It’s been a long year. Let’s pause and look back at the finest television had to offer in 2016.
It’s a small screen, but it has to be big enough for all of our feelings. The Best TV Dramas of 2016 list is here!
As always, we’re asking you to vote for your favorite finalists. The shows with the most votes will make it onto the final list. Voting ends on December 11th at 11:59 p.m., so cast your votes now!
We’ll announce the winners on Friday, December 16th.
Best TV Dramas of 2016 – Finalists
The Americans
Better Call Saul
The Crown
Game of Thrones
Homeland
House of Cards
2016 was a big year for television. We saw the return of many old favorites and the debut of several new shows, including some that quickly became fan favorites. There were so many great dramas this year that picking the top ten proved more difficult than ever. As always, our list is made up of shows we feel deserve recognition for their excellent writing, acting and overall quality. The list reflects our personal tastes and may not be in line with everyone’s opinion on what makes for a good show.
Here are our picks for the best TV dramas of 2016:
Which dramas have been shown on television this year? What are the best TV shows of 2016? The following list of our favorites is a reaction to the recent developments in the world of television. The topics range from politics (House of Cards, The West Wing) to journalism (The Newsroom), sci-fi (Black Mirror) and crime (True Detective).
The Sopranos
If there is one TV show that has influenced all subsequent TV series, then it must be The Sopranos. This crime drama about an Italian family had its premiere in 1998. Since then, the genre has been evolving into more and more complex forms. Some of these developments can be seen in our list: many shows are either set in the present or combine elements of the past with the present day.
Mad Men
Don Draper’s life takes place partly in New York City, partly in Los Angeles and partly in New Jersey. He works as an advertising executive and creates ads for various clients. Don is married to Betty and they have three children together: Sally, Bobby and Gene. In addition, he has an affair with his secretary Joan Holloway that results in their daughter Stephanie being born.
Breaking Bad
Walter White is a chemistry teacher at a high school who becomes termin
So many of this year’s best TV dramas got their start in 2015. There was no shortage of great options to choose from as we set out to pick the finalists for this year’s contest. We got together and had several long discussions about which shows deserve recognition, and narrowed it down from there.
There were several shows that didn’t make the cut that might have in a different year: The Americans, Fargo and The Leftovers are all worthy contenders, but there just wasn’t enough space for them on our list.
Here is the list of finalists in alphabetical order:
The Americans
As we head into the home stretch of 2016, it’s time to look back at the best TV dramas of the year. In a year packed with top-notch shows, our picks for the 10 best drama series of 2016 have something for everybody: a cable institution, a nonfiction story that feels like fiction, a Netflix marvel, and more. There are some familiar names on this list: Mr. Robot and The Americans returned for stellar third seasons, while Orphan Black and Outlander produced fantastic fourth and second seasons, respectively. But there were also plenty of newcomers as well as some lesser-known gems that deserve to be discovered by more viewers.
Of course, this list is almost certainly not going to include your favorite show of the year. (You can sound off about those in the comments below.) And yes, we know that some shows that are brilliant — The Leftovers! Rectify! Halt and Catch Fire! — aren’t technically “dramas.” But for this particular list we’re focusing on narratives that play out over long stretches of time.
This year’s list of best TV shows is a testament to the medium’s range. There are dramas about the intersection between politics and sex, about the state of affairs in a post-9/11, post-Snowden America, about Machiavellian men with their fingers in every available pie. There are also shows that defy easy categorization — some of which made our list of the year’s best comedies — including an anarchic sketch series from Rick and Morty’s Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland and a surreal, darkly comic Australian co-production starring a brilliant Kathy Bates as an unhinged matriarch.
The sheer number of new series was overwhelming; there were enough that the hiring of full-time staff writers to cover them was justified. Some were great; others were not. The list below is the result of some very serious debate (and one or two fistfights) between Vulture’s TV critics (Matt Zoller Seitz, Margaret Lyons, Jen Chaney, and Gazelle Emami) over what should be included and ranked where.
We’ve also chosen finalists in each category who narrowly missed making the top 10; you can find those entries at the end of each section.
Veteran actors are often able to capitalize on their years of experience and skill to become some of the most successful actors in the entertainment industry. The most famous actors have starred in some of the best films and TV shows of all time, and no matter how much younger actors may try to compete, they’ll always be compared to these veterans.
Who is the greatest actor of all time? That’s probably a question that’s impossible to answer, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun to think about! This list features the greatest veteran actors, as determined by voters like you. You can vote for any actor who has been acting for more than 10 years. If you see someone missing from this list, feel free to add him or her.
These are the best veteran actors in film and television who are still active today. They might not be young anymore, but they’re just as talented as ever!
