45. TV (The Book): Two Experts Pick the Greatest American Shows of All Time by Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz
Alan Sepinwall is one of my go to television critics, so I was excited to get my hands on an advanced reader’s copy of this book a few months ago. I’m just now finally getting around to reviewing it the day before it is actually released. Sepinwall and Seitz worked together at the New Jersey Star-Ledger for 20 years and have reunited in this book to debate the greatest American television shows of all time.
They came up with an elaborate rating system to score the shows and determine their rankings. They only included shows that have ended their run with an exception made for the long running The Simpsons, whose impact on American culture they feel is firmly established at this point. The best part of the book is definitely the beginning where they talk about the rating system and then debate how to rank the five shows that had tied scores for number one. The rest of the book is as you would expect a listing of shows with descriptions and why they think the show belongs on the list starting with their number one show and counting up to 100.
If you’re a television lover and someone who loves a good list I would highly recommend this book. I give it a 7 out of 10.