And now the moment that we’ve all been waiting for, the final prize: Outstanding Drama Series. With so much excellent television populating our screens these days, settling on the six best dramatic series proved no simple task.
Then, to further complicate matters, some of my favorite dramatic television of the past year chose to submit under the mini-series category, including Fargo and Broadchurch. It felt strange not including them on this final list, but when I set out on this blogging project, I chose to limit myself by submission choices.
So now, without further delay, here we go: my choices for the best drama series!
The Americans Breaking Bad
Game of Thrones The Good Wife
Masters of Sex True Detective
Honorable Mentions: Parenthood; Person of Interest; Orphan Black; Banshee; House of Cards
“Show your work…”
Look, you’ve heard me wax poetic about these series already, and if brevity is really is the soul of wit, then let’s see if I can convince you of the greatness of these shows in just one sentence each? #ChallengeAccepted
The Americans: The insightful, confident, and exciting spy drama that Homeland wishes it could be turns into a probing exploration of identity and allegiance–both personal and national–that refuses to pander to its audience.
Breaking Bad: The finest dramatic series the medium has ever produced–SAY ITS NAME–signed off with eight of its best hours, including the all-time great gut punch of an episode that is “Ozymandias.”
Game of Thrones: To reduce this series to its genre classification–fantasy–is to undersell a dramatic series sure to enter the upper echelon of all time greats in its depiction of loyalty, family drama, and devious political maneuvering; plus, DRAGONS!
The Good Wife: Network television’s best drama revitalized itself not once but twice in its fifth season–first, the dismantling of the show’s central partnership and established narrative beats and second, the sudden death of a major character–to prove that the best series are never complacent with what’s been done but are eager to take on a new future.
Masters of Sex: An excellent historical portrait and character study of William Masters and Virginia Johnson that transcends the tropes of standard biopics, Showtime’s banner series is also one of the most relevant series of modern times thanks to Lizzy Caplan’s stunning performance that turns Johnson into a metaphor for the plight of contemporary women.
True Detective: The television event that galvanized its viewers in ways few series ever have by depicting a crime of almost mythical opaqueness that begged for speculation, analysis, and repeat viewing, anchored by stunning performances and labyrinthine plotting.
Well that completes my Dream Emmy Ballot blogging project! #FollowThrough Thank you for reading, and don’t forget to check out the actual Emmy nominations posted later this week!
