Marc’s Top 10 TV Shows

All-time favorites on the small screen, plus some honorable mentions. Click any card to add it to your watchlist.
#1
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997)
Creator: Joss Whedon
Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan, Anthony Stewart Head, James Marsters, Emma Caulfield
Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Comedy, Drama, Action & Adventure
Original run: 1997–2003 · 144 episodes

Into every generation a slayer is born: one girl in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. She is the Slayer.

#2
Battlestar Galactica (2004)
Creators: Glen A. Larson, Ronald D. Moore
Cast: Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Jamie Bamber, Katee Sackhoff, James Callis, Tricia Helfer
Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Action & Adventure, Drama
Original run: 2004–2009 · 73 episodes

When an old enemy, the Cylons, resurface and obliterate the 12 colonies, the crew of the aged Galactica protect a small civilian fleet - the last of humanity - as they journey toward the fabled 13th colony, Earth.

#3
Game of Thrones (2011)
Creators: David Benioff, D. B. Weiss
Cast: Peter Dinklage, Kit Harington, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Emilia Clarke, Maisie Williams, Isaac Hempstead Wright
Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Drama, Action & Adventure
Original run: 2011–2019 · 73 episodes

Seven noble families fight for control of the mythical land of Westeros. Friction between the houses leads to full-scale war. All while a very ancient evil awakens in the farthest north. Amidst the war, a neglected military order of misfits, the Night's Watch, is all that stands between the realms of men and icy horrors beyond.

#4
Lost (2004)
Creators: J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof, Jeffrey Lieber
Cast: Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Terry O'Quinn, Josh Holloway, Jorge Garcia, Naveen Andrews
Genres: Mystery, Action & Adventure, Drama
Original run: 2004–2010 · 118 episodes

Stripped of everything, the survivors of a horrific plane crash must work together to stay alive. But the island holds many secrets.

#5
Twin Peaks (1990)
Creators: Mark Frost, David Lynch
Cast: Kyle MacLachlan, Michael Horse, Harry Goaz, Kimmy Robertson, Dana Ashbrook, Richard Beymer
Genres: Drama, Mystery
Original run: 1990–2017 · 48 episodes

The body of Laura Palmer is washed up on a beach near the small Washington state town of Twin Peaks. FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper is called in to investigate her strange demise only to uncover a web of mystery that ultimately leads him deep into the heart of the surrounding woodland and his very own soul.

#6
Alias (2001)
Creator: J.J. Abrams
Cast: Jennifer Garner, Victor Garber, Ron Rifkin, Carl Lumbly, Kevin Weisman, Michael Vartan
Genres: Action & Adventure, Drama
Original run: 2001–2006 · 105 episodes

Sydney Bristow, an agent who has been tricked to believe she is working for the U.S. government, is actually working for a criminal organization named the Alliance of Twelve. Upon learning this, Sydney becomes a double agent for the real CIA.

#7
Veronica Mars (2004)
Creator: Rob Thomas
Cast: Kristen Bell, Enrico Colantoni, Jason Dohring, Percy Daggs III, Francis Capra, Ryan Hansen
Genres: Mystery, Drama, Comedy
Original run: 2004–2019 · 72 episodes

In the fictional town of Neptune, California, student Veronica Mars progresses from high school to college while moonlighting as a private investigator under the tutelage of her detective father.

#8
Robotech (1985)
Cast: Cam Clarke, Melanie MacQueen, Gregory Snegoff, Greg Finley, Edie Mirman, Tony Oliver
Genres: Animation, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Original run: 1985–1985 · 85 episodes

Robotech is an 85-episode adaptation of three different anime television series made between 1982-1984 in Japan; the adaptation was aired in 1985. Within the combined and edited story, Robotechnology refers to the scientific advances discovered in an alien starship that crashed on a South Pacific island. With this technology, Earth developed giant robotic machines or mecha to fight three successive extraterrestrial invasions.

