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I think it’s fairly safe to say that we are currently amidst a golden era of high-calibre television on the old ‘idiot box’. Forget all that Reality TV tripe that’s being shoved down our gullets, I’m talkin’ bout the gooood stuff. The type of drama that cable networks like HBO, AMC, Showtime etc have been projecting on to our screens for the better part of a decade. Amazing shows that offer incredibly unique and captivating storylines, brilliantly dramatic performances by talented actors and incredible scores, cinematography and direction.

To celebrate the amazing selection of television drama that’s out there at the moment, I’ve put together a selection of my Top 10 Favourite TV Shows. All of these shows have provided countless hours of top-shelf viewing with each show offering it’s own brilliant elements of uniqueness, including characters with substance, plots with depth, topics that provoke thought and humour so dry you’ll be begging for a slice of day old sponge cake.

I hope you enjoy this list of incredible television as much as I have and get the opportunity to watch each and every episode. However, be warned, if you are known to have an addictive nature or obsessive tendencies, you may want to limit yourself to one show at a time, as all of these shows can single-handedly consume your life. Lastly, if you do decide to delve into this list, keep in mind that you’re gonna need a few spare Sundays (or a lot of spare time) and a comfy couch to tackle this mountain of champagne celluloid! Enjoy.

Warning: For those with sensitive eyes and/or ears, the sample clips contained within this post contain a healthy dose of violence and profanities.

1. The Sopranos

The Sopranos is an American television drama series created and produced by David Chase. It premiered on the premium cable network HBO in the United States on January 10, 1999 and ended its original run of six seasons and 86 episodes on June 10, 2007. The show has also been broadcast on A&E in the United States and internationally.

Set in New Jersey, where it also was produced, the series revolves around mobster Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads. (Source: Wikipedia)

Visit The Sopranos’ official website

2. Six Feet Under

Six Feet Under is an American television drama series created and produced by Alan Ball. It premiered on the premium cable network HBO in the United States on June 3, 2001 and ended on August 21, 2005, spanning five seasons and 63 episodes. Six Feet Under revolves around the Fisher family, who run a funeral home in Los Angeles, and their friends and lovers.

On one level, the show is a conventional family drama, dealing with such issues as relationships, infidelity, and religion. At the same time, it is a show distinguished by its unblinking focus on the topic of death, which it explores on multiple levels (personal, religious, and philosophical). Each episode begins with a death — anything from drowning or heart attack to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome — and that death usually sets the tone for each episode, allowing the characters to reflect on their current fortunes and misfortunes in a way that is illuminated by the death and its aftermath. The show also has a strong dosage of dark humor and surrealism running throughout.

A recurring plot device consists of a character having an imaginary conversation with the deceased; for example, Nate (Peter Krause), David (Michael C. Hall), and Federico (Freddy Rodriguez) sometimes “converse” with the person who died at the beginning of the episode, while they are being embalmed or planning or during the funeral. Sometimes, the conversation is with other recurring deceased characters, most notably Nathaniel Fisher Sr (Richard Jenkins). The show’s creator Alan Ball states they represent the living character’s internal dialogue by exposing it as an external conversation. (Source: Wikipedia)

Visit the official Six Feet Under website

3. Lost

Lost is an American serial drama television series. It follows the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island, after a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney, Australia and Los Angeles, United States crashes somewhere in the South Pacific. Each episode typically features a primary storyline on the island as well as a secondary storyline from another point in a character’s life, though other time-related plot devices change this formula in later episodes. The pilot episode was first broadcast on September 22, 2004, and since then five full seasons have aired. The show airs on the ABC Network in the United States, as well as on regional networks in many other countries.

In parallel to its character development, episodes of Lost include a number of mysterious elements that have been ascribed to science fiction or supernatural phenomena. The creators of the series refer to these elements as composing the mythology of the series, and they form the basis of fan speculation. Among the show’s mythological elements is a “monster” that roams the island; a mysterious group of inhabitants whom the survivors refer to as “The Others”; an organization called the DHARMA Initiative that has placed several research stations on the island; a sequence of numbers that have made frequent appearances in the lives of the characters in the past, present and future; and personal connections or synchronicity between the characters, of which they are often unaware. (Source: Wikipedia)

Visit the official Lost website

4. Deadwood

Deadwood is an American Western drama television series created, produced and almost entirely written by David Milch. The series aired on the premium cable network HBO from 21 March 2004 to 27 August 2006, spanning three 12-episode seasons. Set in the 1870s in Deadwood, South Dakota, the show is set before and after the area’s annexation by the Dakota Territory.

