The 25 Best Binge-Worthy Television Shows Since 2000

By Thomas Delatte on March 18th, 2020

With the continued improvements on live streaming, applications such as Netflix and Hulu have created an entire culture of people who love to binge watch televisions shows. There are older classics that many of us remembered watching on television each week, like Cheers, M*A*S*H, All In The Family, Seinfeld, ER, Star Trek, Friends, The X-Files, and others that we loved back before the new millennium. However there are also newer shows like Game of Thrones, The Americans, Silicon Valley, Fargo, Veep, and Better Call Saul. We love to binge them all.

Some shows have even been created specifically for Netflix, also known as an Original Series, and have done very well for themselves. House of Cards along with Orange Is The New Black, opened up the door for others like Hemlock Grove, Bloodline, Stranger Things, and Narcos.

But what about those television shows that you haven’t seen but always wanted to? Either you were simply too busy or too worried that it wouldn’t live up to the hype and become your latest addiction. Most people who haven’t watched some of these shows continue to avoid it because of the commitment that they require. For example, Dexter went on for eight seasons and featured 96 episodes, each of which were around one hour a piece. That means if you watched them all in order nonstop, it would take you four days watching them 24/7.

Let’s go ahead and assume you do not have all of the free time in the world and still want to watch these shows. We wanted to recommend to you 25 shows and the best season of the entire series that is worth watching (if you’re only going to watch one). It might not be the best idea to watch without the rest of the series, but sometimes, a taste is better than nothing. For this list, we ignored a few of our most recent favorites, so that they can get a few more seasons under their belts before making such a list.

Warning: Spoilers Ahead

25) Eastbound & Down (Season 1)

Network: HBO
Created By: Ben Best, Jody Hill, Danny McBride
Seasons (Episodes): 4 (29)
Season 1 Viewership: 900,000 (Avg)
Main Cast: Danny McBride, Katy Mixon, John Hawkes, Andrew Daly, Jennifer Irwin

24) 24 (Season 3)

Network: FOX
Created By: Joel Surnow, Robert Cochran
Seasons (Episodes): 8 (204)
Season 3 Viewership: 10.3 million (Avg)
Main Cast: Kiefer Sutherland, Dennis Haysbert, Elisha Cuthbert, Carlos Bernard, Mary Lynn Rajskub

23) The Newsroom (Season 1)

Network: HBO
Created By: Aaron Sorkin
Seasons (Episodes): 3 (25)
Season 1 Viewership: 1.95 million (Avg)
Main Cast: Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer (Sam Waterston, Olivia Munn, Alison Pill, Dev Patel, John Gallagher

22) 30 Rock (Season 2)

Network: NBC
Created By: Tina Fey
Seasons (Episodes): 7 (138)
Season 2 Viewership: 6.5 million (Avg)
Main Cast: Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski, Jack McBrayer

21) The Shield (Season 5)

Network: FX
Created By: Shawn Ryan
Seasons (Episodes): 7 (88)
Season 5 Viewership: 1.73 million (Avg)
Main Cast: Michael Chiklis, Glenn Close, Catherine Dent, Reed Diamond, Walton Goggins

20) Deadwood (Season 2)

Network: HBO
Created By: David Milch
Seasons (Episodes): 3 (36)
Season 2 Viewership: 2.44 million (Avg)
Main Cast: Timothy Olyphant, Ian McShane, Molly Parker, Jim Beaver, W. Earl Brown

19) American Horror Story (Season 2)

Network: FX
Created By: Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk
Seasons (Episodes): 6 (73)
Season 2 Viewership: 2.53 million (Avg)
Main Cast: Connie Britton, Dylan McDermott, Evan Peters, Taissa Farmiga, Jessica Lange

18) Lost (Season 5)

Network: ABC
Created By: Jeffrey Lieber, J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof
Seasons (Episodes): 6 (121)
Season 5 Viewership: 10.94 million (Avg)
Main Cast: Naveen Andrews, Emilie de Ravin, Matthew Fox, Jorge Garcia, Maggie Grace

17) Friday Night Lights (Season 1)

Network: NBC
Created By: Peter Berg
Seasons (Episodes): 5 (76)
Season 1 Viewership: 6.2 million (Avg)
Main Cast: Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, Adianne Palicki, Gaius Charles, Minka Kelly, Taylor Kitsch

16) House (Season 4)

Network: FOX
Created By: David Shore
Seasons (Episodes): 8 (177)
Season 4 Viewership: 17.64 million (Avg)
Main Cast: Hugh Laurie, Lisa Edelstein, Omar Epps, Jennifer Morrison, Olivia Wilde

15) Six Feet Under (Season 5)

