The New York Times just published its list of the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/arts/television/best-tv-shows-21st-century.html” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>best 100 TV shows of the 21st century. Unfortunately,The Walking Dead, one of the best and most popular horror TV shows of all time, was not on the list.
On the list, you’ll find some of the best shows ever, includingGame of Thrones, The Wire, Breaking Bad, Succession, The Office,and more. While I’m not arguing The Walking Dead is as good as those shows, it’s definitely one of the best 100 TV shows released in the last 26 years.
The AMC series based on Robert Kirkman’s comic book series of the same name premiered on Halloween in 2010 and quickly became one of the most popular and successful TV shows. Audiences around the world fell in love with Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), Shane Walsh (Jon Bernthal), Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus), Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride), Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun), Andrea (Laurie Holden), and the rest of this incredible cast.
The first five seasons of The Walking Dead,which aired between 2010 and 2015, are as good as the series ever was, although there were some great moments later in the season. I would put those five seasons up against about half of the shows that The New York Times added to their list.
The Walking Dead’s later seasons definitely bring the show down
The Walking Dead is not one of the most critically praised shows of the 21st century. It’s frequently left off prestigious lists like this. As a fan of the series, I know The Walking Deadstruggled in its later seasons. There’s no doubt the show ran for too many seasons and too many episodes in each of those later seasons.
For me, the easy explanation is that The Walking Dead’s weaker later seasons left fans and critics with a bad memory of the show that started so strong. I thought the esteemed minds behind The New York Times would have slightly more appreciation for a show like The Walking Dead.From 2010 to 2015, The Walking Dead was a top 10 TV show. How does that show not make this list? It makes little sense.
Some of the shows on this list have fewer episodes than The Walking Dead’s first season! How can you hold the longevity of The Walking Deadagainst it but also reward less ambitious shows? It doesn’t make sense.
The Walking Deadstarted to feel a little repetitive in season 5, for me. From there, the series reached a low point in the season 7 premiere when the series killed off Glenn. Famously, that episode resulted in a massive drop in viewership. The show struggled with key cast members leaving over the next few seasons before it came to an end after season 11. If you take season 8 to season 11 out of the picture, The Walking Dead is probably viewed, critically, as a much better show.
The Walking Dead was never a show for critics, though. It was always about the fans and the entertainment. And it excelled in that capacity. If you’re talking about entertainment value and impact, there are few shows better or bigger than The Walking Dead in the last 20-plus years of TV. I’m not going to throw some of the additions on the list under the bus. All of these shows are good, of course, but The Walking Dead being left out while some of these shows are included is laughable. Forget about the top 100; The Walking Dead is better than some of the shows in the top 50! I’m looking at you, Louie.
Unsurprisingly, The Walking Dead isn’t the only snub on this list. So many incredible shows were left off the list. Grey’s Anatomy,one of the longest-running modern TV shows, didn’t make the list either.
I’m going to take this with a grain of salt, as we all should, but it would be nice if The Walking Dead was included in lists and rankings like these. Hopefully, some day, The Walking Dead will be viewed in the light it deserves.
