The 21 Best TV Shows of the 21st Century, Ranked

The medium of television has never been bigger, slicker, or more crowded than it is now, which makes narrowing down the best shows of the 21st century a mildly ridiculous exercise. There are simply too many great ones, too many influential ones, and more than a few that people still treat like sacred texts whether they actually hold up or not. Still, some shows separate themselves from the pack. Some changed the medium, others defined entire eras of TV, and some were just so funny, sharp, thrilling, or rewatchable that leaving them off would feel dishonest.

This list is not meant to be a sterile “greatest shows according to consensus” rundown, though it would be silly to remove some consensus picks simply because they’re popular. Instead, this is a ranking of the 21 best TV shows of the 21st century, and that means a mix of prestige giants, beloved comedies, cult classics, and a few personal favorites. Awards matter a little, cultural impact matters more, and actual top-tier quality matters the most. In other words: yes, there are major critical and commercial darlings here, but no, this is not just a recycled critics’ list of past years’ award winners. So, flip on the tube, and don’t change that channel. Let’s dive in.

Note: Only shows that debuted in the year 2000 and beyond are allowed on this list. That means anything that debuted in the late 1990s and had strong peaks in the 2000s, such as South Park and The Sopranos, does not qualify. Furthermore, anime is excluded here because it deserves a list of its own down the line.

Honorable Mentions

• Eastbound & Down
• Stranger Things
• It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
• Veep
• Chernobyl
• Malcolm in the Middle
• Chuck
• The IT Crowd
• The Walking Dead
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine
• Bob’s Burgers

All of these were important and popular during their heyday, but they didn’t quite make the cut for this list. Still, they held major cachet at their peaks and deserve a watch if you’re looking for something for your next binge.

21. Game of Thrones (2011-2019)

This show, based on George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire book series, was a massive cultural phenomenon by the time its final two seasons rolled around… and, of course, this show would be way higher on this list had those last two seasons, and the final one in particular, delivered more on the promise of the supreme quality that the prior seasons of the show all featured in spades.

As it is, the final season of this seminal show fell apart and was utterly rushed, to the point of being nonsensical and, frankly, quite bad. It still has to be included due to the first six seasons being brilliant. Also, that theme song!

• Best Episode: “Battle of the Bastards” (Season 6, Episode 9)
• Favorite Season: Season 4
• Most Quotable Line: “Chaos is not a pit. Chaos is a ladder.” – Petyr Baelish (played by Aidan Gillen)
• IMDb: 9.2/10
• Metacritic: 86
• Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 89%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience: 85%

20. True Detective (2014-present)

The converse of Game of Thrones is this front-loaded series, which is more of an anthology than a continuous plot line. While four seasons of this show have been produced, seasons 2-4 are sketchy at best, whereas the first season was one of the greatest works of art in television history – full of humor, suspense, violence, and, most importantly, reality.

Boasting an amazing cast, the headliners are, of course, Matthew McConaughey (in full McConaissance mode) and Woody Harrelson, who are both utterly magnetic in their roles. McConaughey, in particular, smolders throughout – and you simply can’t take your eyes off him as he delivers nihilistic diatribe after nihilistic diatribe.

• Best Episode: “Who Goes There” (Season 1, Episode 4)
• Favorite Season: Season 1 (obviously)
• Most Quotable Line: “Time is a flat circle,” uttered by McConaughey’s Rust Cohle might be the most memorable line, but Woody Harrelson’s “I’m just a regular-type dude… with a big-ass dick,” is this writer’s personal favorite as it is extremely unexpected in this mostly straight-laced yet exploratory detective story.
• IMDb: 8.8/10
• Metacritic: 75/100
• Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 78%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience: 59%

19. Firefly (2002)

This is still one of the great “how did they cancel that?” shows. Firefly only got one season, but it packed more charm, wit, and personality into that short run than a lot of longer genre shows manage in five or six. The “space Western” angle gives it a great hook, sure, but what really makes it work is the crew, brought to life with subtlety and verve by this show’s amazing cast, including Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Summer Glau, Gina Torres, and Jewel Staite, among others. Everyone on Serenity feels distinct, lived-in, and immediately worth spending time with, which is a huge part of why the show has stuck around in people’s minds for so long.

