What is the Greatest TV Series After The Wire, Breaking Bad, and The Sopranos?

[Timothy Hunter]

I'm not a big tv guy, but it's a medium of storytelling that fascinates me because because it's so similar to comics.

I've already watched what are considered the three greatest television shows of all time, The Wire, Breaking Bad, and The Sopranos (I'd swap Sopranos with the first season and a half of Twin Peaks or the first three seasons of Fargo, or Louie, but I digress). I'm wondering what shows are of the same level of quality?

TV Shows I've watched:

The Shield
Did the people who made the Mike Myers Cat in the Hat movie design the police station? Couldn't get past the first season

Californiacation
Watched the first couple episodes, didn't find the protagonist particularly compelling.

Six Feet Under
It breaks my heart how hit or miss this show is

Girls
I found this show to be really endearing. I stopped midway through season 3 because I felt the show lost steam.

Carnivale
Great antagonist in an otherwise uninteresting show.

Hannibal
This show's version of Hannibal Lecter might be my favorite character in all of television. Mads Mikkelssen blows Anthony Hopkins out of the water and Hugh Dancy & Lawrence Fishburne are spectacular too. But Caroline Dhavernas' character could be cut entirely.

Watchmen
Tries to reengineer the brilliance of the original with the same storytelling techniques without the characters and worldbuilding that made the comic so great in the first place.

The People Vs OJ Simpson
As someone who was never interested in the OJ Simpson trial, I found this very compelling.

The Assassination of Giani Versace
Serial killers are a well worn trope, but I thought every facet of this show was masterfully done.

Curb Your Enthusiasm
Seeing Larry David never learn from his mistakes is extremely depressing.

True Detective
Season one is brilliant, season two was more flawed but just as interesting as the last one. Stopped midway through season three because it felt like it was trying too hard to emulate the first season.

Trust
I liked it.

Shameless
Judging by the pilot, it seems more like sitcom than a drama, which doesn't interest me.

Big Little Lies
Beautifully directed, but not for me.

Game of Thrones
Watched the first episode, saw the Peter Dinklage sex scene, dedided it wasn't for me.

The Leftovers
Solid, but a little too sci fi for my tastes.

In Treatment
I only watched the first episode, but I love it so far. I hear it's still going. Did they replace the main character?

Atlanta
Despite my bias against comedy and shows with self contained episodes I thought the first season was nothing short of incredible. It's not really my thing so I didn't stick around for the following seasons.

Ballers
I watched the first two episodes and the main characters seem very shallow. Doesn't help that I know close to nothing about football.

[Frobisher]

Don't you mean "After Oz"?

[numberthirty]

The first three seasons of The Killing(Seems like it might still be on Netflix...)

Mr. Inbetween Final episode of the second season is easily the finest thing that FX has ever had a hand in.

[numberthirty]

That said, Snowfall is in the same league as Mr. Inbetween.

[hairys]

The Americans

[thwhtGuardian]

The Westwing is to this day still one of my favorite shows

[Captain Craig]

I've already watched what are considered the three greatest television shows of all time, The Wire, Breaking Bad, and The Sopranos (I'd swap Sopranos with the first season and a half of Twin Peaks or the first three seasons of Fargo, or Louie, but I digress). I'm wondering what shows are of the same level of quality?

Based on what... a certain genre criteria? I know those shows have their fans and were media darlings in their own right at the time. However..."of all time", nah don't think so, especially in the broader sense.

I notice your list of 'what's next' is a whos who of shows pretty much only from the 21st century. You need to have a better understanding of what has come before it seems.

[ChrisIII]

Mad Men was pretty good, a glimpse of the 60s and early 70s through an ad agency. The characters might appear a bit shallow at first, but become much more complex (especially Don) as things go on.


Better Call Saul, although not finished yet, works as a prequel to Breaking Bad not just for Saul himself but also "fixer" Mike, Gus and the Salamanca cartel etc. The original characters are great too and kind of makes you wonder what their fate is going to be since they're not in BB...

[FFJamie94]

Mr Robot is a pretty neat show which I can't recommend enough.

While a majority of the series came out before the Modern Shows, Twin Peak certainly... well... peaked with Season 3 back in 2017. It's probably the finest piece of TV I've ever seen and I doubt I'll see anything that could top it.

[Timothy Hunter]

Don't you mean "After Oz"?

I forgot to mention Oz, (and Boardwalk Empire for that matter). I enjoyed both shows a lot.

[j9ac9k]

I forgot to mention Oz, (and Boardwalk Empire for that matter). I enjoyed both shows a lot.

Boardwalk Empire was so good ... but it suffered when Jimmy left, meandered a bit, lost track of Margaret and didn't seem to know what to do with her, then by the last few episodes where they wrapped things up (more like, got all the other characters who weren't Nucky out of the way) was terrible. Just my opinion, of course.

[inisideguy]

Honestly everyone here is listing a certain genre. Agents of Shield is one of the greatest tv shows form beginning to end. In my opinion.

[The Gold Stream]

larry sanders show

[godisawesome]

I was gonna say Avatar: The Last Airbender, in complete seriousness. Pure escapism that can keep kids interested as well as adults deserves more credit than it gets, particularly if it can stick the landing on better storytelling than most premium cable shows.

[FFJamie94]

Don't you mean "After Oz"?

Funnily enough I've been watching this recently. Going to start Season 5 soon.

It's really good, especially the first 3 and a half seasons. The second half of season 4 started rough but picked up towards the end.