Top Three?

Fine choices. I would add The Sopranos.

Regarding the Mad Men finale, I was fully satisfied with the conclusion of Don's story, if not some of the other characters.

 

Oh boy. Never saw The Wire because we've never ponied up the $$ for the movie channels. Likewise, never saw Inspector Morse or Upstairs Downstairs. But I did watch Mad Men, MTM, MASH, and The Sopranos, but not religiously. I'm OK with Don Draper's exit, BTW.
The three greatest TV series of all time? That's tricky. "Greatest" covers a lot of ground, and is subject to a wide area of interpretation. Series also eliminates shows like Ed Sullivan, Carol Burnett, The Smothers Brothers and Rowan and Martin's Laugh In, all favs of mine.
But in the interest and spirit of the topic I'll play along. Ahem.

1. NYPD Blue--I loved most of Stephen Bochco's work, but this one hooked me every week. And it would have WITHOUT the "nudity." Dennis Franz was brilliant as the flawed hero Andy Sipowicz. Director Greg Hoblit's "shaky cam" style gave it an edgy, unique look and feel. And retired cop Bill Clark's input gave it grit and realism seldom seen in fiction.

2. China Beach--Two words: Dana Delany. And it really was about a slice of Vietnam. Several episodes stood out, but the one seared in my brain involved interviews with female vets, followed by a scene re-enacting the scenario they had just described. Powerful.

3. The Beverly Hillbillies--So stupid, stereotyped and politically incorrect (before the phrase existed).
But I still laugh my ass off every time it's on. Most people go with Andy Griffith in citing the classics, but I gotta go with Jed Clampett's brood from Bugtussle. Where else are you gonna get stuff like "the cement pond," "the fancy eatin' table" with the "pot passers?" (Which, of course, was the pool table in the game room).
And the theme song...Flatt and Scruggs...you're singing it now in your head, ain'tcha?

Honorable Mention: Seinfeld, L.A. Law, Barney Miller, Star Trek, The Prisoner, The Twilight Zone, The Sopranos, MASH, Lost In Space, Frasier, The West Wing and Monty Python's Flying Circus.

 

I'm in.

Well, here we go:

1. The Sopranos
2. True Detective
3. Seinfeld

* Honorable mentions: The Simpsons, Arrested Development, Band of Brothers, MASH (nice pick, HD), Welcome Back Kotter, Barney Miller, Dukes of Hazzard, Murphy Brown (yes, I had a crush on C. Bergen), any show by Anthony Bourdain (I enjoy food and more so, travelling to find crazy food).

 

1. Seinfeld. A show about nothing. I still watch the re-runs (raised our 20 year old on it), utterly brilliant and yada, yada, yada it better and better as it went along.
2. EDIT (forgive brain cramp, thanks James for catching it) Hillstreet Blues. Be careful out there.
3. Walking Dead. My better half is a horror movie, zombie loving connoisseur. Sunday night TV revolves around this show.

Honorable Mention; Non-'series' type shows; Saturday Night Live, 60 Minutes, Top Chef, Chopped (ditto on Bourdain shows Nev), Survivor.

 

Love this subject matter! For my money, it's:

1. The Sopranos
2. The Simpsons
t3. Breaking Bad
t3. Cheers

Honorable mention: Seinfeld, Walking Dead (good call SCJ!), The Wire, Arrested Development, The X-Files, Game of Thrones, Homeland, Entourage (it's a SoCal thing ), Family Ties and Boardwalk Empire.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some awesome shows but that's what's on the brain in this moment.

 

Darn, forgot about putting Cheers in my honorable mentions list. And actually Joe, I think the quote you cited was from Michael Conrad's character, Sgt. Phil Esterhaus in Hill Street Blues. A semi regular opening scene tradition uttered at the end of roll call. My favorite line from NYPD Blue was spoken by almost all of the lead characters at least once in the series: "Don't piss in my ear and tell me it's raining."

 

My point of view may be a bit younger, but here goes (and yes, I'm cheating by having a couple ties in there)

1. The Sopranos
t2. The Simpsons* / The West Wing**
t3. Mad Men / Arrested Development

*Simpsons Seasons 1-10
**West Wing Seasons 1-4, 7

I'll admit I stopped watching The Simpsons after Season 10, but general consensus seems to suggest its creative decline was already well underway. And the quality of The West Wing suffered after Aaron Sorkin left the series after season 4, although I did like its final season.

