17 votes

The twenty best TV dramas since ‘The Sopranos’

13 comments

  1. tomf
    (edited )
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    Here's a quick list with links to IMDB. Score is averaged between TVMaze and IMDB. West Wing, The (1999, Drama) - 89% Shield, The (2002, Drama,Crime) - 88% Wire, The (2002, Drama,Crime) - 93%...
    • Exemplary

    Here's a quick list with links to IMDB. Score is averaged between TVMaze and IMDB.


    Here's a list of shows that aren't as well known, but are definitely worth a watch.

    • Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories (2016) - Patrons of an otherwise mundane Japanese diner find simple yet profound connections with one another based on the shared love of a particular dish.. ~84.0%
    • The Night Manager (2016) - Drama series based on the John le Carré novel. A hotel night manager is recruited by a government agent to infiltrate the inner circle of a ruthless arms dealer ~83.0%
    • The Young Pope (2016) - The Young Pope tells the controversial story of the beginning of Pius XIII's pontificate. Born Lenny Belardo, he is a complex and conflicted character, so conservative in his choices as to border on obscurantism, yet full of compassion towards the weak and poor. The first American pope, Pius XIII is a man of great power who is stubbornly resistant to the Vatican courtiers, unconcerned with the implications to his authority. ~79.0%
    • Animals. (2016) - focuses on the downtrodden creatures native to Earth's least-habitable environment: New York City. Whether it's lovelorn rats, gender-questioning pigeons or aging bedbugs in the midst of a midlife crisis, the awkward small talk, moral ambiguity and existential woes of non-human urbanites prove startlingly similar to our own. ~70.5%
    • Documentary Now! (2015) - From the minds of Fred Armisen, Bill Hader and Seth Meyers comes a new series Documentary Now! that looks back on 50 years of excellence and integrity in documentary filmmaking. See Fred and Bill investigate drug cartels, join an indifferent ‘70s rock band, reenact Iceland's annual Al Capone Festival, take part in a dramatic exposé of the world's first documentary about the Inuit and much more. ~78.5%
    • Gomorra (2014) - Based on Robert Saviano's bestselling book, this gritty Italian crime drama paints a portrait of the brutal Neapolitan crime organisation the Camorra. ~86.0%
    • Bosch (2014) - Based on Michael Connelly's best-selling novels, Harry Bosch, an LAPD homicide detective, stands trial for the fatal shooting of a serial murder suspect. A cold case involving the remains of a missing boy forces Bosch to confront his past. ~85.0%
    • Mike Tyson Mysteries (2014) - In Mike Tyson Mysteries, Mike Tyson is taking the fight from the boxing ring to the streets... by solving mysteries! Aided by the Mike Tyson Mystery Team - the Ghost of the Marquess of Queensberry, Mike's adopted Korean daughter Yung Hee, and a pigeon who was once a man - Mike Tyson will answer any plea sent to him. If you have a problem that needs solving, Iron Mike is in your corner. ~82.0%
    • Review (2014) - Review with Forrest MacNeil is a half-hour comedy starring [Andrew] Daly as "Forrest MacNeil." Unlike typical critics who review boring things like films, food or art, MacNeil reviews the most intense experiences of life itself... by living them. He reviews anything his TV audience throws at him: the adrenaline rush of stealing, the trauma of divorce, the harrowing effects of murder, the wonder and joy of anonymous sex and stops at nothing to show us what any and every experience in life feels like. And, for our convenience, he rates every adventure on a scale of zero to five stars. MacNeil's unwavering commitment to his work means his answers to life's most challenging questions often come at the expense of his wife, his children, his co-workers and humanity in general. ~81.5%
    • 19-2 (2014) - Based on the award-winning Québec series of the same name, follows the lives of patrol officers Ben Chartier and Nick Barron. Nick is a veteran on Montreal's urban police force and has just returned from a three-month leave following the traumatic shooting of his partner. On his first day back, he is unhappy to learn he has been partnered with Ben, who has just transferred from a small town to restart his life in the big city. Both men are good cops, who deeply care about the job, yet struggle to move beyond painful events in their past. Ben and Nick must attempt to put their differences aside as their lives further intertwine, both professionally and personally, and continue to take surprising and dramatic turns. ~80.5%
