Best Series of All Time: 12 Essential TV Shows Worth Watching

The short answer

There is no single, objective answer to “what are the best series of all time?” Television crosses countries, decades, formats, and tastes too easily for one score to settle the question. A crime epic does not do the same job as a one-season comedy; a landmark network sitcom should not be judged by the same pacing rules as a modern streaming drama.

Still, some shows earn their place again and again. They combine exceptional writing and performances with a distinctive point of view, sustain their quality over time, and leave behind scenes, characters, or formal ideas that later series keep responding to.

This is our editorial list of 12 essential series. It is deliberately spoiler-light, includes drama, comedy, animation, and limited series, and gives you a practical reason to start each one. If you only want one recommendation: start with The Sopranos for character drama, The Wire for social scope, Fleabag for a fast emotional hit, or Breaking Bad for relentless plot momentum.

How we chose the best series of all time

This is not a popularity chart and it is not an attempt to turn art into a formula. Our editorial team used five repeatable checks:

1. Craft: Does the writing, direction, performance, sound, or visual language still feel purposeful?
2. Consistency: Does the series sustain its ideas across a season or full run instead of relying on one great episode?
3. Influence: Did it change what audiences, critics, or later creators expected television could do?
4. Rewatch value: Does a second viewing reveal structure, detail, or performance choices you missed the first time?
5. Recommendation value: Can we clearly explain who should watch it, and who may not enjoy it?

Awards are one useful signal, not the deciding factor. For example, the Television Academy records Breaking Bad as an Outstanding Drama Series winner, Fleabag as the 2019 Outstanding Comedy Series winner, and Succession as an Outstanding Drama Series winner in 2023. Those records support their historical standing, but the ranking below is an editorial judgment rather than an awards tally. Breaking Bad, Fleabag, and Succession are documented in the Television Academy database.

We also exclude most anthology and limited series from the main ranking unless their complete story functions like a self-contained series. That keeps the comparison fairer.

The 12 best series of all time, ranked

1. The Sopranos (1999–2007)

Best for: viewers who want psychologically rich crime drama.

At its center, The Sopranos is not simply a mob show. It is a story about a man who can explain his feelings in therapy but cannot reliably change his behavior outside it. That tension gives the series its unusual force: domestic inconvenience, comic humiliation, violence, loyalty, and dread live in the same scene.

Why it belongs here: the show made interiority feel central to prestige television. Its patient scenes trust silence, its ensemble has extraordinary range, and its ending still invites serious discussion because it is built from the show’s own themes rather than a simple answer.

Know before you start: The pace is intentional and the violence can be abrupt. Start with the pilot, then give the first season four episodes before deciding whether its rhythm works for you.

2. The Wire (2002–2008)

Best for: viewers who want a big, novelistic drama about institutions.

The Wire asks a harder question than “who wins?” Each season shifts attention among Baltimore institutions—policing, labor, politics, schools, and journalism—to show how incentives shape individual choices. Its greatness is cumulative. Details that seem incidental early on become part of a larger argument about systems and survival.

Why it belongs here: few series are so structurally ambitious while remaining attentive to character. It is also one of the clearest examples of television using multiple seasons to build an idea that a two-hour film could not contain.

Know before you start: The opening episodes introduce many names and systems quickly. Watch without multitasking; the payoff depends on remembering small details.

3. Breaking Bad (2008–2013)

Best for: viewers who want escalating suspense and a complete transformation story.

Breaking Bad is an unusually clean piece of long-form construction. It begins with a modest premise, then keeps testing how far its central character will go when every choice creates a worse next choice. The visual storytelling is unusually precise: color, objects, landscapes, and point of view all carry narrative information.

Why it belongs here: it combines accessible momentum with deliberate craft. The Television Academy lists 16 Emmys for the show, including its 2014 Outstanding Drama Series win, but its real recommendation is simpler: few series make cause and effect feel this inevitable. See the Television Academy record.

Know before you start: The premise is dark and the intensity rises substantially. This is a good choice if you want a finished series rather than an ongoing commitment.

