Post either your top 10 shows overall or top 10 shows that started this decade

If anyone wants to do a main site write up, go ahead. My list would be incomplete since my brain stopped working properly in 2016 and I was afraid to finish all my favourites at the time

Watchman
The Mandalorian
Westworld
Stranger Things
Rick and Morty
Atlanta
Insecure
Game of Thrones
Killing Eve
The Walking Dead

1. Justified
2. Stranger Things
3. Game of Thrones
4. Narcos
5. Big Little Lies
6. Mindhunter
7. Atlanta
8. American Crime Story
9. Fargo
10. Westworld

I was thinking about a Decade Awards type thing spanning all the different entertainment forms I like.

Even though the first two seasons wouldn’t count towards 2010s, I’m still going with Breaking Bad for nailing that final season so hard. Thrones would be runner-up.

1. Breaking Bad (seasons 3-6)
2. Game of Thrones
3. Rick & Morty
4. Bojack Horseman
5. Barry
6. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
7. Planet Earth
8. Veep
9. The Good Place
10. Stranger Things

This was a bit more difficult than I anticipated, but I did my best to fill it with the obvious choices and a few picks that may not show up on anyone else's list.

Honorable Mentions
Fargo: It's hard to not put this higher as Season 1 is absolutely stellar television, but... I haven't seen Seasons 2 and 3 yet. Embarrassed to admit, so I can't put it into the top ten, but that first season is aces.

American Crime Story: They hit this one out of the park with the OJ Simpson season, but surprisingly, did something different and equally brilliant with Season 2. For Darren Criss's performance alone, American Crime Story is worth it. If there were more than two seasons, it would probably crack top ten.

Preacher: I really loved Preacher from start to ... almost finish. I have few complaints with the last season except that it felt rushed and empty at times. Still, the show took on the unenviable task of adapting the comic book series and, even with a first season based on very little from the comic, still managed to do a lot with the TV series.

Dark Matter/Travelers: A personal choice in both. I'm not always in love with sci-fi, especially Canadian sci-fi, but Dark Matter and Travelers were both solid, albeit flawed, television. And both ended prematurely at three seasons.

I'll post my top ten later.

Boardwalk Empire
Game of Thrones
Narcos
Daredevil/Luke Cage
Killing Eve
Revenge
Animal Kingdom
American Horror Story
The Crown
Queen of the South

Game of Thrones shaped the decade like no other show and it's an easy #1
The Good Place
Elite
Grey's anatomy (fuck the haters)
How to get away with Murder
You
American Crime Story
La casa de las flores
La casa de papel
Stranger things

No order except the first two

This was surprisingly difficult. I only included shows that debuted this decade.

01. Game of Thrones
02. My Hero Academia
03. Stranger Things
04. The Magicians
05. Outlander
06. The Umbrella Academy
07. Orange is the New Black
08. Riverdale
09. The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
10. Penny Dreadful

Honorable Mentions: The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, Attack on Titan, Veep, Once Upon a Time, Shadowhunters, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Glow.

I also haven't watched a number of shows I have interest in, such as American Gods and Good Omens, so it could eventually change.

Big Mouth
Black Mirror
Bob's Burgers
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Fleabag
Game of Thrones
Girls
Hannibal
Happy Endings
Watchmen

10. The Kids Are Alright - This gem of the 2018-2019 season debuted as another in a long line of family ABC single-camera sitcoms. What set it apart from The Goldbergs, Black-ish, and even Modern Family was its wit, charm, and carefully fleshed-out characters. It's difficult to juggle child characters on a series, but it's damn near impossible with a number of kids bordering on double digits. And yet, The Kids are more than alright. They were hilarious. And capped off by Mary McCormack and Michael Cudlitz as the parents, this show deserved way better than its first season cancellation. But thankfully, there are 23 episodes floating around in television history, and that places it at number 10 for me. Gone way too soon.

9. This Is Us - I've always loved the idea of a good, well-crafted drama series on television. A pure drama. And This Is Us is the best pure drama on television of the decade, if not in TV history. The storytelling style of This Is Us would be eyeroll-inducing in most cases, but not here. And the show doesn't delve into "very special episode" territory with its family dilemmas. Everything works, especially due to a stellar cast that breathes life into multi-dimensional characters.

8. The Good Place - This shouldn't have worked. Not in a million years. But yet, a show about people dying and going to "the good place" has become one of the smartest, funniest comedies in recent memory, headed by terrific performances from Kristen Bell, Ted Danson and D'Arcy Carden. The best part of this network series is the subjects it tackles deftly on a weekly basis. The layers to The Good Place seem endless. What isn't endless is the amount of time left, as writers wisely have chosen to wrap up this story after four seasons. A forking good decision.

7. Castle Rock - The decade has been kind to Stephen King adaptations in the latter half. With two stellar film adaptations in 2017's It and the Netflix take on Gerald's Game, it seemed like the Master of Horror was finally getting proper treatment at the movies. But along came a television series that focused less on one story and more on the universe King has created. While Season 1 is amazing, my personal preference is Season 2 centered mainly on Annie Wilkes from Misery, and the fantastic portrayal by Lizzy Caplan. Both seasons are flawed at times, but writers swing for the fences each time and I can only hope there is more to come.