    • Red Oaks (2014) - A young tennis player works at the prestigious and exclusive Red Oaks Country Club during the summer between his sophomore and junior years of college in the 1980s. ~79.5%
    • Mozart in the Jungle (2014) - Based on the critically acclaimed memoir Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs & Classical Music by Blair Tindall, Mozart in the Jungle draws back the curtain at the New York Symphony, where artistic dedication and creativity collide with mind games, politicking and survival instincts. ~79.0%
    • Toast of London (2013) - Comedy series following Steven Toast, an eccentric middle-aged actor with a chequered past who spends more time dealing with his problems off stage than performing on it. ~79.0%
    • Top of the Lake (2013) - A woman haunted by her past, Detective Robin Griffin, investigates complex and unsettling cases in Jane Campion's mystery drama. ~77.5%
    • Moone Boy (2012) - Chris O'Dowd brings his childhood to life in this must-see family comedy. In Boyle, Ireland, in 1989, 11-year-old Martin Moone has a somewhat unusual friend. ~82.0%
    • Danger 5 (2012) - Set in a bizarre, 1960s inspired version of World War II, action comedy series Danger 5 follows a team of five spies on a mission to kill Adolf Hitler. ~76.0%
    • Rubicon (2010) - is a conspiracy thriller set in a NYC-based government intelligence agency, API, where nothing is what it seems. The series focuses on a beleaguered analyst, Will Travers, who, faced with a shocking tragedy, begins to uncover clues that point to a complex and sinister conspiracy. ~79.5%
    • Eastbound & Down (2009) - Burned out and broke, former big-league pitcher Kenny Powers returns home to North Carolina to teach PE at the local middle school he once attended--and sets his sights on winning back his high-school flame April. ~80.5%
    • Bored to Death (2009) - Jonathan Ames continues to ply his trade as an unlicensed private detective, getting caught up in increasingly risky jobs and absurd adventures around New York City with George and Ray, his always supportive partners in solving crime. In addition, a shocking revelation drives him to embark on one of his most important cases yet, the quest to find his biological father. As if that wasn't enough, Jonathan's writing career is finally starting to look up with the publication of his long-delayed second book. ~80.0%
    • Wilfred (2011) - Everyone else sees Wilfred as a dog, but Ryan sees a crude, surly, irrepressibly brave and honest man in a dog suit. ~76.5%
    • Garth Marenghi's Darkplace (2004) - "Garth Marenghi's Darkplace" is the brainchild of celebrated horror writer and self-styled "fabulist" Garth Marenghi, author of such genre classics as Afterbirth (a mutated placenta attacks Bristol) and Crab! ("One of the three best horror books about crabs I've ever read" - Hard Gore Magazine). Back in the 1980s, he branched out into television production, writing and starring in a series so radical, so scary and so downright crazy that when the bosses of Channel 4 saw what they had on their hands, they ran away screaming, like little girls. Only now, twenty years on and amid the worst programming drought in television history, have the station finally allowed the show on the air. Intercut with new interviews with Marenghi himself and his co-stars Dean Learner and Todd Rivers, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace is perhaps the most disturbing vision of hospital life ever broadcast. ~87.5%
    • Sealab 2021 (2000) - The year is 2021. Deep below the ocean's surface, looms a vast, magnificently high-tech compound: Sealab. A multi-national scientific station with an annual budget in the trillions, dedicated to the research and exploration of man's final frontier... Sealab's crew is charged with exploring the possibility of underwater colonization. As the Earth's surface, by this time, has gotten just generally crowded, hot, and icky. However, as most government-funded agencies usually are, Sealab is manned by a motley collection of malcontents and screw-ups who were unfit for work in the private sector. They really don't get any research done, but instead spend their time bickering among themselves or just plain goofing off. The crew have manipulated their luckless leader, Captain Murphy, into submission, and are content to ride the government clock, raking in fat, hazardous-duty paychecks. ~78.5%
    6 votes
  2. [7]
    Deimos
    Link
    I haven't watched a decent chunk of the shows on here, but based on the ones that I have, it seems like a pretty solid list. There's some interesting information about some of the different shows...