#9
Cobra Kai (2018)
Creators: Hayden Schlossberg, Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz
Cast: William Zabka, Ralph Macchio, Courtney Henggeler, Xolo Mariduena, Tanner Buchanan, Mary Mouser
Genres: Action & Adventure, Drama, Comedy
Original run: 2018–2025 · 65 episodes

This Karate Kid sequel series picks up 30 years after the events of the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament and finds Johnny Lawrence on the hunt for redemption by reopening the infamous Cobra Kai karate dojo. This reignites his old rivalry with the successful Daniel LaRusso, who has been working to maintain the balance in his life without mentor Mr. Miyagi.

#10
Remington Steele (1982)
Creators: Michael Gleason, Robert Butler
Cast: Stephanie Zimbalist, Pierce Brosnan, Doris Roberts, James Read, Janet DeMay, Blake Clark
Genres: Drama, Family, Comedy
Original run: 1982–1987 · 94 episodes

Laura Holt, a licensed private detective, opens a detective agency but finds that potential clients refuse to hire a woman, however qualified. To solve the problem, Laura invents a fictitious male superior whom she names Remington Steele. Through a series of events that unfold in the first episode, "License to Steele," a former thief and con man, whose real name is never revealed, assumes the identity of Remington Steele. Behind the scenes, Laura remains firmly in charge.

Honorable Mention
The Shield (2002)
Creator: Shawn Ryan
Cast: Michael Chiklis, Catherine Dent, Walton Goggins, Michael Jace, Jay Karnes, Benito Martinez
Genres: Crime, Drama, Action & Adventure
Original run: 2002–2008 · 88 episodes

The story of an inner-city Los Angeles police precinct where some of the cops aren't above breaking the rules or working against their associates to both keep the streets safe and their self-interests intact.

Honorable Mention
The X-Files (1993)
Creator: Chris Carter
Cast: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi, William B. Davis, Robert Patrick, Tom Braidwood
Genres: Mystery, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Crime
Original run: 1993–2018 · 218 episodes

The exploits of FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully who investigate X-Files: marginalized, unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena. Mulder believes in the existence of aliens and the paranormal while Scully, a skeptic, is assigned to make scientific analyses of Mulder's discoveries that debunk Mulder's work and thus return him to mainstream cases.

Honorable Mention
The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (1993)
Creators: Jeffrey Boam, Carlton Cuse
Cast: Bruce Campbell, Julius Carry, Christian Clemenson, Kelly Rutherford, John Astin, Billy Drago
Genres: Western, Comedy, Action & Adventure, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Original run: 1993–1994 · 27 episodes

A tough-as-rawhide cowpoke, debonair ladies' man and Harvard-educated smarty-britches roams from Frisco to Jalisco in pursuit of outlaws who killed his father...and in search of a mysterious orb possessing out-of-this world powers. Hot lead and cool anachronisms await Brisco as he and his sidekicks - including Comet, the intellectual equine who doesn't know he's a horse - fight for justice in the way, way, way-out West.

Honorable Mention
The Sopranos (1999)
Creator: David Chase
Cast: James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Robert Iler, Lorraine Bracco, Michael Imperioli
Genres: Crime, Drama
Original run: 1999–2007 · 86 episodes

The story of New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads. Those difficulties are often highlighted through his ongoing professional relationship with psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi. The show features Tony's family members and Mafia associates in prominent roles and story arcs, most notably his wife Carmela and his cousin and protégé Christopher Moltisanti.

Honorable Mention
Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990)
Creators: Aaron Spelling, Darren Star
Cast: Jennie Garth, Ian Ziering, Brian Austin Green, Tori Spelling, Jason Priestley, Luke Perry
Genres: Drama, Soap
Original run: 1990–2000 · 284 episodes

Follow the lives of a group of teenagers living in the upscale, star-studded community of Beverly Hills, California and attending the fictitious West Beverly Hills High School and, subsequently, the fictitious California University after graduation.