# Best One season of any TV show



## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

I pulled out my Seinfeld S4 DVD the other day and was looking at the list of episodes, and I realized this might have been the greatest season of TV I've ever watched. 

What's your choice for greatest one season of any TV series?


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## Gunnyman (Jul 10, 2003)

S4 of the Wire. S3 of Homicide Life on the Street.


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

Season 1 of Firefly


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## uncdrew (Aug 6, 2002)

I loved the first season of LOST. Or was the second better?


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## mrizzo80 (Apr 17, 2012)

Not sure I have an absolute favorite. Worthy contenders:

*Seinfeld season 7
*24 season 5
*Prison Break season 1
*a couple of the early seasons of ER (can't remember which ones; probably between 1 and 7) were fairly epic


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## smak (Feb 11, 2000)

Veronica Mars Season 1

-smak-


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## DavidJL (Feb 21, 2006)

Firefly


Game of Thrones Season 4
BSG (new) Season 1
Lost Season 1


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## bigpuma (Aug 12, 2003)

Gunnyman said:


> S4 of the Wire.


Interesting I would have said the first season of The Wire.


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## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

First season of Homeland was A+ material.



scandia101 said:


> Season 1 of Firefly


:up:


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## roslinenatasha (Dec 30, 2014)

Lost season 1
Seinfeld season 7


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## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

Season 4 of The Wire. Hands down, nothing comes close.


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## Sparty99 (Dec 4, 2001)

It doesn't qualify in terms of a continuous storyline (a la The Wire, 24, Lost, etc.), but there is a great collection of episodes in Seasons 7 and 8 of The Simpsons.


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## jlb (Dec 13, 2001)

scandia101 said:


> Season 1 of Firefly


:up::up:


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

Sparty99 said:


> It doesn't qualify in terms of a continuous storyline (a la The Wire, 24, Lost, etc.), but there is a great collection of episodes in Seasons 7 and 8 of The Simpsons.


Yeah, wasn't looking for a continuous story line. Just the quality of a season of episodes, so yours qualifies.


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

Seasons 4 and 5 of The Wire were the best, IMHO.

Season 1 of Fargo is becoming one of my all-time favorites.


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## DancnDude (Feb 7, 2001)

First season of Alias would have to be way up on my list.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

I would add:

Season 1 of GoT


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## TAsunder (Aug 6, 2003)

Heroes S1 and Homeland S1 were both great seasons, though both were marred by a less than stellar finale.

I prefer to exclude The Wire from this list, as every season of The Wire is better than every season of any other show, IMO.


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## Neenahboy (Apr 8, 2004)

S1 of The West Wing.

S1 of Veronica Mars.

One of the Simpsons seasons that featured Josh Weinstein and Bill Oakley as show runners.


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## Claire199 (Dec 3, 2010)

Yeah, Season 4 of The Wire


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## Hcour (Dec 24, 2007)

Can't say the best of _any_ show, there's just too much great television out there these days, but this first season of The Missing is certainly one of the best I've ever seen. As good as any film ever was.


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## mbhuff (Jan 25, 2004)

Lost - Season 1
West Wing - Season 4
Buffy - Season 5 (especially "The Body" & "The Gift")
Dr. Who - Season 2 of the reboot (10th doctor - David Tenant)
Weeds - Season 1
X-Files - Season 2
My So Called Life - Season 1
The Wonder Years - Season 1
Broadchurch - Season 1


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## Claire199 (Dec 3, 2010)

Steveknj said:


> I pulled out my Seinfeld S4 DVD the other day and was looking at the list of episodes, and I realized this might have been the greatest season of TV I've ever watched.
> 
> What's your choice for greatest one season of any TV series?


@Steveknj, It's too hard to do best season. I looked at Wiki to remind me of S4. You are so right!!. It is killer funny!! Crazy Joe Davola, Bubble Boy, Cheever Letters, etc. We have the DVDs too. There's never been a funnier sitcom, not even close, imho.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

Claire199 said:


> @Steveknj, It's too hard to do best season. I looked at Wiki to remind me of S4. You are so right!!. It is killer funny!! Crazy Joe Davola, Bubble Boy, Cheever Letters, etc. We have the DVDs too. There's never been a funnier sitcom, not even close, imho.


