During what will almost assuredly NOT be called the Great Quarantine of 2020, I’ve had a lot of time to think. Some ideas have been absolute gems (an UberEats-style delivery service that cooks the fries on its way to save us from soggy wilted french fries), some ideas still need work (A Soprano’s style crime-drama called “The Cheeseman” that also acts as a prequel to the Golden Girls), but most of my ideas have been either revolved around figuring out to watch next (instead of finishing countless shows I started), or about things to write on here. Today, I’ve decided to combine the two and focus the shows that reshaped television. Now I do want to make a quick disclaimer, this by no means is a treatise on the greatest shows (The Wire) of all time, but the TV shows with far-reaching impacts on both the small screen and society as a whole. These rankings are debatable, fairly fluid, and for fun, so I hope I don’t offend my 12 followers.

12. Oz (HBO)

Probably the least watched and most forgotten of the 12 shows to be listed here, HBO’s Oz had an immense impact during its run from 1997 to 2003. This gritty crime-drama taking place in the fictitious Oswald Penitentiary System gave us a look at the our country’s broken prison system and the degradation that happens within. With Oz we saw: a swastika branding, assassination via euthanasia, and death by immolation, in just the series premier. Its 56 episode gave us a hard, and dramaticized, look at what happens when we lock up criminals and throw-away the key. Murder, gangs, rape, abusive CO’s, and politics all combine to show just how broken this rehabilitation system is due to the prison-industrial complex. Though Oz didn’t start a conversation on how to fix this, spoiler alert it’s only gotten worse, this show did give us a few lasting legacies.

Alexa Fogel unlocked something special when she cast mostly unknown character actors to highlight the show (she did this again with The Wire, Ozark, and Atlanta). Fogel’s brilliance aside, Oz should also get credit for helping HBO grow up. Prior to 1997, HBO was known for comedies like the hilarious Larry Sanders Show and the televised Arliss, or B-Movies brought to us via Tales From the Crypt (I still stan Demon Knight), or late night movies with…boobs. Oz gave HBO another layer, and paved the way for award-winners like The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Newsroom, Barry, Succession, and Game of Thrones. With a cast of , Oscar-winner JK Simmons, Christopher Meloni, Terry Kinney, Dean Winters (who is a webspinning Littlefinger-esque plotter…I don’t understand how he’s been relegated to Mayhem commercials), Oz crawled so its followers could run.

11. Survivor (CBS)

In 20 years, CBS has given us 40 seasons. In the year 2000, it was Nielsen’s highest rated series, and its finale was the most watched non-Super Bowl of the year. Now most people would look at this at just the surface level and say, “cool 20 years is a long time,” but if you look at what Survivor achieved it is remarkable. Survivor proved to the world that Reality TV can DOMINATE primetime, and was the genesis moment for the Reality TV boom of the early 2000s. A countless amount of Reality/Game Shows have tried to follow in the footsteps of Survivor, but none have made the impact on this level.

Our lexicon was changed, and people most people age 25 and up will still understand what it means when you say “The Tribal Council has spoken.” In 2008 Survivor host Jeff Probst and four other reality hosts did a TERRIBLE job hosting the Primetime Emmys. All 5 of these hosts were nominated for “Best Reality TV Host” and Probst was King of them all, taking home the vaunted award. I’m pretty sure we never would’ve got Destiny’s Child’s 2002 Banger “Survivor” without this show. I just texted my sister a picture of a contestant who I thought looked like early 90’s Chris Cornell, and she instantly replied “Ozzy was such a solid player. One of the best ever physically.” Does this prove my point? No, I just found it funny and my sister and I spent a lot of our time talking about who should win, and how we’d win if we were on the Island. This social experiment/game show was such a phenomenon that the first season’s 6th place finisher Colleen Haskell (we have the same birthday) went on to have multiple acting jobs, including the female lead opposite Rob Schneider in The Animal. That was an insane sentence to type, and it was only possible through Survivor.

