Okay, so this is a list of the top ten TV series I want to recommend that everyone watch. Just to qualify this, these ten series will all be ones that have finished their run, and I will also try to make sure to keep this list to be fairly diverse. If I pick a show from a genre you don't like, please don't be bothered. This is done for the sake of diversity, and everyone has different tastes. So let's get started.
#1 The Sopranos:
So people who don't like The Sopranos are probably tired of hearing about it, but this show was really insanely good. It was dark and depressing, and it involved the mob, and it was smart enough to reference mob movies within the series itself. Everyone has probably been spoiled about the finale of the Sopranos, and I'll talk more about that at some other time, but for now I just want to warn everyone not to write off the series because you've heard something negative about the finale. This series is so much more than that. It's a show about a mob boss who is deeply depressed. That's such a simple tag line, but it leads to so much material. We are forced to take a look at these morally corrupt people deal with the problems of regular life that everyone experiences. Its an artistic series, and every choice the writers make has a reason leading to this series being rich and filled with material to dive into.
If you like this series, you might also like: Rome. This was another great show on HBO that deal with brutal images and themes, but was ultimately about these ordinary men that struggled to get through their lives.
#2 Dawson's Creek
Okay, so another reason I put Sopranos #1 was because I was planning to put Dawson's Creek #2, and I wanted to be able to keep some hold on my manhood. So why am I willing to embarrass myself by listing Dawson's Creek in my top ten TV series? Well for one thing, I think that teen soaps are vastly under rated, or perhaps over hated. Teen soaps recycle old cliche plots over and over again, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy them. The great thing about teen soaps is that they allow the shippers in us to see all the various relationships that can play out amongst a cast of characters. Romance, and frequent shifts in the relationships between the characters is a staple of teen dramas, and it allows us to get heavy doses of the angst that they usually only sprinkle in among other shows. Dawson's Creek is my favorite teen soap, because it has the ship that I'm the most in love with. Pacey and Joey. Honestly, Party of Five, and the O.C. are probably better written shows, and I highly recommend them as well, but Pacey and Joey keep me constantly coming back for more.
If you like this series you might also like: Skins, O.C. or Party of Five. All of them are great teen dramas, although Party of Five is more of a family show as well. Skins is a British show, and it is a much grittier version of a teen drama, and I highly recommend it.
#3 Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Oh Buffy. This is the series that I've rewatched the most, and its probably my favorite TV series of all time. Classifying this show as simple a Genre piece overlooks the teen angst of the show, while classifying it as a teen angst misses the fact that this series was COOL. There's a hot chick fighting deemons. That should be enough to sell you on it. If it isn't, then perhaps the fact that it was written by Joss Whedon will change your mind. Joss Whedon is a genius. He is a brilliant comical writer that knows how to build characters that you will fall completely in love with, and then kill them in a way that will leave you sobbing, and somehow through all that you will want him to do it to you again and again. So that's why you should watch Buffy. Its amazing!
If you like this series you might also like: Firely or Smallville. Firefly is great because it was written by Joss Whedon. Smallville is a little bit like Buffy, because it deals with teen angst and a main character with super powers, however I should warn everyone that Smallville is a much less evenly written series, so that's why I'm not guaranteeing that you'll like these series.
#4 Battlestar Galactica
Not the original series! The reboot! Okay, just wanted to confirm that, so none of you went looking for the hokey original series. Battlestar Galactica begins in a far away galaxy where the human race has almost been wiped out by a group of robot life forms known as Cylons. Yes, the very same Cylons you've heard of if you've ever spent more than ten minutes talking with any major geek. Don't be afraid of the geek nature of most of the fans of Battlestar Galactica though. Good story telling is good story telling, and this series has brilliant story telling. This series is stark and brutal and desperate, and it is in the backdrop that we get to meet these characters that somehow manage to continue living despite all the terrible things that are happening around them. You will grow to care about these characters; you will love them, and you will want them to be happy. Then you learn that twelve of them are secretly Cylon spies, and you will spend long periods of time dreading finding out that your favorite character is not who you think they are.
If you like this series you might also like: Star Trek. I realize that most people would flip this around, with Star Trek as being the first series you watch, and if you like it maybe you also like Battlestar. I've never been too big on Star Trek though, and I personally feel that Battlestar Galactica is a bigger and more interesting show, and I hope that even non science fiction fans will give it a chance, so they can enjoy it.
