The smartest show on TV that still airs?

[Gehrig]

All in the Family and Honeymooners

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Tosh.0

That made me laugh out loud.

 

[bigpern23]

Until deck Whitman weighs in, this thread is full of nothing but shows that will rot your brain.

 

[NDub]

Define "smart." Do you mean the most real? If so, I'll go with Breaking Bad and the downward spiral of a human being from a high school chemistry teacher to a malevolent drug-making monster.

 

[tripleoption34]

My pick would be The Good Wife. A network of political and personal entanglements where everything seems to logically flow

Agreed. It's the only show I watch with any consistency. Always delivers.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I've never seen more than 20 minutes of The Good Wife. No desire to... I'm sure it's great.

South Park is a very smart show when it's done well, which lately has been less and less frequently.

I would put Breaking Bad on this list. 30 Rock is pretty smart. Parks and Rec.

 

[NickMordo]

I'd go with Mad Men for a couple of reasons. One - you have to watch it, because often more is communicated by a gesture, expression or just a character's posture than words can convey. Two - the dialogue is limited and often it is what is left unsaid that is the real story.
Three - it operates on multiple levels. Don Draper's rise and fall, the rise of female workers, the impact of advertising on society, the societal change going on in the 60s all wrapped into weekly and season-long plots.

I forking love Mad Men

 

[CentralIllinoisan]

Colbert Report has to be up there. I find it smarter and more subtle in its satire than the Daily Show.

 

[TigerVols]

If you're not talking about dramas, then Through the Wormhole is the smartest show on TV.

Frontline is the smartest, news division.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

The Daily Show and the Colbert Report definitely would be high on this list.

 

[NDub]

If you're not talking about dramas, then Through the Wormhole is the smartest show on TV.

Frontline is the smartest, news division.

Huge fan of Freeman's show. I'm a nerd for those types of shows on NatGeo, Science, Discovery, etc., and this one is without question the best.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

My pick would be The Good Wife. A network of political and personal entanglements where everything seems to logically flow

Agreed. It's the only show I watch with any consistency. Always delivers.

Cast is drop-dead great. Cumming's awesome as the Rahm knockoff.