Since the dawn of the latter part of the 1990s, no brand has defined excellence in television entertainment quite like HBO. The premium cable network
Since the dawn of the latter part of the 1990s, no brand has defined excellence in television entertainment quite like HBO. The premium cable network was instrumental in pioneering the golden age of drama in the medium that has spanned across the entirety of the 21st century thus far, and its consistency has been as much a hallmark of its greatness as its brilliance, with everything from tardy ‘90s classics to newfangled masterpieces marking vital viewing for all lovers of small-screen drama.
Such is the standard of HBO’s productions; everything from iconic comedies like Sex and the City to dramatic triumphs like The Leftovers and Six Feet Under hasn’t made the cut. The series that have truly embodied the network’s penchant for outstanding storytelling, high-end production value, and immense cultural impact stand statuesque as not only HBO’s most quintessential series, but as unmissable achievements of television entertainment at gigantic as well.
10
‘True Detective’ (Season 1) (2014)
There has perhaps never been a greater single season of television than the first installment of True Detective. Combining the slow-burn intensity of its grim mystery story with the eerie and richly atmospheric landscape of rural Louisiana, it absorbs viewers with effortless perfection as it follows two detectives in their investigation of an occultist serial killer over the course of 18 years.
What makes it so enthralling is not only the depth and haunting depravity of the criminal’s unnerving, borderline-supernatural style, but the way it invests heavily in the personal lives and psychology of its two lead characters as well. It isn’t an understatement to suggest that True Detective completely changed the landscape of American crime television, pivoting away from fast-paced, police procedural plotting to a more measured tempo that revels in every ounce of suspense and unease it can conjure. While the ensuing seasons weren’t nearly as successful, they are still worth watching as well to see how they tinker with the narrative tropes and atmospheric allure that made Season 1 such a masterpiece.
9
‘Deadwood’ (2004–2006)
A defining strength of HBO’s series over the years has been their production value, a quality that imposes itself on viewers in the network’s period stories. Deadwood is potentially the best example of this, with the three-season series realizing an unromanticized vision of the Old West as it immerses the audience in the mud-soaked, candle-lit lawlessness of the titular mining town in 1870s South Dakota.
However, it isn’t merely a feat of world-building and production design, with creator David Milch also delivering some of the greatest characters and dialogue the medium has ever seen. Covering both the overworked lawmen and the opportunistic and criminal entrepreneurs, Deadwood realized every one of its major characters with profound depth while allowing the all-star cast to revel in the profane yet poetic majesty of the dialogue. While its abrupt cancelation at the end of Season 3 did rob it of some of its polish, Deadwood remains a defining highlight of 2000s television, especially now that Deadwood: The Movie has offered a succinct resolution to the story.
8
‘Chernobyl’ (2019)
Standing statuesque as HBO’s best production of the past decade, Chernobyl serves as an exemplary historical drama, an unflinching critique of political corruption, and a harrowing exploration of the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster of 1986. Over the course of just five episodes, it covers the immediate ramifications of the catastrophe, the arduous and relentless operation to contain the fallout, and the consequences that befell the Soviet Union’s leaders who tried to conceal the significance of the incident from the world.
Every aspect of filmmaking, from the writing and direction to the performances, the production design, the cinematography, and the horrific, nerve-rattling sound design, is realized with artfulness and mastery. Combining its astute craftsmanship with its ability to deliver an all-encompassing dissection of the disaster while delving into the heinous cost of the political corruption that allowed it to happen, Chernobyl is a timely and terrifying masterpiece of newfangled television that should be required viewing for all lovers of the format.
7
‘Oz’ (1997–2003)
Enshrined in the annals of television history as the first hour-long scripted production HBO ever released, Oz is at the forefront of the medium’s ascent to prestige entertainment while also pushing boundaries pertaining to censorship and explicit content. The six-season series delivers a harrowing descent into life in a maximum-security prison as it revolves around the inmates and staff in an experimental recent ward designed to prioritize reform over punishment.
Even nearly 30 years on, Oz remains one of the most viscerally disturbing shows to have ever graced the compact screen, with its cutthroat savagery and shocking immorality combining with ferocious realism as it explores gang-related rivalries, abhorrent relationships of manipulation and abuse, and the bitter reality of human depravity. While it isn’t immune to flaws over the course of its six seasons, it is undoubtedly one of television’s most significant innovators, making it a must-watch title for all HBO fans even if it is a confronting one.
6
‘The White Lotus’ (2021–Present)
With its barbed satirical punch and penchant for uproarious adult comedy and shocking twists, The White Lotus has rapid become one of the defining series of 2020s television. Running as an anthology, each season focuses on a different branch of the luxury resort hotels as the wealthy guests find their personal and professional lives spiraling into chaos through their own immoral practices and clashes with the staff at the resorts.
While it does flirt with gratuity on occasion, The White Lotus finds an irresistibly addictive acidity in its uncompromising approach to depicting the opulent and powerful as being just as disgustingly human as everyone else, if not more so. Complimented by incredible ensemble casts, gorgeous and exotic locales, and raw shock value, each of the series’ three seasons thus far have stood as must-see masterpieces of scorching satire and ruthlessly unpredictable storytelling that epitomizes HBO at its most daring.
