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The best TV series of the ’0. The Wire(HBO, 2. 00. Taking full advantage of the generous breadth of the television format—and HBO’s commitment to ambitious, form- expanding programming—The Wire unfolded like a great American novel, trusting viewers to pick up on the intricate connections between seasons, characters, and myriad details.
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Starting as an impressively scrupulous, evenhanded depiction of the Baltimore drug trade, the show opened up into an ever- expanding portrait of a city, one weakened institution at a time, from the unions to the schools to the newspaper business. At every turn, Simon and his crack team of writers (including crime novelists George Pelacanos, Richard Price, and Dennis Lehane) revealed how the corrupt and often grossly incompetent acts of the powerful consistently preyed on the city’s most defenseless residents. Rooted in Greek tragedy, this grim series was mitigated by moments of profound redemption, a penchant for gallows humor, and an abiding respect for the quietly heroic men and women who try to make a difference. Essential episodes: “Bad Dreams,” “Final Grades,” “Late Editions”2. The Sopranos (HBO, 1. The depiction of evil in storytelling has been complicated ever since Lucifer became the breakout character in Milton’s Paradise Lost.
It would be a mistake to say all 8. The Sopranos are a commentary on the relationship between storytellers and their wicked characters, but that was definitely on the mind of show creator David Chase. Over the course of its six seasons, the series followed the misadventures of Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a charismatic multiple murderer who uses psychotherapy to help him balance his relationships with his wife and children, and to deal with the stress of his position as a powerful figure in the New Jersey mafia.
Chase and other writers used Tony’s dual life as means to examine consumerist culture, the lasting impact of violence, Italian- American identity, and dozens of other themes. With a strong cast anchored by Gandolfini’s brilliant leading turn, each season served up soap opera, mob intrigue, and surrealist digressions, all tied together by the main character’s quest for self- realization. The dark inevitability of that quest’s end will be forever debated by fans, but one lesson is clear: having sympathy for the Devil doesn’t make him any less monstrous, no matter how much we might wish otherwise. Essential episodes: “Employee Of The Month,” “Whoever Did This,” “Made In America”3. Arrested Development (Fox, 2. As Ron Howard explains at the beginning of every Arrested Development episode, “This is the story of a wealthy family who lost everything, and the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together.” That’s a deceptively simple way of explaining Arrested Development, but the complexity of the show’s writing is what kept fans enamored. In short, AD not only makes viewers laugh, it makes them feel smart.
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What other TV comedy so richly rewarded a vigilant audience with inside jokes, subtle callbacks, and long- form farce? Of course the spoiled, obnoxious characters (especially those played by Jessica Walters, Will Arnett, and David Cross) are entertaining as they are, but the writing around them makes the show a classic. Arrested Development’s gags run the gamut from puns (Sunday brunch places named “Skip Church’s” and “Miss Temple’s”) to the sweet (George Michael’s homage to Charlie Brown) to the nearly profane (the word “cunt” is referenced a surprising number of times for a network TV show) to the ridiculous (“Bob Loblaw’s law blog”), yet it all ties together. The series demands attention and repays it with bits that don’t even register until the second, third, or even fourth viewing.
And the telltale sign of Arrested Development’s greatness: it looks like it was fun as hell to make. Essential episodes: “Pier Pressure,” “Mr.
F,” “Righteous Brothers”4. Freaks And Geeks (NBC, 1. The Judd Apatow juggernaut—surely the most understated, genial media movement ever to deserve the title—began with the one- season- and- out teen drama Freaks And Geeks, produced by Apatow and created by Paul Feig. Following the varied outcasts of an early- ’8. Detroit high school, Freaks And Geeks features Linda Cardellini as a geek (a “mathlete,” to be precise) who migrates to the stoner crowd, and John Francis Daley as her nerdy younger brother, simultaneously worried about his sister’s future and fighting his own adolescent battles. The show not only captured in 1. Sam Levine, Martin Starr, James Franco, Busy Phillips, Jason Segel, and Seth Rogen.
NBC didn’t necessarily know what to do with this critically acclaimed ratings disaster, but rarely has a canceled show's brilliance been so immediately evident. Before the final three aired episodes were burned off in the summer of 2.
