The 20 Best Written Dramas in TV History
Without a great script, TV shows wouldn’t be memorable. Whether we’re talking about the everyday life of a New Jersey gangster or the 1960s advertising industry, a powerful script can make the most mundane topics extraordinary, exciting audiences in a way few TV series can.
In most cases, these best-written drama series can evoke consistent emotion from one episode to the next. They draw on nuanced characters that grow and change over time.
1. Breaking Bad (2008-2013)
A show that only continued to improve with each new season, Breaking Bad’s success lies in the transformation of its two main characters: the ailing science teacher Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and the immature drug dealer Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul).
Throughout its suspenseful six-season long run, audiences witnessed the slow metamorphosis each character experiences as they grapple with the dangerous world of underground crime, with each new episode changing their personality in some subtle way. For this reason alone, the show achieves an almost literary quality, accounting for its iconic reputation today.
2. The Sopranos (1999-2007)
Hooking audiences from the very get-go, The Sopranos took an otherwise kitschy premise and explored it to its fullest potential. Using the central plot line of a New Jersey mob boss (James Gandolfini) confronting his various inner anxieties in therapy, The Sopranos offered up an in-depth world occupied by fully realized, morally ambiguous characters. In no uncertain terms, the show’s superior writing set the standard for HBO series moving forward.
3. Mad Men (2007-2015)
It takes a skilled writer to make the world of 1960s advertising interesting, yet–somehow–Matthew Weiner did just that. Valuing character and story above all else, Mad Men presented a cast of flawed characters as they navigated the shifting landscape of the 1960s, struggling to make sense of the changing world around them and keep up with the cultural trends of their day.
4. Band of Brothers (2001)
Perhaps the finest TV miniseries ever produced, Band of Brothers adapted the true experiences of a World War II paratrooper company for the small screen. Battling their way through some of the most infamous conflicts in human history, Band of Brothers depicts the miraculous bond formed by these soldiers in the heat of combat–a bond that persevered throughout the most harrowing of battlefield engagements.
5. Deadwood (2004-2006)
A down-and-dirty Western series, showrunner David Milch reinvigorated the genre with his acclaimed HBO series, Deadwood. Rather than focusing on grand-standing shootouts, Deadwood opted for a more grounded approach to the Western, placing greater emphasis on dialogue and characterization than action alone, deconstructing the historical legend surrounding the Old West.
6. Six Feet Under (2001-2005)
How does one make a subject as sobering as death funny? The answer: portraying it in a frank, cathartic way, as Six Feet Under manages to do. An unconventional dark comedy that never loses its basis in drama, Six Feet Under discusses the inevitability of death not as something to fear, but as something to reflect on from one day to the next. As the show often tells viewers, the finality of life makes existence worth experiencing in the first place, with no one quite sure of how much time they have left.
7. Succession (2018-2023)
Like the aforementioned Six Feet Under, HBO’s Succession utilizes a wide range of comedy throughout its four season-long run. In spite of this fact, the show’s sensitive treatment of its characters–many of whom possess little to any redeeming qualities upon first glance–established Succession as a brilliant drama series, accounting for its avid popularity in the late 2010s into the start of the 2020s. Of course, it also helped that the show ranks as one of the best written drama series ever, too.
8. Chernobyl (2019)
Another fact-based HBO miniseries, Chernobyl offers the same accurate depiction of its historical subject matter as Band of Brothers, albeit in a very different way. Documenting the 1986 Chernobyl incident that left the eponymous Russian city a radioactive wasteland, Chernobyl reads as a stunning illustration surrounding the dangers of nuclear war and radioactive fallout.
9. Game of Thrones (2011-2019)
Yes, Game of Thrones’ later seasons failed to live up to the high esteem set by fans in the show’s earlier years. Yet at its peak, Game of Thrones ushered in a new era for HBO programming, becoming a pop culture phenomenon rivaling The Sopranos or Breaking Bad. A realistic take on the conventional fantasy genre, the show’s more grounded elements–including rampant violence and political maneuvering–won audiences over the moment the credits of the pilot episode began to roll.
