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Norine Wiltshire
There were some true gems airing in the decade, as evidenced by how many are still popular on streaming services (The Office, 30 Rock) and by the shows that have already gotten reboots (Dexter, Gossip Girl, Sex and the City). Some of the most successful shows of the era are still on the air, including Survivor, Grey's Anatomy, and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. So whether you're looking to revisit a nostalgic old favorite, find out what the fuss was all about, take a look back on disturbing Y2K fashion, or get caught up before a hit comes back, you'll find a great show here.
It dominated the Emmy Awards and dinner-party conversations every year it was on and became the show that once and for all proved television could compete with the movies. When mild-mannered chemistry teacher Walt (Bryan Cranston) discovers he has cancer, he teams up with former student Jesse (Aaron Paul) to make and sell crystal meth, becoming a violent, some would say evil, man in his quest for money, security, and power. Every list of the best television shows of all time has this somewhere near the top. It even spawned a successful spin-off, Better Call Saul.
Tracee Ellis Ross, Golden Brooks, Persia White, and Jill Marie Jones star in this fun show about four friends living in Los Angeles who help one another navigate life, love, and womanhood. The show is praised for showcasing Black women's stories and providing a place for these characters to be the focal point of storylines.
A killer twist on the detective genre: Dexter is a serial murderer with a conscience. First he finds the bad guys, then he takes them out, fulfilling both his compulsion to kill and his need for bloody justice. If you can stomach the violence, you might just get addicted to this creepy, savvy series.
Alicia Florrick is a wife and mother who returns to work as an attorney after her husband, the Illinois state's attorney, is jailed for political corruption and a sex scandal. Yeah, it's complicated, to put it lightly. With any other actor, Alicia could have ended up falling into the scorned-wife clich, but Julianna Margulies breathes life into her character. Watching her kick ass in court against a wild cast of judges, lawyers, and her own coworkers never gets old.
Are you a Carrie, a Charlotte, a Miranda, or a Samantha? What group of friends hasn't discussed which iconic character they're most like? We're not sure there is one. The series about four women making their way in New York City is always a great choice for a binge.
The best, hottest, dumbest, best show ever. Like, this series is iconic. The fashions, the comebacks, the sex that inspired a wave of parental backlash, which the show turned around and used as marketing. The finale may have committed the major mistake of trying to make the identity of Gossip Girl make sense (who cares!), but for the first couple seasons at least, this was the greatest teen soap of all time. Not an exaggeration.
Told in a series of flashbacks, this sitcom focuses on a group of friends living in New York City. Main character Ted Mosby tells the story to his son, Luke, and daughter, Penny, of how he met their mother. The series won 10 Emmys and is responsible for making Neil Patrick Harris a household name.
This cultural juggernaut got kids born in 2000 belting Journey on the school bus. Glee was a teen soap with plenty of comedy thrown in and an out-and-out musical, following the members of a small-town high school show choir as they used pop songs to process their feelings. And boy, did they have a lot of feelings.
If you're looking for a happy-go-lucky show, keep scrolling. But for those who like dark humor, then this is the series for you. The story focuses on the subject of death through the eyes of a family who own a funeral home in Los Angeles. It's full of irony, and 20 years after its premiere, it's still considered one of the best TV shows of all time.
Now the longest-running scripted comedy ever on television, this low-budget show started as a project made by friends and was a pretty under-the-radar project at the fledgling FX network before Danny DeVito took a shine to it and decided to join the cast, propelling the edgy series to new heights and insane gags.
This goofy caper series follows ex-detective Adrian Monk, who, after his wife's murder, sinks deep into obsessive compulsive disorder, maniacally cleaning and straightening everything around him. And while he can't get life to fit into his perfect squares, looking at the details and imperfections of a crime scene does come in handy when trying to solve a case.
Ryan Murphy's first show for FX was an addictive, savvy look at the appearance-obsessed world of high-end plastic surgeons in Florida, and all the power and intrigue that comes along with it. Groundbreaking in ways, but not for the faint of heart.
This cult hit dramedy, about dead souls that become grim reapers before they can pass on, never found enough of an audience to really take off, but thanks to streaming, you can still enjoy what it had to offer and probably binge the whole thing in a weekend too, if you're diligent about it.
