Talk:TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time

Copyright problem removed
Prior content in this article duplicated one or more previously published sources. The material was copied from: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/04/26/entertainment/main507388.shtml. Infringing material has been rewritten or removed and must not be restored, unless it is duly released under a compatible license. (For more information, please see "using copyrighted works from others" if you are not the copyright holder of this material, or "donating copyrighted materials" if you are.) For legal reasons, we cannot accept copyrighted text or images borrowed from other web sites or published material; such additions will be deleted. Contributors may use copyrighted publications as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences or phrases. Accordingly, the material may be rewritten, but only if it does not infringe on the copyright of the original or plagiarize from that source. Please see our guideline on non-free text for how to properly implement limited quotations of copyrighted text. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously, and persistent violators will be blocked from editing. While we appreciate contributions, we must require all contributors to understand and comply with these policies. Thank you. 193.52.24.125 (talk) 10:32, 23 January 2011 (UTC)

Copy/Paste of AP/CBS News article
"NBC dominated the list with 17 shows, CBS was next with 16 shows, and ABC had a total of 8 shows made the list. Cable television was represented by just two shows, both on HBO. Public television had two series on the list. The fledgling networks - The WB and UPN - had to settle for one shared entry, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which has aired on both outlets."

This quote is clearly plagiarized from the AP/CBS News article linked in the entry http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/04/26/entertainment/main507388.shtml

"NBC dominated the list with 17 shows, which, besides "Seinfeld," ranged from "Saturday Night Live" at No. 10 to the Judd Hirsch sitcom "Taxi," which also aired on ABC, at No. 48." and "The fledgling networks the WB and UPN had to settle for one shared entry, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," which has aired on both outlets."

This is not original work. 193.52.24.125 (talk) 10:34, 23 January 2011 (UTC)

Validity of List
A list of TV's 50 Greatest Shows of all time that does not include "Perry Mason" can not be a well thought out list. Perry Mason was the first and longest running TV crime drama of the 1960's and a precursor to shows like "Law and Order" that made the list. Note also that the top rated show is not popular on the US West coast.
 * This is an encyclopedia article. It doesn't matter what anyone may think should or should not have been on the list, it only matters what was on it.


 * Correction: it does matter what people think "should or should not have been on the list", the only caveat is such criticism has to either be common or extremely notable, and be sourced to somewhere. After all, any article about a subject that has been criticized a great deal or by notable sources should and usually does have a "Criticism" section. Runa27 19:23, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

USA specific entry
needs to be retitled USA TV Guide's 50 greatest TV shows of all time since other English speaking countries have TV Guide publications also.--59.101.41.219 07:42, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

Hmmm.. I wonder which country published a 'TV Guide' first and which countries plagurised it.

A list is not copyrightable
People keep deleting the actual list on this page. It's not a copyright violation to reprint a list. Without the actual list, the page is useless. --Jajasoon (talk) 20:44, 6 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes it is a copyright violation. See also Feist Publications v. Rural Telephone Service. Garion96 (talk) 20:52, 6 May 2009 (UTC)
 * I think that's a complete misreading of that case. Where in WP is this discussed? And if this is official WP policy, then pages dedicated to lists should be deleted as they have no worth. --Jajasoon (talk) 22:43, 6 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Why do you think that is a misreading? Garion96 (talk) 22:55, 17 October 2009 (UTC)
 * The legal case you have linked clearly states the opposite of what you're trying to propagate. But nevermind, as long as you're deleting lists from Wikipedia why don't you go delete the AFI top 100 lists too, so you'll finally get banned... --77.10.100.145 (talk) 04:45, 8 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Do explain why it's supposedly stating the opposite. Regarding AFI lists, we had otrs permission for those. Garion96 (talk) 20:52, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

From Feist Publications v. Rural Telephone Service: "In regard to collections of facts, O'Connor states that copyright can only apply to the creative aspects of collection: the creative choice of what data to include or exclude, the order and style in which the information is presented, etc." From that description, I would imagine that copyright fully applies here. To fully reproduce the list, I think we would need permission from TV Guide. --LinkTiger (talk) 20:22, 16 August 2010 (UTC)

You can't copyright a fact. A list is a fact. If Seinfeld is #1 on a list, this is a fact. A fact is not subject to copyright. This is how unauthorized biographies are published. As long as you stick to facts only, you're safe. A list is a fact. You could print the list and not have it subject to copyright. The only reason Wikipedia fails to fight this is they are afraid of being sued. Even if you're right you can be sued and it costs money to win. A list is not subject to copyright. But more important if TV Guide or anyone raises a stink, just delete the article. This is an encyclopedia not a promotion for TV guide — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.190.231.3 (talk) 04:37, 21 September 2011 (UTC)

A list may be a fact in that it is a list but this one is the opinion of TV Guide. Perry Mason, no Star Trek (original). This is a TV Guide opinion piece and nothing more. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.188.33.25 (talk) 03:38, 25 October 2011 (UTC)


 * I also believe the list is not copywriteable as you have claimed, and is not copywritable as claimed by your referenced case. Ref 99.190.231.3.
 * The word is copyrightable and TV Guide clearly have the copyright to their own list. The top 10 would be permitted by Fair Use. aldiboronti (talk) 14:35, 9 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Peace and Passion &#9774; ''("I'm listening....") 01:57, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

The Sopranos
First aired in 1999, not 1989! A typo in the article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.155.233.45 (talk) 16:03, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

Where's "Saturday Night Live?"
Isn't that supposed to be in the 10th spot? AndrewOne (talk) 06:22, 12 July 2013 (UTC)

List amended
The show Friends was listed in the No 5 position when it is in fact at No 21 in the Top 50.(see the actual list at TV Guide). The Sopranos is the show that should be at No 5 and I have amended the list accordingly. I really do not understand how the erroneous entry was made unless there's some frustrated Friends fan out there angered that the show wasn't in the Top 10. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Aldiboronti (talk • contribs) 14:18, 9 March 2017 (UTC)

40 shows missing taht should also be listed.
As title I came here and thought what a waste of time without the whole list as per title.

The following is the complete list: 1. Seinfeld (NBC) 2. I Love Lucy (CBS) 3. The Honeymooners (CBS) 4. All in the Family (CBS) 5. The Sopranos (HBO) 6. 60 Minutes (CBS) 7. Late Show with David Letterman (CBS) 8. The Simpsons (Fox) 9. The Andy Griffith Show (CBS) 10. Saturday Night Live (NBC) 11. The Mary Tyler Moore Show (CBS) 12. The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (NBC) 13. The Dick Van Dyke Show (CBS) 14. Hill Street Blues (NBC) 15. The Ed Sullivan Show (CBS) 16. The Carol Burnett Show (CBS) 17. Today (NBC) 18. Cheers (NBC) 19. thirtysomething (ABC) 20. St. Elsewhere (NBC) 21. Friends (NBC) 22. ER (NBC 23. Nightline (ABC) 24. Law & Order (NBC) 25. M+A+S+H (CBS) 26. The Twilight Zone (CBS) 27. Sesame Street (PBS) 28. The Cosby Show (NBC) 29. Donahue (syndicated) 30. Your Show of Shows (NBC) 31. The Defenders (CBS) 32. An American Family (PBS) 33. Playhouse 90 (CBS) 34. Frasier (NBC) 35. Roseanne (ABC) 36. The Fugitive (ABC) 37. The X-Files (Fox) 38. The Larry Sanders Show (HBO) 39. The Rockford Files (NBC) 40. Gunsmoke (CBS) 41. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (WB/UPN) 42. Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (NBC) 43. Bonanza (NBC) 44. The Bob Newhart Show (CBS) 45. Twin Peaks (ABC) 46. Star Trek: The Next Generation (syndicated) 47. Rocky and His Friends (ABC) 48. Taxi (ABC/NBC) 49. The Oprah Winfrey Show (syndicated) 50. Bewitched (ABC) - - - - - - NBC is a division of General Electric Co., ABC is part of The Walt Disney Co., CBS and UPN are owned by Viacom Inc., the WB is a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc. and the Fox network belongs to News Corp. Ltd.

At least show the complete list as the title says it is 'TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows Of All Time'. So show the whole list not just a few, sure links for validation but those links disappear over time wikipedia is unlikely to disappear as fast.

Change the tilte so it has (USA) in the title somewhere so when search we know what country this list pertains to.

80.234.130.147 (talk) 06:24, 25 October 2017 (UTC)