Not to mention, The Contest!!


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## Howie (May 3, 2004)

I'm out. I'm out of the contest.


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

Howie said:


> I'm out. I'm out of the contest.


No longer master or your domain. 

FWIW, Seinfeld was once named the best show ever on TV by TV Guide. The only season I would call subpar was the first one. If it aired today it never would have survived past the first season.

FYI - Broadchurch was basically a one-shot miniseries so it doesn't really qualify.


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## tivotvaddict (Aug 11, 2005)

Season 3 Mad Men

Game of Thrones Season 1

tta


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## Blackssr (Mar 4, 2004)

Spartacus War of the Damned


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## KyleLC (Feb 6, 2002)

cheesesteak said:


> Season 4 of The Wire. Hands down, nothing comes close.


What does hand orientation have to do with it?


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## Sparty99 (Dec 4, 2001)

mr.unnatural said:


> FYI - Broadchurch was basically a one-shot miniseries so it doesn't really qualify.


I don't quite buy this. You could essentially eliminate any of the recent anthology series (Fargo, True Detective, American Horror Story) with this ruling. I say it counts.


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## Claire199 (Dec 3, 2010)

mr.unnatural said:


> Seasons 4 and 5 of The Wire were the best, IMHO.
> 
> @mr.unnatural, The Wire in order: 4, 3, 1, 5, 2 imho


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## Sparty99 (Dec 4, 2001)

I've been meaning to rewatch The Wire for a few months now. The fact that it's now available in HD might just be the motivation I need. Hopefully I can get caught up on Boardwalk Empire and Homeland this weekend and start up on The Wire next week.


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## Claire199 (Dec 3, 2010)

Steveknj said:


> Not to mention, The Contest!!


@Steveknj, Seinfeld + Larry David = comic genius


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## dinglehart (Dec 4, 2002)

You mean other than Firefly?


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## GoPackGo (Dec 29, 2012)

Gunnyman said:


> S4 of the Wire. S3 of Homicide Life on the Street.


Exactly.


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

Sparty99 said:


> I don't quite buy this. You could essentially eliminate any of the recent anthology series (Fargo, True Detective, American Horror Story) with this ruling. I say it counts.


I just checked epguides.com and they have Broadchurch listed as starting a second season on January 5th. I was always under the impression that it was a one-season show. If that's the case then I agree with your assessment.



Claire199 said:


> mr.unnatural said:
> 
> 
> > Seasons 4 and 5 of The Wire were the best, IMHO.
> ...


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

mr.unnatural said:


> No longer master or your domain.
> 
> FWIW, Seinfeld was once named the best show ever on TV by TV Guide. The only season I would call subpar was the first one. If it aired today it never would have survived past the first season.
> 
> FYI - Broadchurch was basically a one-shot miniseries so it doesn't really qualify.


As with the other weak seasons, there were some real bright spots. I thought the last season was pretty weak too, but then there was the Yada Yada and the Strike episodes (with Festivus). Season 1 was only 5 episodes, so it was kind of weak.

I'm not so sure it would get cancelled today. First of all the President of NBC was a fan. Second, think of a couple of other favorites that didn't get cancelled but had horrible ratings and made it a couple or three seasons, such as Arrested Development. So I think it might have hung on even today.


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## goblue97 (May 12, 2005)

I'm noticing a lot of love for Season 4 of the Wire. What was it about that season that everyone seems to love so much? I'm in the middle of a re-watch and I'm just not getting what sets that season above the rest. 

Responses should probably be careful not to include spoilers or tag them if need be.


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## jradosh (Jul 31, 2001)

goblue97 said:


> I'm noticing a lot of love for Season 4 of the Wire. What was it about that season that everyone seems to love so much? I'm in the middle of a re-watch and I'm just not getting what sets that season above the rest.
> 
> Responses should probably be careful not to include spoilers or tag them if need be.


1. quality of the child actors (in addition to the already excellent adult actors)
2. the story intertwined the police, politicians, gangs, students and teachers story arcs in a cohesive, compelling way. So many layers.
3. the child characters, and how they were like (or became like) younger versions of some of the older characters we already knew, was fascinating.
4. the development (positive and negative) of each child's character really tug at the heartstrings.

