More than seven years ago, in July of 2018, The Ringer published its ranking of The 100 Best TV Episodes of the Century. The list came at a quasi-end of an era for television, which made its timing apt, and we as a staff sought to encapsulate the medium in all of its genre-spanning, highbrow-to-lowbrow glory. About a year later, both Disney+ and Apple TV+ launched, kicking off the streaming era in full and redefining the term “Peak TV.” (In 2018, 495 scripted shows were produced, a number that continued to rise annually, peaking in 2022 with 600 shows.)
You could say we’re now at another quasi-end of an era for television: The Streaming Wars have been settled, the number of produced scripted shows has plateaued, and consolidation is approaching. Considering that, and the fact that we’re officially a quarter of the way through the 21st century, the timing feels right to update and rerelease The 100 Best TV Episodes of the Century for 2025.
The process this go-around was almost identical to the first time: The entire Ringer staff was asked to submit their favorite episodes since July 2018, the first time this ranking was published. The list was then assembled with those submissions in mind. There were a few stipulations:
- As with the 2018 list, only one episode per show could make the cut.
- We also didn’t want to get bogged down in relitigations, so only episodes released after July 2018 were considered to be added to the list. Furthermore, only shows that released episodes after July 2018 were eligible to have their entry on the list changed. For example, we did not argue over The Sopranos’ “Pine Barrens” versus “Long Term Parking,” but we did debate whether Better Call Saul’s “Chicanery” should be replaced by an episode from later in that show’s run. (Keep reading to see where we landed.)
- We took great pains not to be weighed down by recency bias, which was hard because the explosion of the streaming era means that there was a lot of TV to pore over—there legitimately may have been more television made over the past seven years than in the first 18 years of the century. All in all, 27 episodes were added to the top 100, which feels spiritually and mathematically correct (seven years is 28 percent of a quarter century, etc.).
- Finally, we were determined to maintain the spirit of the original undertaking, whose mission was to encapsulate all of television, not just the prestige dramas and buzzy comedies.
The result is a list of 100 episodes of TV that covers the medium’s vast variety of genres and greatness while also bringing the original list into the modern day. (But don’t worry; if you want to see the original ranking from 2018, just click the toggle in the overhead toolbar. For better and worse, it’s quite the blast from the past.) Without further ado, here are The 100 Best TV Episodes of the Century. —Andrew Gruttadaro
