The best dramas of all time are the ones that make you feel connected to characters you will never meet in real life to the point where you obsess about their exploits as much as your own. Thanks to their gripping storylines the best TV dramas rank high among the best TV shows of recent memory with many touting characters on the list of best TV characters ever.
Many of these greatest TV drama series, like Lost and The Sopranos, have already come to a close (earning them places on the list of the best TV series finales), while others like Mad Men and Breaking Bad are on the verge of closing up TV shop and leaving us to inevitably wonder about the lives of the surviving characters and what could have happened with the characters that get killed off (I've got even odds on Walter White buying a ticket to the meth lab in the sky in the Breaking Bad finale). Medical TV shows, crime shows, and more grace this list of excellent TV dramas.
What is the best drama series in TV history? Tough question to answer considering many of the best TV series are dramas (and a lot of them are good!) Use this list of the greatest drama TV shows ever to cast your vote for the top drama series so other real people can get caught up in the fictional lives of your favorite TV drama characters.
1
5,0722,800Breaking Bad
Bryan Cranston, Aaron PaulPremiered: 2008
Network: AMC
2
3,5931,985The Sopranos
James Gandolfini, Lorraine BraccoPremiered: 1999
Network: HBO
3
2,8201,755The Wire
Dominic West, Lance ReddickPremiered: 2002
Network: BBC Four, HBO
4
3,9882,958Game of Thrones
Peter Dinklage, Lena HeadeyPremiered: 2011-04-17
Network: HBO
5
844688The Americans
Keri RussellPremiered: 2013
Network: FX
6
1,029855Deadwood
Timothy Olyphant, Ian McShanePremiered: 2004
Network: HBO
7
1,9171,687Mad Men
Jon Hamm, Elisabeth MossPremiered: 2007
Network: AMC
8
974857M*A*S*H
Alan Alda, Wayne RogersPremiered: 1972
Network: CBS
9
1,1831,041The West Wing
Martin Sheen, Rob LowePremiered: 1999
Network: NBC
10
809629Stranger Things
Winona Ryder, David HarbourPremiered: 2016
Network: Netflix
11
1,6921,122Band of Brothers
Scott Grimes, Damian LewisPremiered: 2001
Network: British Broadcasting Corporation, HBO
12
1,7491,563House
Hugh Laurie, Omar EppsPremiered: 2004
Network: Fox
13
671551Homeland
Claire Danes, Mandy PatinkinPremiered: 2011
Network: Showtime
14
602368Peaky Blinders
Cillian Murphy, Helen McCroryPremiered: 2013
Network: BBC Two
15
1,067699Fargo
Martin Freeman, Billy Bob ThorntonPremiered: 2014
Network: FX
16
830707Justified
Timothy Olyphant, Nick SearcyPremiered: 2010
Network: FX
17
732506Vikings
Travis Fimmel, Katheryn WinnickPremiered: 2013
Network: History
18
1,3951,273The Twilight Zone
Rod Serling, Robert McCordPremiered: 1959
Network: UPN, CBS
19
805730Star Trek: The Original Series
William Shatner, Leonard NimoyPremiered: 1966
Network: NBC
20
1,2791,114Sons of Anarchy
Charlie Hunnam, Katey SagalPremiered: 2008
Network: FX
21
408325Black Mirror
Daniel Kaluuya, Toby KebbellPremiered: 2011
Network: Channel 4, Netflix
22
1,121454Better Call Saul
Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan BanksPremiered: 2015
Network: AMC
23
679618Star Trek: The Next Generation
Patrick Stewart, Brent SpinerPremiered: 1987
Network: CBS
24
1,7781,653Lost
Naveen Andrews, Emilie de RavinPremiered: 2004
Network: American Broadcasting Company
25
191127The Crown
Claire Foy, Matt SmithPremiered: 2016
Network: Netflix
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