It also helps that Firefly never had the chance to overstay its welcome. It came in, established its world, gave us a bunch of memorable characters and one-liners, and then disappeared before the formula could get stale. That abrupt ending was frustrating then and still is now, but it also helped turn the show into one of the definitive cult favorites of the century… and, hey, at least we got a film out of it: Serenity in 2005.

• Best Episode: “Out of Gas” (Season 1, Episode 8)
• Favorite Season: Season 1 (there was only the one)
• Most Quotable Line: Myriad options abound, but Alan Tudyk’s Wash giving voice to a dinosaur action figure with this classic line is top-flight Firefly humor: “Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!”
• IMDb: 8.9/10
• Metacritic: 63/100
• Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 77%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience: 96%

18. Schitt’s Creek (2015-2020)

Schitt’s Creek is one of those shows that really sneaks up on you. It starts as a fish-out-of-water comedy about a rich family losing everything and getting stuck in a town they once bought as a joke, but pretty quickly it becomes something warmer and better than that setup alone would suggest. The Roses are obviously the draw, and Catherine O’Hara’s Moira is one of the funniest TV characters of the century, but the show only works because everybody around them helps turn the town of Schitt’s Creek into a place that actually feels lived in. Stevie is essential, Twyla (played by Sarah Levy, Eugene Levy’s real-life daughter) is always welcome, Ronnie gets a lot done with a little, and Bob is just an all-timer of a side character. The second he starts doing that weird little jog, the scene is already funnier.

What makes the show land is that it gets more human as it goes without turning mushy or losing its sharp comic bite, which is an impressive feat. It also became a genuine awards monster by the end, sweeping all seven major comedy categories at the 2020 Emmys, which feels wild but also completely deserved. And now, after Catherine O’Hara’s death in January 2026, there is even more heart attached to the show than there already was. Watching Moira now is not just hilarious. It feels a little bittersweet, too, in a way that makes the whole thing hit harder, and making her humorous moments even more profoundly hilarious and memorable.

• Best Episode: “Milk Money” (Season 2, Episode 8)
• Favorite Season: Season 4
• Most Quotable Line: “John, you do realize the bébé is crying… isn’t it scheduled to be dormant by now?” – Moira Rose (played by Catherine O’Hara and heavily quoted in my household with a six-month-old)
• IMDb: 8.5/10
• Metacritic: 73/100
• Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 93%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience: 87%

17. Barry (2018-2023)

Barry is one of the weirdest successful shows of the past decade, and I mean that in the best possible way. A show about a hitman trying to find purpose through acting class should not work nearly this well, and yet Barry consistently found ways to be hilarious, tense, sad, and flat-out unnerving, often in the span of a single episode. Bill Hader deserves a ton of credit for that balancing act, because the whole thing falls apart without a lead who can sell both the comedy and the growing horror of what Barry actually is.

And the industry clearly noticed. Barry picked up major Emmy recognition, with Hader winning for lead actor in 2018 and 2019, and the show remained a constant presence in the comedy conversation during its run. What I like most about it, though, is that it never got comfortable. It kept getting darker, stranger, and more willing to make the audience squirm, which is a big reason it stands out from a lot of other “dark comedies” that only ever flirt with being dark.

• Best Episode: “Ronny/Lily” (Season 2, Episode 5)
• Favorite Season: Season 2
• Most Quotable Line: “Oh my God! I mean… Absolutely! Do I not tell you that enough? You are like the most evil guy I know, man.” – NoHo Hank to Barry, not what he wanted to hear
• IMDb: 8.3/10
• Metacritic: 88/100
• Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 98%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience: 89%

16. Succession (2018-2023)

Succession took a bunch of rich, damaged, frequently pathetic people and somehow turned them into one of the most entertaining families in TV history. On paper, the premise sounds a little cold: awful media dynasty fights over power while being emotionally mangled by the family patriarch. In practice, it is viciously funny, deeply embarrassing, and at times weirdly sad. The writing is razor sharp, the performances are tremendous across the board, and the show understood from the jump that these people should be both impressive and ridiculous.

It also became exactly the kind of awards monster you would expect from a show this dialed in, winning Outstanding Drama Series multiple times while stars like Jeremy Strong and Kieran Culkin also took home Emmys. From the beginning of its run, Succession became one of those rare dramas that people quoted, argued about, and obsessed over in real time, which is harder to pull off than it looks.

