Founded in 1990, IMDB is a treasure trove of data with “…2,882,569 titles (includes episodes) and 5,909,020 personalities in its database.” Using a simple scraper written in Ruby, I was able to grab data on the >90,000 TV shows in the IMDB database. This is what I found.



There has been significant growth in the number of new television series created each year:





Here is the same chart from 2000 forward:





It is important to note that our collective record-keeping has improved since IMDB’s launch in 1990, and with the rise of internet usage generally (and IMDB specifically) over the past decade. IMDB’s Google Trends chart:

War and history series are the highest-rated genres on average. Among common genres, documentaries, animated series, and dramas are the highest-rated. Game shows and reality TV are rated significantly lower than other genres:



Certain genres have grown or faded significantly since 1950:



For example, westerns have almost completely disappeared:



The number of reality TV shows has had an astonishing rise starting in the late 90s, but has thankfully flattened out:



The prevalence of fantasy shows has been relatively steady over time, but has made a comeback in the past few years:



The overall quality of TV peaked in the 1960s, declined through 2004, and has since steadily improved (although I would take this chart with several grains of salt):



Here is the same chart from 1990 through today:

The top ten highest-rated television shows of all time are as follows:

1. Breaking Bad (2008): 9.6

2. Game of Thrones (2011): 9.5

3. Planet Earth (2006): 9.5

4. Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey (2014): 9.5

5. The World at War (1973): 9.5

6. The Wire (2002): 9.4

7. True Detective (2014): 9.4

8. Sherlock (2010): 9.3

9. The Sopranos (1999): 9.3

10. Cosmos (1980): 9.3



The top TV series that have debuted since 2010 (note that I did *not* filter out shows with a small number of ratings):

1. Game of Thrones (2011): 9.5

2. Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey (2014): 9.5

3. True Detective (2014): 9.4

4. Sherlock (2010): 9.3

5. Rick and Morty (2013): 9.3

6. Africa (2013): 9.3

7. Kardes Payi (2014): 9.3

8. Leyla and Mecnun (2011): 9.2

9. Fargo (2014): 9.2

10. 24: Live Another Day (2014): 9.2



Best of the 2000s:

1. Breaking Bad (2008): 9.6

2. Planet Earth (2006): 9.5

3. The Wire (2002): 9.4

4. The Life of Mammals (2002): 9.3

5. Al-Taghriba Al-Filistinia (2004): 9.2

6. Arrested Development (2003): 9.2

7. Firefly (2002): 9.2

8. Life in the Undergrowth (2005): 9.2

9. Life in Cold Blood (2008): 9.2

10. Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005): 9.1

Best of the 90s:

1. The Sopranos (1999): 9.3

2. The Private Life of Plants (1995): 9.2

3. The Trials of Life (1990): 9.2

4. The Life of Birds (1998): 9.1

5. Friends (1994): 9.0

6. Twin Peaks (1990): 9.0

7. Freaks and Geeks (1999): 9.0

8. Batman: The Animated Series (1992): 9.0

9. Cowboy Bebop (1998): 9.0

10. Ice TV (1996): 9.0

Best of the 80s:

1. Cosmos (1980): 9.3

2. The Living Planet (1984): 9.2

3. The Simpsons (1989): 9.0

4. Seinfeld (1989): 9.0

5. Dragon Ball Z (1989): 8.9

6. Only Fools and Horses…. (1981): 8.9

7. Blackadder Goes Forth (1989): 8.9

8. Fauji (1988): 8.9

9. Solunski patrdii (1985): 8.9

10. The Morning Program (1987): 8.9

Best of the 70s:

1. The World at War (1973): 9.5

2. Life on Earth (1979): 9.2

3. I, Claudius (1976): 9.1

4. La zulianita (1977): 9.0

5. Doña Bárbara (1975): 9.0

6. Fawlty Towers (1975): 8.9

7. Matador (1978): 8.9

8. El chavo del ocho (1972): 8.8

9. The Man and the City (1971): 8.8

10. The Julie Andrews Hour (1972): 8.8

Best of the 60s:

1. Monty Python’s Flying Circus (1969): 9.0

2. Fujimaru of the Wind (1964): 9.0

3. The Prisoner (1967): 8.8

4. Nu, pogodi! (1969): 8.8

5. Ferien in Lipizza (1966): 8.8

6. The Great Adventure (1963): 8.8

7. Alle Hunde lieben Theobald (1969): 8.8

8. Hafenpolizei (1963): 8.8

9. Landarzt Dr. Brock (1967): 8.8

10. Die Gäste des Felix Hechinger (1964): 8.8

Best of the 50s:

1. Twilight Zone (1959): 8.9

2. Walt Disney Presents: Annette (1958): 8.8

3. Corky and White Shadow (1956): 8.8

4. Mayor of the Town (1954): 8.8

5. The Spade Cooley Show (1958): 8.8

6. Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955): 8.7

7. Mr. Squiggle and Friends (1959): 8.7

8. Studio 57 (1954): 8.7

9. J.P. Patches (1958): 8.7

10. The Honeymooners (1955): 8.6

Best of the 40s: