Drama TV · 2010s Ranked
Best Drama TV Shows of the 2010s, Ranked by IQ Score
The decade that completed prestige TV's transformation into the dominant register of long-form American narrative. Ranked by IQ Score.
The 2010s in TV drama is the decade prestige TV completed its transformation from cable-niche to dominant register of long-form American narrative. Mad Men's late seasons, Breaking Bad's finale, The Americans, The Leftovers, Better Call Saul's first half, Halt and Catch Fire, Justified, Game of Thrones, Fargo, the canonical entries cluster densely in the decade.
Anchor picks: Breaking Bad finished its run in 2013 with what's widely cited as the most-disciplined finale in the medium's history. Mad Men closed in 2015 with a finale that took the show's central character study to its philosophical conclusion. The Leftovers (2014-17) is the decade's most-formally-experimental drama. The Americans (2013-18) is the canonical Cold War spy drama. Better Call Saul began in 2015 as the decade's most-ambitious prequel.
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202 ranked-by-IQ lists, filmographies, decade hubs, year hubs, character rankings, streaming-platform lists, and editorial curations. All scored on the same published rubric.
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