A.V. Club ranks best TV series of the 00s

"The Sopranos" is #2?

The number of people who watch a show shouldn't be the gauge of a program's quality ... except at some level, it is.

Clearly if hardly anybody watches a show that's available to millions and given major publicity, it's almost certainly not very good. And if everybody watches a show, it can't be all bad (unless it's "Two and Half Men"). What I'm getting at here, is the fact The Onion's A.V. Club ranked the top 30 shows of the '00s and HBO's "The Wire" is #1 despite the series having pretty terrible ratings.

Nobody will argue with choosing "The Wire" -- as long as they are a TV critic. But can you really be the absolute best, when viewers continue to turn away from your show despite years of over-the-top press coverage and faith-based renewals? Clearly you are connecting very strongly with some people on some levels ... but does that make you the best show? I'm just asking questions. 

The Onion's list is a very good one, though it's easy to quibble with the order. Does "Futurama" really deserve to be above "Friday Night Lights"? "Breaking Bad" above "The Shield"? "Freaks and Geeks" over "Lost"? "Veronica Mars" above "Buffy"? Full list here.