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From Rotten Tomatoes list of the top 100. I'm only listing the ones I've seen
The Jetsons - Uh, The Flintstones in space does not count as sci-fi, nor does substituting jokes about dinosaurs with jokes about rockets one for one.
The Twilight Zone (1985) - Only proved the old formula was dated.
Mork and Mindy - Neither sci-fi nor good. My three-year-old nephew at least got a kick out of saying Nanoo-nanoo for awhile!
Alf - A little better than Mork and Mindy which isn't saying much. Not much science, but decent puppet show for kids.
(Outer Limits 1995) - I think I saw an episode or two of this, and thought it was better than the original that tried to compete with the original Twilight Zone.
Roswell - weird sci-soap-teen-angst thing. Most people had one or two good things two say about it, but quit watching. I think it did last a couple seasons.
Seaquest DSV - just proved Roy Scheider wasn't actually a big star.
Dark Angel - One of a number of super hero vehicles masquerading as sci-fi on this list.
3rd rock from the Sun. - not sci-fi. Silly comedy and I liked it.
Battlestar Galactica (1978)- We used to call it Cattlecar Overactica. Basically a kiddie show when many people wanted something a little more adult.
Bionic Woman - super hero vehicle. A little dated now, but fun to watch back in the day.
Knight Rider - My Mother the Car (look it up!) solves crimes. I have to hand it to them. That pile of stuff was a lot more successful than I would have imagined. I could understand why Hasselhoff's Babe Watch was more successful and Babe Watch Nights (with the crime solving back) was a total bust.
Space Above and Beyond - I'm not sure but I think I saw an episode. If I remember correctly it made no sense which is why I moved on.
Star Trek Enterprise - I know I started watching several episodes only to unconsciously wander away to do something else. The opposite of engrossing.
Lost in Space (1965)- The only way I figure this could be so high on the list was that the person making up the list loved it as a child. Psuedo-science and rubbish stories.
Buck Rodgers in the 25th century - It was Lost in Space for grown ups. Just as stupid, just as rubbish, but the girls and guys were sexier. Unlike Lost in Space, I don't think anyone expected better. Most adults in those days had seen the cheesy, old Buck Rodgers serials, and weren't surprised this series was worse.
Alien Nation - For my money this one is way too low on the list. The acting may have been better than scripts sometimes. But it took on racism in a way that a lot of show weren't ready to do yet.
Defiance - I really enjoyed the first season, but the network got greedy and went from requiring watching commercials online to requiring subscribing to an online pay service, so I just quit watching. It was paired with a launch of a multi-player video game at its premiere. The game was a financial failure.
Six Million Dollar Man - I really don't understand why this is so much higher on the list than the Bionic Woman. Lee Majors was no better actor than Lindsay Wagner. The stories weren't any better. The back up cast was virtually identical... Both shows are similarly dated today.
Timeless - Among the go-back-and-fix-it time travel shows, this isn't the worst. But I think the villain in this one just got to me too much. I quit watching after the first season.
V (1984) - Gawd awful. A decent Twilight Zone episode spun into a series. I saw a couple episodes and hated it with a passion.
Sliders - It was on up against something else I was watching, so I only saw an episode or two plus a few stray bits here and there. I thought it was decent, but not great enough to make me switch from whatever I was normally watching.
Dollhouse - Like Nikita, Dollhouse decided to change everything to suit somebody's idea of how the show should look after the first season. I thought Eliza had showed more acting range than most people gave her credit for. But I gave up on show with all the changes in the second season and it seems most fans quit during that season as well. Could it have been better with a better lead actress? Probably not with Joss in charge.
Space 1999 - I really had high hopes for it. It looked great till the last few minutes of the first episode and it was clear it was going to be a monster of the week show. I tried an episode or two down the road, but it got worse instead of better.
Star Gate SG-1 - Another show that kind of showed that a one shot deal can be a lot better than a series. I loved the movie Star Gate. But SG-1 never lived up to it. Far from bad just not that good. I wouldn't say anything about Star Gate TV fans. Heck, I was watching Xena regularly in those days. ;o)
Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles - I liked it better than the movies, but I really didn't like it.
Star Trek: Voyager -Star Trek: Also Ran, Star Trek: School Marm, whatever you wanted to call it. It was always good enough to kill an hour, but I can't say I really looked forward to it.
Farscape: it was probably pretty good, but I never saw that episode that made me want to watch all of them.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Deep Dish Nine. It kind of came straggling in after the premiere of Babylon 5 and always suffered in comparison. I always enjoyed Nana Visitor, and watched it for her. Terry Farrell was good while she was there. Till Worf appeared the others could take a flying leap out an airlock a far as I cared. But by the time Worf arrived I was pretty much done with it. Not Michael Dorn's fault.
The Prisoner - sci-fi only under the broadest definition. I really like Secret Agent better. Prison camp hi-jinx were okay, but it got very repetitive, and the last episode was absolutely ridiculous.
Quantum Leap - an uncontrolled go-back-and-fix-it series. Touched by an Angel without the sappiness. A decent program, but I'm not sure I personally would call it sci-fi.