There are some specific things that I think were part of the reason Season 4 was so good, but I don't want to delve into spoilers.


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## BlearyEyed (Jun 11, 2002)

goblue97 said:


> I'm noticing a lot of love for Season 4 of the Wire. What was it about that season that everyone seems to love so much? I'm in the middle of a re-watch and I'm just not getting what sets that season above the rest.
> 
> Responses should probably be careful not to include spoilers or tag them if need be.


It was said very well in the post above mine, but the quality of the child actors was amazing. I also feel like season 1 introduced us to a world that many of us didn't know existed, season three showed how broken that world was. By season four as the viewer you understood the world you were in, and understood the characters, their relationships, etc... It allowed the show to go so much deeper and explain so much more because the foundation was set.


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

Steveknj said:


> I'm not so sure it would get cancelled today.


The ratings for the first season were pretty weak, IIRC, and deservedly so. The first season was the most mediocre of the entire series. The show aired during the summer of 1989 so there wasn't much competition to go against it. The initial reactions from both the studio execs and the test audiences that screened it were not all that favorable either, but Warren Littlefield (2nd in command of NBC's entertainment division) pushed for it and managed to get five episodes produced for season 1. It wasn't listed in the fall schedule for the following season initially. Castle Rock couldn't even find any buyers for the show when they shopped it around. It was extremely rare for a show with that low of a rating to even get picked up. The show was repeated on June 28, 1990, and received a high enough rating to order a second season. The show appealed mostly to young male adults, which attracted advertisers. The rest, as they say, is history. It's undoubtedly the best show ever made that almost wasn't.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

mr.unnatural said:


> The ratings for the first season were pretty weak, IIRC, and deservedly so. The first season was the most mediocre of the entire series. The show aired during the summer of 1989 so there wasn't much competition to go against it. The initial reactions from both the studio execs and the test audiences that screened it were not all that favorable either, but Warren Littlefield (2nd in command of NBC's entertainment division) pushed for it and managed to get five episodes produced for season 1. It wasn't listed in the fall schedule for the following season initially. Castle Rock couldn't even find any buyers for the show when they shopped it around. It was extremely rare for a show with that low of a rating to even get picked up. The show was repeated on June 28, 1990, and received a high enough rating to order a second season. The show appealed mostly to young male adults, which attracted advertisers. The rest, as they say, is history. It's undoubtedly the best show ever made that almost wasn't.


It really helps when the President of the network champions the show.


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## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

Sub topic:

_*What were the best one shows that only had one season?*_

*#1 Firefly*
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Rubicon
Alcatraz (maybe)


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## trainman (Jan 29, 2001)

"The Simpsons," season 4. Started with "Kamp Krusty," ended with "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase," had 20-something other great episodes in the middle.


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## Claire199 (Dec 3, 2010)

Game of Thrones S1
Homeland S1
The Office S2
Breaking Bad S4
OITNB S1
TWD S4


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Season 2 of Friday Night Lights.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

mr.unnatural said:


> The ratings for the first season were pretty weak, IIRC, and deservedly so. The first season was the most mediocre of the entire series. The show aired during the summer of 1989 so there wasn't much competition to go against it. The initial reactions from both the studio execs and the test audiences that screened it were not all that favorable either, but Warren Littlefield (2nd in command of NBC's entertainment division) pushed for it and managed to get five episodes produced for season 1. It wasn't listed in the fall schedule for the following season initially. Castle Rock couldn't even find any buyers for the show when they shopped it around. It was extremely rare for a show with that low of a rating to even get picked up. The show was repeated on June 28, 1990, and received a high enough rating to order a second season. The show appealed mostly to young male adults, which attracted advertisers. The rest, as they say, is history. It's undoubtedly the best show ever made that almost wasn't.


Actually, that's not quite correct. They made the pilot in the spring of 1989 and it didn't get ordered to series for the fall so they aired the pilot in June 1989 just to burn it off and recoup some of the production costs. Later that year, when the actor contracts were set to expire, Littlefield decided he didn't want to give up on the show just yet, so he and a studio accountant figured out that the Variety and Specials department was the only place where there was any available budget. In addition, the head of that department had been the primary champion of the Seinfeld Pilot. They came up with a plan to have the Variety and Specials department produce one less Bob Hope special that year, and with the money saved, they used that to produce four episodes of Seinfeld.

