Top Ten TV Dramas
1. Breaking Bad
2. The Wire
3. The Walking Dead
4. Deadwood
5. Mad Men
6. House of Cards
7. Dexter
8. Game of Thrones
9. Sopranos
10. Sons of Anarchy
Each person's Top Ten for any given year for any given entertainment genre is going to be pretty subjective. If you open the discussion up beyond a single year, it is going to get very subjective. Be that as it may, here is my list for Top Ten TV dramas.
As I review the first five in my list above, I feel you could make a very strong case that TV writing and directing is in the middle of a new Golden Age. The acting is not always up to the same very high level as the writing, but it is often of a very high caliber.
I'll start off by grouping Sons of Anarchy at number ten and Sopranos at number nine since to my point of view they are quite nearly the same story: a family of sociopaths running an organized crime organization. Weirdly though, the viewer is drawn into the lives of the characters. Both have very well imaged roles that despite their flaws (and they are legend), you still find yourself rooting for them. I give number nine to the Sopranos for their use of music and the final scene of the series - I get it, that I may be the only person on the planet that liked it.
Game of Thrones captures my number 8 slot. This is a currently running series that comes from a remarkably long series of books still being written. I give the program's creators points for trying to capture such a complicated story (which if you have not yet read all the books, let me tell you, only gets more complicated). But this is the program's flaw too - too many story lines for TV or a movie.
Dexter as my choice for number seven is something of a guilty pleasure. Like with my choice for number one below, my training as a chemist allowed me some special interest in the job done by Dexter as a forensics specialist hiding a secret. Season four was far and away the best season with John Lithgow as Trinity, though season three with Jimmy Smits was good too. The final episode's final scene was simply brilliant writing and directing.
House of Cards is number six: Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright star in this Washington DC political drama about a merciless congressman. It has very entertaining Machiavellian story lines that stretch its attachments to reality. It is worth watching if only to see how DC might actually run.
Mad Men in position number five is just about the only non-violent drama on my list (sorry for my proclivities), but like the following drama this program has some of the best acting: Jon Hamm and Elizabeth Moss are the standouts, but frankly are part of a very talented ensemble. This story about an early sixties ad company and America in the post-Eisenhower era rings particularly true for those of us of a certain age.
David Milch's Deadwood captures position four, and in contrast to most of the others on my list, this three-year long series has the best acting as compared to my other Top Ten. Starring Timothy Olyphant and Ian McShane we watch a very vicious Old West tale. Some top notch writing helped create the characters so well portrayed by Olyphant and McShane.
Position number three is held very firmly by The Walking Dead (currently running in season five). The writing and season-long story arcs can be of varied levels of quality, and the various scenes of violence with or without zombies can definitely be a challenge for the faint of heart. But what makes this program so powerful in my view is the remarkable way the writers (primarily Charlie Adlard) have asked the question: what would any given individual do when faced with overwhelming horror and desperation? One could argue this story line might be a Holocaust parable.
I was torn in deciding between my choices for number 2 and number 1. I have for a long time regarded David Simon's "The Wire" as the best written TV drama. This seven-year series was so tautly written and so clued into the daily tragedies taking place on the streets of Baltimore that I was convinced it could not be upstaged. The series tails off in relevance and impact near it's end, and for that reason, my choice for number one is the following.
My choice for number one is likely on almost everyone's list for Top Ten, if not for the position of number one: Breaking Bad. Vince Gilligan's series of chemistry teacher Walter White gone bad (ok, as a chemist, I'm a little biased here) displays the very best writing and cinematography of all my Top Ten List. And as I note above, the writing bar is set very high (see The Wire). The six year-long series portray's in vivid detail and unsparing grimness how one man's good intentions paved the pathway to Hell for himself, many other criminally-inclined, and a large number of innocent bystanders. Lastly, the closing scene of Walter White laying with his one true love is amazing.
