Best TV Shows of the 2010s
When this article is posted, we will only be nineteen days away from the end of the decade. Ten years ago, I was in my senior year of high school, being stupid with friends driving around with the top down in the February, going to high school basketball games, eating way too much Mexican food with my parents’ money, and had zero actual responsibilities. Now, I have a mortgage, a marriage, am self-employed, and happen to have two little dudes starting to walk all over me. Couldn’t ask for anything better. On a grand scale, this decade has brought on enormous amounts of change for our world too. No part of our everyday lives has been affected more than our ability to have entertainment and technology at our fingertips every second of the day. Streaming, on-demand television, phone advancement, WiFi everywhere that you go. There is even someone at my gym that watches Netflix while they work out. It’s constant. Any time that you go on Facebook, someone is asking, “What is a good show for me to start binging?” Well- look no further! Here are a few of my favorite shows that have at least been on for a portion of this decade. As I said with my music album list, I am far from an expert, but this is a pretty, pretty good list… Curb Your Enthusiasm reference for you that don’t know.
Breaking Bad (2008-2013)
This one is the ultimate softball for me to smash out of the park. I’m actually re-watching this show right now, and it’s just spectacular. Every episode carries immense intrigue and builds upon the previous. The character development of Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) is as in-depth as you could possibly want. Who would have thought that you could build a show around an old chemistry teacher that gets diagnosed with terminal cancer deciding to make illegal drugs with an actual drug addict and can make you pull for the pair to right the ships of their lives and come out on top? Vince Gilligan is a directional genius and has since had immense success with the spin-off show, “Better Call Saul”. Some shows get a pass when there is a stale or slow season trying to build up some plot lines for future seasons, but Breaking Bad puts the petal to the metal from episode one and carries to the very last. It consistently delivers, and nails down the importance of penultimate season episodes setting up homerun finales. It might even be the greatest TV series ever made. YEA, I SAID IT. I don’t know many people that haven’t watched this show, but if you haven’t, make this your next one that you binge through.
The Americans (2013-2018)
There are some shows that you make you pull for characters despite them going against everything that you believe in from the get go. Phillip (Matthew Rhys) and Elizabeth (Keri Russell) Jennings are a pair of Russian spies at the pinnacle of the Cold War. They have spent their entire adult lives implanting themselves into the American suburbia lifestyle, becoming travel agents and living across the street from an FBI agent. The goal is pretty obvious- pass on useful information back to Moscow without being caught. The drama ebbs and flows as they sit on the edge of going too far (which they do too often) while reeling it in to protect their cover. Hillary and I were sad that this one had to end, but they did a great with tying everything together and giving their faithful viewers good closure without just totally losing the feeling of the show- looking at you Game of Thrones. Another show that is carried by wonderful character development that makes you forget the fact that the main characters are literally trying to help Russia destroy America, while they also slowly begin to figure out that that the US might actually be on the right side of history.
Vikings (2013- present)
I know that no one under seventy even knows the History channel exists, but it happens to be home to -in my opinion- the best show currently on network television and not something produced by a streaming service. As someone that isn’t very familiar with the mythology of the Vikings, I feel that the show did a great job introducing their ideologies and why they did what they did (expansion, infighting, betrayal of friends and family). Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel) is a hero in Viking mythology, and was one of the first leaders to support raiding and expansion into other territories. Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick) is Ragnar’s wife, and she is mythologically revered as one of the greatest shieldmaidens of her time. As the show has progressed, starting in the small shipping village of Kattegat and moving on to Brittania and France, new characters have developed as other rulers and peoples are introduced to the Vikings. One of my favorite things about the show is that it all (somewhat tightly) follows historical context and is informative from that perspective. Just like all good things, the show is coming to an end after the season that got kicked off this past week. I’m hoping that Vikings continues to deliver like it has so far and doesn’t go full GoT for drama’s sake.
Parks and Recreation (2009-2015)
It’s no secret that The Office is an American favorite for most people. The conversation since then has been, is Parks and Rec better than The Office? That’s probably always going to be a no from me, but it’s not as big of a difference as I used to believe. There is a Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) in every workplace. The one that takes their job way too seriously and causes everyone around her to have to work much harder than they would have ever liked to. Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) is also a comedic force on the sitcom; the guy that hates absolutely everything and everyone on the outside, but secretly enjoys pranks, cares about the people close to him and has his own endearing hobbies. Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt) is the most likable character to be on TV in recent memory; doesn’t have a malicious bone in his body and is too nicely stupid for his own good. Now that we’re all in a work place or at least have been at some point post-college, we’re able to better relate to these characters, and that’s what makes it such a hilarious show. And we can all love and hate Larry/Terry/Garry together for the constantly dumb things that he does while probably being the nicest character on the show. The best line of the entire show comes from Leslie, “What would you do for a Klondike bar, Larry? Kill your wife?!” Lose it every. time.
