Photo: Helen Sloan/HBO; Netflix
If you came looking forBelow DeckorSouthern Charm, you’ve got the wrong list. (Although in that case what list could you be looking for?) This is our roundup of the best scripted shows of the decade, whether in comedy, drama or, as has happens frequently nowadays, both. Note: Shows that premiered before 2010 haven’t been included — so that leaves offMad Men,The Good WifeandBreaking Bad, all of which belong on a list of best shows ever.
Downton Abbey (PBS, 2011-16)
Nick Briggs/PBS
There’ll always be an England, or at least a really cozy facsimile to one, thanks to this beloved Masterpiece Theatre hit imported from the U.K. The first season, which involved smuggling a good-looking corpse out of Lady Mary’s (Michelle Dockery) bedroom, was wicked fun. Other seasons were generally less fun and less wicked, but always plushly snug and requiring an umbrella as insurance against tears.Downtonmade millions of Americans nostalgic for an existence they could never possibly have known or lived.
Girls(HBO, 2012-17)
Apatow Productions/REX/Shutterstock
Game of Thrones(HBO, 2011-19)
HBO
Fleabag(Amazon, 2017-19)
Fleabag.Steve Schofield/Amazon Studios
Parks and Recreation(NBC, 2009-15)
Mitchell Haaseth/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty
In its first season,Amy Poehler’s sitcom was treated, rather patronizingly, as a knockoff ofThe Office. But watered with care, skill and possibly love, the show grew into a kind, funny celebration of American life, in particular life in a Midwestern town where no one worries too much about the health effects of trans fats. Iconic bits: Ron Swanson’s (Nick Offerman)Pyramid of Greatnessand L’il Sebastian.
Stranger Things(Netflix, 2016- )
Netflix
The phenomenally popular Netflix horror series was a savvy pastiche/synthesis/reworking of mainstream 1980s pop-culture — everything from the mall as the high temple of middle-class life to hit movies about underdog kids overcoming otherworldly forces. The show somehow tapped into a motherlode of meaning while still managing to scare up essential scares: There were few things more weird or upsetting thanWinona Rydertrying to communicate with her missing son through Christmas lights. The retro-synth score was highly influential.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia(FX and now FXX, 2005-)
The cast ofIt’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.FX Networks/courtesy Everett Collection
Seinfeld’s hard-edged farcical humor has been an influence on a number of shows — including ABC’sHappy Endings, one of the decade’s better sitcoms — butSunnyhas been its most successful heir. The misadventures of a group of rather hostile friends at Paddy’s Pub, it’s now tied withOzzie and Harrietas television’s longest-running live-action comedy. It’s the strangest heir, too, with humor that thrives on shocking, low-aimed aggression. At random moments you may feel as if you’d turned over a shoebox and liberated a large, hairy-legged spider. Or (more whimsically and more cruelly)put socks on some poor cat.
Scandal(ABC, 2012-17)
Mitch Haaseth/ABC/Getty
Shonda Rhimes’ breathless ABC hit about the ultimate Washington insider/broker (Kerry Washington) was the perfect show for our political decade, a time of unending campaigns and 24/7 crisis management. (Is there even such a thing as a non-crisis anymore?) The show burned through storylines faster than President Trump burns through chiefs of staff.
Enlightened(HBO, 2011-2013)
Laura Dern inEnlightened.Lacey Terrell
Sort of a bookend toFleabag.Laura Dern, who could be described here as laceratingly funny yet devastatingly sad, gave arguably her best performance as a marketing executive who returns to work after a breakdown. She thinks group therapy in Hawaii has given her the zen calm to meet and override obstacles. This is one of many delusions.Enlightened, which was canceled after two seasons, is probably the only show ever to be both misanthropic and life-affirming.
American Horror Story(FX, 2011-)
Jessica Lange inAmerican Horror Story.FX
Co-creatorRyan Murphy’s anthology horror series, which circled through genre stories about witches, ghosts and killer clowns, sustained a tone both of queasy, gory suspense — isn’t cheap horror the best?! — and dry camp. It was a vile brew with a little cocktail mix thrown into the cauldron. It also featured a string of epic performances fromJessica Lange, who served as de factor leading lady. She managed to convey an eternity of damnation with just the words “knotty pine.” Murphy created another impressive anthology,American Crime Story, that also ranks among the decade’s standouts.
Community(NBC, 2009-2015)
Lewis Jacobs
The Americans(FX, 2013-2018)
This grim, powerful series had possibly the most inspired concept for any drama of the decade, and possibly also the trickiest: In the 1980s — just as the USSR is beginning its arduous descent into the dustbin of history — two married KGB spies (Matthew RhysandKeri Russell) set up shop in a suburb outside Washington, D.C. But husband and wife aren’t equally committed to the Motherland. In that case, can they be equally committed to each other? Or will an iron curtain of incompatibility separate them? The tensions between party loyalty and marital fidelity were drawn out with a suspense so fine it was almost granular. The show was likeMarriage Storyfor commies.
source: people.com
