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The cream of TVs crop was still on cable.
The most attention-getting work was still in the hour-long drama format.
We kept our criteria simple.
), unscripted programs, news, sports, and so on.
Each section only mentions the series that we felt best represented that tier of quality.
It was provocative in its exploration of desire, national loyalty, family, and marriage.
Its cast sizzled with pitch-perfect chemistry.
In the end, it also represented the purest possible version of binge TV.
Its a bridge between TVs current era of serialized storytelling and the one that it effectively erased.
Every actor in the cast was a marvel, but Coon gave the performance of the decade as Nora.
MZS
Indisputable Classics
Well be rewatching and reanalyzing these masterpieces for decades to come.
It once again reshaped our idea of what a TV comedy could be.
But what makes the show particularly charming is its voice acting, particularly by John Roberts and Kristen Schaal.
Nervy and unrelenting, it cleanses bullshit from the brain and leaves hard truth.
MZS
Fleabag
What does a perfect television show look like?
JC
Hannibal
Just when you thought youd had enough of serial killers, here cameHannibal.
But really it was about how challenging it is to make new things, especially among passionate people.
Glorious, saturated telenovela brilliance.
KVA
Justified
Justifiedhandled the tropes inherit to crime stories and Westerns with panache and ingenuity.
It had a keen, mordant wit.
AJB
Key & Peele
The definitive sketch comedy series of this decade.
The bit was so good Obama himself evenborrowed itat a White House Correspondents Dinner.
Theres the moxie and melancholy of Lyonne in a truly fierce performance as Nadia.
AJB
Succession
Theres no better representative of what TV became at the end of the decade.
The final chapter, a full-on dive into intensely emotional expressionism, is the directors best work to date.
Jump back to Indisputable Classics
Adventure Time
This long-running (283 episodes!)
The ambition of the filmmaking keeps rising, too.
The only thing keepingBarryfrom being called perfect is that we need to see the story all the way through.
Youve got the next decade to change that.
MZS
Girls
The inevitable observation aboutGirlsis that it definedavoice ofageneration in this decade.
AJB
The Good Wife
The Good Wifeupended expectations of what a connection legal procedural could be.
(What other show pulled off a main characters death with such grace and secrecy?)
But when everything clicked into place, it was transcendent.
If you didnt watch it, youre far from alone, but you missed out on something special.
JC
Watchmen
A transcendent, weird series that stills retains a sense of play.
And it gave Jude Law one of his greatest roles as Pope Pius XIII, a.k.a.
Lenny Belardo, the first American-born head of the Catholic Church.
JC
Alias Grace
Horrifying, beautiful, surprising, bleak, electric.
The best Margaret Atwood adaptation of the decade.
(Tough luck,Handmaids Tale.)
KVA
American Crime Story
Ryan Murphys dramatized take on the O.J.
It should be memed.
There should be viral clips of people reacting as they watch the end of season two.
Instead, it will stay one of TVs best-kept secrets.
Its bones are big obvious prestige mainstays power!
and its performances are delicate and profound.
MZS
Deutschland 83/86
An excellent, tense drama about the Cold War across East and West Berlin.
Effective display of many enviable pieces of vintage outerwear.
(Ethan and Joel Coen actually acted as executive producers.)
The story depicted New Yorks transformation in the era of hip-hop, disco, urban decay, and proto-gentrification.
Pictures as music, music as pictures.
That gave the limited series a refreshing perspective shift to add to its embarrassment of other riches.
What is prestige TV for if not this?
),Manhattanalready knew.
but was actually a study of diverse cultures and what happens when they bump up against each other.
Easily the best pie action TV has seen sincePushing Daisies.
Genevieve Koski
Mr.
It also introduced the world to showrunner Sam Esmails boundless invention behind the camera.
The multigenerational story was so finely observed that the result tore viewers hearts out.
It just did it effortlessly.
JC
Show Me a Hero
David Simons most brutal, clear-eyed work of the decade.
MZS
Total Delights
Perpetually underrated as comfort food, but always delectable.
Crude, progressive, bawdy, and occasionally even touching, this is a cartoonWonder Years: Masturbation Edition.
The rare internet comedy thats both enjoyable and vital to the conversation.
GK
Documentary Now!
(They were in hell, after all.)
CH
Insecure
A funny and insightful meditation on romance, race, and gender.
Tandy, at the center of four seasons worth of post-apocalyptic nonsense and never becoming unbearable.
KVA
The Mandalorian
For unto us a Baby Yoda was born.
Plus, of course, Rita Moreno.
It also has a gift for creating punch lines (In this climate?)
If its not quite a laugh a minute, its at least a laugh every two or three.
JC
Parks and Recreation
Every episode is like going home again to hang out with dear friends.
Yes, the government in Pawnee doesnt run smoothly.
JC
Peaky Blinders
[Extremely Peaky Blinders voice] Peaky Blinders!
