47 Greatest Premium Network TV Series

The New Golden Age of TV

Some enthusiasts and critics consider the turn of the 21st century as the New Golden Age of TV. All of these series have won at least one award and most are (or were) broadcast by showing scores of episodes. Series are rated by the total of their awards, which usually equates with critical acclaim, praise, and popularity.

Now let’s begin the countdown!

47. Yellowstone

Years: 2018 to present

Episodes: 48

Network: Paramount+

Awards: 2

The Old West may never die on TV as long as neo-Westerns such as Yellowstone are produced. Created by Taylor Sheridan and John Linson, this oater involves four entities: the Yellowstone Dutton Cattle Ranch in Montana, the Broken Rock Indian Reservation, Yellowstone National Park, as well as real estate developers slavering at the possibility of covering the Dutton property—the largest ranch in the US—with an airport, an amusement park, condos and a casino or two.

Kevin Costner stars the Dutton family patriarch who runs the ranch like a third world dictator. The Dutton family may attack—with blazing assault rifles—anybody who trespasses on Dutton property, steals cattle or consorts with developers. Notably, the show got mediocre approval ratings at first but soon became one of the most watched shows on American TV.

Little Known Facts: Yellowstone has many spin-offs—1883, a prequel series; 1923, a show about the Dutton family during the Roaring Twenties, Prohibition and the Great Depression; and 6666, a series that takes place on the Four Sixes Ranch in present day Texas. In addition, 1944, a sequel to 1923, is in development.

46. Ray Donovan

Years: 2013 to 2020

Episodes: 82

Network: Showtime

Awards: 3

Liev Schreiber plays Ray Donovan, a fixer who works in the Los Angeles area, and then moves to NYC for seasons six and seven. Stoic and laconic, in the ilk of such cinematic tough guys as Charles Bronson and Clint Eastwood, Donovan seems capable of “fixing” just about any task, particularly if it involves threatening people, damaging property, cleaning up a crime scene or collecting debts, and if he ever comes at you wielding a baseball bat—you better run!

John Voight plays Mickey Donovan, Ray’s father who, once he’s unexpectedly released from prison, must partake of just about every vice. And, while the FBI tries to return Mickey to prison, Ray must do what he can to protect his wayward dad. After all, family trumps the law, right?

Little Known Facts: In an interview on Stephen Colbert’s late-night TV show in 2019, Liev Schreiber said he sometimes apologizes to his two children when he brings home his Ray Donovan persona, essentially becoming an a-hole around the house.

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45. Californication

Years: 2007 to 2014

Episodes: 84

Network: Showtime

Awards: 3

Californication shows life in California as it really is! Well, maybe not how it really is, but perhaps how people would like to think it is in the reputed land of decadence, where at least some eccentric, hedonistic folks behave as if every day were their last.

The show stars David Duchovny as Hank Moody, a troublesome, hard partying writer who writes well when he can write what he wants, but refuses to be a hack in the Hollywood script mill. By the way, Hank tries to be a good role model for his daughter Becca, but nearly always fails, naturally. The series is filled with instances of sex, drugs, f-word laced dialogue and the rock and roll culture, providing titillation for enthusiasts of such TV fare.

Little Known Facts: The Red Hot Chili Peppers released the hit single “Californication” in 1999, and when the Showtime series premiered in 2007, the band filed a lawsuit saying Showtime couldn’t use that name for their series. But Showtime proved the word was used in 1972, when Time published the article, “The Great Wild Californicated West.” The lawsuit was eventually settled out of court.

44. Black Sails

Years: 2014 to 2017

Episodes: 38

Network: Starz

Awards: 5

Written as a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel, Treasure Island, this series takes place in the early 1700s, when real life pirates such as Ann Bonny, Jack Rackham, Charles Vane and Blackbeard—all of whom fictionalized on the series—vie for control of New Providence Island in the Bahamas. British actor Toby Stephens plays Captain J. Flint, a former British naval officer turned pirate.

