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

[Benjamin]

So, Game Of Thrones, Breaking Bad and what? I can't think of anything else. I thought AD or Parks and Rec was going to be Top 3.

[livid]

The Walking Dead is the third one.

Great group.

I had Mad Men at #1 because the end of the season was just too good to overlook, even in favor of Breaking Bad. If Jon Hamm doesn't win an Emmy this year (he won't) then I'm not sure he ever will.

I haven't watched the newest season of Arrested Development yet. I wanted to re-watch the first three before and I just kind of lost track.

I still love Parks and Rec but am not sure it deserves to be this high. It's still very good but there just doesn't seem to be a lot of story left to tell and they seem to be spinning their wheels a bit.

[MalaCloudy Black]

I still haven't seen Mad Men. Rest of the group is great though.

[Benjamin]

The Walking Dead is still a thing?

[Benji]

I was late to the party on Mad Men, and will be watching season five of Mad Men in a week or two, closely followed by season six, so I'm glad to see that the newer stuff is still being well received. It's fantastic cast and writing are a constant pleasure to watch.

AD being top five is surprising no-one. Good return season that took full advantage of the marathon nature of Netflix by loading the middle to rear end of the season with it's best stuff... that had largely been set up in the early episodes.

Parks & Rec is fucking fantastic, and whilst I've yet to see episodes from 2013, I have absolute faith in the show. Great cast, great characters, hilarious writing.

[gunnar hendershow]

GIVE JON HAMM A FUCKING EMMY

Beyond that I finally got caught up on Mad Men this year and while season 6 started off slowly the end of the season was some of the best writing the show has produced. I find the writing on Mad Men to consistently be the absolute best on TV and the actors almost all fit their roles perfectly. I never have any idea where the show is going, I certainly did not see seasons 5 or 6 ending the way they did.

Also.

[livid]

Yeah, Kartheiser deserves something for that line alone.

[C-MIL]

Fell way behind on this list. Skipping the never-heard-ofs/seen...

#42. Veep has made my to-try list. That seems like such a fun cast.
#38. Thought the Daily Show greatly outshined Colbert this year.
#37. Gave up on Dexter with like eight episodes to go. Couldn't even stick it out for completism's sake.
#34. Survivor is no NAKED AND AFRAID.
#32. Former BIG fan, but I sort of gave up on The Office down the stretch. Never was the same after Michael Scott's departure. Finale was nice though.
#31. Never been a Daily Show fan whatsoever, but this was a banner year for them. Really changed my perception of the people that put that show together.
#30. Didn't see Axe Cop on TV, but just the idea of "Axe Cop on TV" makes me happy. Will track it down soon unless I forget...
#28. Modern Family has the right mix of funny and sappy for me. Ticks all the boxes.
#25. The League is great. So out there. Maybe my favorite part is the post-recommendation reviews from friends. "This isn't about fantasy football at all!" Rare case that I've actually gone out of my way to look up other projects by the people involved too.
#23. Always Sunny is good. Bloom's off the rose a bit with me though.
#20. Part of me can't believe South Park's still a thing. Part of me hopes it lasts forever. I'll probably always watch it sometimes.
#19. HIMYM's a big no. I have heard it got better, but it had too far to go for me.
#17. I still mourn the loss of Frisky Dingo, but Archer is suitable replacement. Very happy the people behind that are having success. That said, I am way way way behind on it.
#16. Big Bang I don't like. I get why it's popular though.
#15. Tried jumping in on Sons Of Anarchy this year after Breaking Bad closed up. BIG mistake. I like a good bit of cartoon violence with my entertainment but... yow.
#12. I like Community, but not nearly as much as the rest of the internet seems to. 12th seems like an appropriate ranking.
#11. OITNB is my next-to-watch. Very, very high hopes.
#8. Thanks for the Brooklyn 99 hulu link. Had no idea it was there. Been looking for a new half-hour show to watch on the exercise bike.
#7. I like the guy on Justified. Still haven't sampled the show though.
#6. Tried several times to jump in on Mad Men mid-stream. Never from the beginning though. Seems like it's too sophisticated for me.
#5. Loved Arrested Development this year. It didn't leave me wanting more though.
#4. Parks & Rec is the best. Besides Breaking Bad, of course.