KVA
PEN15
Hows this for a pitch?
KVA
Superstore
A rock solid sitcom thats reliable, bingeable, hilarious, and remarkably fearless.
Its also a comedy about four dum-dums living in Los Angeles and constantly getting themselves into asinine situations.
Sometimes, at its best, its both at once.
JC
Better Than Their Titles
First impressions can be very wrong.
Its title made it sound like a comedy about potheads.
Special plaudits to Cheryl Hines as the kooky next-door neighbor.
Itreallyshouldnt have been named after a dog breed.
The dog in the show isnt even a terrier!
(We miss you, Bert!)
Each episode bets youll immediately tap on the next one.
Each episode wins that bet.
Too bad that it got canceled after season four.
But by the end, in a way, it kind of was again?
If this sounds vague, its because Im trying to avoid spoilers.
JC
Good Girls
An easy show to fall for.
Its plot is lively and surprising.
Its comedy is dark and revelatory about the constraints of modern womanhood and motherhood.
Theres even a complicated, overheated, emotionally complex romance.
After I finish one episode, I am always eager to start another.
A classic case of Ineedto finish to know what happens!
KVA
Love
What madeLovebingeable was the fact that it was a will-they, wont-they story.
The answer was ultimately revealed in aseries finalethat was surprising and sweet, but nottoosweet.
Maiselwill grip you and refuse to let you go.
Twee, rhythmic, confident, and incredibly mannered.
In charting the extreme violence of men serial killers, predominantly Mindhunterdeflates the mythos surrounding these figures.
AJB
Orphan Black
This series towering achievement will always be Tatiana Maslanys central performance(s).
(Spoiler: Barb would not be okay.)
JC
Veronica Marsrevival
Theending of the Hulu seasonwas controversial but also such a good decision.
ButYoungeris far from disposable.
Its a smart show about publishing and ambition, packaged in glossy, goofy, romantic bite-size pieces.
KVA
Mad Geniuses
God bless these weirdos for bucking all the trends.
The weirdest Amy Sherman-Palladino show of the decade.
I mean that in a good way.
Its premise, about the adventures of professional horror hoaxers, is unlike anything else on TV.
So is its interchangeable use of Spanish and English and its idiosyncratic sense of humor.
I cant think of another series that staged a fake exorcism and also had a running joke about Herbalife.
One episode may unfold entirely from the perspective of a dog.
Another may hang out with an older couple contending with an Airbnb thats less than ideal.
You just never know, and thats a big part of theHigh Maintenancehigh.
JC
Humans
The robot show that was far more interesting and relatable than anything thats happened onWestworld.
KVA
Legends of Tomorrow
The rare superhero show thats made primarily for comic-book fans.
In one episode, atelepathic gorilla travels back in time to try and kill a young Barack Obama!
CH
Legion
A series that reveled in the fantastic.
You could call it a pharmaceutical sci-fi show.
None of these descriptions is inaccurate!
But the best and shortest one consists of three words: Its a trip.
GK
Nathan for You
A one-of-a-kind show.
The hook was whatever outlandish advice he cooked up fake a viral animal video to promote a petting zoo!
Give away free gas through a baroque rebate scheme!
Turn a coffee shop into a (fake) Starbucks thanks to a loophole in parody law!
Sell alcohol to minors … that they cant pick up until they turn 21!
A comforting reminder that were all weirdos, really.
CH
The OA
Of all the audacious shows this decade,The OApossessed the most audacity.
And that risk paid off.
(Leading a cult?
Earns its spot on this list for the pancake episode alone.
CH
Rick and Morty
A sitcom tailored for the irony-poisoned and/or extremely online among us.
Or God forbid, thirds.
American Vandal
Forget the relatively underwhelming second season.
Because it ended on a cliffhanger, a second season followed.
But I cant stress this enough: That season should not have existed.
JC
The Fall
A thrilling, intense, supremely scary first season about catching a serial rapist.
In the case ofThe Handmaids Tale, that period was one season.
Briefly being the key word here.
The performances by Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer remain a wonder to behold, though.
The second should have been similarly great, which made its failure all the more disappointing.
Season one was perfect, easily one of the finest miniseries ever aired.
Best enjoyed while getting the chores done.
Possiblybecause theres just not that much to say!
Pay attention when it veers into ridiculous/great; start matching socks when it dips into ridiculous/annoying.
It is also unutterably silly.
The main character is named Bones and she studies bones.
Why does anyone ever watch anything else?
KVA
Difficult People
This decade produced several comedies that sent up the arts-and-entertainment complex.
Ideal for when you want to snort atKevin Spacey jokes.
But if you fold laundry while watching,Downton Abbeygoes to another level.
JC
Elementary
A perfect background show, designed to comfort.
You almost always know where its going.
AJB
The Fosters
An enormously sweet family drama thats also admirably honest about trauma and teen strife.
