Image via AMC
Though IMDb stands for “Internet Movie Database,” users can also rate TV shows there, and, as is the case with movies there, so too is there a Top 250 greatest shows of all time. All types of television, regardless of genre, can be found in this ranking, with long-running shows, miniseries, sitcoms, anime series, and even documentary shows being found there. To focus on dramas, though, here are the highest-rated on the site from the past 30 years (which will explain why something like, say, Twin Peaks doesn’t qualify). Also, this is based on numerous votes given by various people on IMDb, so any omissions are either because they’re currently not rated high enough (ratings can change over time), or because they’re shows that are more easily definable as sitcoms – or something else – rather than drama. But to keep things a little broader, this ranking will include a couple of highly-rated miniseries alongside the more expected long-runners.
10
‘The Pitt’ (2025–)
IMDb Rating: 8.9/10
Image via HBO Max
The Pitt is one of those shows that can be summarized by comparing it to two other well-known TV dramas: it’s a bit like if ER collided with 24. It’s an easy observation to make, considering The Pitt was created by one of ER’s writers, R. Scott Gemmill, and starred Noah Wyle, who is famous for also starring in ER. And, as far as the 24 connection goes, both it and The Pitt play out in real-time. This approach makes The Pitt particularly intense for a medical drama, seeing as you’re thrown in the shoes of the staff at a hospital as they try and get through a particularly taxing 15-hour shift. It’s inevitably not an easy watch, but it is also an undeniably absorbing drama series, being the most recent drama to air that cracks the top 10 highest-rated shows on IMDb (again, at the time of writing).
The Pitt
Release Date
January 9, 2025
Network
Max
Noah Wyle
Dr. Michael ‘Robby’ Robinavitch
Tracy Ifeachor
Dr. Heather Collins
9
‘Firefly’ (2002–2003)
IMDb Rating: 8.9/10
Image via FOX
Though it’s still kind of sad that Firefly was canceled before it ever got a second season, most people have hopefully come to terms with the fact, by now, that it’s not ever likely to come back. Perhaps sadder is the fact that at 14 episodes, Firefly was technically canceled before the end of its first season, since most network shows back in the 2000s aired about 20 episodes per season. But those episodes were great, and Firefly was, overall, a compelling blend of the sci-fi, Western, action/adventure, and drama genres. Also, it wasn’t entirely lacking in finality, given that in 2005, Serenity was released, and gave some closure to the show as a whole, and its endearing characters, even if some of that closure was also kind of heartbreaking (if you know, you know).
Firefly
Release Date
2002 – 2002
Showrunner
Joss Whedon
8
‘Better Call Saul’ (2015–2022)
IMDb Rating: 9.0/10
Image via AMC
A spin-off series that served as a prequel (for the most part) to another very highly-rated show from the past 30 years, Better Call Saul was a slow-burn kind of series, yet a very rewarding one. It’s concerned largely with how Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) eventually adopted the Saul Goodman persona, but there’s a lot more to it than that, and things get more dramatic as the show patiently chugs along.
…Better Call Saul was a slow-burn kind of series, yet a very rewarding one.
Better Call Saul was never outwardly comedic enough to be confused for a sitcom, but there was a bit more of a dramedy slant to it early on. It got more effective and acclaimed as it started to get a little more serious, though, eventually building to – and matching – the intensity of its parent show, which will get its time in the (harsh New Mexico) sun soon enough.
Better Call Saul
Release Date
2015 – 2022-00-00
Network
AMC
Adam Dorn
Self – Songwriter
Bob Odenkirk
Jimmy McGill
7
‘Sherlock’ (2010–2017)
IMDb Rating: 9.0/10
Image via BBC One
Sherlock lost the plot a little by the end of its run, which might make its high rating on IMDb feel a tad surprising, but those first two seasons were quite strong at least. Season 3 wasn’t a huge step-down, while Season 4… well, Season 4 showed it was probably time to wrap things up. But at least half of the show is good, and maybe that’s good enough. Anyway, Sherlock is a modern update on Sherlock Holmes, with Benedict Cumberbatch playing the titular character, and Martin Freeman portraying John Watson. Each episode is pretty much feature-length, adapting – but also playing around with – numerous stories originally written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was a show that blew up and subsequently kind of stayed in the 2010s, but enough of it still holds up to make its popularity on IMDb, to this day, only slightly eyebrow-raising.
