TV Spotlight – 10 Best TV Shows of 2015 – December 2015

The amount of Television I consume is not immense. I mostly only watch series available on HBO and Netflix (but, thankfully that is generally where the best stuff can be found). Thus, this list is biased by the overall lack of things I have seen (for example, I love Hannibal but I am a year behind, waiting for the Blu-ray release).

My 10 Favorite Television Series of 2015:

BoJack Horseman, season 2 (Netflix)

This animated series from Netflix might be television’s best comedy, highlighted by the phenomenal voice performances from Will Arnet, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie, Aaron Paul, Paul F. Tomplins, and Olivia Wilde. The series is hilarious, but even more engaging as a look at celebrity.

Community, season 6 (Yahoo Screen)

The series’ final season, and maybe its final moments if a movie never materializes, gives its fans everything they want: very funny, great/weird/wonderful episodes and a fantastic farewell. This is one of my favorite TV comedies (ever) and it is sad to say goodbye (though, made a little easier by the stellar, utterly fulfilling finale).

Daredevil, season 1 (Netflix)

Marvel’s partnership with Netflix is producing superhero properties that are as good if not better than their movies. Daredevil is fresh and engaging; but more so, it features full and great characters. Losing Drew Goddard and Steven S. DeKnight on the creative team is going to be a huge obstacle to overcome for season 2, but I have faith.

Game of Thrones, season 5 (HBO)

This is my favorite series on television. It is massively ambitious and thoroughly entertaining. It has everything fantasy adventure fans could want and the fearlessness to not stubbornly cling to its characters to the disadvantage of narrative. No one is safe in Westeros.

Jessica Jones, season 1 (Netflix)

Melissa Rosenberg, Marvel and Netflix have given us one of 2015’s most important series. On the surface, it is just another superhero series, set up like a film-noir private detective narrative, but Jessica Jones is so much more. Chiefly, it gives us a full, flawed and modern female character (who also happens to be a heroine). This series is unabashedly feminist in all the best ways. Now that we have Jessica Jones, we can never go back.

The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst (HBO)

This documentary series is groundbreaking (much like the podcast series Serial), likely to spawn many imitations. It is unflinching and utterly compelling. I do not know if an investigation documentary has ever been must-see television (across 6 episodes, culminating in “What the Hell Did I Do?”).

The Leftovers, season 2 (HBO)

Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta’s series asks big questions, plays with massive ideas and themes and completely delivers. The cast is brilliant, the writing is intelligent and the narrative is essential. The series is ambitious and bonkers, yet it feels like it speaks deeply and skillfully to the human struggle that is our relationship with faith.

Mad Men, season 7 part 2 (AMC)

This was my favorite series on television during its peak (season 3-5). Season 7, split into two parts, is very good, but does feel ever so slightly below the series’ best seasons and episodes. The finale is difficult to digest as well (I liked it a lot, but it does not feel as essential as the best episodes from Mad Men), but I think that is because it is hard to say goodbye to the series and characters.

Master of None, season 1 (Netflix)

This is another groundbreaking series from Netflix in the way it deals with women and people of color on television. Created by Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang, the series puts people of color at its forefront. But it is just not a series centered on a minority family or character, it engages in a dialog with its viewers about how culture treats and engages people of color and women. I have not seen everything on TV, but I would be surprised if there are better written characters for people of color. Also, the series is very funny and not cliché at all, which is a relief.

Narcos, season 1 (Netflix)

This series detailing the rise of Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar is magnetic and alluring thanks to Wagner Moura’s superb leading performance and the narrative structure of the series: talking directly to the audience, taking them through each major moment. I think this probably should have been a single season story and slightly fear a quality step down in season two as the story is stretched over ten more episodes. Regardless, season 1 is electric, especially in the early episodes, playing as well as the best crime dramas.

