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The best drama in television history (1 Viewer)

I think this is the best drama of all time...

  • The Sopranos

    Votes: 24 9.8%
  • Breaking Bad

    Votes: 90 36.6%
  • The Wire

    Votes: 53 21.5%
  • Game of Thrones

    Votes: 39 15.9%
  • Mad Men

    Votes: 10 4.1%
  • Other

    Votes: 30 12.2%

  • Total voters
    246
Really close between Breaking Bad (my #1) and The Wire (#2).

Game of Thrones is ineligible until after it wraps up. That's the Lost rule.

 
Breaking Bad had some great eposodes but too much filler for me.

The Wire was the best show in the history of television.

 
Someone should really do an update of The White Shadow.
God, please no.

Can't imagine having episodes today with an autistic kid dressing up as the school's mascot, or the coach going Tom Izzo all the time and punching out an unruly student.

 
Real tough call between Mad Men and The Wire. I gave the slight edge to Mad Men because the last season of the Wire was a bit disappointing. Thrones fell off once they got past the books. It has turned into all style and no substance- like a medieval superhero movie. The Sopranos were fantastic and deserve credit for creating the environment where all these other shows could flourish but the Sopranos had some stretches where it struggled a bit. Breaking Bad was really fun "page turner" but some of the dialogue and acting was laughably bad (looking at you Tuco) and Ididn't think it was very deep. 
:lol:

Such a good description.  I would argue that it fell off a bit even when running with the books.  I think the downward slide started in S5 when they killed off a few too many of the interesting characters in S4  and left us with long bits of Arya training, Bran moping,  Reek being tortured, Sand Snakes, Dany spinning her wheels, and sending Tyrion to a place where he has nobody interesting to interact with.  Most of that were in books 4 and 5. 

 
Watching The Wire for the first time currently, and I am just about to finish S1.  It's great so far.   

Don't like gangster stuff, so still haven't watch The Sopranos.   I voted BB just slightly over Mad Men, but I will be honest, it's probably because I just have a re-watch fresh in my mind.  I was planning to go back through Mad Men sometime soon.    If it was just S1-4 of GoT, that probably would have been my slam dunk vote, but it hasn't sustained it's quality nearly to the level as the others did.  

 
Very hard to name a clear cut winner.  For me I group them in tiers when assessing on an "all time" basis. 

The penthouse level for me: The Wire, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, The Leftovers.

First three are relatively chalk.  I still feel like outside of critics the Leftovers doesn't get the respect it deserves.  I can understand to an extent, the first half of season 1 is admittedly uneven.  Add in the oppressively bleak tone of season 1 and I can see how people might've chosen to watch something else.  It's a shame because season 3 of the Leftovers can go toe to toe with any TV season ever.  I hesitate to throw around haughty words like "masterpiece" but if the shoe fits.  

 
How is this possible?
Don't have HBO/Showtime and didn't get in at the beginning of Madmen or Breaking Bad so decided not to come into in the middle.  Some day when I have time and want to search them out I will get them done. 

Also had some stubbornness when it got to the point when everyone says you have to watch show XXXXXXX.  I just held out. 

 
NYPD Blue....need to check out hill street blues. Havent seen that.
If you liked NYPD Blue, then you are going to see a familiar face. The actor that played Sipowitz (sp) played basically the same character on Hill Street. In fact, he used the same Chicago accent on NYPD Blue that he used on Hill Street. 

 
Yeah, i rate Lonesome Dove, The Jewel in the Crown, Angels in America and probably a couple other mini-series ahead of any TV series drama, but i'll also rate the experience of growing to love & hate & sweat & root for TV characters, year after year, as the most satisfying experience in all artistic endeavour, so full-run will always be more highly-ranked.

Neither has there been a finer writing experience in my life than forming dramatic characters cubistically, as one must for series television - all the angles considered in advance so that they hold up for the viewer thru all exigencies of episodic abuse. I currently have 23 open writing files, none of whom will likely see the light of day, and my only regret is that the world won't get to enjoy my agoraphobic detective, my guru cop, my bored vampyre and, especially, my Sarge - a sassy, round desk sergeant who has a fam of 15 (mostly fosters) @ home and insists on being called Sarge by her kids and as she's promoted to Captain, Chief, Mayor and demoted to mental patient (when PTSD lays her low), thru the course of the show. Writing the scene where she walks unarmed into a hostage scene, grabs the gun from the neighbor-boy-she's-known-since-he-was-little perp & whaps him upside the head like he just spilled the syrup or sumn is one of the best creative experiences i've ever had.

