Best Drama TV Shows
Best drama TV shows of all time
About the author
This page was created by our editorial team. Each page is manually curated, researched, collected, and issued by our staff writers. Quotes contained on this page have been double checked for their citations, their accuracy and the impact it will have on our readers.
Kelly Peacock is an accomplished poet and social media expert based in Brooklyn, New York. Kelly has a Bachelor's degree in creative writing from Farieligh Dickinson University and has contributed to many literary and cultural publications. Kelly assists on a wide variety of quote inputting and social media functions for Quote Catalog. Visit her personal website here.
Kendra Syrdal is a writer, editor, partner, and senior publisher for The Thought & Expression Company. Over the last few years she has been personally responsible for writing, editing, and producing over 30+ million pageviews on Thought Catalog.
Saved by the Bell is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from 1989 to 1993. The series was a retool of the Disney Channel series Good Morning, Miss Bliss. The show follows the exploits of a group of friends and their principal, and although th
Genres: | Comedy, Drama, Family |
Number Of Seasons: | 5 |
Networks: | NBC, Channel 4 |
Created By: | Sam Bobrick |
Status: | Ended |
User Score (votes): | 6.3 / 10 (82) |
Magnum, P.I. is an American television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from 1980 to 1988 in first-run broadcast on the American CBS television network. According to the Nielsen r
Genres: | Drama, Action & Adventure |
Number Of Seasons: | 8 |
Network: | CBS |
Created By: | Glen A. Larson, Donald P. Bellisario |
Status: | Ended |
User Score (votes): | 7.1 / 10 (86) |
Mary, Queen of Scots, faces political and sexual intrigue in the treacherous world of the French court.
Genres: | Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy |
Number Of Seasons: | 4 |
Network: | The CW |
Created By: | Laurie McCarthy, Stephanie Sengupta |
Status: | Ended |
User Score (votes): | 6.3 / 10 (122) |
Somewhere in Southern California, in a drug raid run by the US government, a beachfront property was seized and turned into a residence for undercover cops. They are all top agents of the DEA, FBI, and Customs and they are living in this house unofficiall
Genres: | Crime, Drama, Action & Adventure |
Number Of Seasons: | 3 |
Networks: | USA Network, TV3 |
Created By: | Jeff Eastin |
Status: | Canceled |
User Score (votes): | 7.3 / 10 (49) |
A down-to-earth account of the lives of both illustrious and ordinary Romans set in the last days of the Roman Republic.
Genres: | Action & Adventure, Drama |
Number Of Seasons: | 2 |
Network: | HBO |
Created By: | Bruno Heller, John Milius, William J. MacDonald |
Status: | Ended |
User Score (votes): | 8.2 / 10 (387) |
Rescue Me revolves around the lives of the men in a New York City firehouse, the crew of 62 Truck. Examining the fraternal nature and relationships of firefighters, the series tackles the daily drama of the life-and-death situations associated with being
Genres: | Action & Adventure, Drama, Comedy |
Number Of Seasons: | 7 |
Network: | FX |
Created By: | Denis Leary, Peter Tolan |
Status: | Ended |
User Score (votes): | 7.7 / 10 (67) |
The story of an unassuming American family drawn into the workings of a turbulent Middle Eastern nation. Bassam "Barry" Al Fayeed, the younger son of the dictator of a war-torn nation, ends a self-imposed 20-year exile to return to his homeland, accompani
Genres: | Drama, War & Politics |
Number Of Seasons: | 3 |
Networks: | FX, TV3 |
Created By: | Gideon Raff |
Status: | Canceled |
User Score (votes): | 6.8 / 10 (80) |
Silk Stalkings is a crime drama television series. The series premiered on CBS on November 7, 1991 as part of the network's late-night Crimetime After Primetime programming package. It originally aired on CBS for two seasons until June 1993 when CBS ended
Genres: | Crime, Drama, Action & Adventure |
Number Of Seasons: | 8 |
Networks: | CBS, USA Network |
Created By: | Stephen J. Cannell |
Status: | Ended |
User Score (votes): | 6.6 / 10 (7) |
Kindred: The Embraced is an American television series produced by John Leekley Productions and Spelling Television. Loosely based on the role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade, the series premiered on Fox on April 2, 1996, and ran for eight episodes b
Genres: | Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Drama |
Number Of Seasons: | 1 |
Network: | FOX |
Created By: | Mark Rein·Hagen, John Leekley |
Status: | Ended |
User Score (votes): | 6.7 / 10 (10) |
After resigning, a secret agent is abducted and taken to what looks like an idyllic village, but is really a bizarre prison. His warders demand information. He gives them nothing, but only tries to escape.