My 10 Favorite Television Episodes from 2015:

Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television, direct by Rob Schrab, from Community

Daredevil, directed by Steven S. DeKnight, from Daredevil

Hardhome, directed by Miguel Sapochnik, from Game of Thrones

AKA WWJD?, directed by Simon Cellan Jones, from Jessica Jones

I Live Here Now, directed by Mimi Leder, from The Leftovers

Time & Life, directed by Jared Harris, from Mad Men

Nashville, directed by Aziz Ansari, from Master of None

Descenso, directed by Jose Padilha, from Narcos

Trust No Bitch, directed by Phil Abraham, from Orange Is the New Black

Spend, directed by Jennifer Chambers Lynch, from The Walking Dead

My 10 Standout Performances:

Will Arnet as BoJack Horseman on BoJack Horseman

Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones on Jessica Jones
Kevin Carroll as John Murphy on The Leftovers
Regina King as Erika Murphy on The Leftovers

Justin Theroux as Kevin Garvey on The Leftovers

Noel Wells as Rachel on Master of None

Wagner Moura as Pablo Escobar on Narcos
Rachel McAdams as Ani Bezzerides on True Detective
Tituss Burgess as Titus Andromedon on Unbreakbable Kimmy Schmidt
Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer on Veep

TV Spotlight – The 25 Best Series on TV – Part 5: 5-1

Hannibal

Rank: 5

Genre: Horror/Drama

Cast: Hugh Dancy, Mads Mikkelsen, Caroline Dhavernas, and Laurence Fishburne

Channel: NBC

Current Season: Third

Season Premiere Date: February 2015

Plot Summary: The relationship between FBI criminal profiler Will Graham and his therapist Dr. Hannibal Lecter is an interesting one – they are doctor-patient, friends, coworkers, and even cat and mouse. Will begins to investigate a series of murders, seeking Dr. Lecter’s advice. Little does he know, at first, that Lecter is right in the middle of the whole mystery.

Why It’s Worth Watching: Hannibal is maybe television’s most stylish production, as it is masterfully shot and designed. Creator Bryan Fuller is among the best on TV when it comes to writing series that are a bit odd but wonderfully put together aesthetically and feature full and interestingly complex characters. The show is fairly graphic, and thus it might not be for everyone – plus, it has a very black sense of humor – but for those willing to stomach its more colorful elements it is the best that network television has to offer (feeling very much like a cable series).

Sherlock

Rank: 4

Genre: Mystery/Drama

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Una Stubbs, Rupert Graves, Louise Brealey, Mark Gatiss, Andrew Scott, and Amanda Abbington

Channel: PBS

Current Season: Fourth

Season Premiere Date: 2016

Plot Summary: The tales of Sherlock Holmes and his crime-solving partner Dr. Watson (set in modern times).

Why It’s Worth Watching: I am not sure when Sherlock will return for its fourth season precisely, but early indications point to sometime in 2016 (there are also plans for a fifth season as well). With season three, Sherlock (which was already great) took things to a new level aesthetically, creatively, and in terms of storytelling. Episodes The Sign of Three and His Last Vow are among the best things I have ever seen on television. I cannot wait for more.

Mad Men

Rank: 3

Genre: Period Drama

Cast: Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser, January Jones, Christina Hendricks, Aaron Staton, Rich Sommer, John Slattery, Kiernan Shipka, Robert Morse, and Jessica Pare

Channel: AMC

Current Season: Seventh (part two) and final

Season Premiere Date: April 2015

Plot Summary: Donald Draper is an ad executive in New York City during the 1960s. He has had success and has a way about him, but like America as a whole during the 1960s Don too begins to feel his world change around him, bringing up complex feelings and emotions.

Why It’s Worth Watching: Mad Men has been among my favorite shows on television ever since it debuted in 2007. Lead by Matt Weiner, its writing is second to none and it features a tremendous cast (with actually well written female characters). It also continually creates amazing episodes that are the epitome of why today is called television’s golden age – episodes like this past season’s The Strategy and Waterloo (The Suitcase is my favorite of the series). This is a series that will be greatly missed when it ends (and it will thereby spell the end of AMC’s claim as the pinnacle of TV’s dramatic series, with Breaking Bad also coming to an end and HBO again turning out brilliant series after brilliant series).

True Detective

Rank: 2

Genre: Mystery/Drama

Cast: Unknown

Channel: HBO

Current Season: Second

Season Premiere Date: January 2015

Plot Summary: Set in California, three characters investigate a new mysterious crime.

Why It’s Worth Watching: While we do not yet know many details of what season two of True Detective will look like and who it will star, there is no doubt that it is television’s second most anticipated series. Season one, led by Nic Pizzolatto’s great writing, strong performances from Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson and Michelle Monaghan, and the absolute stellar directing of Cary Joji Fukunaga (of which only Pizzolatto is returning for season two), seemed to take what was possible of a TV-crime-drama to a new level. Personally, I think it will be very hard for them to match season one’s brilliance, but I am sure excited to see what they do and what story they tell now. True Detective has claimed its spot as television’s best new series and very well could run the table come awards season.

