My Forever Fandom: Top 10 Favorite (Fiction) TV Shows of All Time

I ranked these according to how engrossed I felt in the characters and storyline, by whether the story held strong until the end, and how intensely the story and characters have stuck with me over time.

Honorable Mention: Psych: I really liked Psych, but we were watching it around the same time we were watching Grimm and the similarities were bizarre. White male detective with special abilities, black male detective assistant/sidekick, and girlfriend named Juliet(te). Anyway, Psych had an excellent, original, premise and solid characters but must have been a little forgettable next to Grimm for me.

10. Castle: This show was amazing…until the end of season six. Great pacing, each story wrapped up a neat little arc, and the longer arcs were engaging, deep, and meaningful. The second to last episode in season six was so satisfying, wrapping up a big arc with awesome justice; I wanted to stand and applaud the TV. And then the last episode. It was almost like a completely different team of writers tackled it and filled it with all the tropes in the book. I wanted to throw tomatoes at the screen. I haven’t watched it since, but the first 6.22 seasons were quality enough to sneak this in at number 10.

9. Ed: Such an original concept! High-powered attorney misplaces a comma, loses his job, returns home to his NYC apartment to find his wife with the mailman. With no backup plan, Ed returns to his hometown of Stuckeyville, buys and restores the bowling alley, and opens a legal practice inside, too. All the while he begins to pursue his high school crush, Carol Vessey. The characters are hilarious, the relationships are memorable, and I especially love the friendship and banter between Ed and his best high school mate, Mike.

8. The Office: I adore these characters. Jim + Pam Forever. And I’m sorry, Michael Scott is just hilarious to me. I love the sarcastic/slapstick combination, though I’m fully aware that this type of humor would never fly in today’s divisive climate. Also my dad worked in an office and even though I know the reality was super boring, I always imagine his day-to-day like this.

7. Wishbone: Any 90s kid now feels like they can have a semi-coherant conversation about classic literature thanks to Wishbone, the little Jack Russell who made connections between his real life experiences and stories. The show really brought these old tales to life when on paper they may seem stale or hard to read. The real life friendships between kids and adults in this small town are charming, old-fashioned, and so refreshing.

6. Gilmore Girls: Rory and I are the same age so naturally I relate to nearly everything in this show. We had our first boyfriends together, my lacrosse uniform looked like her Chilton uniform, we graduated high school and started college together. All the characters were charming, even if they weren’t always likeable. I’ll remember them forever. I spent a lot of time on Team Dean, but my older self can appreciate the Jesse thing. I did not love season 7, and the reboot was pretty awful in my opinion. I felt like Rory’s lack of direction and commitment was really out of character for her.

5. Grimm: Paranormal urban fantasy detective serial with rich ties to literature and filmed in my hometown of Portland, Oregon? Nailed it. Some scenes were even filmed just down the street from my parents house and my elementary school. It was fun to watch just for that, but also a super engaging storyline from beginning to end.

4. The X-Files: Objectively speaking this show should probably rank lower since it never really gets any resolution, but I discovered The X-Files when I was 14, and the whole Mulder/Scully will they/won’t they dynamic just had me hooked forever. Since being able to watch it as an adult who genuinely loves sci-fi, I also really appreciate the whole government/aliens conspiracy.

3. Warehouse 13: This is like a lighter version of the X-Files meets Indiana Jones. And the show actually gets nicely resolved in the fifth season. Secret Service agents are relocated to a remote base in South Dakota where they care for all the artifacts that have made people commit criminal acts, and they travel the world to disarm and confiscate artifacts that are causing havoc. Pete and Myka are probably a bit much in the first season but they mellow out and their dynamic is charming. Add in Claudia and other later characters and the whole team is just heartwarming and addicting.

2. Ghostwriter: Gaby, Rob, Lenni, Jamal, Hector, Tina, and Alex will forever have my heart. Obviously I love the detective work, the mystery of ghostwriter, and the friendships, but I also love the real-life preteen problem-solving, the gritty Brooklyn setting, and the genuinely diverse cast. It’s a real shame that my second-fave show is the one that knocked my all time fave off the air.

1. Square One TV (Mathnet): I started watching this when I was 4 and probably because it was my first favorite show, it has earned its place as my forever favorite. Mathnet is a detective serial told in five short parts, each To Be Continued until the Friday episode, at the end of a mathematics variety show called Square One TV. I’m sure this is also why I fell in love with detective shows. Mathnet is genuinely suspenseful, the math is realistic even if the crimes are not, the hidden puns for adults are fantastic, and George Frankly, Kate Monday, and Pat Tuesday are just wonderful along with all the colorful kid sidekick characters. Thank goodness for YouTube where I have been able to watch episodes I missed as a child or thought were dreams because they were so far back in my memories.