• Best Episode: “This Is Not for Tears” (Season 2, Episode 10) with “Connor’s Wedding” (Season 4, Episode 3) a close second
• Favorite Season: Season 2
• Most Quotable Line: “I love you, but you are not serious people.” – Logan Roy (played by Brian Cox)
• IMDb: 8.8/10
• Metacritic: 86/100
• Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 95%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience: 88%

15. How I Met Your Mother (2005-2014)

While it must be admitted that the ending is still a mess, that fact does not erase how good How I Met Your Mother was for most of its run. At its best, this was one of the smartest network sitcoms of its era, packed with running jokes, structural tricks, callbacks, and enough heart to keep the whole thing from feeling like a gimmick machine. It could be very silly when it wanted to be, but it also knew when to slow down and actually let a moment land, which is a big part of why people got so attached to these characters.

It also helps that the cast’s chemistry was dynamite from the start, which is an important aspect for truly top-tier comedy. Neil Patrick Harris gets a lot of the flashiest material, and deservedly so, but the whole ensemble makes the thing hum. The finale absolutely knocked the show down a peg in the long-term conversation, and fairly so, but there is still too much great stuff in the first several seasons to pretend it was anything less than one of the defining sitcoms of the 2000s.

• Best Episode: There are lots of good choices, but the introduction of Robin Sparkles and various slap-related gags in “Slap Bet” (Season 2, Episode 9) make it a top choice.
• Favorite Season: Season 2
• Most Quotable Line: Despite being an amazing sitcom, HIMYM also boasts a plethora of heartfelt and philosophical moments. This Ted Mosby quote fits that well: “You can’t cling on to the past, because no matter how tightly you hold on, it’s already gone.”
• IMDb: 8.3/10
• Metacritic: 69/100
• Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 84%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience: 85%

14. New Girl (2011-2018)

While ostensibly about Zooey Deschanel’s quirky and beatific main character, Jessica Day, once you begin to truly unfurl this 2010s sitcom, you learn that the characters that experience the most growth are the “boys:” Jake Johnson as Nick Miller, Max Greenfield as Schmidt, Lamorne Morris as Winston Bishop and Damon Wayans Jr. as Coach.

While each character gets a metric ton of hilarious quips and jibes, the show is perhaps at its best when that foursome is curating some sort of hilarious jape or finding themselves in implacable yet wildly entertaining comedic scenarios. With two wonderful love stories occurring among the main cast (that’s inclusive of Hannah Simone’s Cece Parekh) over the course of the show’s seven seasons, this one might not get the credit that others herein receive, but it surely deserves its place in the 21st century TV pantheon.

• Best Episode: “Background Check” (Season 4, Episode 6)
• Favorite Season: Season 4
• Most Quotable Line: Another eminently quotable sitcom, but Lamorne Morris as Winston Bishop delivers multiple jaw-dropping quotes in the series, such as: “Hey yo Cece, it’s your girl Winston aka Winnie the Bish aka aka Brown Lightning. Schmidt dropped Fawn like a bad habit, okay, so ain’t nobody riding shotgun. So, you better get on while the getting is good, you got it?”, and “As I leave and breathe… RAISIN?!”, and, lastly, “Begone, honky!”
• IMDb: 7.8/10
• Metacritic: 67/100
• Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 95%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience: 84%

13. Justified (2010-2015)

To put it simply: Justified has swagger. From the pilot onwards, the show knows exactly how cool Raylan Givens is, but it also knows not to overplay its hand. A huge part of what makes the series work is that it basically functions as a modern Western, with Raylan as the fast-drawing lawman walking into old grudges, exposing backwoods crime and damaged family baggage, all while dealing with various miscreants and reprobates who really should know better by now. Timothy Olyphant is terrific in the role, all dry confidence and easy charm, but Walton Goggins is the secret sauce. Boyd Crowder could have been a very good recurring foil and instead becomes one of the most memorable characters in the entire show—as well as modern television—in the hands of Goggins.

This was never the biggest phenomenon on television, but it built the kind of reputation that lasts because it had its own flavor. The dialogue snaps, the Kentucky setting actually matters, and the Western bones of the thing keep it from feeling like just another crime drama with a cool lead. It is one of those shows people find a little late, then immediately start pushing on everyone else.