Sherlock
Release Date
2010 – 2017-00-00
Network
BBC
Showrunner
Steven Moffat
6
‘Game of Thrones’ (2011–2019)
IMDb Rating: 9.2/10
Image via HBO
A little like Sherlock, some may question Game of Thrones being so highly-rated on IMDb, considering how it ended, but its rating used to be higher than 9.2/10. Back in 2019, Forbes outlined the highest-rated shows on IMDb, and Game of Thrones used to have a 9.4/10, which was enough to make it the sixth highest-rated of all time. Since then, it’s amassed more negative ratings, or perhaps some users lowered their personal rating. And the show did have some weaker episodes for sure, after it overtook the A Song of Ice and Fire series of novels it was based on (to put it mildly). Still, a disappointing finish can’t entirely take away from the fact that, for a while, Game of Thrones was phenomenal, and those particularly great episodes are still great.
5
‘The Sopranos’ (1999–2007)
IMDb Rating: 9.2/10
Image via HBO
Given it might be the show most associated with the beginning of a “golden age for television,” it’s potentially surprising that The Sopranos only has a rating of 9.2/10 on IMDb. TV shows don’t really get a whole lot better than this series, which follows a mobster (James Gandolfini) as he struggles with panic attacks and depression, working within the mob, and dealing with family problems. It’s a show that is technically a crime-drama series, but it’s also hilarious at times, not to mention hitting all sorts of other emotional beats over the course of its six seasons. The Sopranos does live up to the hype, which is saying something, considering the immense amount of hype it generated both when it was on the air, and in the years since (it’s received a second-wind popularity-wise from viewers who were too young to watch and appreciate it back in the 2000s).
4
‘The Wire’ (2002–2008)
IMDb Rating: 9.3/10
Image via HBO
If you’re talking about great HBO dramas and don’t consider The Sopranos to be #1, then there’s a good chance you’d nominate The Wire for that spot instead. Not a guarantee, but it’s a show with a similar amount of prestige and hype surrounding it, and though it’s also technically a crime-drama series, its approach – especially on a narrative front – is incredibly different. It’s bold and ambitious in a way that honestly takes a little while to get used to. When The Wire starts, it doesn’t ever really hold your hand, throwing you into a conflict between the Baltimore police and a gang of drug dealers. There are lots of characters and things going on at once, and the scope – and size of the cast – only grows with every season. But once you get into the show’s rhythm, it’s absorbing, emotional, and exciting in ways that few TV shows have ever been.
The Wire
Release Date
2002 – 2008-00-00
Network
HBO
3
‘Chernobyl’ (2019)
IMDb rating: 9.3/10
Image via HBO
Chernobyl is a miniseries, and only ever had to be, since its story really is just centered on one event, albeit a dramatic one. Across five episodes, it explores the complexity of the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear power station meltdown. It aims to be authentic in many ways while also dramatizing things so that they feel a little more streamlined (it is a miniseries, after all). The scope of the show is impressive without ever getting too carried away or distracted by less important things, giving Chernobyl the feel of a movie that just so happens to be about five hours long. It’s also a very cinematic-looking show, adding to that feel of it being like a long movie, and that can be said about a great many shows produced by HBO, but still, this one is really technically impressive.
Chernobyl
Release Date
2019 – 2019
Network
HBO
2
‘Band of Brothers’ (2001)
IMDb Rating: 9.4/10
Another HBO miniseries with a remarkable reputation, Band of Brothers is understandably considered one of the best shows of its kind, and it’s aged very little in the nearly quarter of a century since it first aired. It’s about the men of Easy Company and their experience on the European front during World War II, beginning with their training before deployment on D-Day and ending with the surrender of Germany. It had successors (not sequels, necessarily) in the form of The Pacific and Masters of the Air, and though those shows were good, neither was quite on the level of Band of Brothers. Again, the word “cinematic” can be used to describe this miniseries, since the production values impress more than many other feature films about war that were released around this time. It’s also a tremendously moving show, and one that admirably makes its scenes of warfare feel visceral and authentic.
Band of Brothers
Release Date
2001 – 2001
Network
HBO
Donnie Wahlberg
C. Carwood Lipton
1
‘Breaking Bad’ (2008–2013)
IMDb Rating: 9.5/10
The show that Better Call Saul was a prequel series for, Breaking Bad isn’t just the highest-rated drama series on IMDb from the last 30 years, but it’s the #1 show in the site’s Top 250 overall. It is a relentlessly paced, instantly engaging, and largely consistent series, so the massive fanbase it’s accumulated in the decade or so since it concluded isn’t surprising. And it had quite a few supporters while it was airing, too (albeit not as many early on), but it’s become more well-loved and popular in the years since. It’s about a chemistry teacher named Walter White (Bryan Cranston) who learns he has cancer in the first episode, and so he starts cooking methamphetamine to amass as much money as he can, which he then plans to leave behind for his family… at least at first. Things get complicated, though, and it’s watching the ways they get complicated that makes Breaking Bad so thrilling and compulsively watchable. It might not be your personal favorite show, but hopefully, most people will understand why it occupies the #1 spot on IMDb, at least for now.
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