Buffy the Vampire Slayer is #49 on WGA's 'TV 101' list of best-written series ever
- Thread starter JCoatsworth
- Start date
Thanks for posting!! It's always great to see BtVS still get some recognition for it's greatness! Although, I looked at the list, and there's a lot of good show on it, but half of the entries I strongly disagree with. Shows like the Simpsons are great, but I don't think they even deserve being close to number 11 on best written show ever. Maybe it's just me, but this list seems biased in some areas. Also, I don't really know about the Writers Guild of America😕 Is this a legit thing?
The WGA is like the DGA, but for writers. It's the union for writers in the US. It's reputable. That's who writers register their screenplays with, etc.
The question is, though, how did they come up with the list?
I highly disagree about Homicide only being #46 while the Larry Sanders show and 30 Rock are 20 and 21. And Modern Family and the Good Wife being on the list at all? And Sex and the City coming in ahead of Game of Thrones? Seriously?
🙂
The question is, though, how did they come up with the list?
I highly disagree about Homicide only being #46 while the Larry Sanders show and 30 Rock are 20 and 21. And Modern Family and the Good Wife being on the list at all? And Sex and the City coming in ahead of Game of Thrones? Seriously?
🙂
I take issue with Sex and City being there at all. There's a difference between a successful show and a well written one. Sex and City was only one of those things.
Blaze
This!
Taake
[No message]
Thanks for the answer! I'm even more surprised about some of the entries seeing as the people making the list are very knowledgeable. But I agree with the rest of your post, this list is just a bit weird to me :S
fredthe3rd
Potential
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- Dec 27, 2012
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Jolly decent of them to put some non-American shows in there!
Also: The Good Wife is one of the best shows on TV.
Also: The Good Wife is one of the best shows on TV.
iShower4free
Scooby
Can you really give Game of Thrones props for its writing when it sticks almost completely to the book series? Dont get me wrong I love the books and the show. Also, Modern Family is a great show who is constantly winning Emmy's for their writers and multiple members of their cast 😀 I have never seen Homicide or the Larry Sanders show though.
Black Eye Guy
Taking over the World!
Friends and 30 Rock should be higher then Seinfeld, I'd also swap West Wing and Sopranos.
Some of Greys Anatomys finest episodes are way better then some of the entries on there as well.
It's kind of a strange list, since it's on writing, how are they judging it? On a show over the course of its run or just off episodes or seasons.
Cuz I just dont see how a show like I Love Lucy can be a contender against a smartly written show like Sopranos, West Wing or 30 Rock!
Some of Greys Anatomys finest episodes are way better then some of the entries on there as well.
It's kind of a strange list, since it's on writing, how are they judging it? On a show over the course of its run or just off episodes or seasons.
Cuz I just dont see how a show like I Love Lucy can be a contender against a smartly written show like Sopranos, West Wing or 30 Rock!
Washburne
Protector of the key.
So the personal taste of the members of WGA. I wish they had criterias. There's different kind of "good" writing. At least the way I see it. As for the list itself obviously I want The West Wing to be higher up but then again I haven't watched all of the shows above it. So who am I to say that it should be higher up.
Robb Stark
King in the North
BTVS is an incredible show, but I'm not sure if I would list it as one of the best-written shows of all time. It's one of my favorites ever, no question, but after about S3 the quality of the writing drops off pretty substantially in terms of continuity. The storytelling is always strong and of course the characters are some of the best of all time, but BTVS isn't a superbly written show in the same vein that say, The Wire or The West Wing are. There are holes too it, and far, far too often the producers doesn't care about their own continuity because they want to further a specific plot point. That's not a sign of strong writing. There are a lot of inconsistencies, a lot of things that just aren't covered that would solve an episode's central problem, and that's just a fact.
However, that doesn't mean it isn't an incredible show. It is. But the writing of BTVS isn't always top-notch.
