You may have noticed something about television recently: It's really good!
We're currently in the middle of what a lot of critics call the "Golden Age" of television. The ubiquity of screens and rise of platforms like Netflix have led to more television content than ever, and more competition for them to have the best shows.
The best shows are the ones that take advantage of the length that movies don't have and use the imagery that novels can't conjure. They can captivate big audiences and change their lives forever.
Since we're living in the "Golden Age," a lot of the best shows are recent, and many are still ongoing. Here's INSIDER's list of 23 television shows you should see in your lifetime.
"The Sopranos" (1999-2007)
David Chase's mob epic is the daddy of all "Golden Age" television. It's the sprawling story of Tony Soprano — a towering James Gandolfini — trying to stay sane while straddling his personal life as a suburban dad and his other life as a ruthless mob boss.
It's one of the first shows to introduce novel-like storytelling powers and character-building in a serialized television show, and still stands as one of the best.
"Game of Throne" (2011-present)
I'm not sure who's going to end up being the ruler of Westeros, but "Game of Thrones" is definitely the king of TV. Its backstabbing characters, knotty plot lines, and astounding visual effects (dragons!) makes it one of the most obsessed-over shows on TV — right now, and ever.
"The Wire" (2002-2008)
Former Baltimore police reporter David Simon wrote "The Wire," which looked at drug dealers and their relationships with the city's police force through their own eyes. His knowledge of the subject made the show feel gritty without being exploitative, and moving and empathetic instead of merely polemical.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider