# List your 10 favorite TV shows of the last 10 years. What common themes do you see, if any? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 28, 2010, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-your-10-favorite-tv-shows-of-the-last-10-years-what-common-themes-do-you-see-if-any/558665 "2010-10-28T15:26:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-your-10-favorite-tv-shows-of-the-last-10-years-what-common-themes-do-you-see-if-any/558665/21 "2010-10-28T18:38:30Z")
Mad Men Futurama 30 Rock Community The Office The Daily Show Curb Your Enthusiasm Firefly I think smart writing (except CYE which is highly extemperaneous) and uniqueness in a standard format appeal to me. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-your-10-favorite-tv-shows-of-the-last-10-years-what-common-themes-do-you-see-if-any/558665/22 "2010-10-28T18:56:50Z")
My own list, made up extemporaneously as I type this and in no particular order: 1. Mad Men 2. The West Wing 3. Angel 4. Gilmore girls 5. Buffy the Vampire Slayer 6. NCIS 7. Girlfriends 8. The Closer 9. Sports Night 10. NYPD Blue (which I only caught in reruns, so it counts by my criteria) 11. Firefly. My criterion was shows I would, for an extended period in the run, go out of my way to watch every episode of. (I specified _extended period in the run_ because I couldn’t see leaving out GG for the first several seasons but checked out with prejudice for the last.) I see these commonalities: 1. _Clever dialogue intensive_. These are alll shows that benefit from listening to simply because I like the way the characters talk; except for some bits of Angel & Buffy, none of them work if you’re trying to talk to someone else at the same time. 2. _Half-arcs_. That is, just about all these have season-long stories to tell, but not every episode is part of the arc. In short they _benefit_ from being watched in order, but you don’t absolutely have to. The exception here is _Firefly_, which I almost didn’t list because it was with us so briefly. It didn’t have time to develop an arc. 3. _Definite main characters_. This isn’t an absolute, as it doesn’t apply to the two Sorkin shows or _Girlfriends_, but generally I like shows that are definitely about X and his/her friends, such that the show is hard to imagine without the central character. (Okay, GG is equally about both Lorelai and Rory, but it still applies.) NYPD BLUE I mostly like during the Sipowicz years and is similar. 4. _Strong creator signature_. Except for The Closer, I can name the driving force behind each of these series off the top of my head and go out of my way to see other shows they create. 5. _Morally ambiguous main character_. Also not an absolute. But I like MAD MEN much more than any of the other shows on the list, and Don Draper is, at best, an asshole with good qualities. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SpartanDC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@SpartanDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpartanDC)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-your-10-favorite-tv-shows-of-the-last-10-years-what-common-themes-do-you-see-if-any/558665/23 "2010-10-28T19:03:56Z")
Scrolled right to the bottom so I’m not influenced by others’ lists. In no particular order… Arrested Development 30 Rock Modern Family The Wire Lost Battlestar Galactica Friday Night Lights Mad Men Six Feet Under House If South Park and Family Guy had started a few years later than they did, they’d both be on here (I watched both regularly from episode 1). If Community finishes its second season strong (and it’s off to a great start), then I’d probably have to bump off Six Feet Under (HA!). So this list pretty much screams “CITY-DWELLLING WHITE LIBERAL MALE!!” but it also shows I don’t generally care for “three-camera sitcoms” (How I Met Your Mother is the only one I watch, but I’d give that up before any of the above shows) and don’t have much use for procedurals (House being the exception, but I think it’s more a character study disguised as a procedural). Also, I was only considering scripted, weekly shows. Had I opened it up more, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and Mythbusters would be in heavy contention. ---
