Already the ‘best of the decade’ lists have started flying on the intertubes. So far The Onion’s list of the best TV shows from the past ten years has interested me the most. There’s a lot of quality programming there. And Nellie’s seen goddamned near all of it. (Thanks to Chromewaves for alerting me to the list)

Shows Nellie and I have both watched
1. The Wire (HBO, 2002-08)
2. The Sopranos (HBO, 1999-2007)
3. Arrested Development (Fox, 2003-06)
5. Mad Men (AMC, 2007-present)
7. The Office UK (BBC 2, 2001-03)
9. Deadwood (HBO, 2004-06)
10. The Shield (FX, 2002-08)
11. The Office US (NBC, 2005-present)
12. Battlestar Galactica (SciFi 2004-09)
13. 30 Rock (NBC 2006-present)
15. Veronica Mars (UPN/The CW, 2004-07)
16. Friday Night Lights (NBC, 2006-present)
22. Six Feet Under (HBO, 2001-05)
30. The West Wing (NBC, 1999-2006)

7 of the top 10. That’s pretty good, no?

Shows Nellie’s watched but I haven’t
4. Freaks And Geeks (NBC, 1999-2000)
8. Lost (ABC, 2004-present)
17. Firefly (Fox, 2002-2003)
18. How I Met Your Mother (CBS, 2005-present)
19. Big Love (HBO, 2006-present)
23. Undeclared (Fox, 2001-02)
24. Dexter (Showtime 2006-present)
25. Buffy The Vampire Slayer (The WB/UPN, 1997-2003)

Look at Nellie: 9 of the top 10 and 22 for 30 overall. Nice! Also, I should point out that she’s watched Buffy so many times on DVD that I’ve probably seen the entire series, or at least heard it all from another room. The only show on that list I feel like I’m missing out on is Dexter, and — again, by osmosis — I feel I’ve seen quite a bit of it. Lost bugs the shit out of me, How I Met Your Mother is disqualified for using a laugh track and Big Love…well, Bill Paxton and Jeanne Tripplehorne creep me the hell out, so you do the math.

Shows neither of us have watched
6. Breaking Bad (AMC, 2008-present)
14. Futurama (Fox, 1999-2003)
20. Tim And Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! (Cartoon Network, 2007-present)
21. Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO, 2000-present)
26. The Venture Bros. (Cartoon Network, 2003-present)
27. Flight Of The Conchords (HBO, 2007-2009)
28. Eastbound & Down (HBO, 2009-present)
29. Wonder Showzen (MTV2, 2005-06)

We actually watched the first few episodes of Eastbound & Down but just stopped watching for some reason. I would say that Breaking Bad is the next on my list of must-watch shows. I hate Larry David so I’ll never watch Curb. And until I read this list I had never even heard of The Venture Brothers.

By the way, an interesting side note about that list: the share of each network. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that HBO has 8 of the top 30 spots, or that ABC and CBS rated one fewer than either AMC or the Cartoon Network. NBC, for all their recent trouble, scores 5 on the list. Also interesting that Fox had 4 shows on the list, but it killed 3 of them prematurely.