Best Tv Shows Of The 2010s

Ever catch yourself scrolling through a streaming service and wondering which shows actually defined a whole decade? The 2010s were an absolute golden era for television. It was the decade when TV went toe-to-toe with movies and honestly started winning.

The Rise of Streaming Changed Everything

Before the 2010s, cable ruled the land. Then came Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Go, flipping the entire script on how we watch stuff.

Suddenly you could binge an entire season in one weekend without waiting for commercials. Pretty wild, right? This freedom let creators take risks that networks never would have allowed.

Game of Thrones: The Behemoth

You can't talk about the 2010s without mentioning Game of Thrones. It was like a fantasy novel came alive and dragged the entire world along for the ride.

The show had dragons, political schemes, and shocking deaths that broke the internet every Sunday. Whether you loved the ending or not, it redefined what blockbuster TV could look like.

Heavy Spoiler-Adjacent Vibes Without Actually Spoiling

The show built a fanbase so massive that people held watch parties like they were rooting for a sports team. That kind of communal experience is rare in the streaming age.

Breaking Bad in the Rearview

Technically it started in the 2000s, but Breaking Bad finished in 2013 and gave us one of the greatest closings in TV history. Walter White's journey went from everyman chemistry teacher to full-on antihero.

2010s Series

The finale left people arguing at dinner tables everywhere. Have you ever seen a show make a math class feel dangerous? That's Breaking Bad energy.

Stranger Things and the Nostalgia Machine

Netflix dropped Stranger Things in 2016, and it hit like a junior high mixer blasting 80s music. It mixed small-town creepiness with Dungeons & Dragons and a living monster from another dimension.

Kids on bikes solving supernatural mysteries? It felt like Steven Spielberg wrote a love letter to Stephen King. The show proved that new IPs could become instant cultural landmarks.

The Crown and Quiet Perfection

Not every great show needs explosions. The Crown took the British monarchy and turned it into a glorious drama about power, duty, and awkward family dinners.

The Best TV of the Decade: A 2010s Television Retrospective - Part I

Give it a watch and tell me you don't start googling royal history like it's your new hobby. It showed that prestige television could transport you to another world with just dialogue and beautiful sets.

Black Mirror: TV's IQ Test

Black Mirror was the show that made you stare at your phone and feel a little guilty about it. Each episode served up a twisted tech nightmare that felt way closer to reality than you'd like.

It was like Pixar made horror films for grown-ups. The anthology format meant you could jump in anywhere, and that made it endlessly bingeable.

Atlanta and Comedy's New Brain

Donald Glover's Atlanta wasn't funny in the traditional way. It was strange, surreal, and cooler than a jazz cat wearing sunglasses indoors.

My Favorite 50 TV Shows of the 2010s – jonathan gray

The show blurred lines between comedy and art in a way that felt completely fresh. It proved that originality still had a huge audience, even if sponsorships got nervous about it.

Honorable Mentions We Can't Forget

Mad Men closed out some of the sharpest writing of the decade in 2015. Orange Is the New Black made prison life feel like a coming-of-age story, and The Handmaid's Tale gave us chills we still haven't shaken off.

Let's also throw Westworld, Sherlock, and Narcos into the conversation. The 2010s gave us a buffet of styles, moods, and completely unforgettable characters.

Why This Decade Feels Special

TV didn't just improve in the 2010s; it grew up. It stopped competing with movies and started beating them, delivery by delivery, season by season.

The shows we listed were more than entertainment. They became cultural furniture that shaped conversations, memes, and even friendships. What decade do you think can top that?