[GoGo Yubari]

I very seriously considered making "Not great, Bob!" the series image. Very seriously. If I hadn't used the one-gif-a-year rule on PURINCESSU KENNY it would have been used for that or Ken Cosgrove dancing.

[livid]

I very seriously considered making "Not great, Bob!" the series image. Very seriously. If I hadn't used the one-gif-a-year rule on PURINCESSU KENNY it would have been used for that or Ken Cosgrove dancing.

Shit, I forgot about Ken Cosgrove dancing.

[MalaCloudy Black]

If you want to be Leno-y, we can have you come down here, and you can do high fives! We could put a wig with a gray streak in your face! We can have you read off cuecards! We'll put Kevin Eubanks over there on guitar! I shouldn't have said that.

[Benji]

I very seriously considered making "Not great, Bob!" the series image. Very seriously. If I hadn't used the one-gif-a-year rule on PURINCESSU KENNY it would have been used for that or Ken Cosgrove dancing.

Despite having not seen that scene yet in Mad Men, I feel like you made the correct choice.

[GoGo Yubari]

Oh, dude. Wait until you see "Not great, Bob!" in context. It's really something.

[zero]

Great group, all wonderful shows. Arrested Development S4 is waaaaay better than the internet gave it credit for.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Sad that Vikings isn't going to make it. I'm sure a few people voted for it. That's a properly brilliant show though.

[gunnar hendershow]

Oh, dude. Wait until you see "Not great, Bob!" in context. It's really something.

Bob Benson was an absolute godsend this season.

[GoGo Yubari]

Nothing more I could really say about those last three. Mad Men is my favorite show, AD season 4 delighted me the whole way through even on the subpar episodes, Parks and Rec is Parks and Rec. Let's finish up.

3. The Walking Dead (212 pts, appeared on twenty-two ballots) (Last Year: #4)

2. Game of Thrones (234 pts, appeared on nineteen ballots) (Last Year: #3)

1. Breaking Bad (363 pts, appeared on twenty-five ballots) (Last Year: #1)

And that's that. Not at any point over this past year did I ever think a show other than Breaking Bad was going to win this year and that did in fact hold true. In the voting, Game of Thrones was actually able to keep within fifteen points of BB for a long stretch of time but curiously after a certain point the GoT votes mostly dried up and suddenly Walking Dead surged into contention to make 2nd place much closer than it initially seemed like it was going to be.

This, of course, means that for the first time a show will be unable to defend its crown the following year, opening up a little bit of a power vacuum. Will Community regain its past glory with Dan Harmon back at the helm? Will Game of Thrones finally ascend? Will the Walking Dead shamble into the top spot? Or could it be an upstart series like Arrow, Brooklyn Nine-Nine or something else entirely? We'll find out a year from now I guess. Probably a few days under that, there were delays this year. Sorry!

Thanks to everyone who voted, and thanks to everyone who discussed the results in this thread. Voting for EWB's Favorite Movie of 2013 will open on March 3rd. See you then! And...

Next Time, on EWB's Favorite Movie 2014: (warning, spoilers in this video!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r__KtMPSnn4

[Josh]

Walking Dead I still have no interest in seeing whatsoever. Zero appeal.

Game of Thrones really is a great show, though I feel like it may be a handful of spots higher than it should be.

And, of course, Breaking Bad absolutely deserved to win. There was simply no contest. There was some absolutely amazing television on in 2013, and Breaking Bad beat all of it handily. It's an incredibly rare show, and as close to flawless as any series will ever come.

[Benjamin]

People are still into The Walking Dead?

[livid]

No, why do you ask?