Top 50 TV shows all-time ranking sees Apple TV Plus hit Severance make the cut — even before season 2 has hit screens

We all have our favorite TV shows, those comfort views that get rolled out again and again when we’re chilling out, sick in bed, or just bored out of our minds. But do our personal top picks match up with the true greats of all time?

Now you can find out. X / Twitter user NikMilanovic has shared a smart chart ‘ranking the best TV shows of all time.’ The methodology sees critic and user scores and votes tallied from aggregate sites including IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, and Just Watch to figure out an overall picture of TV’s greatest hits.

And, arguably surprisingly, Apple TV Plus TV show hit Severance has made the cut in a pretty healthy position.

But first… what came out on top?

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Innie and Outtie of the top 50 TV shows

It’s a pretty inarguable top tier here — drug-trafficking drama Breaking Bad sits comfortably in first position, followed by Game of Thrones, Chernobyl, The Sopranos, and Band of Brothers. All classics.

But it's position 27 that Apple’s Severance finds itself in, sandwiched between Heartstopper at 26, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia at 28. This is before Severance season 2 even has a release date!

Is the Apple TV Plus show’s position justified, given its run has only lasted a single season so far? Well, according to this list, it’s in good single-season company — Chernobyl was a limited-run series, and The Last of Us hasn’t reached its second season yet either and still makes the cut in position 32. There are a few shows here that definitely are riding on the early success of formative seasons, too — True Detective (position 47) never really reclaimed the magic of its first season, even after making it to season 4. And Lost (position 35) went wacky as it dragged on long after the show’s best period.

There are some huge shows missing here, though — no matter what you think about its later seasons, you can’t deny the global appeal of The Simpsons or the influence of comedies like Curb Your Enthusiasm and South Park. X-Files? I Love Lucy? Both missing. There’s definitely a bias towards drama, live-action, and English-speaking audiences here, while with the single exception of The Twilight Zone, there’s only one show present from before the mid-1980s.

But as a crude subsection analysis of modern TV popular culture, the list is representative of the taste of today. And by its measurement, Apple has a bonafide hit on its hands with Severance.

The full top 50 TV shows of all time, according to the list, are as follows…

1. Breaking Bad
2. Game of Thrones
3. Chernobyl
4. The Sopranos
5. Band of Brothers
6. The Wire
7. Better Call Saul
8. Stranger Things
9. Sherlock
10. Peaky Blinders
11. The Twilight Zone
12. Fleabag
13. Fargo
14. House
15. Friends
16. Dark
17. The Office
18. Succession
19. Battlestar Galactica
20. Freaks and Geeks
21. Mad Men
22. Narcos
23. Mind Hunter
24. Mr. Robot
25. Black Mirror
26. Heartstopper
27. Severance
28. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
29. The Boys
30. Seinfeld
31. Peep Show
32. The Last of Us
33. When They See Us
34. The Mandalorian
35. Lost
36. Line of Duty
37. Deadwood
38. Mare of Easttown
39. Hannibal
40. The Bear
41. Boardwalk Empire
42. Atlanta
43. Vikings
44. Twin Peaks
45. The Shield
46. Happy Valley
47. True Detective
48. The Haunting of Hill House
49. The Americans
50. Justified

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