There's nothing quite like a great television drama. The small screen is a medium that has seen some of the most fascinating stories that humanity has told in modern times, whether it's a compelling political drama, a hugely imaginative fantasy epic, or an iconic space opera. Regardless of genre, television's greatest dramas are proof of why television has remained such a timeless art form through the years.
And thankfully for television fans, "drama" is such a vast category which contains such an incredible variety of genres that there's something out there for pretty much anyone to enjoy. And of course, if there's one country that has produced a particularly large—and high-quality—number of drama shows throughout history, it's the United States. As such, many of the most acclaimed televisual dramas in history are American. This list will only consider full-length television series, not miniseries, as that is a whole other can of worms altogether.
10 'The West Wing' (1999–2006)
Image via NBCFew television dramas are more quintessentially American than The West Wing, one of those classic shows that are now relevant again. But while some level of familiarity with American politics definitely goes a long way in one's enjoyment of the series, it's by no means necessary in order to be captivated by its universal themes of deeply human drama and political idealism.
Aaron Sorkin was already a well-known playwright and screenwriter by the time he created The West Wing, but this prestige series was the one that turned him into a household name. The rapidfire dialogue that characterizes Sorkin's work is at its most brilliant here, serving as the foundation of some of the most intelligent character development and most compelling political complexity of any drama show from the '90s or 2000s.
9 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' (1987–1994)
Since as far back as Star Trek: The Original Series' release back in 1966, the Star Trek franchise has been revolutionizing science fiction across different forms of media—chiefly, of course, the small screen. Different fans will have different answers to the question of what their favorite piece of Star Trek media is, but the question of what the best Star Trek show is typically elicits one main answer: The Next Generation.
It's one of the classic sci-fi shows that has aged the best, perhaps the most iconic and widely celebrated example of what the sci-fi genre is capable of achieving on American television. With one of the most incredible ensemble casts in television history and the kind of optimistic vision of the future that characterizes Star Trek, this drama never ceases to be an irresistible blast.
8 'Twin Peaks' (1990–2017)
Image via ABCDavid Lynch was a filmmaker like no other, easily one of the most important and influential surrealist movie directors in history. He also made incursions into the small screen, though—namely, with Twin Peaks. Like anyone would expect out of any Lynch product, this one's impossible to put into a simple box. There are elements of a murder mystery, a surrealist horror, a detective thriller, and a sci-fi thriller, but one thing is certain: This is nothing if not one of the best American television dramas ever.
Twin Peaks is definitely not for those who prefer purely escapist television that doesn't challenge their minds in the slightest; but those who love binge-watching mind-twisters when coming home from work ought to watch Twin Peaks at least once in their lives. It's one of those classic thriller shows worth binge-watching today, introducing a fascinating sense of darkness and horror into nostalgic small-town Americana.
7 'Game of Thrones' (2011–2019)
Image via HBOFantasy dramas are dramas as worthy of respect as any other, and no TV show has ever demonstrated that more exceptionally than Game of Thrones. Underwhelming final season and universally-hated finale notwithstanding, this will forever be remembered as one of the greatest television series in history, packed with several of the best TV episodes of all time.
Where can one even start singing Game of Thrones' praises? Its production values are stunningly cinematic, its star-studded cast is full of unforgettable performances, its action sequences are absolutely enthralling, and its many twists and turns make it one of the most unpredictable fantasy shows ever made. Deep world-building, compelling character work, and engaging plotlines abound in Game of Thrones.
Collider Exclusive · Game of Thrones Personality Quiz Which Game of Thrones House Do You Belong To? Stark · Lannister · Targaryen · Baratheon · Tyrell
Five great houses. Five completely different answers to the same question: how do you hold power in a world that will take it from you the moment you stop paying attention? Eight questions will determine where your loyalties — and your nature — truly lie.
🐺Stark
🦁Lannister
🐉Targaryen
🦌Baratheon
🌹Tyrell
FIND YOUR HOUSE →
01
Someone powerful is acting dishonourably and everyone knows it. What do you do? In Westeros, the answer to this question has ended more than one great house.
ACall it out, openly and on the record. If honour means anything, it has to mean something when it's costly. BUse it. Information about someone else's dishonour is leverage — and leverage is power. CAct decisively to correct it — with or without the approval of those around me. DChallenge them directly. Strength settles disputes more honestly than courtroom manoeuvring. ENavigate carefully — build alliances, apply quiet pressure, and create a situation where the right outcome becomes inevitable.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
What is the source of your power? Every house endures because of something. What is it for yours?
AThe loyalty of people who trust me — earned over generations, not bought with gold. BWealth, intelligence, and the willingness to use both without sentiment. CA legacy so fearsome and a vision so total that opposition becomes unthinkable. DPhysical strength, military force, and the respect that comes from being the kind of person nobody wants to fight. ECharm, connection, and the ability to make powerful people feel that my success is also theirs.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
Who do you truly fight for? Strip away the banners and the words. The honest answer tells you everything.
