What is the best and worst on TV these days?

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Best: Programs that explore reality, such as Nova, the National Geographic specials, et cetera. Educational programming. Craft and cooking programs. Sesame Street. Travel shows. Mythbusters.

Worst: "Reality" Programming, such as Big Brother, Survivor, et cetera. Tabloid shows, such as Extra and TMZ. Religious programming. Any programs that present paranormal investigations as real science.

I don't really have a best, so I'd hate to bring on the negative only list, but I really want to get this off my chest.
I have a strong dislike for CSI, Law and Order and any other current dramas. The drama is so soap opera-ish, no subtlety. I also don't like the soundtracks for today's TV drama's. It just sounds like a bunch of noise, there's no melody or atmosphere. What little atmosphere they have is very dreadful, almost gloomy. My mood escalates 50 percent lower whenever these uninspiring soap operas disguised as dramas come on. Sure, they have some interesting stories and a few shocking twists but still, I want to be sucked into the story, I want there to be a world I could get into. TV is more than just a story, it's its own world, I need music and visuals or else I could be reading a book if all I wanted is just a story.
Another thing I don't like is today's kids cartoons, they are trying to be "relatable" with shows like 6teen, cartoons aren't supposed to be relatable, why not just make it a live-action sitcom? Cartoons are supposed to be wacky and full of life! No wonder kids are trying so hard to be like adults these days. Let kids be kids, huh?
And that is why I haven't watched much TV since the 90s. I think it's the lack of imagination these shows have. I'd hate to call it bad directing but I'm beginning to think that's what's going on with some of todays TV shows.

Best: Two and A Half Men & The Big Bang Theory

Best: CSI, CSI: Miami, and CSI: New York

Worst: American Idol, NCIS, and NCIS: Los Angeles

The only scripted TV shows I bother with these days are Boardwalk Empire and Fringe. I've been meaning to give Game of Thrones a try as I've heard its really good.

Luther (from the BBC) is really good but only has like 10 episodes.

Shows that are no longer on the air but finished up in the last few years that I would suggest finding DVDs for would be Lost, Battlestar Galactica, The Wire, and The Shield.

I think the fourth season of True Blood was fantastic and can't wait for the next season. Also can't wait for the second season of Game of Thrones to start. I am also enjoying My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, which is currently airing its second season.

I have heard good things about Breaking Bad and want to start watching that.

i watch tv if i am in bed and can not get to sleep. i always watch only prerecorded shows because often i do not hear a word, or i wish to see a scene again, and obviously to skip the ads.

i have little interest in drama, but the following are the only drama i will watch (if i am up, i do not watch them).
------fiction
house

columbo

sherlock holmes (only the granada series with jeremy brett)

monk

doc martin

skippy (because i like to see when all the old cars that i have only ever seen in poor condition were all brand new. also, they sometimes show scenes of roads that i recognize as they were in 1968 i live a few km from where skippy was filmed))

tracey ullman

----non fiction:

how it's made

through the wormhole with morgan freeman

critical eye

air crash investigation

hoarders (hilarious to me)

RBT (also very funny)

dragons den (maybe fake (some people have unbelievably ridiculous ideas))

ice pilots

paleo world

some assembly required

exodus earth (and similar one off documentaries).

The most execrable IMO is the new Jonah Hill animated show "Allen Gregory" . The relationship between the title character's father and his partner is disturbing, not because they are same sex but because the father is a passive aggressive sociopathic jerk who seems to set his partner up for humiliation and degradation on a regular basis. This is supposed to be a comedy, remember. Allen Gregory is a 7 year old douchebag who has a romantic obsession with his 70 year old school principal. He is narcissistic and manipulative. I read a review where the reviewer gave it a -2 out of 10 stars and predicted it would end Jonah Hill's career. It's just a mean show about mean people.

The best, I don't know, there's a lot of filler crap out there. I wonder what I'm paying for. I watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. I like to watch Intervention because I enjoy seeing the transformation after successful treatment. I watch Hoarders out of morbid fascination. I like a few shows on the Science Channel like Through the Wormhole and How the Brain Works and Ingenious Minds. I like the documentaries on PBS like My Life as a Turkey (which was really good).

Best fictional show is American Horror Story on FX, in my opinion. That has been SO good. I also really like Criminal Minds.

Best: Blue Bloods

Worst: Criminal Minds

Best:

MLP-FIM
Adventure Time
House
American Dad
Black Mirror
Fresh Meat
Rev.
Life's Too Short

worst:

The Only Way Is Essex
Desperate Scousewives
Hollyoaks
Anything with "Celebrity", "X-Factor", "Kardashians" or "Got Talent" in the title
"reality TV"

Best (recently)

Boardwalk Empire
Fringe
The Walking Dead (now on a break)
Frozen Planet (almost finished here, but it hasn't started in America)
Life's Too Short
An Idiot Abroad (finished)

Worst

All reality shows and talent shows.

Law and Order is one of the least offensive things on TV, but that doesn't mean it's very good. The only one worth watching is Criminal Intent, since Vincent D'Onofrio is the only actor on any Law and Order show who gives his character any personality whatsoever. The rest are just cardboard cutouts, and there's no way that I could possibly describe any of them without telling you what they look like. It wouldn't be so bad, though, if the actors weren't so pouty and taking the show so seriously. When's the last time you saw one of them smile? I know it's a crime drama, but it's totally lifeless for the most part. D'Onofrio is the exception. He actually seems to be having fun playing a neurotic American Sherlock Holmes, and that fun carries over to the viewer.