Game of Thrones

Rank: 1

Genre: Adventure/Fantasy/Period Drama

Cast: Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Maisie Williams, Kit Harington, Sophie Turner, Iain Glen, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Charles Dance, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Rory McCann, John Bradley, Aidan Gillen, Alfie Allen, Conleth Hill, Jerome Flynn, Gwendoline Christie, Natalie Dormer, Stephen Dillane, Rose Leslie, Liam Cunningham, and Carice van Houten (among many others)

Channel: HBO

Current Season: Fifth

Season Premiere Date: April 2015

Plot Summary: Seven noble families fight for control of the throne of Westeros (some faring better than others).

Why It’s Worth Watching: Game of Thrones is the quintessence of event television at its very best. Every episode has become an eagerly anticipated weekly ritual. The series succeeds on its blend of great characters and writing along with violence, suspense, intrigue, sex, and adventure/fantasy elements. It really has a little bit of everything, plus a sensational cast. It is able to grab its viewers because (for once) it is a series that is truly narratively shocking and absorbing, constantly defying expectations and breaking all the rules (the series did kill off its main character in the first season after all). It is also endlessly re-watchable. Planned to be seven seasons, Game of Thrones seems to only get more interesting and more exciting as the series progresses.

TV Preview 2013/2014 – 25 Must-Watch Series, Part 5: 5-1

Part 4: 10-6

Boardwalk Empire

Rank: 5

Genre: Period Crime Drama

Creator(s): Terence Winter

Cast: Steve Buscemi, Kelly Macdonald, Michael Shannon, Michael Stuhlbarg, Stephen Graham, Grethen Mol, Paul Sparks, Vincent Piazza, Shea Whigham, and Michael Kenneth Williams

Channel: HBO

Current Season: Fourth

Season Premiere Date: September 2013

Plot Summary: Nucky Thompson runs Atlantic City during Prohibition by controlling the selling of alcohol. He lives a bit of a double life. He wants to be seen as a respected member as the community (and family man), but he also must be a feared gangster in his dealings with the likes of Arnold Rothstein, Al Capone, and Lucky Luciano.

Why It’s Worth Watching: Boardwalk Empire has taken the vacated place that The Sopranos once held on HBO as their premier crime drama (and character drama). Creator Terence Winter also worked on The Sopranos, and has brought the same depth that Tony had to his lead Nucky. The entire cast is fantastic and all play wonderful characters. There is no better gangster series on television (or among recent films for that matter) balancing the graphic violence with strong storytelling.

Sherlock

Rank: 4

Genre: Crime Drama/Mystery Thriller

Creator(s): Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman

Channel: Materpiece Theatre on PBS

Current Season: Third

Season Premiere Date: September 2013

Plot Summary: Set in present-day London, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson assist the police in solving their most befuddling crimes.

Why It’s Worth Watching: Sherlock, despite its famous name and characters, is really nothing more than another detective procedural, and yet it is wonderfully fresh and engrossing. Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat have made Holmes’s mysteries feel new and vital, while Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are completely brilliant as Holmes and Watson. The series has a long-episode format with each lasting ninety minutes, which allows each narrative to play as its own film exhibiting lush character development and story depth (unrivaled on TV by any other procedural) – A Study in Pink, The Great Game, A Scandal in Belgravia, and The Reichenbach Fall are all incredible episodes.

Game of Thrones

Rank: 3

Genre: Adventure/Fantasy Drama

Creator(s): David Benioff and D.B. Weiss

Cast: Lena Headey, Peter Dinklage, Maisie Williams, Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington, Sophie Tuner, Jack Gleeson, Aidan Gillen, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Charles Dance, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Channel: HBO

Current Season: Fourth

Season Premiere Date: March 2014

Plot Summary: Four prominent families battle one and other for control of the Iron Throne and the Kingdom of Westeros.

Why It’s Worth Watching: Game of Thrones is the most entertaining series on television. That is due to its superb ensemble cast, production value, and excellent storytelling. Each new episode feels like an event. Plus, the series seems to be getting better with each season (as season three has been very strong so far), which is actually surprising given the sheer number of characters and storylines that the writers must manage. For fans of fantasy narratives, there is nothing better right now than Game of Thrones.

