Even during this age in which a new great TV show seems to premiere every couple of
weeks, there are a few clear standouts.
These all deserve to be included in the best TV seasons of all time.
Breaking Bad is one of those shows that is about as perfect as television gets.
That said, the further along the show progresses, the more tense and action-packed it becomes.
Choosing between seasons four and five is tough, but we have to give the nod to the
absolutely riveting final season of the show.
When season five starts, Walter White has ascended to the top of the drug trade.
He's eliminated his greatest rival and seemingly nothing stands in his way.
However, such an astronomical high paves the way for a devastating fall.
The season pays off everything the story has been setting up - and throws in a few killer
twists along the way, including the moment Walt's brother-in-law Hank discovers Walt
is the mysterious meth kingpin that he's been chasing for years.
["I gotta say, I don't like the way you're looking at me right now."
It all blows up in the final three episodes, one of which, "Ozymandias," is a serious contender
for the best episode of television ever made.
There are few TV series more divisive than Lost.
Still, despite the controversy, the show's first season is a genuinely special piece
of television.
Right from the pilot, the season hooks you in with stellar character work and plenty
of engaging mysteries.
It builds its characters with stunning efficiency and economy, perfectly balancing character
histories with exploration of the island's mysteries.
Later seasons would skew this balance too far in either direction, but the show's debut
season gives as much attention to the mystery of the hatch as it does to Jack's relationship
with his departed father.
From the perfect pilot to the riveting finale, season one of Lost is just as good today as
it was when it first aired.
"I've looked into the eye of this island, and what I saw was beautiful."
Parks and Recreation really hit its stride around its third season, but season four cemented
the show as an all-time great television comedy.
[Laughter]
Even without the season-long throughline of Leslie's city council campaign, season four
provides several all-time great episodes, including "Ron and Tammys" and "Pawnee Rangers."
Paul Rudd's Bobby Newport absolutely steals the entire season as he wanders in and out
of the season with a guilelessness that few other actors could pull off.
"We're not gonna quit the campaign.
Why would we do that?"
"Because!
I want it.”
It's the most memorable, most quotable season of an already very memorable and quotable
comedy.
"You get fired, I'll quit and we'll leave together.
I'm serious.
Move to a new city, change our names, burn our fingertips off with acid, swap faces."
“What?”
We live in an era in which superhero shows and movies are a dime a dozen.
The best way for one to stand out is to center itself around unique themes, and Jessica Jones'
first season does this better than just about any entry in the genre.
The season serves as a 13-episode meditation on trauma, abuse, and recovering from toxic
relationships.
It never flinches from the unpleasantries of such subject matter, and handles it with
the delicate touch necessary.
Past that, it's anchored by a very strong hero and a very strong villain.
Krysten Ritter shines as Jessica, while David Tennant turns out a uniquely menacing performance
as the villainous Kilgrave.
Shocking and emotionally resonant, these episodes will leave audiences reeling for years.
Justified is anchored by the compelling rivalry between Timothy Olyphant's U.S. Marshal Raylan
Givens and the magnetic criminal Boyd Crowder, played by Walton Goggins.
"What're you packing?"
"You'll pay to find that out."
"Oooh, you got ice-cold water running through your veins."
However, as stellar as the interplay between those two is, it's not the focus of the series'
best season.
That honor goes to the second season's story revolving around the Bennett family.
The Bennetts run a crime enterprise dealing in everything from moonshine to marijuana.
Raylan is charged with bringing them down and as you might expect, things don't go according
to plan.
The way the season establishes the series' setting of Harlan, Kentucky as the kind of
hometown you can never fully escape makes for a pitch perfect story and a great piece
of development for Raylan himself.
Of particular note is Margo Martindale doing what is easily the best work of her career
as Mags, a terrifying rattlesnake of a crime boss.
"Coover, I know you're sorry.
That's why it's gonna hurt so much to have to do this."
Bloodline revolves around the Rayburns, a large family residing in the Florida Keys.
When their oldest son Danny returns from an extended disappearance, events are set in
motion that lead to Danny's death at the hand of his brother John.
The show chronicles the march to Danny's murder nonlinearly.
Rather than obsessing about the plot, most of Bloodline is carried through conversations,
micro-aggressions, and slowly simmering feuds.
Bloodline's first season is an addictive, compelling family drama that will leave you
screaming at your TV by the finale's closing moments.
Season four of New Girl sees the show regain its footing after an uneven third season and
truly become the best possible version of itself.
