Other Media Aggregators

Below are my fellow media aggregators. They have done the same thing I’ve done with this site but to other art forms. I strongly recommend you check these out as well!

Questions & Answers

The math behind the rankings

Each TV series gains points based on its appearance on a list or award lineup, with bigger lists giving more points than smaller ones. However, there is a cap to how many points one list can provide, thus preventing a giant list from completely overshadowing a large amount of smaller ones. In addition, a TV series can only gain points from a single placement on a list, so if a series appears more than once on a list, only the highest of these appearances will give out points.

Several multipliers are then applied to the lists and their points to account for a few factors, some of which are detailed in the answers below. Lists are also weighed based on their topic and author. For example, an all-time list from a professional critic gives out more points than a genre-specific list from an amateur publication.

Finally, the age of a TV series influences the series' final point value—meaning newer shows must work harder than older shows to climb the rankings. Current TV shows have many more lists made about them, so this weighing helps older shows stand a greater chance against the hot new shows of the year. Other factors influencing these final points are the average number of points each TV series gains and their amount of appearances.

What kind of lists are and aren't accepted?

I accept any kind of list or award lineup that is focused on ranking TV shows specifically. Most all-time, year, decade, and genre-based lists are acceptable in this regard, while some miscellaneous and random lists can be tricky to judge. A list like "The Best 90's Cartoons to Watch this Halloween with Your Parents" can be included, but it won't give out many points.

As far as what type of authors are accepted, I analyze them on a case-by-case basis. I'm more lenient than some when accepting sources like YouTube videos and audience polls into the rankings. Early on, I decided this project wouldn't just reflect what the critics think. While the audience vote can be wild and misguided at times, it does give love to many shows that the critics surprisingly neglect. You'd be shocked at how many supposed "All-Time" lists from critics ignore dozens of genres and fail to include a single TV series from outside the United States and United Kingdom.

Lists and award lineups that are not accepted focus on aspects outside a TV series itself. For example, lists called "The Best TV Scenes of 2018" or "Best TV Performances" will not be accepted. Also, lists about the anticipation of upcoming TV shows will not be accepted since they focus on the hype that some shows have garnered and do not necessarily reflect their quality.

What is and isn't counted as a TV series?

Many authors have a habit of including media that challenges the definition of a TV series on their lists. So I did a lot of research on what exactly defines a TV series, how this compares to similar media, and kept this in mind when it came to excluding some media from my project.

Media that is clearly just a movie, commercial, or standalone special like Akira, 1984, and Jesus Christ Superstar were obvious and the easiest to exclude from aggregation. Made-for-TV movies like You Don't Know Jack and High School Musical were likewise excluded. However, this was more difficult to implement since the line between a Miniseries and a Made-for-TV movie is slim, and many authors will confuse the two. The most noteworthy of these excluded from aggregation are Das Boot, O.J.: Made in America, and Leaving Neverland. These shows are often ranked alongside other TV shows despite the research showing they are actually just movies divided into multiple parts for their broadcast.

Many lists included episodes from a TV series in their rankings; in cases like this, I awarded these points to the parent TV series that these episodes belonged to. So, for example, if "White Christmas" appears on a list, these points go to its parent show, Black Mirror. The TV shows that this often occurred to were The Wednesday Play and A Ghost Story for Christmas. Furthermore, televised events like the Moon Landing and Live Aid are not included in the rankings. Neither are those that occur annually like the Olympic Games, Super Bowl, and Academy Awards.

Like the above, some shorts and specials aren't part of an official TV series but are so commonly grouped together that they might as well be one. In cases like these, the points go to an artificial TV series with a suitable title. So, for example, "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and other early Peanuts specials gain points for Peanuts (1965)—even though there's no official Peanuts TV series from 1965. Other notable artificial TV shows like this include The Up Series (1964), Kizumonogatari (2016), Asterix (1967), and Wallace and Gromit (1989).

Finally, older media that significantly predates the modern definition of a TV series is challenging and analyzed on a case-by-case basis. Some notable media of this type that are ultimately included in this project are Woody Woodpecker, Tom and Jerry, and The Three Stooges.

How do you handle multiple shows sharing a ranking?