The plot revolves around Flint’s seizure of the treasure from the Urca de Lima, a Spanish treasure galleon. Flint tries to keep the treasure for himself and his cohorts and also avoid being hanged by the Spanish or British. "Not even a guilty pleasure, Black Sails is arrrrrr-estingly good," wrote Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly.

Little Known Facts: Considered a very authentic show solidly based on historical fact, it required an army of 300 workers just to build one ship, though some ships were rendered using CGI techniques, a much cheaper option, it seems.

43. Entourage

Years: 2004 to 2011

Episodes: 96

Network: HBO

Awards: 6

Entourage is a dramedy about four young men from Queens, New York City, who move to Hollywood hoping to pursue their dreams of acting in movies and/or helping actors and writers get work. Of course, they also hope to chase hot chicks and attend every party. Adrian Grenier plays Vincent Chase, a handsome, suave, debonair, young man with the talent to star in movies.

By the way, virtually every shot in the series includes beautiful women, and the number of celebrity cameos on the show is very impressive. The series is loosely based on the experiences of executive producer Mark Wahlberg. The show won four Primetime Emmy Awards, three of which by Jeremy Piven, who plays Ari Gold, the manager of the largest talent agency in L.A.

Little Known Facts: In 2015, after multiple delays going back to 2012, Entourage, the movie, was released. But the film—produced, written and directed by Doug Ellin (creator of the series)—was generally panned by critics and made only $10 million more than it cost to produce it.

42. Yellowjackets

Years: 2021 to present

Episodes: 13

Network: Showtime

Awards: 7

This psychological horror thriller is about a girls’ soccer team which, while flying to a national tournament in Seattle, Washington, crashes into a remote mountainous area of Canada. The survivors undergo great hardship in the piney woods, where some team members form cannibalistic clans and others experience bizarre events; they also find a strange symbol carved in tree trunks in various places in the wilderness, its meaning unknown.

After 19 months of gut-wrenching experiences, the surviving members of the group are rescued. Then the story advances to 2021, when the characters are 25 years older and the rivalries, disputes and strange incidents continue among the victims of the plane crash.

Christina Ricci, with much experience playing dark, eccentric characters in horror movies and TV series, plays an adult Misty Quigley, the soccer team’s equipment manager, while Samantha Hanratty plays Misty’s teenage self who survives in the woods with the rest of the soccer team; and Melanie Lynskey plays the adult version of Shauna Shipman, one of the main characters in the story.

Little Known Facts: Influenced by the survival stories of the Donner Party in California (1846 to 1847), the Andes flight disaster in 1972 and the novel, Lord of the Flies (1954), Yellowjackets was first pitched to HBO executives, but they declined to produce the series because they thought it was too much like Euphoria, another HBO TV series.

41. House of the Dragon

Years: 2022 to present

Episodes: 18

Network: HBO

Awards: 8

A prequel to the highly regarded Game of Thrones, this series chronicles the early decades of the House Targaryen, in particular a war of succession known as the Dance of the Dragons. Starring Paddy Considine as King Viserys I Targaryen; Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen, younger brother of King Viserys; and Emma D’Arcy as the king’s daughter Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, a rider of Syrax the dragon, the stage seems set for many dragon-filled battle scenes in seasons to come.

Milly Alcock plays a younger version of the Princess Targaryen, as shown in the early episodes of Season 1. She becomes a favorite of King Viserys and is considered the “Realm’s Delight.” Eventually Viserys designates his daughter as heir apparent to the Iron Throne, even though most of the king’s royal associates would prefer a male heir.

George R.R. Martin, creator of A Song of Fire and Ice, a series of fantasy novels from which Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon were produced, said this latest installment of house Targaryen is a Shakespearean tragedy with no characters “everybody’s going to love.”

But Paddy Considine’s portrayal of King Viserys shouldn’t be missed. He gives perhaps the best performance of Season 1—a riveting version of King Viserys that’s garnered much praise and critical acclaim. Creator George R.R. Martin told Considine, “Your Viserys is better than my Viserys.”

