The 21st century has seen a great many trends in entertainment emerge. Chief among them has been the rise of television drama, which has cemented its place as one of the most prestigious forms of entertainment through a litany of iconic and acclaimed titles. With the ascent of the medium, and especially with the onset of streaming services over the course of the past decade, the first quarter of the 21st century has become the golden era of the limited series format.
Featuring everything from absorbing war epics to gripping true crime tension, meditative post-apocalyptic sci-fi, poignant romantic drama, and even milestones of modern horror, these miniseries stand as the best audiences have been treated to in the past 26 years. They display not only the storytelling prowess of the small-screen format, but the experimental dare, variety, and cultural impact it wields as well.
10
‘Normal People’ (2020)
Boasting two star-making performances from Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones, Normal People is a devastating and radically honest portrayal of the messiness and might of first love. It follows the relationship that blossoms between an affluent and outspoken girl struggling to find social acceptance and her classmate, a popular high-achiever who battles anxiety in secret. Their secretive romance in the final days of secondary school grows more serious when they attend university together, but complications soon arise as they each discover their life goals will tear them apart.
Anchored in the palpable chemistry of the two stars, the series brilliantly juxtaposes the passion and power of young love against the callous reality of growing up. It’s raw and relatable, handling issues of youthful miscommunication, class disparity, and the toll of mental health struggles with an empathy that makes it both quietly captivating and ceaselessly outstanding. Written, directed, and performed with utter perfection, Normal People is a profoundly moving romantic drama that honors Sally Rooney’s novel to present what is perhaps the best romantic miniseries of all time.
9
‘The Haunting of Hill House’ (2018)
The 2010s marked an era of resurgent brilliance for horror, with the genre revival being spearheaded by experimental and thematically bold stories that have become instant icons of cinema. It is no surprise that television was also a beneficiary of horror’s return to form, with Netflix’s 10-part miniseries The Haunting of Hill House a stand-out achievement of small-screen terror owing to its piercing exploration of family dynamics and lingering trauma, Mike Flanagan’s astute direction, and its cerebral spin on the concept of ghosts.
Through a non-linear approach, it depicts two stories 26 years apart. In 1992, the Craine family moved into the dilapidated Hill House to renovate the mansion, only for the five young children to feel a subdued but growing paranormal threat. Years later, the surviving members of the Crain family reunite when tragedy befalls them and forces them to confront the dormant terrors that reside in Hill House. Ferociously frightful, arresting with its dramatic heft, and loaded with resonant thematic ideas, The Haunting of Hill House stands tall among the greatest horror stories the small screen has ever seen.
8
‘Over the Garden Wall’ (2014)
A largely forgotten gem of animation that premiered on Cartoon Network, Over the Garden Wall flaunts a mature mixture of youthful adventure, dark fantasy, and dramatic honesty as it follows two half-brothers who get lost in a mysterious forest. While they befriend several inhabitants of the magical woodland, they also find themselves being pried apart by their own natures, as the worrisome Wirt (Elijah Wood) is enveloped by his own thoughts and anxieties while Greg (Collin Dean) becomes enamored with the wondrous world around him.
Confined to just 10 11-minute episodes, Over the Garden Wall wastes no time with its presentation. It enthralls viewers with a dazzling and atmospheric vision of autumnal tenderness, complete with rustling leaves, warm, earthy colors, and a cozy sense of natural vibrancy. This wholesome allure is somewhat in contrast to the miniseries’ eerie sense of lingering dread, one perpetuated by its unnerving folk-horror score that imbues each episode with a sense of surreal melancholy and unnerving eccentricity. However, grounded by the sweetness of the character dynamics, Over the Garden Wall excels as a transfixing high-concept fantasy that is quaint, cute, and completely absorbing from beginning to end.
7
‘Station Eleven’ (2021)
A criminally underrated production from HBO, Station Eleven’s post-apocalyptic tone was perhaps not what audiences were looking for in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic of the early 2020s, but it is a shame that the masterful ten-part miniseries hasn’t been rediscovered in hindsight. Based on Emily St. John Mandel’s novel, it transpires 20 years after a deadly flu virus decimates humanity as a group of traveling actors roams between settlements to perform for survivors.
While it isn’t oblivious to the dark depravity of the human condition, Station Eleven largely flips the script on post-apocalyptic dystopia as it presents a hopeful and touching meditation on the endurance of community and the impact of art. Even in its flashbacks to the chaos amid the outbreak of the virus, it presents a profound puzzle of human connection and memory that is mature and wise while still being optimistic. Buoyed by a sublime ensemble cast, striking apocalyptic visuals, and its unique storytelling approach, Station Eleven is a mesmerizing miniseries that deserves to be enjoyed by the masses.
6
‘We Own This City’ (2022)
Another underappreciated gem produced by HBO, We Own This City excels as a true crime drama that, while unrelenting with its fast pacing and non-linear complexity, stands as a timely deconstruction of police corruption, institutional inertia, and the devastating societal ramifications of America’s War on Drugs. Co-created by David Simon, who was also a co-creator on The Wire, and based on Justin Fenton’s nonfiction book, the six-part series covers the reign of the Baltimore Police Department’s Gun Trace Task Force, an elite unit granted impunity who use their authority to profiteer from street crime.
