Some great television was enjoyed in 2014. As viewers wait to see what 2015 will bring them, here is a look back at the top 10 shows in 2014. These shows are ranked in order of highest mention in all top 10 lists across the internet. From the Boston Globe and Time Magazine to Wired and Us Weekly, here is a list of the very best TV had to offer last year. Survey says…1) Fargo (FX)
Premiering in the spring of last year, Fargo was met with great accolades, snagging two Emmy’s for Outstanding Miniseries and Outstanding director, as well as receiving 15 additional nominations. Billy Bob Thornton plays a drifter by the name of Lorne Malvo who manipulates a small Minnesota town he stumbles into with his Malice. Colin Hanks plays a police officer who comes to believe a series of murders are linked to Malvo and an unwitting salesmen that Malvo has influenced. The dark comedy – crime drama created and written by Noah Hawley will be back for a second season in 2015, with a brand new setting story and cast.
2) True Detective (HBO)
The crime drama series which premiered in Janaury 2014 stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as Homicide detectives in the hunt for a serial killer in Louisiana over a span of 17 years. The series will follow an anthology format, with a new story for the second season set to start in the summer of 2015.
3) The Americans (FX)
Set during the Cold war, two Soviet KGB officers pose as an American married couple with children in the Virginia suburbs of Washington D.C. Their neighbor just so happens to be an FBI counterintelligence agent. The series enjoyed its second season this year. The 13 episode third season is set to premier January 28, 2015.
4) Transparent (Amazon)
The comedy-drama series by Amazon Studios premiered in full in September of 2014. The story is of a Los Angeles family and their lives after they find out that their father, Mort (who becomes Maura), is transgendered. The second season will be released in 2015
5) The Good Wife (CBS)
Premiering in 2009, the show focuses on Alicia, who has been a good wife to her husband. Once a state’s attorney, he finds himself behind bars after a sex and corruption scandal and Alicia returns to work as a litigator to support her family. In 6th season of The Good Wife, Alicia is presented with several interesting options: run for State’s Attorney, or lure Diane to her new firm and continue to fight cases in the cutthroat world of Chicago law. The favorite political drama will be back.
6) Game of Thrones (HBO)
The fantasy drama which premiered in 2011 is an adaptation of George R. R. Martin’s novel series A Son of Ice and Fire. In the show, Several noble families fight for control of the mythical land of Westeros. The series has been met with such fanatical enthusiasm, that shortly after the premier of the fourth season in April 2014, HBO renewed Game of Thrones for a fifth and sixth season. Game of Thrones has attracted record numbers of viewers on HBO and obtained an exceptionally broad and active international fan base. Some of the series accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Drama Series for its first four seasons, a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Television Series – Drama, a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in both Long Form and Short Form, and a Peabody Award.
7) Mad Men (AMC)
The American period drama renowned for its historical authenticity is set in the 1960s. The series, which premiered in 2007 follows Donald Draper (Jon Hamm), his colleagues, and his family Set at a fictional Madison Avenue advertising agency in New York. Mad Men has won many awards, including fifteen Emmys and four Golden Globes. It is the first basic cable series to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, winning it in each of its first four seasons. In 2013, TV Guide ranked it twenty-first in its list of the sixty greatest dramas of all time and it was ranked seventh in a list of the 101 best-written TV series of all time by the Writers Guild of America. The second half of the seventh and final season will finish airing in 2015.
8) Orange is the New Black (Netflix)
First released on Netflix in July 2013, the series follows Piper Chapman, a bisexual woman living an upper- middle class life in New York City with her male fiancé who finds herself sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for a bad decision she made to smuggle drugs with her then girlfriend Alex 10 years earlier . Piper is forced to deal with her new life in prison as well her reunion with Alex, who go there there in the first place. Season 2 premiered in early June of 2014 and by July 2014 had received 12 Primetime Emmy Award nominations. The series has been renewed for a third season.
9) Hannibal (NBC)
The psychological thriller series focuses on the relationship between FBI Special investigator Will Graham and Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a forensic psychiatrist, who is tasked with supervising Graham on his hunt for eight young girls who have disappeared, and his attempts to solve murders. Graham and his bossJack Crawford, the head of the FBI behavioral science devision, have no idea that Dr. Lector is a serial killer himself. The series premiered in April of 2013, and in may of 2014 was renewed for a third season.
10) Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (HBO)
The satirical late night talk show which airs sundays at 11pm premiered April 27, 2014 hosted by comedian John Oliver, well known for his role as a correspondent on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Matthew Jacobs of The Huffington Post named Oliver’s program as 2014’s best television show writing, “the year’s most surprising contribution to television is a show that bucked conventional formats, left us buzzing and paved the way for a burgeoning dynasty. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is 2014’s crowning achievement. Oliver’s show on HBO bears resemblance to the Daily Show, and is contracted for two years with HBO with an option for more.