If there’s a common thread that runs through a lot of my favourite TV shows it’s that they allow their characters to be fully dimensional, and always, often to the audience’s chagrin, true to themselves. I love a show that chooses to do something different, that marches bravely into untrodden, un-clichéd, trope-free territory, where its writers are forced to find new, daring, and unexpected paths forward. At the same time, I’ll also take one that simply makes me laugh, and/or tells a classic story exceptionally well.

Here’s a quasi-accurate ranking of my favourite TV shows, broken up into ones whose episodes run, on average, an hour, and those that run, on average, half an hour.

favourite (roughly) hour-long shows

50. Seeing Things

49. Luck

48. Mr. Robot

47. Peacemaker

46. Mindhunter

45. Unbelievable

44. Ripley

43. Small Axe

42. The Good Fight

41. Mr. and Mrs. Smith

40. Halt and Catch Fire

39. Terriers

38. Justified

37. Unorthodox

36. Reacher

35. Slow Horses

34. Bosch

33. Chernobyl

32. Breaking Bad

31. Wiseguy

30. Hannibal

29. Fringe

28. Silo

27. Watchmen

26. 24

25. V

24. Game of Thrones (up to, but definitely not including, the penultimate episode of season seven or the entirety of season eight)

23. Worzel Gummidge

22. Adolescence

21. Twin Peaks

20. Homeland

19. The Good Wife

18. Evil

17. Succession

16. Mad Men

15. My So-Called Life

14. Better Call Saul

13. Friday Night Lights

12. Horace and Pete

11. The Deuce

10. Lost

9. The West Wing (Aaron Sorkin years)

8. Station Eleven

7. The Wire

6. Treme

5. Dekalog

4. The Leftovers

3. Andor

2. Rectify

1. Freaks and Geeks

favourite half-hour (or so) shows

50. It’s Like, You Know…

49. Too Many Cooks (Adult Swim)

48. English Teacher

47. Baskets

46. The Job

45. Review

44. Extras

43. Stella

42. Police Squad!

41. The Last Man on Earth

40. Parks and Recreation

39. Life & Beth

38. The Office (USA)

37. Homecoming

36. American Vandal (first season)

35. Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp

34. Flight of the Conchords

33. Undeclared

32. Togetherness

31. Newsradio

30. Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia

29. Barry

28. 30 Rock

27. New Girl

26. The Grinder

25. The Kids in the Hall

24. The Mandalorian (first two seasons)

23. The New Twilight Zone “A Matter of Minutes”

22. One Mississippi

21. Documentary Now!

20. Arrested Development (first three seasons)

19. What We Do in the Shadows

18. Sports Night

17. The Good Place

16. The Office (UK)

15. Fleabag

14. Mr. Show

13. GLOW

12. Curb Your Enthusiasm

11. Somebody Somewhere

10. Louie

9. How To with John Wilson

8. The Larry Sanders Show

7. I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson

6. Detroiters

5. Eastbound and Down

4. Detectorists

3. Seinfeld

2. Mr. Inbetween

1. SCTV