10. The Real World (MTV)

Though most people didn’t know it at the time,the premier of The Real World in 1992 became a seminal moment in television history. Now I’m not going to pretend to remember this, I was 3. My earliest memories of MTV were not being able to watch Beavis and Butthead, and being so afraid of the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video I’d cry.

This show lasted for 33 seasons on MTV, and not only changed this station from music videos to Teen Mom, but it paved the way for future reality shows (Like Survivor) to shine. Eventually, MTV came up with The Real World Road Rules Challenge (later shortened to The Challenge) and television greatness ensued. The RW also gave us character archetypes (The Bitch, The Gay One, The One with a SO back home that will inevitably cheat, The Unworldly Naive One, etc) that would become a staple of reality TV. Who would’ve thought TV would change so much when people decided to “stop being polite, and start getting real.”

9. Twin Peaks (ABC)

From 1990 to 1991, and then randomly in 2017, Twin Peaks mesmerized and confused viewers. Trips to spiritual lodges that may or may not actually exist, a log that predicts the future, demonic possession, a dancing little person that speaks in code, David Duchovny playing a Trans FBI agent, Kyle MacLachlan and the 2nd greatest chin in Hollywood, and whatever this is, David Lynch’s style was unlike anything else on TV. Mystery, mythology, and horror were what made Twin Peaks viewers question what they were watching in a deeper level than with any other TV show prior. Whether it’s the island mystery revolving around Lost, or the murder mystery of The Killing, prestige TV can trace its roots back to Lynch’s brainchild.

With a lasting legacy of high-brow plot concepts, water cooler reactions, and a young Heather Graham, Twin Peaks showed just how different primetime TV could be.

8. The Office (NBC)

With all due respect to Ricky Gervais and the British Office, NBC’s The Office was on for 9 seasons (7 of them were good), won numerous awards, brought back “that’s what she said”, and launched the careers of Steve Carell and John Krasinski. Hilarity aside, the true impact here is its mockumentary single camera style. Between the confessionals of the characters, and the use of the 4th wall as a punchline (*Jim looks at camera*), The Office was able to make a menial 9 to 5 seem hilarious. I’m still convinced an “Office-style” comedy set in a school would be hilarious.

The true achievements of The Office are its ability to literally appeal to all ages, and its impact on streaming. I’ve watched this show with my sister, my mom, and my girlfriend, and they all have enjoyed it despite having vastly different life experiences. My students, who have yet graduate high school let alone to work office jobs, find it hilarious. If I was ranking singular episodes of television, “Dinner Party” would be a top 5 all-time episode for me. For many people, The Office has become a new type of nightlight in the sense that many of us fall asleep while becoming the most streamed show on Netflix. Its streaming impact is so great, that NBC paid over $100 million to acquire the rights from Netflix. Many shows have tried to capture the magic of Dunder Mifflin, but few have captured our hearts.

7. The Golden Girls (NBC)

For 7 seasons, 180 episodes, and two spinoffs, The Golden Girls was a television phenomenon with an out of this world amazing theme song. Set in Miami, these 3 sexagenarians (emphasis of sex btw) and one octogenarian show us what life is like for single women in their “golden years.” I remember laughing at this show with my Grandma when I was waaaaaay too young to get the jokes, but I still loved it. Like most sitcoms, The Golden Girls was a show about family, friends, relationships, and growth. From Blanche’s almost marriage in the premier, to Dorothy’s actual wedding in the finale, we laughed and cried with these four iconic ladies.

Now, you may be wondering why these 4 are so iconic. Despite being the age of, and looking like, most grandmas, these ladies showed America that age is just a number, as they enjoyed their single life THOROUGHLY. Blanche in particular, who Buzzfeed claims is the “Golden Girl” that I am, blessed approximately 164 men with her southern charms. A sitcom built around not just women, but older single women, was incomprehensible before television was changed by The Golden Girls. These social security collecting children of the Great Depression blazed the trail for shows like: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sex and the City, 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, and Broad City.

6. The Simpsons (FOX)

If this ranking was based off of just personal experience, The Simpsons would have to be much higher than 6. For a good part of my childhood, I used quotes from Springfield’s first family the way that Abed used pop culture to communicate with others in Community. According to my parents and sister, I’d talk about episodes/plot occurrences of The Simpsons in the same way someone would recount a fond memory.

