Since the advent oftelevisionin 1939, it has competed with film for viewers' attention. With the success ofstreaming, TV is bigger and better than ever. We have the2000sto thank for that. The 2000s were the era of “prestige TV” in addition to cult classic shows that shaped our current era of television. Networks such asHBO,AMC, andFoxdominated the screens of millions of Americans.Prestige TV changed the game with high production value, bankable talent, and complex storylines.Without many of these shows, big-budget shows likeThe Last of UsorHappy Facemight not exist.
FromVeronica MarstoThe Sopranos,the 2000s were a Second Golden Age of television. With many network shows available to stream, their legacies live on. It’s difficult to say whether any original streaming shows can compare to the sheer quality of the era. However, the shows of the time were so influential that even when they’re long forgotten, the tropes and styles they helped establish will reappear for years to come.
10’Veronica Mars' (2004–2007; 2019)
Created by Rob Thomas
Veronica Mars, starringKristen Bellin the eponymous role,aired for one season on UPN, then transitioned to its successor, The CW, for its final two seasons. Thomas, the show’s creator, first wrote the story as a novel about a male private investigator. For the TV version, he switched to a female protagonist in the hopes of making the show more compelling. Set in the fictional town of Neptune, Calif., Veronica begins the series as a high school student and ends as a college student. Imitating classic noir, Veronica moonlights as a private investigator under the instruction of her detective father, Keith Mars (Enrico Colantoni).She’s like a teenColumbo, solving the mystery of her best friend’s murder in the first season while taking on smaller cases in each episode.
Between the endearing father-daughter relationship and Kristen Bell’s lead performance, it’s clear howVeronica Marsbecame a cult classic. It was revived into a feature film due to the fans' die-hard support for its Kickstarter campaign, then was given an eight-episodefourth season by Huluin 2019. The series is beloved for the comfort of its noir investigative format and the excitement of the town drama. Many teens grew up alongside Veronica. They became invested in her friends-to-enemies-to-lovers relationship with Logan(Jason Dohring)and the protective nature of her father.Without Veronica Mars, perhaps shows likeNancy Drewor evenThe Chilling Adventures of Sabrinamight not have been greenlit.Sadly, Hulu did not order a fifth season, but fans will keep the show’s legacy alive.
Veronica Mars
9’Curb Your Enthusiasm' (2000–2024)
Created by Larry David
WhileLarry Davidfirst made a name for himself as the creator ofSeinfeld, HBO’sCurb Your Enthusiasmmade him a comedy icon.Curbaired on HBO from 2000 until April 2024, ending a twelve-season run. Two years following theSeinfeldfinale, Larry David played a shlemiel version of himself in this cinema verite-style comedy of manners. Each improvised episode centers around the characters’ unchecked idiocy.AlongsideSeinfeld,Curbis one of a long lineage of sitcoms featuring unlikable characters such asCheers,All in the Family, and another 2000s standout,Always Sunny in Philadelphia.The appeal lies in the fact that the audience is allowed to feel a little schadenfreude toward these unbearable, idiotic characters.
It’s unlike both contemporary and previous sitcoms, which tend to take a more light-hearted approach to character flaws. Sitcom characters often don’t grow, but each episode wraps up with a resolution sometimes accompanied by a moral lesson. There are no moral lessons inCurb. Its cringe comedy influenced major TV hits likeParks and Recreation,Arrested DevelopmentandModern Family. WithoutCurb, the past twenty years of television might have been rather dull.
Curb Your Enthusiasm
8’Bones' (2005–2017)
Created by Hart Hanson
Based on a series of novels by forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs, the police procedural dramaBonespremiered on Fox in 2005. A mix of comedy and drama, the series' main appeal was the dynamic between its two leads, forensic anthropologist Temperance ‘Bones’ Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and FBI agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz). Set in Washington D.C. at the fictional Jeffersonian Institute (modeled after the Smithsonian), the leads investigate murders with a forensics team ensemble. Aside from the central slow-burn romance of the leads, several of the characters become romantically involved, breakup, then get back together over the course of the show’s twelve seasons. One other notable couple is forensic artist Angela (Michaela Conlin) and entomologist Jack Hodgins (T.J. Thyne), who marry and have a son together.
