Rating the Last 10 Years of TV (2015-2025)

10 Jan, 2025

I've watched way too much TV over the years. A lot of it comes from binging at 11am in the morning as I try to get through my latest bout of trading depression. I should have been doing something constructive like reviewing my mistakes--like why I lost 100k shorting some piece of shit--but I just didn't want to. TV lets me escape.

I'd say the 1999-2014 era of TV is the golden age--we had Sopranos, The Wire, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and True Detective Season 1. For the sake of making this easier for me, I'm just rating the last ten years. If the majority of a serial TV show's lifespan was after 2015, it gets to be in. The only exception to this rule are anthology series--True Detective S1 and Fargo S1, Black Mirror S1/S2 are all excluded because they were released in 2014. I'm not including documentaries.

Shows are grouped into tiers but not ordered within them.

Elite multi-season TV

1. Succession
2. Barry
3. Better Call Saul
4. BoJack Horseman
5. Nathan for You

Elite multi-season TV except they punted the ending and it doesn't get to be in tier 1 for that reason

1. Game of Thrones

Elite single-season TV

1. Fargo S2
2. White Lotus S1 & S2
3. Shogun
4. Mare of Easttown
5. Big Little Lies S1
6. Chernobyl
7. Sharp Objects
8. Beef S1

Elite IF it can stick the landing

1. The Bear
2. Severance
3. Pachinko
4. Squid Game
5. Invincible
6. The Rehearsal
7. The Last of Us

Really liked it

1. Only Murders in the Building
2. Rick and Morty
3. Veep
4. Silicon Valley
5. Black Mirror S3 & S4
6. Slow Horses
7. Black Bird
8. Penguin
9. The Americans
10. The Queens Gambit
11. Maid
12. Kingdom (Korean)
13. Hacks
14. Narcos
15. Fleishman is in Trouble
16. Master of None
17. Loki
18. Rectify

Debuted HOT... but leveled off into 'just watchable'

1. The Mandalorian
2. Stranger Things
3. The Boys
4. Cobra Kai
5. Peaky Blinders
6. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
7. The Crown
8. The Night Of

Debuted HOT... but flamed out hard

1. Killing Eve
2. Westworld
3. Reacher
4. House of Cards
5. Sex Education
6. Ozark
7. Yellowjackets

Fine

1. The Good Place
2. You
3. Gen V
4. Fleabag
5. Ted Lasso
6. Shrinking
7. Winning Time
8. The Dropout
9. Manhunt: Unabomber
10. American Crime Story S1
11. The Sinner S1
12. Moon Knight
13. Ramy
14. The Curse
15. Devs
16. True Detective S2
17. Jessica Jones
18. The Offer

Fun for 90% of it but the ending didn't work for me

1. Presumed Innocent
2. The Bodyguard
3. Wandavision
4. The Brothers Sun

Meh

1. Billions
2. Vice Principles
3. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
4. The Recruit
5. Euphoria
6. Clipped
7. Money Heist
8. Umbrella Academy
9. Hawkeye
10. Black Monday
11. Crashing
12. Ballers
13. Suits

Garbage

1. Who Killed Sara
2. Inventing Anna
3. Ginny & Georgia
4. The Partner Track

Color Commentary

• Most of the garbage is random NFLX stuff that my wife got into (she know it's bad) and I watched a little bit of it. I try to screen out my shows with good reviews or some interesting buzz. This tier is only up as a reference to the lowest quality out there.
• When I think of greatness... I first think of rewatchability and the ability to appreciate a show even more the 2nd/3rd/4th time. I can't count how many times I have rewatched even the most insignifncant scenes of The Sopranos or The Wire via Youtube clips. I think the top of the top would be shows that pass that test, first and foremost.
• When I look at this list, the most interesting tiers are the 'HOT Debut but...' tiers. It really nails down how hard it is to sustain artistic greatness season over season. It's common to get one truly great season, often the first one, and then the quality levels off despite still being mostly enjoyable--I'll be invested in the characters and enjoy seeing them interact, but there's something missing from before, the focus has shifted too much or there are huge distracting flaws. The textbook example of is Stranger Things--truly magical all-timer season 1 and then it just becomes a decent show that relies on 80's nostalgia and your investment in the core kids
• There are plenty of shows down the list that I enjoyed more, at their best, over shows I ranked higher. For example, I definitely enjoyed the best of The Boys or the best of Ozark over Maid. But you get points for consistency and points subtracted for inconsistency or things that annoy me. Maid executed a good story over one season and it was done. The Boys spun its wheels too often in its later seasons and Ozark's ending was frustratingly bad, so they slot into the "good but..." tiers.
• The mini-series or anthology season style is so underrated. Shorter stories are usually better because the creators don't feel pressure to write filler and waste your time.
• Fine = mostly enjoyable and/or could talk me into rewatching some parts
• Meh = limited enjoyment and/or no interest in re-watching it.
• I strongly considered slotting Game of Thrones into the "flamed out" tier. But those first 3 seasons are so good that it deserved its own tier. In my opinion, GoT had worst ending to any elite prestige show ever (it's also a show that suffers retroactively from a poor ending). A lot has been written/discussed on that point so I'll just leave it at that.
• If there's something where I'm most off consensus, it's usually pure comedies. Some just make me chuckle rather than laugh out loud. A lot of highly acclaimed comedies land in the "Fine" tier for me. The elite shows are usually dramas with enough effortless levity to round it out, like a good sandwich intersecting multiple flavor palettes. Succession and Barry are not trying to make me laugh all the time but they manage to do it more consistently than network comedies.
• I don't feel the need to finish everything. Shows I stopped early: literally everything in the "flamed out" tier except Ozark. Didn't finish half of the multi-season shows in the "Fine" tier.
• I haven't completed everything in the "Really liked it" tier. Mostly newer seasons I just need to catch up on. Everything above that is elite and demanded my attention and they're all completed.
• The two finance shows, Billions and Black Monday, I'm probably harder on them since I'm a trader. This is why I'm hesistant to watch Industry.
• Certain shows need a great ending more than others. I almost put The Bear into tier-1 because given the grounded nature of the show, the first two elite seasons can stand on their own no matter how it ends. Presumed Innocent, a murder mystery genre, needs an ending that makes sense, otherwise it gets a huge downgrade no matter how fun the buildup was.
• Some critically acclaimed shows that I haven't watched: Watchmen, The Expanse, Mindhunter, Atlanta, Mr. Robot, Arcane, Andor, Dark, The Leftovers, Fargo S3-S5
• Some popular shows that I haven't watched: Walking Dead or any of its spin-offs, Yellowstone or anything in the Sheridan universe, House of Dragons, Rings of Power, Handmaid's Tale

I'll add more when I think over this more.