Best TV Series in the Cable Era

[Eja117]

I wish HBO would throw a TON of money at JK Rowling in order to make Hogwarts: The Prequels.  Or the Sequels. Or both. Just give me give me give me.

[33_Larry Legend_33]

Seinfeld...

It still shows up on TBS as re-runs, and since we make up our own rules here, I'll call that 'modern cable era."

I got into Six Feet Under.

If I continue, it becomes clear that I don't watch much anything on my tv these days except sports and movies I've already watched a thousand times...

[Csfan1984]

I have best Anime series as
1. Cowboy Beebop
2. Macross Robotech
3. Yu Yu Hakusho
4. Naruto
5. DBZ /Berserk

[Csfan1984]

Action Drama series (Heavy life and death consequences) I like
1. TWD
2. GOT
3. Sopranos
4. The Shield
5. Breaking Bad
6. The Wire

This is where it should be clarified if we're just listing our FAVORITE shows or the ones we think are the "Best of the Cable Era". 

I've never watched "The Walking Dead", but it seems to be a polarizing show where opinions fall into two camps.  #1 - "It's a great show.  I love it."    #2 - "I guess the first season was well done, but the rest of the series kind of crap."

I do see that consensus critical rating has hovered between 75-82 on Metacritic which is pretty good... But I don't think it would be labelled as one of the greatest shows of this era.  Kind of like... I enjoy the shows "Shameless", "Girls" and "Silicon Valley" for what they are, but I would never consider either one of the best shows of the modern era.

Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, The Wire, Mad Men and Sopranos consistently scored in the 90s.   "Breaking Bad Season 5", for instance, scored a 99/100 on Metacritic which is the highest score a show has received. 

A couple more shows that have scored in the 90s.

"The Americans" - I've never seen it (it doesn't get many viewers), but I hear it's really great. 
"Louie"  - I enjoy it, but wouldn't call it a "comedy" at this point. 
"Sherlock" (BBC) - Extremely well done, but it's kind of like a movie series and less of a show since each season only has a few episodes.
"Deadwood"  - Perhaps the first to kick off this television golden age?  EDIT:  Season 1 got an 80 and season 3 got a 85, so perhaps it shouldn't be included in the conversation.  I feel like it puttered out a bit.

As far as I can tell, nothing else got consistently high critical praise.

Thing is there are plenty of episodes that are not rated highly by myself personally for every show I have watched including every show that I listed, none are flawless. The the big pay out scenes and acting that some shows have clearly make up for the bad episodes like TWD. The payoff scenes are epic in TWD beyond that of GOT, Breaking bad and others. TWD's many gung-ho episodes are what turn off many critics and can be over the top to many except Zombie fans. But Zombie fans are their primary auidence so give them some fun. Despite this the acting is superb all the time. Same can be said for each great show. None are perfect but great acting.

[86MaxwellSmart]

The Larry Sanders Show
Ray Donovan
Dexter
True Detective
Boardwalk Empire
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dream On

to name a few Cable shows.

[Mencius]

Hmmm.  Good topic.

I'm going to say my top picks for drama are Sopranos, Homeland, Breaking Bad, and Dexter. No particular order on the top 3, but Dexter would probably be 4th. Well, okay, if I absolutely must choose I'll probably have Sopranos/Homeland at the top. There've been others I've enjoyed too, but those are my faves.  I almost never remember an episode number, but for some reason I remember S4E09 of Homeland as being the finest television I've ever seen.

The Walking Dead and Sons of Anarchy are kind of guilty pleasures, because they're fairly stupid sometimes, but entertaining, and of the two, I liked Sons a lot better.

There were other HBO and Showtime series that I liked and pretty much watched every Sunday, some of which received a lot of critical acclaim, but just didn't like quite as much as the ones mentioned above.

As far as comedies go, Curb Your Enthusiasm was easily my favorite.

[Celtics18]

As much as I don't necessarily like to admit it here I gotta give a shout out on Sex in the City

Oh you mean the female version of "Entourage"?

Sorry.  "Entourage" is the male version of "Sex and the City."

[Celtics18]

Throwing a shoutout to the Danish/Swedish cop drama, "The Bridge."

There's an American version, but it truly pales in comparison. 

[Birdman]

1. The Strain
2. Six Feet Under
3. Shield
4. The new Dallas
5. America Horror Story

[jpotter33]

My personal faves:

Drama -
1) GoT
2) Breaking Bad
3) TWD
4) NCIS
5) House

Comedy -
1) Archer
2) It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
3) Workaholics
4) South Park
5) Arrested Development

[Eja117]

Is Newhart is the cable era?

[2short]

No order but random off the top of my head
Sopranos
Six feet under

Two best shows in my book

Breaking bad
Oz
Dexter
Orange is the new black
Larry sanders
Ray Donovan
Arrested development
Always sunny in Philadelphia
Deadwood
True detective season one

[Beat LA]

As much as I don't necessarily like to admit it here I gotta give a shout out on Sex in the City

Two things on this -

1). Are you talking about all of the episodes, or the same 20-25 that are constantly replayed on E!, which edits a lot of the stuff out (or so I've been told) to the point that they're pretty watered down when compared to the originals?

2). Are you a Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, Samantha, or perhaps even Stanford Blatch, does Carrie ever answer any of her own stupid questions, and who was the true love of her life - Aidan or Mr. Big?  I need deets and I need them NOW (sarcasm)!

[D.o.s.]

"Deadwood"  - Perhaps the first to kick off this television golden age?  EDIT:  Season 1 got an 80 and season 3 got a 85, so perhaps it shouldn't be included in the conversation.  I feel like it puttered out a bit.

This is because you haven't watched it. The Disintegration Loops were the best album of the 2000's, but everyone will be too busy recognizing Radiohead records or U2 or whatever to properly accolade it as such, even though it's impossible to argue with.

Deadwood was ahead of its time and ahead of its viewership. Still is, clearly.

Besides, the show that kicked off the "golden age of TV" was NYPD Blue -- a David Milch product, who was the first of the three Davids to define the era; the other two being David Chase and David Simon.

According to the opinions I trust on the matter The Shield is supposed to be incredibly underrated, but I can't comment because I haven't watched it. The rest of the usual suspects are well accounted for.

[LarBrd33]

"Deadwood"  - Perhaps the first to kick off this television golden age?  EDIT:  Season 1 got an 80 and season 3 got a 85, so perhaps it shouldn't be included in the conversation.  I feel like it puttered out a bit.

This is because you haven't watched it.

I watched it.  I got really into it for a season and a half and for some reason just lost interest at some point.  I never finished it.  It was really well done, though.  Fair to put it in the discussion. I should go back and re-watch it.