![]() | The Wire - The Complete First Season
Buy new: $31.99 / Used from: $21.00 The greatness of this show is elusive until you've seen the whole season. The writing is complex and rewards the attentive audience. Each season is better than the last.
The show was created and largely written by David Simon whose journalism was the basis for the earlier Baltimore crime drama Homicide. David plans to create a series about jazz musicians in New Orleans next.
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![]() | Battlestar Galactica - Season One
Buy new: $34.99 / Used from: $21.48 The power of this show can win over even those viewers who dislike the science fiction genre. There are a few flawed episodes, but for the most part, the series reaches heights of storytelling and artistry that most movies cannot touch.
Ronald Moore's hope with this re-imagining of the original BSG concept was to change the way both Hollywood and TV audiences would think of science fiction.
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![]() | Northern Exposure - The Complete Series
Buy new: $135.99 / Used from: $163.77 If you think NX was just a fish-out-of-water comedy about a New Yorker in Alaska, you missed the real soul of the show. It's an intellectual and spiritual tour de force masquerading as a novelty show about a quirky town.
The show was created by Joshua Brand and John Falsey of St. Elsewhere fame. NX's team of producers and writers lead by David Chase went on to work on The Sopranos.
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![]() | Deadwood - The Complete First Season
Buy new: $32.49 / Used from: $26.99 One of the greatest American dramas set in the quintessential dreamland of the American wild west. The dark, gritty edge reminds us that nightmares are dreams too. Either way, Deadwood is unforgettable.
David Milch was the voice and soul of NYPD Blue during its strongest seasons. He explores new ground with the freedom of this HBO series.
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![]() | The Shield - The Complete First Season
Buy used from: $4.40 The Shield is a dark police drama about Vic Mackey, a semi-corrupt detective who leads the Strike Team in Los Angeles. His angels and demons are at war with each other, and the outcome is never certain.
Creator and showrunner Shawn Ryan uses the souls and streets of our violent world as a canvas to explore the big questions while lighting fires in our minds as no show has ever done before.
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![]() | The Sopranos: The Complete First Season
Buy new: $31.99 / Used from: $10.93 Times have changed when the Bradys are replaced by the Sopranos as America's favorite family. This show is the epitome of TV's current golden age.
David Chase worked on the aforementioned Northern Exposure.
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![]() | Twin Peaks - The Definitive Gold Box Edition (The Complete Series)
Buy new: $69.99 / Used from: $66.69 Twin Peaks changed the television landscape permanently. For all its flaws and weak points, its strong points and powerful visions remain unparalleled by any other work of art.
David Lynch is the ultimate American auteur and Hollywood renegade. He is known for films such as Eraserhead, Mullholland Drive, and most recently, Inland Empire.
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![]() | Damages: The Complete First Season
Buy new: $32.99 / Used from: $20.99 |
![]() | The West Wing - The Complete Series Collection
Buy new: $134.99 / Used from: $118.95 The power of seasons 1-4 (the Sorkin years) is not in its politics or even the issues it deals with, but in the beauty of the dialogue. The love of language is matched only by the love of the American democratic process--they are the true stars of this series.
Aaron Sorkin wrote a play that later became the movie A Few Good Men. Sorkin also worked on the ill-fated Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
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![]() | Dexter: The First Season
Buy new: $17.99 / Used from: $13.98 Dexter is a sociopathic forensics expert who moonlights as a serial killer, ridding society of evil human baggage.
Some people say this black and white (and red with blood splatter) vision of good and evil wouldn't have worked before 9/11. I say it's a damned good story.
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![]() | Firefly - The Complete Series
Buy new: $38.49 / Used from: $19.99 Joss Whedon and Tim Minear were only allowed one season of brilliance before this show was misguidedly cancelled executives who had no business tampering with the work of true storytellers. The follow-up movie Serenity has received mixed reviews. I enjoyed it, but not as much as any of the episodes.
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![]() | Band of Brothers
Buy new: $44.49 / Used from: $29.49 |
![]() | House, M.D. - Season One
Buy new: $23.99 / Used from: $14.39 |
![]() | Oz - The Complete Seasons 1-6
Buy new: $167.49 / Used from: $84.99 One of the first original series on HBO is also the most brutal TV series ever made. Set in a maximum security prison, Oz explores the darkness of the human soul in the confines of the human condition.
Creator and writer Tom Fontana previously worked on the critically acclaimed series Homicide.
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![]() | Rome: The Complete First Season
Buy new: $32.49 / Used from: $19.98 |
![]() | Lost - The Complete First Season
Buy new: $34.99 / Used from: $11.97 The rest of this list is under construction.
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![]() | Rescue Me - The Complete First Season
Buy new: $31.99 / Used from: $8.60 |
![]() | NYPD Blue - Season 1
Buy used from: $4.84 |
![]() | Six Feet Under - The Complete Series Gift Set
Buy new: $87.99 / Used from: $79.99 Life and death, beauty and absurdity. What else is there?
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![]() | Homicide The Complete Series Seasons 1-7 DVD SET
Buy new: $224.99 / Used from: $84.00 Critics loved it, but fans never really noticed. The writing and acting, at times, reach amazing heights and paved the way for ground-breaking dramas to come.
Tom Fontana (Oz) and David Simon (The Wire) did amazing work on this series which is possibly the most underrated and overlooked.
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![]() | Brotherhood - The Complete First Season
Buy new: $18.49 / Used from: $9.79 |
![]() | Cracker: Series 1
Buy used from: $17.95 |
![]() | Friday Night Lights - The First Season
Buy new: $21.99 / Used from: $13.10 |
![]() | Sports Night - The Complete Series Boxed Set
Buy used from: $21.00 |
![]() | MI-5, Volume 1
Buy new: $29.99 / Used from: $20.59 |
![]() | Law & Order - The First Year
Buy new: $38.99 / Used from: $15.98 |
![]() | 24 - Season One
Buy new: $44.99 / Used from: $4.67 |
![]() | Boston Legal - Season One
Buy new: $29.98 / Used from: $11.45 |
![]() | Monk - Season One
Buy new: $41.99 / Used from: $22.94 |
![]() | Picket Fences - Season 1
Buy new: $24.99 / Used from: $13.99 |
![]() | C.S.I. Crime Scene Investigation - The Complete First Season
Buy new: $14.99 / Used from: $7.23 |
![]() | Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Collector's Set (40 discs)
Buy new: $166.99 / Used from: $99.99 |
![]() | Eureka - Season One
Buy new: $21.99 / Used from: $15.99 |
![]() | Wonderfalls - The Complete Series
Buy new: $21.99 / Used from: $14.94 |
![]() | Weeds - Season One
Buy new: $18.99 / Used from: $8.00 |
![]() | The Unit - The Complete First Season
Buy new: $29.99 / Used from: $12.99 |
![]() | Desperate Housewives - The Complete First Season
Buy new: $31.99 / Used from: $10.99 |
![]() | Grey's Anatomy - The Complete First Season
Buy new: $18.49 / Used from: $7.49 |
![]() | The Closer - The Complete First Season
Buy new: $15.99 / Used from: $12.99 |
![]() | Supernatural - The Complete First Season
Buy new: $14.99 / Used from: $19.03 |
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