The Greatest TV Series of This Century (According to Me)

The other night, my roommate Chloe and I went through this Hollywood Reporter ranking of the best TV shows of the 21st century. We wanted to see how many we had watched and whether or not we agreed. With our viewings combined, we have seen 26 of the 50 shows mentioned. Of the 24 others, we decided about 15 of them have never and will never interest us. The Wire, for example, I do not get. I’ve given it a handful of tries and can never get past the fourth episode.

What really got me about this ranking is the top 10. Lena Dunham’s Girls comes in at number eight. Eight! And to no one’s surprise, Mad Men and The Sopranos are one and two, but I won’t delve into how I feel about those shows…

Long story short, I disagreed. Very few of my favorite series—the shows that I believe to be objectively phenomenal—made the cut. So, I’ve constructed my own list of the Top 10 Greatest TV Series of the 21st Century. According to my taste, of course.

There are two qualifiers to my ranking that I want to mention before we get started. First, I must have seen the series from start to finish / most recent episode. One of my biggest character flaws is the inability to finish an entire series, so, if I do succeed in such a thing, it is a true marker of a great show for me. Second, I want to highlight television that I believe comments on or reveals something about the state of the world. It doesn’t have to be anything grand, but I do like if it’s honest. Now, let me explain.

10. Pushing Daisies (2007-2009)

With only two short seasons, Pushing Daisies created a completely imaginative world unlike anything else on television. Written and produced by Bryan Fuller, who has made a career of telling strange stories about death-related superpowers, Pushing Daisies is about a pie-maker named Ned (Lee Pace) struggling to put to good use his secret power of reviving the dead with his touch. He gets roped into solving murders of only the campiest variety by his childhood sweetheart, Charlotte AKA “Chuck” (Anna Friel). Naturally, Ned falls back in love with Chuck, but here’s the catch: they can never touch. In the pilot episode, Chuck has died and Ned touches her corpse to bring her back to life. The downside to Ned’s superpower is that one touch creates life and a second touch destroys it. If he ever touches Chuck again, she will die for good.

This show has something for everyone: hijinks, romance, murder, intrigue, laughs, pie. The world of Pushing Daisies is something out of a fairytale or comic book and one you’ll always want to revisit. It’s currently on HBO Max and, I believe, fit for anyone between the ages 10 and 100. 

9. Weeds (2005-2012)

Another underrated hit from the early 2000s is Weeds, which I tell everyone all the time to watch. Starring Mary-Louise Parker in probably her most unhinged role, Weeds is about Nancy Botwin (Parker), a recently widowed mother of two young boys in the suburbs of Southern California, who gets into the marijuana business to “support her family.” “Support her family” is used lightly because she quickly finds other reasons to stay in the business even when her children beg her to stop. What I love about this show is, frankly, how unlikable Nancy is. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Jenji Kohan, the showrunner (who went on to make Orange is the New Black), created a masterpiece in Nancy Botwin. From the get-go, you are convinced to sympathize with Nancy—pitying her, but also finding her charming and maybe even sexy—which somehow sustains itself for eight seasons. Nobody is a worse mother, wife, sister-in-law, or neighbor than Nancy. But you know what she is good at? Selling weed. 

At its core, Weeds is a family dramedy. You become immersed in the Botwin family, becoming so familiar with their house and neighborhood it’s as though you live there too. You watch Nancy’s sons, Silas (Hunter Parrish) and Shane (Alexander Gould), grow up through the seasons and react against their mother’s chosen profession. You are won over by Nancy’s annoying brother-in-law, Andy (Justin Kirk), who moves in with the Botwins in the pilot. Though Nancy is the main character, I believe Andy is the heart of the show. He becomes a kind of stand-in for the audience, reacting as we would when Nancy does something morally upsetting. 

Anyway, this show is definitely not for kids. If you’re into Showtime series, along the lines of Shameless or Cailfornication, then Weeds will be right up your alley. I think it’s brilliant, hilarious, and a time capsule from the era before the legalization of marijuana. Check it out on Hulu.