Little Known Facts: As many royal families have done in tales of fact or fiction on Earth or elsewhere, Prince Daemon Targaryen solidifies his claim to the throne by marrying his half sister, Princess Rhaenyra, from whom, it seems certain, the offspring will foment heated rivalries in episodes to come.

40. Band of Brothers

Years: 2001

Episodes: 10

Network: HBO

Awards: 8

Based on a nonfiction book by Stephen B. Ambrose, and created with the help of Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, both of whom worked on Saving Private Ryan (1998), Band of Brothers dramatizes the battle exploits of Easy Company in the 101st First Airborne Division during the European theater of WWII.

With the help of veterans from Easy Company to provide firsthand experiences and accuracy, and using a cast of scores of actors, the miniseries follows the action during parachute training at Camp Toccoa in Georgia, and then the Normandy Invasion, the liberation of a Nazi death camp, the capture of Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest in Germany and many other battles and gut-wrenching encounters. The miniseries won seven Primetime Emmy Awards and is perhaps the greatest WWII drama to appear on TV.

Little Known Facts: At the time, Band of Brothers cost more to make than any TV miniseries ever produced by any network; it had a total budget of $125 million— $12.5 million per episode!

39. Girls

Years: 2012 to 2017

Episodes: 62

Network: HBO

Awards: 9

As the ‘80s pop tune suggests, “girls just wanna have fun.” Trouble is, such fun can lead to poignant and tearful encounters—or is that the idea? This dramedy involves the lives of four young women in the meet market of present day NYC. Created by Lena Dunham—who also plays the show’s leading character, Hannah Horvath, a struggling writer—the aforementioned “fun” often involves boys and girls in sexual situations. In fact, this show may have more nudity and simulated sex than any other HBO series.

Also starring Allison Williams as Marnie Michaels, Jemima Kirke as Jessa Johansson and Zosia Mamet as Shoshanna Shapiro, the series received generally high ratings on Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes. It also won nine awards, including two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards—one of which for Lena Dunham’s acting—and one Directors Guild of America Award by Dunham for her direction in the episode “Pilot.”

Little Known Facts: The four stars in Girls were inspired—on the show and in real life—by the four leading ladies in HBO’s Sex in the City. Girls was intended to be a bridge from one show to the other. Lena Dunham said she reveres Sex in the City as much as any girl of her generation.

38. Curb Your Enthusiasm

Years: 2000 to 2011, 2017 to 2024

Episodes: 120

Network: HBO

Awards: 9

Writer Larry David plays himself in a sitcom that explores the aggravation and frustration of living in contemporary in L.A. On the show, David has many ideas, misconceptions and convictions that often irritate others. He is also very outspoken and opinionated, especially when criticizing people and voicing complaints in mundane situations, an attitude that seems to get him into constant trouble.

The co-creator of Seinfeld, a similar kind of sitcom, David outlines each story and then the episodes are filmed using a single-camera, cinéma vérité technique, and only improvised dialogue is exercised. David Gillota penned: “As a true schlemiel, Larry's failures serve as a direct challenge to the status quo and encourages viewers to question the myriad unwritten rules that we follow in our everyday lives.”

Little Known Facts: Galus Australis magazine, published in Australia, praised the show for being even more Jewish than the Seinfeld series, a feat of some magnitude indeed. However, on Curb, the Larry David character, a Jewish man, hates going to church and never prays.

37. Weeds

Years: 2005 to 2012

Episodes: 102

Network: Showtime

Awards: 10

Weeds is a comedy-drama starring Mary Louise-Parker as Nancy Botwin, a mother of two boys who grows and sells pot in order to pay the bills. Appearing as a kind of antihero, Botwin tries to maintain a middle class lifestyle just like all the other people living in suburbia’s “little boxes,” as they’re called in the series. As the episodes roll on, Botwin become more and more involved in unlawful activity.

