Many TV show masterpieces have become classics, introducing new language and fashion trends into popular culture, and even making their actors famous. The best TV shows of all time are often award-winners and cultural icons, but others have had an even greater impact on the world. Some groundbreaking TV shows have changed the way we watch TV.

As is proven by many of the classic TV shows that are hard to watch today, the TV landscape is constantly shifting. Pioneering earlier TV shows often changed the themes that were common on TV by introducing new ideas and formats. However, with the rise and popularity of streaming services, several masterpiece TV shows have reshaped the industry in other ways.

Twin Peaks

Introduced Surrealism To Mainstream TV

Without Twin Peaks, shows like Hannibal, American Horror Story, and even Desperate Housewives would not exist. The bizarre genre-mixing detective show focused on the dark events happening in a small town in which a murder had taken place. Virtually every scene was shot as cinematic art, the characters behaved bizarrely, and rather than aiming for realism, the show was conceptual and mind-bending.

Beverley Hills, 90210

Treated Teen Issues Seriously

Teen drama shows existed before Beverley Hills, 90210, but it was the show that popularized the genre. It not only targeted a teen audience but spoke at their level. Beverley Hills, 90210 addressed real issues like teen pregnancy, drug use, and peer pressure, taking them seriously without patronizing, which opened the doors for shows like Skins and Euphoria.

The Wire

Put Crime Into Context

Before The Wire, many police procedurals and crime dramas treated the criminals as one-dimensional characters. While some briefly addressed a few tragic backgrounds, The Wire took an entirely new direction. The show created iconic antiheroes like Omar, while acting as a commentary on the social aspect of crime, resulting in The Wire having several masterpiece episodes, and sparking a more nuanced approach to the genre.

The Twilight Zone

Used Sci-Fi And Horror As A Social Commentary

While the sci-fi genre is regularly used as social commentary, The Twilight Zone used the approach to become a cultural phenomenon, and the phrase “twilight zone” is still used to describe the uncanny today. The show was a groundbreaking horror that broke the mold, using its short episodes to address topics like racism and class in a format that Black Mirror would continue years later.

Sesame Street

Revolutionized Children’s TV Through Learning

Through lovable characters like Bert and Ernie, and the Count, who taught children math, Sesame Street started with the understanding that children enjoy learning. This format revolutionized children’s TV and turned Sesame Street into one of the most important TV shows of all time. Sesame Street even tackled heavy topics that other kids’ shows wouldn’t touch.

Sesame Street took potentially complex themes like death, empathy, diversity, and poverty, and presented them in a format that children could understand. This was often helped by celebrity guests, including James Gandolfini, Katy Perry, and First Lady Michelle Obama. The show continues its mission to this day, even introducing four-year-old Julia, the first autistic character on Sesame Street.

Breaking Bad

Popularized The Antihero

Walter White is arguably one of the best TV antiheroes of all time. While antiheroes appear in virtually every genre, Breaking Bad popularized the character type in a way that had not been seen before. Very few characters in Breaking Bad were easy to categorize as good and bad, yet every one was compelling, with a tightly written story arc that rarely included redemption.

The X-Files

Changed Women’s Career Paths Through The Scully Effect

The importance of seeing ourselves represented onscreen is quite well acknowledged, and no show proved this as clearly as The X-Files. The sci-fi police procedural featured the medical doctor Dana Scully, a competent and intelligent investigator working in a male-dominated field, and succeeding. So many women were inspired to pursue STEM careers after The X-Files that it was termed “The Scully Effect.”

Squid Game

Proved That Non-English Language Shows Could Succeed

The vast majority of shows on Netflix have been in English, and remarkably few international series have achieved mainstream success on the platform — until Squid Game. The South Korean dystopian horror is not just one of the best non-English Netflix shows, but one of the best on the platform, sparking a cultural craze for merchandise and even copycat games without the death toll.

I Love Lucy

Multi-Camera Filming Style

Lucille Ball revolutionized aspects of TV on her own, but I Love Lucy changed the TV landscape with its new filming technique. Filming a sitcom in front of a live audience and using three cameras to capture different angles simultaneously is a common practice now, but this approach made I Love Lucy the most influential sitcom of its decade, and arguably of all time.

M*A*S*H*

Popularized The Dramedy

The military sitcom M*A*S*H* blended dark humor with drama, and was as likely to make its audience cry as laugh. Dark comedy is a popular format now, but M*A*S*H* was a trailblazer. It was funny, but did not skim over the horrors of war, all leading to M*A*S*H*‘s controversial death, which people still talk about.