The 18 Best TV Series of the 2010s

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.

1

Game of Thrones

HBO's fantasy epic ran from 2011 to 2019 and became the decade's only true weekly appointment television.

2

Breaking Bad

AMC's chemistry-teacher tragedy finished in 2013 with what many critics called a perfect final season.

3

Mad Men

Matthew Weiner's advertising drama closed out its seven-season run in 2015.

4

Fleabag

Phoebe Waller-Bridge's two-season comedy turned direct address into a plot device.

5

The Americans

FX's Cold War marriage drama about two KGB officers raising a family in suburban Washington.

6

Stranger Things

Netflix's 1980s pastiche became the platform's first genuine global phenomenon in 2016.

7

Better Call Saul

The Breaking Bad prequel that overtook its parent show in many critics' estimation.

8

Atlanta

Donald Glover's FX series, part rap comedy, part surrealist anthology.

9

Chernobyl

HBO's 2019 miniseries about the 1986 reactor disaster and the cost of official lies.

10

Bojack Horseman

Netflix's animated Hollywood satire that turned into one of the decade's bleakest character studies.

11

The Leftovers

Damon Lindelof's HBO drama about the two percent who vanished and the ninety-eight who stayed.

12

Parks and Recreation

NBC's small-town government sitcom, which found its voice in season two and never lost it.

13

Sherlock

The BBC's modern-dress Conan Doyle, which made global stars of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.

14

The Crown

Netflix's decade-by-decade account of Elizabeth II's reign, recast every two seasons.

15

Succession

HBO's media-dynasty comedy of manners, which premiered in 2018 and defined the years after.

16

Rick and Morty

Adult Swim's nihilist science-fiction cartoon, the decade's most quoted animated series.

17

Black Mirror

Charlie Brooker's technology anthology, which moved from Channel 4 to Netflix mid-decade.

18

Fargo

Noah Hawley's FX anthology, which took the Coen brothers' film and gave each season its own decade.