**Author:** ![JoseArcadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc348/32.png) [@JoseArcadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseArcadio)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-your-10-favorite-tv-shows-of-the-last-10-years-what-common-themes-do-you-see-if-any/558665/24 "2010-10-28T20:30:24Z")
1. Black Books 2. Still Game 3. Battlestar Galactica 4. The Wire 5. Supernatural 6. Breaking Bad 7. Malcolm in the Middle 8. Arrested Development 9. Teachers 10. Dexter Trends: comedy, witty dialogue, hot guys, violence. ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-your-10-favorite-tv-shows-of-the-last-10-years-what-common-themes-do-you-see-if-any/558665/25 "2010-10-28T20:40:18Z")
Malcolm in The Middle The Wire House Sex and The City So You Think You Can Dance Isidingo (South African soap on The Africa Channel) Mad Men Raising Hope Beauty and The Geek The Big Bang Theory My list is odd - the common theme seems to be “and now for something completely different”. ---
**Author:** ![palindromemordnilap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-your-10-favorite-tv-shows-of-the-last-10-years-what-common-themes-do-you-see-if-any/558665/26 "2010-10-28T20:55:19Z")
The Shield 30 Rock Breaking Bad Rome Big Bang Theory The West Wing Arrested Development Flight of the Conchords The Daily Show (the show I have forgotten to list but will remember later) One interesting thing is that four of them are hour-long dramas and three of those are pretty intense. If I done this 10 or 20 years ago, there would have been eight or nine sitcoms and nothing more intense than ST:TNG. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-your-10-favorite-tv-shows-of-the-last-10-years-what-common-themes-do-you-see-if-any/558665/27 "2010-10-28T21:00:22Z")
> [@Lakai](#): > > Trends: Flawed main characters, brilliant writing, and well developed characters. Each show does a good job of exploring what it means to be human. That’s what does it for me too. The Wire Deadwood Buffy/Angel Mad Men Breaking Bad Band of Brothers And two new shows, one a sitcom: Terriers Raising Hope ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-your-10-favorite-tv-shows-of-the-last-10-years-what-common-themes-do-you-see-if-any/558665/28 "2010-10-28T21:23:35Z")
I’m not going to count reality shows (The Amazing Race, Survivor, Project Runway, Top Chef, etc) cause while I really like and watch every episode of all of those, I don’t think they’re “great” shows like the following list as they don’t really have any replay value. I guess I would consider my favorites to be what I either have already or would buy on DVD, so they are: Arrested Development Coupling CSI Curb Your Enthusiasm Dexter Doctor Who (the new series) Firefly Pushing Daisies Six Feet Under The Big Bang Theory Hmm, they all have strong characters and weird or dark humor. A lot of witty writing and multi-story arcs. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-your-10-favorite-tv-shows-of-the-last-10-years-what-common-themes-do-you-see-if-any/558665/29 "2010-10-28T21:28:16Z")
My favorite tv shows are mostly broadcasts of football games. I don’t really pay much attention to which network carries the games, don’t care at all about the announcers or any of that stuff. Do know that FOX carries the NFC games–where my Saints are usually shown. Also watch the Sunday night game, which I think may be on NBC? Think CBS has the AFC, but it may be the other way around. Also usually watch Monday Night Football on ESPN. Other than football, I watched BSG all the way through to the bitter end (and boy was it bitter). Watched the first half season of Warehouse 13, but then it went on hiatus for so long I lost interest. Same deal with Caprica. Think I’ve now seen all of _That 70’s Show_. _Pawn Stars._ Any number of highly forgettable “OH NOES! Nostrodamus sez the Mayans say Giant Asteroids will kill us all!” type shows on the now ironically named “History Channel”. _Band of Brothers_–truly excellent mini series about WWII from Normandy to Berlin. Not really seeing much in the way of a common theme there though…other than I like sports/combat/fantasy and hot women. ---
**Author:** ![TheTerribleTako](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@TheTerribleTako](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheTerribleTako)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-your-10-favorite-tv-shows-of-the-last-10-years-what-common-themes-do-you-see-if-any/558665/30 "2010-10-28T22:53:34Z")
Well, for some of these shows, I only liked part of the run, but since I’m fairly picky and I didn’t watch much television for a big chunk of 2003-2006, here’s my list: Mad Men Community 30 Rock Scrubs (for about the first 5 seasons) Alias (for the first two seasons) Party Down Flight of the Conchords Arrested Development Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations Good Eats If I could find a commonality in all 10 shows, it’ll probably be that I really enjoy visually interesting shows. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-your-10-favorite-tv-shows-of-the-last-10-years-what-common-themes-do-you-see-if-any/558665/31 "2010-10-28T23:04:14Z")