8. Atlanta (2016-2022)

I’m a fan of anything Donald Glover makes, but Atlanta is especially incredible. The show follows Earn (Glover) as he ventures into the Atlanta hip-hop scene to be a music producer with his friends, Darius (LaKeith Stanfield) and Alfred AKA the rapper “Paper Boi” (Brian Tyree Henry). They are a hilarious trio and are constantly humbled by Earn’s sometimes-girlfriend Van (Zazie Beetz). Atlanta walks a fine line between drama and comedy, settling on its own unique tone.

What I find so impressive about this show is its versatility, in subject matter, episodic form, and genre. Atlanta was on the front lines of this new wave of television provoked by streaming services—series that aren’t quite sitcoms or 40-minute dramas but fall somewhere in between, both in runtime and genre. Issa Rae’s Insecure is another example of this form popping up in the mid-2010s, setting the scene for fan-favorites now like The Bear and Ted Lasso.

My favorite episode of Atlanta is the “Juneteenth” episode in season one. I might argue it’s one of the best written pieces of television I’ve ever seen. It’s available now on Hulu. 

7. The Newsroom (2012-2014)

I watched The Newsroom during COVID with my dad and for that reason alone it holds a special place in my heart. Also, it’s totally awesome. The mastermind Aaron Sorkin was on a mission to create a show about cable news, after already conquering the White House and a sport news station, and rallied an epic cast to bring The Newsroom to our screens. Starring Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer, John Gallagher Jr., Sam Waterston, and a young Dev Patel, the series follows a grouchy news anchor (Daniels) and the staff behind him trying to revive their news program. Perhaps that isn’t the most thrilling description, but I promise this show will hook you. Tensions? High. Romances? Fraught. Business? Complicated.

The Newsroom is a tight three seasons and each episode feels like its own little movie. It made me reconsider how I ingest news and appreciate the tradition of broadcast news. The show originally aired on HBO, when the channel operated primarily on cable, but can now be found on HBO Max. 

6. The Bear (2022-2023)

Some people might think it’s premature to call The Bear one of the greatest series of the 21st century, but I am not one of those people. I knew roughly three episodes in that this show was charting uncharted territories. For those unaware, The Bear is about Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), an expertly trained chef, who must return home to Chicago to run his family’s beef sandwich shop after his brother’s suicide. The cast of characters consists of the other cooks and employees of the shop that initially find Carmy uptight and fancy. Carmy’s saving grace is the new sous-chef he hires, Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), who urges him to make his wildest restaurant dreams come true.

This show is about family, the ones you have no choice but to love and the ones you get to choose. It’s about balancing your dreams and desires with what’s needed and expected of you. It’s about food, elevated or homegrown, and the people that are called to pursue such a profession. There is no better vehicle for the story than Carmy Berzatto, a sad man racked with the guilt of his talent.

If this was a face-to-face conversation, I would talk your ear off about The Bear, but I’ll hold back here. The last thing I will say is to drop everything and watch episode seven of season one. It is a twenty minute episode shot and performed entirely in one take. A masterpiece of television.

5. The Good Place (2016-2019)

This show does not get the credit it deserves. Sure, it might be a silly little sitcom, but it also tackles some of the most profound topics often avoided by other comedies. The Good Place follows Eleanor (Kristin Bell) as she wakes up one day in heaven AKA the Good Place. She has died and entered the afterlife, but by banding together with other lost souls (played by William Jackson Harper, Jameela Jamil, and Manny Jacinto) Eleanor realizes the afterlife isn’t what it seems. 

The Good Place comes from the brilliant mind of Michael Schur, who had a hand in every major sitcom of the 2000s, including The Office, Parks & Recreation, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. It is Schur’s most imaginative show to date. Every episode made me laugh and every season finale had me on the edge of my seat. I’ve never seen philosophy, death, and religion talked about so creatively. It is whip smart television.

I watched The Good Place live on air and, in hindsight, it was one of the last shows I did that for. In several ways, this show was the third act, a final hurrah, for the last great wave of sitcoms. Not that I think sitcoms are dead…more so that they will never be quite the same as they were between the 1990s-2010s. All four seasons are on Netflix.