Babylon 5 - The best sci-fi series ever in my book. Far from perfect. Michael O'Hare, the poor guy, just wasn't good enough of an actor to be the hero of that one. The rest of the cast made it worth watching the first season and Bruce Boxleitner stepped in at the right time. The show got treated like dirt by the networks and local stations for most of its run. It was on after midnight where I was, but thank god for VCR's! (I didn't get to see the last season till it was on DVD.)
Outer Limits (1963) - The same clowns who thought Babylon 5 wasn't good enough for network TV, were probably the ones who loved the original Outer Limits. I was just a kid when it was first run, and got tired of it for being the monster of the week. This is way too far up the list for how good it actually was!
Twilight Zone (1959) - It's amazing CBS let this one run so long. Smartly written, well acted, truly adult themes, that kids could usually appreciate. It was great. I don't think I'll get a lot of argument about that. I didn't love every episode, but I watched them all the way through every time.
Firefly - Don't get me wrong, I really liked what there was of it. But I don't think it's as good as most people, now, say it was. It was certainly the best of Joss outside of Buffy, but that may not be saying much. The first episode we can blame on the network. But blending sci-fi and westerns just didn't quite work. The Serenity movie was probably a better continuation and end to the story than Joss ever would have come up with had the series done better.
Lost - Seriously? Lost is number 6 on the list? Give me a break. It was my first taste of J J Abrams and I quickly spit it out. I can't help it. His imagination usually registers as idiotic in my mind. Was it better than Alf? Well, I might give it that. ;o)
Star Trek (1966) - Given Captain Kirk's usual attitude toward the ladies, I would expect this will start dropping down in lists like this. I guess it's a good a good slice of acceptable attitudes for TV characters in the late 1960s. But I think it's all a bit too smug for today's tastes.
Star Trek: Next Generation. I think it was a lot more successful than anyone expected. The ensemble worked better than just "aren't humans wonderful" Kirk, dead pan Spock, and never missed a chance to be an asshole to Spock McCoy. Many episodes are just so-so, but the overall quality hasn't been matched since.
X-files. Should it be on the list at all? Probably, but like Lost it was a show I quickly could not stand sitting through. It probably appealed to the same folks who like the old Outer Limits so much. A few episodes of Moldy and Scummy were plenty for me.
Doctor Who. Although the only Dr. Who I've seen was abysmal, it's been a long time since then, and I wouldn't dare judge all the many doctors by that mess I saw long ago.
Battlestar Galactica (2005) So much better than the original it's ridiculous. I think I've only seen the first season and a half, and it was beginning to deteriorate by then. But yes, of what I saw I'd put it in a top ten sci-fi shows without hesitation.
The Jetsons - Uh, The Flintstones in space does not count as sci-fi, nor does substituting jokes about dinosaurs with jokes about rockets one for one.
The Twilight Zone (1985) - Only proved the old formula was dated.
Mork and Mindy - Neither sci-fi nor good. My three-year-old nephew at least got a kick out of saying Nanoo-nanoo for awhile!
Alf - A little better than Mork and Mindy which isn't saying much. Not much science, but decent puppet show for kids.
(Outer Limits 1995) - I think I saw an episode or two of this, and thought it was better than the original that tried to compete with the original Twilight Zone.
Roswell - weird sci-soap-teen-angst thing. Most people had one or two good things two say about it, but quit watching. I think it did last a couple seasons.
Seaquest DSV - just proved Roy Scheider wasn't actually a big star.
Dark Angel - One of a number of super hero vehicles masquerading as sci-fi on this list.
3rd rock from the Sun. - not sci-fi. Silly comedy and I liked it.
Battlestar Galactica (1978)- We used to call it Cattlecar Overactica. Basically a kiddie show when many people wanted something a little more adult.
Bionic Woman - super hero vehicle. A little dated now, but fun to watch back in the day.
Knight Rider - My Mother the Car (look it up!) solves crimes. I have to hand it to them. That pile of stuff was a lot more successful than I would have imagined. I could understand why Hasselhoff's Babe Watch was more successful and Babe Watch Nights (with the crime solving back) was a total bust.
Space Above and Beyond - I'm not sure but I think I saw an episode. If I remember correctly it made no sense which is why I moved on.
Star Trek Enterprise - I know I started watching several episodes only to unconsciously wander away to do something else. The opposite of engrossing.
Lost in Space (1965)- The only way I figure this could be so high on the list was that the person making up the list loved it as a child. Psuedo-science and rubbish stories.
Buck Rodgers in the 25th century - It was Lost in Space for grown ups. Just as stupid, just as rubbish, but the girls and guys were sexier. Unlike Lost in Space, I don't think anyone expected better. Most adults in those days had seen the cheesy, old Buck Rodgers serials, and weren't surprised this series was worse.
Alien Nation - For my money this one is way too low on the list. The acting may have been better than scripts sometimes. But it took on racism in a way that a lot of show weren't ready to do yet.
Defiance - I really enjoyed the first season, but the network got greedy and went from requiring watching commercials online to requiring subscribing to an online pay service, so I just quit watching. It was paired with a launch of a multi-player video game at its premiere. The game was a financial failure.