• Best Episode: “Fire in the Hole” (Season 1, Episode 1)
• Favorite Season: Season 2
• Most Quotable Line: “I don’t believe in fate. I can’t believe in fate – not anymore. I believe you dictate the river of fate through your own actions.” – Boyd Crowder (played with aplomb by Walton Goggins)
• IMDb: 8.6/10
• Metacritic: 86/100
• Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 97%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience: 95%

12. Mad Men (2007-2015)

Mad Men is one of the few prestige dramas that fully deserves the reputation it has. Set in the world of advertising but really about identity, ambition, reinvention, and the many ways people lie to themselves just to get through the day, the show is endlessly sharp without feeling like it is straining to be “important.” Jon Hamm as Don Draper is excellent, of course, but what really makes Mad Men work is how complete the whole thing feels. Every office, every marriage, every awkward dinner, every sidelong glance seems to be about two different things at once, and the show is smart enough to trust the audience to meet it there.

It was also an outright awards monster, winning 16 Emmys overall, including Outstanding Drama Series four years in a row, and helping define what prestige TV looked like in that era. But the critical accolades are just one reason to check out the show. Once you reach the later seasons and learn who these people really are, and who they keep pretending to be, a lot of the earlier scenes land even harder. That is usually the sign you are dealing with something special.

• Best Episode: “The Suitcase” (Season 4, Episode 7)
• Favorite Season: Season 4
• Most Quotable Line: “I hate to break it to you, but there is no big lie. There is no system. The universe is indifferent.” – Don Draper
• IMDb: 8.7/10
• Metacritic: 86/100
• Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 94%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience: 95%

11. Community (2009-2015)

Community is one of the funniest shows here, but it is also one of the most uneven, which is part of what makes talking about it interesting. When it is great, it is really great – inventive, dense with jokes, weird in exactly the right way, and far more formally ambitious than most sitcoms would ever dare to be. The show could do homage episodes, meta jokes, emotional beats, and absolute nonsense, sometimes all in the same half hour, and somehow keep it together.

It also feels like one of the clearest examples of a show whose reputation grew after the fact. Despite being canceled multiple times and bouncing from NBC to the short-lived Yahoo! Screen, this show’s influence and afterlife have been huge, which says plenty on its own. People still talk about specific episodes because the show actually took swings. Not every swing connected, but I will take that over a safer sitcom that never takes risks.

• Best Episode: “Remedial Chaos Theory” (Season 3, Episode 4)
• Favorite Season: Close call, but the show really hits its stride in Season 2
• Most Quotable Line: “Let’s do what people do. Let’s get a house we can’t afford and a dog that makes us angry.” – Jeff Winger (played by Joel McHale)
• IMDb: 8.5/10
• Metacritic: 74/100
• Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 88%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience: 88%

10. The Office (2005-2013)

The Office is one of those shows that almost suffers from how famous it became. It is so quoted, memed, and rerun that it can be easy to forget how good it actually was when it was really cooking. Yes, Michael Scott is an all-time comedy creation, and yes, the show absolutely nailed the soul-crushing weirdness of office life, but what gives it staying power is that it was never just a cringe machine. It had a real center to it, and that center was Jim and Pam. Their relationship gave the show its heart without making it overly sentimental, and for a lot of viewers, that slow build was every bit as important as the jokes.

That is really why The Office worked. It could be ridiculous, awkward, stupid, sweet, and weirdly comforting all at once. It felt specific enough to be funny and broad enough to be lived in. The later seasons are obviously less consistent, especially once Carell leaves, but the peak years are so strong and so endlessly quotable that there was never any chance this show was missing a list like this. It is not just a comfort-watch sitcom now. It is one of the defining comedies of the century.

• Best Episode(s): “Stress Relief, Parts 1 & 2 (Season 5, Episodes 14 and 15)
• Favorite Season: Season 3
• Most Quotable Line: Myriad options are available, but this writer’s favorite is likely: “Boy have you done lost your mind, ’cause I’ll help you find it!” – Stanley Hudson
• IMDb: 9.0/10
• Metacritic: 66/100
• Rotten Tomatoe Critics: 81%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience: 89%

9. Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008)

Note: Yes, this is an animated show, but it is not an anime, per se, since it was produced and developed in the U.S.

