There have been a lot of good television shows going into the second decade of the twenty-first century, but only a few have managed to break into the pantheon of the true greats. It is very difficult to compete with long-lost shows such as 'MacGyver', 'X-Files', 'The A Team', 'Baywatch', 'The Sopranos', or more advanced ones like 'Lost', 'The Wire' or 'The Good Wife'.
Even so, during the last couple of years, certain series have arrived to stay. Here we give you ten current shows that, according to the trajectory they have had, will probably share podium with the great titles of television history:
1 'Modern Family'
The sitcom Fox premiered seven years ago has enjoyed success since its inception in 2010. That same year made history when it rose to six Emmy Awards, including the award for best comedy series and best screenplay in a series funny. Such has been its repercussion, that the fiction was created by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd obtained this same recognition four consecutive times. At the same time, it is also common to see an ensemble fiction in awards shows such as the Golden Globes, a distinction that won in 2011 for the best comedy or musical series.
'Modern Family' presents the story of an unconventional family that is immersed by a bunch of crazy situations that are truly human. It may be the mix of drama and comedy that makes viewers get hooked on the Pritchett-Dunphy stories week after week. The series has recorded chilling figures reaching tens of millions of viewers, so it seems almost impossible for fiction to dissolve quickly among serial comedies.
It is inevitable to relate this series with other sitcoms that broke the schemes previously in the television medium, such as 'Friends', 'How I Met Your Mother' or 'The Prince of Bel-Air'.
9 'Girls'
The series starring the irreverent Lena Dunham entered American homes in 2012 on a high. In that same year, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association awarded two Golden Globes to the HBO series for Best Comedy Series and Best Comedy Actress. There were many who at first did not bet on this fiction, but thanks to the effort Dunham, protagonist, creator and executive producer, the series has reached its sixth season. This latest installment will be the final farewell to the story of the four New York girls and their love affairs, successes and failures that have accompanied them for 62 episodes.
'Girls' has garnered great reviews since chapter one, and while it has sometimes wanted to be more realistic than the audience is accustomed to seeing on screen, it has achieved the most international media ovations. Among them Time magazine characterized it as "raw, audacious and funny" and Entertainment Weekly said that "has a different rhythm to any television series" seen to date.
This story of four free and independent New York women vaguely reminds us of another of the mythical television series that reigned decades ago: 'Sex and the City' becomes the main referent of 'Girls'. Both series will be remembered for posterity by introducing four strong and fierce protagonists, dealing with themes similar in their majority, such as sex or fashion, but showing it in two generations very different from each other.
8 'Sherlock'
The television adaptation of the famous Arthur Conan Doyle novels on the BBC has achieved a media projection that has remained since its inception in 2010. The British fiction has just recently completed its fourth season, and is awaiting a renewal for a fifth one.
The series carried out by the maniacal detective counts among his route with a multitude of nominations that have given him an international recognition in all rule. Among the prizes won are the Emmy Award for Best Actor in a miniseries or telefilm for Benedict Cumberbatch in 2014, and this same award for best supporting actor for Martin Freeman that same year. Andrew Scott, who masterfully plays Jim Moriarty, won the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor in 2012.
It seems that these masterful adaptations of Conan Doyle to the small screen will become part of the living history of television to introduce the most complete Sherlock Holmes seen to date, mixing humor, drama and the picaresque so characteristic of the detective. Added to this is the great adaptability of the Victorian London plots to the 21st century.
7 'This Is Us'
'This Is Us' premiered in the last third of 2016 in the United States. Although beforehand we did not know much about it, it has left KO the majority of Viewers who are currently enjoying their plots. The story that introduces us fully into the different lives of the protagonists who turn years on the same day can recreate a mixture of comedy and drama very little seen to date. The fiction created by Dan Fogelman already knows what it is to translate several lines of action on the paper after taking care of the libretto of 'Crazy, Stupid, Love'.
As in the film starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, in 'This Is Us' we see the chemistry between its protagonists while making us get emotional with the hard and fun, but really human, events of their respective lives.
In spite of being the most recent series of the list, 'This Is Us' has managed to put the critic and public in the pocket, counting on a long line of nominations in the past season of prizes. The fiction starring Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore earned the Golden Globes nomination for best drama series competing with others starring as 'The Crown' or 'Westworld'. In addition, Chrissy Metz and Moore obtained the nomination in the category of best actress of distribution in a series of comedy. The Fox series also featured in Critics' Choice Awards nominations for best drama series, Screenwriters Guild Awards, and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards.
A full-fledged success that has had the fiction of Fogelman who has just completely finished his first season with audience records. And they have already confirmed two more seasons.
6 'American Horror Story'
If there is a bizarre series in the current scenario, that is 'American Horror Story'. The fiction created by Ryan Murphy captivated the spectators when it premiered in 2011 with its bloody first season. The peculiarity of the series produced by Fox comes from the hand of the change of setting season to season. Perhaps this is the factor that has made a success of the six different stories we have been delighted with since then: starting with a house inhabited by ghosts, going through a witches' sabbath in New Orleans, and taking us to a circus of deformed creatures in the mid fifties.
In 2011, Murphy's muse for excellence, Jessica Lange, rose to the Emmy and Golden Globe for best supporting actress for giving life to Constance Langdon in the first season. The American actress repeated in 2014 winning the Emmy to the best actress in a mini-series to interpret to the supreme of the clan of witches in 'American Horror Story: Coven'. In turn, the third season of the series also topped Kathy Bates with the Emmy to best actress of distribution in that same year. Since then, the series created by Murphy repeated with its fourth season and fifth season basking in awards.
