire – 85.00
46. The Night Of – 85.00
47. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel – 84.88
48. The Haunting of Hill House – 84.88
49. Big Little Lies – 84.79
50. It's Okay to Not Be Okay – 84.75
51. The Crown – 84.71
52. Mr Inbetween – 84.71
53. Six Feet Under – 84.67
54. The Knick – 84.63
55. Peep Show – 84.63
56. Daredevil – 84.58
57. Deadwood – 84.58
58. The Boys – 84.54
59. Olive Kitteridge – 84.54
60. SKAM – 84.54
61. The Americans – 84.50
62. Friends – 84.46
63. Broadchurch – 84.46
64. This Is Going to Hurt – 84.46
65. Wayne – 84.42
66. Heartstopper – 84.38
67. Unbelievable – 84.38
68. Oz – 84.38
69. This Is Us – 84.33
70. 1883 – 84.33
71. Black Mirror – 84.29
72. Justified – 84.29
73. The Bear – 84.29
74. Battlestar Galactica (2004) – 84.25
75. Hannibal – 84.25
76. The Pacific – 84.25
77. What We Do in the Shadows – 84.21
78. True Detective – 84.17
79. Anne with an E – 84.17
80. The Expanse – 84.17
81. Parks and Recreation – 84.13
82. Friday Night Lights – 84.13
83. Dopesick – 84.13
84. Mr. Robot – 84.08
85. Brooklyn Nine-Nine – 84.08
86. Curb Your Enthusiasm – 84.08
87. Slow Horses – 83.96
88. Pose – 83.96
89. Fallout – 83.92
90. Black Bird – 83.92
91. Halt and Catch Fire – 83.92
92. Normal People – 83.88
93. Shameless (2011) – 83.75
94. Gomorrah – 83.67
95. The Mandalorian – 83.58
96. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia – 83.58
97. Sons of Anarchy – 83.58
98. The West Wing – 83.54
99. Community – 83.50
100. Louie – 83.50

If you have a Reddit account, could you share this list there? I’ve been unfairly blocked in my every new account, so I can’t post it myself. I’d really appreciate it if more people could see this ranking! 👀