EWB's Top 51 TV Shows of 2013: The Results

[PatDaMan]

I don't get how it has so many viewers when everyone hates it

[TKz]

The internet is who hates it. Much like with professional wrestling, we're a far smaller part of the market than we think we are.

[METALMAN]

Yet even here plenty of people voted for it!

[TKz]

Again, entirely JohnnyPerfect's fault.

[Josh]

Lots and lots of people like lots and lots of dumb things.

[Walker]

I once wrote a little piece on why TBBT is nowhere near as good as its popularity suggests. The response I got from everyone was "It is just a TV show!" People who really like it don't really give a shit if it is good or not, it is just on for filler.

It is filler for me also, but at least I acknowledge it isn't good.

[SlicedBread]

I'll bite. I like the show. It's nothing I have to see as I haven't watched anything from this season yet, but it's a simple comedy that you can jump right into without worrying about what happened in previous episodes or even previous seasons. And like I said, it's a simple show, colorful characters and not a lot of depth to it to where someone has to dissect a character, a motive or the whole story.

So yeah, it's filler TV. Nothing wrong with that.

[GoGo Yubari]

Late update because rasslin. Time to set the stage for this year's top ten!

15. Sons of Anarchy (71 pts, appeared on nine ballots) (Last Year: #9)

14. Boardwalk Empire (73 pts, appeared on seven ballots) (Last Year: #17)

13. Hannibal (76 pts, appeared on nine ballots) (Last Year: N/A)

12. Community (86 pts, appeared on sixteen ballots) (Last Year: #2)

11. Orange is the New Black (90 pts, appeared on nine ballots) (Last Year: N/A)

Next Time, on EWB's Top 51 TV Shows of 2013: What? You can hate people and still think theyre hot. Case in point: Manual Noriega.

[Josh]

Boardwalk! Damn fine season they just had, and I can't wait to see where it goes from here.

Hannibal! By far the best debut last season.

Community! This past season was certainly a dip in quality, but it was never enough to give up on it. And the 2 recent episodes go to show it was worth sticking with it.

No interest in SoA.

I hope to check out Orange is the New Black at some point.

[Benjamin]

Sons of Anarchy never really interested me, but people have told me I should watch the first couple of seasons as it's really good.

Boardwalk Empire being so low is fucking criminal. Best show on TV now and the fact that only seven people voted for it kinda' hurts me. I blame Benji for this At least it beat shit like HIMYM and Big Bang Theory, though.

Never got into Hannibal.

Community dropping ten spots surprises no one, I think, I actually expected it to go lower.

Never seen Orange Is The New Black.

[GoGo Yubari]

Both SoA and Community deserved to drop out of the top ten. Sons had a season where it started as absolute garbage and then slowly but surely managed to regain enough goodwill just so it could produce yet another horrible season finale. I will be back for season seven because I hate myself.

Community season 4 wasn't as bad as some people maligned it for being, but I wouldn't call it actively good. Probably should have/could have been a little lower.

Boardwalk Empire is great. It's hit proper prestige drama form and season 4 was maybe the best yet. I would have liked it to make the top ten but the actual top ten are all good shows so it's okay.

Hannibal is a show I like a lot but admittedly don't quite love. Something about it makes it a show I respect more for the obvious great acting and brilliant directing than a show I outright love. Looking forward to season two.

Orange is the New Black is probably the actual best Netflix series thusfar, though not my favorite. Amazing ensemble cast and it totally succeeds as both comedy and drama. I hope it doesn't fall off a cliff like Weeds did.

[TKz]

Sons of Anarchy should've dropped further. I understand it apparently got better, but overall it's not Top 20 material any more.

Boardwalk Empire is one that I've always wanted to watch but never quite got around to. I wonder if I ever will. I'd like to!

Hannibal is pretty good when it's on, but I felt like the show got weaker as it went on. Feels like it'd be way better suited to like, a six episode season or something. So many episodes resulted in it loosing a little steam and going out with less of a bang and more of a "well, I guess I'll watch it when it's back on". I like Mads a lot in it and the directing is pretty great at times.

Community... like, I loved the first two seasons. I was kind of bored overall in season three and season four was fun, but not amazing. Definitely better than the entirety of the internet would have you believe. I think more than anything I'm a bit over the hype of Community, which is okay. It means I get to enjoy it enough without expecting as much as I used to. I don't think it'll ever quite reach the highs of season two, for me.

Was very surprised with Orange is the New Black. I liked Weeds a lot back when it didn't suck and this has the same feel to it for obvious reasons. Nearly all of the characters are likeable and the humor works 90% of the time. The lead is no Mary-Louise Parker, but she works. I'm looking forward to it coming back, but I have to imagine it placed this high mostly due to being something fresh and being on a lot of lists a bit further down. Unless it has a crazy good season two, I don't see it maintaining this place.