Genres: | Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy |
Number Of Seasons: | 1 |
Network: | ITV |
Created By: | Patrick McGoohan, George Markstein |
Status: | Ended |
User Score (votes): | 7.6 / 10 (70) |
When a mother (Jaime King) is separated from her daughter, she embarks on a harrowing journey, stopping at nothing to find her. Thrust alongside a small group of American refugees, she must brave a hostile new world and make brutal decisions during the mo
Genres: | Drama, Action & Adventure |
Number Of Seasons: | 1 |
Created By: | Karl Schaefer, John Hyams |
Network: | Netflix |
Status: | Returning Series |
User Score (votes): | 0 / 10 (0) |
Baretta is an American detective television series which ran on ABC from 1975 to 1978. The show was a milder version of a successful 1973–74 ABC series, Toma, starring Tony Musante as chameleon-like, real-life New Jersey police officer David Toma. While p
Genres: | Action & Adventure, Drama |
Number Of Seasons: | 4 |
Created By: | Stephen J. Cannell |
Network: | ABC |
Status: | Ended |
Origin Country: | US |
User Score (votes): | 7 / 10 (15) |
When social upheaval sweeps Russia in the early 20th century, Czar Nicholas II resists change, sparking a revolution and ending a dynasty.
Genres: | Drama, War & Politics, Documentary |
Number Of Seasons: | 1 |
Network: | Netflix |
Status: | Ended |
Origin Country: | US |
User Score (votes): | 8 / 10 (3) |
A police officer and a doctor face an emotionally charged mystery when seven local residents inexplicably return from the dead in peak physical form.
Genres: | Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy |
Number Of Seasons: | 3 |
Created By: | Louise Fox, Tony Ayres |
Network: | ABC |
Status: | Ended |
Origin Country: | AU |
User Score (votes): | 6.6 / 10 (64) |
Transylvania, 1897. The blood-drinking Count Dracula is drawing his plans against Victorian London. And be warned: the dead travel fast.
Genres: | Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy |
Number Of Seasons: | 1 |
Created By: | Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat, Claes Bang |
Network: | BBC One |
Status: | Ended |
Origin Country: | GB |
User Score (votes): | 7.3 / 10 (93) |
A devout detective's faith is tested as he investigates a brutal murder that seems to be connected to an esteemed Utah family's spiral into LDS fundamentalism and their distrust in the government.
Genres: | Crime, Drama, Mystery |
Number Of Seasons: | 1 |
Created By: | Dustin Lance Black |
Network: | Hulu |
Status: | Returning Series |
Origin Country: | US |
User Score (votes): | 9.2 / 10 (14) |
A contemporary and culturally resonant drama about a young programmer, Elliot, who suffers from a debilitating anti-social disorder and decides that he can only connect to people by hacking them. He wields his skills as a weapon to protect the people that
Publisher: | Universal Cable Productions, Anonymous Content |
Genres: | Crime, Drama |
Number Of Seasons: | 3 |
Network: | USA Network |
Created By: | Sam Esmail |
Status: | Returning Series |
User Score (votes): | 7.9 / 10 (1348) |
In the unreal world of Sacred Heart Hospital, John "J.D" Dorian learns the ways of medicine, friendship and life.