More than any season of New Girl, these episodes delve into hilariously exploring modern dating,
like when Jess downloads a pseudo-Tinder app for the first time.
That said, the easy standout is "Background Check," which ranks among the greatest TV
episodes of all time.
The story sees the gang subject to an in-home background check as part of Winston's application
to become a police officer.
Over the course of the examination, the crew spirals into insanity.
"I just need you to pretend like you're in a relationship with this grown man that I
know - Ah!
I did not think this through.
I did not think this through."
Easily one of the odder sitcoms in recent memory, New Girl was never more irreverent
or wonderful than it was during its fourth season.
By the time the sixth season of Game of Thrones comes around, the story has progressed past
territory covered by the book series it's drawn from.
This left the showrunners free to run wild with the story and take it in new, surprising
directions that can't be spoiled by the books.
They build a number of conflicts to a head, like the war between the Starks and Boltons
for control of the north, and pepper in a hefty number of game-changing revelations.
From Daenerys finally making her way to Westeros to the Battle of the Bastards, Game of Thrones'
sixth season is riveting genre television.
In just eight episodes, True Detective's first season accomplished more in terms of creativity
and critical acclaim than some shows do in ten-season runs.
The miniseries stars Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey as surly detectives attempting
to solve a series of murders.
The story is told nonlinearly and features some seriously dark philosophical tangents,
which creates even more mysteries for the viewer to solve.
"You get any sleep last night?”
“I don't sleep.
I just dream.”
True Detective wears its influences on its sleeve from the start.
It's packed with Lovecraftian themes and structure, making a story about two men hunting a killer
feel otherworldly.
It borrows from plenty of well-loved literature, but the show doesn't simply rip off these
stories.
Instead, it uses them to create a depth of influence, to give viewers more to dissect.
"I contemplate the moment in the garden, the idea of allowing your own crucifixion."
When this is combined with the dense themes, fully formed characters, and complex plot,
the result is a show you can analyze and break down a million different ways.
It's massively compelling television, the likes of which we haven't seen since.
Much of the first season of A.I. sci-fi drama Westworld centers on the idea of a maze.
The show's characters, both human and robot, find themselves drawn into a conspiracy involving
a maze symbol left by one of Westworld's original founders.
While it's easy to get distracted by the stellar performances and special effects, the mystery
is what makes the show so memorable and addictive.
"I think there's a deeper meaning hiding under all that.
Something the person who created it wanted to express."
Modern TV shows love mysteries, but few shows manage to pay them off in ways that don't
cheat the viewer in some way.
Westworld is the rare mystery that never makes this mistake.
Its plot is structured like the maze it revolves around.
By the time we reach the center of the maze, it's just as shocking to us as it is to them.
It's an amazing start to an amazing series.
Few shows have changed the game like The Sopranos.
The modern concept of prestige television can be traced back to the runaway success
of HBO's mob drama.
The whole run is excellent, right up to the finale, and the acclaim and awards speak for
themselves.
Look no further than the show's immaculate second season as evidence as to why it still
holds the reputation it enjoys today.
It used to be far more outside the norm for shows to kill major characters with little
to no warning.
The Sopranos made its bones in this trade, and focuses its sophomore season on Tony Soprano's
best friend becoming an FBI informant.
The story spirals to an inevitable confrontation between the two that plays out just as shockingly
today as it did when it first aired.
Even with all the stellar prestige TV shows on the air today, we can't forget the original.
There's very little to say about The Wire that hasn't already been said.
It's perhaps the single most acclaimed television show of all time.
The Wire's tale of the complex lives of Baltimore cops and criminals form a tremendously powerful
narrative about life, death, poverty, corruption, and finding the light amidst it all.
While every batch of episodes has its strengths, season four of The Wire is easily the best
the show has to offer - and when you're talking about the best season of possibly the best
show of all time, you know it's something special.
The show's fourth season sees the narrative weave a story about the Baltimore school system
and follows the lives of four young boys who have grown up in the area.
While there are other stories going on throughout the season, the four boys become the season's
linchpin.
Season four is where the show stops asking questions and starts giving answers, boldly
claiming that in a world ravaged by systemic poverty, there is no level playing field for
those who grow up in it.
Their fate is predetermined and impossible to escape.
As street dealer Bodie tells hard-nosed cop McNulty:
"This game is rigged, man.
We're like the little bitches on the chessboard."
"Pawns."