However, that doesn't mean it isn't an incredible show. It is. But the writing of BTVS isn't always top-notch.
Washburne
[No message]
Agree with a lot of what you're saying here, but plot isn't the only factor when considering strong writing. For instance, the dialogue in Buffy is pretty great in my opinion. Buffy has so many great lines, which aren't always there just for the sake of being funny, they reflect character brilliantly. I enjoy a lot of the character development throughout the show as well, like Spike (IMO).
There's also the symbolism and metaphors in the show, which can be a little in your face at times I admit, but at least they're intelligent. The show also mixes genres in a way that makes it seem natural rather than forced. The merging of comedy, drama and horror really works and they all complement each other brilliantly throughout a lot of the series.
Just saying that great writing is just about having consistent storylines, it's about all sorts of other things too 🙂
Washburne
[No message]
Buffyverse Fan
* The 28th *
I really enjoyed Friends, but I never thought the writing was amazing... I think How I Met Your Mother is a much more intelligently crafted sitcom, not to mention funnier.
Law & Order seems an odd one too, unless your only rating its prime seasons which ended when Jerry Orbach passed away.
Law & Order seems an odd one too, unless your only rating its prime seasons which ended when Jerry Orbach passed away.
You blaspheme! 😛
For me it is the other way around. I think HIMYM is one of the clumsiest and dimmest shows ever put to film, while I find Friends timeless, especially the stuff they did in their earlier seasons.
Black Eye Guy
[No message]
B
Buffyverse Fan
:'(
Buffyverse Fan
* The 28th *
:'(
THB, I can't be unbiased, because I quite like the cast of Friends, but going into HIMYM I was already a big fan of Aly & NPH 😉
One of the things I like about HIMYM is that the jokes pay off and hold continuity. Unlike sitcoms of old where a house will go from having one bathroom to ten between episodes to suit the storyline of the week, HIMYM gags will reference an off the cuff joke someone made five years earlier. It also surprises me periodically.
I also think NPH is one of the most talented entertainers in Hollywood, even though at times it bothers me a little that to cater to the fans they've brought his character to the forefront despite his supporting role. I actually like Barney a lot more than Ted--Ted lost me when he spent a year pursuing a married gal--but it's still his show.
That said, NPH is underutilized in other ways. The handful of musical numbers HIMYM has thrown him have been mediocre. The fact that Aly only got to stretch her acting chops during the Marshall/Lily breakup arc is pretty unfortunate too...
The thing with Friends is I really like it, and have seen 90%+ of the episodes, but never once did it surprise me. Even though it wasn't planned, I think anyone who watched the first season or two could have told you how the show would end. The only thing I would've guessed incorrectly might have been shipping Joey with Phoebe.
JCoatsworth
UP THE IRONS!
Well, I don't know about Friends, but I think the writing of the early HIMYM episodes is really good, the first two or three season or so. But after a while, it seems to me, they got kinda lazy. Whenever they want to introduce something new, some of the characters' weird habits or something, they'd just insert a flashback and that's it. I think the writing has gone downhill over the last few years.
Buffyverse Fan
* The 28th *
I'd agree that the writing quality plummeted after season two. For me, it really hurt the show that Ted had so little chemistry with any of his girlfriends except for Robin and Victoria.
With Zoey & Stella, you could tell from day one that there's no way this one's going to be the one. Aly & Cobie's real life pregnancies also hurt the show, because the whole group dynamic was off for seasons at a time, because the writers minimized their roles. I understand it to some extent, but in other ways I don't, because you look at Seinfeld and Everybody Loves Raymond. In both cases, the only female lead went through multiple pregnancies, but they used deceptive props, and basically just gave a wink and a nod to the audience implying yeah, she's pregnant, but her character isn't, so just go with it. To me that would've maintained the quality much better than HIMYM did with minimizing Aly & Cobie for big stretches.
I noticed Boston Legal didn't make the list, which imo is one of the ten best written shows I've seen...