4) Mad Men
There’s no denying that AMC did a disservice to the final season of Mad Men by slicing it in half like any of the undead ghouls that are currently keeping the network afloat. AMC’s desire to maintain the pretence of being a gold standard for great TV drama unnecessarily compromised one of the two best shows it’s ever produced, thanks to a truncated season order that rushed character arcs and plotting. But it speaks to the unique appeal of the show that a hamstrung warm-up lap to the final seven episodes still provided some of the most rewarding moments in Mad Men’s already venerated history.
When you remember scenes like the slow-dance shared between Don, Peggy and Sinatra, or Bert Cooper’s soft shoe farewell, you can understand AMC’s position a little more easily. So long as Mad Men is still around, it means we’ve still got one of the two or three best casts of characters assembled in a 21st century drama, two of the best performances on television in Jon Hamm and Elisabeth Moss, and the always welcome, rarely practical wit and wisdom of Roger Sterling. We’ll be starving for Mad Men as soon as it leaves the airwaves for good, so if this going to be our last meal with these characters, then, to quote Roger, let’s have another cup of coffee, let’s have another piece of pie.