Television has been evolving ever since Americans first welcomed TVs into their living room.
Today there's more money to be made on the small screen than ever before.
Whether it's on HBO, Netflix or any other platform, there's something out there for
everyone, no matter what their taste.
Nailing down which shows have been most influential in television's development is pretty tough;
there's so much TV to choose from that we could write multiple top tens and they'd all
be unique.
But we're always up for a challenge, so here are our picks for the ten most influential
TV shows of all time.
The Wire
Before Boyd Crowder toed the line between being a good guy and a total heel, before
Game of Thrones shocked audiences by taking Sean Bean�s head, and before Walter White
made ruthless meth dealing cool, there was The Wire, a show where main characters were
never safe and amorality ruled.
Sure, The Wire has been influenced by other entries on this list, but the show reminded
viewers that great TV could exist outside of network stations.
Although it owes a debt to its predecessors, this police drama was groundbreaking on its
own.
Even casual fans probably can�t hear �The Farmer in the Dell� without looking over
their shoulders.
Law & Order
Law & Order aired between 1990 and 2010.
During that time it spawned four spin-offs and immortalizing actors like Jerry Orbach,
Jesse L. Martin, Mariska Hargitay, and Sam Waterston.
So if you detect shades of the iconic series while watching, say, The Shield, or The Practice,
it�s probably not an accident.
The original Law & Order is the best of the brand, but the show�s �ripped from the
headlines� realism has had a massive role in molding police and courtroom dramas.
Lost
Five years after it ended, some of its viewers are still Lost.
But if the story�s lingering questions and unsolved mysteries still drive debate about
the show's quality, then there�s no denying the impact it had on television during and
after its six season run.
Consider shows like Flashforward, Person of Interest, and Fringe - each of them has benefitted
in some way from Lost�s massive popularity.
The series also took J.J.
Abrams� �mystery� box approach to storytelling and brought it to new heights.
Audiences would continue to see in films like Cloverfield and Star Trek Into Darkness - it's
not a stretch to think that these movies might not exist without the success of Lost.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Speaking of Star Trek, how much do you love your tablet?
Gene Roddenberry beat Steve Jobs to that idea by several decades.
So next time you load up Candy Crush on your Android or iPad, just remember to give credit
where it's due.
More importantly, Star Trek: The Next Generation carved a foothold for sci-fi shows at a time
when the genre was in a slump.
It helped geek culture get break into the mainstream and paved the way for shows like
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X-Files, and even Lost.
Who knows, we might not have comic book blockbusters like The Avengers if Star Trek hadn't made
it cool to be a nerd in the 80s and 90s.
The X-Files
The X-Files might seem more like a benefactor of Star Trek: The Next Generation�s influence
than an influence in itself.
But The X-Files brought things a step further.
It introduced niche concepts to a wide audience, and made aliens, werewolves, and ghosts interesting
for people who otherwise didn't care about the paranormal.
The X-Files was also one of the earliest shows to use the Internet to engage with fans.
It's also where Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan started his career.
Plus, without the adventures of Scully and Mulder, we�d probably be missing out on
shows like Supernatural and Bones.
Seinfeld
Seinfeld took what people knew about sitcoms and completely turned it inside out.
The show that gave us Festivus, Pigman and The Soup Nazi is somehow still relatable to
our day-to-day lives.
Seinfeld meddled with the sitcom�s traditional A-plot/B-plot structure.
It introduced audiences to the unlikeable jerk as protagonists, it didn�t use multi-camera
set-ups, and it turned self-referentialism into art.
From Girls to It�s Always Sunny in Philadelphia to The Big Bang Theory, Seinfeld has been
copied but never cloned.
Not too shabby for a show about nothing.
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a comic institution, one that's been making names for four decades.
Adam Sandler, Bill Murray, Steve Martin, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig,
Eddie Murphy, Seth Meyers, Chris Rock, and the list goes on.
SNL�s influence expands beyond the stage, too.
A world without SNL would probably mean a world without The Daily Show and The Colbert
Report.
The show�s format has also been ripped off by Mad TV, All That, and Mr. Show, and its
humor is echoed in Tina Fey�s 30 Rock.
The Simpsons
The Simpsons has shaped just about every cartoon that has aired since it started in 1989.
Sure, cartoons were around before The Simpsons, and people would have still made them without
The Simpsons, but Springfield�s first family changed the game by showed that cartoons didn�t
just have to be for kids.
Without The Simpsons there's no Family Guy or American Dad, (and pretty much everything
Seth MacFarlane has ever done), as well as South Park, King of the Hill, and The Critic
(which had a crossover with The Simpsons back in 1995).
Live-action shows like Arrested Development can also trace influence to Matt Groening�s
TV landmark.
I Love Lucy
Seinfeld may have influenced the sitcoms of today, but I Love Lucy gave birth to the sitcom
way back in the 1950s.
Small things we take for granted - like reruns, continuously running storylines, or the multi-cam
set-up - didn�t exist until I Love Lucy conjured them into being with a knowing wink.
The show is also a major feminist milestone, which is admirable because it aired during
a time when most viewers expected women to be stay at home wives and mothers.
At a glance I Love Lucy endorses those social norms, but Lucy Ricardo speaks up and lets
her dreams be known to her husband, Ricky, and defies him from one episode to the next.
I Love Lucy may look dated today, but it was totally progressive in its era.
The Sopranos
There are a number of creative types who have contributed to the renaissance we're seeing
on TV today, but one name rises above the rest.
David Chase was the architect of The Sopranos back in the late 90s and he emerged as a champion
for bold, risky television.
In the grand scheme of the TV history, The Sopranos is a fairly young series, but it�s
already iconic and completely essential.
Take away The Sopranos, and say goodbye to HBO and other premium cable channels.
It�s possible that the show�s influence is so strong that competitors like Showtime
may not have produced Homeland and Shameless without it.