Deadwood was definitely great, but don't you think it suffers from truncation? BB was allowed to run its course, but Deadwood was cancelled. Firefly suffers from this as well. Had these shows been allowed to conclude naturally, this decision would be much harder.
When all is said and done, House of Cards may be up there too. I think House of Cards could actually surpass all of these, because it has the potential to bring about real political change.
Wow, I got a chill when reading this because I thought that I wrote it.
Firefly was the first tv series that I actually watched and couldn't stop until I watched all of them, I finished watching all of the episodes over a 2 day period.
Deadwood was the second tv series I finished in about 4 days.
(Both of these were produced on a "shoe-string" budget and left me wanting more, IMO this makes them in a class above anything else I've seen). I also think that because they were both "cut short", it kinda "immortalised" them making them legendary, leaving me wanting more, that's why they are my top two. (I thought it was just the "addict" in me until the day I got my father to give Deadwood a chance.........he was glued to the TV until he finished watching all of them - that sealed the deal).
Justified would be my next favourite, and am looking forward to the next season (and I think it should be the last one), only a few months to go and I can't wait.
House of Cards was very good, I didn't expect it to be so good and it got its hooks in me and I also had to watch all of them in less than a week. New series comes out early 2014 and it's so cool that the whole series is released on the same day..................looking forward to watching all of them without a break.
You got great taste, let me know if you are interested in audiobooks, in a way they are better than watching tv, and I have dozens of suggestions that you would really enjoy.
oh, almost forgot............Sherlock and Luther are in my top 8 too.