4. Mad Men (2007–2015)

Best for: viewers who enjoy character observation, period detail, and subtext.

Mad Men uses the advertising world of the 1960s as a lens on identity, work, gender, desire, and reinvention. It is less interested in plot twists than in the gap between what people say about themselves and what they actually do.

Why it belongs here: its images and dialogue are controlled without feeling lifeless. Watch it for the performances, but also for the way rooms, clothes, pitches, and songs quietly expose a character’s status or fear.

Know before you start: It rewards patience. If you prefer a rapid plot engine, try Breaking Bad first; if you like a show that improves on rewatch, start here.

5. Fleabag (2016–2019)

Best for: viewers who want a short, funny, emotionally exact series.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag turns direct address into something more than a clever device. The audience begins as a confidant, then gradually understands why the main character needs that distance from everyone else. Episodes are brief, jokes land quickly, and the second season deepens the show without diluting its sharpness.

Why it belongs here: it achieves a remarkable density of comedy, grief, romance, and self-knowledge in two short seasons. The Television Academy lists six Emmys for the series, including Outstanding Comedy Series in 2019. See the official record.

Know before you start: Adult language, sexual content, and themes of grief are central. It is an excellent pick when you want a complete series you can finish quickly.

6. Twin Peaks (1990–1991; 2017)

Best for: viewers open to dream logic, mystery, and genre experimentation.

Twin Peaks begins with a murder investigation in a small town, then becomes stranger, funnier, scarier, and more formally daring than that description suggests. David Lynch and Mark Frost use melodrama, soap-opera rhythms, horror, and comedy to make familiar television feel unstable.

Why it belongs here: it showed that broadcast television could be surreal, serial, and visually authored. Its influence reaches far beyond mystery shows.

Know before you start: Do not begin with the 2017 return. Watch the original run and the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me first if you want the later season to make emotional sense.

7. The Simpsons — classic era (1989–late 1990s)

Best for: viewers who want dense comedy and cultural satire.

The early and middle classic run of The Simpsons remains an extraordinary writers’ room achievement. It can tell a clean family story, make a throwaway gag work in the background, and satirize institutions without losing warmth for its characters.

Why it belongs here: its best episodes are both highly quotable and carefully structured. The qualifier matters: this recommendation is for the widely celebrated classic-era episodes, not a claim that every season across the show’s long history is equal.

Know before you start: Sampling is encouraged. Start with “Marge vs. the Monorail,” “Last Exit to Springfield,” “Cape Feare,” or “You Only Move Twice.”

8. The Leftovers (2014–2017)

Best for: viewers drawn to grief, faith, uncertainty, and emotionally intense drama.

After a portion of the world’s population disappears without explanation, The Leftovers refuses to treat the event as a puzzle box with a required solution. Instead, it explores what people do when certainty is unavailable. The series becomes more ambitious and compassionate as it goes.

Why it belongs here: it turns metaphysical uncertainty into deeply human storytelling. The final season is especially admired for delivering emotional resolution without pretending to solve the unknowable.

Know before you start: The first season is heavy. If it feels too bleak, know that the series’ tone broadens in later seasons while keeping its emotional seriousness.

9. Seinfeld (1989–1998)

Best for: viewers who like ensemble comedy, social observation, and tightly engineered episodes.

Seinfeld made everyday selfishness into comic architecture. Its episodes often begin with small irritations, then braid several storylines together until the final moments make them collide. The show’s famously unsentimental characters are not an obstacle; they are the engine.

Why it belongs here: its comic vocabulary became part of everyday language, and its plotting remains a masterclass in escalation and payoff.

Know before you start: The first season is lighter and rougher than the later run. Start in season three if you want a fast introduction, then return to the beginning later.

10. Atlanta (2016–2022)

Best for: viewers who like social satire that can change form from one episode to the next.

Donald Glover’s Atlanta can be a music-industry comedy, a family story, a horror parable, or a surreal media satire—sometimes within the same season. Its unpredictability is not random; it mirrors the instability of work, fame, race, and aspiration in the world it observes.