In early 1990, they made the Seinfeld producers choose between airing their four episodes as a mid-season replacement on Wednesday nights after a show called "Dear John," or they could hold off and air in the summer on Thursday nights after reruns of "Cheers." They chose to air in the summer after "Cheers," with the belief that the "Cheers" lead-in, even from reruns, would be bigger and more compatible. The ratings that summer were very respectable, and by that time Littlefield had become NBC's president of entertainment, so on the day the option was going to expire a second time, he decided to order 13 episodes as a mid-season replacement to begin airing in January 1991. So the first two seasons were a total of 18 episodes aired over a two year span. It wasn't until S3 started in fall 1991 that it got a traditional season order for 23 episodes.

If any of you are interested in the business of TV and you haven't read "Top of the Rock: Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV," by Warren Littlefield, I highly recommend it. This info I just relayed came straight from the book, and it's packed full of interesting tidbits and info about NBC shows from the mid-80s up through the end of the 90s.


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

goblue97 said:


> I'm noticing a lot of love for Season 4 of the Wire. What was it about that season that everyone seems to love so much? I'm in the middle of a re-watch and I'm just not getting what sets that season above the rest.
> 
> Responses should probably be careful not to include spoilers or tag them if need be.


S4 would have been great but the Cutty character dragged it down


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## wprager (Feb 19, 2006)

Steveknj said:


> I'm not so sure it would get cancelled today. First of all the President of NBC was a fan. Second, think of a couple of other favorites that didn't get cancelled but had horrible ratings and made it a couple or three seasons, such as Arrested Development. So I think it might have hung on even today.


I remember once looking it up, and Cheers was not in the top-10 until something like its 4th season. Seinfeld was similar. Both those shows would not have survived past their first full season in today's climate.


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

DevdogAZ said:


> Actually, that's not quite correct. They made the pilot in the spring of 1989 and it didn't get ordered to series for the fall so they aired the pilot in June 1989 just to burn it off and recoup some of the production costs. Later that year, when the actor contracts were set to expire, Littlefield decided he didn't want to give up on the show just yet, so he and a studio accountant figured out that the Variety and Specials department was the only place where there was any available budget. In addition, the head of that department had been the primary champion of the Seinfeld Pilot. They came up with a plan to have the Variety and Specials department produce one less Bob Hope special that year, and with the money saved, they used that to produce four episodes of Seinfeld.
> 
> In early 1990, they made the Seinfeld producers choose between airing their four episodes as a mid-season replacement on Wednesday nights after a show called "Dear John," or they could hold off and air in the summer on Thursday nights after reruns of "Cheers." They chose to air in the summer after "Cheers," with the belief that the "Cheers" lead-in, even from reruns, would be bigger and more compatible. The ratings that summer were very respectable, and by that time Littlefield had become NBC's president of entertainment, so on the day the option was going to expire a second time, he decided to order 13 episodes as a mid-season replacement to begin airing in January 1991. So the first two seasons were a total of 18 episodes aired over a two year span. It wasn't until S3 started in fall 1991 that it got a traditional season order for 23 episodes.
> 
> If any of you are interested in the business of TV and you haven't read "Top of the Rock: Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV," by Warren Littlefield, I highly recommend it. This info I just relayed came straight from the book, and it's packed full of interesting tidbits and info about NBC shows from the mid-80s up through the end of the 90s.


Sounds like it might be a good read. The info I posted was gleaned from wikipedia and I pretty much paraphrased and condensed some of the info so it wouldn't be a longwinded post so something probably got lost in my translation. I did read where they actually cancelled a Bob Hope special to free up some funds to produce episodes 2 thru 5 of Seinfeld for the first season.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

wprager said:


> I remember once looking it up, and Cheers was not in the top-10 until something like its 4th season. Seinfeld was similar. Both those shows would not have survived past their first full season in today's climate.


Cheers was the lowest-rated show on all of TV for the 83-84 season, but then The Cosby Show started in the fall of 1984 and all the new viewers stuck around and Cheers became a hit.