Now, some Simpsons quotes, “stupid sexy Flanders” comes to mind first, have permeated into my everyday vernacular, but the fact that Homer’s signature interjection “d’oh” has made it into the Merriam-Webster Dictionary lexicon is much more impressive. The Simpsons has been on for a STAGGERING 31 seasons, and during their run they’ve done two things: legitimize adult animation, and predict the future. Prior to The Simpsons, cartoons were merely avenues to sell action figures to children. Now the FOX Network brags about its “animation domination” on Sunday nights. Beavis and Butthead, South Park, Futurama, Family Guy, Bob’s Burgers, and countless more have followed to make adult animation a legit television genre. As for The Simpsons as soothsayers, it’s well documented that they “predicted” a Trump presidency (Lisa Simpson inherited a mess as his successor) but here is an eerie list of other things from Springfield that have come to fruition. Whether it’s coincidence or divination, they’ll never stop The Simpsons.

5. Roseanne (ABC)

The best thing about truly great movies or TV shows is the ability to evoke REPEATED emotion. To have your brain melted by the twist of The Sixth Sense is great, but once you know the ending, there’s no new feeling upon rewatch. “Who shot JR?” was one of the most watched, and parodied, television events of all time, but that lightning can never be rebottled. Now there are certain shows and movies that I rewatch often. The Office is a kind funny, ambient, night light that I “watch” while I cook or write blogs. LOST and The Wire never get old to me despite my ritualistic rewatch every summer. Interstellar, no matter how often I watch, fills me with the same hope, anxiety, and heartbreak. The nostalgia of a Roseanne rewatch always feels like a warm hug from my mom.

If we can separate the recent…craziness…Roseanne was indeed well ahead of its time. From 1988 to 1996, Roseanne redefined what sitcoms could be. Prior to its premier, 80’s comedies were either TGIF carbon comedies like Full House, or wholesome family sitcoms like The Cosby Show, or workplace larks like Cheers. The commonality of the mentioned shows would be the fact that they all revolve around a strong male lead. Roseanne, following the trail blazed by The Golden Girls, gave us not just a strong female lead, but one of the most real and relatable TV shows of its era. With plotlines about the Connors not being able to afford their mortgage, and gay characters who had more of a function than just being gay characters, Roseanne masterfully blended sardonic comedy and the realism of lower-middle class struggles and reshaped TV for years to come.

4. Will and Grace (NBC)

Now, big disclaimer time, this is one of two shows on this list I have not watched the vast majority of. I watched episodes here and there with my sister and have varying memories: Joel McHale dated Grace, Jack singing “Papa can you Hear Me?”, Karen’s treatment of the help, an ode to Kevin Bacon, and this iconic Thanksgiving episode. Now I’m sure you’re wondering how I can argue a show I have not watched fully can reshape television and dare I say…society as a whole?

Will and Grace may have done more to normalize homosexuality than any show in TV history. I did a deep dive trying to find a brief history of LGBT+ TV characters prior to Will and Grace‘s run beginning in 1998 and only 3 characters repeated on lists from more.com, gaytimes.co.uk, and insider.com: a tertiary at best Rickie Vasquez of My So Called Life who was the first gay character to come out of the closet on TV (this show was cancelled after 1 season), Ellen Morgan, the titular character played by Ellen Degeneres who announced to the world she was a lesbian in primetime in her show Ellen and was cancelled shortly after, Jodie from Soap, played by Billy Crystal, who ranged from problematic to confusing as a character who, despite being gay, frequently dated women. Now I apologize for this run on sentence, I am a notorious comma splicer, but I wanted to illustrate these are the “icons” of the pre-WG era. Will Truman and Jack McFarland are fully fleshed out characters who function as more than just “the gay one.” Between the high ratings and numerous awards and nominations, Will and Grace tickled our funny bones while breaking down barriers.