5
‘Succession’ (2018–2023)
Another newfangled gem from HBO that masters the art of satirizing the elite, Succession strikes a perfect balance between acidic comedy, corporate world tension, and poignant character drama. Its four-season stretch follows the Roy family as the aging patriarch signals his intent to step down as the CEO of the multimedia conglomerate juggernaut, Waystar RoyCo, thus sparking an intense rivalry between his three children as they each strive to establish themselves as the optimal successor to his business empire.
Inspired by William Shakespeare’s “King Lear,” it juggles hysterics and tragedy with astonishing deftness, oscillating between the absurd immorality of wealth and the lingering trauma the siblings reckon with concerning their icy upbringing. Intoxicating from its gripping pilot episode to its shattering and beautifully bitter finale, Succession stands as one of the more noteworthy series television has seen in recent years as well as a defining pillar of HBO brilliance in the past decade.
4
‘Band of Brothers’ (2001)
As the greatest miniseries ever made, Band of Brothers marks one of television’s finest and most quintessential achievements of any production network, let alone just HBO. With a basis on the real journey of the soldiers of Easy Company endured—several of whom appear at the start of each episode in a brief segment as they are interviews on their recollections of the war—it follows the Airborne unit from their training and airdrop into Normandy on the eve of D-Day, through the many battles they fought in the European Theater of the war, and to their uneasy presence in Germany as the conflict came to an end.
With the artistic input of Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, the 10-part miniseries is not only an astonishing feat of production scale that immerses viewers in the brutality of war, but a tender, often heartbreaking exploration of the bonds that develop between soldiers amid combat. Even 25 years on from its release, Band of Brothers remains the greatest war drama television has ever seen, as well as one of the most powerful WWII stories of any medium.
3
‘Game of Thrones’ (2011–2019)
There is an air of infamy that surrounds Game of Thrones now, given its notoriously underwhelming final season. While the unfortunate ending does remove some of the shine from the series, it does little to impede the impact the series had on television as the biggest feat of production the medium has ever seen. Based on George R. R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” novel series, it unfolds as the realm of Westeros plunges into war as the land’s noble families fight for power.
It wouldn’t be an overstatement to declare that Game of Thrones was the defining title in pop-culture entertainment throughout the 2010s, with its stunning realization complemented by an appetite for shocking and violent twists that made every episode both addictively intense and sickeningly suspenseful. It can’t be said that it was faultless all the way through, but its iconic standing can’t be questioned either, with Game of Thrones standing as a true television phenomenon and a must-watch marvel of HBO at its mightiest.
2
‘The Wire’ (2002–2008)
Possibly the greatest series HBO has ever produced, The Wire has lost none of its critical sharpness or dramatic might in the 20 years since it was airing on the compact screen. Defined by its palpable sense of realism, cutting exploration of the failure of social institutions, and the moral nuance it gives to characters on both sides of the law, the five-season series delivers an awe-inspiring descent into the ferocious nature of the Baltimore drug trade and an enlightening illustration of the bureaucratic obstacles of police work.
Expanding drastically with each passing season, The Wire begins as an almost documentary-style look at street-level drug dealing and a compact police unit investigating an at-large drug empire, but it ends as a sweeping, all-encompassing analysis of the interconnected ecosystem of a city’s criminal landscape. From the low-level crooks stuck in the drug trade to officers struggling to navigate the chain of command in the police department, and even to city hall and the corridors of public schooling, The Wire goes beyond time-honored crime drama to illustrate how stiff institutional structures systemically crush individual humanity.
1
‘The Sopranos’ (1999–2007)
The spearhead of newfangled television as we know it today, The Sopranos is simply the quintessential viewing experience for anyone and everyone who adores small-screen drama at its absolute best. Following New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) as his cluttered work-life balance leads him to begin seeing a psychiatrist in secret, the six-season series is a masterclass in layered, impactful performances, resonant yet challenging writing, and captivating grounded suspense.
However, The Sopranos’ standing as television’s most quintessential series might be found even more in its impact on the medium rather than its accomplishments as a show in its own right. It single-handedly made long-form serialized drama the recent norm for the industry while pushing boundaries regarding explicit content on television and illustrating how the compact screen could be a beacon for cinematic quality across the board. Couple this with the fact that even after nearly 20 years since its conclusion, it remains one of the most discussed series of all time, and The Sopranos can only be viewed as a cultural milestone of newfangled entertainment that every television lover must watch.
The Sopranos
- Release Date
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1999 – 2007-00-00
- Network
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HBO
- Showrunner
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David Chase
- Directors
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Tim Van Patten, John Patterson, Alan Taylor, Jack Bender, Steve Buscemi, Daniel Attias, David Chase, Andy Wolk, Danny Leiner, David Nutter, James Hayman, Lee Tamahori, Lorraine Senna, Matthew Penn, Mike Figgis, Nick Gomez, Peter Bogdanovich, Phil Abraham, Rodrigo García
