The 5 best TV shows of all time, according to IMDb

When it comes to TV, the IMDb rating system is a little strange. For example, TV episodes tend to have a higher rating range than movies; while the #1 movie of all time on the platform, “Shawshank Redemption,” has a 9.2 rating, it’s not uncommon for TV episodes to get a 9.9 rating. Or in the case of the “Breaking Bad” episode “Ozymandias,” it even got a full 10 out of 10.

There are some other quirks to watch out for, like how the early episodes of a lot of shows are rated deceptively low. Why is the first episode of “The Bear” e.g. only rated 7.6 while later episodes of the show are rated much higher? In this case, I don’t think it’s because the opening episodes were lower in quality, but because the audience who weren’t happy with the series simply stopped watching after the first few episodes and were no longer around to give later section a low rating.

Then you have review bombing to watch out for. Sometimes it’s because the show is considered “woke” for some reason and becomes the target of right-wing trolls, and other times it’s because a controversy is associated with the project and large parts of Internet users are not willing to give it a chance. As an example of the latter, there’s “The Leftovers,” a great show that’s nonetheless stuck at an 8.3 overall rating despite so many of its individual episodes making it into the 9+ range. That’s because thousands of users were angry at showrunner Damon Lindelof for his work on the “Lost” finale and “Prometheus” and didn’t give the new show a chance. The undeniably good seasons 2 and 3 brought the show’s rating up from 7.8 to 8.3, but it will take a long time (if ever) for the show to get the 8.5+ rating it deserves.

When it comes to the highest rated TV dramas on IMDb, the main thing they have in common is that no one was mad at them before they started. The top five non-documentary shows are “Breaking Bad,” “Band of Brothers,” “Chernobyl,” “The Wire” and “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” most of which were surprise successes from creators who were relatively unknown beforehand . . Unlike something like “Andor,” a great show that had a large built-in “Star Wars” audience from day one, these five shows all gained popularity through word of mouth. That seems to be the key to getting towards the IMDb Top Five. Let’s break each one down.

As someone who believes that “Avatar: The Last Airbender” has more flaws than people tend to acknowledge — mainly the Aang/Katara romance was terrible and Azula’s mental decline was a little rushed — I think the big the reason it is rated so highly is because expectations were low. It is a Nickelodeon show after all; the marketing and the first few episodes implied a TV series that was fun, but nonetheless not that deep or emotional. At first it seemed like another “Danny Phantom” or “My Life As a Teenaged Robot,” two contemporary shows that were good for kids but not something adults could invest in.

But as the first season of “The Last Airbender” went on, it became clear that it dealt with heavy themes and nuanced character arcs. Then came Season 2, and the series fully embraced a darker, serialized approach that the rest of Nickelodeon simply didn’t. The show really hits its stride in Season 2’s Ba Sing Se arc, throwing us one banger episode after another without letting up. It kept pushing the boundaries of what a children’s show was even allowed to do, trusting its audience to handle disturbing stories without easy answers. And while I have issues with the way Azula’s arc was handled, it’s impressive that the show even went there and dared to leave her character on such a miserable note.

Is the quality of the writing here really as strong as it was on “Breaking Bad” or “The Wire”? Probably not, but it was many viewers’ first forays into good serialized television, and it served as a much-needed reminder that kids’ shows aren’t always just for kids. The show’s IMDb rating is inflated by nostalgia and the median age of the audience, but the 9.3 rating is still impressive.

The legacy of “The Wire” is funny, because even when people criticize it, it’s usually backhanded criticism. Being too complicated for some audiences to follow, or being too slow compared to the average mainstream TV series, are “problems” that many smaller shows would be happy to suffer. Even the people who don’t like “The Wire” can usually recognize that there’s a ton of skill and ambition on display here from the very first cold open. “The Wire” has a reputation for being a more “literary” TV series at a higher level, making it hard for even its haters to dismiss.

