Best TV shows
How do you find the best TV shows? TV Guide is no help now that there's such a wealth of incredible TV to watch on services like Netflix, NOW TV and Amazon for our televisual goodness.
There's a whole lot of choice out there at the moment when it comes to finding something awesome to stick on your lovely big-screen TV. But therein lies the rub: you have to choose. Without someone else determining the programming schedule you've got to go and do all the discovery yourself.
You've suddenly got a whole new role when figuring out what to glue your eyeballs to for the evening; you are now director of programming.
Hence why Apple, Google and Amazon are trying to make discovery the centre point for their different devices and operating systems. But you could always just let someone you trust do it for you though. Like us.
So, why not check out our curated lists of the best shows the big streamers have to offer.
But we've also gone through the big three streaming services to find you the best TV shows in a selection of different genres and highlight some shows which you might not have paid attention to before.
Best drama shows
Breaking Bad
More addictive than the meth pushed by Walt and Jessie (apparently, ahem), Breaking Bad is brilliant binge-watching television. The initial plot is simple: a straight-laced teacher is told he has cancer and to make sure he leaves his family with the best possible life, he turns to drug making and dealing. There's method to his madness as he ends up being pretty good at it.
Creator Vince Gilligan has created such a good group of characters, he is currently mining the same world again with Better Call Saul. But that has some way to go reach the highest highs that Breaking Bad offers.
Where to get it: Netflix
Seasons available: 5
Best of the rest
Mr. Robot
"This is Fight Club for the Tor generation, lifting a lid on a world where what Linux kernel you use is not just a badge of honour but a way of life."
Where to get it: Amazon Prime
Seasons available: 1
Mad Men
"The show is at its best when it just focuses on its extremely flawed and brilliantly portrayed characters. "
Where to get it: NOW TV
Seasons available: 7
24
"The show has always played on the spectre of real terrorist atrocities, but with a hyperreal edge that kept it firmly within the 'entertainment' genre."
Where to get it: NOW TV
Seasons available: 9
Unsung hero
Friday Night Lights
"Consistently brilliant television and up there with the best programmes around, even if the only thing you know about American Football is that it's a poor person's rugby."
Where to get it: Netflix
Seasons available: 5
Best comedy shows
Community
Community is the series that just won't die. And many have tried to kill it. Now heading into its sixth season, it was looking rocky for the comedy when Season 4 was announced, without show runner Dan Harmon, but it survived with its dignity almost intact and was back to its best for Season 5. Set in a community college, Community follows a rag-tag group of adult learners and is so packed through with in-jokes, parodies and surreal humour that it's hard to believe each episode is just 20-odd minutes long.
Where to get it: Netflix
Seasons available: 5
Best of the rest
The Trip
"The Trip is the perfect gig for Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon and one that must have been too good to pass on."
Where to get it: Netflix
Seasons available: 2
Modern Family
"Consistently hilarious for six seasons now, using The Simpsons' method of showing good ol' family values through, well, good ol' family dysfunction."
Where to get it: NOW TV
Seasons available: 6
Red Oaks
"Great casting (Jennifer Grey!), some brilliant nods to '80s films and a short run time means this is a series you can eat up in one neon-fuelled sitting."
Where to get it: Amazon Prime
Seasons available: 1
Unsung hero
Hunderby
"If you like your comedy so black it becomes a vortex that sucks in all of time and space then Hunderby is for you."
Where to get it: NOW TV
Seasons available: 1
Best Sci-Fi / fantasy shows
Game of Thrones
The fantasy genre on television was floundering before Game of Thrones came along. Prised from George RR Martin's towering tome, GoT is a masterpiece of storytelling. It's part Godfather (warring families, copious bloodshed), part Tolkien (freaking dragons), and it gets better with each season. This is the crown jewel for both Sky and HBO, and is now one of the biggest shows in the world, with a budget to match. The series is now at a crucial point, as the show's plots overtakes those in the books. Keeping avid readers sweet will be a tough challenge but for those who just know this world through the TV show, it makes for riveting television.
Where to get it: NOW TV
Seasons available: 4
Best of the rest
Battlestar Galactica
"This reworking of the kitsch '70s show could have been a disaster but under the helm of showrunner Ronald D Moore, it turned out to be one of the best things made for TV."
Where to get it: Amazon Prime or Netflix
Seasons available: 4
Firefly
"Firefly takes the Star Wars framework of making space messy, where everything is a little rough around the edges - including the crew."
Where to get it: Netflix
Seasons available: 1
Vikings
"Yes, it takes a number of liberties with its source material but the acting is top class, as is the cinematography."
Where to get it: Amazon Prime
Seasons available: 3
Unsung hero
Outlander
"Usually romantic period pieces wouldn't be touched by the sci-fi crowd, but this is a decent stab at both genres and the Scotland setting looks absolutely gorgeous."
Where to get it: Amazon Prime
Seasons available: 1
Best horror shows
The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead has been reanimated more times than the zombies that harangue the group of survivors we have all come to know and love. Initially created with Frank Darabont at the helm, he left after the first season then his replacement was eventually replaced and their replacement replaced.
With this in mind, it's amazing that not only has the show consistently managed to improve season after season it has become one of the most successful series ever. Yes it sometimes slumps along slower than a zombie with its legs hacked off but give it time and it will reward you with more drama than you can shake a bloody stump at.
