1001 TV Series You Must Watch Before You Die

[AZ]

Released in October 2015, this entry in the best-selling 1001-before-you-die-series is one of the more popular titles in the series, and a perfect companion piece to 1001 Movies.

FYI: for some reason, two titles were released (1001 TV Series and 1001 TV Shows) but the books have the same 1001 entries - the only difference between them is the foreword and the index and paperback vs hardcover, and of course different covers.

You can download an excel version of all entries here

Dating all the way back to 1948 (Ed Sullivan Show) to 2015 (Better Call Saul), it features series and shows from all genres, formats and countries. Yes, you could argue the relevance and definition on a few entries but overall these are two of the most authorative and comprehensive books on television history ever published.

Number of Series/Shows by genre:

Action/Adventure: 43
Animation: 13
Awards show: 3
Biography: 1
Comedy: 246
Comedy/Drama: 31
Crime: 1
Crime/Mystery: 101
Documentary: 18
Drama: 226
Fantasy/Horror/Sci-Fi: 107
Game show: 26
Historical drama: 60
Music/Musical: 13
Reality: 31
Soap opera: 28
Sports: 2
Talk Show: 16
Variety: 22
Western: 13

= 1001.

Notable TV Series/Shows Not included:

Spoiler

The Winds of War (1983)
Lonesome Dove (1989)
Sybil (1976)
Gia (1998)
Trilogy of Terror (1975)
Duel (1971)
V (1983)
Recount (2008)
Game Change (2012)
An Early Frost (1984)
And the Band Played On (1993)
Brian's Song (1971)
Mildred Pierce (2011)
Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows (2001)
Top Gear (1978)
Tintin (1991)

Also, while 1001 Movies takes some time to check all but in comparison isn't very hard to finish, 1001 TV Series is more or less impossible (you have to watch every single episode of every single entry, not to mention that many of the shows are still running). If the authors instead chose to focus only on TV-series/TV-Mini-series/TV-movies you might have had a slight chance, but unfortunately, TV shows - including Game shows, Reality and Talk shows - are also included. But I think you should use the book more as a reference guide, rather than try check as much as possible. Still, as with all lists, check count is fun.

The volume contains some TV-movies or stand-alone episodes from TV-series, but the vast majority of the entries are either TV-series, TV-Mini-series or TV shows.

An interesting side note: Dekalog and Riget are now featured in both 1001 Movies and 1001 TV Series. Both can be seen as movies or miniseries I guess.

The books certainly triggered myself to check out some series (movies are still superior of course since it's art whereas stuff made for TV mostly isn't).

Series/Shows I've seen everything of:
The Twilight Zone
Dinner for One (in Swedish it's called Grevinnan och betjänten, shown here and in the nordic countries on every new years eve, classic sketch).
Monty Python's Flying Circus (arguably the funniest series ever made)
Riten (Ingmar Bergman TV Movie)
The Stone Tape (TV Movie)
A Warning to the Curious (TV Movie)
Scener ur ett äktenskap (Ingmar Bergman TV-miniseries)
Salem's Lot (TV Horror Movie)
Berlin Alexanderplatz (TV Miniseries)
Threads
The Singing Detective
Dekalog (TV miniseries, highly recommended)
Mr. Bean
It (Stephen King miniseries)
Riget (Riket)
The Stand (Stephen King)
Little Dieter Needs to Fly
State of Play
Breaking Bad
The Signalman

Number of Series/Shows seen: 20

How many series/shows have you seen every episode of? Post below!

Series/Shows I've seen much of:

Spoiler

Ed Sullivan Show
Academy Awards (seen 12 shows or so)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Eurovision Song Contest (though haven't seen much of it in the last 13-14 years; the voting process used to be great fun but they shortented and ruined it in the process)
The Saint
Seven Up! (a bunch of TV documentaries released every seventh year following a few individuals; will check the rest of the movies out eventually)
The Addams Family
Jeopardy! (Swedish version)
Columbo (watched seasons 1-7)
Heimat
Seinfeld
Tous les garcons et les filles de leur âge
South Park
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
Family Guy
Deal or No Deal
Beckett on Film
24
Bron/Broen

Series/Shows I've seen only one/few episodes of:

Spoiler

Tonight Show
The Flintstones
Danger Man
The Outer Limits (should see more of this)
Mission: Impossible
Parkinson
The Persuaders!
M*A*S*H
Kojak
Fawlty Towers
Roots (saw one or two episodes in school)
Moonlighting
Inspector Morse
The X-Files
Late Show with David Letterman
Midsomer Murders
Band of Brothers
Wallander
The Big Bang Theory
Veep

probably forgot about a few

Series I will watch eventually:

