1. The Sopranos
Before Tony, TV drama meant something else entirely. This show blew the doors off, proving you could build a serialized story around a deeply flawed, utterly compelling anti-hero. It was cinematic, complex, and demanded your full attention, week after week. HBO wasn't just cable anymore; it was where real, grown-up storytelling lived, letting characters breathe and psychological plots unravel over years. It permanently changed the game.
2. The Wire
Forget cops and robbers. This was a whole city, a living, breathing organism, dissected with a surgeon's precision. Each season felt like a new novel, an ensemble masterpiece that showed how institutions failed people. It wasn't about good guys winning; it was about the system, and that level of nuanced, serialized social commentary was unlike anything on network TV. It made you think, hard.
3. Six Feet Under
Who thought a show about a family running a funeral home could be so utterly life-affirming? It tackled mortality head-on, delivering profound character studies and emotional gut punches every week. This was cable taking risks, letting writers craft intimate, serialized narratives that network censors would never touch. It was raw, real, and heartbreakingly beautiful, cementing HBO's drama cred with every passing episode.
4. Lost
This was the water cooler show, pure and simple. A plane crash, a mysterious island, and a serialized mythology that kept everyone guessing. It pioneered that hybrid cinematic look on broadcast TV, while its complex, character-driven mysteries practically invented binge-watching before "binge-watching" was even a term. You had to catch every episode, or you were out of the loop.
5. Battlestar Galactica
Sci-fi got serious with this one. It wasn't just spaceships; it was a gritty, serialized look at humanity's survival, wrapped in a political allegory. The characters were flawed, the stakes were sky-high, and it dared to ask big questions. Cable-level storytelling, but with a genre twist that elevated it beyond anything you'd seen before in space. So say we all, indeed.
6. Deadwood
The language alone was a revelation, but *Deadwood* was more than just profanity. It was a brutal, poetic, serialized exploration of civilization's messy birth, with an ensemble cast delivering Shakespearean-level performances. HBO let this show be exactly what it needed to be – raw, historically rich, and utterly uncompromising. It felt like watching a long, dark, beautiful film unfold, episode by episode.
7. The Office
The mockumentary style wasn't entirely new, but *The Office* perfected it for network comedy, making it feel fresh and intimate. It made you cringe, laugh, and genuinely care about these absurd characters in their mundane workplace. This ensemble delivered subtle, serialized humor and surprising character growth that redefined what a sitcom could be, paving the way for a whole new style of comedic storytelling.
8. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Don't let the vampires fool you; this was groundbreaking serialized drama. It blended horror, comedy, and intense emotional storytelling with sharp writing and complex characters. Buffy proved genre TV could be smart, feminist, and deeply resonant, building a loyal following that understood its episodic monsters were metaphors for teenage angst. It was epic, week after week, and still holds up.
9. Arrested Development
This show was a comedic marvel, a tightly woven, serialized tapestry of running gags, callbacks, and meta-humor. It demanded repeat viewings to catch every joke, practically training an audience for the on-demand era. The ensemble cast was perfect, delivering rapid-fire absurdity that felt revolutionary for a network sitcom. It was smart, fast, and completely unique, a true comedic masterclass.
