Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro has a verdict on The New York Times’ new list of the 100 best television shows of the 21st century: “It’s actively bad.”
“Shall we say, not good,” Shapiro said on his show. “Not good at all.”
The NYT put out its list of top 100 TV shows of the century. It’s actively bad. Here’s the true list. pic.twitter.com/3SqEsUeHnv
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) September 25, 2026
Shapiro gave the Times credit for putting “Breaking Bad” and “The Wire” at the top.
“They got the top 2 basically right, kind of,” he said. “But the rest of the list? Meh.”
“There are many, many shows that they put in their top 10 that probably don’t belong in the top 50,” Shapiro said. “And there are shows that certainly belong in the top 10 that don’t make the top 60.”
“Mad Men” at No. 3? “One of the most overrated shows in the history of television,” according to Shapiro.
“You’re following a bunch of obnoxious people who are miserable because, of course, we are being told the 1950s and ’60s were a time of true misery in America,” he said.
“Succession” at No. 4?
“I liked ‘Succession,'” Shapiro acknowledged. “But the reality is, ‘Succession’ is kind of a sitcom, meaning that every episode is sort of a repeat of the prior episode.”
“Fleabag” at No. 5? Wildly overrated. “Veep” at No. 7? Funny, but hardly one of the 10 greatest shows ever. “30 Rock” at No. 8? Good, but “there is no way it’s the eighth best show” of the century.
And then there was “Atlanta” at No. 10. “I’m not sure that seven people have ever watched ‘Atlanta,’” Shapiro joked.
Unsatisfied, Shapiro made his own list.
It begins with a major correction to the Times’ No. 28: “Band of Brothers,” the HBO miniseries following Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division through World War II. “’Band of Brothers’ is the best thing that has ever been aired on TV,” Shapiro said. “It is not a particularly close call, actually.”
From there, Shapiro kept “Breaking Bad” and “The Wire” in his top three, followed by another miniseries, “Chernobyl,” at No. 4. The Times placed it at No. 19. He praised the series for its depiction of the Chernobyl disaster and the failures of the Soviet bureaucracy. Shapiro called it “one of the best things in the history of TV.”
“Game of Thrones” came in at No. 5, albeit with an asterisk, acknowledging the final season’s failure.
“Severance” landed at No. 6.
“I love it when the writers take me to a place I didn’t think they were going,” Shapiro said. “The writing is so good that I do trust where they are going.”
He said the first three seasons of “Lost,” his No. 7 pick, “revolutionized TV,” adding that it was a family favorite.
“The Office” came in at No. 8, close to the Times’ No. 11.
“Probably the best American comedy of all time, certainly the most iconic,” Shapiro said.
Then came “Downton Abbey” at No. 9. The Times placed the period drama at No. 52, a disparity Shapiro found difficult to comprehend. “I don’t see 51 better shows than ‘Downton Abbey,’” he said.
Rounding out his top 10 was “The Shield,” the FX crime drama the Times buried at No. 70, a ranking Shapiro described as “unthinkable.”
But Shapiro wasn’t finished. He gave honorable mentions to shows he thought the Times particularly shortchanged: “The Bear,” which the Times ranked No. 74, and “Shogun,” which came in at No. 86.
His explanation for the appeal of “The Bear” was characteristically Shapiro: It is “competence-porn,” a show about the possibility that becoming good at something can actually make a person better.
And “Shogun”? “Beautifully produced and wonderfully acted and just incredible to watch.”
So there you have it. The New York Times has its 100. Ben Shapiro has his 10. At least now America can finally return to the most pressing issue of the 21st century: Is “Mad Men” really better than “Downton Abbey”?
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