Your Top 10 TV Shows of the 21st Century

[Ensign]

What are your top 10 TV shows of the 21st century so far?
As long as they have had at least one new episode in the 21st century, not counting specials, then its fine to include them even if they started off in the 20th century. If you're uncomfortable with this then be my guest and choose shows that were aired exclusively in the 21st century - Or go crazy and make two lists!


I'm a bit fickle and forgetful when it comes to TV shows but here are mine - in order:
1. Friends
2. Game of Thrones
3. Breaking Bad
4. Malcolm In The Middle
5. The Tudors
6. Better Call Saul
7. Doctor Who
8. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
9. The Thick Of It
10. Rick and Morty

 

[Claudia]

West Wing - just started back with season 1, after having rewatched all 7 seasons over the summer... just to escape reality, I guess...
Sherlock - is it new year already?

Those 2 are my absolute favourites. The rest:

Game of Thrones
Person of Interest
ER - even though the really good seasons were in the 90s, then again, I started med school the year Carter started in the er, so there's a connection *g*
BSG
Criminal Minds - seasons 1-4/5, I stopped watching with the end of last season.
Gilmore Girls
24
Borgen - a Danish version of West Wing

 

[Galileo7]

The Walking Dead
Breaking Bad
Westworld
Ghosthunters
Doctor Who
Fear The Walking Dead
Better Call Saul
Gotham
Big Bang Theory
Family Guy

 

[J.T.B.]

1. The Wire
2. Mad Men
3. Deadwood
4. The Office (UK)
5. Arrested Development
6. Breaking Bad
7. Curb Your Enthusiasm
8. The Sopranos
9. Better Call Saul
10. Justified

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Not sure whether to count Buffy since although it had over half its seasons in the 21st century it had over half its best seasons in the 20th. I'll leave it out.

Breaking Bad
Game of Thrones
Lost
The Sopranos
Battlestar Galactica
Community
House
Parks and Recreation
South Park
The Colbert Report

 

[MacLeod]

To name a few

The West Wing
House M.D.
Doctor Who
DSN (a bit of a cheat I know, but it it did air new episodes for the UK at least in 2000)

 

[Push The Button]

My list consists of shows where I absolutely could not wait to see the next episode/season. These are in no particular order:

The Sopranos
Breaking Bad
Mad Men
Mr. Robot
Battlestar Galactica
Lost
Fargo (both seasons)
Archer
The Walking Dead

Homicide: Life on the Street would have made my list, but apparently the last episode aired in 1999.

 

[Degra1]

For me the 21st century has sucked when it came to television. I hear all the time about it being the Golden Age but I frankly do not see it

Lost ushered in an era of these bloated mystery driven non linear gimmicky shows with sloppy mythologies and interconnected histories.; ridiculously large ensembles. Not one has been great-- you name it---invasio n, once upon a time, vanished, daybreak, the event, flash forward, threshold, revolution, the nine, life on Mars, helix, mr robot heroes persons unknown under the dome extant etc etc

Then you have the pretentious bores. Shows that I'm told are deep, dramatic and supposedly sophisticated but are chores to sit through because the writers seem to think glacial Pacing, intense close ups of actors faces grimacing and other facial movements are dramatic. Or maybe because they can show nudity and cuss like sailors or just be graphic in their depiction of violence. Either way they aren't the least bit entertaining ie Rubicon True Detective Mad men The Walking Dead etc

Then you have stale procedurals that heavily recycle everything

But if I had to list a few I'd have to go with

Star Trek voyager--not my favorite trek. Wholly uneven quality wise but sure beats most other shows to come from this century

Star Trek enterprise --again not the strongest of trek shows. Again middling characters and cast but it's xindi arc and most of its fourth season were entertaining

Heroes season one--I wouldn't want a series or season like this with this complicated a plotline but as a one off self contained season I was pretty impressed with its storytelling and ability to do a good job in producing 24 mostly solid to great episodes.

BSG-- highly overrated but could at times be enjoyable when it wasnt trying so hard to be angsty and dark. It's first season is the best after that it went off the rails and the mythology fizzled. It did have an excellent series finale though

Supernatural the first five seasons were pretty good. I preferred it's laid back standalone approach in season one before it got too bogged down in an ever growing mythology. Still there were good eps to be had here and there but after season give it's just a sad little show. Hardly recognizable in fact

 

[sojourner]

How We Colonized Mars - A historical 12 part melodrama that aired in the summer of 2093.

 

[Kane2026]

Battlestar Galactica
Lost
Sherlock
Westworld
Game Of Thrones
Person Of Interest
Fringe
The Expanse
Enterprise
Bosch

Plenty of posts above include more excellent series, but I am not certain about House. The episodes felt too formulaic, the humor was good, but I didn't feel the show had merit to last 8 seasons.

 

[MacLeod]

Plenty of posts above include more excellent series, but I am not certain about House. The episodes felt too formulaic, the humor was good, but I didn't feel the show had merit to last 8 seasons.