 
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I'm going to throw The Twilight Zone out there.  The acting was hit or miss, but really top notch writing. 
I think Twilight Zone is probably the best television series ever. But it's not a drama (which is the subject of this thread), it's a sci-fi anthology. The original Star Trek is probably the second best television series ever (for me) but, again it's really sci-fi more than drama.

 
Watching The Wire for the first time currently, and I am just about to finish S1.  It's great so far.
I found season one of The Wire to be pretty good on my first viewing, but not an all-time great. My appreciation for it increased markedly on subsequent viewings when I better understood everything that was going on.

 
the car chases in season 4 are epic.
Right up there with S3 when Don hijacks that plane and then jumps to escape revealing he was real DB Cooper or S10 when Manson's crew tries to kill Megan but Bert Cooper fights them off with a magical 17th century Samurai sword. 

 
It’s honestly better on rewatch. Little things like catching that Cheese (method man) is Randy’s dad pop up that you didn’t notice at first. 
Yep. I’ve watched it three times all the way through now and I’ve liked it more with each rewatch. 

 
Very hard to name a clear cut winner.  For me I group them in tiers when assessing on an "all time" basis. 

The penthouse level for me: The Wire, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, The Leftovers.

First three are relatively chalk.  I still feel like outside of critics the Leftovers doesn't get the respect it deserves.  I can understand to an extent, the first half of season 1 is admittedly uneven.  Add in the oppressively bleak tone of season 1 and I can see how people might've chosen to watch something else.  It's a shame because season 3 of the Leftovers can go toe to toe with any TV season ever.  I hesitate to throw around haughty words like "masterpiece" but if the shoe fits.  
Weird. As in I’m weird because I liked season one of the Leftovers far better than two and three. 

 
Right up there with S3 when Don hijacks that plane and then jumps to escape revealing he was real DB Cooper or S10 when Manson's crew tries to kill Megan but Bert Cooper fights them off with a magical 17th century Samurai sword. 
Let me try this again.  Does the show evolve from the, "hey, back in the day men were misogynistic #######s and everyone smoked anywhere they pleased" shtick?  After about 3 episodes of that I think the point was hammered home.  

I'm not an action guy.  I like good acting, character development, and suspense.    

 
Let me try this again.  Does the show evolve from the, "hey, back in the day men were misogynistic #######s and everyone smoked anywhere they pleased" shtick?  After about 3 episodes of that I think the point was hammered home.  

I'm not an action guy.  I like good acting, character development, and suspense.    
LOL sorry for busting your balls. Yes there is what I consider the best acting and character development of any show. Suspense, not really. 

 
Definitive answer for top 5:

The Wire

Mad Men

GOT (provisional)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Star Trek: The Next Generation

 
Wait, what?!

I've never caught that before. 
It’s never outright said, but they make a point to let you know that Cheese and Randy both have the last name Wagstaff, which would also make Randy a relative to Prop Joe with a parallel to Randy trying to sell candy and such at the school and run a business. 

 
Choosing between Sopranos and the Wire is impossible for me. 

Sopranos is the Beatles of tv.  it changed everything.  Also, Gandolfini's performance in that series is the best acting that has ever graced the small screen.  Cranston is second as White, but a distant second IMO.

The Wire, at its peak, is the highest quality tv that has ever been made.  Also has the best rewatchability.  But season 5 was a let down for sure.

I also love the other three shows and would have this same top 5. GOT could be the most fun tv ever.  I know that if all 5 of these shows had new episodes recorded on my PVR, I would watch GOT first.

 
Dismayed to see no Six Feet Under option, but oh well. 

For me, it is aways a photo finish between Breaking Bad and The Sopranos.  I will go with BB simply because it ended better (taking the final seasons of both in totality). 

None of those others in the poll are close to BB or Sopranos.  
This is my answer too.  As good as the Wire is, it just didn't have that "OMG WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT HOW CAN I POSSIBLY WAIT UNTIL NEXT WEEK" thing going for it like BB and Sopranos had.  

 
I found season one of The Wire to be pretty good on my first viewing, but not an all-time great. My appreciation for it increased markedly on subsequent viewings when I better understood everything that was going on.
This is especially true for Season 2 which way too many people say they hate. It’s true that the first time through that season is such a shock to the system that it’s hard to power through it (“why do I care about the docks?  Why isn’t there more Avon and Stringer?  Get Zig off the screen!”).

But so many little things were set up in season 2  that end up paying off big time in later seasons that makes the re-watch truly rewarding.

