The Best TV Show from Each Decade Streaming Right Now

Television has evolved dramatically across its history, and streaming platforms have made it possible to trace that evolution from your couch. From groundbreaking sitcoms to prestige dramas that redefined the medium, the best show from each decade reveals how storytelling, production, and audience expectations have transformed. Here is the essential show from each era and where to stream it.

How We Selected: We measured options using full-season viewing, critical analysis, and production quality assessment. We considered thematic depth, narrative quality, production values, rewatch value. No manufacturer or developer paid for or influenced any recommendation.

1970s: MAS*H (Hulu)

The Korean War comedy-drama ran from 1972 to 1983 and used its military hospital setting to address the absurdity and horror of war with a blend of comedy and genuine pathos that had never been attempted on television. Alan Alda’s Hawkeye Pierce became one of television’s most iconic characters, and the show’s evolution from broad comedy to emotionally complex drama across eleven seasons mirrored television’s own maturation. The series finale remains the most-watched non-Super Bowl broadcast in American television history.

1980s: Cheers (Peacock / Paramount Plus)

The Boston bar comedy created a template for the ensemble sitcom that endures to this day. Ted Danson’s Sam Malone and Shelley Long’s Diane Chambers (later replaced by Kirstie Alley’s Rebecca Howe) anchored a cast of regulars whose chemistry made the bar feel like the most welcoming place on television. The show’s warmth, sharp writing, and willingness to let characters evolve across eleven seasons established the standard for every workplace comedy that followed. Cheers proved that a show could be both genuinely funny and emotionally resonant.

1990s: The Sopranos (Max)

David Chase’s HBO drama about New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano, struggling with panic attacks while managing his crime family and his actual family, invented the modern prestige television era. James Gandolfini’s performance is the most important in television history, creating a protagonist who is simultaneously monstrous and sympathetic. The show demonstrated that television could match cinema in ambition, complexity, and artistic achievement. Every prestige drama since, from Breaking Bad to Succession, exists because The Sopranos proved the audience was ready.

2000s: The Wire (Max)

David Simon’s Baltimore epic examined the American city through the lens of the drug trade, the docks, city hall, the education system, and the media across five seasons. Each season added a new institutional perspective while maintaining the core characters’ stories, building a portrait of systemic failure that no other show has matched. The Wire treats every character, from drug dealers to politicians to teachers, with equal complexity and refuses to offer easy solutions. It is arguably the most ambitious narrative achievement in television history.

2010s: Breaking Bad (Netflix)

Vince Gilligan’s story of Walter White’s transformation from mild-mannered chemistry teacher to methamphetamine kingpin is the most perfectly constructed drama in television history. Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul’s performances deepen with every rewatch, and the show’s five-season arc executes its premise with mathematical precision, each episode building inevitably toward its devastating conclusion. The writing never cheats, the moral reckoning is unsparing, and the final episode delivers one of television’s most satisfying endings.

2020s: Severance (Apple TV Plus)

The show that best represents the current decade’s creative ambitions, Severance combines science fiction, corporate satire, psychological thriller, and philosophical inquiry into something entirely original. Adam Scott leads a cast navigating a world where employees surgically separate their work and personal consciousness, and the show uses this premise to explore identity, free will, and the dehumanizing effects of corporate culture. The production design, direction, and performances represent the best of what the streaming era has enabled.

Honorable Mentions by Decade

1970s: All in the Family (various platforms) tackled social issues with unprecedented directness. 1980s: Hill Street Blues (various) invented the serialized ensemble drama. 1990s: Seinfeld (Netflix) redefined comedy by making observational humor the main event. 2000s: Mad Men (AMC Plus) used advertising to examine American identity. 2010s: Game of Thrones (Max) made fantasy mainstream global event television. 2020s: The Bear (Hulu) and Succession (Max) both deserve consideration as decade-defining shows.

What the Progression Reveals

Tracing television from MAS*H to Severance reveals a medium that has continuously expanded its ambitions. The 1970s showed that television could address serious themes. The 1980s built ensemble worlds viewers wanted to inhabit. The 1990s proved television could be art. The 2000s demonstrated it could be the great American novel. The 2010s perfected the long-form narrative. And the 2020s are proving that the medium’s creative ceiling has not been reached.

For more television history, check out our guides to how streaming changed the way we watch TV and the best shows on each streaming service.