When an author ranks more than one TV series in a single slot, I define this habit as a Slot Cram. In a Slot Cram, all the TV shows ranked together receive points; however, they receive fewer points than a standard ranking via a penalty multiplier.

Similarly, another habit many authors—especially those writing about anime or cartoons—too often fall into is including what I refer to as a Franchise Drop. Instead of ranking a single TV series on a list, an author ranks an entire franchise in the same slot, often in vague terms. The most common subjects of this are the Gundam and Ultraman franchises, with Degrassi, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Scooby-Doo, and CSI being other common victims.

For cases like this, I keep a record of franchises and all the TV shows belonging to each franchise. Then, when a Franchise Drop occurs, I give the points to every show of the ranked franchise. I make sure this action matches the author's specifications (if any) while excluding shows that simply didn't exist when the list was published. Furthermore, all these points will be given the Slot Cram multiplier. For example, suppose a list published in 2018 includes the Power Rangers franchise in a single ranking slot. In that case, I will provide Slot Cram points to all the Power Rangers shows except Power Rangers Beast Morphers, which debuted in 2019.

This handling of Franchise Drops means that plenty of questionable TV shows can get points thanks to an author's lack of specifications. I identified all the questionable TV shows in each franchise to combat this. So when a vague Franchise Drop occurs, these shows get significantly fewer points than the more acclaimed and popular shows in that franchise—all unless an author specifies otherwise. For example, if "Dragon Ball franchise" is included on a list, Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, and Dragon Ball Super all gain points. However, Dragon Ball GT gains fewer points than the other shows since it is not as well-liked and known and thus is less likely to be a part of the author's intended ranking. On the other hand, if the same author specifies that GT is included in their ranking, Dragon Ball GT gains the same points as the other Dragon Ball shows.

A final thing to note is a limit to how much vagueness is tolerated as a Slot Cram or Franchise Drop. Attempts to shove an extraordinary amount of content are completely ignored, such being the case for entries like "MTV 1981-1992" or "All of HBO's Catalogue".

When are TV shows joined together or split apart?

Many TV shows tend to re-title themselves during a new season. Some notable examples are Justice League Unlimited, Blackadder Goes Forth, and Nisemonogatari. These are considered new seasons instead of new shows, so their points are counted as Justice League, Blackadder, and Monogatari, respectively.

Revivals of a TV series can be quite a bit trickier to handle. Generally, these are dealt with the same way that new season re-titles are addressed, with Twin Peaks and Doctor Who being some notable examples where this occurs. However, when a revival takes a more detached approach, it counts as its own different TV series. Examples include Planet Earth II and Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.

Some miniseries and OVAs that relate to existing TV shows suffer the similar problem that revivals do; as such, they are handled the same way. 24: Live Another Day and the 2003 Battlestar Galactica miniseries are treated as the full 24 and Battlestar Galactica series. Meanwhile, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels and Hellsing Ultimate are new TV shows separate from Penny Dreadful and Hellsing.

Talk shows are a strange beast altogether. A new host usually means that iteration is treated as a new TV series, such being the case for the several iterations of The Tonight Show and The Late Late Show. More than other genres, a talk show's re-branding is tied strongly with its content, so reception and public perception can vary dramatically with each new host.

Lastly, shorts that are considered part of a TV series' canon are included in their appropriate series, such as with the 1920's shorts of Felix the Cat and special OVAs of Naruto. Furthermore, TV shows that heavily recycle preexisting content give their points towards the source of this content. For example, suppose The Bugs Bunny Show and Mighty Mouse Playhouse appear on a list. These points go to Looney Tunes and Mighty Mouse because the previous shows are mainly compilations of content from these shows. However, if this preexisting content is in a TV show that significantly changes the content—like in the case of Robotech—these shows retain their points.

So, are we in the golden age of television?

Yes, at least according to my rankings.

The top 1000 is currently dominated by the 2000s and 2010s, with almost 60% of shows having debuted in the 21st century. This could be due to recency bias since many more lists are being published today than in the '80s and '90s. I do my best to account for as many biases as these, and awards have helped give more love to shows from decades past. Despite these efforts, all my research points to the fact that we do live in the era of "Peak TV". This will change someday, so enjoy all the fantastic TV series being currently produced as much as you can!