It is still a little ridiculous how good Avatar: The Last Airbender is. What could have been “just” a great animated show for younger viewers became something much bigger: a genuinely moving fantasy story with terrific character arcs, strong world-building, real emotional weight, and one of the better endings you will find in television, animated or otherwise. The show is funny when it needs to be, but it never undercuts its bigger dramatic swings, which is a big reason they land so well.

And then there are the incredible characters of Iroh, Zuko, Aang, Katara, and Sokka, all of whom are brought to life in vivid detail by astounding voice acting performances and stunning animation. Avatar works because it never talks down to its audience, and it never mistakes simplicity for shallowness. Plenty of shows have lore. This one has heart, and that is why people still love it the way they do, and why an animated show that aired on Nickelodeon still holds up as one of the best shows of the 21^st century.

• Best Episode: “Tales of Ba Sing Se” (Season 2, Episode 15)
• Favorite Season: Season 3 (“Book 3: Fire”)
• Most Quotable Line: “Life happens wherever you are, whether you make it or not.” – Uncle Iroh
• IMDb: 9.3/10
• Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 100%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience: 98%

8. Band of Brothers (2001)

Band of Brothers is one of those shows that feels almost too big to be on television until you sit with it for a while and realize its real strength is how personal it stays. Yes, the scope is massive, the battle scenes are intense, and the historical weight is obvious from the first episode on. But what really makes it stick is the way it focuses on exhaustion, fear, loyalty, and the strange intimacy that forms between men going through something horrific together. It never loses sight of that.

It was also, unsurprisingly, an awards force, winning multiple Emmys and quickly becoming one of HBO’s early crown jewels. Even more important, though, is that it still feels definitive roughly 25 years after its release. Plenty of war dramas are technically impressive, but almost none feel this grounded, this human, and this worth revisiting again and again – if only to give viewers a vital reminder that “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

• Best Episode: “Why We Fight” (Season 1, Episode 9)
• Favorite Season: Only Season 1 to choose from
• Most Quotable Line: “Henry the Fifth was talking to his men and he said from this day to the ending of the world we and it shall be remembered. We lucky few, we band of brothers, for he who sheds his blood with me today shall be my brother.” – C. Carwood Lipton
• IMDb: 9.4/10
• Metacritic: 87/100
• Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 94%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience: 97%

7. Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000-2011; 2017-2024)

Curb Your Enthusiasm is built on one very simple idea: what if a guy refused to let anything go, ever, and made that everyone else’s problem? That premise should probably not sustain this many seasons, and yet Larry David has spent decades proving otherwise. The genius of the show is that Larry is often petty, sometimes right, usually insufferable, and always compelling enough to keep the whole machine moving. Watching him turn minor social annoyances into full-blown meltdowns somehow never gets old.

That is part of why the show has had such a long shelf life. Curb did not just become acclaimed; it basically carved out its own lane and stayed there. The “pretty, pretty, pretty good” reputation is earned, but even that undersells it just a bit. Very few comedies have been this specific, this committed to discomfort, or this consistently funny over such a long stretch.

• Best Episode: “The Doll” (Season 2, Episode 7)
• Favorite Season: Season 3
• Most Quotable Line: “Pretty… pretty… pretty good.” – Larry David (more or less the catch phrase of the entire show)
• IMDb: 8.8/10
• Metacritic: 84/100
• Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 92%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience: 90%

6. Parks and Recreation (2009–2015)

Where The Office started out as a vehicle for cringe comedy cranked up to 11, its little partner show that could, Parks and Recreation (boasting the same showrunners and creators as its predecessor), quickly realized that a reheated Office clone in a different setting was not going to cut it, so they produced a show with one of the best characters in TV history: Amy Poehler’s Leslie Knope is one of the most lovable, funny, and charming characters of all time.