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## wprager (Feb 19, 2006)

DevdogAZ said:


> Cheers was the lowest-rated show on all of TV for the 83-84 season, but then The Cosby Show started in the fall of 1984 and all the new viewers stuck around and Cheers became a hit.


Funny, I'm pretty sure I record more 8:30 shows than 8:00 ones (sitcoms). Never was a fan of Cosby (liked his "stand" up, not his tv show). I guess I tend to gravitate to shows which the execs feel need help.


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## smokey (Feb 12, 2006)

Got to be season 1 of Wiseguy.


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## awsnyde (May 11, 2007)

MikeAndrews said:


> Sub topic:
> 
> _*What were the best one shows that only had one season?*_
> 
> ...


I may be in the minority, but I'm with you on Alcatraz. I loved that show, and the villain, the prison warden, ranks up with Farscape's Scorpius as one of the most interesting villains. At least until the final episode, one wasn't entirely sure whether he was even entirely good or bad. In roleplaying terms, one might consider him "lawful evil."


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## awsnyde (May 11, 2007)

smokey said:


> Got to be season 1 of Wiseguy.


That was excellent TV. Well, at least at the time: I've tried to rewatch it recently, and it just didn't seem to hold up. Still, at the time that was some amazing dramaand the first place I can recall seeing Kevin Spacey or the amazingly beautiful Joan Severance.


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## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

There were many "Brilliant But Cancelled" one or less season shows:

EZ Streets with Joey Pants
Action! with Jay Moor


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## Odds Bodkins (Jun 7, 2006)

Season 4 of the Wire. All day.


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## DavidJL (Feb 21, 2006)

MikeAndrews said:


> Sub topic:
> 
> _*What were the best one shows that only had one season?*_
> 
> ...


Firefly
Terriers
Life
Kidnapped
The Riches
The Black Donnellys
Kings
Thief
Caprica

A couple may have been 1.5 seasons


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## Bob Coxner (Dec 1, 2004)

Gunnyman said:


> S4 of the Wire. S3 of Homicide Life on the Street.


Homicide: Life on the Street is sadly under appreciated. I think the best of it compares equally with The Wire. That's not surprising in that they were both created by David Simon and both involve police work in Baltimore.

Here's one argument that Homicide was better than The Wire: http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2010/mar/27/homicide-life-street-david-simon

Adena Watson is burned into my brain, just as it was for Tim Bayliss (Kyle Secor).


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## brebeans (Sep 5, 2003)

Oz 
Homeland Season 1
United States of Tara Season 2


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## Wilhite (Oct 26, 2003)

MikeAndrews said:


> There were many "Brilliant But Cancelled" one or less season shows:
> 
> EZ Streets with Joey Pants
> Action! with Jay Moor


Freaks and Geeks is one that comes to mind in this category.


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## jr461 (Jul 9, 2004)

I'll agree with the Seinfeld season and season 1 of homeland.

I would also add The Honeymooners (1956 season of the original 39 episodes).


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

DavidJL said:


> Firefly
> Terriers
> Life
> Kidnapped
> ...


Terriers for sure.

The Riches had 2 seasons, was also excellent.


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## Gunnyman (Jul 10, 2003)

Bob Coxner said:


> Homicide: Life on the Street is sadly under appreciated. I think the best of it compares equally with The Wire. That's not surprising in that they were both created by David Simon and both involve police work in Baltimore.
> 
> Here's one argument that Homicide was better than The Wire: http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2010/mar/27/homicide-life-street-david-simon
> 
> Adena Watson is burned into my brain, just as it was for Tim Bayliss (Kyle Secor).


H:LOTS is one of the best ensemble casts of any show ever done. I own the entire series and rewatch them from time to time.


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## Howie (May 3, 2004)

I never saw that show (LOTS). I need to look for it on Netflix. I've recently watched NYPD Blue on the DirecTV channel from the beginning. It was excellent, in HD and stripped of commercials.