The series charts Deadwood’s growth from camp to town, incorporating themes ranging from the formation of communities to western capitalism. The show features a large ensemble cast, and many historical figures—such as Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant), Al Swearengen (Ian McShane), Wild Bill Hickok (Keith Carradine), Sol Star (John Hawkes), Calamity Jane (Robin Weigert), Wyatt Earp (Gale Harold), E. B. Farnum (William Sanderson), Charlie Utter (Dayton Callie), and George Hearst (Gerald McRaney)—appear as characters on the show.

The plotlines involving these characters include historical truths as well as substantial fictional elements. Some of the characters are fully fictional, although they may have been based on actual persons. Deadwood received wide critical acclaim, won eight Emmy Awards (in 28 nominations) and one Golden Globe. (Source: Wikipedia)

Visit the official Deadwood website

5. Dexter

Dexter is an American television drama series that airs on the premium channel Showtime. Set in Miami, the series centers on Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), a covert serial killer governed by a strict moral code who works for the Miami Metro Police Department as a blood spatter analyst.

Orphaned at the age of three and harboring a traumatic secret, Dexter was adopted by a Miami police officer named Harry Morgan (James Remar), who recognized Dexter’s sociopathic tendencies and taught him to channel his gruesome passion for thrill killing by giving it a constructive direction: killing people who deserve it. Most have slipped through the justice system, due to loopholes and technicalities in the law or were never apprehended.

To hide in plain sight and to erase his own crimes, Dexter works as a blood spatter analyst for the Miami Metro Police Department. Although his drive to kill is unflinching (otherwise overcome by a feeling of “emptiness”) Dexter is, through extensive instruction from Harry, able to fake normal emotions and keep up his appearance as a socially-responsible human being. Flashbacks throughout the series show how Harry (dead of natural causes several years before the start of Season One) instructed Dexter on the art of appearing normal, and he follows Harry’s instructions as a sacred “Code of Harry.” In accordance with this code, most of Dexter’s victims must be killers themselves (though there has also been mention of arsonists, and child molesters), who have killed multiple times with no remorse, and Dexter must have proof that they are definitely guilty before he takes action. (Source: Wikipedia)

Visit the official Dexter website

6. Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad is an American television drama series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. The series is broadcast in the United States and Canada on the cable network AMC. It premiered on January 20, 2008, and completed its first seven-episode season on March 9, 2008. The show’s 13-episode second season ran from March 8 to May 31, 2009. A third season was announced in April 2009.

Set and produced in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Breaking Bad revolves around Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a struggling high school chemistry teacher with a teenage son who has cerebral palsy (RJ Mitte), and a pregnant wife, Skyler (Anna Gunn). When the already tense White is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, he breaks down and turns to a life of crime, and starts producing and selling methamphetamine with his former student Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) in a desire to secure his family’s financial future. (Source: Wikipedia)

Visit the official Breaking Bad website

7. Mad Men

Mad Men is an American television drama series created and produced by Matthew Weiner. It is produced by Lionsgate Television and is broadcast on the cable network AMC. It premiered on July 19, 2007, and completed its second season on October 26, 2008. The third season is scheduled to begin August 2009.

Set in New York City, Mad Men begins in the early 1960s at the fictional Sterling Cooper advertising agency on New York City’s Madison Avenue. The show centers on Don Draper (Jon Hamm), a high-level advertising creative director, and the people in his life in and out of the office. It also depicts the changing social mores of 1960s America.

Mad Men depicts parts of American society and culture of the early 1960s, highlighting cigarette smoking, drinking, sexism, adultery, homophobia, antisemitism, and racism as examples of how that era was so much different than the present. (Source: Wikipedia)

Visit the official Mad Men website

8. Love My Way

Love My Way was a Logie Award winning and critically acclaimed Australian television drama series. It won the AFI award for Best Television Drama Series for each of its three seasons (2005-2007).

Love My Way was about a group of thirty-somethings dealing with the ups and downs of life. The series revolves around an extended family unit – Frankie Paige (Claudia Karvan) and Charlie Jackson (Daniel Wyllie) are the separated parents of Lou (Alex Cook), and Frankie also lives with Charlie’s brother, Tom (Brendan Cowell). As the series began, Charlie’s new wife Julia is about to have their first child. Frankie’s mother, Di (Gillian Jones) and Charlie’s mother Brenda (Lynette Curran) and father Gerry (Max Cullen) also have a strong presence in the ongoing story, as does Julia’s (Asher Keddie) ex-lover Howard (Sam Worthington), who enters into a relationship with Frankie. (Source: Wikipedia)

9. True Blood

True Blood is an American television drama series created and produced by <Alan Ball. It is based on the The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris.

