Inside the NY Times 100 Best TV Shows of the 21st Century List
The New York Times compiled a list of the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century by surveying over 500 industry professionals and creators. The project aims to highlight the medium's artistic value through the perspectives of those who work within the industry.
Why it matters
This initiative reflects the growing cultural legitimacy of television as a primary medium for storytelling and artistic expression in the modern era.
The New York Times ‘ exhaustive list of the best TV shows of the 21st century traces its origin to a similar list of the best books a couple years ago. The idea, Times canon editor Gilbert Cruz tells The Hollywood Reporter , was to reach out to the world’s best authors (many of them he notes, already write for the Times or the Times Book Review in one capacity or another), and have them select their favorites.
“It was such a success that we said, let’s try it again with movies,” says Cruz. Celebrities, however, are a different beast than authors, though the Times figured it out.
For the TV list, Cruz said that they reached out to more than 1,000 people, and about 500 or so ended up participating. Many of them also agreed to discuss their picks on camera, with videos interwoven throughout the list.
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