10 Best Single TV Seasons Ever

WhatCulture

The greatest solitary seasons from some of the greatest shows to ever grace the small screen.

Transcript

00:00 Right now, we're all living in a golden age of television.

00:03 Whilst TV has clearly always been a big deal, these days the format has bigger budgets,

00:08 more network patience, and more genuine A-list names involved in these small screen offerings.

00:14 While some will forever spend their days debating which is the greatest TV series of all time,

00:19 we're doing one better than that here.

00:21 Not just are the shows themselves the focus of this piece, but it's all about highlighting

00:26 the best single seasons of television produced by such shows.

00:30 For the benefit of avoiding too much repetition,

00:33 this list will only feature one season from any particular series.

00:37 For those with a love of The Sopranos, don't be expecting to see three or four

00:41 entries dedicated to that show, and likewise, the same can be said for the other usual heavy hitters.

00:47 Of course, it's also worth adding that a topic like this always brings with it a sense of

00:51 subjectivity. So, if your own favourite season, or even your own favourite show,

00:55 doesn't make the cut, it's still cool, it's still good, it's still all fine to enjoy what you enjoy.

01:01 So, with that in mind, I'm Ellie with WhatCulture, and here are 10 best single TV seasons ever.

01:07 10. Boardwalk Empire - Season 2

01:11 From Terrence Winter, who'd previously served as writer and executive producer on Sopranos,

01:17 Boardwalk Empire largely centred on Steve Buscemi's Nucky Thompson,

01:21 an aspiring Prohibition-era politician with ties to the mob.

01:25 And we say largely, for there were several other key players involved along the way in Nucky's

01:30 five-season story. For its first two seasons, Boardwalk Empire had Michael Pitts' Jimmy

01:35 Darmody as a major character. A veteran of World War II who had a father-son relationship with

01:41 Nucky, Darmody's journey became a dark one of addiction and self-destruction as the show's

01:46 second year played out. We'd seen Nucky get his own way throughout the series' debut season,

01:51 but Season 2 really put Buscemi's character in jeopardy in a political, business and personal

01:57 sense, with Jimmy looking to undercut him and take over Atlantic City.

02:02 To his credit, Darmody actually succeeds… ish. Of course, while Jimmy is playing checkers,

02:07 Nucky is playing chess. In reality, that means, while Jimmy gains power in Atlantic City,

02:12 Nucky encourages worker strikes and heads off to Ireland to put together a deal to allow him

02:17 to sell booze cheaper than anyone else. So many key figures are introduced or fleshed out in this

02:23 season, but it's the inevitable demise of Jimmy Darmody that really drives the season home as the

02:29 show's very best. Number 9. Arrow Season 2

02:33 After stumbling through a few so-so seasons, the CW's Arrow managed to go out with a bang with

02:39 its eighth and final year. Consisting of just 10 episodes, whereas the rest of the seasons all

02:44 clocked in at around 22 or 23, that last season nicely put a bow on Arrow's run. While Season 8

02:52 was a fitting end, Arrow's finest work came during its second year. In the pantheon of comic book

02:58 driven shows we've seen over the years, nothing has quite managed to consistently hit the highs

03:03 of Arrow's second season just yet. Transitioning from the Hood to the Arrow here,

03:08 Stephen Amell started to wear the Oliver Queen character like a second skin by the time of Season

03:14 2. It had admittedly been a rough start for Amell in the Emerald Archer role in the series' first

03:19 season, but the actor hugely upped his game for this sophomore year. Most intriguing about this

03:24 season of Arrow, it was the ascension to the Deathstroke mantle of Manu Bennett's Slade

03:30 Wilson. As flashbacks showed Slade slowly losing his mind back on Lian Yu, that was mirrored by

03:36 Deathstroke rearing his head in the present-day Star City to torment his former BFF Oliver.

03:41 Throw in Sarah Lance's Black Canary, the hint of romance between Oliver and Felicity,

03:46 the twisted schemes of Brother Blood, the Mirakuru ravaged war on Star City,

03:51 and an utterly chilling depiction of C-level rogue Dollmaker,

03:55 and Arrow Season 2 is an exemplary slice of capes and tights TV.

04:00 8. True Detective Season 1

04:03 It's easy to point out how True Detective's second and third seasons didn't live up to the

04:08 hype generated by the show's debut year, but one also has to consider how high the bar had been set

04:13 with that inaugurable season. Not just was True Detective's first season an entertainment

04:18 highlight of 2014, it holds up as one of the finest single seasons of TV ever. Of course,

04:25 taking an anthology approach and dedicating each season to a certain set of characters within that

04:29 season's own unique narrative helped put a nice bookend on Season 1, but we've seen before how

04:35 anthology shows can fall flat on their face. For this debut outing, the action is based in

04:40 1995 Louisiana, as detectives Rust and Marty initially start delving into the murder of

04:46 a prostitute. In Rust, we have a man battling his demons in the bottom of a bottle,

04:52 while married Marty's problems often come from his wandering eye and infidelity.

