241 Pizza

11. Supernatural

The best thing to hit ITV2 since the last power cut: if you’re not watching this show, you really should be.

10. Curb Your Enthusiasm

The on rushing juggernaut that is Larry David’s comical ineptness provides entertainment one part hilarious, one part jaw clenchingly awkward. If you found David Brent difficult to watch in The Office, you’ll probably chew your own face off watching the former Seinfeld man’s fictional portrayal of himself. Look out for guest turns by Ted Danson and Steve Coogan and a superb episode starring Mel Brooks in one of the most over dramatic Broadway productions you’re ever likely to see.

9. The Shield

If you're not shocked by the sheer immortality and corruption of modern society, tune into The Shield to get up to speed. The Wire has often overshadowed The Shield, a gritty, dark and often disturbing show based on a notorious case of LAPD corruption, but it’s great stuff that deserves to be spoken in the same terms as David Simon’s masterpiece. There are no good guys in The Shield, no code of honour to live by; only brutal, shocking acts of violence conducted in a clapped out Los Angeles unrecognisable from The City of Angels Hollywood would have us believe.

8. South Park

The badly drawn boys of Colorado provide the canvas onto which Trey Parker and Matt Stone continue to spew the fettered musings of their politically incorrect minds. No stone is left unturned in their relentless satirisation of society and the show remains laugh out loud funny with a refreshing edginess even after nearly 200 episodes.

7. Lost

I don’t really know what’s going on, and to be honest neither do you. Nevermind, because J.J. Abrams’ sci-fi, mystery, conundrum thingamajig is pure water cooler entertainment.

6. The Simpsons

After all these years, new episodes of The Simpsons are still a joy to behold. Unless you’re watching Channel 4, in which case the pop culture references are probably as out dated as Betamax.

5. The West Wing

At one particular point television stopped becoming a dirty word for American actors. Rather than seeing TV as a career graveyard, leading talents were actively seeking out roles on the small screen. That moment was the critically acclaimed first season of The West Wing. Intelligent, fast paced and challenging, the show rewards you just for keeping up.

4. 24

Innovative in every sense of the word, 24 gave us ‘real-time’ drama and re-introduced split-screen decades after the technique was considered old hat. It was also one of the first major shows to disprove the widely held theory that US TV viewers had attention spans shorter than an episode of Friends spin-off Joey.

3. The Sopranos

While Britain provided a tidal wave of Cockney gangsters, America was busy producing one of the most critically and commercially successful shows in history. One of the key drivers behind the recent surge in brilliant drama on American networks, there is more quality packed into every second of The Sopranos minute-long title sequence than an eternity of Shane Ritchie Minder re-makes could ever hope to accomplish.

2. Battlestar Galactica

There are two types of viewer when it comes to Battlestar Galactica, those who think it’s brilliant and those who haven’t seen it yet. From unlikely beginnings, the show has given us four seasons of entertainment both epic and intimate, in the process bringing sci-fi back into the mainstream again. I’ve run out of superlatives for this brilliant show, which is every bit as rich and challenging as the best US dramas, but with explosions. Lots and lots of explosions.

1. The Wire

The Baltimore based cop show has received widespread praise from critics who fawn at its very mention. Believe the hype, it’s as good as you think it’s going to be, probably better, and well worth checking out (The Wire is currently showing on BBC2 every night). Be warned, episodes are like Pringles, and perfectly reasonable people have been debilitated into muttering “just one more” as they rock back and forth in their pyjamas after an extended Baltimore-fest.

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