I love cinema, excel and books
MAS*H ranked #137, but still not well-known enough - especially in post-Soviet countries and much of Asia - compared to the shows that actually made the final list. Unfortunately, not every 20th-century series has been fully appreciated by millennials and Gen Z the way it deserves to be, so yeah…
the point wasn’t that the list should include 100 shows in 100 different languages - it’s that the shows are watched by people from different countries, cultures, languages and etc. If a series is only popular in, say, one region like Asia and hasn’t gained broader international attention, then it probably wouldn’t be included in a list like this, thank you for opinion!
you said it before I could and said it better than I would’ve, thank you!
thanks so much for the comment and the kind words!
bluey deserves a whole list of its own, but this list doesn’t include animated shows
I hear you - and honestly, I didn’t expect the title to be that off-putting. It was meant as a fun nod to the classic ‘1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die’ format, which is popular and widely used. I thought it would give the list a familiar and engaging vibe. That said, I get that it might come across as too definitive or clickbaity, especially since the list is based on aggregated ratings. So I’ve gone ahead and changed the title to better reflect the data-driven nature of the post. Thank you!
you are goddamn right!
someone else actually asked me the same thing before you, so now I’ve got a ready answer for everyone. maybe I should just add it to the main post at this point :)
I’ve been thinking more deeply about this idea, and I realized it’s really hard to integrate anime into this list. Most critics don’t review anime at all — aside from a few very popular titles — which means I’d have to remove the Metacritic, Rotten Tomatoes, and Filmweb columns. That would significantly affect the rankings.
If I do remove those columns, the only way to keep things consistent would be to assign the missing scores the average value from the top 200 shows - but that feels like a compromise.
Another option would be to create a separate table just for animated series, pick the top 20-40 (depends of qualtiy) from that, and then maybe insert them into the main list with live action series by replacing shows ranked between 70 and 100 and I’d rank them based on their score with live action series. Still debating which way makes more sense.
yeah, it actually has pretty high ratings - it’s ranked at #180 with a score of 81.04
so… are we all just drama addicts now?
that’s a fair point, but it’s not just about popularity here. I really tried to strike a balance. And you’re absolutely right: a lot of things resonate with people even if critics don’t love them. But if we do go by ratings, I honestly don’t know what a better system would be 🤔
could be, yeah, but it’s impossible to make everyone happy with a list like this, so…
4,614 hours (and no, I didn’t use AI to help me)
1 hour/day → 4,614 days (~12.6 years) 2 hours/day → 2,307 days (~6.3 years) 4 hours/day → 1,154 days (~3.2 years) 8 hours/day → 577 days (~1.6 years) 24/7 binge → 192 days (~6.4 months)
yeah, sadly no metric is perfect. I actually included a version of the list without the popularity factor, and Curb your enthusiasm ended up even lower there - a lot of niche shows took over the top spots. I did my best to strike a balance, and this is what I landed on
okay, maybe 30?
sounds like a solid plan, just enjoy it! but yeah, I have a feeling half the list will look very different by the time you retire :)
sorry, I’ll update it tomorrow to: “100 Shows That Will Validate Your Taste and Make You Feel Seen.”