3. Sex and The City (HBO)

Much like our previous title, I have not seen all of Sex and the City. Unlike every other show on this list, Sex and the City sucks. I’ve watched episodes sporadically. I watched the second movie with my girlfriend. Every second was an affront to my senses. Now I’m sure I’m coming off like a real Miranda here, Buzzfeed actually told me I was Harry, but not every show is for everyone. Some people enjoy 4 single ladies looking for love in the Big Apple, I’d rather stare directly into an eclipse.

Despite the fact that it may have broken the universe via its own Mandela Effect, Sex and the City undoubtedly broke down barriers (see what I did there?). The last legacy of Sex and the City, is the way that it engulfed society as a whole at its peak. This show paved the way for women in the early 2000’s to embrace their sexaulaity, drink cosmos, and buy Manolo Blahniks. This show checked all the boxes for gamechangers as it permeated its way into our everyday society, won awards, spawned movies and multiple copycats.

2. Seinfeld (NBC)

For 9 seasons Seinfeld became the apotheosis of 1990’s television. Though it was just “a show about nothing,” it compiled a whopping 74 awards and another 185 nominations, and reshaped both social interaction & television as a whole. “Yada yada yada”, “not that there’s anything wrong with that”, and “NO Soup for you!” are almost universally recognizable to people 30 and up. Ancillary characters had careers launched by this show, Bryan Cranston as the lecherous dentist Tim Whatley or Debra Messing and Courteney Cox as just 2 of Jerry’s 66 girlfriends come to mind. Stars of this show found their characters inescapable, Julia Louis-Dreyfus still gets requests to do the “Elaine Dance“, while neither Jason Alexander nor Michael Richards have found vehicles of their own post Seinfeld. Even Curb Your Enthusiasm couldn’t escape this show’s weight as one whole season needed to revolve around a “Seinfeld” reunion.

Seinfeld‘s lasting impact on television would have to be its format. Four friends who spend the majority of the series being awful people won our hearts while dating, reading, eating at Monk’s Diner, and working on a sitcom the characters pitched as “a show about nothing.” One episode had the gang wait in real-time for a table at a Chinese restaurant, while another featured them looking for their car in a parking garage. Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David were able to masterfully create hilarity out of the mundane, and craft likeable sociopath characters. Though some episodes aged HORRIBLY, Seinfeld is truly a “spongeworthy” candidate to binge during this quarantine.

1. LOST (ABC)

From 2004 to 2010, LOST reshaped the television climate as we know it. Whether it was its frenetic opening, head scratching mysteries, or (anti?) climactic ending, audiences were captivated. What started as a group of survivors from a plane crash evolved into a mythological treatise on science versus faith. I, and many others, think this show spawned the singles best episode of television of the 21st Century (“The Constant”). The mysterious plot was complemented beautifully by its wide structure. No one character trumped another as each episode functioned as a POV and shifted from week to week, as one episode’s star can be relegated to the background in the next episode. I hold it near and dear to my heart but…

LOST broke reshaped the way we approached television. Instead of watching, we had to solve this TV show. I remember having conversations with teachers and students alike in high school about what the Smoke Monster was as LOST dominated the monoculture. I bought Flannery O’Connor’s Everything That Rises Must Converge, because I saw Jacob reading it while waiting for John Locke to fall out of a window. Recap culture would not exist today without the thousands of fans to flood Doc Jensen’s post online after each episode to read about how “The Book of Revelations”, Newton’s Law, and Richard Alpert’s LSD experiments all tied into a group of plane crash survivors trying to find a nuke to stop their island from traveling through time. The amount of depth to all things related to this show was nearly boundless. A website for Oceanic Airlines was made, as well as a “podcast” by someone who found the island between seasons. This wasn’t on HBO or even FX, but ABC meaning there had to be regimented commercial breaks that didn’t break the flow of the plot. Magic. After show recaps, TV and Podcast alike, exist en masse now due to LOST. It’s easy to connect the dots to shows like Game of Thrones, The Expanse and Westworld, as LOST paved the way for high-brow nerd culture to become not just normalized, but to be vaunted as the pinnacle of prestige TV.