AMy family and my people — those who depend on me and have kept faith with me through everything. BMy family — the ones who share my blood, even when they exhaust me, even when they disappoint me. CMy cause — a vision larger than any single person, including me. DMyself, and those few who've proven themselves worth fighting beside. EMy house — its name, its future, the position I intend to leave it in when I'm gone.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
How do you deal with your enemies? A house's method reveals its character as clearly as its words ever could.
AHonestly — I face them directly, and I give quarter when it's warranted. BThoroughly — I don't leave loose ends, and I don't make the same enemy twice. CDecisively — fire answers questions that diplomacy only delays. DHead-on — I'd rather meet a threat on the battlefield than behind closed doors. EElegantly — I prefer to make former enemies into allies, or at least into people who owe me something.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
What kind of ruler do you believe in? Westeros is full of answers to this question. Most of them end badly.
AA just one — someone who serves the realm rather than using it, who leads by example rather than fear. BA capable one — someone smart enough to navigate the game, ruthless enough to win it, and realistic about what winning costs. CA transformative one — someone who doesn't just rule what exists but reshapes what's possible. DA strong one — someone whose authority is beyond question because the alternative is obviously worse. EA wise one — someone who understands that the realm is fed by more than armies, and that a full stomach keeps more peace than a sharp sword.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
You suffer a devastating loss. How does your house respond? How a house handles defeat tells you more about it than how it handles victory.
AWe grieve, properly and together — and then we endure, because endurance is what we do. BWe adapt. We reassess. And we ensure that whoever caused this loss comes to regret it completely. CWe burn hotter. Setbacks don't soften us — they clarify what needs to happen next. DWe hit back. Grief and revenge are the same motion in our house. EWe regroup quietly, rebuild our position, and return when we're ready — on our terms, not theirs.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
Which of these truths about Westeros do you most believe? Every house has a philosophy. This is yours.
AThe lone wolf dies, but the pack survives. Nothing matters more than the people you protect. BA Lannister always pays their debts — in gold or in kind. Reputation is built on consistency. CI am the blood of the dragon. Some destinies are written before the person who carries them is born. DOurs is the fury. When we move, we move completely — and we don't stop until it's done. EGrowing strong means knowing when to bloom and when to wait. Patience is its own kind of power.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
The Iron Throne is within reach. What do you do? The answer reveals not just your ambition — but your character.
AClaim it only if the realm needs me to — and rule in a way that makes it worth having. BEnsure someone who owes us sits in it. The power behind the throne is safer than the throne itself. CTake it. It was always meant to be mine — I feel that in my bones and in my blood. DSeize it — with both hands, without hesitation. Opportunity in Westeros does not wait to be asked. EPosition my house to be indispensable to whoever sits there — influence outlasts any single reign.
REVEAL MY HOUSE →
The Maester Has Spoken Your House Is…
Your answers point to the great house whose words, values, and way of surviving in Westeros match your own. Bend the knee — or don't. That's very much up to you.
🐺 House Stark
Winter is Coming — and you have always known it. You prepare not out of fear but out of duty, because the people who depend on you deserve someone who takes the long view.
- You lead with honour even when it costs you, because you understand that a reputation built on integrity is the only one worth having.
- Your loyalty to family and people runs deep — not as sentiment but as a code that doesn't bend when things get difficult.
- The North endures because Starks endure — not by being the cleverest players in the game, but by being the kind of people others are willing to follow into the cold.
- You are that kind of person. The pack survives. The lone wolf dies. You already know which one you are.
🦁 House Lannister
You understand the game — its rules, its exceptions, and exactly when the rules become the exception. You play it without illusions and without apology.
- You are sharper than most people realise, and you have learned to use that gap to your advantage.
- A Lannister always pays their debts — and you always keep your word, because your word is an instrument of power, and instruments must be kept in working order.
- You love your family with a ferocity that sometimes blinds you, and you know it, and you do it anyway.
- The lion doesn't concern itself with the opinion of sheep. Neither, in the end, do you.
🐉 House Targaryen
You carry a sense of destiny that is difficult to explain and impossible to ignore — the feeling that you are not simply participating in the world but meant to reshape it.
- You are capable of extraordinary things, and you know it, and that knowledge is both your greatest strength and your most dangerous quality.
- Fire and blood are not just words to you — they are a philosophy about what change requires and what it costs.
- The Targaryens at their best were transformative rulers who broke chains and defied the limits of what anyone thought possible.
- At your best, so are you. The dragon has three heads. You are one of them.
🦌 House Baratheon
You are a force — direct, powerful, and difficult to ignore when you enter a room or a conflict. You do not negotiate with challenges. You meet them.
- Ours is the fury — and yours is a kind of intensity that commands attention, respect, and occasionally fear from those who underestimate what's behind it.
- You value strength and straight dealing. You'd rather know where you stand in a fight than navigate a web of courtly whispers.
- The Baratheons built their house on the back of one of the greatest military victories in Westerosi history — and then struggled with what came after.
- The lesson of your house is that winning is not the end of the story. Governing is. You are learning that too.
🌹 House Tyrell
You understand that power does not always announce itself — that sometimes it arrives with flowers, good wine, and a smile that doesn't quite reach the eyes.
