Top 5 lists: TV
11 lists
Top 5 Underrated TV Shows You Should Watch
Shows that deserved way more attention than they got.
1–3: Station Eleven · The Bear (Seasons 1–2) · Reservation Dogs
Top 5 TV Detectives You'd Trust to Find Out Who Ate Your Leftovers
Some solve murders, but these sleuths would crack the case of the missing office-fridge lasagna before lunch.
1–3: Lt. Columbo — Columbo · Charlie Cale — Poker Face · Adrian Monk — Monk
Top 5 TV Shows That Got Good After a Rough First Season
For anyone who has ever said "just push through season one, I promise" and meant every word of it.
1–3: Parks and Recreation · Star Trek: The Next Generation · The Office (US)
Top 5 TV Bottle Episodes That Did More With Less
One room, no budget, no excuses: the episodes where a cheap set forced a show to discover what it was really about.
1–3: The Suitcase — Mad Men · The Chinese Restaurant — Seinfeld · Cooperative Calligraphy — Community
Top 5 TV Characters You'd Never Trust With Your House Keys
Lovable on screen, but one weekend of pet-sitting and you'd come home to a crime scene or a hot tub in the living room.
1–3: Cosmo Kramer — Seinfeld · Charlie Kelly — It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia · Joey Tribbiani — Friends
Top 5 TV Cold Opens Better Than Most Full Episodes
The two-minute bits before the credits that were funnier, stranger or more gripping than whole seasons of other shows.
1–3: The Fire Drill — The Office ("Stress Relief") · Pants in the Desert — Breaking Bad ("Pilot") · The Hatch Wake-Up — Lost ("Man of Science, Man of Faith")
Top 5 Sitcom Coworkers You'd Actually Want at the Next Desk
Forget the funniest characters: these are the ones who would make a real Tuesday at a real job noticeably less miserable.
1–3: Leslie Knope — Parks and Recreation · Jim Halpert — The Office · Donna Meagle — Parks and Recreation
Top 5 TV Episodes That Threw Out the Show's Own Rulebook
The weird, risky episodes where a show broke its own format and somehow got even better.
1–3: Hush — Buffy the Vampire Slayer · Teddy Perkins — Atlanta · Remedial Chaos Theory — Community
Top 5 TV Theme Songs You Refuse to Skip
The opening credits that turn a 'skip intro' button into a moral failing.
1–3: Woke Up This Morning — Alabama 3 (The Sopranos) · Succession Main Title Theme — Nicholas Britell · Where Everybody Knows Your Name — Gary Portnoy (Cheers)
Top 5 TV Pilots That Hooked You in Under Ten Minutes
First episodes that skipped the warm-up and grabbed you before the opening credits had even finished.
1–3: Breaking Bad — Pilot · Lost — Pilot · Severance — Good News About Hell
Top 5 TV Finales That Actually Stuck the Landing
Rare endings that made all those years of watching feel worth it instead of feeling like a betrayal.
1–3: Six Feet Under — "Everyone's Waiting" · The Leftovers — "The Book of Nora" · The Good Place — "Whenever You're Ready"