Entertainment
10 Great Two-Season TV Shows Without a Single Flaw
There is no hard-and-fast rule that specifies the number of seasons a show needs in order to be considered “great.” While greatness is often associated with shows that have expanded across many years, it’s rare to find consistency within anything that has expanded for far too long. There are very few shows in which every single season is a masterpiece, and there are no episodes that missed the mark. Brevity can be a good thing, especially for shows that have a tight and specific story focus in mind.
The unfortunate reality is that there are many great shows that are canceled before their times, as executives tend to make decisions based on ratings, and not critical acclaim. Although it is disappointing when a promising series has its legs cut off before it has the ability to reach its potential, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t worth revisiting and celebrating.
10
‘Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty’ (2022–2023)
Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty was one of the best sports shows ever made by HBO because it dramatized some of the most important events in NBA history. The success of the Los Angeles Lakers seemed like a miracle in the 1980s, but the series co-created by Adam McKay delved into the clashing personalities that caused its rise to prominence to be so unpredictable.
Winning Time: The Rise of the Los Angeles Lakers was filled with excellent performances, including an eccentric portrayal of Jerry Buss by John C. Reilly and a loaded depiction of Pat Riley by Adrien Brody, who was in the midst of his comeback. Winning Time: Rise of the Lakers Dynasty contains some of the best basketball ever depicted on a dramatized show, but it also had the business intrigue and cultural discourse needed to engage non-NBA fans.
9
‘Pushing Daisies’ (2007–2009)
Pushing Daisies is a fun twist on the traditional procedural drama that has no shortage of comedy involved, as well as an interesting perspective on supernatural powers. While the protagonist Ned (Lee Pace) has the power to communicate with the recently departed, he can only do so for 60 seconds, and often risks putting the people he loves in danger. It’s a show that deals with wounded, challenged characters, but often puts them in humorous situations.
Pushing Daisies is a colorful, yet well-thought-out mystery series that has a multitude of talented guest stars and surprisingly profound depictions of loss, love, and the search for meaning. Although the show was unfortunately axed before it got the chance to put up a plethora of episodes, it did mark a promising start for showrunner Bryan Fuller, who would gain even more acclaim when he developed Hannibal for NBC.
8
‘Vice Principals’ (2016–2017)
Vice Principals is another comedy masterpiece from Danny McBride and Jody Hill, who have made some of the funniest HBO shows of all time. Unlike the other two shows that they made for the network, Vice Principals was always designed to be a two-season event with a strict ending. The series is focused on two narcissistic vice principals, played by McBride and his future The Righteous Gemstones co-star Walton Goggins, who attempt to conspire their way to the top after they are both passed over for a promotion.
Vice Principals needed to be only two seasons, because the humor got so dark and cruel that it could have been taxing after too long. However, McBride is a genius when it comes to depicting flawed characters, and Vice Principals does a great job at showing audiences that they should be laughing at the characters, and not with them.
7
‘The Knick’ (2014–2015)
The Knick is a show that unfortunately fizzled out because of its network, as it debuted on Cinemax before it was ever known for doing anything prestigious. Created by Steven Soderbergh, the series starred Clive Owen as a brilliant, yet irksome doctor in the early 20th century who tries to manage a high-profile medical laboratory whilst battling a severe addiction to cocaine. The series also marked an early role for Eve Hewson before her breakthrough with Disclosure Day.
The Knick is impressive with its attention to detail and has been cited by medical professionals as being the most accurate show about its subject matter. Although the series gave a tremendous amount of insight into how emerging medical sciences were handled within this period in time, it’s also a sharp exploration of a different time in American history in which every level of infrastructure was subjected to biases and corruption.
6
‘Tokyo Vice’ (2022–2024)
Tokyo Vice was a brilliant noir series based on the memoir of the same name by Jake Adelstein, who became the first American journalist to get a serious job at the most powerful news publication in all of Tokyo. Adelstein is played by Ansel Elgort, and the series shows how he becomes allies with a powerful cop (Ken Watanabe) as they investigate cases of corruption linked to the Japanese mafia.