#5 The Practice
This is sort of a curve ball for this list, but The Practice is a wonderfully dark series that just happens to be a legal drama. Its a procedural show, and only occasionally is it serialized, but the drama in it is great, and these characters are dark and ambiguous. I know that a lot of people love Law and Order, because it has the good guys putting the bad guys away, but for me it was always more interesting trying to watch the other side of that coin. In the Practice, the main characters are those who defend the bad guys. Some of them are innocent, but many of them aren't, and we're forced to deal with the dark realities of being a defense attorney. It's an adversarial process, and the guys defending the bad guys are just as important as those trying to put them away. This series also has some really twisted characters, and in a lot of ways I think the serial killers on this show were the beginning of what would eventually incite my interest in Dexter, which is probably the best show currently on the air.
If you like this show you also might enjoy: Boston Legal and Ally McBeal are also David E. Kelley shows that deal with defense attorneys, but the tone of those shows is very different. Law and Order is of course a great legal drama. For those of you who really like some of the twisted characters on The Practice, I also recommend Dexter.
#6 Six Feet Under
This is a show about a family. A weird family. And this family runs a funeral home. Every episode begins with someone dying, and these characters who are surrounded by death have to find a way to keep on living. It's dark. Very dark. For much of the series, these characters are depressed and hopeless, and trapped in these mundane and horrible lives. It's drama in its purest form. This series is rich with metaphor and theme, and even when you are furious with the characters and the choices they are making, you will feel for them. It's also got some phenomenal acting, and I love Michael C. Hall. I'm not fully aware of the history of portrayals of homosexuality on television, but it seems like this was groundbreaking, hell it IS groundbreaking today.
If you like this show you might also enjoy: I honestly have no idea. I don't know of any other show quite like this, although you would probably also enjoy The Sopranos, or Dexter.
#7 Code Geass
Here's a curveball for you. Code Geass is a GREAT anime series. Anime in general is an underestimated medium; I think people mostly think of anime as just a bunch of cartoons. When I think of anime, I see an opportunity to tell stories on a grander scale. With anime you can have all the special effects you want, without the high cost. I mean Code Geass has giant robots fighting, how often do you get to see that? I mean you get a few movies, Transformers, and Avatar come to mind, but no live action TV series. So with anime you get these amazingly cool visual elements, but you can also get the character growth of a live action TV series. Code Geass has that. I cry multiple times through viewing this series, because I have such an emotional connection to some of the characters.
Speaking of characters, Code Geass has one of the most original protagonists I've ever seen. Instead of being a typical action hero, Lelouch is a thinker. He gets through problems by out thinking his opponents. That's bad ass.
So I hope you don't hold this show being an anime against it. It does have some dumb cartoony moments, but it has far more moments of shout out loud cheer moments. Great excitement, a tense complicated story, and well developed characters make this show a real delight.
If you like this series you might also enjoy: Death Note and Gundam. Both are great anime series. Death Note has the same dark tone, even darker really, while Gundam has the giant robot fights. Whichever element of this series that you prefer, you should check out one.
#8 Extras
So this is a short series, and at first glance this series is just a simple comedy with a lot of movie star guest stars. It's more than that though. It's about dreaming about having something more, and realizing that what you already have might be more than you originally thought. It's also a really funny series with a lot of great movie star guest stars.
If you like this series you might also enjoy: The British version of The Office, which also stars Ricky Gervais, and has a lot of the same dry British humor.
#9 Angel
The Spinoff to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel is a very different show. It's got a darker tone, and more adult characters, but it still has the classic Joss Whedon humor. I personally watched Angel before I watched Buffy, and I don't think it matters a ton whether you watch both shows together or separately. It has a lot of the same type of demon threats as Buffy, but the context of this series is more adult. Buffy deals with growing up, and is partially a Teen Angst series. Angel is more of a Noir, and it has more morally ambiguous characters. I think of Buffy like a teenage marvel character, like a female Spiderman, while I consider Angel to be more like Batman, if that makes any sense.
If you like this series, you also might enjoy: Dollhouse or possibly Supernatural. Dollhouse is another dark Joss Whedon show, while Supernatural is one I haven't really seen, but appears to be trying to take over the paranormal mystery genre that Angel left behind when the series ended.
#10 Boy Meets World
This is a good wholesome family show, but it is also extremely funny, and the friendship between Cory and Shawn has stuck with me as one of the most inspiring symbols of friendship and loyalty around. This series is a classic, and it completely shaped my childhood and my moral code. And this is a television series!
If you like this show you might also like: Growing Pains, Step by Step, or any series that was ever on TGIF. Hopefully you know what that is. If not, I pity you.
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