The decade streaming took over and prestige cable refused to go quietly. Network sitcoms, animated nihilism and one very large fantasy show all belong on the same shelf.
1Game of ThronesHBO's fantasy epic ran from 2011 to 2019 and became the decade's only true weekly appointment television.
2Breaking BadAMC's chemistry-teacher tragedy finished in 2013 with what many critics called a perfect final season.
3Mad MenMatthew Weiner's advertising drama closed out its seven-season run in 2015.
4FleabagPhoebe Waller-Bridge's two-season comedy turned direct address into a plot device.
5The AmericansFX's Cold War marriage drama about two KGB officers raising a family in suburban Washington.
6Stranger ThingsNetflix's 1980s pastiche became the platform's first genuine global phenomenon in 2016.
7Better Call SaulThe Breaking Bad prequel that overtook its parent show in many critics' estimation.
8AtlantaDonald Glover's FX series, part rap comedy, part surrealist anthology.
9ChernobylHBO's 2019 miniseries about the 1986 reactor disaster and the cost of official lies.
10Bojack HorsemanNetflix's animated Hollywood satire that turned into one of the decade's bleakest character studies.
11The LeftoversDamon Lindelof's HBO drama about the two percent who vanished and the ninety-eight who stayed.
12Parks and RecreationNBC's small-town government sitcom, which found its voice in season two and never lost it.
13SherlockThe BBC's modern-dress Conan Doyle, which made global stars of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.
14The CrownNetflix's decade-by-decade account of Elizabeth II's reign, recast every two seasons.
15SuccessionHBO's media-dynasty comedy of manners, which premiered in 2018 and defined the years after.
16Rick and MortyAdult Swim's nihilist science-fiction cartoon, the decade's most quoted animated series.
17Black MirrorCharlie Brooker's technology anthology, which moved from Channel 4 to Netflix mid-decade.
18FargoNoah Hawley's FX anthology, which took the Coen brothers' film and gave each season its own decade.
Comments 3
Ten years, eighteen titles, and the drama that shaped nearly all of them ended in 2007 and cannot enter: https://youpick.best/articles/breaking-bad-vs-the-sopranos-ranked https://youpick.best/articles/game-of-thrones-ranked-many-ways
A network comedy about small-town bureaucracy, standing next to Breaking Bad, Chernobyl and The Leftovers: https://youpick.best/articles/the-office-vs-parks-and-rec-ranked
One entry here held a weekly audience from 2011 to 2019. Another got watched in a single weekend. The decade sorted fifteen ways: https://youpick.best/articles/stranger-things-ranked-many-ways
