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Welcome to the Watchies, the Still Watching<\/em> awards show. On the penultimate episode of VF<\/em>\u2019s TV podcast, hosts Hillary Busis, Richard Lawson,<\/strong> and Chris Murphy<\/strong> discuss, debate, and ultimately award the greatest TV shows of all time\u2014well, at least according to them.<\/p>\n Busis, Lawson, and Murphy doled out awards in three categories: drama, comedy, and reality TV. The nominees in the first category: Mad Men, Succession,<\/em> and My So Called Life.<\/em> After a late-breaking suggestion of HBO\u2019s The Leftovers,<\/em> the trio decided that AMC\u2019s Mad Men<\/em> takes the cake.<\/p>\n Created by Matthew Weiner,<\/strong> Mad Men<\/em> starred Jon Hamm<\/strong> as suave and troubled \u201960s-era ad man Don Draper. It first aired on AMC on July 19, 2007, and ran until 2015. Mad Men<\/em> was certainly celebrated in its time, picking up 16 Emmys and five Golden Globes over the course of its seven seasons\u2014and yet all three agreed that Busis\u2019s choice for the greatest drama series of all time has only gotten better in age<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cMad Men<\/em> is so well done and holds together over its seven seasons in a way that is surprising when you watch them in a binge,\u201d says Busis. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of surprising in retrospect that there wasn\u2019t a plan for the ending from the beginning, because it wraps up so well.\u201d<\/p>\n While many may argue that The Sopranos<\/em> is the greatest drama series of all time, Lawson proposes that awarding Mad Men<\/em> is a way of showering praise on The Sopranos<\/em> as well. Weiner got hired to write on Sopranos<\/em> after submitting a spec script for Mad Men;<\/em> when he finally got a chance to make his own original show, they acted like natural counterparts. \u201cMad Men<\/em> and The<\/em> Sopranos<\/em> are in such deep dialogue with each other,\u201d said Lawson. \u201cIf Sopranos<\/em> is about the very end of the American dream, Mad Men<\/em> is about the first cough. It’s like, \u2018Oh, something is going wrong here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The nominees for greatest comedy series of all time were Arrested Development, 30 Rock,<\/em> and Enlightened.<\/em> After a spirited debate, the hosts landed on Murphy\u2019s choice, Tina Fey<\/strong>\u2019s 30 Rock<\/em> incredible meta-comedy about running a sketch-comedy series, which first aired on NBC in 2006. Created by Fey and Robert Carlock,<\/strong> 30 Rock<\/em>\u2019s joke-per-minute ratio is unparalleled\u2014as is its fearlessness in criticizing parent company NBCUniversal without ever taking itself too seriously.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the core, it\u2019s about this friendship that emerges between the artist and the corporate suit,\u201d says Lawson. \u201cThe corporate suit is right most of the time\u2014which is an interesting tack to take and maybe would not be greeted as warmly now as it was then.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking of things that might not have aged well: America\u2019s Next Top Model<\/em> beat out both RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race<\/em> and The Real World: Seattle<\/em> for greatest reality television show. Originally airing on UPN in July 2003, America\u2019s Next Top Model<\/em> was hosted by Tyra Banks,<\/strong> who additionally served as its executive producer. While many of the situations and challenges on the show\u2014like making the contestants change their race for photo shoots, or forcing one to pose in a coffin hours after finding out her friend had died\u2014have aged terribly, ANTM<\/em> was problematically entertaining and laid the groundwork for many other reality shows, from Drag Race<\/em> to Project Runway<\/em> to Top Chef.<\/em> And at the end of the day, Banks knew what the main draw of the show was. \u201cThe thing about the America\u2019s Next Top Model<\/em> is that the top model was always Tyra,\u201d said Murphy. \u201cIt was about Tyra all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n