The second American broadcasting corporation to become a TV network, NBC consistently ranks as the biggest source of scripted entertainment on the small screen in the United States, by audience share. The network is responsible for bringing various television institutions into homes across the U.S., from sci-fi pioneers to classic sitcoms.
NBC has been instrumental in developing some of the best TV shows of all time, from the first major police-procedural series, to one of the 21st century’s most acclaimed serial crime dramas. The network also counts legal, medical, and sports dramas among its best shows, as well as early classics of the Western and spy genres, and landmark period miniseries.
Few other broadcasting companies can boast such a diverse breadth of scripted programming spanning so many decades of TV history. Today, many of NBC’s best shows can be found on Peacock, its digital streaming service, which is named after the famous color logo the network first adopted way back in 1956. Here are the pick of the bunch.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
1964–1968
The Man from U.N.C.L.E is a spy drama as unique as the acronym in its title, boasting the kind of stylish visual, hi-tech gadgetry, and comedic undertones that could rival James Bond movies of its day. Robert Vaughn and David McCallam became icons of the 1960s as two secret agents who crossed the Cold War divide.
The Good Place
2016–2020
As much as that season 1 twist is best experienced as a surprise, overall The Good Place gets even better upon rewatching. This philosophically-minded comedy-drama series is full of hypotheticals as thought-provoking as its gags about good and evil, and is underpinned by excellent lead performances from Kristen Bell, Ted Danson, and William Jackson Harper.
Will & Grace
1998–2006, 2017–2020
At its best, this pioneering sitcom about a gay man and straight woman living together in New York was the most innovative thing to follow in the footsteps of Seinfeld and Friends in the late 1990s. Thankfully, there isn’t likely to be another Will & Grace revival show, as the brilliant original series deserves to keep most of its legacy intact.
The Blacklist
2013–2023
Not every season of The Blacklist deserves to be on this list, but if it weren’t for the show’s unfortunate decline in later seasons it’d likely be much higher. Regardless, James Spader’s greatest career performance imbues the show’s inimitable protagonist, Raymond Reddington, with the enigmatic magnetism that keeps us gripped throughout.
This Is Us
2016–2022
The pinnacle of family dramas on network television, This Is Us has the perfect ending to do its emotionally-affecting character arcs full justice. It’s impossible not to empathize with every member of the Pearson family at one point or another, with Dan Fogelman and his writing team conjuring up too many intensely human moments to fit into a single lifetime.
Shōgun
1980
Decades before FX’s impressive reboot, the original Shōgun on NBC changed television. Prefiguring prestige TV with its painstaking period details and complex narrative, the show still stands up to scrutiny as a work of art today, despite the justifiably negative appraisal of its historical accuracy by Japanese critics.
Frasier
1993–2004, 2023–2024
The best episodes of Frasier involve just about the cleverest bits of dialogue anywhere in the sitcom landscape. Few double acts in scripted TV comedy can match Frasier and Niles Crane in their pomp for lightning-fast one-liners, although thankfully the show supplies all the supporting characters needed to knock the Crane brothers down a peg or two.
Bonanza
1959–1973
Bonanza is arguably one of the two most celebrated classic Western TV shows alongside Gunsmoke, which aired on rival network CBS during the same era. However, this seminal NBC series has very little else to do with its contemporaries, focusing on the internal family dynamics of a wealthy ranching family, rather than the outlaw-of-the-week format of other Western shows.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
1990–1996
Aside from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air featuring one of the greatest sitcom themes of all time, the show has an enormous heart, and isn’t afraid to tackle issues that made it far ahead of its time as a TV comedy. Will Smith is essentially being his larger-than-life self throughout the sitcom, and his infectious energy is impossible not to fall for.
Law & Order
1990–2010, 2022–Present
It now feels as though there are too many Law & Order series to count, but nothing beats the original iteration of the franchise. This groundbreaking procedural drama has become an institution of American television, after more than two decades spent combining police and legal plotlines in expertly rendered case-of-the-week episodes.
Source link
Add Comment