It doesn’t hurt that the entire cast of characters—especially when season 3 rolls around and Adam Scott’s Ben Wyatt and Rob Lowe’s Chris Traeger enter the scene—are all extremely funny in their own way, with each one serving as something of a tentpole of different types of humor: April Ludgate is a sardonic wisecracker, Andy Dwyer is the random, energetic jokester, Tom Haverford is the ever-preening, wannabe impresario “ideas man,” and Knope serves as the irreverent bedrock upon which these zany yet grounded characters worm their way into your heart as you continue to watch them get into hilarious, “must-see TV” scenarios. A classic that somehow bests the original Office.

• Best Episode: “The Fight” (Season 3, Episode 13, aka the Snake Juice ep)
• Favorite Season: Season 3
• Most Quotable Line: Many to choose from, but “Snake Juice sales are gonna be off the cherts. Why? Because that snizz is straight-up deloycious,” uttered by the inimitable Jean-Ralphio Saperstein (Ben Schwarz) is my personal favorite as well as something of a deep cut.
• IMDb: 8.6/10
• Metacritic: 67/100
• Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 93%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience: 89%

5. Better Call Saul (2015-2022)

Spin-offs are usually not supposed to be this good. Better Call Saul began life under the shadow of Breaking Bad, and there was every reason to think it would be a lesser companion piece built around one great supporting character. Instead, it became a masterpiece in its own right, and for stretches of its run, it was arguably even more carefully constructed than its predecessor. Bob Odenkirk gives career-defining work as Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman, while Rhea Seehorn’s Kim Wexler becomes one of the most compelling characters in modern television.

The series earned a plethora of awards and nominations, and even if some viewers still grumble about its slower pace compared to Breaking Bad, that patience is a feature rather than a flaw. Better Call Saul is meticulous, tragic, funny, and quietly devastating, a show deeply interested in how people rationalize becoming the worst versions of themselves. A masterclass in television storytelling from a creative team at the peak of their powers.

• Best Episode: “Chicanery” (Season 3, Episode 5)
• Favorite Season: Season 6
• Most Quotable Line: “You can’t conceive of what I’m capable of! I’m so far beyond you! I’m like a god in human clothing! Lightning bolts shoot from my fingertips!” – Jimmy McGill
• IMDb: 9.0/10
• Metacritic: 86/100
• Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 98%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience: 96%

4. Arrested Development (2003-2006; 2013-2019)

There are very few shows that could be described as “comedically perfect,” but the original run of Arrested Development (and especially the first two seasons) absolutely fit that bill, as audiences were introduced to the wildly dysfunctional and inimitably hilarious Bluth family, whose sheer capriciousness and extreme entitlement lead to some truly unforgettable comedic shenanigans.

With amazing runners, hilarious visual jokes, stunning wordplay, tremendous meta commentary, and a plethora of notable guest stars over the show’s first three seasons, Arrested Development surely deserves its place in the 21st century pantheon, as well as an easy inclusion in the top five of this list.

• Best Episode: “Beef Consommé” (Season 1, Episode 13)
• Favorite Season: Season 1
• Most Quotable Line: “I’ve made a huge mistake.” – Gob Bluth, many times
• IMDb: 8.6/10
• Metacritic: 78/100
• Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 75%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience: 85%

3. The Wire (2002-2008)

The Wire is one of those shows that reveals a little more of itself every time you revisit it. Set in Baltimore and created by David Simon, the series digs into policing, politics, education, labor, journalism, and the drug trade with an unusual amount of patience and clarity. While it can be dense and arcane at times, that only adds to the appeal. The show is not interested in sugar-coating anything and that is a big reason it still hits as hard as it does: it shows ordinary Americans getting chewed up and spat out by a broken system again and again.

It also built its reputation in a way that feels fitting for a show like this. The Wire was never some giant awards magnet, but people kept coming back to it, talking about it, and realizing it was doing far more than most television shows ever attempt. That reputation was earned slowly, through word of mouth, critical reverence, and the simple fact that the show feels alive on a level very few dramas ever reach. Plenty of great shows feel important for a few years, but The Wire somehow still feels like the truth.

