TV Feature: The 10 Best TV Shows of 2013

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3. Enlightened (HBO)
“Am I crazy?”
“No. You’re just full of hope. You’ve got more hope than most people do.”
—Episode 2.8, “Agent of Change,” 3.3.13

Enlightened
Photo credit: HBO

Every once in awhile, there’s a show that seems to really capture something about our current era and in 2013 that show was “Enlightened.” Was there a more symbolic figure for how so many people struggle in work and life than Laura Dern’s Amy Jellicoe, a woman hoping for some time in the spotlight but striving to be a good person at the same time? HBO sent the entire, 8-episode second season at one time and I watched it one day. I changed plans. I could not stop. It plays like a feature film with delicate, nuanced characters, brilliant dialogue, and some of most consistently fascinating social commentary in years. As much as I’ll miss Amy and “Enlightened,” this season was SO perfect that it’s almost OK that it’s the last. Much like other brilliant-but-canceled shows, it will only grow in esteem from here.

2. Broadchurch (BBC)
“These people’s lives have been destroyed. And now our incompetence has made it worse.”
—Episode 1.1, 8.7.13

Broadchurch
Photo credit: BBC

Again, a show that transcended its genre set-up. At its core, “Broadchurch” is a murder mystery. Who killed Danny Latimer? But it becomes a chronicle of the ripple effect of crime on an entire community. It unleashes skeletons from closets and pushes relationships in new directions. With some of the best performances on TV this year (Olivia Colman’s work in the final episode deserves a special award), “Broadchurch” was like a great novel, one in which you feel you know all of the characters by the final, painful revelation. It’s debatable that no program has ever more devastatingly captured that dramatically elusive element of crime — the grief it creates in those impacted by it.

1. Breaking Bad (AMC)
“I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And I was really — I was alive.”
—Episode 5.16, “Felina,” 9.29.13

Breaking Bad
Photo credit: AMC

I have some issues with the tidiness of the actual finale but there was no smarter, more creative, or more riveting program in 2013 than Vince Gilligan’s massive hit, a show that has already been included on lists of the best of all time. The word I think of when I think of “Breaking Bad” is confidence. Over five seasons, we never once got the impression that Gilligan and his team lacked an OUNCE of it. They always knew where they were going and how they were going to get there and we were just along for the ride. So many programs, even the greatest, had their lulls, where you could sense the writers trying to find their way or the uncertainty about where characters should go next. That never happened with “Breaking Bad.” And it’s not through a desire to please or pandering to a denominator but through sheer creative force that Walter White took a seat next to Tony Soprano in the pop culture vocabulary. Like the Italian anti-hero before him, he became more than a character through the force of the performer who played him and the genius who wrote him. He may be missed in 2014 but his impact is only beginning to be felt.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com