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## Gunnyman (Jul 10, 2003)

As far as I know H:LOTS isn't available to stream


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## DreadPirateRob (Nov 12, 2002)

Buffy S3 (with S5 and S2 a close second)
FNL S1
Firefly S1 (and only)
Lost S1
GoT S4
Breaking Bad S3
Veronica Mars S1
Parks & Rec S3


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## andyw715 (Jul 31, 2007)

First season of 24 and Heroes


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## Bob Coxner (Dec 1, 2004)

Howie said:


> I never saw that show (LOTS). I need to look for it on Netflix. I've recently watched NYPD Blue on the DirecTV channel from the beginning. It was excellent, in HD and stripped of commercials.


There are a few full episodes on YouTube. Here is one:


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## cwoody222 (Nov 13, 1999)

This thread makes me want to re-watch Homicide. Unfortunately I can't find it available anywhere any more (on-air or streaming).


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## goblue97 (May 12, 2005)

I thought Journeyman was a good one and done series.


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## hefe (Dec 5, 2000)

Every time we talk old series...one of my old favorites comes out...

Season 1, Boomtown.


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## Fahtrim (Apr 12, 2004)

I discount Heroes season 1 b/c the finale ruined it for me.

Hard to beat The Wire..........


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## jamesl (Jul 12, 2012)

goblue97 said:


> I thought Journeyman was a good one and done series.


so bummed they cancelled it

that was a great show


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## frombhto323 (Jan 24, 2002)

In no particular order:

Wire-S3
Homeland-S1
All In the Family-S2
Honeymooners-S1
Firefly (The #1 single-season show ever [Burn in Hell, Fox!])
Twilight Zone (any season after the first)
Wire-S4
The Shield-S1


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

goblue97 said:


> I thought Journeyman was a good one and done series.


It was more like a good half and done series. It was really well done and was canceled just as the story was about to hit its peak and reveal some mysteries. I really wish they would have been able to at least finish out the full first season. Damn writer's strike.


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## Wil (Sep 27, 2002)

awsnyde said:


> [Wiseguy] was excellent TV. Well, at least at the time


I recently got hold of a copy (VHS quality) of the Dead Dog Records original arc, with the notion that I was going to dub in the original music track over a DVD release of the arc. I realized it was going to be a chore, but I have great editing skills in my speckled past and I've done this kind of thing before.

But lo and behold there apparently IS no DVD release of the Dead Dog arc! Apparently as Stephen Canell (RIP) was replacing the entirety of the original series music track with elevator music for the first DVD set, he decided Dead Dog would just be too much work and would display his idiocy in graphic clarity, so he simply skipped the arc altogether!!! And the subsequent DVD releases, though claiming to be new, must simply be using his eviscerated DVD tracks as the base because Dead Dog is missing in them also.

The Wiseguy series does hold up well for what it was, a superb example of a very stylized TV presentational style that doesn't exist any more, for good or ill.


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## gossamer88 (Jul 27, 2005)

Game of Thrones Season 3. 

The Walking Dead Season 2.

Heroes Season 1.


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## DreadPirateRob (Nov 12, 2002)

gossamer88 said:


> The Walking Dead Season 2.


Hershel's Farm season?


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## Cainebj (Nov 11, 2006)

Dexter - the season John Lithgow guest starred.


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## murgatroyd (Jan 6, 2002)

Well, since the thread has been bumped, and I missed it the first time, I'll play.



MikeAndrews said:


> Sub topic:
> 
> _*What were the best one shows that only had one season?*_
> 
> ...


No list of "Best one-season shows" is complete without The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. -- it was on the top of TVShowsonDVD.com's list of "Most Requested Unreleased Shows" for years.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

DreadPirateRob said:


> Hershel's Farm season?


That was my reaction as well. That might be the worst season of TWD.


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## jilter (Oct 4, 2002)

jr461 said:


> I'll agree with the Seinfeld season and season 1 of homeland.
> 
> I would also add The Honeymooners (1956 season of the original 39 episodes).


I so totally agree.

BTW, I do not know if it is acceptable to visit an old thread and quote folks from years' past, but the comment upthread that Seinfeld's first season would never get them a second in today's climate is so very true.


