Breaking Bad
This crime epic about a mild chemistry teacher tops critic and fan lists for tense character arcs that redefined prestige television.
Official site for Breaking Bad
The 21 best TV series
TV series scored by Tomatometer averages in 21 words.
Top 21
Chernobyl
This nuclear-disaster miniseries earns towering notices for procedural dread and human cost, and critics call it essential modern historical television drama.
The Sopranos
This mob-therapy classic still anchors critics' best-of lists for character psychology that permanently remade American prestige drama and everything that followed.
Official site for The Sopranos
The Wire
This Baltimore crime drama about institutions still shows critics how novelistic television can map a city without losing its street-level pulse.
Fleabag
This fourth-wall-breaking British comedy drama still floors critics with intimate chaos and a second season that many critics call near-perfect television.
Shogun
This feudal Japan epic remake stuns critics with its craft, language and political tension, outrunning most prestige historical television on screens.
Mad Men
Madison Avenue style and hollow ambition still earn high critic scores for these decade-spanning character studies of the American advertising myth.
Reservation Dogs
This Indigenous teen comedy-drama earns near-perfect praise for its voice, humor and a community portrait mainstream television rarely puts center stage.
Official site for Reservation Dogs
Andor
Star Wars spy craft earns rare critic reverence for political thriller weight, treating rebellion as a costly adult story without apology.
Pachinko
This Korean-Japanese family epic spanning decades earns lofty critic scores for its immigration history, emotional depth and meticulous multilingual craft throughout.
Slow Horses
Sloppy British spies and dry menace earn strong Tomatometer runs for spycraft that feels funnier and meaner than typical Bond films.
Succession
Media-dynasty venom and boardroom farce keep critics cheering performances that make a corporate succession battle feel Shakespearean and viciously, darkly funny.
True Detective (S1)
The Louisiana occult crime of season one still towers over later runs, as critics cite its atmosphere and dual-timeline detective dread.
Official site for True Detective (S1)
Baby Reindeer
This stalking-trauma memoir series shocks critics with raw confessional craft, sparking fierce public debate while scoring near-perfect tallies on the Tomatometer.
Official site for Baby Reindeer
The Bear
Kitchen chaos, family grief and Chicago energy keep critics ranking this culinary drama among the sharpest American television series this decade.
The Crown
This decades-spanning royal drama still draws strong critic tallies for costume craft and institutional portrait, even as later seasons divide fans.
The Leftovers
Grief after a global disappearance becomes haunting prestige television that critics still praise for spiritual risk and devastating, lingering character work.
Official site for The Leftovers
Dark
This German time-loop mystery rewards patience with nested timelines that critics praise as one of Netflix's densest, smartest European thrillers ever.
Severance
This split-memory office dystopia keeps critics raving about its production design, its dread and a workplace allegory that feels freshly nightmarish.
Beef
This road-rage feud comedy-drama earns near-perfect notices for its portrait of rage, class and immigrant family pressure across Los Angeles sprawl.
Squid Game
This Korean survival spectacle became a global phenomenon that critics still widely credit for class allegory wrapped in brutal game-show inventiveness.
How this Top 21 is ranked
These are 21 drama and comedy series from the late 1990s to today, from The Sopranos and The Wire to Shogun and Severance, ranked by a blend of public ratings: Rotten Tomatoes critics and audience, Metacritic, IMDb and, where Letterboxd coverage is thin, TMDB. Each available source counts equally and a show needs at least three. Breaking Bad leads with 93. The blend rewards shows that critics and viewers both love, which is why some critics’ darlings sit lower than you might expect. Every verdict is exactly 21 words and says what the show is and why it lands. For the closest rivalries, see our head-to-head comparisons below. Last checked 2 November 2026.
Head-to-head
- Breaking Bad vs The Sopranos: ratings compared
- The Wire vs The Sopranos: ratings compared
- Breaking Bad vs The Wire: ratings compared
Questions
What is the top-rated series on 21words?
Breaking Bad currently has the highest score, 93 out of 100, followed by Chernobyl (92) and The Sopranos (92). Scores were last checked on 2 November 2026.
How is each series scored?
Each score is an equal-weight blend of Rotten Tomatoes critics and audience, Metacritic, IMDb ×10 and Letterboxd ×20 (TMDB ×10 when Letterboxd coverage is thin), with at least three sources. Every verdict is an original summary of exactly 21 words.
How often is this series ranking updated?
We re-check every score each Monday. If a source cannot be reached or a figure cannot be confirmed, we keep the previous score rather than guess, and every change is logged on our What changed this week page.
What changed this week · All head-to-head comparisons · All guides
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