10. House (2004-2012)
By their very nature, most medical dramas focus on a larger cast of characters in lieu of a single main protagonist. In contrast, 2004’s House broke this pre-established rule, building most of its episodes around Hugh Laurie’s mean-spirited Dr. Gregory House.
Whereas most medical dramas of its age made use of empathetic protagonists, House’s lead character challenged this conception, saving his patients’ lives even as he displayed a slew of disreputable qualities (cynicism, biting sarcasm, and a lack of basic sympathy).
11. The West Wing (1999-2006)
Few professions require such stressful decision-making as politics, especially when it comes to leading an entire nation. Providing a fictionalized glimpse into the cabinet administration of the U.S. presidency, The West Wing chronicles the numerous sacrifices and heartaches attached to global politics–a profession that leaves little room for error, and even less for relaxation.
12. I May Destroy You (2020)
One of the best TV series of the 2020s yet, I May Destroy You delivers a nonstop series of comedic sequences and a ceaseless barrage of dramatic moments. A miniseries for the modern era, I May Destroy You handles its difficult topics with sensitivity and grace, giving voice to an entire generation of viewers in the process.
13. The Good Wife (2009-2016)
The 2000s made for a decade chock full of memorable television characters that blurred the line between conventional heroes and more ambiguous anti-heroes.
Yet for as often as a Tony Soprano or Walter White came along, TV shows never had a fully-rendered female protagonist that held audiences’ interest. The Good Wife changed all of that, introducing audiences to the complicated Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies), an aspiring politician whose moral decline resembles Walter White’s own fall from grace.
14. Friday Night Lights (2006-2011)
Football remains a key part of most Americans’ lives, whether in the form of NFL or regional high school football. Tackling this subject head-on, Friday Night Lights analyzes the sense of community that comes from watching and/or playing football, as well as the immense pressures felt by players on and off the field.
15. Downton Abbey (2010-2015)
While it may not serve as everyone’s cup of tea, the historical drama series, Downton Abbey, has nevertheless earned the widespread appreciation of fans across the globe. In particular, the series excelled at deconstructing the most important events of the 21st century, measuring the resonating effects such moments had on Britain’s aristocracy and the social class of servants answering their every beck and call.
16. Homeland (2011-2020)
The crown jewel of Showtime’s programming, Homeland equipped viewers with a harrowing look at the inherent paranoia surrounding post-9/11 American politics. Like Game of Thrones, the show’s script quality took a bit of a dive over time, yet Homeland’s initial two seasons offer an explosive illustration of how fear can triumph over thoughtful logic.
17. Oz (1997-2003)
The Orange Is the New Black of its day and age, Oz became one of the most influential shows to air on HBO in the late 1990s. Weaving in an intelligent discussion about America’s flawed legal system, the series provided an unflinching look at the complex nature of prison life, from simmering factional rivalries to the grueling mistreatment prisoners suffer at the hands of their fellow inmates.
18. I, Claudius (1976)
One of the more influential series produced by the BBC, I, Claudius acts as a stunning adaptation of Robert Graves’ historical novel series of the same name.
Covering the expansive history of the early Roman Empire, I, Claudius shows the slow decline of the Empire from its glory days to its eventual dissolution. Trading wise leaders for dictatorial tyrants throughout its 12 episodes, I, Claudius underscores the political instability wrought by the use (or abuse) of absolute power.
19. The Bear (2022-present)
Like its HBO Emmy rival Succession, The Bear alternates back and forth between comedy and drama, lulling viewers with its persistent jokes before delivering a hard slap in the face with its impactful emotion. Touching upon a wide range of relatable topics like grief, work-life balance, and professional aspirations, The Bear will no doubt go down as one of the best-written drama series of the 2020s yet.
20. ER (1994-2009)
A decade before Grey’s Anatomy held a monopoly over the televised medical drama, viewers delighted in the episodic melodrama of ER.
Spanning a whopping 15 seasons, the show’s changing cast allowed for a wide range of new stories and characters, whether in the form of the chiseled-chin surgeon Doug Ross (George Clooney) or the enigmatic Catherine Banfield (Angela Bassett).
