Television critics Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz started working together at the Star-Ledger in New Jersey (“the paper at the end of Tony Soprano’s driveway in The Sopranos,” says Seitz) in 1996, but their bond actually goes back further than that: both cite the 80s police drama Hill Street Blues as a gateway into the world of TV. And it’s a show that’s stuck with them: in their recent collaboration, TV (The Book), it scores 104 out of 120 points on the scale the pair devised to rank the greatest American television shows of all time.
Part of the book’s appeal is the difference of opinion between the authors—and occasionally arguments about shows that have had ups and downs—which results in an off-kilter canon of worthwhile television. For example, Sepinwall has never seen Maude, SpongeBob SquarePants, or the little-known, hard-to-find CBS comedy Frank’s Place, yet Seitz managed to squeeze them into the top 100. “My fondest wish for this whole thing is that people see the inclusion of Frank’s Place in the pantheon and demand a proper DVD release for it,” Seitz says.
TV (the Book) by Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz (Grand Central Publishing)