Mad Men

Rank: 2

Genre: Period Drama

Creator(s): Matthew Weiner

Cast: Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser, Christina Hendricks, January Jones, John Slattery, and Jessica Pare

Channel: AMC

Current Season: Seventh, and final

Season Premiere Date: March 2014

Plot Summary: Donald Draper is one of New York City’s best ad men during the 1960s. The series navigates the changing social and cultural climate of the era and how it affects Draper and his co-workers.

Why It’s Worth Watching: Mad Men is the best written series on television. It won four straight Primetime Emmys for Best Dramatic Series (and was nominated as well for season five, losing to Homeland) and five straight inclusions on AFI’s TV Program of the Year list. Plus, it has one of television’s best ensembles (with Elisabeth Moss beautifully playing TV’s best female character Peggy Olson). While season five was slightly polarizing (though, I would argue it is just as good as the first four seasons), season six continues the show’s strong run of critical acclaim. Television will be losing something special when season seven comes to an end.

Breaking Bad

Rank: 1

Genre: Crime Drama

Creator(s): Vince Gilligan

Cast: Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn, Dean Norris, Betsy Brandt, and RJ Mitte

Channel: AMC

Current Season: Fifth (part two), and final

Season Premiere Date: August 11, 2013

Plot Summary: After being diagnosed with cancer struggling, but brilliant, high school chemistry teacher Walter White decides to cook meth in order to make enough money to support his family when he is gone. He turns to a former student (and junkie), Jesse Pinkman, for help. However, Walter and Jesse seem to just fall deeper and deeper into the world of crime, forgetting their moral compasses and losing who they once were as they embrace the darkness.

Why It’s Worth Watching: Breaking Bad has the most compelling lead character on television in Walter White. If you have not yet started watching this series, start right now (it is streaming on Netflix). The show seemed like it might be burning out a bit during seasons three and four as creator Vince Gilligan turned more towards character development than story progression, but it has paid huge dividends when the action started to ramp up to a fever pitch. The show has been incredible from the latter part of season four through the first part of season five. Part two’s eight episodes are undoubtedly going to be amazing.

TV Preview 2012/2013 – 25 Must-See Series, Part 5: 5-1

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Community

Rank: 5

Genre: Comedy

Creator(s): Dan Harmon

Cast: Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Yvette Nicole Brown, Alison Brie, Donald Glover, Chevy Chase, Ken Jeong, and Jim Rash

Current Season: Fourth

Channel: NBC

Return Date: October 19, 2012

Plot Summary: Seven friends started out as just a study group at the lowly Greendale Community College, but over the course of the show have become so much more – hanging out, mixing it up and going on adventures.

Why It Made the List: Season three of Community is one of the most brilliant pieces of sitcom television (or television period) ever. The show’s creative head Harmon, his writers and the wonderful cast have taken the show to crazy and awesome places that fans never could have imagined. It is simply one of the best and most creative things on TV. That said, season four faces the major challenge of overcoming the loss of Harmon (who was fired as the showrunner for not working well with NBC, but Sony did not object to his firing either), and along with Harmon a number of the show’s producers and writers are leaving as well. The new showrunners are David Guarascio and Moses Port would did do a great job with Happy Endings’s second season. Likely, despite Guarascio and Port’s promise to keep it the same, things will be different for the Greendale seven – but hopefully the show will still be the weird and brilliantly funny series it is. #SixSeasonsAndAMovie

Homeland

Rank: 4

Genre: Crime Drama/Mystery

Creator(s): Gideon Raff, Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa

Cast: Claire Danes, Damian Lewis, Morena Baccarin, David Harewood, Diego Klattenhoff, Jackson Pace, Morgan Saylor, and Mandy Patinkin

Current Season: Second

Channel: Showtime

Return Date: September 30, 2012

Plot Summary: Nicholas Brody is a marine that went missing in Iraq eight years ago. Carrie Mathison is a CIA agent that suspects that he might be a sleeper agent when he is miraculously found and brought home. Carrie risks her career to prove that he is plotting an attack on America, but is he really?

Why It Made the List: Homeland is a great thriller, built on effective writing and pitch perfect performances. Claire Danes is probably doing the best work of any actress on TV right now. The series also works well as a mystery, as we try to discover the truth behind Sergeant Brody. Personally, I cannot wait to see where the writers and actors take the series in the second season.

