The Best Television Programs of the Decade: 2000 - 2009

[blackcauldron85]

Top 3 that premiered in each year (in order, favorite, 2nd favorite, 3rd favorite):

2000:
Gilmore Girls & Malcolm in the Middle (tie)
Even Stevens
Girlfriends

2001:
Lizzie McGuire
My Wife and Kids
So Little Time

2002:
What I Like About You
American Idol
Kim Possible

2003:
That's So Raven
Newlyweds
One Tree Hill

2004:
Phil of the Future
Laguna Beach
The Ashlee Simpson Show

2005:
The Suite Life of Zack & Cody
Flight 29 Down
South of Nowhere

2006:
Hannah Montana
American Idol Rewind
The Hills

2007:
Wizards of Waverly Place
iCarly
Cory in the House

2008:
The Suite Life on Deck
The Secret Life of the American Teenager
True Jackson, VP

2009:
JONAS
Sonny with a Chance
The Beautiful Life

[Just Myself]

In order of preference, top 10 shows that started in the 2000's:

Jericho
Mad Men
Lost
Eli Stone
Monk
Desperate Housewives
The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien - Not technically a new show, but Conan is too funny to not include on this list. I always enjoyed Jay Leno, but I love Conan.
How I Met Your Mother
Boston Legal
The Office - UK and US. Took me a long time to warm up to the US version.... I think finding great appreciation for Steve Carrell and John Krasinski helped. Still get annoyed mostly by Dwight.

The rest of the 00's in no particular order:

FlashForward
Psych
The Big Bang Theory
Parks and Recreation
Grey's Anatomy
Modern Family
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Firefly
Bored To Death
Life On Mars - US
Extras
Friday Night Lights
Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip

Carried over from the 90's into the 00's:

The Sopranos
Friends
ER
The West Wing

Cheers,
JM

[zackisthewalrus]

Top 3 that premiered in each year (in order, favorite, 2nd favorite, 3rd favorite):

2000:
Gilmore Girls & Malcolm in the Middle (tie)
Even Stevens
Girlfriends

2001:
Lizzie McGuire
My Wife and Kids
So Little Time

2002:
What I Like About You
American Idol
Kim Possible

2003:
That's So Raven
Newlyweds
One Tree Hill

2004:
Phil of the Future
Laguna Beach
The Ashlee Simpson Show

2005:
The Suite Life of Zack & Cody
Flight 29 Down
South of Nowhere

2006:
Hannah Montana
American Idol Rewind
The Hills

2007:
Wizards of Waverly Place
iCarly
Cory in the House

2008:
The Suite Life on Deck
The Secret Life of the American Teenager
True Jackson, VP

2009:
JONAS
Sonny with a Chance
The Beautiful Life

You sure like Disney Channel, Amy. Haha

[Disney's Divinity]

I wasted time writing a long post, but lost it. I don't have the strength to do that again, so...

1. Desperate Housewives ~ My favorite show on TV right now (coming from this decade). I love love LOVE this show. Even though the storylines occasionally sour, the actors are so excellent that they keep the show alive.

2. Ugly Betty ~ I enjoy it because, at every point that I think the "predictable, expected" thing is going to happen, this show does the opposite. And I love that. Too bad it looks like ABC is trying to kill it.
3. Glee ~ Would've put this at number two, except the stories are a bit erratic and the characters bend at will for the sake of each episode. Music is really the main highlight.

Other shows, while not huge favorites, that I enjoyed:

Invader Zim
Reba
Cold Case
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Degrassi: The Next Generation (season 3 onwards)
American Idol (season 7 being the best thus far)

Lost and The Big Bang Theory have also seemed okay to me. I didn't rank them here because I've missed crap-loads of episodes. But, yeah, I don't watch much TV.

[blackcauldron85]

You sure like Disney Channel, Amy. Haha

Yes. Yes I do. I just counted, and only 12 of the 30 shows I listed are from Disney Channel.

[Escapay]

Top 3 that premiered in each year (in order, favorite, 2nd favorite, 3rd favorite):

Ooh, I'm gonna revisit my list and do it this way! A * means my favourite of that year.

2000:
"Coupling" (BBC, 2000-2004)*
"Ed" (NBC, 2000-2004)
"Freaks & Geeks" (NBC, 2000-2001)

2001:
"Scrubs" (NBC 2001-2008, ABC 2009-present)
"Undeclared" (FOX, 2001-2002)*
"Wolf Lake" (CBS, 2001)

2002:
"Everwood" (WB, 2002-2006)
"Firefly" (FOX, 2002)*
"The Forsyte Saga" (ITV, 2002-2003)

2003:
"Joan of Arcadia" (CBS, 2003-2005)*
"Las Vegas" (NBC, 2003-2008 )
"Miracles" (ABC, 2003)

2004:
"House, M.D." (FOX, 2004-present)
"Jack & Bobby" (WB, 2004-2005)*
"Veronica Mars" (UPN/CW, 2004-2007)

2005:
"Doctor Who" revival (BBC, 2005-present)*
"How I Met Your Mother" (CBS, 2005-present)
"Reunion" (FOX, 2005)