- Growing strong is your house's motto, and you live it: patiently, strategically, always investing in the relationships and resources that will matter most when it counts.
- You are charming by choice and calculating by nature — a combination that makes you one of the most effective players in any room you enter.
- The Tyrells fed King's Landing and shaped its politics without ever sitting on the Iron Throne — and they were arguably more powerful for it.
- You know that the person who controls the food controls the kingdom. And you always know where the food is.
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6 'Mad Men' (2007–2015)
Image via AMCThe world of 1960s American advertising isn't exactly one that's often depicted on the big screen, but even without that factor of uniqueness, Mad Men would still be one of the greatest American dramas in history. Led by Jon Hamm at the very top of his game, this incredible period piece is every bit as visually stylized as it is full of narrative depth and mature themes.
Indeed, it's far and away one of the best drama TV shows of all time, built with an uncompromising sense of realism that supports its thematic deconstruction of the illusion of the American Dream wonderfully. Full of flawlessly complex and morally ambiguous characters, meticulously-researched yet endlessly stylish period elements, and brilliant subtext, it's everything that a non-genre drama show should always aim to be.
5 'Better Call Saul' (2015–2022)
Image via AMCParticularly toward the early seasons of its run, Better Call Saul was often compared to a certain show that it serves as a prequel to. That still happens quite often today, but over time, the series firmly established itself as entirely its own thing, worthy of being analyzed and praised without any comparisons. Regardless of which installment of this universe is superior, however, one thing is certain: There aren't very many shows quite like this one.
It's one of the greatest TV shows in history, a genre-bending masterpiece that works equally well as a legal drama, a crime thriller, and a profound character study. The performances are all phenomenal (particularly those by leads Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn), the direction of each episode is nothing short of perfect, and the way the pacing and suspense of the show keeps escalating with the passing of each season is a masterclass in the art of making a serialized TV drama.
4 'Succession' (2018–2023)
Image via HBOHBO has produced several of the best TV shows of all time, many of them being among the greatest American dramas in history. One such show is Succession, and even though it has plenty of elements of satire and dark humor, it was competing under the Drama category at the Emmys, which ultimately feels just right. It has a sense of humor, but this is a drama as Shakespearean as they get.
Full of enough twists, betrayals, and backstabbings to satisfy even the most demanding of fans of character-driven dramas, Succession is one of those perfect HBO shows that get better with every rewatch. Full of all-time performances, nail-biting scenes of character-driven tension, and endlessly quotable jokes and lines of dialogue, it's one of the most tonally complex and delectably layered shows in recent memory.
3 'The Wire' (2002–2008)
Image via HBOAmerican or otherwise, there are no other crime dramas out there quite like The Wire. It's easily one of the best American crime shows of all time, one of several HBO shows that contributed to the rise of "prestige television" in the late '90s and early 2000s. Created and primarily written by former police reporter David Simon, it's a show that has only gotten timelier and more compelling with age.
Far more than just a traditional cop show, The Wire completely revolutionized the genre of the procedural by delivering a thematically sprawling, tonally complex, ultra-realistic critique of modern American institutions and authorities. Fans (and even David Simon himself) often refer to the city of Baltimore as the true protagonist of The Wire, and that results in an exquisitely authentic and gritty crime drama that still has no equal all these many years later.
2 'The Sopranos' (1999–2007)
Image via HBOExperts tend to agree that it was HBO's The Sopranos that kickstarted the era of prestige television that arguably still reigns supreme within the realm of the small screen. It is, by far, one of the most universally loved TV series of all time, the kind of classic series so groundbreaking and ahead-of-its-time that it still feels as modern as ever even 27 years after its pilot's airing.
There are many factors that have kept The Sopranos so timelessly relevant to the pop culture zeitgeist. Pretty much pioneering complex anti-heroes, tremendous psychological depth, and thought-provoking thematic layers on television, it set a new blueprint for what television would have to learn to do in the years after. It demonstrated that stories told on the small screen could be art just as much as those on the big screen, and American television hasn't been the same since.
1 'Breaking Bad' (2008–2013)
Image via AMCSaying that Breaking Bad is the greatest TV show in history has become such a common occurrence that it has almost become a bit of a truism. There are many things that people take for granted nowadays: that the sky is blue, that the sun will rise tomorrow, and that Vince Gilligan's magnum opus is the pinnacle of what the televisual medium has to offer. That's because even today, no matter how closely you examine and dissect Breaking Bad's every nuance, it does always feel like the perfect show.
It's the best of all crime drama shows, the series that ran after The Sopranos walked. Walter White (Bryan Cranston) is one of television's most fascinating anti-heroes, and every other character is just as compelling; from the clever cinematography to the brilliant editing, every technical aspect is top-notch; and the writing is some of the most suspenseful, well-paced, thematically complex, and emotionally stirring that television has ever seen. American TV has delivered several of the greatest dramas in history, and Breaking Bad still reigns supreme 13 years after its conclusion.
Breaking Bad
Release Date 2008 - 2013-00-00
Network AMC
Showrunner Vince Gilligan
Directors Vince Gilligan, Michelle Maclaren
English (US) ·