The 10 Greatest TV Dramas You Can Binge in One Week, Ranked

Top of the Lake is a perfect watch for fans of Jane Campion’s films, even if it is nothing like The Power of the Dog. Campion decided to make an investigative thriller from the perspective of a female detective, played by Elizabeth Moss in another performance that confirms she may have been on more great shows than any other actress.

Top of the Lake was initially pitched as a miniseries, but Campion returned to direct a second season years later that was subtitled Top of the Lake: China Girl, and even screened at the Cannes Film Festival. While there is nothing about either iteration of Top of the Lake that is uplifting by any stretch of the imagination, the majesty of its filmmaking is too critical to be denied, especially when considering Campion has not indicated when her next feature film will come out.

The Leftovers is among the most ambitious dramas that HBO has ever produced because it actually expanded beyond the source material. While the novel for which it was inspired is covered within the show’s first season, Damon Lindelof extended the story into two more seasons, which became more emotionally rich, thematically nuanced, and wildly entertaining than the initial run.

The Leftovers can be a very heavy show that deals with serious topics like suicide, depression, addiction, divorce, and trauma, but it's also life-affirming in what it has to say about humankind's ability to rebuild and become reborn. While it may take some extra analysis to reckon with some of the more ambiguous narrative threads that Lindelof was hinting at, the show is nothing but not completely immersive. Rarely does a show swing for the fences and hit it outside the park.

The Knick is a show that was created, produced, directed, and written in its entirety by Steven Soderbergh, who is one of the greatest living filmmakers. Soderbergh excels when he is allowed to hone in on a specific process during an interesting point in history, and The Knick stars Clive Owen as a brilliant doctor during the Renaissance of modern medicine during the beginning of the 20th century.

The Knick is revelatory in what it says about American class and culture a century ago, but it's also a great character study about a complex anti-hero waging a war against addiction. At only two seasons long, The Knick can be easily watched within a week, although it may inspire viewers to put in their own research into some of the different topics that Soderbergh chose to shine a spotlight on.

Andor is the best piece of Star Wars media since Return of the Jedi, but it doesn’t require its viewers to have a complete understanding of the galaxy far, far away before watching it. Although it serves as a prequel to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story that shows how Cassian (Diego Luna) came to be part of the Rebel Alliance during its inception, Andor succeeds as a standalone science fiction espionage drama about a loner who learns what it is like to become part of a cause.

Andor is relevant to today’s politics because it shows how a fascist militarized government can make its subjects blind to tragedy, even if resistance groups grow more passionate. It’s a mature work of Star Wars fiction made for adults, especially those who are sick of the more child-friendly direction that the series has taken in recent years.

This Is Going To Hurt is a perfect binge experience for those who love medical dramas like The Pitt but don’t want to start up another extended series that will take up years of their time. The seven-episode series stars Ben Whishaw as an OBGYN doctor amidst a series of personal challenges and professional conflicts during a strenuous period in the British healthcare market during the early 21st century.

This Is Going To Hurt is downbeat and often quite morbid in showing the realities of modern medicine, but it's also told cleverly because Whishaw’s character breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to the audience, making the presentation of the story far easier to relate to on an emotional level. If nothing else, it is a series that may inspire its audience to be more thoughtful about their perception of nurses and doctors.

Mindhunter is David Fincher in his purest form, as the legendary director has been making propulsive thrillers about serial killers ever since he had his Hollywood breakthrough with Se7en. Mindhunter is unlike any other serial killer show because it was loosely based on the accounts of the real FBI agent John Douglas, who reportedly served as the inspiration for the character of Will Graham (Edward Norton) in Red Dragon.

Mindhunter is a creative piece of historical fiction because it combines real accounts of serial killers with a fictional storyline involving the FBI agent Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff), who was loosely based on Douglas. Although Mindhunter may never have a third season because of the inordinate costs involved and its struggles to reach a broader viewership, the series is so essential to Fincher’s trajectory that to avoid it would be a mistake.

The Curse is one of the darkest shows in recent memory, so it's best to watch it in a single week with something fun to binge right afterward. However, the artistry of The Curse is too profound to deny because it united two of the most unique creatives working in the industry right now. If the satirical zaniness of Nathan Fielder’s work on The Curse was combined with the intensive anxiety found within the films that Benny Safdie made with his brother, such as Uncut Gems, it might be a rough outline for what The Curse ended up being.

The Curse is a strong satire of the ignorance of white progressives and the culture of reparations, but it's also a bizarre and terrifying look at the interiority of a marriage. It also features one of the greatest performances that Emma Stone has ever had.

Tokyo Vice is perhaps the single most underrated show of the last decade because it was sadly canceled after the end of its second season, meaning that those interested in checking it out only have to get through 16 episodes to see what the series was capable of. As disappointing as it is that a terrific series ended before its time, Tokyo Vice actually does have a reasonably satisfying conclusion that wraps up its seasonal arc, even if it is poised to continue should another streaming service ever decide to acquire it.

Tokyo Vice is a slick noir show that was produced by Michael Mann, who also directed the pilot episode. It’s not only a great series about the craft of journalism, but also an examination of the Japanese yakuza as has ever been seen before in the history of television.

Lonesome Dove is one of the greatest Westerns ever made, and deserves to be considered in the same category as legendary films like The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Based on the legendary novel by the author Larry McMurtry, the series follows two aging Texas Rangers during an adventure that reawakens their spirit of adventure.

Lonesome Dove is a complete statement that tells its story with patience, but anyone who gets sucked up in the story would be hard-pressed not to complete it quickly. It’s also a particularly great show to watch right now because it was an amazing showcase for the late great Robert Duvall; Duvall was known for being in some of the best films ever made, but his performance in Lonesome Dove may be the most complex, heartbreaking, and fully realized role that he ever had.

Severance is one of the most ambitious science fiction shows in quite some time, and also one of the most entertaining. While it does require an intense degree of attention to understand the logic of how the complex futuristic thriller works, it’s also quite entertaining to delve into its various mystery boxes. While director Ben Stiller is best known for his work in comedy, Severance proves that he is a dynamic filmmaker who is capable of telling various types of stories.

Severance is actually the perfect show to binge-watch because it is far easier to follow what is going on when the episodes are viewed in quick succession by one another and without breaks. Although the first two seasons are quite satisfying, the heavy anticipation for the upcoming third installment of the show would indicate that it will not take another three years before Severance is back on the air.