Publisher: | Touchstone Television, ABC Studios, Doozer |
Genres: | Drama, Comedy |
Number Of Seasons: | 9 |
Networks: | ABC, NBC |
Created By: | Bill Lawrence |
Status: | Ended |
User Score (votes): | 7.8 / 10 (559) |
Narcissistic, brash, and self-destructive Jimmy thinks all relationships are doomed. Cynical, people-pleasing, and stubborn Gretchen knows that relationships aren't for her. So when they meet at a wedding, it's only natural that the two of them go home to
Genres: | Comedy, Drama |
Number Of Seasons: | 5 |
Network: | FX |
Created By: | Stephen Falk |
Status: | Returning Series |
User Score (votes): | 7.7 / 10 (85) |
Elegant, proper Grace and freewheeling, eccentric Frankie are a pair of frenemies whose lives are turned upside down - and permanently intertwined - when their husbands leave them for each other. Together, they must face starting over in their 70s in a 21
Genres: | Comedy, Drama |
Number Of Seasons: | 4 |
Network: | Netflix |
Created By: | Marta Kauffman, Howard J. Morris |
Status: | Returning Series |
User Score (votes): | 7.7 / 10 (73) |
A drama about a multi-generational family of cops dedicated to New York City law enforcement. Frank Reagan is the New York Police Commissioner and heads both the police force and the Reagan brood. He runs his department as diplomatically as he runs his fa
Genres: | Crime, Drama |
Number Of Seasons: | 9 |
Network: | CBS |
Created By: | Robin Green, Mitchell Burgess |
Status: | Returning Series |
User Score (votes): | 6.8 / 10 (205) |
The series centers on 17-year-old Joshua "J" Cody, who moves in with his freewheeling relatives in their Southern California beach town after his mother dies of a heroin overdose. Headed by boot-tough matriarch Janine "Smurf" Cody and her right-hand Baz,
Genres: | Crime, Drama |
Number Of Seasons: | 3 |
Network: | TNT |
Created By: | Jonathan Lisco |
Status: | Returning Series |
User Score (votes): | 6.5 / 10 (105) |
The reboot follows two of America’s wealthiest families, the Carringtons and the Colbys, as they feud for control over their fortune and their children focusing on Fallon Carrington, the daughter of billionaire Blake Carrington, and her soon-to-be stepmot
Genres: | Drama, Soap |
Number Of Seasons: | 2 |
Network: | The CW |
Created By: | Sallie Patrick, Stephanie Savage, Josh Schwartz, Richard and Esther Shapiro |
Status: | Returning Series |
User Score (votes): | 7 / 10 (42) |
Set in the charming town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut, the series follows the captivating lives of Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, a mother/daughter pair who have a relationship most people only dream of.
Genres: | Comedy, Drama |
Number Of Seasons: | 7 |
Networks: | The WB, The CW |
Created By: | Amy Sherman-Palladino |
Status: | Canceled |
User Score (votes): | 7.5 / 10 (192) |
Based on the novel by Pamela Redmond Satran, "Younger" follows 40-year old Liza, a suddenly single mother who tries to get back into the working world, only to find it’s nearly impossible to start at the bottom at her age. When a chance encounter with a y
Genres: | Drama, Comedy |
Number Of Seasons: | 5 |
Networks: | TV Land, Paramount Network |
Created By: | Darren Star |
Status: | Returning Series |
User Score (votes): | 5.7 / 10 (58) |
In the tradition of Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential" and Gelsey Kirkland's "Dancing on my Grave" comes an insider’s look into the secret world of classical musicians. From her debut recital at Carnegie Recital Hall to the Broadway pits of "Les M
Genres: | Comedy, Drama |
Number Of Seasons: | 4 |
Network: | Amazon |
Created By: | Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman, Alex Timbers |
Status: | Canceled |
User Score (votes): | 7.9 / 10 (78) |
A financial adviser drags his family from Chicago to the Missouri Ozarks, where he must launder $500 million in five years to appease a drug boss.
Genres: | Crime, Drama |
Number Of Seasons: | 2 |
Network: | Netflix |
Created By: | Bill Dubuque, Mark Williams |
Status: | Returning Series |
User Score (votes): | 8 / 10 (320) |
The Facts of Life is an American sitcom that originally ran on the NBC television network from August 24, 1979, to May 7, 1988, making it the longest running sitcom of the 1980s. A spin-off of the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, the series' premise focuses on E
Genres: | Drama, Comedy |
Number Of Seasons: | 9 |
Network: | NBC |
Created By: | Norman Lear, Dick Clair, Jenna McMahon |
Status: | Ended |
User Score (votes): | 5.7 / 10 (24) |
7th Heaven is an American family drama television series, created and produced by Brenda Hampton. The series premiered on August 26, 1996, on The WB, the first time that the network aired Monday night programming, and was originally broadcast from August
Genres: | Family, Drama |
Number Of Seasons: | 11 |
Networks: | The WB, Network Ten, Eleven |
Created By: | Brenda Hampton |
Status: | Ended |
User Score (votes): | 5.3 / 10 (55) |
Notorious serial killer Joe Carroll, after being found guilty of murdering 14 female students on the Virginia college campus where he taught literature, escapes from death row. The FBI calls former agent Ryan Hardy to consult on the case, as he was the on
Genres: | Crime, Drama |
Number Of Seasons: | 3 |
Network: | FOX |
Created By: | Kevin Williamson |
Status: | Canceled |
User Score (votes): | 6.5 / 10 (190) |
Boardwalk Empire is a period drama focusing on Enoch "Nucky" Thompson (based on the historical Enoch L. Johnson), a political figure who rose to prominence and controlled Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition period of the 1920s and 1930s. Nuc
Genres: | Drama, Crime |
Number Of Seasons: | 5 |
Network: | HBO |
Created By: | Terence Winter |
Status: | Ended |
User Score (votes): | 7.9 / 10 (355) |
Sam, an 18-year-old on the autism spectrum, takes a funny, yet painful, journey of self-discovery for love and independence and upends his family.