Where to get it: NOW TV (Amazon Prime)
Seasons available: 5 (3)
Best of the rest
Penny Dreadful
"Everyone from Frankenstein's monster to Dorian Gray have been given a revisionist spin that makes this series both scary and entertaining."
Where to watch it: NOW TV
Seasons available: 1
Scream
"The victims have been updated for the YouTube generation proves that you can stretch the 'man in the mask' horror genre into episodic chunks and it will still work."
Where to watch: Netflix
Seasons available: 1
True Blood
"The tales of Sookie Stackhouse were Twilight-esque books but the show found gold in the idea of a town that learns to respect vampires."
Where to watch: NOW TV
Seasons available: 7
Unsung hero
The Enfield Haunting
"There's jump scares aplenty in this adaptation of the 'true story' of a house in London in the Seventies that was subject of a vicious haunting."
Where to watch: NOW TV
Seasons available: 1
Best superhero shows
Daredevil
When it comes to superhero movies, Marvel are bossing DC thanks to the rich tapestry it has weaved with its cinematic universe. Its TV shows, as fun as Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D and Agent Carter are, haven't had the same success as DC's The Arrow or The Flash. Thankfully Daredevil has come along to change all this. Released in one binge-watching dose, Daredevil is superb television, regardless if you are a superhero fan or not.
Matt Murdoch's (Boardwalk Empire's Charlie Cox) rise from blind lawyer to vigilante is brutal and steeped in realism. The reason it works so well is that it doesn't shy away from being violent - each crack and crunch is a world away from Ben Affleck's terrible movie version. And special mention has to go to Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk, his best role since the tortured Private Pyle.
Where to watch: Netflix
Seasons available: 1
Best of the rest
Jessica Jones
"If you thought Chris Nolan's Batman movies were dark, let us tell you about Jessica Jones. She's another messed up detective with superpowers, but with a whole lot more Marvel baggage."
Where to watch: Netflix
Seasons available: 1
Gotham
"Given that the best thing about the Batman mythos is, er, Batman, Gotham really shouldn't work. But it does, even if it does take a while to get into."
Where to watch: Netflix
Seasons available: 1
Heroes
"Sure, it went seriously downhill after the first season, but what a first season that was. Watch that, then you're free to move on and pretend the rest never happened."
Where to watch: Netflix
Seasons available: 4
Unsung hero
Arrow
"The plot is very Batman: billionaire playboy turns superhero after a life changing turn of events, but bats are replaced with bows as Oliver Queen cleans up his city."
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
Seasons available: 2
Best crime shows
Sons of Anarchy
Seemingly always vying for the top spot of Best Recently Finished Drama (we may have made up that award) with Breaking Bad, Sons Of Anarchy is a long brooding menace of a show that deserves your attention. Centred on a motorcycle gang that live by their own rules (you can probably guess what their name is from the title) the show is positively Shakespearean in its storytelling and will have you gripped from episode one.
While Ron Perlman steals the show as Clay, Charlie Hunnam's Jax is one of the best tortured souls you will see on any television show. Beware that only six series are currently streaming on Amazon Prime - you will have to wait a little while before the fitting final season heads to the service.
Where to watch: NOW TV and Netflix (Amazon Prime)
Seasons available: 7 (6)
Best of the rest
Brooklyn Nine Nine
"Give it three episodes and you will be hooked and it's all because the characters are hilarious and the dialogue first class."
Where to watch: Netflix
Seasons available: 1
The Shield
"Before The Wire offered up its unique slice of cops and robbers, The Shield was bashing heads and dealing in storylines that blur the line between who is meant to be good and who is meant to be bad."
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
Seasons available: 7
Better Call Saul
"There was always a fear that Better Call Saul would turn out to be what Joey was to Friends but it has thankfully more Frasier to Cheers."
Where to watch: Netflix
Seasons available: 1
Unsung hero
The Blacklist
"While the supporting cast isn't quite up to Spader's magnificence, this is one of the most enjoyable shows on Sky at the moment."
Where to watch: NOW TV
Seasons available: 2
Best political shows
The West Wing
Aaron Sorkin's stock as a screenwriter may be a little low at the moment, thanks to the saccharine nature of The Newsroom, but if you want to remember him at his best then The West Wing is for you. Not only does it have the best cast ever assembled for a television show – led by the fantastic Martin Sheen – it's also a series that has influenced many programmes since. A winner of 26 Emmys, The West Wing showed that network television can be just as good as cable TV. A must watch.
Where to watch: NOW TV
Seasons available: 7
Best of the rest
House of Cards
"If there ever was a poster boy for Netflix, House of Cards would be it. Funded completely by the streaming service, boasting direction by David Fincher and acting by Kevin Spacey."
Where to watch: Netflix
Seasons available: 3
The Thick Of It
"The Thick Of It is perfect satire. It is the closest we will ever get to the machinations of politics, until they decide to let cameras roll 24/7 at Number 10."
Where to watch: Netflix
Seasons available: 4
The Newsroom
"The show if anchored brilliantly by Jeff Daniels' news anchor as the show takes us behind the scenes of a news show that is trying to bring the truth to US TV screens."
Where to watch: NOW TV
Seasons available: 3
Unsung hero
Alpha House
"It has a political edge but the back stabbing is replaced with a little bit of rib tickling. John Goodman is superb as one of four US senators shacked up in the same house."
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
Seasons available: 2
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