• Best Episode: “Middle Ground” (Season 3, Episode 11)
• Favorite Season: Difficult to choose, but this writer believes Season 3 deserves the top spot
• Most Quotable Line: “You come at the king, you best not miss.” Omar Little (played by the late Michael K Williams)
• IMDb: 9.3/10
• Metacritic: 91/100
• Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 94%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience: 96%

2. Breaking Bad (2008-2013)

Breaking Bad is one of the clearest examples of a show knowing exactly how to escalate without losing control. Showrunner Vince Gilligan’s saga of Walter White’s transformation from desperate chemistry teacher to monstrous criminal mastermind begins with a darkly funny hook and gradually mutates into something operatic, terrifying, and weirdly exhilarating. Bryan Cranston, of course, is extraordinary, but the secret sauce is that nearly everyone around him is operating at a similarly high level, from Aaron Paul and Anna Gunn to Dean Norris, Jonathan Banks, and Bob Odenkirk.

The show was an awards powerhouse for good reason, stacking up Emmys and cementing itself as one of the signature dramas of its era. More importantly, it actually sticks the landing when it comes to the show’s ending, as they are among the highest-rated TV episodes of all time, per IMDb. Breaking Bad combined prestige, popularity, quotability, and narrative momentum in a way very few shows ever have, and that is a big reason why it remains so revered.

• Best Episode: “Ozymandias” (Season 5, Episode 14)
• Favorite Season: Season 5
• Most Quotable Line: “I am the one who knocks.” – Walter White
• IMDb: 9.5/10
• Metacritic: 87/100
• Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 96%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience: 97%

1. Party Down (2009-2010; 2023)

This might seem like an unorthodox choice, but, for me, nothing beats the first two seasons of Party Down when it comes to sheer LPM (laughs per minute). Each character in the main cast (as well as the myriad notable guest stars) delivers some absolutely scintillating dialogue full of some of the most well-crafted comedic setups and pithy one-liners ever committed to film in this show about Hollywood, set in Hollywood, as various showbiz hangers-on aim to “make it big” while working a thankless, dead-end catering gig at Party Down Catering.

In terms of the cast, the show simply can’t be beaten. Adam Scott is at his deadpan best as washed-up actor Henry Pollard, Lizzy Caplan is both beguiling and hilarious as aspiring stand-up comic Casey Klein, Martin Starr steals every scene he’s in as the pretentious “hard sci-fi” writer Roman DeBeers, Ryan Hansen is perfect as the somewhat slow-witted actor in the “all-around handsome business,” Jane Lynch is delightful as character actor Constance Carmel (as is her “replacement,” Megan Mullally, as the bubbly yet domineering show mom Lydia Dunfree). But perhaps no actor carries the show more than Ken Marino as the catering team’s sad-sack leader Ron Donald, whose only aspiration is to open a Soup R’ Crackers restaurant – an “all you can eat soup and salad” franchise.

During its run, this show received very little attention as well as a paltry marketing budget, but that didn’t stop its creators (who were also responsible for the early 2000s’ high school crime comedy Veronica Mars) from delivering some of the funniest moments in television history in the show’s original 20-episode run.

Despite not being a runaway hit at the time, it was enough of a cult classic that Starz finally got almost everyone back on board for a limited series in 2023 that recaptured some of that sheer magic that the first two seasons delivered in spades at the turn of the decade. Hopefully, more rebooted seasons will follow. This writer can only hope.

The question Party Down poses most of all is “are we having fun yet?” The answer is, if you’re watching this show, at least, “the most fun you could ever have.”

Lastly, if you still haven’t checked out this absolutely classic show, the flawless first episode is available free on YouTube from Starz.

• Best Episode: “Pepper McMasters Singles Seminar” (Season 1, Episode 3)
• Favorite Season: All three are great (and especially the first two in the original run), but Season 1 takes the cake.
• Most Quotable Line: Too many to count, but Henry Pollard’s various readings of “are we having fun yet?” are always a joy to behold, in all contexts.
• IMDb: 8.2/10
• Metacritic: 78/100
• Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 93%
• Rotten Tomatoes Audience: 91%

Closing Credits

Trying to rank the best TV shows of the 21st century is a good way to annoy yourself, annoy everyone around you, and realize just how many great shows still got left behind, but that’s all part of the fun of making a list like this. TV as a medium has been too rich, too weird, and too crowded in the 21^st century for any ranking to feel fully airtight.

Still, these are the 21 shows that hold up best for me. Some changed television, some defined entire eras, and some were just so sharp, funny, thrilling, or endlessly rewatchable that leaving them out would have felt silly. Whether you agree with the order or not, every show here earned its place. Happy watching!