4. Gilmore Girls (2000-2007)

I hesitated to put Gilmore Girls on my list and not because I don’t absolutely adore it. I tried to weigh its cultural significance by comparing it to other shows that I thought had more to say or reveal. First, that is a hefty task to assign a TV series. Second, the “goal” of Gilmore Girls is not to be revolutionary, but to be comforting. And it sure does accomplish that. The whole story of Gilmore Girls revolves around Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, a single mother and teenage daughter living in a quaint New England town. We just get to watch them go about their daily lives, drink coffee, and fall in love. The stakes aren’t too high, making this show rarely anxiety inducing, which I appreciate. 

Amy Sherman-Palladino created Gilmore Girls as her first big show and has since gone on to produce other hits like Bunheads and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. In a similar Aaron Sorkin style, Sherman-Palladino’s shows are chock-full of conversation, almost unnaturally so. Lorelai and Rory talk a mile a minute, referencing other pieces of media, literature, and culture, creating the effect that they are real and exist in a parallel universe to ours. We’ve been to their house before; we’ve frequented Luke’s Diner too; we’ve dated all the same boys as Rory. 

What I find even more beautiful is that the years covered by Gilmore Girls, 2000 to 2007, were pretty terrible years for the world—terrorist attacks, wars breaking out, poor governmental leadership. Despite this, once a week, TV watchers of America got to tune into this show about a hilarious mother-daughter duo and live in Stars Hollow instead. Gilmore Girls, now on Netflix, still offers this reprieve to a new generation. Dare I say, this show transcends time and space. 

3. The Office (2005-2013)

I’m not going to spend too much time on The Office because everyone and their mother has seen this show (rightfully so). My gripe is that The Hollywood Reporter didn’t include it on their list! If you’re given 50 slots to name the best TV shows of the past 23 years and you don’t name The Office, then what is the point of the list? I firmly believe this show gave us nine of the best seasons in sitcom history. 

Perhaps some would argue that this show is talked about and praised too much. To that, I ask: have you seen it? Have you seen that finale episode? Get back to me then.

2. Fleabag (2016-2019)

For those that know me, Fleabag being in my top two is no surprise. It might actually be shocking that it’s not at the very top. The course of my life was set on a different trajectory after I finished Fleabag. Nothing has been the same for me since. 

Fleabag originally began as a one-woman play written, directed, and performed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. She performed it at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and was approached by the BBC to make it into a series. Though it gets more plot heavy in the second season, Fleabag is essentially a character study of an unnamed female protagonist with a sex addiction (among other issues). Her best friend has recently died, her boyfriend keeps breaking up with her, and her widower father is dating an insufferable younger woman. She keeps ruining her life, by either screwing someone she shouldn’t or being a bitch without meaning too. She is an antihero that you can’t help but root for. In the second season, her sex addiction is put to the test when she falls in love with a Catholic priest… 

From first glance, Fleabag could come across as crude or amoral, but that just means you’re not looking hard enough. It is not a show about sex; it is a show about the struggles of human connection, in families, friendships, and romantic partnerships. The story is written and produced with such care, such precision, that it fills me with awe upon every rewatch. I will recommend it to everyone and anyone until the day I die. Find it on Amazon Prime.

1. The Leftovers (2014-2017)

This whole journey of ranking the best TV of the century began when my roommate Chloe told me she was watching The Leftovers for the first time. I freaked out. She told me she decided to start the show because The Hollywood Reporter ranked it #44 on their list. Hearing of such a horror ignited a flame within me, which led me here, where I can now give The Leftovers its proper spot at #1. 

The Leftovers begs the question: “What if 2% of the world’s population suddenly disappeared one day?” That might not seem like a large number, but the show chronicles the repercussions faced by those left behind—the leftovers. It stars Justin Theroux as Kevin, the police chief of a town threatened by a religious cult run by his ex-wife, and his family and friends. The cast is a roster of heavy-hitters, like Carrie Coon, Liv Tyler, Ann Dowd, Margaret Qualley, and Amy Brenneman. 

Though I believe The Leftovers to be the best piece of television to ever grace the medium, it should be noted how deeply depressing it is. Sometimes even disturbing. Really only hopeful at the end. Despite this, it is a show you cannot look away from. You can tell the cast and crew gave their hearts and souls to this project. It is full of meaning in every tiny corner.

As the world turns into a strange and frightful place, The Leftovers teaches us how to act with kindness in a crisis. That, above all, is why it’s my #1.