The Top 100 Movies/TV Shows/Music/Books I Don’t Enjoy

Entertainment Weekly released lists of the top 100 movies, TV shows, albums and books of the last 25 years. It’s kind of interesting to check out the lists and see how many of the top picks I’ve seen/listened to/read:

  • Movies: 42/100
  • TV Shows: 28/100
  • Music: 10/100
  • Books: 9/100

Keeping reading for disclaimers and inane insights.


[Movies and books are pretty straight forward. I’ve either seen the whole movie or read the entire book. TV shows and music are a little harder to count. I went with TV shows I watched on a semi-regular basis at some point in my life. If you count shows I’ve seen an episode of but never regularly watched, it goes up to 46/100. TV shows I’ve seen while flipping channels doesn’t count. For music I went with albums I own or willingly listen to parts of on a regular basis. So Postal Service’s Give Up is in because I bought a few tracks on iTunes and listen to them frequently, but Guns ‘N Roses’ Appetite for Destruction that I heard frequently when my brother was in charge of the music is out. Likewise Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill is out even though we own, because it’s my wife’s and I usually skip it. Nirvana is also out because while I’ve certainly heard it, I don’t listen to it.]

A few insights from this little experiment:

  • It’s a lot easier to consume visual media. Books and music take a beating (though I’m guessing music only takes a beating with me).
  • People like me give hope for the long tail. Just because you’re not in the top 100 doesn’t mean you can’t still have a sizable audience.
  • A little education helps. Several of the movies and a few of the books I watched/read for college classes (OK, most of the books I read outside of college, but I heard about them in my classes).
  • Wow. Isn’t “album” quickly becoming an out-dated concept?
  • Who cares what’s popular?

5 thoughts on “The Top 100 Movies/TV Shows/Music/Books I Don’t Enjoy”

  1. My numbers:

    Movies: 76
    TV: 48
    Music: 26
    Books: 4

    I was a little more lenient than you on the music. And if I could include books I’ve started, that number would double, and double again for ones I own. But still, I’m obviously a watcher.

  2. Not a bad list, but some of them seemed a little arbitrary.

    I love the list they have of “New Classics: Video Games” (1983-2008)

    Can it be a “New Classic” when the date range really is the “Golden Age”? I am curious as to what the “Old-Classic” (pre 1983) video games may have been.

  3. Is any list like this not a little arbitrary?

    Wow, Tim. You are movie man. My movie list faltered with many of the 80s and 90s ‘classics,’ like Risky Business, Dirty Dancing, When Harry Met Sally, Dazed & Confused and Titanic.

  4. I think it is easier to have consumed more of the “top 100” visual media because there is less of it. Bookstores and libraries have thousands and thousands of titles while movie stores have maybe a couple hundred. So even if you are a reading addict who consumes 100-plus books a year, you might touch on a few more of the titles on the list than the average person (62 for me), but you also could have read 100 books and not picked up a single one from the list, particularly if you focus on one genre (say, romance or mystery). However, with fewer choices (like for movies), you’re more likely to have watched something from the list. I read FAR more books a year than I watch movies — many times more in fact. Yet I still have seen more movies on the list than I’ve read books on the list (66 to 62). It’s the law of numbers. Or something.

    PS: I actually think that the concept of “album” is going to make a comeback as vinyl gets more and more mainstream again. Of course, I’m a huge vinyl fan (can hardly stomach CDs anymore), so I might be biased.

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