No. 17 – “The Office”
Premiere Date: March 24, 2005 (9 seasons)
NBC
Around 2009-2011, in small corners of Hollywood, on television blogs and message boards, a debate raged that seemed inconceivable half a decade before: Was the American version of “The Office” as good or – gasp – better than the British smash it originated from? Based on Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s 2001 BBC breakout, Greg Daniels brought the workplace drama to Scranton, Pennsylvania, and the offices of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper company. The U.S. incarnation of “The Office” broke new ground as the first mockumentary comedy series on network television, as the employees are followed by a never-seen documentary crew who will also record confessional interviews edited within the episodes. The show featured some familiar tropes, a bumbling and often inappropriate boss, in this case Michaael Scott (Steve Carrell), amd an office romance between Pam (Jenna Fischer) and Jim (John Krasinski), but “The Office” stood out by not just how funny and seemingly improvisational it was (most of the improv was left for bonus scenes), but by a long list of mermorable characters and bits. From the martial arts obsessed and overconfident Dwight (Rain Wilson), to the oversharing and hilariously blunt customer service rep Kelly (Mindy Kaling), temp turned VP turned temp again Ryan (BJ Novak), warehouse foreman Darryl (Craig Robinson), the oversensitive Andy (Ed Helms), conservative accountant Angela (Angela Kinsey), “smug gay Mexican” Oscar (Oscar Nuñez), the sweet but full of unexpected secrets Phillis (Phillis Smith), this was an ensemble America saw themselves and found comfort in (and, no, we can’t think of a series where so many actors played characters with their own first names either). “The Office” was a timeless satire of American corporate culture that was so stellar it reached an entirely new generation of fans on Netflix only a few years after it ended its NBC run.
No. 16 – “30 Rock”
Premiere Date: October 11, 2006 (7 seasons)
NBC
Tina Fey demonstrated considerable comedic talent as a writer and actress on “Saturday Night Live” as well as penning the screenplay to the early 2000s hit, “Mean Girls,” but her comedic opus may forever be “30 Rock.” Inspired by her time on “SNL” as head writer, Fey plays Liz Lemon, the showrunner of “TGS with Tracy Jordan,” a sketch comedy show on a fictional version of NBC. Lemon is constantly dealing with the show’s off-kilter stars: Jenna Maroney, a creation for the ages from Jane Krakowski, and Tracy Jordan, essentially Tracy Morgan playing himself in the best way possible. She crosses paths with Kenneth, an incessantly upbeat NBC page played by Jack McBrayer, and Jack Donaghy, her direct report at the network, portrayed by Alec Baldwin, who is constantly interfering in the show, in the absolute worst ways possible. Filled with countless in-jokes about “SNL” and NBC (the network proved it had a thick skin), “30 Rock” thrived by embracing the wild, absurdist tendancies of Jane and Tracy’s performances, top notch scripts that mocked the industry in the broadest way possible (one season saw Tracy focus on tring to win an EGOT, for pete’s sake), and the textbook chemistry between Baldwin and Fey (a pair made in TV heaven). The show was so good that there was a laundry list of celebrity guest stars who made one-off appearances, but also a few who appeared in multi-episode arcs, including Matt Damon, James Marsden, Jerry Seinfeld, Salma Hayek, and Chloë Grace Moretz, among others.
No. 15 – “Mad Men”
Premiere Date: July 19, 2007 (7 seasons)
AMC
A pilot script that helped creator Matthew Weiner land a writing and eventual producing gig on “The Sopranos,” this 1960s-set drama effectively put AMC Networks and star Jon Hamm on the map. Set at a fictional Madison Avenue ad agency, “Mad Men” was centered on Don Draper (Hamm), a charming advertising genius to his colleagues who consistently fails his wife, Betty (January Jones), and children on multiple fronts. Draper’s life is built on a lie (no spoiler here), and his day job is to brilliantly sell marketing lies to the American public. Eventually, existential angst will catch up with you. Weiner and his colleagues shepherded a fantastic recreation of the 1960s, the seven seasons occur over the entire decade, and Draper and his wonderfully flawed peers are forever changed by his actions and the times. The show was a breakout for Elisabeth Moss, who earned rave reviews for her role as Draper’s one-time assistant Peggy Olson and jumpstarted the careers of Christina Hendricks, Kiernan Shipka, and John Slattery. “Mad Men” is also one of three programs to win four consecutive Best Drama Series Emmy Awards. A record shared by another entry in this top 25, “The West Wing.”