Mad Men (AMC, 2. 00. TV period pieces rarely work. The production design usually pales in comparison to period films, the characters are often only empty vessels through which to experience major historical moments, and a modern sensibility ultimately prevails, in spite of the era- specific trappings.
Mad Men has turned that last weakness into an advantage with its deliberately cool, distanced look at ’6. Matthew Weiner’s series apes films of the period, offering shots held for ages, moments of supreme quiet, and a glacial pace, even as the characters roil with emotions they barely knew how to express. Mad Men is about hanging out in a meticulously recreated bygone world with the handsome rogue Don Draper (played by the great Jon Hamm) and company, but it’s also about using our knowledge against us, and making us realize that the people who lived in the mythical ’6. Essential episodes: “The Wheel,” “The Jet Set,” “Seven Twenty Three”6. Breaking Bad (AMC, 2.
Few shows have proven as skillful as Breaking Bad at stringing together memorable scenes. In fact, the show’s first pre- credits sequence is a flash- forward to a thundering chase scene so jaw- dropping, it’s amazing that the hour of television which follows earns every moment.
Creator Vince Gilligan begins with the tale of a high- school chemistry teacher who turns to meth- dealing to provide for his family when he’s diagnosed with terminal cancer, and stretches the story out so he can explore the quiet moments between its mind- blowing setpieces. Bryan Cranston perfectly inhabits the role of a man who chooses doomed action over helpless inaction, and he’s ably served by a terrific supporting cast, including Aaron Paul as his junkie partner, Anna Gunn as his suspicious wife, and—turning around a role that could have become mawkish—RJ Mitte as his cerebral- palsy- afflicted son. The actors help imbue the life and times of a dying man with the sort of powerful drama that keeps viewers rapt between big moments that can take a whole season to play out. But as Breaking Bad showed with its masterful second season, it’s always worth the wait. Essential episodes: “Pilot,” “Cat’s In The Bag,” “ABQ”7. The Office UK (BBC 2, 2. When Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant first conceived a mockumentary about a gloriously self- deluded boss who fancies himself a “friend first, an entertainer second, and a boss third,” they couldn’t have imagined they’d concoct an international pop- culture phenomenon that would spawn adaptations around the world, including the rightly revered American version starring Steve Carell.
Gervais and Merchant’s groundbreaking, wildly influential hit garnered huge laughs from awkward silence, tension, and the everyday humiliations and defeats of life as a wage slave. Underneath the comedy lay an unblinking take on middle- class ennui and frustration that bordered on tragic. Essential episodes: “Training,” “Motivation,” “Christmas Specials”8. Lost (ABC, 2. 00. No series risked more over the past decade than Lost, which has asked its viewers to be patient as the show’s creators have withheld information, killed characters, divided the cast and—in the ultimate potential deal- breaker—toyed with time travel. To some extent, frustration with Lost has become part of the pleasure of watching the show, as fans gather to grumble about dangling plot threads and conflicts that could be easily resolved if characters ever used some of the time they’re spending cast away on a desert island to, y’know, have conversations.
But Lost’s payoffs have been well worth its head- slappers. Showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have presided over a story that’s spanned continents and genres, all while crafting a dense mythology with a human core. Lost is a show about unexpected connections and the search for meaning in our shared cultural arcana. It’s also been a showcase for a sprawling cast of memorable characters, each learning the lesson that if they’re patient enough to wait out the changes, their tragic life stories just might have a happy ending. Essential episodes: “Walkabout,” “Greatest Hits,” “The Constant”9. Deadwood (HBO, 2. The earliest TV- drama hits were Westerns, so when HBO unleashed David Milch’s Deadwood on the world in 2.
TV genre- reclamation projects. Instead, the series quickly abandoned the Wild West archetypes of its first handful of episodes and turned into a show about how communities come to be, how civilization springs from blood and gold, and how chaos is imperfectly knit into order. Featuring grandly theatrical dialogue, at least five dozen major recurring characters, and an unforgettable lead performance from Ian Mc. Shane, Deadwood was the temperamental Milch’s love letter to such timeless virtues as common decency, free societies, and creatively deployed profanity. Though the series only lasted three seasons and never reached a natural endpoint, the seasons are so packed with Milch’s richly humanistic view of the world that they trump 1. Essential episodes: “A Lie Agreed Upon, Pts.
The Whores Can Come,” “Boy The Earth Talks To”1. The Shield (FX, 2.