Eliminating sporting events, and being frankly unclear as to when a lot of these shows started and so possibly being cavalier about the time frame: The Wire Rome Battlestar Galactica House SpongeBob Squarepants Family Guy The Sopranos Scrubs Dexter CSI There’s no common theme I see there aside from the fact that all of them are scripted fiction. I don’t like reality shows, they’re just not my thing. I do notice that most of those shows could not possibly have been made 30 years ago in a way that would be recognizable today, the exceptions being House, Scrubs, and SpongeBob. All are too violent, sexy, edgy or modern for the audience of the rabbit ears generation, even the audience that had already seen some of the more modern stuff in All in the Family or MASH. You could take the basic idea and tone it down but you’d have to tone it down a lot, to the point that the shows would be substantially different. And even Scrubs and Spongebob, taken straight up, would have been exceedingly modern by 1980 standards. House would have translated okay to 1980, if you’d removed the odd sex reference of the sort that wouldn’t have been kosher on network TV back then. ---
**Author:** ![Fugazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@Fugazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fugazi)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-your-10-favorite-tv-shows-of-the-last-10-years-what-common-themes-do-you-see-if-any/558665/32 "2010-10-28T23:29:15Z")
Chuck Weeds BSG Buffy Firefly Fringe Veronica Mars Burn Notice The Big Bang Theory Eureka Supernatural The Mentalist True Blood hhmm Lots of Sci-Fi/ Fantasy shows. Big surprise since 90% of my book collection is Sci-Fi/ Fantasy too. I also like shows featuring smart or clever characters. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-your-10-favorite-tv-shows-of-the-last-10-years-what-common-themes-do-you-see-if-any/558665/33 "2010-10-28T23:49:10Z")
Band of Brothers Generation Kill Firefly Deadwood The Shield 24 Lost CSI Supernatural South Park Survivor Commonalities: only half were on the big 4 networks. The only comedy was a cartoon. The only reality show was pretty much the original one. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-your-10-favorite-tv-shows-of-the-last-10-years-what-common-themes-do-you-see-if-any/558665/34 "2010-10-28T23:52:09Z")
I can’t really remember what I watched more than five years ago. Presumably I entertained myself somehow, but since discovering the online method of gathering TV series that otherwise don’t screen locally, I have tripled my TV-watching-multitasking. **US shows** Chuck Psych Pushing Daisies Scrubs Better Off Ted **UK Shows** QI Midsomer Murders Lark Rise to Candleford new Doctor Who Time Team I think the common elements in the US shows are absurd humour and lightness. The common element in the UK shows is the simplicity and a pining for halcyon days. Interestingly, I can’t think of any local, Australian and New Zealand, shows that I care about at all. They’re all rubbish. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-your-10-favorite-tv-shows-of-the-last-10-years-what-common-themes-do-you-see-if-any/558665/35 "2010-10-29T00:21:40Z")
1. Big Bang Theory 2. Red Dwarf (started watching it in mid-1999) 3. Barney Miller (started watching it when the first DVD came out) 4. The Muppet Show (started watching it when the first DVD came out) 5. Babylon 5 (started watching it around 1999-2000) 6. Battlestar Galactica (the good one. Starbuck is not a friggen woman! started watching it around 1999-2000) 7. Arrested Development 8. MST3K (started watching it around 1999-2000) 9. NCIS 10. Bones 11. Primeval I know you said 10 but I had to include Primeval and I couldn’t remove any of the others. Common themes: 1. I’m a total nerd. 2. I met my boyfriend in mid-1999. The ONLY shows on that list that didn’t originate with him were Bones and Primeval. 3. New sitcoms are shit. ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-your-10-favorite-tv-shows-of-the-last-10-years-what-common-themes-do-you-see-if-any/558665/36 "2010-10-29T00:38:13Z")