04:57 There's drugs, religion, warring partners, and a brilliant dollop of mystery and intrigue to this

05:02 first season, and Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson are on phenomenal form as Rust and

05:08 Marty, respectively. Then again, everything about True Detective's first season is on phenomenal

05:13 form, and it's just a shame that the bar set by this debut season was unable to be matched

05:17 by the seasons that followed it. 7. Westworld Season 1

05:23 As it stands, Westworld is a series that peaked with its debut season before then seeing the

05:28 quality levels drop with each subsequent year. Whether we ever get a fourth season of the show

05:33 remains to be seen, with such a season announced by HBO before the pandemic hit in 2020, and largely

05:39 radio silence on even a rough premiere date for Season 4 in the two years since. Still, Westworld

05:45 at least gave audiences one of the great single seasons of modern TV. With its first year, this

05:51 Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy created effort really did deliver something truly special.

05:56 With its western setting, futuristic feel, magnificent musical beats, stunning ensemble

06:03 cast, and the overarching intrigue of the larger plot of This World Within a World, Westworld

06:08 immediately made itself feel like a big deal, and a tentpole production destined to be one of the

06:13 major hitters for the foreseeable future. Brimming with social commentary and exploring the underbelly

06:19 of what people seek out as entertainment, Season 1 was masterful. Unfortunately, the second and

06:27 third seasons began to move away from the core narrative of what had audiences hooked on Westworld,

06:32 and the more the series moved away from its debut year, the less interesting the show became,

06:37 and Season 3 in particular seemed to relish in eradicating so much of what made Westworld great.

06:44 6. Bates Motel - Season 5 Bates Motel could well be the most underrated

06:50 show in the history of television. Is that a bold statement? Absolutely, but the point still stands,

06:56 that this five-season A&E offering delivered episodic TV of the highest quality across its run.

07:02 In Bates Motel, audiences were given one of those rare shows that managed to go out with its finest

07:08 season. Given just how fantastic the prior four years had been, it's testament to the supreme

07:13 level of Bates Motel's fifth season that it manages to just about edge out as the series'

07:18 finest output. Here, Freddie Highmore's Norman is in full psycho mode, with this season picking up

07:24 two years after the Season 4 finale. As Norma Bates is dead, Detective Romero is serving five

07:30 years in prison, Norman's brother Dylan and Emma have moved to Seattle and have a young daughter,

07:36 the Marion Crane character is introduced, and the visage of Mother is stalking the halls of

07:41 the titular Bates Motel. This season is the perfect conclusion to a story that is extremely familiar,

07:47 yet also fresh and new. And much like the entire show itself, Bates Motel's fifth year manages to

07:53 be a prime example of how to take an existing property and remain faithful to it, while at

07:59 the same time breathing new life into it. Number 5 - The Simpsons - Season 4

08:05 The famed Golden Age of The Simpsons, which most deem as coming to an end around the time of Season

08:10 9, revolutionised television. Not just were animated shows solely viewed as kids' TV,

08:16 but The Simpsons became must-see viewing for the entire family, with plentiful laughs, witty social

08:22 commentary, and an overall energy and entertainment level that made the show the talk of water

08:27 coolers and schoolyards across the globe. If you conducted a fan survey, you'd likely get the

08:33 majority proclaiming Season 4 as the finest hour of this Matt Groening-created beast of a show.

08:40 Looking across the episode list for this season, you have an all-timer with pretty much every

08:44 instalment of this season. There's Bart and Lisa going to the barbaric Camp Krusty, there's Ned

08:50 Flanders and Marge starring in A Streetcar Named Desire, there's Homer setting up his own religion,

08:55 there's Lisa becoming the poster girl for Lamari cigarettes, there's Itchy and Scratchy the movie,

09:00 there's a flashback to Lisa's first word, there's the arrival of Mr. Plow, and there's, of course,

09:05 Marge butting heads with Lyle Lanley and his monorail. That's just a small sampling of the

09:11 22 excellent episodes crammed into The Simpsons' fourth year, as the show cemented its spot as the

09:17 most must-see series on TV. Number 4 - Breaking Bad Season 5

09:23 After four years of delicate crafting, Breaking Bad's fifth and final season was a breathtaking,

09:28 exhilarating rocket of a resolution. The prior four seasons had all been fantastic,