At first, the series takes place in the fictitious city of Agrestic in L.A., and then Botwin moves about the country when law enforcement gets close to shutting down her “business.” Weeds is a controversial show—since it seems to encourage drug use. Be that as it may, back in the day, it and Dexter, were considered the most popular series on Showtime.

Little Known Facts: Jenji Kohan, creator of Weeds, said this about leaked episodes of Weeds and other Showtime Series illegally shown on the internet: "Revenue aside, I don't expect to get rich on Weeds. I'm excited it's out there. Showtime is great, but it does have a limited audience.”

36. Shameless

Years: 2011 to 2021

Episodes: 134

Network: Showtime

Awards: 10

Another American TV series based on a British comedy drama, Shameless takes place in the Southside of Chicago, Illinois. Starring William H. Macy as patriarch Frank Gallagher and Emmy Rossum as Fiona Gallagher, Frank’s eldest of six children, the series chronicles the adventures and misadventures of the dysfunctional Gallagher family.

The children of this lower middle class unit must plow through heart-wrenching urban scenarios with little help—and plenty of hindrance—from their alcoholic, hard partying single father. William H. Macy’s performance and Emmy Rossum’s portrayal of a generally responsible and nurturing sibling, offer many of the show’s highlights. Macy won five awards for his superb acting in the series.

Little Known Facts: Creator Paul Abbott wrote this about the show: “It’s not My Name Is Earl or Roseanne; it’s got a much graver level of poverty attached to it. It’s not blue collar—it’s no collar.” And, in December 2016, Emmy Rossum, the show’s female lead in many episodes, filed a dispute with Warner Bros. TV because she said she wasn’t being paid as much as William H. Macy. This complaint led to a delay of production for season eight, and then Rossum left the show after season nine.

35. Silicon Valley

Years: 2014 to 2019

Episodes: 53

Network: HBO

Awards: 12

This series satirizes the Silicon Valley culture in Palo Alto, California. The leading character is Richard Hendricks (Thomas Middleditch), a quirky programming genius who develops a revolutionary compression algorithm. He founds Pied Piper, a startup company that seeks to produce a decentralized internet with less government regulation—something similar to what Web3 may provide.

Hendricks fends off competition from larger companies and also maintains the morale and efficiency of his underlings who pump out humungous lines of computer code. The jokes are continuous and nearly always hilarious. Rotten Tomatoes rated the first season with a 95 % “Certified Fresh” rating, and those ratings stayed within this impressive range through the sixth and final season.

Little Known Facts: Elon Musk, after watching the first season, wasn’t impressed with the first few episodes, saying it seemed like Hollywood making fun of Silicon Valley. “But by about the fourth or fifth episode of season one,” he said, “it starts to get good, and by season two—it's amazing!" And Douglas Crockford, a notable computer programmer, said it’s “the best show ever made about programming.”

34. Penny Dreadful

Years: 2014 to 2016

Episodes: 27

Network: Showtime

Awards: 13

Based on various novels written for the Victorian Gothic genre, this series features the fictional lives of Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein monster, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and many other famous mysterious and/or scary characters.

But, the show’s main portrayal is that of Vanessa Ives (Eva Green), an original character developed by creator John Logan. Ives is a medium who’s revealed to be the incarnation of the Egyptian goddess Amunet, the purported Mother of Evil, whose latter day existence presages the End of Days. Eva Green’s characterization of Vanessa Ives is spell-binding and totally believable. For Green’s acting on the show, she garnered many nominations and won two awards.

Little Known Facts: The title of the series pertains to a type of cheap, serial literature published from the 1830s to the 1890s in the UK. Costing a penny apiece, these “penny dreadfuls” featured lurid and sensational stories about the adventures of detectives, criminals or supernatural entities, e.g. Sweeney Todd, Varney the Vampire or Spring-heeled Jack.

33. The Wire

Years: 2002 to 2008

Episodes: 60

Network: HBO

Awards: 16

Written by police reporter David Simon, this series is about the crime-ridden sections of Baltimore, Maryland. It concentrates on various aspects of law enforcement in the city, particularly fighting the war on drugs. The title of the series refers to what evidence police have to provide for a judge to approve wire taps or other surveillance techniques needed to bust drug lords and their subordinates.

The show stars Dominic West as Detective Jimmy McNulty, whose rebellious attitude and personal problems often lead to trouble. The show also uses scores of every day citizens, many of whom African Americans who try to survive in Baltimore’s bleak, inner-city environment. Entertainment Weekly named The Wire the best TV show of 2004, calling it "the smartest, deepest and most resonant drama on TV."

Little Known Facts: The creator of the show, David Simon, thinks the war on drugs will fail because it has become a war against America’s underclass, such as many of Baltimore’s civilians portrayed on The Wire. He also claims that “raw capitalism in the absence of social change is destined to serve the few at the expense of the many.”

32. Wednesday

Years: 2022 to present

Episodes: 8

Network: Netflix

Awards: 16

The saga of the Addams Family continues with this Netflix TV series. Jenna Ortega stars as Wednesday Addams, a decidedly morbid and creepy girl with psychic ability who can’t stay out of trouble. Would fans of Wednesday have her any other way? Tim Burton is an executive producer and director, while Alfred Gough and Miles Millar provide the writing. And Christina Ricci, a former Wednesday Addams in two movies, plays Laura Thornhill, a botany teacher at Nevermore Academy.

In season one, Wednesday tries to discover the identity of a monster killing people at Nevermore Academy, a reform school for troublesome kids, some of whom have paranormal ability. Wednesday was sent there after trying to kill members of a water polo team by dumping plastic bags filled with piranhas into their pool! It seems these aqua jocks had bullied her brother Pugsley (Isaac Odonez).

Billed as HBO’s Euphoria meets Hotel Transylvania, the show has received mostly positive critiques. Metacritic gave it a score of 66 out of 100 based on the reviews of 26 critics. Jacob Stolworthy of The Independent called the popularity of the show “unprecedented” and suggested it could generate other TV or cinematic spin-offs.

Little Known Facts: Appropriately, filming for the series takes place in Romania, from which have sprung tales of Count Dracula, aka Vlad the Impaler. So this incarnation of the Addams Family will have good company—at least in spirit!

31. Peaky Blinders

Years: 2013 to 2022

Episodes: 36

Network: BBC One and Two and Netflix

Awards: 21

Peaky Blinders is a British crime drama starring Cillian Murphy as Thomas “Tommy” Shelby, head of the Peaky Blinders street gang that operated in Birmingham, England, from the 1880s to the 1920s. Created by Steven Knight, the TV series is written by Knight, Toby Finlay and Stephen Russell. It also features the acting of Helen McCrory, Paul Anderson, Joe Cole and Sophie Rundle.

The show chronicles the rise of a street gang that draws the attention of the British and Irish police, both of which were trying to end the disorder caused by the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the Communist Party of Great Britain and other notable criminal elements. They contact Tommy Shelby, hoping his swaggering, well-dressed and heavily armed street gang can help recover a stolen shipment of arms and ammo bound for Libya.

Successive episodes of the program cover the expansion of this notorious street gang as they become an international criminal organization during the Roaring Twenties. But now these gangsters must deal with the New York Mafia, led by Luca Changretta (Adrien Brody), who hopes to avenge the murder of his father.

And, in the early 1930s, after Prohibition is repealed in the US, Tommy Shelby and his gang must oppose elements of the German Nazis, the British Union of Fascists, as well as the Irish Mob and the Anti-treaty IRA.

Little Known Facts: Peaky Blinders received great critical acclaim throughout its run, dramatizing a time and place in British history rarely covered by English or American TV. Peaky Blinders has been compared to HBO’s Boardwalk Empire and The Wire, though writer Steven Knight hasn’t watched either show. He said, “"It's sort of deliberate in that I don't really want to be looking at other people's work because it does affect what you do inevitably.”