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## zeppo2 (Mar 26, 2005)

Twin Peaks, S1
The Wire S4
30 Rock S7
Lost, S1
Deadwood S1
Life on Mars, BBC, S1 and S2


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## mm2margaret (Dec 7, 2010)

Season 1 - Hill Street Blues (Eight Emmys)
Season 1 of Homeland wasn't bad, either
Season 2 - West Wing
Season 1 of Fargo


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## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

I'm amazed at how many people are going with season 4 of The Wire.

I'm pretty sure that was my least favorite.

I must have missed something someplace. /headscratching

I guess I'll need to rewatch it HD.


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## secondclaw (Oct 3, 2004)

Season 3 of Babylon 5


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## zeppo2 (Mar 26, 2005)

To be fair, I'd put any season of the Wire above every other season of every other show.



waynomo said:


> I'm amazed at how many people are going with season 4 of The Wire.
> 
> I'm pretty sure that was my least favorite.
> 
> ...


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## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

zeppo2 said:


> To be fair, I'd put any season of the Wire above every other season of every other show.


I'm not going to argue that point. Im just surprised how many selected season 4. I'd be okay with that if there was a better distribution of the other seasons in there, but there are not.


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## Philosofy (Feb 21, 2000)

Highlander: Season 3


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## zeppo2 (Mar 26, 2005)

I was torn between season 3 (Hampsterdam) and 4, but I think it was the focus on the middle school, the rise of Snoop, and the darkness at the end with Bodie and Bubbles that tipped this one to the top for me.



waynomo said:


> I'm not going to argue that point. Im just surprised how many selected season 4. I'd be okay with that if there was a better distribution of the other seasons in there, but there are not.


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## Howie (May 3, 2004)

I'd have to go with Green Acres season 2. Arnold Ziffel really brought home the bacon that year.


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## MikeMar (Jan 7, 2005)

waynomo said:


> I'm amazed at how many people are going with season 4 of The Wire.
> 
> I'm pretty sure that was my least favorite.
> 
> ...


I think any season but 2 were awesome, and 2 was just damn close to awesome


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

Howie said:


> I'd have to go with Green Acres season 2. Arnold Ziffel really brought home the bacon that year.


You made me laugh!


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## danterner (Mar 4, 2005)

Torchwood: Children of Earth (season 3) is a standout, for me.


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## FrodoB (Jan 3, 2005)

murgatroyd said:


> No list of "Best one-season shows" is complete without The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. -- it was on the top of TVShowsonDVD.com's list of "Most Requested Unreleased Shows" for years.


And Bruce Campbell said at a con here in Madison that it's the one show he's been a part of he wished he could continue.


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## markz (Oct 22, 2002)

Man, so many shows mentioned here that I have loved. Not sure I can tell you which seasons though.

Loved:

Firefly
The West Wing
Homicide: Life On The Streets
NYPD Blue
Lost
Shield
Terriers
Boomtown

and many others.

I have not watched The Wire or Torchwood, but I plan to.

I am reading Alan Sepinwall's book The Revolution Was Televised: The Cops, Crooks, Slingers, and Slayers Who Changed TV Drama Forever right now and he focuses on lots of the shows mentioned here.

I will start the Wire as soon as I am caught up on Orphan Black in the next week or so.


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## gweempose (Mar 23, 2003)

danterner said:


> Torchwood: Children of Earth (season 3) is a standout, for me.


+1

"Children of Earth" was brilliantly executed television from start to finish.


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## Craigbob (Dec 2, 2006)

For me It's S3 & S4 of Babylon 5 
Followed closely by:
The Game on BBCA
Firefly
Alien Nation


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## Mr. Soze (Nov 2, 2002)

Either "season" of Fawlty Towers.


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## Peter000 (Apr 15, 2002)

I really enjoyed season 1 of this thread. Season two got a little snarky for my taste. 

No mention of Breaking Bad? I really liked Season 3 (well all of the seasons, but the ones with Gus really stand out).

Though it's really hard to choose, I'd say season 4 of Mystery Science Theater 3000.


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## Lori (Feb 20, 2000)

Season One of Veronica Mars. No contest.


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## Wil (Sep 27, 2002)

Lori said:


> Season One of Veronica Mars. No contest.


Yes contest.

If only because Duncan Cane was about the most weakly-written and acted male lead since the laughable Michael Carrington character single-handedly destroyed Grease 2.


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