Why it belongs here: it expands what an episode of television can be. The series is playful with form but grounded by performances that make its strangest turns feel emotionally legible.

Know before you start: Some episodes are deliberately standalone or experimental. Treat that flexibility as the point rather than a detour.

11. Succession (2018–2023)

Best for: viewers who enjoy corrosive family comedy and power struggles.

Succession turns corporate maneuvering into family farce. Its characters speak in insults, fragments, half-plans, and desperate bids for approval; the comedy is vicious because the emotional stakes are real. The handheld camera and fast dialogue give familiar rooms a sense of permanent instability.

Why it belongs here: the show sustains a difficult tone—funny, cruel, sad, and tense—without collapsing into repetition. The Television Academy lists 19 Emmys for the series and documents its 2023 Outstanding Drama Series win. See the official record.

Know before you start: Everyone is flawed, often spectacularly so. Watch it if you enjoy ensemble conflict rather than a traditional hero’s journey.

12. Chernobyl (2019)

Best for: viewers who want a concise historical drama with exceptional tension.

This is the limited-series exception. Chernobyl tells a complete story in five episodes, using the 1986 nuclear disaster to examine institutional denial, scientific truth, and the human cost of bureaucratic self-protection. Its tension comes less from surprise than from watching preventable failures compound.

Why it belongs here: it is compact, focused, and technically rigorous in its storytelling. It also makes a useful counterpoint to longer series: a television work can be “all-time great” without needing many seasons.

Know before you start: It contains disturbing depictions of illness, injury, and disaster response. Consider reading background material from a reputable historical source after viewing if you want to separate dramatization from documented history.

Best series of all time by mood

If a ranked list is less useful than a direct recommendation, start here:

• For a crime drama: The Sopranos, The Wire, or Breaking Bad.
• For a short complete series: Fleabag or Chernobyl.
• For a smart comedy: Seinfeld or classic-era The Simpsons.
• For emotional, reflective drama: Mad Men or The Leftovers.
• For something unusual: Twin Peaks or Atlanta.
• For modern prestige television: Succession.

What did not make this list—and why

Many excellent shows could reasonably appear in another editor’s list: I May Destroy You, Six Feet Under, Better Call Saul, The Americans, Deadwood, The Bear, The Office (UK), BoJack Horseman, The X-Files, Cheers, and Band of Brothers are all serious candidates.

Leaving a show out is not a verdict that it is unimportant. A list of the best series of all time is useful only when it is selective enough to help someone choose what to watch next. We have favored variety of form and recommendation value over trying to include every canonized title.

FAQ: best series of all time

What is widely considered the best TV series of all time?

There is no universal consensus. The Sopranos, The Wire, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, and Twin Peaks are frequent critical touchstones because they are ambitious, influential, and still rewarding to revisit. Which one is “best” depends on whether you value character psychology, social scope, plot momentum, visual style, or genre experimentation.

What is the best series to start if I do not watch much TV?

Start with Fleabag if you want something short, funny, and complete. Start with Breaking Bad if you want a compelling plot. Start with Chernobyl if you want a five-episode commitment. Each has a clear endpoint and a strong first episode.

Are limited series included in the best series of all time?

They can be. We include Chernobyl because its five episodes form a complete television work with sustained quality and long-term impact. We label it clearly so readers can distinguish it from multi-season shows.

How should I choose between The Sopranos, The Wire, and Breaking Bad?

Choose The Sopranos for complex character behavior and dark humor. Choose The Wire for a broad social story that rewards concentration. Choose Breaking Bad for the fastest escalation and most immediate suspense.

Our editorial promise

This guide was prepared by the What Is This Movie Editorial Team and reviewed on August 7, 2026. We use transparent criteria, distinguish fact from editorial judgment, and update factual award references against primary sources when revising recommendations. Streaming availability changes frequently by country, so we intentionally do not claim a universal platform for any title.

If you remember a show from one image, a line, or a strange plot detail—but not its name—try our movie and series finder. Specific clues such as a setting, a character relationship, a recurring object, or a distinctive final image will usually work better than “it was an old TV show.”