A string of nominations and awards that elevate Murphy's horror series to stardom. 'American Horror Story' has a splendid cast among its ranks, bringing to life year after year performers such as Sarah Paulson, Denis O'Hare, Matt Bomer, Wes Bentley, or Lady Gaga; Who rose to the Golden Globe in 2015 for best actress in a mini-series. In addition, just by bringing back the terror to the small screen, and to do it successfully, already has a little hole in the history of the television.
5 'Westworld'
'Westworld' was the strongest series on television programming during 2016. The fiction produced by J.J. Abrams and Jonathan Nolan, among others, has slipped among the rankings of the best series of the year. The story takes us to a western theme park during a dystopian future and has featured Golden Globe nominations for the best drama series, competing with other great-calibre 'Game of Thrones'; And the best female performance by its protagonist, Evan Rachel Wood. In addition, the actress was able to take the recognition to the best interpreter in the Satellite Awards to the best actress protagonist of a dramatic series.
A full-fledged triumph in a series that with just 10 episodes has left the public expectant to a second season. And it's probably the closest we've been to getting a new 'Lost'.
4 'Narcos'
Netflix surprised the world in 2015 telling the story of Pablo Escobar, Colombia's most famous drug trafficker, through a full-fledged revolutionary series. Through the first ten episodes that make up the first season of the series created by Carlo Bernard, Chris Brancato and Doug Miro, managed to hook the spectators with the hunting that carried out the agents of the DEA against Escobar. Last September the story of the drug trafficker in Netflix fiction came to an end, although the death of the protagonist did not mean the end of the plot for this serial.
One of the keys to the success of 'Narcos' is the peculiar way of telling the story: a voiceover by Steven Murphy, DEA agent played by Boyd Holbrook, serves as a pretext to facilitate the viewer's knowledge of the facts.
This show will undoubtedly be placed on a pedestal alongside similar shows such as 'The Wire' or 'Breaking Bad'
3 'The Walking Dead'
It is a fact that zombies are in fashion. Thanks to 'The Walking Dead' the walkers have flooded our houses ready to eat us if we cross in their way. The zombie epidemic that Rick Grimes discovered when he left the hospital invaded our homes in 2010. At that time, he still did not know that the survival of the various fictional characters created by Frank Darabont was going to eat any series of zombies seen till the date. Not only has the success come from the hand of the story starring Andrew Lincoln, since before its release, the show had promised great things from the high expectations left behind by Robert Kirkman's comics.
The triumph of 'The Walking Dead' has traveled season after season. Even though there were only six episodes in the first season of the show the Hollywood Foreign Press nominated it at the Golden Globe for the best drama series. As of its second season, the number of chapters increased to 16, practically being completely all the year in the television grill. In addition to the considerable increase of episodes, in 2013, 'Fear The Walking Dead' was released, spin-off of the original series that tells us the survival of another group of men, but in a different place to which the adventures of Grimes. Innovation, blood, scares, cliffhangers, deaths, iconic characters and a whole set of elements that make 'The Walking Dead' a show to remember for a long time.
2 'Stranger Things'
If there has been a series that was talked about day after day last year, it was 'Stranger Things'. The show was created by the Duffer brothers has succeeded in hooking up to 99% of the hit comics around the world. The story throws us back to the 80s in a small American town, and acts as one huge love letter to the beloved science fiction films of the 80s. The series recalls many of the films that have been with us since our childhoods, such as 'E.T.' or 'The Goonies'. Although it wasn't just the setting and cinematography which won the public's affection, the real stars of the show are the characters. Eleven became the poster girl of Netflix originals, stealing the spotlight from the famous Winona Ryder. Most of us whom have watched it think that at just eight episodes long, the first season was much, much too short. But thankfully, season two is on it's way for next October, and promises to resolve the loose ends.
This show that has become "the series" of the year: high audiences, very positive reviews, fans unleashed by eighties fashion, revived classics; And in short, a long list of reasons why 'Stranger Things' will be remembered for posterity as the star series of 2016. Will it manage a repeat performance with season two in 2017?
1 'Game Of Thrones'
'Game of Thrones' has already made history. The series created by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss started off in 2010 with characters that many of us foolishly loved.
'Game of Thrones' has broken many of the conventions for killing the protagonists even if they've only been in a few episodes. The fiction starring the houses of Westeros has evolved over the six years that it's been on the air, with coming and going of battles, deaths, struggles, and a string of situations that have made fans delight. In spite of skipping some of the content included in the novels of George RR Martin.
Even so, the show has accomplished some great achievements in it's television career. Since it premiered at the beginning of the decade, its display of talent has been rewarding in awards ceremonies. 'Game of Thrones' has among its ranks with awards for the best drama series such as the Emmy and the Golden Globe. In turn, their actors have also been gratified by their effort in fiction. Peter Dinklage, actor who plays Tyrion Lannister, won the Emmy for best supporting actor for two consecutive years and the Golden Globe in 2011 in this category. In addition, some of his companions in the series like Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke and Maisie Williams managed to sneak in the nomination to the best actress of distribution in several Emmy ceremonies.
The show also doesn't shy away from the passions included in the books, with heavy emphasis on certain sex scenes.
Whatever the future holds, 'Game of Thrones' will be remembered as not only one of the best shows of the 2010's, but one of the best television shows of all time.