Plenty of shows went on beyond their best before date, House for example was best in it's first few seasons, before losing quality in the later seasons. But so did shows like Heroes and Lost

 

[Jax]

just 10 ...

1. The West Wing
2. Boston Legal
3. The Big Bang Theory
4. Scrubs
5. Stargate SG-1
6. Doctor Who
7. Have I Got News For You
8. Breaking Bad
9. Band of Brothers
10. Friends

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

BSG, Doctor Who, My Name Is Earl, Orphan Black.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Plenty of posts above include more excellent series, but I am not certain about House. The episodes felt too formulaic, the humor was good, but I didn't feel the show had merit to last 8 seasons.

House is definitely formulaic, but that's not inherently a bad thing if the characters and stories are compelling.

Most of the characters were unique and memorable, Hugh Laurie's performance was incredible, and the show explored some really difficult philosophical questions. It didn't always explore them deeply, but where most shows would come back around to the humanist conclusion and prove the cynical jerk wrong, it usually proved him right.

 

[bigdaddy]

So Westworld gets on several people's list with 7/8 episodes? Really? Of course I guess it's not any worse than listing some of the worst sci-fi shows ever. (Voyager / Enterprise) So each their own.

Breaking Bad
Veronica Mars
Sherlock
Futurama
Community
Boston Legal
Hannibal
Wonderfalls
Gilmore Girls
Avatar / Korra

 

[JirinPanthosa]

@Degra1

Some people like ambitious, complicated, heavily serialized stories. I agree that if you are not into those kinds of shows and you prefer episodic shows with lovable characters that wrap up all the plot points before the end of every episode, the 21st century hasn't been good. With the notable exception of NBC's old Thursday comedy block. There hasn't been any Seinfeld.

Westworld will get on my top ten if the season finale has the promised payoff.

 

[Degra1]

So Westworld gets on several people's list with 7/8 episodes? Really? Of course I guess it's not any worse than listing some of the worst sci-fi shows ever. (Voyager / Enterprise) So each their own.

Voyager and enterprise were nowhere as good as TNG or DS9. Voyager and enterprise suffered from a lot of bland characters and uneven storytelling but in hindsight I appreciate them more now than I did originally because at least unlike tv today tried to not get swept away in gimmicks and bloated mythologies that went nowhere

And even middling Trek is better than 99% of most television and definitely eclipses most if not all other sff shows we've been treated to over the last 15 years which have been utter crap--fringe, the expanse, ascension, daybreak, life on Mars, star gate Atlantis, the 4400, star gate universe, Alcatraz, caprica, v reboot, revolution, flash forward, the event, dark matters, the Flash Gordon reboot, x files mini series last year, threshold, whispers, extant, under the dome, falling skies, wayward pines, andromeda-all awful

 

[Degra1]

@Degra1

Some people like ambitious, complicated, heavily serialized stories. I agree that if you are not into those kinds of shows and you prefer episodic shows with lovable characters that wrap up all the plot points before the end of every episode, the 21st century hasn't been good.
.

I'm easy. I like episodic tv but I also enjoy heavily serialized tv shows. I however don't like the 21st century take on serialized storytelling that began with Lost with unnecessarily convoluted mythologies, ridiculously large casts with heavily intertwined histories, breakneck pacing that doesn't allow any depth to scenes because it's all about mad dash into the next plot point treating the series as one big mysterious puzzle and each episode as a puzzle piece. I don't have the desire to sit around trying to connect all the dots and fill in blanks, watch podcasts etc to get the full viewing experience. Tv shouldn't be homework

So Lost and all the shows that have followed in its style do nothing for me and most either got canned pretty quickly or go onto show that there was nothing ultimately to hang around for since the mythology is one big MacGuffin

I prefer my serialized dramas to have modest ensembles, a handful of linear season long arcs and a modest pacing. Writers on shows today are fixated on plot structure, gimmicks and toying with the audience rather than solid storytelling

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I agree Lost went a bit too far in that direction, though I think it's five out of six seasons of a great show. I'm not quite sure what other shows people are talking about that applies to. Maybe Battlestar Galactica, maybe Westworld. Most shows since Lost have taken to smaller main casts and season long arcs.

 

[Degra1]

I agree Lost went a bit too far in that direction, though I think it's five out of six seasons of a great show. I'm not quite sure what other shows people are talking about that applies to. Maybe Battlestar Galactica, maybe Westworld. Most shows since Lost have taken to smaller main casts and season long arcs.

Game of thrones. Heroes. For instance But the shows also have everything connected and keep a lot of things offscreen to service the shock when things are revealed. Older pre 21st century would build up to it and actually dramatize things onscreen

And I assume writers believe viewers suffer from ADHD hence the propensity to stuff episodes full of everything including the kitchen sink. Never mind that rather than having more running time they actual have experienced less running under 40 minutes nowadays