2006:
"Hotel Babylon" (BBC, 2006-present)
"Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" (NBC, 2006-2007)
"Ugly Betty" (ABC, 2006-present)*

2007:
"The Big Bang Theory" (CBS, 2007-present)*
"Samantha Who?" (ABC, 2007-2009)
"Skins" (E4, 2007-present)

2008:
"Ashes to Ashes" (BBC, 2008-present)
"Leverage" (TNT, 2008-present)
"Merlin" (BBC, 2008-present)*

2009:
"Glee" (FOX, 2009-present)*
"Kings" (NBC, 2009)
"White Collar" (USA, 2009-present)

Network Breakdown:
ABC - 3
BBC - 5
CBS - 4
E4 - 1
FOX - 5
ITV - 1
NBC - 6
TNT - 1
UPN - 1
USA - 1
WB - 2

Kinda odd that the most US shows are from NBC and FOX, given that for the past few years those were the two networks I've watched the least.

albert

[memnv]

Smallville
Heroes
Lost
Supernatural
Big Brother

[Luke]

Freaks and Geeks
Scrubs
The Office: both versions (at its best, I've enjoyed the US version more and even though it's had some bumps, it's back on track now)
Flight of the Conchords
I'm Alan Partridge: Series 2
Even Stevens
Black Books
Extras
Undeclared
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
The Colbert Report
Life on Mars (to date, I've only seen the US version)
The Spectacular Spider-Man
Spaced: Series 2
My Hero

[Lazario]

Read my mind.

Is this supposed to be sarcastic? Because I'm sorry that I included an extra three years of TV. Sue me.

That's not why I was being sarcastic. Or, I suspect, why Zackisthewalrus was as well.

[PeterPanfan]

Is this supposed to be sarcastic? Because I'm sorry that I included an extra three years of TV. Sue me.

That's not why I was being sarcastic. Or, I suspect, why Zackisthewalrus was as well.

What is the reasoning, then, behind this sarcasm?

[Widdi]

That's not why I was being sarcastic. Or, I suspect, why Zackisthewalrus was as well.

What is the reasoning, then, behind this sarcasm?

A boy admitting he likes "Gilmore Girls" is my best guess.

[Disneykid]

Well, if that's the case, add another rebel to the cause...

Gilmore Girls
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends
Veronica Mars
Wonderfalls
Ugly Betty
30 Rock
Pushing Daisies
Phineas & Ferb
Glee

[PeterPanfan]

What is the reasoning, then, behind this sarcasm?

A boy admitting he likes "Gilmore Girls" is my best guess.

If you mean a person admitting he likes witty, actually good plots and character development on television, then, yep, you've hit the nail right on the spot. Congratulations.

[Escapay]

Mighty big quote-within-a-quote-within-a-quote box going on up there...

albert

[Cordy_Biddle]

Yes...it looks like an epic one. Does it break a UD forums record?

[Escapay]

I don't know. I could make a really big one like this:

Tootsie

Pop?

But that will likely annoy people reading this thread since nobody knows how many licks it would take. Though I bet tillycat would quote the whole thing with the answer of "Mr. Owl said three, so I believe him!"

Plus, excessive quoting is against the Forum Guidelines.

albert.

[SpringHeelJack]

You've all been abusing quotes and have thus been very naughty this year.

[Lazario]

That's not why I was being sarcastic. Or, I suspect, why Zackisthewalrus was as well.

What is the reasoning, then, behind this sarcasm?

Well, I don't want to become a poor imitation of Goliath here, but, your selection was incredibly mainstream. And pretty telling of either your age or your desire for deeply complex stories - in so far as they can be told through the television medium.

On all counts, not very.

A boy admitting he likes "Gilmore Girls" is my best guess.

If you mean a person admitting he likes witty, actually good plots and character development on television, then, yep, you've hit the nail right on the spot. Congratulations.

PPf - I've seen the Gilmore Girls. You're describing the wrong television program. If the Gilmore Girls is "witty" and has "good plots and character development," than this is true for every television program.

Face it, pal, this show is made for a specific age group and lifestyle. It's not intelligent enough to be quality entertainment outside their target demographics. Sounds to me like the show nailed you on the head.

That probably sounded harsher than I meant it. I mean: it's for you. So, of course it's going to be really you. But trust me, it's not that witty. The writing is shallow and phony life-affirming. These characters are privilaged and have almost no problems. Though in their world they're down to Earth, in the real world- their lives don't represent those of many people. And I think the true test of witty is how you can use the life-lessons they're teaching and the dialogue they speak in real life. Very few people can really relate to this show. It's mostly been successful (as many shows of its' type are for the same reasons) because of its' large budget, good looking actors, trendy music and storylines, how uncomplex the dialogue is, and how well-off the characters are.

[zackisthewalrus]

PPF, my original post was sarcasm. I don't really remember my reasoning behind it, but whatever. Sorry to cause a controversy.

[ajmrowland]

Gilmore Girls' plots may be a bit shaky, but it certainly does not lack witt. Half of the dialogue is straight-up sarcasm or one-liners, or both, and they're quite funny at times too.