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These are the 55 best TV shows of the 2000s by a mix of craft, cultural influence, range and how well they hold up to watching now. The ranking is editorial, not a universal verdict. To keep the list consistent, a show had to premiere from 2000 through 2009; series that began earlier are excluded, even if much of their run fell in the decade. Limited series and animation count alongside ongoing dramas and comedies.
The decade also marked a shift from linear broadcast dominance toward the dawn of streaming and the beginning of the Peak TV era, as TV Guide describes it in its retrospective. Different rankings capture different perspectives: TV Guide’s critic-oriented list places The Office (UK) first, The Sopranos third and The Wire sixth. In Rotten Tomatoes’ 2019 user survey about shows that defined the decade, Breaking Bad received 61%, The Office 47% and The Sopranos 45%. Those survey results reflect users’ selections, not objective quality scores or a representative measure of all viewers.
The 55 best TV shows of the 2000s
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The Wire (2002)
A city-spanning drama that looks beyond individual crime stories to the institutions and economic pressures shaping Baltimore. The Peabody Awards profile notes how its second season shifts attention toward the port and working people; its jury praised the series for creating a fictional world comparable to the best novels.
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The Sopranos (2000)
A morally complicated crime drama whose family life, dark humor and layered characters make it far more than a mob story. The Peabody Awards jury called it a reflection of “the best and worst in all of us.” It was also a nominee for the Television Academy’s 2000 Outstanding Drama Series award.
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Breaking Bad (2008)
A tightly controlled crime story that turns escalating choices into an increasingly tense character study. Its place in popular memory is reflected in the Rotten Tomatoes 2019 survey, where users selected it most often among the shows that defined the decade.
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Mad Men (2007)
A measured workplace and character drama about ambition, identity and power. Its office setting gives the series a natural frame for examining the people and institutions around its central characters.
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The Office (UK, 2001)
A compact workplace comedy built from awkward pauses, social discomfort and painfully recognizable office behavior. TV Guide’s critic ranking placed it first among its best shows of the decade.
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Deadwood (2004)
A richly textured period drama whose crowded ensemble and rough-edged dialogue turn a frontier town into a study of power, community and order.
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Six Feet Under (2001)
A family drama set around a funeral business, using its unusual workplace to explore grief, intimacy and the ordinary negotiations of family life.
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Arrested Development (2003)
A densely constructed family comedy whose running jokes reward attention and whose self-absorbed characters make dysfunction its central comic engine.
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Lost (2004)
A mystery-driven ensemble adventure that made serialized questions, competing theories and character backstories part of the weekly viewing experience.
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The Office (US, 2005)
A workplace comedy that finds a distinct comic rhythm in the everyday friction between colleagues, managers and the routines that keep an office moving.
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Friday Night Lights (2006)
A sports drama whose strongest stories are about families and communities as much as football. Its intimate focus gives the town around the team real weight.
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Band of Brothers (2001)
A limited series that follows a company of soldiers through a sustained wartime story. Its finite run makes it a strong choice for viewers seeking a major drama without a long episode commitment.
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The West Wing (1999)
A brisk, idealistic political drama whose ensemble and workplace rhythms helped define a particular vision of public service. The Television Academy named it the 2000 Outstanding Drama Series winner.
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Peep Show (2003)
A sharply uncomfortable comedy that filters friendship, work and self-deception through the limited perspectives of its two central characters.
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Battlestar Galactica (2004)
A science-fiction drama that uses survival and political conflict to give its ensemble story urgency beyond its space-opera setting.
Rank #2
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Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005)
An animated adventure with a clear central journey, a broad comic range and a world that supports both episodic stories and longer character arcs.
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30 Rock (2006)
A high-speed workplace comedy that turns television production, corporate demands and eccentric colleagues into a steady stream of layered jokes.
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Veronica Mars (2004)
A teen mystery series with a sharp central voice, combining case-of-the-week momentum with a continuing story about class and belonging.
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Friday Night Dinner (2009)
A family sitcom that draws its comedy from ritual, sibling friction and the small disasters of gathering around a table.
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Samurai Jack (2001)
An animated adventure distinguished by visual storytelling and a willingness to let atmosphere and action carry a scene.
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Freaks and Geeks (1999)
An unusually empathetic school comedy-drama, attentive to the awkwardness of adolescence and the social groups that shape it.
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Malcolm in the Middle (2000)
A family sitcom with a restless comic energy, built around a household where chaos is both the setting and the joke.
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Scrubs (2001)
A hospital comedy that moves easily between broad humor, friendship and the emotional stakes of life at work.
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Community (2009)
A self-aware ensemble comedy whose shifting formats and pop-culture play keep a community-college setting inventive.