Six Million Dollar Man - I really don't understand why this is so much higher on the list than the Bionic Woman. Lee Majors was no better actor than Lindsay Wagner. The stories weren't any better. The back up cast was virtually identical... Both shows are similarly dated today.
Timeless - Among the go-back-and-fix-it time travel shows, this isn't the worst. But I think the villain in this one just got to me too much. I quit watching after the first season.
V (1984) - Gawd awful. A decent Twilight Zone episode spun into a series. I saw a couple episodes and hated it with a passion.
Sliders - It was on up against something else I was watching, so I only saw an episode or two plus a few stray bits here and there. I thought it was decent, but not great enough to make me switch from whatever I was normally watching.
Dollhouse - Like Nikita, Dollhouse decided to change everything to suit somebody's idea of how the show should look after the first season. I thought Eliza had showed more acting range than most people gave her credit for. But I gave up on show with all the changes in the second season and it seems most fans quit during that season as well. Could it have been better with a better lead actress? Probably not with Joss in charge.
Space 1999 - I really had high hopes for it. It looked great till the last few minutes of the first episode and it was clear it was going to be a monster of the week show. I tried an episode or two down the road, but it got worse instead of better.
Star Gate SG-1 - Another show that kind of showed that a one shot deal can be a lot better than a series. I loved the movie Star Gate. But SG-1 never lived up to it. Far from bad just not that good. I wouldn't say anything about Star Gate TV fans. Heck, I was watching Xena regularly in those days. ;o)
Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles - I liked it better than the movies, but I really didn't like it.
Star Trek: Voyager -Star Trek: Also Ran, Star Trek: School Marm, whatever you wanted to call it. It was always good enough to kill an hour, but I can't say I really looked forward to it.
Farscape: it was probably pretty good, but I never saw that episode that made me want to watch all of them.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Deep Dish Nine. It kind of came straggling in after the premiere of Babylon 5 and always suffered in comparison. I always enjoyed Nana Visitor, and watched it for her. Terry Farrell was good while she was there. Till Worf appeared the others could take a flying leap out an airlock a far as I cared. But by the time Worf arrived I was pretty much done with it. Not Michael Dorn's fault.
The Prisoner - sci-fi only under the broadest definition. I really like Secret Agent better. Prison camp hi-jinx were okay, but it got very repetitive, and the last episode was absolutely ridiculous.
Quantum Leap - an uncontrolled go-back-and-fix-it series. Touched by an Angel without the sappiness. A decent program, but I'm not sure I personally would call it sci-fi.
Babylon 5 - The best sci-fi series ever in my book. Far from perfect. Michael O'Hare, the poor guy, just wasn't good enough of an actor to be the hero of that one. The rest of the cast made it worth watching the first season and Bruce Boxleitner stepped in at the right time. The show got treated like dirt by the networks and local stations for most of its run. It was on after midnight where I was, but thank god for VCR's! (I didn't get to see the last season till it was on DVD.)
Outer Limits (1963) - The same clowns who thought Babylon 5 wasn't good enough for network TV, were probably the ones who loved the original Outer Limits. I was just a kid when it was first run, and got tired of it for being the monster of the week. This is way too far up the list for how good it actually was!
Twilight Zone (1959) - It's amazing CBS let this one run so long. Smartly written, well acted, truly adult themes, that kids could usually appreciate. It was great. I don't think I'll get a lot of argument about that. I didn't love every episode, but I watched them all the way through every time.
Firefly - Don't get me wrong, I really liked what there was of it. But I don't think it's as good as most people, now, say it was. It was certainly the best of Joss outside of Buffy, but that may not be saying much. The first episode we can blame on the network. But blending sci-fi and westerns just didn't quite work. The Serenity movie was probably a better continuation and end to the story than Joss ever would have come up with had the series done better.
Lost - Seriously? Lost is number 6 on the list? Give me a break. It was my first taste of J J Abrams and I quickly spit it out. I can't help it. His imagination usually registers as idiotic in my mind. Was it better than Alf? Well, I might give it that. ;o)
Star Trek (1966) - Given Captain Kirk's usual attitude toward the ladies, I would expect this will start dropping down in lists like this. I guess it's a good a good slice of acceptable attitudes for TV characters in the late 1960s. But I think it's all a bit too smug for today's tastes.
Star Trek: Next Generation. I think it was a lot more successful than anyone expected. The ensemble worked better than just "aren't humans wonderful" Kirk, dead pan Spock, and never missed a chance to be an asshole to Spock McCoy. Many episodes are just so-so, but the overall quality hasn't been matched since.
X-files. Should it be on the list at all? Probably, but like Lost it was a show I quickly could not stand sitting through. It probably appealed to the same folks who like the old Outer Limits so much. A few episodes of Moldy and Scummy were plenty for me.
Doctor Who. Although the only Dr. Who I've seen was abysmal, it's been a long time since then, and I wouldn't dare judge all the many doctors by that mess I saw long ago.
Battlestar Galactica (2005) So much better than the original it's ridiculous. I think I've only seen the first season and a half, and it was beginning to deteriorate by then. But yes, of what I saw I'd put it in a top ten sci-fi shows without hesitation.