In order of how much I like them: 1. The Wire 2. Modern Family 3. Summer Heights High 4. 30 Rock 5. The Golden Girls 6. Law And Order: Special Victims Unit 7. The New Adventures Of Old Christine 8. We Can Be Heroes 9. Little Britain 10. The Catherine Tate Show Two dramas, both crime-based with subject matter more disturbing than your average crime show, especially on The Wire. Two British sketch shows heavy on catchphrases, both of them feel very “early-mid 2000s” to me, not necessarily shows I would still watch but I still find them funny and quote them when the occasion calls for it. Four American sitcoms, one of them classic, one of them a bit of an underrated gem (Old Christine) and two of them highly praised “modern” type sitcoms that mix classic sitcom scenarios with new millennium humour. Two Australian mockumentary comedies, both created by Chris Lilley. The themes that I can see are that I really prefer TV comedy to TV drama, even though I’m the opposite when it comes to films. The dramas that I do like have to challenge the viewer and push them to consider things and feel things than normal TV drama wouldn’t do (I realise SVU has become sillier and sillier over the years but it did really do this in it’s earlier years, at least in my opinion). Of the comedies, the American ones are all pretty “classic” in approach, none of them are out-of-the-box or needlessly abstract, which is what I like. The same can be said of the two British ones, really - not much to them except constant funny and great characterisation. The Australian ones are different and very distinctly Australian, but manage to be 1000 times better than 99% of all other comedy to come out of this country - they’re different to the other shows I’ve chosen because there is a bit of social commentary there and it does make you think but it does this simulatenously with the constant jokes and never interrupts the flow to push a point or a message in your face. So I guess I want my dramas to make me think and I want my comedies to do nothing but make me laugh, at actual jokes and not at how clever the writers think they are. (The shows that I have actually loved and watched most this decade - Seinfeld, The Simpsons, etc. I discovered well before the year 2000.) ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-your-10-favorite-tv-shows-of-the-last-10-years-what-common-themes-do-you-see-if-any/558665/37 "2010-10-29T00:59:19Z")
Deadwood True Blood Sapranos CSI Daily Show South Park Frontline Nova Real Sports The Wire I need cable ---
**Author:** ![equinoxi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/22d042/32.png) [@equinoxi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/equinoxi)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-your-10-favorite-tv-shows-of-the-last-10-years-what-common-themes-do-you-see-if-any/558665/38 "2010-10-29T01:07:53Z")
Arrested Development Curb Your Enthusiasm Firefly True Blood Dexter Breaking Bad Futurama Buffy Angel Sex and The City I think they all have good writing. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-your-10-favorite-tv-shows-of-the-last-10-years-what-common-themes-do-you-see-if-any/558665/39 "2010-10-29T02:10:56Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Not really seeing much in the way of a common theme there though…other than I like sports/combat/fantasy and hot women. Are you an “Asshole?” ---
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-your-10-favorite-tv-shows-of-the-last-10-years-what-common-themes-do-you-see-if-any/558665/40 "2010-10-29T02:38:24Z")
The Pretender (possibly too old, but I’m including it) Prison Break Joan of Arcadia Battlestar Galactica Gilmore Girls Gossip Girl Psych Veronica Mars Sonny with a Chance Project Runway I don’t know if I can come up with anything that all these shows has in common, but a lot of them have interesting concepts (The Pretender, Prison Break, Joan of Arcadia, Psych), several have genius protagonists developing elaborate plans (The Pretender, Prison Break, Gossip Girl, Veronica Mars), most of them have introduced me to something or another that I was interested in researching or learning more about (The Pretender, Prison Break, Project Runway, etc.), a few I find extremely funny (Gilmore Girls, Psych, Sonny with a Chance – though I don’t know if their style of humour is similar or not). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-your-10-favorite-tv-shows-of-the-last-10-years-what-common-themes-do-you-see-if-any/558665.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-your-10-favorite-tv-shows-of-the-last-10-years-what-common-themes-do-you-see-if-any/558665.md?page=3)