Genres: | Drama, Comedy |
Number Of Seasons: | 2 |
Network: | Netflix |
Created By: | Robia Rashid |
Status: | Returning Series |
User Score (votes): | 7.8 / 10 (87) |
The daily lives of prisoners in Emerald City, an experimental unit of the Oswald Maximum Security Prison where ingroups - Muslims, Latinos, Italians, Aryans - stick close to their mutual friends and terrorizes their mutual enemies.
Genres: | Crime, Drama |
Number Of Seasons: | 6 |
Network: | HBO |
Created By: | Tom Fontana |
Status: | Ended |
User Score (votes): | 8.2 / 10 (223) |
A ruthless outlaw terrorizes the West in search of a former member of his gang, who’s found a new life in a quiet town populated only by women.
Genres: | Western, Drama |
Number Of Seasons: | 1 |
Network: | Netflix |
Created By: | Steven Soderbergh |
Status: | Ended |
User Score (votes): | 7.9 / 10 (111) |
The story of a middle-class family coping with the sudden passing of their beloved patriarch Patrick, a whimsical inventor who touched the lives of all who knew him. Devastated, his family finds hope in a guide book he created for his sons.
Genres: | Comedy, Drama |
Number Of Seasons: | 1 |
Network: | Amazon |
Created By: | Greg Mottola, Todd Biermann |
Status: | Returning Series |
User Score (votes): | 0.5 / 10 (1) |
Dr. Dylan Reinhart, a gifted author, university professor and former CIA operative is lured back to his old life by tenacious top NYPD Detective Lizzie Needham. Though Dylan and Lizzie initially clash, when it comes to catching killers, they make an ideal
Genres: | Crime, Drama |
Number Of Seasons: | 1 |
Network: | CBS |
Created By: | Michael Rauch |
Status: | Returning Series |
User Score (votes): | 6.7 / 10 (20) |
Every day is a matter of life and death in a hectic New York City hospital, but for Nurse Jackie that's the easiest part. Between chronic back pain that won't quit, and a personal life on the constant edge of collapse, it's going to take a white lie here,
Genres: | Drama, Comedy |
Number Of Seasons: | 7 |
Network: | Showtime |
Created By: | Linda Wallem, Liz Brixius, Evan Dunsky |
Status: | Ended |
User Score (votes): | 7.1 / 10 (60) |
Plum Kettle, ghost-writer for the editor of one of New York’s hottest fashion magazines, struggles with self-image and sets out on a wildly complicated road to self-acceptance. At the same time, everyone is buzzing over news reports about men, accused of
Genres: | Comedy, Drama |
Number Of Seasons: | 1 |
Network: | AMC |
Created By: | Marti Noxon |
Status: | Canceled |
User Score (votes): | 6.4 / 10 (5) |
The events of one woman's life following her divorce after years of marriage to a Hollywood studio executive. Based on the best-selling novel by Gigi Levangie Grazer.
Genres: | Comedy, Drama |
Number Of Seasons: | 2 |
Network: | USA Network |
Created By: | Sara Parriott, Josann McGibbon |
Status: | Ended |
User Score (votes): | 4 / 10 (2) |
John Ellis, a disillusioned suburban ER doctor, who finds his existence transformed when he intervenes in a drive-by shooting, saving a young boy's life and killing one of his attackers. When he learns the boy is still marked for death he finds himself co
Genres: | Crime, Drama |
Number Of Seasons: | 1 |
Network: | USA Network |
Created By: | Matt Nix |
Status: | Canceled |
User Score (votes): | 6.4 / 10 (14) |