    I haven't watched a decent chunk of the shows on here, but based on the ones that I have, it seems like a pretty solid list. There's some interesting information about some of the different shows too.

    Overall, I think my main complaint would be the omission of Six Feet Under. That would have been my personal #1, so to not even see it mentioned at all is pretty surprising. Any other major omissions?

    9 votes
    1. [2]
      Adys
      Link Parent
      Agreed SFU is a big omission, especially if The Leftovers is going to be on here. I was looking at my list of shows and I'm surprised how few dramas I have on there. Dexter would be an interesting...

      Agreed SFU is a big omission, especially if The Leftovers is going to be on here.

      I was looking at my list of shows and I'm surprised how few dramas I have on there. Dexter would be an interesting addition to the list, had it not been ruined completely in its later seasons.

      If The Shield is going to be there then I also want to plug in Person of Interest, which I wrote a recommendation for here before:
      https://tildes.net/~tv/775/recommendation_person_of_interest_2011_2016

      5 votes
      1. Deimos
        Link Parent
        Battlestar Galactica is on there, so obviously "totally falls apart at the end" doesn't disqualify a show. One of the reasons I love Six Feet Under is that I think it's one of the rare shows that...

        Dexter would be an interesting addition to the list, had it not been ruined completely in its later seasons.

        Battlestar Galactica is on there, so obviously "totally falls apart at the end" doesn't disqualify a show.

        One of the reasons I love Six Feet Under is that I think it's one of the rare shows that doesn't go significantly downhill before it ends. I think the series finale episode might even be the best one I've ever seen.

        6 votes
    2. DrewDru
      Link Parent
      Fargo for me. The most I've enjoyed of any show for the last couple of years. Generation Kill comes close too.

      Fargo for me. The most I've enjoyed of any show for the last couple of years.

      Generation Kill comes close too.

      1 vote
    3. [4]
      Comment removed by site admin
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      1. Pilgrim
        Link Parent
        I'll tell you though that it was a personal apex moment for TV viewing when I was watching it live. Each week was more mysterious and thrilling than the last. The production value was top notch....

        I'll tell you though that it was a personal apex moment for TV viewing when I was watching it live. Each week was more mysterious and thrilling than the last. The production value was top notch. Plot developments were discussed at length around the water cooler. That all held true for at least the first couple seasons.

        But I'd never want to watch it again - it was an event I think more than a show.

        9 votes
      2. [2]
        elcuello
        Link Parent
        Just like Pilgrim says below I think you had to be there in the moment. I have never (and I don't think I ever will be again) been so invested in a show from the beginning to the end. I even wrote...

        Just like Pilgrim says below I think you had to be there in the moment. I have never (and I don't think I ever will be again) been so invested in a show from the beginning to the end. I even wrote reviews of episodes on tv.com and I have never done anything remotely like that before. It was the first show (IMO) to really rally up the internet in terms of speculation, fascination and frustration. It might not hold up the same standard today or even a the in years after it had aired compared to other praised shows but it was PERFECT at the time and the feeling it left in me no show have ever replicated. I LOVE Breaking Bad, I LOVE The West Wing and I LOVE Six Feet Under but LOST made an impression that to me probably can't be surpassed. It might be me and the time and age it premiered but LOST is something special.

        4 votes
        1. Petril
          Link Parent
          This was so well put. It's exactly how I felt about LOST.

          This was so well put. It's exactly how I felt about LOST.

          2 votes
  3. TheJorro
    Link
    Pleasantly, but very, surprised that Adventure Time made that list. The show really is something special, and definitely not for children as it first looks. I'm still not sure I'd call it a drama...

    Pleasantly, but very, surprised that Adventure Time made that list. The show really is something special, and definitely not for children as it first looks. I'm still not sure I'd call it a drama but it did wind up taking a rather Ancient Greek approach to comedy as well.

    Though I have to wonder about Game of Thrones dropping down to the honourable mentions list for having a bit too much contrivancy when Grey's Anatomy has spent most of its life as Contrivancy: The Show!

    8 votes
  4. Thunder-ten-tronckh
    Link
    It's nice to see The Leftovers get some recognition. I absolutely adore that show.

    It's nice to see The Leftovers get some recognition. I absolutely adore that show.

    5 votes
  5. CharlieConway
    Link
    I'm glad to see Friday Night Lights on this list. It was a surprisingly good show. Even with a certain baffling storyline misstep in the second season and terminally low ratings leading to a...

    I'm glad to see Friday Night Lights on this list. It was a surprisingly good show. Even with a certain baffling storyline misstep in the second season and terminally low ratings leading to a network change it still pulled off a 5 season run that I think is worth watching for drama fans.

    5 votes
  6. DrewDru
    Link
    So happy to see Justified on the "almost made it" list. Does get the recognition it deserves from critics, but never became as widely popular as other shows. They also sum up the feeling of the...

    So happy to see Justified on the "almost made it" list. Does get the recognition it deserves from critics, but never became as widely popular as other shows. They also sum up the feeling of the show perfectly, it's a serious but feel-good show where the good guy always wins, kinda.

    Southland making the almost list also pleased me.

    My list would definitely include Fargo, if only for the 2nd season.

    2 votes
  7. elcuello
    Link
    Does anyone have the shows and the runners up in a more readable list?

    Does anyone have the shows and the runners up in a more readable list?

    1 vote