It’s a crime show that deals with serious issues, yet maintains a fun, comedic tone throughout. The interpersonal relationships and comedy helped it stand apart from other popular crime shows of the time, such asCriminal MindsorFringe.It ended after a solid 246-episode run, but fans still want more.On the 20th anniversary ofBones’premiere,the cast has expressed interest in a revival.Procedurals have been popular since the early 2000s and have shown no sign of slowing down, so why not bring the series back?Its signature humor and endearing characters would be warmly welcomed back.
7’House' (2004–2012)
Created by David Shore
Who could forget everyone’s favorite curmudgeonly doctor with a cane?House, or House, M.D., premiered on Fox in 2004.Set at the Princeton-Plainsboro hospital in New Jersey, the medical drama centers around a diagnostic team as they solve strange medical cases. The team is often at odds with their brilliant but Vicodin-addicted and acerbic lead,Dr. House (Hugh Laurie), which drives the drama. The plot intrigue stemmed from the medical mysteries of each episode. However, the interpersonal drama between romantically entangled members of the team truly drove the series, especially the dynamic between House and the Dean of Medicine,Dr. Lisa Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein), and House and his best friend, Head of Oncology, Dr. James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard).
House seemed to take its cues from other detective shows in the manner of its strange medical cases.(It’s never lupus until it is.) One might call itSherlock Holmesset in a teaching hospital, given the fact that the doctors had to piece together clues from their patients' lives to properly diagnose them. Without it, U.S. audiences might never have been introduced to the talent of Hugh Laurie. Between the charming yet disagreeable main character, the comedic elements, and the family dynamic of the ensemble characters,House, M.D.was a truly unique series that defied easy genre categorization. There may never be a show quite like it.
6’CSI: Crime Scene Investigation' (2000–2015)
Created by Anthony E. Zuiker
CSI: Crime Scene Investigationpremiered on CBS in 2000 and quickly became a hit, averaging more than 20 million viewers per episode for the first eight seasons. At the time, it was also CBS' most successful series. Set in the endlessly interesting city of Las Vegas, it may have been the first series to center on crime scene investigators. It became a franchise withthree other spin-offs,CSI: Miami,CSI: NY, andCSI: Cyberpremiering within the first ten yearsof the original series. The ensemble cast featured some big names, such asWilliam Petersenas supervisorGil Grissom,Elisabeth Shueas Julie Finlay, andTed Dansonas D.B. Russell, who led a diverse team of criminalists as they caught killers by analyzing blood spatter, tire tracks and hair samples.
The criminalists became romantically involved with each other and some even fell in love with the Vegas citizens they swore to protect. These entanglements, especially the epic love story between Grissom and the woman who becomes his wife, Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox), ensured the length of the series. Beyond the crimes and romance, the intrigue of the city’s mafia presence and difficult serial killer arcs (the"Miniature Killer" arc is one for the ages) helped lend the series a cinematic edge. It was sexual, violent and dark in ways that drew criticism. It also drew ire from crime scene investigators and police for misrepresenting the realities of criminal investigation.However, it’s difficult to think of a crime show today that doesn’t owe its success toCSI.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
5’Gilmore Girls' (2000–2007)
Created by Amy Sherman-Palladino
Now America’s favorite comfort show,Gilmore Girlswas a hit for The WB (now The CW). The creatorsAmy Sherman-PalladinoandDan Palladino’switty writing and complicated storylines catapulted the central mother-daughter pair,Lauren GrahamandAlexis Bledelrespectively, to TV stardom. The comforting aspect of thedramedy series is its small-town charm. No irreparable damage happens, and the people look out for each other in the quaint fictional town of Stars Hollow. It’s a stark contrast to another female-centric show of the time,Sex and the City, whose self-involved central characters would be ousted from Stars Hollow immediately upon entry.
WithoutGilmore Girls,audiences wouldn’t have known the power ofKelly Bishopas Emily Gilmore, nor the warmth ofEdward Herrmannas Richard Gilmore. The internet certainly would’ve had less to rant about.Gilmore Girlsclearly gave networks the confidence to greenlight more offbeat family shows likeParenthood, orThe Fosters.Gilmore Girlshas left an indelible mark on fans' Netflix watchlists as well as their hearts.
