It’s a fatal flaw that can plague many shows. They start out strong, but over time they get progressively worse. Or sometimes, they start out terrible, and take a few seasons to find their footing. But what about the ones that are great from start to finish? They’re truly rare in television, but they do exist. I compiled a list of five shows that I believe to be great even after 5+ seasons across each of them. Yes, Arrested Development and Firefly were phenomenal, but they had short runs and it’s hard to categorize them the same way. Check out the shows I selected below.
Friday Night Lights
God, what a great show. The drama of Friday Night Lights always felt authentic from start to finish, and across five seasons, it’s hard to find a single one you could call bad. The show had it’s rough moments, like Landry and Tyra’s murder secret and Julie Taylor being slutty with her TA, but other than that, the show shined with every new season.
The Wire
Each season of The Wire was orchestrated around a specific crime or set of crimes, and all were fantastic. In terms of locale we went from the streets and the drug game, to human trafficking, to the public school system to the state of journalism, and The Wire is a masterpiece in how to tell a story.
Breaking Bad
The show isn’t over yet, but again, it’s hard to pull out a season that wasn’t well done. Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul have carried this show on their backs for years, and even if plot points go wonky (the plane crash, ugh) it doesn’t matter because their performances are always so damn powerful.
Mad Men
I don’t know what it is about Mad Men. Not all that much happens on the show. People change jobs, and change wives, but that’s really it. But it’s just so captivating I always remark that it’s a show I could just keep watching forever. It was good when it aired as a breakout hit, but years later, the quality is still there. I can’t wait to see what doesn’t happen next.
Seinfeld
If you skip the pilot and the finale, everything that came between in Seinfeld’s run in simply legendary. The show simply never stopped being fantastic, and it decided to go out when it was still on top so it wouldn’t suffer a decline in quality at some point. But at that time, they already had nine seasons under their belt, each one full of a host of classic episodes.
Follow Us
For my money, Supernatural should be in the conversation to be included on a list like this. Seasons 6 and 7 dipped under a new show runner, but it still was quality television, just not as epic as the first five seasons. so far, season 8 is classic Supernatural.
Thomas, I have to completely disagree about Supernatural. The show has been consistently bad from the beginning.
I also have to disagree with Mad Men. I do find it borderline boring, to the point where I am stuck halfway through season 2 because I just can’t force myself to watch it anymore.
Yeah, Mad Men just doesn’t grab me, but I find your statement about Supernatural way too extreme. I think whether or not you’re a fan of the genre it was consistently well written with a well-done five year arc from the jump.
I would definitely have to add Frasier to this list. All the seasons were brilliantly funny and also Star Trek Next Generation, first half of season 1 was a little rough, but 7 seasons of quality.