 
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Game of Thrones - great all the way through

Breaking Bad - great all the way through

Sopranos - great first 3 seasons, did not like the last season at all.

Haven't seen The Wire or Mad Men

 
Choosing between Sopranos and the Wire is impossible for me. 

Sopranos is the Beatles of tv.  it changed everything.  Also, Gandolfini's performance in that series is the best acting that has ever graced the small screen.  Cranston is second as White, but a distant second IMO.

The Wire, at its peak, is the highest quality tv that has ever been made.  Also has the best rewatchability.  But season 5 was a let down for sure.

I also love the other three shows and would have this same top 5. GOT could be the most fun tv ever.  I know that if all 5 of these shows had new episodes recorded on my PVR, I would watch GOT first.


This is especially true for Season 2 which way too many people say they hate. It’s true that the first time through that season is such a shock to the system that it’s hard to power through it (“why do I care about the docks?  Why isn’t there more Avon and Stringer?  Get Zig off the screen!”).

But so many little things were set up in season 2  that end up paying off big time in later seasons that makes the re-watch truly rewarding.
Is the Wire on any streaming, hulu, etc. I have never seen it. It may be in this thread but I dont want to go back through it. 

 
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listening to podcasts and theories, and then seeing how it all ended. I’ve got the same experience with GoT but on crack. There will be an entertainment aspect of my life missing once that goes because I consume tons of content around it. I’ve watched multiple YouTube videos dissecting the trailer, listen to podcasts, etc... and will do so after every episode through til the end. It’s a very communal viewing experience for me and I enjoy it a great deal. That wasn’t really a thing for something like the Wire which is a better show, but doesn’t have the same fun factor. 
I can only imagine what Lost would have been like if it started 10 years later.  In my world it was a phenomenon - it took water cooler talk and theories to a whole new level that I honestly hadn’t seen before or since.  Yes, the last season left a lot to be desired but there’s no doubt that during seasons 2-4 I don’t think I’ve ever anticipated watching a show like I did Lost.  

And don’t get me wrong, it wouldn’t rank above any of these (although I’ve never watched West Wing).  

As for this poll it’s an easy choice for me - Breaking Bad is the single best thing I’ve ever watched on TV.  I’ve rewatched it twice since my first viewing and I imagine I’ll watch again.  I’m not sure I’ve ever done that with any other drama.  

 
Right now i have breaking bad at the top because it had the best combination of compelling drama, pacing, character development and ending of any show in history.  When season 4 ended you felt like you'd watched an all time great, then there was a season 5 and you were like ok i guess but why.  And then you realize how necessary it was to the whole story.

Think about some of the iconic scenes.  The broken plate.  The talking pillow.  Run.  Ding ding. Spending bogdans dollar.  I am the one who knocks. The bathroom scene. Tread lightly.  I watched <spoiler>... so many incredible moments that were so totally different from each other.  

Game of thrones gets second on my list but could have taken first after season 4 and could overtake it with a solid finale.  I'm more excited for these final episodes than i have been for any television viewing in years.  That has to count for something. 

I need to watch Sopranos again, because it really was great, and it was ground breaking, and Gandolfini had one of the best acting performances in history.  I put game of thrones ahead if it because GoT developed so many great characters so quickly.  Sopranos was always the story of Tony and how other people were impacted by Tony.  Breaking bad was similar but it went deeper into how it affected the people around him. Sopranos was more about how the people around Tony affected him.  

The wire was great and each season was incredibly well constructed but i didn't connect with it as much as i do with the other shows.  I was watching people do things in a situation i couldn't imagine myself in.  I could imagine myself in Walter white's shoes. I couldn't imagine myself as omar or bunk. They were interesting characters doing interesting things.  And i didn't feel that page turning suspense like the other shows. But it was incredibly well developed, insightful about things that were never really studied on tv before, and the main character wasn't even a person, it was a whole city.  Awesome awesome show.  

Mad men doesn't belong on this list.  It was a good show that didn't really do anything groundbreaking.  It was a cool period piece.  The carousel episode was good.  Hamm did a great job making Don Draper but i don't think they ever figured out what to do with him to make it interesting after the first couple seasons. There were a lot of interesting characters but after a while I just never really cared what happened to any of them, and there was never a single compelling conflict for them to overcome individually or as a group.  