Network: HBO
Created By: Alan Ball
Seasons (Episodes): 5 (63)
Season 5 Viewership: 2.49 million (Avg)
Main Cast: Peter Krause, Micheal C. Hall, Frances Conroy, Lauren Ambrose, Freddy Rodriguez

14) Shameless (Season 1)

Network: Showtime
Created By: Paul Abbott
Seasons (Episodes): 7 (84)
Season 1 Viewership: 1.18 million (Avg)
Main Cast: William H. Macy, Emmy Rossum, Justin Chatwin, Ethan Cutkosky (Shanola Hampton

13) The West Wing (Season 2)

Network: NBC
Created By: Aaron Sorkin
Seasons (Episodes): 7 (156)
Season 2 Viewership: 17 million (Avg)
Main Cast: Martin Sheen, Rob Lowe, Bradley Whitford, Richard Schiff, Allison Janney

12) It’s Always Sunny… (Season 5)

Network: Fxw
Created By: Rob McElhenney
Seasons (Episodes): 12 (134)
Season 5 Viewership: 1.8 million (Avg)
Main Cast: Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Danny DeVito, Kaitlin Olson, Rob McElhenney

11) Parks & Recreation (Season 4)

Network: NBC
Created By: Greg Daniels, Michael Schur
Seasons (Episodes): 7 (125)
Season 4 Viewership: 2.73 million (Avg)
Main Cast: Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Aubrey Plaze, Chris Pratt, Aziz Ansari, Nick Offerman

10) Mad Men (Season 4)

Network: AMC
Created By: Matthew Weiner
Seasons (Episodes): 7 (92)
Season 4 Viewership: 2.27 million (Avg)
Main Cast: Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser, John Slattery, Maggie Siff

9) Dexter (Season 4)

Network: Showtime
Created By: James Manos Jr.
Seasons (Episodes): 8 (96)
Season 4 Viewership: 1.74 million (Avg)
Main Cast: Michael C. Hall, Julie Benz, John Lithgow, Jennifer Carpenter, Erik King, Lauren Velez

8) The Walking Dead (Season 2)

Network: AMC
Created By: Frank Darabont
Seasons (Episodes): 7 (99)
Season 2 Viewership: 6.9 million (Avg)
Main Cast: Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Jon Bernthal (Sarah Wayne Callies (Steven Yeun, Jeffrey Dean Morgan

7) The Office (Season 2)

Network: NBC
Created By: Greg Daniels
Seasons (Episodes): 9 (201)
Season 2 Viewership: 8 million (Avg)
Main Cast: Steve Carrel, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, Ed Helms, B.J. Novak, James Spader, Melora Hardin, Leslie David Baker, Angela Kinsey

6) Community (Season 3)

Network: NBC
Created By: Dan Harmon
Seasons (Episodes): 6 (110)
Season 3 Viewership: 3.42 million (Avg)
Main Cast: Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Alison Brie, Yvette Nicole Brown, Donald Glover, Ken Jeong, Chevy Chase

5) Sons of Anarchy (Season 2)

Network: Fx
Created By: Kurt Sutter
Seasons (Episodes): 7 (92)
Season 2 Viewership: 3.65 million (Avg)
Main Cast: Charlie Hunnam, Katey Sagal, Kim Coates, Tommy Flanagan, Johnny Lewis, Mark Boone Junior, Maggie Siff, Ron Perlman, Ryan Hurst, Theo Rossi

4) Game of Thrones (Season 3)

Network: HBO
Created By: David Benioff, D.B. Weiss
Seasons (Episodes): 7 (63)
Season 3 Viewership: 4.97 million (Avg)
Main Cast: Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Kit Harington, Emilia Clarke (Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Iain Glen, Alfie Allen, Aidan Gillen, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Rory McCann, Jack Gleeson, Michelle Fairley, Richard Madden

3) The Wire (Season 4)

Network: HBO
Created By: David Simon
Seasons (Episodes): 5 (60
Season 4 Viewership: 4.4 million (Avg)
Main Cast: Dominic West, Idris Elba, John oman, Frankie Faison, Lawrence Gilliard, Wood Harris

2) Breaking Bad (Season 5)

Network: A&E
Created By: Vince Gilligan
Seasons (Episodes): 5 (62)
Season 5 Viewership: 4.32 million (Avg)
Main Cast: Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn, Aaron Paul, Dean Norris, Betsy Brandt, Bob Odenkirk

1) The Sopranos (Season 1)

Network: HBO
Created By: David Chase
Seasons (Episodes): 6 (86)
Season 1 Viewership: 3.46 million (Avg)
Main Cast: James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco, Edie Falco, Dominic Chianese, Michael Imperioli (Steven Van Zandt, Tony Sirico, Jamie-Lynn Sigler