The New York Times Ranks the 100 Best TV Shows of the 21st Century, Breaking Bad First, Spin-off Better Call Saul 27th
The New York Times has released its list of the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century, with Vince Gilligan's Breaking Bad, which aired from 2008 to 2013, taking the top spot. The voting rules involved over 500 actors, show creators, and other industry professionals each listing their 10 best shows that premiered after January 1, 2000. The Sopranos was excluded as it premiered in 1999.
The top ten includes The Wire, Mad Men, Succession, Fleabag, Game of Thrones, Veep, 30 Rock, The Good Place, and Atlanta. The US version of The Office ranks 11th, the UK version 16th; the spin-off Better Call Saul is 27th. Voters included Elisabeth Moss, Bryan Cranston, Adam Scott, Rose Byrne, Colman Domingo, Jason Bateman, as well as creators like Damon Lindelof, Lena Dunham, Lena Waithe, and Noah Hawley.
The newspaper began revealing the rankings in reverse order on September 21, announcing the top show on the 25th, and released interview videos with Gilligan, Bryan Cranston, and Giancarlo Esposito. The paper contacted over 1,000 people, with about 500 submitting votes, and many appeared on camera discussing their ballots; Connie Britton mentioned she had turned down a role in Arrested Development because she thought it was silly. Shows that did not make the list include Mr. Robot, Fargo, Mindhunter, Hannibal, and Booksmart.
Also on the list are currently airing or recently concluded shows like The Bear, Andor, The White Lotus, The Bear, Squid Game, Shogun, and The Diplomat. The highest-ranked sports-related show is Ted Lasso at 14th, followed by Football Coach at 75th and The Queen's Gambit at 81st. The newspaper also released a printable checklist poster to guide readers in marking what they have watched and what they want to watch.
In terms of market mechanics, the buyers are readers subscribing to the interactive list and video interviews, while the seller is The New York Times, which turns industry ballots into a "canonical" product. The event is driven by the daily rankings, with traffic flowing from controversial rankings to the platform's watch library and derivative content, giving Breaking Bad and its universe a new round of catalog weight, while shows that did not make the list face pressure in recommendation algorithms and award narratives.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
In recent years, The New York Times has turned "canonical editing" into a fixed product line: first, there were selections of the century's best books by writers, then selections of the best films by filmmakers, and now this same method has been applied to television. The cutoff date is set at January 1, 2000, directly excluding The Sopranos, which many still view as the beginning of the golden age, effectively rewriting the industry's memory starting point through rules.
The capital path involves packaging 500 industry ballots, daily rankings, and celebrity interview appearances into subscriptions and advertising inventory. AMC's Breaking Bad has been off the air for over a decade, yet it can still drive Netflix's inventory and derivative universe viewership through a newspaper ranking; HBO's The Wire has never won the Emmy for Best Drama but ranked second in peer voting, indicating a split between the trophy market and peer memory market.
Similar operations include AFI's 100 Years of Film, Sight & Sound's decade director voting, and streaming platforms' own "must-watch" algorithm lists: whoever organizes the voting defines what is considered classic. The television industry is in a mature phase of transitioning from channel scheduling to platform inventory, with the list's function shifting from discovering new shows to re-labeling old shows, facilitating rights holders and platforms to reprice in the long tail.
Structurally, this represents a transfer of pricing power. The mechanism shifts the definition of "best" from ratings, Emmy awards, and algorithm recommendations to a printable, debatable, and view-driving industry-selected list. Whoever controls the nomination years and voter lists decides which shows can continue to collect attention rent in the second half of the 21st century.
ABAB News · Cognitive Laws
The cutoff date determines who can become a classic more than the work itself.
Peer ballots rewrite industry memories that trophies have not completed.
The canonical list sells not the shows, but the next round of viewing rights.