Mash deserves a mention, and it developed some great characters, but it didn't have the depth.  Hawkeye wants to #### a nurse. Hawkeye vs burns.  Hawkeye vs houlihan. Hawkeye vs surgery.  Hawkeye doesn't want to carry a gun. Hawkeye doesn't want to be in Korea. Hawkeye likes koreans. There was a lot of surface level character development but the depth of the story was limited by the format and the fact that people missed episodes back then and couldn't just watch it on on demand later.  It was the best show ever for a long time though.

 
Weird. As in I’m weird because I liked season one of the Leftovers far better than two and three. 
Don't get me wrong, I think they're all excellent, but season three was by far my favorite (and by far the most lauded by the critics I read, whatever that's worth).  

 
Right now i have breaking bad at the top because it had the best combination of compelling drama, pacing, character development and ending of any show in history.  When season 4 ended you felt like you'd watched an all time great, then there was a season 5 and you were like ok i guess but why.  And then you realize how necessary it was to the whole story.

Think about some of the iconic scenes.  The broken plate.  The talking pillow.  Run.  Ding ding. Spending bogdans dollar.  I am the one who knocks. The bathroom scene. Tread lightly.  I watched <spoiler>... so many incredible moments that were so totally different from each other.  

Game of thrones gets second on my list but could have taken first after season 4 and could overtake it with a solid finale.  I'm more excited for these final episodes than i have been for any television viewing in years.  That has to count for something. 

I need to watch Sopranos again, because it really was great, and it was ground breaking, and Gandolfini had one of the best acting performances in history.  I put game of thrones ahead if it because GoT developed so many great characters so quickly.  Sopranos was always the story of Tony and how other people were impacted by Tony.  Breaking bad was similar but it went deeper into how it affected the people around him. Sopranos was more about how the people around Tony affected him.  

The wire was great and each season was incredibly well constructed but i didn't connect with it as much as i do with the other shows.  I was watching people do things in a situation i couldn't imagine myself in.  I could imagine myself in Walter white's shoes. I couldn't imagine myself as omar or bunk. They were interesting characters doing interesting things.  And i didn't feel that page turning suspense like the other shows. But it was incredibly well developed, insightful about things that were never really studied on tv before, and the main character wasn't even a person, it was a whole city.  Awesome awesome show.  

Mad men doesn't belong on this list.  It was a good show that didn't really do anything groundbreaking.  It was a cool period piece.  The carousel episode was good.  Hamm did a great job making Don Draper but i don't think they ever figured out what to do with him to make it interesting after the first couple seasons. There were a lot of interesting characters but after a while I just never really cared what happened to any of them, and there was never a single compelling conflict for them to overcome individually or as a group.  

Mash deserves a mention, and it developed some great characters, but it didn't have the depth.  Hawkeye wants to #### a nurse. Hawkeye vs burns.  Hawkeye vs houlihan. Hawkeye vs surgery.  Hawkeye doesn't want to carry a gun. Hawkeye doesn't want to be in Korea. Hawkeye likes koreans. There was a lot of surface level character development but the depth of the story was limited by the format and the fact that people missed episodes back then and couldn't just watch it on on demand later.  It was the best show ever for a long time though.
Agree with all this except your take on Mad Men. The writing was so well done. They didn't have any tricks to rely on. Just character development, tension, and great performances.

Splitting hairs when picking any of these shows IMO. Any one of them has compelling arguments as to being "the best".

Kind of like picking the best dunker between MJ, Dominque, Vince, Kemp, or Dr. J.

 
This is especially true for Season 2 which way too many people say they hate. It’s true that the first time through that season is such a shock to the system that it’s hard to power through it (“why do I care about the docks?  Why isn’t there more Avon and Stringer?  Get Zig off the screen!”).

But so many little things were set up in season 2  that end up paying off big time in later seasons that makes the re-watch truly rewarding.
S2 is great IMO and of course the highlight of the show is in S2. 

 
The thing about The Walking Dead is that it's not good. 
It's the odd show that didn't peak early.  Didnt really get started until Season 3 imo, so in a sense it rewarded those who stuck by it.

It definitely has flaws, most obviously its repetitiveness, but it has kept my attention.  Not top 10 for me but solid to occasionally great.

 
It's the odd show that didn't peak early.  Didnt really get started until Season 3 imo, so in a sense it rewarded those who stuck by it.

It definitely has flaws, most obviously its repetitiveness, but it has kept my attention.  Not top 10 for me but solid to occasionally great.
I loved the short first season. The 2nd season I think was at a farmhouse for a very long time and then the next season was in a prison and there were people zombies as pets. It was just too much. I felt like I was watching a video game. I don't think I would ever try to jump back in. It's not my thing. 

 
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