One of the better groups thus far!

[GoGo Yubari]

Well, Orange is the New Black averaged ten points a ballot so that's actually pretty good, and there will for sure be openings in the top ten next year. But yeah, the freshness probably worked to its advantage a bit. Community is the show that really benefited from being low on a ton of ballots.

Watch Boardwalk. Season one is not the best but then it gets good, and then it gets very good, and then it gets great.

[Benji]

Sons of Anarchy I tried to get into once, but it didn't hook me. At some point I'll probably watch again, but it's on the longlist.

Boardwalk season 3 was amazing, and I've been told S4 is even better. Let down that I wasn't able to vote for it this year because I marathon the seasons, and it doesn't finish airing here until next week. Should've been higher.

Hannibal had a great first season, and I'm really excited for the next one. Mads was incredible casting as Lecter, and unlike most TV villains has justifiable reason to stick around for the show's full run, which is even more exciting as they search the depths of his depravity.

Community season four was pretty much a washout for me. Aside from a couple of episodes, it just felt like they were going through the motions and had lost the spirit of the show. It was a lot like Scrubs' sixth season - the funny was there, but for some reason it didn't make me laugh as much.

Something about OITNB just makes me not want to watch it, and I can't put my finger on what. I'm sure I'll try it some point, but much like SOA it's on the longlist and not the shortlist.

[MalaCloudy Black]

GoGo pretty much nailed it with his description of this season of Sons. Here's to hoping they don't Dexter the series finale this year.

Hannibal is good. I still need to watch the last 4 episodes of season 1 though.

Boardwalk Empire I watched the first season of as it aired on HBO, then we lost HBO for a few years, so it sort of faded from my mind. I'm told every season since 1 has been progressively better, so I should really get around to it on HBOGo one day.

Season 4 of Community weren't bad. At least not as bad as people suggest. There were definitely some not-great episodes and I think it was pretty evident that some big shake-up had happened, even if you didn't keep up with the news about Harmon leaving the show.

Orange Is The New Black is in my instant queue.

[GoGo Yubari]

Something about OITNB just makes me not want to watch it, and I can't put my finger on what.

Did you watch Weeds? Because seasons 3 and 4 of Weeds made me put off the show for like four months.

[Benji]

Nope, never watched Weeds. Oddly, I associate the negativity with EWB, so maybe it was just a comment someone made about it that's subconsciously stuck in my head.

[Walker]

Surprised Community is still high on the list actually. Well, I guess if Dexter is still here after shitting the bed we can forgive Community for the dip in quality.

I've watched 10 minutes of Sons of Anarchy and realised I was not paying attention so it didn't get a fair shake. I will go back to it eventually.

Glad Hannibal is so high. Enjoyed it immensely.

Still to watch Orange is the New Black.

Haven't watched anything past S03E?? of Boardwalk Empire, really could not stay interested after the pilot despite how much I tried.

[zero]

Sons of Anarchy has to hold some kind of record for being a good show with the worst season finales. This season wasn't great, veered way too much into misery porn, but it still kept me engaged... then the fucking season finale.

Glad everyone around here pretty much agrees that S4 of Community wasn't that bad, they were just trying so hard to not rock the boat.

Hannibal is the best. In the post-True Blood world where everyone wants a horror show, Hannibal is really the only one that's any good.

Orange is the New Black is fantastic. As GoGo said, it's Netflix's best show, even though House of Cards gets all the hype.

Haven't watched Boardwalk since S1, just couldn't get into it, but I hear it's improved.

[livid]

At this point, I think my disdain for Sons of Anarchy has been made clear but I will say that read up on what happened in the couple of seasons since I stopped watching and I feel glad I dodged that suck bullet.

I've only seen the first season of Boardwalk Empire and I liked it. Season 2 and 3 are sitting on my HDD so it'll be tackled one day. Maybe once football's season over.

Like everybody else has pretty much said, Community Season 4 was clearly a dip but nowhere near as bad as the rest of the internet would have you believe. Still, it's nice to see hallmarks of the Community I fell in love with during the Season 5 premiere(s).

I started watching Hannibal and it was good but just not that engaging to me. I may pick it back up at some point but there are things that have a higher priority (like the aforementioned Boardwalk Empire)

I've heard good things about Orange is the New Black but I don't want to be burned by Jenji Kohan again so I'm hesitant. It's kind of in the same boat as Hannibal, though - I just have too much other stuff to catch up on.

This means Justified is in the Top 10 again!