The 30 Best TV Dramas of the 2000s

Prestige cable, network soaps and a few teen melodramas all count here, from the decade TV started being taken seriously.

1. 1
   The Wire

   David Simon's HBO crime drama (2002-2008) dissecting Baltimore's drug trade, police, unions, politics and schools.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Life on Mars

   BBC drama (2006-2007) about a modern detective who wakes up in 1973 Manchester.
   944pts
3. 3
   Gossip Girl

   CW teen drama (2007-2012) about privileged Upper East Side teenagers watched by an anonymous blogger.
   852pts
4. 4
   Breaking Bad

   AMC drama (2008-2013) in which a chemistry teacher with cancer turns methamphetamine kingpin.
   851pts
5. 5
   Six Feet Under

   HBO drama (2001-2005) about the Fisher family and their Los Angeles funeral home, known for its famous finale.
   851pts
6. 6
   Mad Men

   AMC period drama (2007-2015) about ad man Don Draper on 1960s Madison Avenue; four straight Emmys for Outstanding Drama.
   809pts
7. 7
   Veronica Mars

   UPN/CW teen noir (2004-2007) with Kristen Bell as a high-school private investigator.
   787pts
8. 8
   Friday Night Lights

   NBC/DirecTV drama (2006-2011) about a high-school football team and its small Texas town.
   787pts
9. 9
   Damages

   FX legal thriller (2007-2012) with Glenn Close as ruthless litigator Patty Hewes.
   726pts
10. 10
    House

    Fox medical drama (2004-2012) starring Hugh Laurie as the brilliant, misanthropic diagnostician Gregory House.
    713pts
11. 11
    Sons of Anarchy

    FX drama (2008-2014) about an outlaw motorcycle club in the California town of Charming.
    713pts
12. 12
    The O.C.

    Fox teen drama (2003-2007) about a troubled kid taken in by a wealthy Newport Beach family.
    713pts
13. 13
    Skins

    British E4 teen drama (2007-2013) about a group of Bristol sixth-formers, cast with real teenagers.
    713pts
14. 14
    The Tudors

    Showtime historical drama (2007-2010) on the reign of Henry VIII, starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers.
    713pts
15. 15
    Big Love

    HBO drama (2006-2011) about a polygamist Utah businessman and his three wives.
    629pts
16. 16
    Deadwood

    HBO western (2004-2006) set in a lawless South Dakota gold-rush camp, famous for its profane, Shakespearean dialogue.
    629pts
17. 17
    Battlestar Galactica

    Syfy's reimagined space drama (2004-2009) about humanity's last survivors fleeing the Cylons.
    629pts
18. 18
    Dexter

    Showtime drama (2006-2013) about a Miami forensic analyst who secretly kills other killers.
    532pts
19. 19
    Fringe

    Fox sci-fi drama (2008-2013) about an FBI unit investigating fringe science and a parallel universe.
    532pts
20. 20
    Lost

    ABC mystery drama (2004-2010) about plane-crash survivors on a strange tropical island.
    420pts
21. 21
    Rome

    HBO/BBC historical drama (2005-2007) about the fall of the Roman Republic seen through two soldiers.
    420pts
22. 22
    True Blood

    HBO supernatural drama (2008-2014) about vampires living openly among humans in Louisiana.
    420pts
23. 23
    Gilmore Girls

    WB drama (2000-2007) about a fast-talking single mother and her daughter in a quirky Connecticut town.
    420pts
24. 24
    Grey's Anatomy

    ABC medical drama launched in 2005 about surgeons at a Seattle hospital, one of TV's longest-running dramas.
    420pts
25. 25
    Prison Break

    Fox thriller (2005-2009) in which an engineer gets himself jailed to break out his wrongly convicted brother.
    420pts
26. 26
    CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

    CBS forensic procedural (2000-2015) that made crime-lab science a global TV phenomenon.
    420pts
27. 27
    Heroes

    NBC drama (2006-2010) about ordinary people discovering superpowers; its first season was a pop-culture sensation.
    420pts
28. 28
    24

    Fox real-time thriller (2001-2010) with Kiefer Sutherland as counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer.
    0pts
29. 29
    The Shield

    FX cop drama (2002-2008) following corrupt LAPD detective Vic Mackey and his Strike Team.
    0pts
30. 30
    The Good Wife

    CBS legal drama (2009-2016) about a politician's wife returning to law after a public scandal.
    0pts

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