6. Rick & Morty - Television is littered with adult animated series, from FOX to Adult Swim to Comedy Central. But every so often, something breaks through the usual mold (the family surrounded by wacky neighbors and friends, started with The Simpsons and repeated until the end of time). Rick & Morty started as a bizarre, Back to the Future homage and slowly progressed into something even smarter, funnier and more inventive. The turning point of what the show could be came in Season 1 when Rick and Morty, travelling between alternate realities after ruining their own reality, stumble upon an identical reality in which they blow themselves up. Morty is visibly traumatized by what has happened. It's a rare moment in animation where actions can and will have consequences, no matter how far-fetched and surreal. WUBBA LUBBA DUB DUB!!

1. Rectify
2. Fargo
3. True Detective (Season 1)
4. Atlanta
5. Mindhunter
6. Justified
7. Stan Against Evil
8. Baskets
9. Archer
10. Bates Motel

5. Trial & Error - The best comedy you didn't watch. It's hard to bring something new to the mockumentary format, or to the ridiculous comedy genre, or to the whodunnit format. But Trial & Error did it all, and then some. Nicholas D'Agosto headed a cast of an incompetent-yet-endearing defense team that takes on a big case for each of the series' two seasons. John Lithgow and Kristen Chenoweth provide plenty of laughs in their respective seasons as the team defends them both on murder charges, and it all takes place in the delightfully small town of East Peck. Season 1 established these characters and the setting, but Season 2 is when the show started firing on all ludicrous cylinders. If only this team could re-assemble for the unfortunate murder of this show after two seasons.

4. Game of Thrones - As Game of Thrones debuted in 2011, this series based on a vast series of books by George R.R. Martin instantly captured audiences and critics. The first four seasons covered the available written works of Martin and did so flawlessly. Unfortunately, as time wore on, the episodes caught up with the material and with no end in sight for the books (still to this day, months after the series has ended), David Benioff and D.B Weiss had to take it in their own direction (with the help of Martin, although I venture to guess his work will differ greatly, if it is ever released). That plagues the show's legacy unfortunately, however, it still had a solid ending for me and can't take away from its stellar eight season run. I don't put much faith in Martin or his ability to end the book series. I certainly don't blame the writers, they couldn't just halt the series until the books were finished. But unfortunately, it's still marred by rushed storytelling and a final season that is universally panned... even if I still think it was at least a good end. Was the payoff as good as the buildup? Maybe not. But it's still my 4th best series of the decade.

3. Barry - If you told me the best follow-up to Breaking Bad (Saul excluded) would come from Bill Hader, I probably wouldn't have believed you. But yet, here we are. Brilliant storytelling and one of the best all around casts alone propel Barry to the top of the comedy list of the 2010s, even if Barry is much, much more than comedy. I could list so many moments, so many character arcs, even entire episodes (I could have just wrote "ronny/lily" here and that would have been enough to land this at number three without further explanation). It could easily be 2nd or even the top show of the decade, but again, only two seasons have aired thus far. But both seasons are utterly fantastic.

2. Stranger Things - An 80s throwback reminiscent of The Goonies has quickly evolved into something bigger in its three season run. And while The Duffer Brothers and Netflix could have milked this for more seasons and more episodes by now, each season has stayed at a brisk 8-9 episodes, allowing for much less filler and much more action, especially in the latest run. Throw in monsters, the supernatural, and a bunch of 80s stars (Cary Elwes, Sean Astin, Paul Reiser) and Stranger Things is the best thing to come out of the 80s to not actually come out of the 80s.

1. Better Call Saul - Vince Gilligan ended a fantastic five season run of Breaking Bad and could have rested on that legacy while working on something entirely new and far removed from the meth-dealing world of Walter White. But instead, he created an epilogue in 2019's El Camino, and a prequel in Better Call Saul. It would have been easy to make a law dramedy about Saul Goodman, taking on small-time cases in New Mexico. But expanding the universe by introducing us to the real Saul, Jimmy McGill (a fantastic Bob Odenkirk, adding multiple layers to the fast-talkin' Lionel Hutz-wannabe), has been a riveting slow burn. Throw in some established Breaking Bad characters (Mike Ehrmantraut, Gus Fring, Tuco) and some new faces (Jimmy's brother Chuck, played flawlessly by Michael McKean) and you have a fantastic drama that often rivals the original series. And of course, one can't ignore the best non-Bad character, Kim Wexler (a tragically underrated Rhea Seehorn), who plays counterpart to Jimmy and his wily ways. The original question of the series was "How does Jimmy become Saul?" But now, more importantly, what becomes of everyone associated with Jimmy as he becomes Saul? This certainly can't end well... just ask Walter White.

And for those not interested in reading my nonsense, and I don't blame you...

Top 10 of the 2010s
10. The Kids Are Alright
9. This Is Us
8. The Good Place
7. Castle Rock
6. Rick and Morty
5. Trial & Error
4. Game of Thrones
3. Barry
2. Stranger Things
1. Better Call Saul