Game of Thrones

Rank: 3

Genre: Adventure Drama

Creator(s): David Benioff and D.B. Weiss

Cast: Lena Headey, Peter Dinklage, Maisie Williams, Michelle Fairley, Emilia Clarke, Alfie Allen, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Sophie Turner, Jack Gleeson, Aidan Gillen, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Richard Madden, and many more

Current Season: Third

Channel: HBO

Return Date: March 31, 2013

Plot Summary: The series is about the plotting and fighting of seven noble families, as they all joust for control of Westeros.

Why It Made the List: Game of Thrones is probably the most addictive series on TV right now. All the characters and stories are wonderfully compelling, and the world in which the series takes place is aesthetically pleasing and otherwise alluring (especially for fantasy genre fans). However, even though season two was great and just as good as season one, the show has an issue with the number of characters, which is massive. There are really too many. The episodes feel, at times, choppy (and the overall narrative feels bogged down) as the story jumps around so much to give snippets of each character’s story. The series is still masterfully written, but certainly this could become a problem (and already is for some viewers). That said, there may not be a more enthralling and entertaining program on television (and I cannot wait for season three).

Mad Men

Rank: 2

Genre: Period Drama

Creator(s): Matthew Weiner

Cast: Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser, January Jones, Christina Hendricks, Aaron Staton, Rich Sommer, John Slattery, Kiernan Shipka, Robert Morse, and Jessica Pare

Current Season: Sixth

Channel: AMC

Return Date: March 2013

Plot Summary: The series follows Donald Draper, a talented yet mysterious ad executive in New York City during the 1960s, as he wrestles with balancing his responsibilities and desires.

Why It Made the List: Mad Men is maybe the best written show on TV. It has some of the best characters, dialog and individual episodes of any show. Seasons three and four made it what I would consider the best show on television, but season five was both excellent and somewhat disappointing (especially the finale). The series has such high expectations, that anything short of sheer brilliance is a letdown. The series is changing a lot as some characters start to feel out of place in their own time, while other are coming into their own – the series expertly set against the social and political upheaval of the 1960s. There is not a better straight drama than Mad Men right now. If you are not watching it, you are missing something special.

Breaking Bad

Rank: 1

Genre: Crime Drama

Creator(s): Vince Gilligan

Cast: Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn, Aaron Paul, Dean Norris, Betsy Brandt, and RJ Mitte

Current Season: Fifth

Channel: AMC

Return Date: Part 1: July 15, 2012/Part 2: 2013

Plot Summary: Walter White is an underachieving genius chemist resigned to teaching high school chemistry due to failed ambitious. One day Walter is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Hoping to leave his family with some security, he turns to crime producing the highest quality crystal meth on the market. However, his life of crime continually pulls him deeper and deeper in the dark life of the business.

Why It Made the List: Breaking Bad has always been a brilliant program, but as Walter White’s journey gets darker and darker the series gets better and better. Bryan Cranston’s work is probably the best on TV, as White is a fascinating flawed character. The show’s fifth season is its last – split into two eight episode chunks. Really all of the top three shows on this list could be number one, but Breaking Bad seems to just be getting stronger. If you are not watching this show, you are really missing out on one of the greatest series of all-time. I highly recommend it to everyone.

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TV Preview 2011/2012 – 25 Must See Series, Part 5: 5-1

Has television programming ever been better than it is right now? Not in terms of great individual shows, but in terms of lots of really great shows (many of which did not make this list, and I had some tough decisions) on the air right now. This is a list of the best twenty five series in the upcoming 2011/2012 season.

25-21/20-16/15-11/10-6/5-1/Anticipated New Shows

Community

Rank: 5

Genre: Comedy

Network: NBC

Creator(s): Dan Harmon

Cast: Joel McHale, Chevy Chase, Donald Glover, Alison Brie, and Gillian Jacobs

Premier Date: September 22, 2011

Current Season: Third

Plot Summary: The series is about a smartass lawyer whose falsified education records are discovered and is disbarred pending his completion of college credits. Thus, he enrolls at Greendale Community College looking to coast through and quickly return to his great life as a lawyer. But, while at Greendale, he meets friends who become life his family.

Why It Made the List: (In the ‘Cast’ section I am limiting myself to listing five names so it does not get out of hand, but I need to list the other three regular cast members here because they are all wonderful: Danny Pudi, Yvette Nicole Brown and Ken Jeong). Community is the funniest show on TV. Everyone in the cast is brilliant, each doing their own thing and style of comedy (I love that each has their own moments and style, the show does not confine them to specific generic jokes like most comedies seem to do). Creator Dan Harmon also is not afraid to take the show to crazy awesome places – the paintball episodes, for example, are among the most amazingly great things on TV (creativity and fearlessness like this reminds me of another TV auteur Joss Whedon). There are a lot of great, very funny comedy sitcoms right now – Community is simply just the best.