Spoiler

The Wire
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Twin Peaks
Brideshead Revisited
Bron
Borgen
The Sopranos
Welt am Draht
etc

Feel free to discuss and post what and how many series you've seen (in their entirety!) using the excel file above. What's your favorite/most disliked series? Favorite genre? Which series haven't you checked out yet? Are there any series you feel were left out in the book? etc

[AZ]

the-elite's 1001 TV Series You Must Watch Before You Die-rankings:


1. Ngamer: 48
2. AZ: 20
3. Third: 17
4. wheatrich: 14
5. Spec: 5+
6. Lark: 3
7. Decipher: 1
7. Guado: 1

[OHMSS]

Get gud and put 18262 episodes of Guiding Light and similar soaps on your to-do list.

[Lark]

Shows that I've watched Completely

Boy Meets World
Breaking Bad
Sons of Anarchy



Total: 3

If there's a really captivating show that's being advertised, I might watch it. I tend to be more of a movie fan though.

Definitely need to finish Dexter one day. I stopped at season four.

[Ngamer]

I saw all Top 250 films back in high school and tried for many years to stay up to date on those kind of lists, but in the last 4 years or so I've been transitioning to checking out new TV shows instead.  At a quick glance from this list I'd check off...

Seinfeld
South Park
The Sopranos
Futurama
Curb Your Enthusiasm
The Office (UK)
Firefly
The Wire
Arrested Development
Veronica Mars
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
The Office (US)
Extras
Flight of the Conchords
Breaking Bad
Archer
Misfits
Party Down
Bored to Death
The League
Community
Parks & Recreation
The Trip
Louie
The Walking Dead
Black Mirror
Game of Thrones
Happy Endings
Les Revenants
VEEP
Girls
The Americans
Hannibal
Brooklyn Nine Nine
The Wrong Mans
Orange is the New Black
Masters of Sex
Top of the Lake
Orphan Black
Cosmos
Fargo
The Strain
The Last Ship
Last Week Tonight
True Detective
Silicon Valley
Better Call Saul

Looks like.... 48?

If you asked me what from that list was an absolute must-see from start to finish for everyone on the planet I'd only say The Wire, Breaking Bad, and Black Mirror (it's only at 7 EPs so that's easy).  Top of the Lake is close though, and Better Call Saul might make the cut as well if it keeps up this pace.

[Spec]

I'm very surprised that Terra Nostra is in there LOOOOL

Skimmed through it, my notable mentions:
Skins
Chuck
Californication
Castle
Lie to Me

[Thiradell]

Band of Brothers
Scrubs
The Office (UK)
Slings & Arrows
Arrested Development
House
Lost
The Office
Doctor Who (modern)
Breaking Bad
Archer
Parks and Recreation
Black Mirror
Game of Thrones
The Newsroom
The Americans
Orange is the New Black

for a total of 17. Working on Star Trek: TNG right now. Lots of oldies on the list that we used to watch back in the day (Andy Griffith, Brady Bunch, MASH, etc.) but I never went and watched any of them exhaustively.

[wheatrich]

All
The Wire
Breaking Bad
Veronica Mars
Band of Brothers
Game of Thrones
Burn Notice
Heroes
Sports Night
Star Trek Voyager
Star Trek DS9
Homicide Life in the Street
Star Trek TNG
Married with Children
Star Trek
for 14
Maybe Stargate SG1, it's very close at least.  Walker Texas Ranger should be close too (I didn't have control of the TV in this era...)

I guess only one in recentish era I might get to is Saul, this is clearly a casual list.

Seen a lot of the Outer Limits but I bet I haven't seen all the B&W ones.   Did not know they rebooted red dwarf.

They missed NewsRadio.  Come on.

[007]

I'm not into TV or movies really, but I did watch Band of Brothers some years ago. Why is Days of our lives and Sailor Moon not included here?

So 1 for me. 

[Retrix]

I have totally watched more full anime series than tv. Tv, in general, sucks. Total waste of time. That said, I got into the 400s before I gave up. I've seen Salem's Lot, but in VHS form. I don't see why it should count.

Still haven't seen all of futurama, mostly the terrible new ones is what I'm missing. (They are terrble; don't get me started)

[AZ]

I've seen Salem's Lot, but in VHS form. I don't see why it should count.

Why not? It's not the only TV Movie/mini-series included in the book.

[Retrix]

Just my mind. How I see tv series is like a show that runs on tv for a few ........ ah hell I guess I should include it to account for really good things you see on tv that aren't very long.