Tokyo Vice is a spiritual constitution of everything that Michael Mann has done, as the legendary filmmaker produced the series and also directed the pilot episode. Tokyo Vice may have been canceled far too soon, but the two seasons that exist are among the most polished, technically advanced, and thematically radical pieces of filmmaking to ever be created in the streaming era. It should be a must-watch for all crime buffs.
5
‘Flight of the Conchords’ (2007–2009)
Flight of the Conchords is one of the funniest and most underrated HBO shows, and one that continued the network’s tradition of making cheeky comedies that constantly broke the fourth wall. As was the case with Curb Your Enthusiasm, Flight of the Conchords has its two stars playing fictionalized versions of themselves in a series that parodies what their daily lives look like.
Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie star as the real members of a New Zealand folk duo who try to make it in America, where they experience all sorts of career setbacks, embarrassments, and failed gigs. While it’s a treat for those who loved the band of the same name, as Clement and McKenzie have actually toured as “Flight of the Conchords,” the show has something to say for anyone who has pursued an artistic career in a challenging field.
4
‘Rome’ (2005–2006)
Rome was one of the earliest examples of what HBO could do with a significant budget when tasked with recreating a rich mythology, and it laid the groundwork for what the network would do with Game of Thrones. Although the history of the Roman Empire is vast and complicated, Rome found a clever way of retelling the most important events; the first season was largely focused on the rise and fall of Julius Caesar (Ciaran Hinds), and the second showed the aftermath as it resulted in an alliance with Egypt.
Rome was able to explore the perspective of all different classes within the Roman era, with Ray Stevenson giving the best performance of his career as a former prisoner who becomes a noble warrior. Although it’s disappointing to think of what Rome could have accomplished had it continued, the two seasons that did air are too perfect for any HBO fan to miss out on.
3
‘The Rehearsal’ (2022–2025)
The Rehearsal is the most radical and creative enterprise that Nathan Fielder has ever embarked upon, which is saying something when considering how many risks that he has taken throughout his career. What genre The Rehearsal actually belongs to is even up for debate; while it may seem framed like an investigative documentary or reality show, The Rehearsal develops into a psychological thriller as Fielder pries deeper into human nature and attempts to unpack the inherently performative components of human interaction.
The Rehearsal is absurdist without being parodical, and is able to be genuinely thought-provoking whilst still being highly entertaining. Although there have been rumors about what a third season might look like, it is very hard to imagine Fielder topping the ending of Season 2, in which he developed actual research that could change the airline industry for good.
2
‘Andor’ (2022–2025)
Andor is the best piece of Star Wars storytelling since Return of the Jedi and one of the most ambitious, satisfying works of drama in the 21st century. Although it is technically a prequel to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Andor gets into the heart of how the Rebel Alliance emerged from a group of warring resistance groups, becoming a powerful force that resisted the Galactic Empire when it was willing to commit genocide upon innocent planets.
Andor offered an opportunity for Diego Luna to flesh out his role after not being given much to do in the previous film, but it also featured many new characters that instantly became some of the best in the entire Star Wars universe. Stellan Skarsgård was a standout as Luthen Rael, a spymaster who secretly connects defiant members of the Imperial Senate with rebel fighters.
1
‘Mindhunter’ (2017–2019)
Mindhunter is one of the most thoughtful and insightful explorations of criminal behavior ever created, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise when considering that showrunner David Fincher has directed some of the best serial killer films of all-time. Loosely based on the autobiography of the former FBI profiler John Douglas, Mindhunter stars Jonathan Groff as Holden Ford, a brilliant field agent who develops a research initiative into unpacking the psychology of killers and criminals.
Mindhunter weaves in different true stories and depicts several real killers, but also focuses on the mental effects that these disturbing investigations have on both Ford and his partner Bill Tench (Holy McCallany). Mindhunter may have ultimately been too niche and expensive for Netflix to renew for a third season on the budget that Fincher had been asking for, but that doesn’t make it any less of a masterpiece.
Mindhunter
- Release Date
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2017 – 2019
- Network
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Netflix
- Showrunner
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Joe Penhall
- Directors
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David Fincher, Carl Franklin, Andrew Dominik, Andrew Douglas, Asif Kapadia, Tobias Lindholm
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