The Sopranos and The West Wing are the only series I actually re-watched from start to finish at some point. I plan to do the same with Mad Men in a few years.

 

NORM!!!!! Yeah, I blew that one too.

 

I didn't realize how much I like science fiction until I pondered my list:
1. Max Headroom - way, way, ahead of its time, and if you can forgive it for using floppy drives in a dystopian future it reflects in many ways what we've become
2. Firefly - so glad they made the movie to wrap it up, but it made me a little sad to see what they could have done with a few more seasons
3. Battlestar Galactica - the last season got a bit tiresome, but I still loved the series.

Honorable Mention: Futurama - There was a joke in an episode about Paul Simon being replaced by a Cylon in the new duo "Cylon and Garfunkel". The Cylon singing "Scarborough Fair" is the single funniest thing I've ever seen on TV. No one else shares my opinion of that scene, but I loved it dammit!

 

It's AMAZING! I like everything Don likes. with the exception of MTM. Disclaimer: I liked the show, I just didnt/dont like Mary's character. I thought the other characters were people I could like, flawed as they were. Mary was just too... MARY! Same with 'That Girl'.

The Mad Men ending sure came out of left field. But the more I thought about it, the more I liked it. Don's life was always surreal and he always did bounce between pure selfishness and real concern for others. Human being, go figger.
- Trust me...like almost every fact of the times, the sexism and misogyny depicted WAS on point. But the women coped back then and usually turned it to their advantage. Of course THEY were strong .. unlike the delicate hothouse daisy feminists of today. Who need 'Safe Spaces and Trigger Warnings' to safeguard themselves from unpleasant ideas. Back to Smelling Salts and Fainting Couches.

/sarc

And gasp.. ALSO liked 'The Wire". Just wondered why the plot lines never surfaced in the current B'more troubles. The Wire and the old 'Homicide: Life on the streets' explained Balmer pretty damn well.
Downton Abbey - fantastic!

We're currently liking 'Mr Selfridge'. But it's hard to go wrong with any of the Brit sagas... with the EXCEPTION of 'Monarch of the Glen' . Dont get me wrong, there's plenty to like in the characters and stories until you get to the ending. Then when you think about it, in retrospect, you just get bummed out because all the schemes for the survival of the Family Seat hinge on handouts from London.
- course that may not bother some. Doesn't seem to bother most Scots, either.

And btw, 'Duncan' is a fucking idiot in the beginning and is still an idiot in the end. So embarrassing!
- In case you're wondering why I'm bitching, streamed 5 seasons of Monarch 'free' via amazon Prime but had the buy the dvd to see the last season. Did so...with the result we didnt care what the hell happened to them after that.

One of the first 'old' series we streamed was 'Lie to Me'. Enjoyed it a lot -even the political barbs- and wonder why everyone seems to have forgotten it ever existed.

 

Jump was on to something in his initial vote. Pretty much all the shows mentioned are/were critically acclaimed. James threw in the Beverly Hillbillies as an admitted guilty pleasure. What are some of the shows that you knew weren't exactly Shakespeare, but were staples?

1. Brady Bunch. Gilligan's Island, Partridge Family. Lumped these 3 together since growing up as the baby of the family (hence I watched whatever my older siblings wanted) and back in the time when there was 6 or 7 channels to choose from, these shows were re-run juggernauts.

2. Benny Hill. I can hear the saxophone and he and his old guy sidekick running around in high speed.

3. Loveboat/Fantasy Island. I was too young to go out when these shows were in their peak of popularity. How iconic did those two words 'Da Plane' become?

 

Ooof, this subject matter could be somewhat embarrassing. To be fair a couple of these shows were on before I knew any better.

1. Entourage - listed in my honorable mention section
2. Beverly Hills 90210/Melrose Place - they deserve to be in the same bucket together...trashy!
t3. Shark Tank
t3. Beavis and Butthead - that takes me back.

 

My favorite Monty Python bit. Classic. But there are so many.