Table of Contents
Introduction Joel Meares Rotten Tomatoes XI
Classics that made the Molds (and those that Broke Them)
I Love Lucy 2
Alfred Hitchcock Presents / The Alfred Hitchcock Hour 2
Perry Mason 3
The Twilight Zone 3
Bewitched 3
Police Squad! 4
Get Smart 6
Batman 6
Columbo 7
The Mary Tyler Moore Show 7
Binge Battle: Dallas vs Dynasty 8
M*A*S*H 10
Happy Days 10
Cheers 11
Murder, She Wrote 11
Those Were the Days 12
The Golden Girls 14
Commercial Break
Bingeing Before the Binge 16
Primetime Professionals: Procedurals that Brought a Little Something Extra to Work
Hill Street Blues 20
Miami Vice 20
L.A. Law 20
NYPD Blue 21
ER 21
Murder One 21
The Law & Order Case Files 22
The West Wing 24
The Wire 25
House 25
Justified 26
Binqe Battle: CSI vs NCIS 28
The Good Wife and The Good Fight 30
Veronica Mars 32
Grey's Anatomy 32
Rake 33
Sherlock 33
Suits 33
American Crime 34
American Crime Story 34
Commercial Break
Five Ways HBO Changed TV Forever 35
Tony, Walt, Don, and the Antiheroes We Loved and Hated
Oz 38
The Sopranos 38
The Shield 39
Deadwood 39
Dexter 39
Mad Men 40
Breaking Bad 40
Sons of Anarchy 41
The Americans 42
Hero or Antihero? 44
Nurse Jackie 46
House of Cards 46
Hannibal 46
Orange Is the New Black 47
Peaky Blinders 47
Power 48
Better Call Saul 48
Ozark 49
Barry 49
Commercial Break
Know Your Very Special Episodes 50
The Biggest LOLs: Game-Changing Sitcoms and the Kings and Queens of Cringe
Murphy Brown 56
Seinfeld 56
Saturday Night Live 56
Beyond SNL 57
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia 58
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air 60
The Larry Sanders Show 60
Absolutely Fabulous 60
Friends 61
Sex and the City 61
Will & Grace 62
Spaced 62
Curb Your Enthusiasm 62
Scrubs 63
Arrested Development 63
Binge Battle: The Thick of It vs Veep 64
The Comeback 66
Flight of the Conchords 66
Community 67
30 Rock 67
Modern Family 67
Parks and Recreation 68
Brooklyn Nine-Nine 68
Broad City 69
Black-ish 69
Silicon Valley 69
Binge Battle: The Office (UK) vs The Office (US) 70
Catastrophe 72
Fresh Off the Boat 72
Master of None 72
Schitt's Creek 73
Superstore 73
Insecure 74
Atlanta 76
Better Things 76
Fleabag 77
The Good Place 77
Ramy 78
One Day at a Time 80
What We Do in the Shadows 80
Pen15 81
Ted Lasso 81
Commercial Break
The Science of Binge Watching 82
Dramas We Can't Stop, Watching
Freaks and Geeks 86
Gilmore Girls 86
Queer As Folk 86
Six Feet Under 87
Desperate Housewives 87
The L Word 87
Friday Night Lights 88
The Tudors 88
In Treatment 89
Downton Abbey 89
Back to School: The Best in Class for TV's: Teen Dramas 90
Pose 92
Girls 94
Scandal 94
Vikings 94
Jane the Virgin 95
Transparent 95
Binge Battle: Shameless (UK) vs Shameless (US) 96
Empire 98
The Crown 98
This Is Us 99
Queen Sugar 99
Underground 99
Claws 100
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel 100
Succession 100
Vida 101
David Makes Man 101
Euphoria 102
You 102
Commercial Break
Five Ways Netflix Changed TV Forever 103
Genre Grows Up: Next-Level Horror, Heroes, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy
Doctor Who 106
The X-Files 106
Xena: Warrior Princess 106
Alias 107
Firefly 107
Battlestar Galactica 107
Buffy the Vampire Slayer 108
Supernatural 110
Pushing Daisies 110
Fringe 111
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles 111
Choosing the Right Arrowverse Show for You 112
Misfits 114
The Walking Dead 114
Game of Thrones 115
American Horror Story 115
Watchmen 116
The Expanse 118
Bates Motel 120
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 120
The 100 120
Outlander 121
The Magicians 121
Star Trek Starter Kit: Pick Your Starfleet Ship 122
The Boys 124
Stranger Things 126
The Haunting of Hill House 126
The Handmaid's Tale 127
The Terror 127
The Mandalorian 127
The Witcher 128
WandaVision 128
Commercial Break
Know Your TV Superproducers 129
Real(ish) Worlds: Competitions and Docuseries that Captured the Zeitgeist (and Yes, Still Hold Up)
The Real World 136
Survivor 136
Jackass 137
American Idol 137
Planet Earth 138
Binge Battle: Queer Eye (2003) vs Queer Eye (2018) 140
RuPaul's Drag Race 142
The Bachelor And The Bachelorette 142
Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown 142
The Great British Baking Show 143
Nathan for You 143
Choose Your Reality TV Crew 144
The Jinx 146
Making a Murderer 146
Wild Wild Country 146
The Last Dance 147
Tiger King 147
Commercial Break
Mini Milestones 148
Animation that Demands to be Taken Seriously
Daria 152
South Park 152
Futurama 152
SpongeBob SquarePants 153
The Venture Bros 153
Batman: The Animated Series 154
American Dad! 156
Avatar: The Last Airbender 156
Robot Chicken 157
The Clone Wars 157
Binge Battle: The Simpsons vs Family Guy 158
The Boondocks 160
Archer 162
Adventure Time 162
Bob's Burgers 162
Big Mouth 163
BoJack Horseman 163
Tuca and Bertie 163
Undone 164
Rick & Morty 165
Commercial Break
From Playing Cards to #Hashtags 166
Mysteries and Mindf-KS: The Weird, Wonderful, and Totally Perplexing
Twin Peaks 170
Lost 170
Broadchurch 171
Top of the Lake 171
Fargo 171
The Leftovers 172
Happy Valley 174
True Detective 174
Mr. Robot 175
Sense8 175
Happy! 175
The OA 176
The Sinner 176
Counterpart 176
Killing Eve 177
Mindhunter 178
The Outsider 180
Russian Doll 180
Homecoming 180
Commercial Break
Thoughts on the Future of TV (From Those Who Make It) 182
TV Goes Global: Show that Crossed Borders in the Streaming Age
The Killing (Denmark) 186
Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories (Japan) 186
Borgen (Denmark) 186
Gran Hotel (Spain) 187
Gomorrah (Italy) 187
The Bridge (Sweden/Denmark) 188
Pick Your Border 188
Money Heist (Spain) 189
The Returned (France) 190
Dark (Netherlands) 192
Deutschland 83, Deutschland 86, Deutschland 89 (Germany) 194
Babylon Berlin (Germany) 194
Elite (Spain) 194
My Brilliant Friend (Italy/USA) 195
Giri/Haji (Japan/UK) 195
Kingdom (South Korea) 196
Want More K-Drama? 196
Glossary 198
Acknowledgments 200
Contributors 202
Index 203
