TAGGED AS: RT25, TV

Fans Pick the Best TV Shows of the Last 25 Years

In celebration of Rotten Tomatoes’ 25th anniversary, we asked our fans to submit their top TV shows released in the past 25 years, and boy did they deliver! Sure the usual suspects made it to the top — iconic series like Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, and The Office — but we also had some surprising results. Fan-favorite sci-fi thriller series Dark managed to crack the Top 10, while The Big Bang Theory beat out other sitcoms like Ted Lasso, Parks and Recreation, and How I Met Your Mother.

Be sure to check out the list of the Critics Pick the Best TV Series of the Last 25 Years, too – you might be surprised by some of their choices. And check out what fans picked for their Best Movies of the Last 25 Years.

Breaking Bad (2008)
96%

Synopsis: Mild-mannered high school chemistry teacher Walter White thinks his life can't get much worse. His salary barely makes ends meet,... [More]

Starring: Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn, RJ Mitte

Directed By: Vince Gilligan, Mark Johnson, Michelle MacLaren, Adam Bernstein

Game of Thrones (2011)
89%

Synopsis: George R.R. Martin's best-selling book series "A Song of Ice and Fire" is brought to the screen as HBO sinks... [More]

Starring: Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke

Directed By: David Benioff, D.B. Weiss

The Sopranos (1999)
92%

Synopsis: Tony Soprano juggles the problems of his fractious family with those of a "Family" of a different sort - the... [More]

Starring: James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco, Edie Falco, Michael Imperioli

Directed By: David Chase, Timothy Van Patten, John Patterson, Allen Coulter

The Office (2005)
81%

Synopsis: This U.S. adaptation -- set at a paper company based in Scranton, Pa. -- has a similar documentary style to... [More]

Starring: Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer

Directed By: Ben Silverman, Greg Daniels, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant

Stranger Things (2016)
91%

Synopsis: Mysteries unravel in a small Midwestern town in the 1980s, involving supernatural forces, secret experiments and one strange girl.... [More]

Starring: Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard

Directed By: Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, Shawn Levy, Dan Cohen

Better Call Saul (2015)
98%

Synopsis: He wasn't always Saul Goodman, ace attorney for chemist-turned-meth dealer Walter White. Six years before he begins to represent Albuquerque's... [More]

Starring: Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks, Michael Mando, Patrick Fabian

Directed By: Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Mark Johnson, Melissa Bernstein

The Wire (2002)
95%

Synopsis: This series looks at the narcotics scene in Baltimore through the eyes of law enforcers as well as the drug... [More]

Starring: Dominic West, John Doman, Frankie Faison, Wood Harris

Directed By:

Succession (2018)
95%

Synopsis: Although he has no plans to step aside as the head of Waystar Royco, the international media conglomerate controlled by... [More]

Starring: Hiam Abbass, Nicholas Braun, Brian Cox, Kieran Culkin

Directed By: Jesse Armstrong, Adam McKay, Frank Rich, Kevin J. Messick

Lost (2004)
86%

Synopsis: The survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 were 1,000 miles off course when they crashed on a lush, mysterious island. Each... [More]

Starring: Naveen Andrews, Nestor Carbonell, Emilie de Ravin, Michael Emerson

Directed By: J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof, Bryan Burk

Dark (2017)
95%

#10

Synopsis: When two children go missing in a small German town, its sinful past is exposed along with the double lives... [More]

Starring: Oliver Masucci, Karoline Eichhorn, Jördis Triebel, Louis Hofmann

Directed By: Baran bo Odar, Quirin Berg, Baran bo Odar, Jantje Friese

Chernobyl (2019)
95%

#11

Synopsis: Brave men and women act heroically to mitigate catastrophic damage when the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant suffers a nuclear accident... [More]

Starring: Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård, Emily Watson, Paul Ritter

Directed By: Craig Mazin, Carolyn Strauss, Jane Featherstone, Johan Renck

The Big Bang Theory (2007)
81%

#12

Synopsis: Mensa-fied best friends and roommates Leonard and Sheldon, physicists who work at the California Institute of Technology, may be able... [More]

Starring: Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg

Directed By: Chuck Lorre, Bill Prady, David Goetsch, Steven Molaro