Framed as an FBI investigation into the squad’s corrupt and unlawful practices, We Own This City jumps between different points over a 15-year stretch to explore how Sgt. Wayne Jenkins (Jon Bernthal) came to be in control of the GTTF, and the unit avoided repercussions for their actions for so long. Beneath its winding narrative complexity, We Own This City soars as an urgent dissection of systemic issues in the police force that allow corruption to go unpunished, cultural misunderstandings of how the institution can go about investigating such criminality within the force, and the ripple effect that police brutality has on communities and adjacent social systems.
5
‘The Queen’s Gambit’ (2020)
The cultural spearhead of Netflix’s forays into limited series drama, The Queen’s Gambit gained instant recognition on account of its masterful storytelling, breathtaking performances, stunning period production value, and thematic exploration of such issues as addiction, trauma, and personal growth. Anya Taylor-Joy is outstanding as Beth Harmon, a rising chess prodigy in the mid-20th century whose commitment to become the greatest player in the world is hindered by her spiraling drug habit, obsessive nature, and the social pressures and hostilities she faces in a male-dominated environment.
Written and directed by Scott Frank, and based on Walter Tevis’s novel, The Queen’s Gambit delivers seven episodes of absorbing drama. It’s meticulous in its narrative design, ensuring every essential beat is given enough time to develop without ever running at a languid, dragging pace. Winning widespread critical acclaim while also becoming one of Netflix’s best-performing miniseries of all time, The Queen’s Gambit is a true icon of modern storytelling.
4
‘Unbelievable’ (2019)
A masterclass in emotionally evocative drama, Unbelievable uses a grueling true-story basis to inspire contempt for America’s legal system and how it treats victims of sexual assault, while also exploring the complex path to overcoming trauma. When teenager Marie Adler (Kaitlyn Dever) reports being raped, only to be advised by police to recant her story, she then finds herself facing charges for falsifying a police report. As she is subjected to a callous legal procedure, two detectives from Colorado begin investigating an at-large serial rapist in a case that could prove Adler’s initial report to be true.
Commended for its sensitivity, nuance, thematic depth, and the astonishing power of the performances, Unbelievable earned widespread critical acclaim. It boldly balances the visceral anger the story inspires against the undercurrent of hope and humanity that is propelled in the exploration of Marie’s recovery. Its eight-episode arc stands as one of the timeliest and culturally important series of the 21st century thus far, even if it isn’t the most comfortable viewing experience.
3
‘When They See Us’ (2019)
Another stunning Netflix miniseries from 2019 that finds a sense of gripping wrath in its basis on real-life injustice, When They See Us delivers another scorching indictment on the institutional failures of the judicial system as it explores the case of the Central Park Five. It begins in 1989 when five Black and Latino youths from Harlem are arrested and charged with the assault and rape of a jogger in Central Park. Despite maintaining their innocence, the five men are sentenced to prison, where they spend years fighting their convictions, hoping to one day be exonerated.
Directed and created by Ava DuVernay, When They See Us captures a sense of cultural ire through its story of false imprisonment, one that is loaded with thematic ideas of racial profiling, systemic prejudice, and socioeconomic hardship. However, it aspires to be more than merely a rage-inducing coverage of true events, with the attention it gives to the family members of the detained men imbuing the miniseries with a meditative heart focused on the human toll of injustice. Its four-episode run marks the greatest limited series Netflix has ever produced.
2
‘Chernobyl’ (2019)
Standing tall among HBO’s finest ever productions, Chernobyl is a scintillating yet shocking exploration of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster of 1986. Across its breathtaking five-episode run, it looks into the immediate trauma of the reactor meltdown, the extensive operation that is assembled to minimize the radioactive fallout, and the political ramifications that befall the Soviet Union when its duplicity, subterfuge, and false reporting of the incident are exposed on the world stage.
Grounded by its exceptional performances and utterly faultless production design, Chernobyl delivers a harrowing descent into the middle of the catastrophe, one that heightens the omnipresent dread of radioactive exposure to be a source of constant tension throughout the series. Striking a perfect balance between honoring the heroism of those who sacrificed their lives to contain the fallout, addressing the convoluted web of bureaucracy that exacerbated the disaster, and delivering a piercing message on the cost of political corruption, Chernobyl is the best miniseries audiences have seen for many years.
1
‘Band of Brothers’ (2001)
Not only the greatest miniseries of the 21st century, but arguably the finest achievement in the history of television, Band of Brothers thrives off the back of Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks’s creative input to deliver what is one of the best and most captivating examinations of WWII. Anchored by the stories of real soldiers whose experiences are depicted, it follows the men of Easy Company from their training regime and their drop into Normandy on the eve of D-Day, through their campaign on the front lines of several major battles in the European Theater, and culminating with their uneasy presence in Germany at the end of the war.
A feat of filmmaking that was unprecedented for the small screen at the time, Band of Brothers engrosses viewers in the scale and chaos of combat. However, while it does excel as a stunning portrayal of the full breadth of the Second World War, it still finds its dramatic pulse in character-driven emotional stakes, namely the sense of camaraderie and connection that develops between the troops and the psychological horrors they are exposed to throughout their service. It is the greatest depiction of WWII America has ever produced in any format, a masterpiece that serves as both a cautionary tale of the devastating impact of war and a touching tribute to those who served.
Band of Brothers
- Release Date
-
2001 – 2001
- Network
-
HBO
- Directors
-
David Frankel, David Nutter, Mikael Salomon, Phil Alden Robinson, Richard Loncraine, Tom Hanks
Leave a Reply