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The 10 Best TV Shows Of 2014 (So Far)

2014 has been another great year for television. How great exactly? Well, we’re only halfway through it, but winnowing 2014's selection of fantastic shows down to a list of just ten meant cutting more than a dozen other nominees. Taking the temperature of the TV landscape this early in the year would make for an unnecessary exercise had 2014 not delivered in six months enough new and returning content to keep viewers busy for a full year. Best of all, half of the slots on this list are needed just for the freshman shows, with more familiar faces rounding out what’s looking to be another record-setting year for sheer volume of quality television.

Game of Thrones

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In the wake of the Red Wedding, claims by showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff that things were only going to get darker on Game of Thrones seemed like hyperbole. But from the very first scene of Season 4, it was clear that life in Westeros could be just as bleak and dire during peacetime as it was when divided by war. With the Lannisters firmly in power and the remaining Starks in hiding, whatever semblance of a traditional Good Guys vs. Bad Guys narrative the show ever had went up in flames like a bottle of wildfire. “If you want justice, you’ve come to the wrong place,” says Tyrion at one point, but his awareness of that fact did little to protect him from the treachery and violence that unites the Seven Kingdoms.

Game of Thrones is often unforgivingly pessimistic in its views of power and people. So why is it so frequently the most entertaining show on television? Well, production values, for one. Season 4 made every cent of the show’s mammoth budget count, setting new series standards for action direction (can one really have a preference between The Hound running loose in the chicken coop, and Prince Oberyn dance-fighting The Mountain?), and slicing through expectations for TV-appropriate scale like an oversized anchor through mountaineering Wildlings. And let’s not forget the people running around the seamlessly integrated real vistas and green screen trickery; Peter Dinklage’s ferocious courtroom confession was a verbal assault sharper than any Valyrian steel, and Maisie Williams delivered one of the show’s best scenes ever using only a long, cold stare.

This was also the first real year that book readers could share in the excitement of not knowing what was to come. Some major changes to the source material let Game of Thrones claim full independence from George R. R. Martin’s books once and for all, though not always for the better (the colossal muck-up of Jaime and Cersei’s relationship being especially embarrassing). With Daenerys’ return flight to Westeros delayed further, and Jon Snow continuing to be such a drip despite the freezing temperatures, Game of Thrones still has key elements to its story that don’t always make for engaging television. But when the biggest problem facing your show is that there’s just not enough time to do every part of it justice, it speaks to just how vast and deep the riches of that show can be.

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