Bonus: you’re free to wipe away all your tears on the towels you just folded.
KVA
Grace and Frankie
Quit griping and watch this highly unobjectionable Netflix comedy with your mom already.
GK
Greys Anatomy
Household chores are forever, and so isGreys Anatomy.
GK
New Girl
Whos that girl?
Its you, watchingNew Girlagain!
And, oh dang, youre just gonna keep watching after youve finished ironing, arent you?
KVA
Parenthood
You go ahead and clean out your sock drawer while watchingThis Is Us.
Ill be over here straightening up and hanging on toParenthood.
JC
Ray Donovan
Peak Dad TV.
MZS
Beautiful Disasters
Are these shows great?
Probably not, but we still couldnt look away.
A few days ago I kissed my aunt!
The tone was likeDynastymeets Tom Clancy.
As in, Its an absolutesmash!
made this series electric in spite of its inability to reckon with its own central premise.
Dissociative identity disorder is a lot to hang on a family comedy.
CH
Glowdowns
When a show starts off rocky but gets better, thats a glow-up.
(The LeftoversandHalt and Catch Fireare perfect examples.)
The 100
Shouldnt have killed off Lexa.
The Fiona Apple theme song was always good, though.
At least well always have the Rubber Man Halloween costumes.
(See:One Day at a TimeandTwin Peaks: The Return.)
But a whole ton of them did.MacGyver?
Have mercy, a glowdown.
Both90210, the CW reboot that ended its run in 2013, and the more metaBH90210?
The rare glowdown twofer.
CH
Arrested Development
A lesson in what happens when you lose your underdog status.
The Netflix seasons were bloated, self-satisfied, and empty.
KVA
Black Mirror
Many episodes are terrible.
Some are fantastically great.
The trend has shifted far too often toward terrible lately.
KVA
Dexter
Yes, the series finale was an all-time stinker.
MZS
Glee
Never lived up to that pilot.
KVA
How to Get Away With Murder
Wait,Wes is alive again?
No better sign of a glowdown than a late-season resurrection.
By 2019, it feels practically antediluvian.
KVA
The Night Of
An amazing first episode undone by a quotidian and unenlightened ending.
With time, though,OITNBgradually undercut its own storytelling project.
It refused to abandon characters who had no more place on the show.
It dawdled when it shouldve rushed, and rushed when it shouldve slowed down.
to Thats still on?
(This metaphor makes more sense than anything that happened in season three.)
KVA
True Blood
Began in glorious southern Gothic mode, full of vampires and sex and camp.
Ended like a tedious glossary of every mythical creature.
KVA
The Vampire Diaries
Remember the post-Twilightvampire mania of the late aughts?
JC
Who Is America?
It didnt even answer its own titular question.
CH
Prestige Tryhards
Too thirsty, too unoriginal, and (often literally) too dark.
Jump back to Prestige TV That Was Actually Good
Bloodline
It had a great cast.
But in the end, it only resonated on a surface level.
Forgot to add: any kind of forward momentum.
KVA
Counterpart
Doppelgangers should be way more fun.
(The source material, a long-running, same-name British series, was leaner and meaner.)
By the time starKevin Spaceys sexual-misconduct scandal certified its end, a mercy killing had been long overdue.
MZS
The Returned
The American version ofLes Revenantsthat was a pale imitation ofLes Revenants.
MZS
Sneaky Pete
A waste of Margo Martindale.
KVA
Actual Disasters
The shows we wish we could forget.
It was melodramatic, overly long, and not realistic in its portrayal of mental illness.
But you could sort of see why teens would be interested in it.
The second and third seasons, on the other hand, got sloggier and sloggier.
Ultimately, this show served as a textbook case in not knowing when to let things lie.
JC
24: Legacy
They had it and they blew it.
Not on Fox, though.
To add insult to injury, the action mostly sucked.
MZS
The Bastard Executioner
What happens when you letSons of Anarchycreator Kurt Sutter produce a historical epic?
A lot of violence and heavy-metal-album-cover posturing and not a lot worth remembering.
She was supposed to be charming in her recklessness.
Unfortunately, she was just a manic-pixie jackass.
JC
Gypsy
The show was calledGypsy.
There are so many shows on Netflix its impossible to say which one is the worst.
But this has got to be up there.
Netflix made a show about him, and it ran for two seasons.
MZS
Jack Ryan
Heroic white man CIA agent fights the evil brown men who hate America.
Instead, it was a feckless depiction of masculinity that substituted fart jokes for insight.
KVA
Rob!
WatchingRob!was like trying to eat a candle while it was burning.
hand-waving, none of it a tenth as compelling and stingingly honest asMad Menepisodes dealing with the same material.
MZS
The Slap
Should be rebooted so younger generations have a chance to roast it too.
as actual news happened in 2011.
MZS
Jump back to the best show of the decade
