The 10 Greatest 2010s TV Shows Nobody Remembers

The 2010s often felt like TV was constantly winning: streaming at its peak, binge-watching a lifestyle, and networks seeming to know exactly what audiences wanted. When so much great work arrived, some shows slipped through the cracks—not because they were bad, but because something else grabbed the spotlight.

The Killing arrived with a simple premise about a missing teenage girl in Seattle and two detectives who investigate; AMC adapted it from the Danish Forbrydelsen and kept that Scandinavian slowness. Mireille Enos’s Sarah Linden and Joel Kinnaman’s Holder had a riveting push-pull dynamic, but the first season’s decision to stretch one murder investigation across thirteen episodes and not fully resolve it overshadowed the show’s cinematic atmosphere and patient writing.

Other worthy series mixed tone and craft in different ways. Burn Notice followed a “burned” spy stranded in Miami who relied on Fiona, Sam, and his mother while doing clever, character-driven spy work, with Bruce Campbell frequently stealing scenes.

2010s, tv shows, the killing, seattle, mireille enos, joel kinnaman, forbrydelsen, amc, burn notice, bruce campbell