TV (The Book): Two Experts Pick the Greatest American Shows of All Time
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Is The Wire better than Breaking Bad? Is Cheers better than Seinfeld? What's the best high school show ever made? Why did Moonlighting really fall apart? Was the Arrested Development Netflix season brilliant or terrible? For twenty years-since they shared a TV column at Tony Soprano's hometown newspaper- critics Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz have been debating these questions and many more, but it all ultimately boils down to this: What's the greatest TV show ever? That debate reaches an epic conclusion in TV (THE BOOK). Sepinwall and Seitz have identified and ranked the 100 greatest scripted shows in American TV history. Using a complex, obsessively all- encompassing scoring system, they've created a Pantheon of top TV shows, each accompanied by essays delving into what made these shows great. From vintage classics like The Twilight Zone and I Love Lucy to modern masterpieces like Mad Men and Friday Night Lights, from huge hits like All in the Family and ER to short-lived favorites like Firefly and Freaks and Geeks, TV (THE BOOK) will bring the triumphs of the small screen together in one amazing compendium. Sepinwall and Seitz's argument has ended. Now it's time for yours to begin! Read more
Publisher : Grand Central Publishing
Publication date : September 6, 2016
Language : English
Print length : 432 pages
ISBN-10 : 1455588199
ISBN-13 : 90
Item Weight : 1 pounds
Dimensions : 6 x 1.13 x 9 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #871,118 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #46 in TV Guides & Reviews #140 in TV History & Criticism #343 in TV Shows
#46 in TV Guides & Reviews:
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Top Amazon Reviews
Format: Paperback
TV (The Book) is an exploration and celebration of television as a narrative form. It presents a ranking of the one-hundred best American television series, with short essays that touch on each series' unique merits and place in TV history. These essays are insightful and fun to read; they will make you want to watch the shows you haven't seen and rewatch the shows you have. The best part of the book is the opening debate, in which Seitz and Sepinwall argue how the top five TV shows, which wound up with tied scores, should be ranked. It's an effective opening for the book because the authors find themselves exploring what TV is at its best, creating a framework that helps the reader understand the significance of the shows that the authors discuss later in the book. It's a slight shame the authors didn't maintain the back-and-forth while discussing the rest of the shows. (I'd love, for example, to hear Mr. Seitz's rebuttal to Mr. Sepinwall's complaints with the fourth season of Arrested Development; I myself am in agreement with Mr. Seitz. The fourth season is structurally ambitious and as funny as the first three seasons.) Though they find much to agree on with regard to the best television series of all time, Seitz and Sepinwall also bring slightly different perspectives to their essays. Mr. Sepinwall often puts the TV shows he examines in the context of other TV, directing the reader's attention to characters and stories that are indebted to TV of the past (referencing, for example, the influence of "NYPD Blue" and "Homocide" on "The Shield," or the way "Seinfeld" and "Everybody Loves Raymond" look like "funhouse-mirror versions of each other." On the other hand, Mr. Seitz tends to put the TV shows within a broader artistic context, referencing everyone from Godard and Dali to Looney Tunes and the Marx Brothers. Both of these approaches work, and both are helpful in arguing for the significance of television as a narrative form. This book does so much more than pit beloved TV series against one another. Authors Seitz and Sepinwall touch on more than a hundred shows, from certified classics like "I Love Lucy" or "The Sopranos" to newer works in progress, such as "The Leftovers" and "The Americans." In this era of Peak TV, Seitz and Sepinwall provide a useful encapsulation of the best television of the past and argue persuasively for the significance of these shows.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2017 by Ryan S.
Format: Paperback
I have enjoyed reading Sepinwall's episode reviews for many shows, such as Lost, Mad Men, Game of Thrones, and so forth. I also enjoyed Zoller Seitz' book of critical commentaries on Mad Men, so I knew that TV (The Book) would be an enjoyable read for me. This is a valuable book for thinking about TV in a serious, intelligent way rather than merely looking down upon TV as idle trash. Sepinwall and Zoller Seitz' opening debate is excellent to read. I loved reading about their views on the merits of The Sopranos versus The Wire versus The Simpsons as the greatest show of all time. I learned about many new shows as I read through their ranking of the best 100 shows in American history. I have added some new shows to my list of series that I need to watch some day (Freaks and Geeks, Twin Peaks, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, etc). I would say the only drawback to the book is that it became a little tedious to read every review and every page, especially for shows which I do not really plan on ever watching. However, overall I would recommend this book to anyone interested in TV in a serious way, or if you are just looking to learn about important shows that you might have missed. Their writing is clear, often witty and humorous, and enlightening.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2017 by mfsunderland
Format: Paperback
Interesting book. But very heavy to hang on to. Needed a pillow for underneath.
Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2025 by Rachel Knudson
Format: Paperback
If you are like me and have spent much of your life searching the shelves of Borders and Barnes & Noble in vain for a great book of TV criticism, then TV (THE BOOK) is what you've been waiting for. If you aren't like me, (THE BOOK) is essential reading anyway. Matt and Alan have long been my primary go-tos for TV criticism and recaps - at Vulture and HitFix, respectively. I call them Matt and Alan, knowing Matt only marginally and Alan not at all, because they offer the reader an informal comfort-zone in which they wear their knowledge of the medium lightly, even though each obviously knows it very well. That they've known each other for years make them ideal co-authors for their Herculean task: ranking the best American shows of all time based on quantitative categories that they knew going in everybody would agree with wholeheartedly and nobody would say indignantly, "What about X?" I'm not going to say, "What about X?" I might say something like, "THE SHIELD is overrated," or "BARNEY MILLER is undervalued," but then I would remember where I was commenting and think better of it. Instead I'll just say that Matt and Alan make a very good case for their choices, and that they complement each other beautifully. Sometimes they pair up on the essays (you can tell who wrote what by the initials left at the end - AS or MZS or both). Oftentimes each tackles a particular show individually, and after a while it becomes fairly easy to guess who wrote the piece. Matt gets the lion's share of "vintage" television and is extremely authoritative on the history of the medium. Alan writes about more contemporary shows, and tends to make a case for "traditional" fare to Matt's leanings toward experimentation and the avant-garde. Let me emphasize that I'm comparing them to each other; when compared to most TV critics, both lead in all of these categories. As anyone who reads their regular work knows, both love dramas and comedies, hit shows and shows struggling to find an audience. Each has also been a consistent champion of shows about women, by women, or "for" women. I still part ways with them on GIRLS, and especially Matt's claim that Lena Dunham "had no idea what a hornet's nest she would stir" with her show, when Dunham's calculated provocations are by now pretty clear. But each is open to the possibilities of television, from its early years to "Peak TV." Film Twitter has been even more defensive than usual since (THE BOOK) launched, always a sure sign that somebody is doing something right.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2016 by Craig Simpson
Format: Kindle
If you're an entertainment geek and enjoy debating and discussing television or movies, you'll enjoy this book. I don't agree with all of their rankings and even strongly disagree with some, but these guys make their cases for and against shows in an engaging way. It's the kind of book where you'll read their take on a show you love and shake your head and say "Exacty!," or read their take on a show you hate and say out loud, "What is he smoking?" But that's fun. You feel like you're involved in a discussion. I liked it.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2017 by The Prince of Albany
Format: Kindle
For me, this kindlebook of TV (the book) Two Experts Pick The Greatest American Shows of All Time by Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Zeitz is a good guide to look into because it exposes me to the awareness of tv shows for me to check out that transcend beyond my targeted demographic. Fortunately, my husband ignored whether I was the target audience when he introduced me to the Vikings television show,Venture Bros., and Doctor Who. Additionally, I would not have found out about the Last Ship Tv show without looking at guides such as Entertainment Weekly or my recent discovery of Westworld (from the Washingtonian magazine website). I understand that sometimes shows tailored to/targeted in ads to someone like me are done with good intent. However, my intuition/logic influencing me to check out even television shows that I know that I’m not the target audience for as a way for helping me to understand good storytelling in a better fashion, fulfill my craving for adventure, and expose me to different ways of thinking (human nature wise) that open my mind to accepting different viewpoints from mine (regardless of whether I think such thoughts are of a dark nature or a good nature). This kindlebook currently has images of various actors/actresses from various tv shows such as Jon Hamm for what looks to be Mad Men, Bryan Cranston for Breaking Bad, Kerry Washington for Scandal, actors/actress affiliated with the Seinfeld tv show, an image of what looks to be for the 30 Rock tv show of Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan, and more tv show images on the front cover. One of the criteria that they admit to using is basing it on US Televisions shows (they acknowledge the popularity of such show as Fawlty Towers, Kingdom etc.). One season shows are also featured such as My So-Called Life and shows written about for groups (The Golden Girls, Friends). Detailed explanations are given in the book such as for the reasoning behind the selection of The Simpsons tv show.
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Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2016 by Stella Carrier
Format: Paperback
I am not American, and as such I have not seen most of the TV shows in the "Pantheon". But I do have a certain affinity for scripted TV, an affinity that has grown to the uber-availability of content these days. I started actively watching TV shows in 2005, and haven't stopped since. Luckily, just about that time the so-called "Golden Era of TV" was about to burst, and burst it did. This book is terrific in that regard and it manages to scale down all the shows and presents a great starting point for anyone who wants to start watching great TV. Not to mention it has amazing insights into shows I already love and adore (hello there Cheers, hey, good seeing you Tony!). Sepinwall and MZS do a great job in carrying across their thoughts and while ranking such a subjective thing as fiction is inherently difficult, they make it fun and inclusive. I loved their scoring model, which they explain in detail at the beginning of the book, not to mention the essays accompanying each show. The clarity of their thoughts makes the reader want to see the show so bad. I wanna rewatch half the shows I watched after reading this book. It invokes that feeling! All in all, a great read for TV fans, old and new, young and old, novices and buffs.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2017 by Shahbakht
Format: Kindle
Plus - a reminder that some shows are absolutely meant to be watched again. I thought the authors did a great job of boiling down the essence of each show and illustrating with specific examples. If you love TV, now and in the past, you will enjoy this book. Even if you never watched or even plan to watch some of these shows, it's interesting to see how they influenced the TV landscape for years to come.
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Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2016 by E. J.