Dexter

Rank: 4

Genre: Crime Drama

Network: Showtime

Creator(s): Jeff Lindsay and James Manos Jr.

Cast: Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter, Lauren Velez, David Zayas, and James Remar

Premier Date: October 2, 2011

Current Season: Sixth

Plot Summary: The series is about Dexter Morgan, a likable Miami police forensics investigator, specializing in blood work. But Dexter has a secret – he is a serial killer. He also lives by a code, to kill only those who deserve it and escape justice.

Why It Made the List: Dexter is a wonderful mix of horror, comedy, drama, mystery, suspense, and action. At its best, there is not a show that it better. Michael C. Hall is outstanding in the title role and is really what makes this show so great – plus the excellent writing. Season six has a couple challenges facing it: first, new showrunner Scott Buck is taking over the reins (but he is a veteran of the show and has written many of the great episodes), and second can the show stay fresh, when each season arc is more or less the same. Colin Hanks has joined the cast and is rumored to be the season’s big bad. I love this show, the blood and violence may not be for everyone, but I highly recommend it for those that enjoy Showtime and HBO style dramas.

Game of Thrones

Rank: 3

Genre: Adventure Drama

Network: HBO

Creator(s): David Benioff and D.B. Weiss

Cast: Sean Bean, Lena Headey, Jack Gleeson, Emilia Clarke, and Peter Dinklage

Premier Date: April 15, 2012

Current Season: Second

Plot Summary: The series is about the many plots of kings, queens, knights, and renegades to gain the throne.

Why It Made the List: How good is Game of Thrones? Well it is a new show and is already in the top three. Fans of adventure and fantasy genre films have been waiting for a series this good – and one of HBO at that. The cast is fabulous, and is only getting better for season two with the additions of: Stephen Dillane, Carice van Houten, Liam Cunningham, Natalie Dormer, Gwendoline Christie, and Hannah Murray. The visuals and writing are equally as fantastic. The show reminds me a little of Rome, with the larger than life characters and all the scheming. Game of Thrones was the most talked about show of last season, and one you should not miss out on.

Breaking Bad

Rank: 2

Genre: Crime Drama

Network: AMC

Creator(s): Vince Gilligan

Cast: Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn, Dean Norris, and RJ Mitte

Premier Date: July 17, 2011

Current Season: Fourth

Plot Summary: The series is about Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher who is informed he has terminal cancer. He is an underachieving chemistry genius who has nothing to leave his family once he is gone. He decides to cook meth to make some money, and just gets sucked deeper and deeper into a life of crime.

Why It Made the List: Breaking Bad is amazing. If you do not watch this show, you really need to start. Bryan Cranston is beyond brilliant as Walter White and Aaron Paul is very good as his partner. Sadly, season five (or the last 16 episodes whether it ends up just being season five or split between five and a sixth season) will be the last. Aside from how well written and acted this series is, what I love about this show is how much it has evolved. Walter White from episode one to present is almost unrecognizable – the best shows are able to do this without missing a beat. In my opinion, Breaking Bad has taken up the mantle that The Shield left for best crime drama on TV.

Mad Men

Rank: 1

Genre: Drama

Network: AMC

Creator(s): Matthew Weiner

Cast: Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser, January Jones, and Christina Hendricks

Premier Date: March 2012

Current Season: Fifth

Plot Summary: The series is set in New York City during the early 1960s. It is about Donald Draper, a genius ad man with a mysterious past.

Why It Made the List: The best show on TV means it has the best writing, best characters, best narrative arcs, best performances – Mad Men has all these things. It was a great show from the start, but really came into its own in season two, and has just become better and better with each season. The cast is perfect; in addition to those listed above, these actors also do phenomenal work on the series: Aaron Staton, Rich Sommer, Kiernan Shipka (who will benefit greatly from the break the show has taken), Alison Brie (who is lucky enough to be on two of the best five shows), Jared Harris, and especially John Slattery. While this does not have the action, suspense or adventure of many of the other shows on this list, Mad Men has fantastically well drawn characters that continually develop over the course of the series –watching the lives of these characters, caring about them all. Season four completely changed up the show, and I cannot wait to see what happens next. With Breaking Bad, Mad Men is a show you must watch.

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