09:34 but the show had a slightly more nuanced, slower approach to a lot of what had been seen by that

09:38 point. With season 5, this juggernaut of a series didn't waste a single second,

09:43 particularly in its second half, as Walter White does his best to wipe out any pieces of unfinished

09:49 business. There's a grandiose story at play here, with Breaking Bad's final season being one of the

09:55 true great stories ever committed to a TV screen. Like any great tragedy, Heisenberg's demise is

10:01 something that is inevitable, but utterly fascinating to watch. And adding an extra

10:06 level of emotion to proceedings, Aaron Paul's Jesse is phenomenal, as his character manages

10:12 to regain some semblance of sanity by getting out of the business. All while Hank learns the truth

10:17 about Heisenberg, and Jack and his gang turn up the pressure. Few shows in history had as fitting

10:23 an end as Breaking Bad, and few seasons in history were as gripping as the show's fifth year.

10:29 3. Seinfeld Season 4

10:32 Seinfeld is likely the greatest comedy show of all time. Its nine seasons were not entirely

10:38 flawless, but when Seinfeld was great, which was 99% of the time, it was comedy TV, the likes of

10:44 which have rarely been seen since or before. The worst two seasons of Seinfeld were the show's

10:49 first and last ones, yet the other seven seasons are pretty much all in with a shout when looking

10:54 to hold up one of the series' years on a pedestal. Just beating out Seinfeld's fifth and seventh

10:59 years, it's Season 4 that gets the nod here. There's the brilliant arrival of Frank Constanza,

11:05 there's the possibility that Kramer may actually be a serial killer, there's Kramer's setting fire

11:10 to a cabin upstate, there's Jerry and George's arduous journey to make a TV pilot, and in the

11:15 contest, this show serves up what could well be the finest episode of comedy TV ever seen.

11:22 Season 4 of Seinfeld broke the mould, setting an entirely new benchmark for TV offerings that

11:27 liked to embrace the more meta elements of their programming.

11:30 Number 2. The Wire Season 4

11:33 The Wire's fourth season manages to highlight how the battle against drugs and crime is one

11:38 that will never truly end. Sure, certain figurehead characters have been killed off by this point in

11:43 the game, yet there are always fresh faces ready to step up and fill their spot. It's a sad reflection

11:49 of the real world, but it's a point showcased perfectly by this powerhouse series. Switching

11:54 the attention to the Baltimore school system, what plays out is a tale of youngsters failed

11:59 by the system as their pasts take them from wide-eyed kids to fractured, angry members of

12:04 society, falling into the same traps of those who have gone before them in the series.

12:09 In amongst all of this, Season 4 is likely the most outright chilling season of The Wire,

12:14 with the rise of the Stanfield organisation a truly brutal, jarring one, and special praise

12:20 has to be given to Jamie Hector for his twisted portrayal of the laser-focused,

12:25 respect-seeking, cruel, murderous Marlo Stanfield.

12:28 All five of The Wire's seasons hold up as exceptional TV to this day,

12:33 and it's the series' fourth season that still shines as its very best.

12:37 Number 1. The Sopranos Season 2

12:40 To some, The Sopranos is the greatest show in the history of television, and as such,

12:45 like elsewhere in this list, it's genuinely hard to look through the largely consistent,

12:50 high quality of the series and pick out just one season to give praise to.

12:55 While Season 4 and Season 3 are right up there, particularly Season 3 with the introduction of

13:00 uber-prick Ralph Sidferetto, Tony's intense relationship with Gloria Trillo, and the

13:05 phenomenal Pine Barrens episode, it's the show's second season that gets some time in the sun here.

13:11 The Sopranos' debut year did a fantastic job of setting the stage for what the series was about.

13:16 With characters established, with the tone of the show clear,

13:19 this second season dives a little deeper under the hood in the most brilliant of ways.

13:25 Season 2 gave us the arrival of Tony's sister Janice. It had the chaotic release from prison

13:30 of Richie April, there was Richie's death at the hands of Janice and Tony's subsequent reaction to

13:35 that, and there's the tension-riddled final boat ride taken as big pussies work as an FBI informant

13:42 ends in exactly the way we all knew it would. So much of what is shown across this second

13:46 season would go on to influence the rest of The Sopranos, not least in how Tony is positioned as

13:52 a destructive ball of anger rather than the lovable rogue he spent a chunk of Season 1 depicted as.

13:58 And that concludes our list. If you can think of any that we missed,

14:02 then do let us know in the comments below. And while you're there, don't forget to like and

14:06 subscribe and tap that notification bell. Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there,

14:10 and I can be found across various social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild.

14:14 I've been Ellie with WhatCulture, I hope you have a magical day, and I'll see you real soon.

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