Imagine being able to bring people back from the dead. It sounds a little creepy, but stay with us here. The main character, Ned, can touch a dead body and bring it back to life. He uses his gift for good and brings back victims in order to find their killer. The only problem is that he brings his childhood love back from the dead and if he touches her again, then she'll go back to being dead.
Think of this as Grey's Anatomy's funny friend. Like Grey's, the show focuses on a group of medical interns completing their residency at a teaching hospital. The series ran for nine seasons and follows characters J.D., Elliot, Turk, and the perpetually grumpy Dr. Cox.
If you're a fan of Girlfriends, then you'll love its spin-off, The Game. Even if you've never watched its predecessor, you'll no doubt become obsessed with the show about the wives and girlfriends of pro football players who work behind the scenes to help the athletes' careers.
Like a British Degrassi, this adolescent soap featured an ensemble cast of classmates coming of age and losing their innocence. The show tackled tricky topics like mental health and eating disorders, not to mention sex of all kinds, and was the launch pad for a generation of stars including Dev Patel, Daniel Kaluuya, and Nicholas Hoult. An American version never made it far, but the U.K. original remains a gritty fan favorite.
One of the funniest sitcoms of all time, dense with jokes and references, and bitingly satirical too. If you're ever wondering whether something in this series is self-aware, trust, it is. Tina Fey created and stars in this show, based on her time as head writer of SNL, as the head writer of a fictional NBC sketch program, who is good at her job but bad at pretty much everything else in life, which is where her executive mentor Jack (Alec Baldwin) comes in. Between juggling the actors with big personalities and the writers with no social skills, Fey's alter ego Liz Lemon is always at her wits' end, but somehow things work out in this Emmy-winning show.
This neo-noir teen mystery show was a marvel, combining sharp writing, an incredible performance from Kristen Bell, and a truly sharp whodunnit. As our teen detective dealt with her own trauma surrounding the death of her best friend and a sexual assault, the series also included storylines about race, class, and adolescence that have aged remarkably well. But if you find yourself getting in your feelings over one of the greatest ships to ever sail (no spoilers), mayyyybeee skip the Hulu reboot.
The gimmick is so simple it's a wonder it wasn't used before: Every hour-long episode in the 24-episode-long season takes place over the course of an hour in one day. It just happens to be the most exciting day of all time. This post-9/11 series follows special agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) as he tries to stop a suicide bomber, or an assassination, or whatever threat the country is facing that day. It's dated now, but still gripping.
After her husband dies suddenly, a suburban mom turns to selling pot to make ends meet in this dramedy from Jenji Kohan, creator of Orange Is the New Black. Deftly blending satire, family dynamics, and a little mystery, this show earned a slew of Emmy nominations, and holds up well, even as the ongoing movement to legalize weed makes it more and more an artifact of its era. (Warning: Things get kooky by the end.)
Often cited as one of the best shows of all time, this intricate drama about drugs (and poverty, violence, corruption, and education) in Baltimore pulled no punches and provided no happy endings, but people were addicted anyway. Though famously snubbed by the Emmys, it's still considered an example of early prestige television, and an educational one at that.
You know how everyone's always trying to find a show that's got action but isn't scary, is enough of a mystery to keep you entertained without being confusing, and has plenty of humor and romance? That show is Chuck. It's not a perfect series, but it's kind of the perfect watch, anchored by sparkling performances from Zachary Levi and Yvonne Strahovski as an accidental super-spy and his secret agent handler. He's a hapless geek who accidentally got government secrets in his brain! You love this!
Degrassi is pretty much the gift that keeps on giving. The Canadian teen drama originally premiered in 1979, and from there, multiple generations came after it to form a Degrassi universe. The Next Generation is full of storylines focusing on sex, teen pregnancy, gang violence, bullying, and a variety of other topics in a soap opera format. Oh, and the show blessed us with Drake, making it a must-watch.
Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie spun their best-spoiled-BFFs shtick into reality gold with the series about two heiresses attempting to survive among the normies. It's less mean-spirited than it sounds. Paris and Nicole are in on the joke, and while they might poke fun at the blue-collar people they encounter, it's all with an eye toward entertainment, not serious mockery.
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