Following the creation of synthetic blood, vampires have progressed from legendary monsters to fellow citizens overnight. Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) is a telepath and waitress at Merlotte’s in the small Louisiana town of Bon Temps, owned by Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell), a shapeshifter—though this secret is kept hidden. One night, Sookie meets Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), a handsome 173-year-old vampire who has returned to Bon Temps following the death of his last remaining relative. As she cannot hear his thoughts, she finds it easy to be in his company and over the first season, the two become romantically involved. (Source: Wikipedia)

Visit the official True Blood website

10. Carnivàle

Carnivàle (pronounced /kɑrnɪˈvæl/) is an American television series set in the United States during the Great Depression. In tracing the lives of two disparate groups of people, its overarching story depicts the battle between good and evil and the struggle between free will and destiny; the storyline mixes Christian theology with nosticism and Masonic lore, particularly that of the Knights Templar. The show was filmed in Santa Clarita, California, and other Southern Californian locations.

Carnivàle takes place in the Depression-era dust bowl between 1934 and 1935, and consist of two main plotlines that slowly converge. The first involves a young man with strange healing powers named Ben Hawkins (Nick Stahl), who joins a traveling carnival when it passes near his home in Milfay, Oklahoma. Soon thereafter, Ben begins having surreal dreams and visions, which set him on the trail of a man named Henry Scudder, a drifter who crossed paths with the carnival many years before, and who apparently possessed unusual abilities similar to Ben’s own.

The second plotline revolves around a Father Coughlin-esque Methodist preacher, Brother Justin Crowe (Clancy Brown), who lives with his sister Iris in California. He shares Ben’s prophetic dreams and slowly discovers the extent of his own unearthly powers, which include bending human beings to his will and making their sins and greatest evils manifest in the form of terrifying visions. Certain that he is doing God’s work, Brother Justin fully devotes himself to his religious duties, not realizing that his ultimate nemesis Ben Hawkins and the carnival are inexorably drawing closer. (Source: Wikipedia)

Visit the official Carnivàle website

Anticipated shows for 2009-10:

1. FlashForward

FlashForward is a science fiction television series currently in production by ABC Studios for the 2009–2010 television season for ABC. It is based on the novel Flashforward by Canadian science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer.

A mysterious global event causes everyone to simultaneously experience, for two minutes and seventeen seconds, his or her life six months in the future. When they wake up from the “flash forward”, everyone is left wondering if what they saw will actually happen. Many are dead in accidents involving vehicles, aircraft, and any other device needing human control.

A Los Angeles FBI agent named Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes) tries to figure out what exactly happened and why it happened. Along with his team, he creates a database of people’s flash forwards from around the world called the Mosaic Collective (a website for which has been launched). (Source: Wikipedia)

Visit the official FlashForward website

2. Tangle

Tangle is about two generations of two families – sometimes connecting, sometimes colliding, sometimes at cross-purposes – as they navigate their way around the maze of love, sex, money and politics.

Tim Williams has the world at his feet. Tipped for a top job in Cabinet, he is well on his way to becoming Premier. With a happy marriage, a good relationship with his teenage son and respect from his peers, his future is looking great. There’s only one little problem: 15 years ago, Tim had a brief, ill judged affair with drug-loving wild-child Nat Manning. The affair ended in pregnancy. After confessing to his wife Christine, they patched up their marriage and fought bitterly for custody of the child, Max.

Nat fled to London and has barely been heard from since. Now 10 years on, Nat is a mere smear on the landscape of the Williams’ hard won, happy lives.

But Nat is back … and there is a secret undercurrent to the world into which she returns. Her sister, Ally, is living in domestic oblivion. Unaware that her husband, Vince, is having an affair, Ally is also blind to the fact that his best friend, Gabriel, is in love with her. She is oblivious to Vince’s plans: a builder with ambition to jump into the big league, Vince can almost smell the possibility of a life of power, money and sex. If Tim Williams is going to climb the political ladder, then Vince is determined to extract his own benefits through their secret family connection.

But Nat has a way of exposing what’s hidden.

And through it all, the teenage children of Ally and Vince, Nat, Tim and Christine, and Vince’s mistress Em, are busily creating their own generation of chaos as they discover sex, danger, and the thrills of oncoming adulthood. (Source: TV Tonight)

Visit the official Tangle website

3. V

V is an upcoming television series remake to be broadcast on ABC during the mid season of the 2009-2010 television season. It is executive produced by The 4400 creator Scott Peters, Jason Hall, Steve Pearlman and Jeffrey Bell and is based on the science-fiction franchise created by Kenneth Johnson.

The world awakens to find spaceships hovering over all major cities. Though the aliens claim to come in peace, some do not believe them. Homeland Security agent Erica Evans discovers that the aliens have plans to infiltrate our governments and businesses in a plot to take over the planet. Erica joins the resistance movement, which includes Ryan, an alien who wants to save humanity. However, the aliens have recruited earth’s youth, including Erica’s son, to serve unknowingly as spies. (Source: Wikipedia)