- Some older series have aged better than others — as is often the case, even with ones that are critically acclaimed and highly awarded.
- Others, like "The Golden Girls," are still beloved and finding new audiences via reruns and streaming services today.
- Many classic TV series don’t have a large body of critical writing about them, especially when compared with classic films of similar age.
- From "All In The Family" to "Mad Men," some important and groundbreaking TV series were multiple Golden Globe winners for different seasons across their runs.
Ranking TV series according to critical acclaim is bit different from movies — because there are multiple seasons, a show might appear more than once on this list.
It also might have completely different ratings from season to season — among critics and fans alike. After all, isn’t half the fun of being a fan of a show arguing over which season is the best, and exactly where your favorite jumped the shark?
Seasons of TV shows are rated individually on Rotten Tomatoes — but in some cases, no critical scores are listed for quite a few Golden Globes winners. These are listed in their own category and are not included in the rankings.
Because the Golden Globes dates so far back, some TV shows do not have written critic reviews.
"My Three Sons" remains one of the longest-running live-action sitcoms of all time.
Category: Television series
Year: 1962
Starred: Fred MacMurray, Stanley Livingston, Don Grady, Barry Livingston
Paul Mavis of DVD Talk wrote:
"After watching these first outings, I was suitably impressed with these rather remarkable episodes. Network TV series, just like films, are a collaborative effort, but it must be noted that producer and director Peter Tewksbury deserves the lion's share of the credit for these beautifully crafted episodes. Directing every single episode of this first season (a sizeable logistical feat, even had the episodes turned out to be mediocre - which they most certainly are not), Tewksbury displays a fluid camera style (and, by design I would imagine, the footage for seamless editing) that resembles a particularly accomplished feature film, not a rushed, weekly TV series."
"The Dick Powell Theatre," also known as "The Dick Powell Show," was an anthology series hosted by Powell.
Category: Television program
Year: 1963
Starred: Dick Powell and many guests, since it was an anthology series.
"Mister Ed" is one of those shows where the theme song is probably known by people who have never seen it.
Category: Television series - Comedy
Year: 1963
Starred: Mister Ed, Alan Young, Connie Hines
Paul Mavis wrote for DVD Talk:
"I've never understood why Mister Ed, as well as other series from the later, so-called "fantasy period" of middle-60s network television programming, has garnered only grudging respect at times from critics and historians. Is it because the central plot element - a talking horse - is just too ridiculous to be taken seriously? Stretching that point a bit, I don't see why that should be, when logic-straining fantasies like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings are regarded with almost Talmudic reverence today (if you're wondering whether or not I'm directly comparing Mister Ed to Harry Potter, I'm not...but I know which one I'd prefer to watch, too, ten times out of ten). Maybe it's because it's a sitcom - probably the least well-regarded genre on television (next to game shows), owing to that age-old prejudice here with American critics where comedy somehow is seen as intrinsically less "worthy" than drama. Maybe these critics and historians are suspicious of the experience itself."
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