Inspired by The Ringer's feature "The 100 Best TV Episodes of the Century", I wrote a program to generate a similar list based on IMDb ratings. The rules are the same in that only 1 episode per show can make the cut. I also only considered episodes that had at least 1,000 ratings, to cut out most of the noise. Despite the similar rules, I noticed some stark differences between the two lists.
At their most simplistic, IMDb's ranking is purely democratic, while a group of highly regarded pop culture experts represents us in The Ringer's compilation. And despite their differences, both lists certainly have merit. Perhaps the shows and episodes that appear on both lists are the ones that could truly be considered the greatest of the century.
The Ringer's piece has significantly more reality TV episodes on it than IMDb's list. All the episodes in this list had at least a 9.5/10 star rating on IMDb, with the top 4 episodes capping the list at 9.9.
-Mike Ciavarella
