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Thursday, April 03, 2025

Best TV Shows of all Time

This is an updated list to last month’s Top 10.

My Top 10 TV Shows

1. Schitt’s Creek (Seasons 1-6)

Pure comedic gold! Perfection in each episode. This was a much-needed TV series to watch and rewatch during the early years of the pandemic from 2020-2021.

2. Twin Peaks Season 3 (The Return, 2017)

Some have argued this to be considered as a movie but I consider this as a TV show. This series became must watch TV for me as I tuned in weekly to see the newest glimpse into David Lynch’s enigmatic world.

3. Delhi Crime (Seasons 1-2)

Brilliantly acted and directed by Ritchie Mehta, both seasons use real life crimes (horrific in the case of Season 1) to create a tension filled nerve-wracking show.

4. Call My Agent (Seasons 1-4)

A witty and hilarious look at the chaotic world of talent agents who go to great lengths to meet their client’s ever increasing demands. This French series also gives a peek into some of the background scenarios involving film production, distribution and film festivals.

5. Sacred Games (Seasons 1-2)

A hearty mix of politics, crime, religion, Film industry, terrorism. Based on Vikram Chandra’s novel of the same name, this series brings together a stellar cast and directors (Vikramaditya Motwane and Anurag Kashyap). And it ends on a cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers. Please let there be a Season 3!

6. Ted Lasso (Seasons 1-3)

Like Schitt’s Creek, Ted Lasso was much needed during the Pandemic. A charming, delightful series that is perfectly acted.

7. Chernobyl

The series is based on the 1986 Nuclear reactor disaster but its 2019 release date foreshadowed the response of many nations towards the pandemic. This is because at its core, the series highlights the damage to society when poor planning and leadership are combined.

8. The Wire (Seasons 1-5)

This is one of those rare TV shows that uses the long form to properly create stories and characters which examine society both from a micro and macro level. The focus of all five seasons is the cat-mouse game between cops and drug dealers, with the series illustrating the logistics of drug dealing and police surveillance. The show also covers evolution of surveillance from pay phone and landlines to cell phones and the challenges that came with the technology change. Season 2 covers the port and how drugs are smuggled in, Season 3 focuses on local municipal politics, Season 4 highlights the school system and how funding impacts level of education while Season 5 parks itself in a newsroom and observes how journalists cover stories.

Many key characters are present in all 5 seasons even though some of them change jobs. This changing perspective of some characters and their different jobs smartly depicts how imbalances in society impact lives of people across all economic scales. The series covers an entire social, political, economic spectrum of Baltimore via this lens of drugs trade.

The power of the show weakens with each season and Season 4 and 5 are the weakest of the lot and contain many episodes/scenes which pale in comparison to Seasons 1-3.

9. Breaking Bad (Seasons 1-5)

10. Justified (Seasons 1-6) tied with Mad Men (Seasons 1-7)

Honourable mentions (in no particular order):

Severance (Season 1)

Farzi (Season 1)

The Family Man (Seasons 1-2)

Note: this is the Indian TV series that stars Manoj Bajpai

The White Lotus (Seasons 1-3)

Slow Horses (Seasons 1-4)

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