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The 50 Greatest Television Dramas
2007
- 2007 · Documentary · 3h
4 days ago · Vote up the best American and British dramas, whether they're straight dramatic series or a subgenre like fantasy, period pieces, or horror. Latest additions: La promesa, Clipped, Raising Voices. Most divisive: The Walking Dead. Over 23.0K Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The 500+ Best Drama Shows.
- Breaking Bad. - IMDb user rating: 9.5. - On air: 2008-2013. When high school teacher Walter White is faced with a lung cancer diagnosis, he doesn't know where he's going to come up with the money for his treatments—that is until he turns to crime and begins concocting his own batches of meth with a former student.
- Chernobyl. - IMDb user rating: 9.4. - On air: 2019. A dark tale of ignorance, human error, and dishonest leaders, the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 is dramatized in this five-part miniseries.
- Band of Brothers. - IMDb user rating: 9.4. - On air: 2001. This war miniseries chronicles the real-life "Easy Company" of the 2nd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment during World War II, as they've been assigned to the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division.
- The Wire. - IMDb user rating: 9.3. - On air: 2002-2008. Set in Baltimore, this crime drama series uses each season to look at a different facet of the city and its relationship with law enforcement, from the illegal drug trade to the city government, schools, print news, and the seaport systems.
Oct 4, 2023 · THR’s critics rank the best TV shows of the 21st century so far, including ‘Sex and the City,' 'The Wire,' 'Insecure,' 'Reservation Dogs' and more.
This list is of best dramas in television history based on critical reception, diversity, numerous accolades and cultural influence. Excluding those with mixed, negative or panned critical reception, derived mostly from films and those with less than two seasons.
- 30 'Friday Night Lights'
- 29 'The Leftovers'
- 28 'Battlestar Galactica'
- 27 'Ozark'
- 26 'The Crown'
- 25 'The Shield'
- 24 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer'
- 23 'Lost'
- 22 'True Detective'
- 21 'Fargo'
Developed by Peter Berg
While it was a hit among critics,Friday Night Lights was never huge when it came to ratings, making it fortunate that it still managed to run for five seasons. It's centered on a high school football team in West Texas but isn't only concerned with sports, given Friday Night Lights has a large cast of characterswho are explored while being depicted as dealing with ups and downs in their lives. It was based on a book that was also adapted as a movie in 2004, shortly before the TV series began...
Created by Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta
Several years after he concluded being a lead writer on another acclaimed drama series, Damon Lindelof co-created The Leftovers, which many would consider his best TV show so far. It's a very grounded look at what happens to the world after a Rapture-like event which sees approximately 2% of humanity disappearing without a trace. It's not so much of a dramatic change to the world that things become post-apocalyptic, but the event causes enough of a disturbance to radically alter the lives of...
Developed by Ronald D. Moore
Yes, Battlestar Galacticawould technically qualify as a science-fiction show, but it can broadly be considered a drama series, too, and was considered a drama series for the purposes of the Emmys, for example. It ran for 76 episodes over four seasons between 2004 and 2009 and had a considerable cult following that gradually became big enough to call the show a mainstream success. It was a reimagining of a 1970s series of the same name and had a story that takes place in a distant galaxy, foll...
Created by Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams
Netflix is a company that's really only been making TV shows for about a decade now, but has already risen up to become remarkably influential, and behind numerous popular shows. One of the company's most critically acclaimed was Ozark, which is a bleak crime/drama series that had a total of four seasons released on the Netflix platform between 2017 and 2022. Broadly speaking, it's about a family that decides to become affiliated with a Mexican drug cartel by being money launderers, only to f...
Created by Peter Morgan
Though not everyone is a fan of the Royal Family, it seems that a huge number of Netflix users are a fan of watching a somewhat historically accurate account of the British Monarchy's behind-the-scenes drama from throughout the 20th century. The series about this drama, The Crown, focuses on Queen Elizabeth II, who admittedly has a remarkably long run as the United Kingdom's Queen between 1952 and 2022. Those who aren't exactly into the lives of this family need not apply, but anyone who find...
Created by Shawn Ryan
The Shieldbegan and ended the same year as another groundbreaking series revolving around police work and crime (more on that one much further down). It therefore helped usher in a new kind of cop drama; one that was grittier, more ferocious, and more morally complex than most that had come before, centering on a protagonist who was arguably too villainous to be considered an anti-hero. That protagonist was Vic Mackey, a corrupt cop who'd brutally fight crime with his squad, technically helpi...
Created by Joss Whedon
While Buffy the Vampire Slayer was technically a drama series, it also excelled at being an action-packed fantasy/romance show and could be very funny at times, too, largely thanks to Buffy's lovable and often hilarious main cast. It followed the titular character as she fulfilled her demon-fighting destiny while making friends, falling in and out of love, and trying to make it in high school (during Seasons 1 to 3) and then the adult world (in Seasons 4 to 7). With close to 150 episodes over...
Created by Jeffrey Lieber, J. J. Abrams, and Damon Lindelof
Well over a decade since it ended, and almost two decades after it started, Lost remains a somewhat divisive show. It began with a group of plane crash survivors trying to get by on a mysterious island, with things feeling grounded and only occasionally fantastical for a good chunk of its first season. As it went on, the mysteries increased. Lost pivoted into a show that was about more than just survival, with the island having a complex backstory, and later seasons involving time travel and...
Created by Nic Pizzolatto and Issa López
True Detective was a surprise hit back when its first season aired in 2014, and a show that seemingly everyone was talking about. It starred Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, following their characters - a pair of detectives - reopening a mysterious murder case many years after it took place, and making a series of disturbing revelations along the way. The acting, writing, and overall storytelling felt unparalleled, with the show soon becoming an anthology series that followed differen...
Created by Noah Hawley
Fargo began airing the same year as True Detective, similarly stands as an acclaimed anthology series. It's based on the acclaimed 1996 crime movie of the same name, directed by the Coen Brothers, and aims to capture the tone and feel of that film with different stories each season. Like True Detective, certain seasons seem to have a few more fans than others, though at least most will agree Seasons 1 and 2 of Fargo made for great TV. With a dark sense of humor, unpredictable storylines, and...
- Jeremy Urquhart
- 18
- 2 min
Dec 20, 2023 · There may be as many types of excellence as there are excellent shows. Series can wow us with how broadly they changed society, from “Seinfeld” redefining American slang to “Mad Men” bearing all...
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Feb 11, 2024 · From gripping crime stories to epic sagas, the best TV dramas of all time transcend genre conventions, offering immersive and unforgettable viewing experiences. 20 Game of Thrones (2011-2019)