Gilmore Girls
4’Six Feet Under' (2001–2005)
Created by Alan Ball
Another hit prestige show from HBO,Six Feet Under,created byOscar-winning screenwriterAlan Ball,was a family drama about the Fisher family. After the patriarch, Nate Fisher, Sr. (Richard Jenkins), dies, his funeral home is passed onto his sons, Nate Jr. (Peter Krause) and David (Michael C. Hall). The family deals with relationships, their own dysfunction, religion and lots and lots of death. Each episode begins with a death, and sometimes the living characters talk with the corpses. (Corpse therapy is cheaper than talk therapy, after all.) It’s often consideredone of the greatest shows of all timefor its irreverent humor a la talking corpses and cinematic dream sequences.
Six Feet Underset the stage for future death-centric shows likeBryan Fuller’sPushing Daisies. It also helped affirm HBO’s prestige supremacy that it still holds today. Its limited series format, consisting of only thirteen episodes per season, became the standard of prestige TV and provides the story constraints that make other limited series such asStranger Thingsso enthralling.Unlike its many corpses,Six Feet Underwill never die in the public consciousness.
Six Feet Under
3’Weeds' (2005–2012)
Created by Jenji Kohan
Before her contribution to so-called Peak TV with Netflix’sOrange is the New Black, showrunnerJenji Kohancreated another raunchy, boundary-pushing show forShowtimeabout a single mother who becomes a weed dealer to support her family.Weedswas lessBreaking Badand moreSeventh Heavenwith sex and drugs. Hiding behind her widowhood, Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) eludes police suspicion despite being caught up in the criminal drug trade.In order to “keep up with the Joneses” and keep her cover, Nancy’s humanity caves under pressure.
It’s easy to readWeedsas Kohan’s proof-of-concept forOrange is the New Blackgiven that OITNB is also about an upper-class woman dealing with the consequences of her association with drugs. OITNB was ultimately a different series, yet had a similar tone. Weeds was carried by the strength of the ensemble members' performances, but especially by the lead performance of Parker who received three Emmy nominations for playing Nancy.Kohan might haveWeedsto thank for OITNB’s later success on Netflix as its longest-running and most-watched original series.
Created by Matthew Weiner
Set in Manhattan at the Sterling Cooper ad agency during the 1960s,Mad MenfollowsDon Draper (Jon Hamm), a magnetic advertising executiveat Sterling Cooper. Anotherseries considered among the greatest of all time,Mad Menexplored the shifting social attitudes of the time, from the nuclear family values of the ’50s to the anti-war era of the mid-60s and 70s. It emphasized the change in women’s roles via the characters of Betty Draper (January Jones), Draper’s wife, and Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks), Sterling Cooper’s office manager. The conflict of the series is driven by the charismatic Draper’s womanizing ways and the early reveal that he isn’t who he says he is.
ShowrunnerMatthew Weinerfirst wrote the pilot in 2000.The Sopranosshowrunner,David Chase,hired him as a staff writer based on his pilot. HBO passed on the script, but AMC took a chance onMad Menas its first original series. In that regard, it’s thanks toMad Menfor later AMC originals such asBreaking Badand its spin-offBetter Call Saul.AMC helped shape the unapologetic reality of the series and all itsHitchcock-esque style.Mad Menis a truly timeless anti-hero drama.
1’The Sopranos' (1999–2007)
Created by David Chase
The G. O. A. T., the greatest of all time, some say. It’s a point that’s difficult to argue with. Part family drama, part crime story,The Sopranospremiered in 1999 on HBO. The series revolved around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey mafia don, who experiences panic attacks due to the stress of managing his family and criminal work. Over the course of six seasons, his reluctant therapy sessions with psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) proceeds between threats to his life and the lives of his family.
The Sopranosis the dark, often cynical portrait of an amoral anti-hero, so how does a show about characters who never change become so influential and successful? Therapy gave the audience the thin hope that Tony could change. The audience is allowed to sympathize with Tony and take his side when he’s betrayed by his enemies.It’s endlessly interesting to watch the worst people in the worldstruggle to live normal lives. Besides, for all its real dangers, the mafia is cool.(SeeThe Godfather.)WithoutThe Sopranos,Mad Menwouldn’t exist, nor wouldBoardwalk Empireor evenNarcos. Nothing compares toThe Sopranos.