No. 14 – “Twin Peaks: The Return”
Premiere Date: May 17, 2017 (1 season, 3rd season of “Twin Peaks”)
Showtime
Earlier this year, we lost the late David Lynch, the genius surrealist filmmaker who always pushed the edges of reality to their limits with nightmarish visions, hilarious absurdity, and haunting, dreamy strangeness that always captivated audiences willing to go on his unknowable, unending mind trips. Luckily, we were able to receive one last gift and masterpiece from Lynch before he shuffled off this mortal coil into the great unknown. With ‘The Return,’ Lynch really went sideways with this belated sequel, crafting a mysterious story about FBI Agent Dale Cooper’s (Kyle MacLachlan) trying to escape from the Black Lodge netherverse dreamscape he’s been trapped in while battling his evil doppelganger (and the supernatural forces of “Judy”) all the while attempting to return to the sleepy town of Twin Peaks. Many stories intersect, including exploring the aftermath of Laura Palmer’s (Sheryl Lee) murder and other mysteries that occur in this small town. Within that still-obscure narrative, there’s extreme violence, very nutty and oddball humor and the banal cruelty of the universe. Naomi Watts, Laura Dern, Mädchen Amick, Sherilyn Fenn, Grace Zabriskie and dozens more co-star. Enigmatic and haunting as ever, “The Return” may have been obtuse for some audiences, but its ecstatic, unfathomable nature, coupled with Lynch’s cinematic peculiarity, makes for a mesmerizing and unforgettable experience. – Rodrigo Perez
No. 13 – “Battlestar Galactica”
Premiere Date: Dec 8, 2003 (1 mini-series, 4 seasons)
SyFy (Sci-Fi)
Ron Moore did the impossible. He took “Battlestar Galactica,” a 1970s Sci-Fi show that was an attempt to cash in on the original “Star Wars” movie, and transformed it into a metaphor for the post-9/11 war on terror. After 40 years without contact following a bloody war, the robot Cylons perpetrate an ingenious terrorist attack on 13 human colonies, killing billions. Only 50,000 humans survive, part of a fleet led by the show’s namesake battleship. Their hope? Finding safety on Earth, the lost 13th colony, Earth, before the Cylons destroy them. As the military, led by Commander Adama (Edward James Olmos), forges an uneasy alliance with the inexperienced new president, Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell), the former secretary of education, the survivors begin to question whether the Cylons have infiltrated their ships in human form. Fantastically capturing the xenophobic harassment toward Muslims in America in this era, “Gallactica” eventually took aim at the curtailing of civil rights and mistreatment of “enemy” detainees at Abu Ghraib prison, among other contemporary parallels. Featuring the first use of “realistic” CG on television (or movies for that matter), Moore’s five*-season epic made viewers reconsider the horrors of contemporary war and humanity’s relationship with AI, er, robot intelligence, in the universe, in a galaxy far, far away (but maybe not a far away as we initially thought).
*The program launched as a mini-series before getting the green light to full series.
No. 12 – “Fargo”
Premiere Date: April 15, 2014 (5 seasons)
FX
Despite the best efforts of many talented showrunners, adaptations of popular movies into television series rarely work. For every “M.A.S.H.” or “Friday Night Lights,” there are countless remakes or inspired spin-offs that fizzle fast. It’s utterly remarkable, then, that Noah Hawley found a mechanism to transform Joel and Ethan Coen‘s singular vision, the 1996 Oscar-winning thriller “Fargo,” into a decades-spanning epic that, arguably, overshadows its predecessor. Hawley turned “Fargo” into an anthology series with self-contained storylines that almost always feature seemingly good people who get caught up in a criminal element that spirals out of control. Beyond one comparably disappointing season, Hawley and his team of writers. (Lee Edward Colston has the most credits after Hawley), have put their characters in positions to question their morality, thrown in some crafty plot twists, and made sure to include a dash of that trademark Coen Bros dark humor. Over five seasons so far, Hawley has also recruited an all-star cast delivering some of the best performances of their careers including Billy Bob Thorton, Kristen Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Jean Smart, Ewan McGregor, Carrie Coon, Chris Rock, Jessie Buckley, Ben Whishaw, Juno Temple, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Hamm while also introducing the world to the talented Allison Tolman and David Rysdahl, among others.
No. 11 – “Fleabag”
Premiere Date: July 21, 2016 (2 seasons)
BBC, Prime Video
There have been shows that broke the fourth wall before, but never like “Fleabag.” As the title character, writer and series creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge cheekily reacts to her life to the captive audience at home (that’s you, the viewer). Whether she’s having a terse conversation with her seemingly more put together sister Claire (Sian Clifford), flirting with the infamous and unattainable “sexy priest” (Andrew Scott), having a passive aggressive moment with her godmother (Olivia Colman), or contemplating hookups with one man after another, Fleabag will interject a comment, diss, or self-deprecating read, with Waller-Bridge’s uncanny, drumbeat precision timing. But beneath the carefree, sexy modern rom-com lifestyle this fledgling cafe entrepeneur shares with the viewer a dark, painful guilt over not reconciling with her mother before her death and a tragedy surrounding her best friend, Boo (Jenny Rainsford). Fleabag is searching for love and tranquility, and her audience isn’t going to give it to her. She’s going to have to find it on her own.