Peaky Blinders (2013- present)
Have you ever thought of what a town outside of London would look like in the aftermath of World War I, riddled with men coming home from a devastating war and now have to work tirelessly in factories to try and build back their homeland? No? Yes? Well, if yes- then you have Peaky season one. And enter Thomas Shelby (Cillian Murphy), English war hero that is tired of the norms that the usual social class has provided to his Gypsy family and wants to do something to fix it. Unfortunately, our hero has to deal with his own demons, including a bad opium habit, war demons that refuse to loosen their grip, and the inability to keep anyone that he loves safe from evil forces that he brings upon them. The other characters that the show provides are enormously in-depth and, once again, help pull you in to support these people that aren’t exactly the Good Samaritans that their political presence might assume. Well, let’s be honest, no one thinks anyone other than Tommy is a halfway positive force. Arthur Shelby is a lovable, terrible person; someone that you pull for to exercise his bad habits and practices out, while also coming to the realization every couple of episodes that it just might never happen. Plus, the show throws in Tom Hardy- the one person that Hillary would actually leave me for; so it’s appointment viewing binging when new seasons come on for her.
Succession (2018- present)
In case you have been living under a rock for the last twenty years or so, our world news is driven by billionaire moguls that sell out their message that is disseminated to large swaths of the public for financial gain. It’s a sad reality, but your favorite political news organization is all out there to make as pretty a penny as they can, and as many as they can. Now- imagine a show detailing the lives of one of those families, showing the luxury they live in, the decisions that they make that influence their news and sponsors, shareholders and their stake in the company, all the juicy details. Logan Roy (Brian Cox) is the figurehead of the family and the company, pulling all of the strings and holding all of the cards. His kids, major shareholders and influential decision makers in their own rights, have their own ideas of how to steer the mega-ship. Unfortunately, no one’s plans align with the other. Throw in great acting, character development, and intense story building, and you have a masterful show. HBO runs the gamut right now with consistently providing dramatic, appointment-viewing television that you make time to not miss. The show feels like it starts out stale for the first couple episodes, but let the character development pull you in and you’ll love it soon enough. Gregg the Egg is the new Andy Dwyer that you cheer on every chance you get.
Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000- present)
I will preface this review by saying, Larry David is not shy about his crudeness. Even in Seinfeld on a major network television he had his fair share of hidden innuendos that pushed the envelope. Curb takes it to another level. There are moments where you want to shrink inside of yourself when the joke goes so far that you feel personally offended. But that is the genius of Larry David. Like Seinfeld, The Office, Parks and Rec, there are times throughout the day that I’m quoting Curb and laughing at myself. Larry David is the greatest comedic genius of our time. His comedic reign has landed for nearly forty years now, something that is unprecedented in the entertainment world. In Curb, he continually takes every day issues, like all good sitcoms do, and makes them so outrageous and over the top that it normalizes even the most uncomfortable of situations. Who hasn’t thought about hiring someone to ride with you so that you can utilize the HOV lane in rush hour Los Angeles traffic only to realize that she’s a prostitute? This is probably the least watched show on my list, but I will always love LD for bringing the world Seinfeld and Curb.
Honorable Mentions
These are shows that probably would have made the list had there either been more seasons available come end of 2019 or if they didn’t just suck at the end.
Game of Thrones
Not really an explanation necessary here. One of the greatest shows assembled for 90% of its run, completely failed to stick the landing. It’s almost like the writers thought to themselves, “What would our viewers dislike the most? Let’s make that happen.” I’ve been thinking about it for eight months, and no thoughts have been positive. It failed everywhere.
Ozark
If this had more runtime at the time of this being written it probably would have made it on the list. The acting performances are spectacular. Jason Bateman and Laura Linney have to move their family to the Ozarks following a run-in with the wrong crowd. Upon moving from Chicago out to the wilderness of Missouri, they do everything they can to stay ahead of the rough and rowdy crowd that drove them out.
Sharp Objects
Sharp Objects is straight-up insane. Even through the slow build of the first couple of episodes there are moments that leave you thinking about the possible plot lines long after it airs. It’s only a single season, eight episode thriller, but it delivers perhaps the best ending of a miniseries I have ever seen. Won’t say more than that, but head on over to HBO and check it out. Amy Adams deserved an Emmy for this performance. If it was more than a single season it probably would have made my top list.