Meanwhile, the people who love “The Wire” will never shut up about how clever and exciting it is, especially once you get past the learning curve of the first few episodes and feel a stronger connection to the characters. That strong word of mouth is what has kept “The Wire” in the public consciousness even 16 years after its final season aired, and even after its first run was never a big ratings hit.

Although certain aspects of the show are starting to feel dated, I don’t think “The Wire” will ever be booted from IMDb’s list of best shows. Although two of its five seasons are often described as a step below the others, the big picture of the show is so strong that it doesn’t seem to matter. When a show delivers something as good as Season 4, no disappointing Season 5 can possibly drag down its legacy.

While I don’t want to discount how good “Chernobyl” was — it’s very good — this 2019 miniseries also enjoyed some of the lower expectations that “The Last Airbender” enjoyed. The show was created by Craig Mazin, Ted Cruz’s confused college friend and the guy who wrote the scripts for “Superhero Movie” and “Scary Movie 4.” “Chernobyl” was well-received not only for its quality, but because of the sheer wonder that comes from realizing that this hard-hitting historical drama was created by the same guy who wrote Aunt May farts repeatedly for two minutes straight. It shouldn’t be that surprising that a talented screenwriter would have to wade through some silly projects before he could get a serious project like this off the ground, but it was too many people.

Outside of Mazin, “Chernobyl” benefits from how it’s a miniseries that actually stayed a miniseries. Other miniseries have expanded into anthology shows and ended up damaging their originally excellent reputations, like “True Detective” or potentially “Shōgun,” whereas there is no follow-up to “Chernobyl” that could drag the series down. I guess it’s a good thing there’s no real-life “Chernobyl” sequel for it to draw on.

Like “Chernobyl,” “Band of Brothers” is a stand-alone miniseries with no direct sequel. (Thank God there wasn’t another World War, am I right?) Unlike “Chernobyl,” there was little reason to doubt this show before it aired on HBO in the fall of 2001. Starring Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg as two of the most prominent names associated with the project, viewers were hoping for an intense, thought-provoking war drama covering the final days of World War II, and that’s exactly what they got. As /Film’s Jack Hawkins put it in his piece chronicling some of the miniseries’ most brutal moments, “There’s nothing in ‘Band of Brothers’ quite as captivatingly wild as Spielberg’s genre-bending Omaha Beach sequence (in ” Saving Private) Ryan”). However, HBO’s 10-part miniseries is still a thunderous account of World War II, filled with many sad and brutal moments.”

In addition to being damn good TV, this miniseries deserves props for being one of the first of its kind to bridge the gap between TV and film in a way that was almost unprecedented in 2001. The 2000s was the period, where television was starting to become just as respected an art form as film, and “Band of Brothers” played a huge role in helping that happen.

When “Breaking Bad” started its abbreviated first season back in 2008, no one knew yet that it would go on to become one of the biggest shows in the world, spawning a successful prequel series and sequel movies in the years since it ended. It’s not that the first season of “Breaking Bad” was bad, it’s just that it wasn’t until Season 2 that the show’s full genius was revealed when viewers realized they were in the midst of witnessing the most compelling and nuanced moral downfall of a main character in the prestige television story.

Even with the show’s brilliance clearly established by Season 2, it wasn’t until Season 5 that the show could be considered a mainstream success. The first half of that season averaged 2.78 million viewers before experiencing a massive Netflix-induced surge in viewership for the final eight episodes. The final was watched live by 10.28 million viewers, so the extent to which word of mouth has helped the show’s popularity over the past year cannot be overstated.

It helps that unlike “Game of Thrones,” which used to be a top 5 IMDb show before Season 8 happened, “Breaking Bad” nailed the landing. It’s one of the few TV shows where each season is somehow better than the one that came before it, and each new episode feels like the culmination of everything that had been established so far. “Breaking Bad” has the perfect escalation of stakes, some of the best writing television has to offer, and the most satisfying final season ever. It’s no wonder it reigns supreme on IMDb, and it’s unlikely a new show will top it anytime soon.