TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time

**_TV Guide_s 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time** is _TV Guide_s list of the 50 most well known and biggest television shows in American television history. The list was in the May 4–10, 2002 issue of the magazine. The television shows were chosen by the people who edit _TV Guide_. The list was also told in an ABC television special, _TV Guide's 50 Best Shows of All Time_, on May 13, 2002.

## Top 50 list

|No|Series|Network|data-sort-type="date"|Start|data-sort-type="date"|End|Type|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|_Seinfeld_|NBC|July 5, 1989|May 14, 1998|Sitcom|||
|2|_I Love Lucy_|CBS|October 15, 1951|May 6, 1957|sitcom, B/W|||
|3|_The Honeymooners_|CBS|October 1, 1955|September 22, 1956|sitcom, B/W|||
|4|_All in the Family_|CBS|January 12, 1971|April 8, 1979|sitcom, B/W|||
|5|_The Sopranos_|HBO|January 10, 1999|June 10, 2007|drama (crime)|||
|6|_60 Minutes_|CBS|September 24, 1968|present|news|||
|7|_The Late Show with David Letterman_|CBS|August 30, 1993|May 20, 2015|talk (late-night)|||
|8|_The Simpsons_|FOX|December 17, 1989|present|animation|||
|9|_The Andy Griffith Show_|CBS|October 3, 1960|April 1, 1968|sitcom, B/W|||
|10|_Saturday Night Live_|NBC|October 11, 1975|present|sketches|||
|11|_The Mary Tyler Moore Show_|CBS|1970|1977|sitcom, B/W|||
|12|_The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson_|NBC|1962|1992|talk|||
|13|_The Dick Van Dyke Show_|CBS|1961|1966|sitcom, B/W|||
|14|_Hill Street Blues_|NBC|1981|1987||||
|15|_The Ed Sullivan Show_|CBS|1948|1971||||
|16|_The Carol Burnett Show_|CBS|1967|1978||||
|17|_The Today Show_|NBC|January 14, 1952|present||||
|18|_Cheers_|NBC|1982|1993||||
|19|_Thirtysomething_|ABC|1987|1991||||
|20|_St. Elsewhere_|NBC|1982|1988||||
|21|_Friends_|NBC|1994|2004||||
|22|_ER_|NBC|September 19, 1994|April 2, 2009||||
|23|_Nightline_|ABC|March 24, 1980|present|late news|||
|24|_Law & Order_|NBC|September 13, 1990|present|legal drama|||
|25|_M*A*S*H_|CBS|1972|1983||||
|26|_The Twilight Zone_|CBS|1959|1964||||
|27|_Sesame Street_|PBS (NET), HBO|November 10, 1969|present|children|||
|28|_The Cosby Show_|NBC|1984|1992||||
|29|_The Phil Donahue Show_|Syndication|1970|1996||||
|30|_Your Show of Shows_|NBC|1950|1954||||
|31|_The Defenders_|CBS|1961|1964||||
|32|_An American Family_|PBS|January 11, 1973|March 29, 1973|documentary|||
|33|_Playhouse 90_|CBS|1956|1961||||
|34|_Frasier_|NBC|1993|2004||||
|35|_Roseanne_|ABC|1988|1997||||
|36|_The Fugitive_|ABC|1963|1967||||
|37|_The X-Files_|Fox|1993|2002|science fiction|||
|38|_The Larry Sanders Show_|HBO|1992|1998||||
|39|_The Rockford Files_|NBC|1974|1980||||
|40|_Gunsmoke_|CBS|1955|1975||||
|41|_Buffy the Vampire Slayer_|WB/UPN|1997|2003||||
|42|_Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In_|NBC|1968|1973||||
|43|_Bonanza_|NBC|1959|1973||||
|44|_The Bob Newhart Show_|CBS|1972|1978||||
|45|_Twin Peaks_|ABC|1990|1991||||
|46|_Star Trek: The Next Generation_|Syndication|1987|1994|Science fiction|||
|47|_The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show_|ABC|1959|1964||||
|48|_Taxi_|ABC/NBC|1978|1983|sitcom|||
|49|_The Oprah Winfrey Show_|Syndication|September 8, 1986|May 25, 2011|talk|||
|50|_Bewitched_|ABC|September 17, 1964|March 25, 1972|sitcom (fantasy)|||