Sons Of Anarchy and Justified are great but IMHO not in the same league as Sopranos, Wire and Breaking.
Rome would have made the top tier of my list if it had a couple more seasons.
He was a writer/producer/director but The Shield was created by Shawn Ryan (who also did the very excellent and cancelled too soon “Terriers.” I recommend that one a lot actually. It’s seriously great.)
Sons of Anarchy is a soap opera masquerading as high drama. Entertaining as hell, but definitely over the top and melodramatic.
Oh, yeah. Terriers is perfect.
And Sons of Anarchy is a cartoon.
Watch The Sopranos, & Sons Of Anarchy. Youll love them.
**If I love Breaking Bad…will I love… **
The Munsters. Equally as plausible.
Up to this season of BB I’d probably suggest what others above cited, but now, after only two episodes of Hitchcockian suspense, coupled with Dickensian cliffhanger, Oscar-worthy performances with Dostoyevsky-styled crime & punishment dramatic tension… I’d say you’ll be disappointed whatever else you pick up.
…Nothing beats 2 Broke Girls.
I’d definitely say The Wire. With The Sopranos coming in a distant second. One of the big things I like about The Wire and Breaking bad are that there really aren’t many loose ends, everything is there for a reason and gets wrapped up. The Sopranos, while great, did tend to just leave storylines hanging at times.
One thing I did (and have heard others do) with The Wire, is to watch it with close captioning on. A lot of what is said is quick, soft and often mumbled. And it helps with getting names of characters down.
Ah, you are one of those who is frustrated by “Pine Barrens”, and the finale for that matter. Personally, I find that lack of resolution of some elements to be a strength of the series. Feature, not bug, as it were. And I’m not so sure it is completely different on Breaking Bad as for example we have been discussing how they never really explained why a chemist of Walt’s stature became a high school teacher. Similarly, they left Marie’s kleptomania alone after a while.
Another vote (in preferential order) for:
The Wire
The Sopranos
Deadwood and
Rome
Mad Men has its moments of greatness as well. Oh and Game of Thrones is a must unless you’re violently allergic to fantasy.
Orphan Black looks to have potential as well (although I’ve only watched the first three episodes of season 1).
I really didn’t like Sons of Anarchy, the first couple of seasons were good, but the show has just spun out of control for me and I despised the ending to season 4 so much I haven’t even watched season 5 yet.
Actually no, I’m not. I didn’t mind “Pine Barrens” and I don’t think the finale left any loose ends.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen The Sopranos, but I do remember thinking they just left stuff like
Melfi’s rape and Furio
just kinda hanging.
To be honest, I felt the same way for a while with The Wire with
D’Angelo’s Death
But they did come back to that in a later season.
I love Breaking Bad, and I love Game of Thrones. If you were me so would you.
Well, both shows featured Lilies.
mmm
Loads of entertainment value, but nowhere near the quality of BB…strictly for the fun of it, don’t jump in planning on having a high-quality experience.
(But since Breaking Bad is the Greatest Television Show in The History of The World, bar none, even The Wire, it’s hard to recommend anything else at all if you’re looking for more at that level. It simply doesn’t exist. Breaking Bad is as close to flawless as it is possible for mere humans to achieve in the area of television drama.)
Terriers is one season of amazing TV.
Rome comes the closest.
The Wire is next.
Justified is a couple notches down but still quite good.
The Sopranos is not as good as its rep, IMO.
Pretty much the same for me.
The beautiful thing about the Sopranos is the deep story line. A person will be mentioned in Episode 2 and arrive in Episode 10 and if you haven’t been paying attention (like most of us) that is initially confusing. But then a myriad of connections emerges and the richness of the whole Soprano world becomes engrossing.
There used to be a fan website - Sopranoland - where the complete dialogue was available as well as detailed discussions about each episode. I needed that because I don’t speak New Joisey. 
Using the site it would take 2 hours to watch an episode but I picked up immeasurably more.
I don’t get why most people don’t include The Shield in these lists. Yes, it came before the great age of nonpremium cable, but… you want some planned ahead shit? Yeah.
Give the Sopranos a thorough view, especially season 2. As Bryan Cranston tweeted upon learning of James Gandolfini’s death : “Quite simply, without Tony Soprano there is no Walter White” https://twitter.com/BryanCranston/status/347735374602321921
Gandolfini’s portrayal of the anti-hero is so exceptional he’s the actor’s actor.