TV Dramas – The Best ever

Let’s talk about the best tv shows of all time. Dramas, specifically. Here is my list, in no particular order (which, you’d think I could have put them in some kind of order, since there are only four them, but, whatevs):

• LOST
• The Wire
• Breaking Bad
• Battlestar Galactica (2004 series)

And when I say ‘of all time’, i mean of this century.

Don’t come at me with St. Elsewhere or Hill Street Blues or some other old junk, I’m trying to keep things relatively current. And there are a metric crap-ton of runner ups like The Sopranos, Deadwood, Mad Men… but I’m focusing on the best of the best.

Right after watching each of these series, I became enthralled and labelled the most recent one the best show ever. Then I watched a different show on the list, which would always usurp the previous favorite. So I wanted to account for the initial wow factor of experiencing a story for the first time, and I’ve rewatched every episode of all these series, so I’ve seen them all at least twice. Here now is how I rank them:

Lubs Mary. via Compfight

1. Breaking Bad

It’s hard to argue with Breaking Bad’s placement on the list. Every episode of this show is tight, well-written, and powerfully acted by repeat Emmy winners Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul.

It’s the story of a man who single-handedly and systematically destroys the lives of every person around him, yet somehow we still root for him to win. Unbelievable.

On the rewatch, I noted that the pacing of the show ratchets up as it progresses… a lot of the slower, pensive episodes of early seasons become more action packed as the show progresses into action-thriller territory. There’s not a bad episode in the bunch. Some might argue over the divisive episode “The Fly”, which is a sort of bottle-episode. But I think it’s one of the strongest of all: the tension of watching Walt lose his shit over a little fly buzzing in the lab, how he’s so desperately clinging to sanity in such an out-of-control meta-situation.

2. The Wire

HBO shows have an unfair advantage over network shows in that they’re not beholden to sponsors or network execs tinkering and retooling shows for the generic twelve-year old honey boo boo-loving audience. HBO shows are smart, full of clever subtext in the dialogue, plus they often have boobies. It’s not exactly a level playing field.

Like The Sopranos before it, The Wire is brilliant. No cop show before had ever captured the complex nature of dirty cops and sympathetic criminals as one living, breathing organism. The city of Baltimore comes alive and it feels familiar to me, even though I’ve never been there.

They manage to take all the cop tropes (drunk on-the-edge detective, his hardass boss) and write them with such depth and complexity that they don’t feel like clichés. That alone is an amazing feat.

3. LOST

LOST itself is a divisive show. Spending 120+ hours of TV to solve a single mystery is a serious commitment, and I’ve known oodles of people who gave up on it after a couple seasons because they couldn’t delay gratification any longer. Plus, many diehard fans were very disappointed by the series finale… and I think those people didn’t get it.

I’ve seen every episode of LOST at least three or four times. It’s a complex, layered show that requires that kind of attention to dissect all the meaning. Never before had a TV attempted such a grand, over-arching story. I don’t think another show will ever again achieve what LOST achieved in terms of long-form storytelling. So many plot twists and surprises.

I had a roommate who was obsessed with the show, and we would spend hours dissecting little clues from each episode (NERD ALERT!)

But, LOST also had its low moments. Sometimes, entire episodes were bad (How Jack got his tattoos… the whole Nicky and Paulo debacle) and the final season unquestionably dipped in quality. However, the overall story is so magnificent, I still count it as one of the top shows of all time.

4. Battlestar Galactica

This may be the least popular choice of best TV shows. Partly because it would be the one the least amount of people have seen. It’s a science fiction (strike 1) remake of a cheesy 70s show (strike 2) made for a small budget on a lesser known TV network (strike 3).

But, for people who saw it, they know how awesome it was. And not just because Tricia Helfer and Grace Park are stupidly hot and often scantily clad. It’s thinking-man’s science fiction. Yes, the show tells the story of robots rebelling against their human masters, but it’s more about politics than anything else… most of humanity has died, and so the survivors have to figure out how to rebuild a government and rule democratically in the face of chaos and repeated crises, all while their resources dwindle and enemies are constantly at their door.

Episodes vary between heart-pounding thrill-rides and quiet, philosophical reflections on the nature of religious belief and humanity. It’s the one show that has everything you could want in a television program. Plus, did I mention Tricia Helfer?

Agree or disagree?