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How I Met Your Mother (2005)
A relationship sitcom with a long-form storytelling frame, using its group of friends to build jokes and romantic detours across time.
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House (2004)
A medical mystery series powered by a combative central character and the satisfying structure of a problem to solve in each episode.
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Dexter (2006)
A crime drama built around a morally unsettling protagonist, balancing procedural cases with the tension of a double life.
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True Blood (2008)
A Southern Gothic fantasy that mixes supernatural romance, mystery and social allegory in a deliberately heightened tone.
Rank #3
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Friday Night Lights (2006)
The series earns a second place on this list for the way its setting can support distinct kinds of stories: the pressure of competition and the quieter rhythms of home.
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Entourage (2004)
A show-business comedy about friendship and access, offering a glossy, self-involved view of life around a rising star.
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Weeds (2005)
A dark comedy about suburban respectability and the complications that follow when a family’s livelihood depends on an illicit business.
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Californication (2007)
A caustic character comedy about creative ambition, self-sabotage and the messy personal life of a writer.
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Spaced (1999)
A nimble friendship comedy whose stylized visual jokes and pop-culture references helped make its small-scale story feel unusually playful.
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Skins (2007)
A British teen drama that brings friendship, family and adolescent risk into an energetic ensemble format.
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Being Human (2008)
A supernatural series that uses an unlikely household to make questions of identity and belonging feel personal.
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Doctor Who (2005)
A science-fiction adventure whose flexible premise supports changing settings, threats and characters without losing its sense of discovery.
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Life on Mars (2006)
A British mystery drama that uses a detective’s dislocation between eras to sustain both its casework and its larger questions.
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State of Play (2003)
A compact political thriller about reporting, power and the difficulty of untangling a complicated story.
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City of Men (2002)
A Brazilian drama that follows young people negotiating friendship and daily life amid difficult circumstances. TV Guide’s critic ranking is one useful point of reference for its place among the decade’s international series.
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Samurai Champloo (2004)
An animated road story whose distinctive style and unlikely group of travelers give its episodic structure a strong identity.
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Fullmetal Alchemist (2003)
An animated fantasy about consequence and sacrifice, with a central quest that gives its world and ensemble a clear narrative pull.
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Monster (2004)
A patient animated thriller that builds suspense through investigation, moral uncertainty and a wide cast of characters.
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Bleach (2004)
A long-running supernatural adventure with a strong central hero and an expansive cast, suited to viewers who want a substantial serialized commitment.
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One Tree Hill (2003)
A relationship drama that uses a small town and overlapping family histories to sustain its ensemble stories.
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Gilmore Girls (2000)
A warm, talk-driven family series whose small-town setting and close mother-daughter relationship make it an inviting rewatch.
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Everybody Hates Chris (2005)
A family comedy with a strong narrative voice, drawing humor from school, home and the challenges of growing up.
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It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005)
A deliberately abrasive comedy built around friends whose selfish plans reliably expose their own worst instincts.
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Flight of the Conchords (2007)
A gentle musical comedy whose songs and deadpan performances give its struggling musicians a distinctive comic world.
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Little Britain (2003)
A sketch comedy built around recurring characters and exaggerated comic personas, representing the decade’s appetite for broad, repeatable bits.
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Top Gear (2002)
A motoring show transformed into an entertainment format by its presenters, challenges and comic sense of spectacle.
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MythBusters (2003)
A reality-science series organized around a satisfying question: can a familiar claim survive a practical test?
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Survivor (2000)
A reality competition whose social strategy and group dynamics made the format compelling beyond its physical challenges.
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Project Runway (2004)
A design competition that makes creative work and deadline pressure legible through a clear, repeatable challenge format.
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The Amazing Race (2001)
A travel competition that turns movement, teamwork and problem-solving into a continuing test of how pairs function under pressure.
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Jersey Shore (2009)
A reality series whose highly watchable group dynamics and outsized personalities became a defining pop-culture presence at the decade’s end.
How to choose a 2000s classic to watch
- For a layered drama about people and institutions: start with The Wire; for a more intimate family-and-crime story, choose The Sopranos.
- For serialized suspense: try Breaking Bad or Lost. Both reward following a continuing story rather than dipping in at random.
- For workplace comedy: choose between the awkward realism of The Office (UK), the American ensemble version, and the more heightened pace of 30 Rock.
- For a shorter commitment: the limited series Band of Brothers offers a complete story without the extended run of an ongoing series.
- For animation with a continuing arc: Avatar: The Last Airbender is an accessible starting point; Samurai Jack offers a more visually driven adventure.
- For reality rather than scripted drama: MythBusters centers on practical tests, while Survivor foregrounds social strategy.
Streaming availability changes by country and over time, so check the services available in your region before planning a binge.
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