TV's best seasons

I've been downloading (did I say downloading ... I meant buying) a ton of TV shows for the past year now and catching up on shows I either got way behind on or never watched in the first place. This got me to thinking: there always seems to be one season that really defines a show. With a lot of good shows, the others aren't too much different, but still never find that same magical beat.

For me:

Entourage, Season 2 -- I just caught up today, and I love the show, but season 2 really felt much better than season 3, and marginally better than season 1.

The Office, Season 2 -- ok, maybe it's a pattern, season 2 is always the best, but I really like the second season more than the third, or the first. The Jim-Pam thing was awesome and everything seemed to click. The third season was solid too, but it just never clicked exactly the same way.

Scrubs -- Season 1 and/or 2 -- I'm sure some of it is just meeting all the characters for the first time and being something new and fresh, but while I still really like the show, it feels like it's been on a slow slide since about the end of season 2.

 

I think it's Season 4 when Seinfeld really got rolling...

Season 1 of NYPD Blue with David Caruso in my opinion may be the best season of Network TV ever...

I agree on Entourage. I thought Season 1 was marginal, Season 2 was great and Season 3 has been OK...

Season 1 of Weeds... I think it's the best show on television hands down...

 

network tv drama -- best season -- "west wing" -- toss up seasons 1,2, 3.

"nypd blue" season 1.

"hill street blues" season 1.

st. elsewhere season 1.

 

Agree on Entourage season 2 being the best.

I believe Sopranos season two was the best of the lot too, though the first three are all amazing.

Friday Night Lights is the only other show I watch (along with Las Vegas which is a guilty pleasure) and there's only been one season of that. But I highly recommend it.

 

Agree with Shockey. I'll put seasons 1-3 of West Wing against anything.

Comedy: Seinfeld, season 4, hands down: The Trip, The Junior Mint, Bubble Boy, The Virgin, The Contest, The Airport, The Pick, The Movie, The Smelly Car, The Pilot.

ON EDIT: I'm DVRing the daily Homicide reruns on WGN, and the early seasons of that show are even better than I remembered.

 

Season 4 of The Wire.

 

Season 1 of Battlestar Galactica... Every episode was filled with a sense of doom. Some of the best sci-Fi ever filmed. Season 2 arguably had a few stronger episodes, but as a whole it couldn't match the initial experience.

 

Year 1 of the Blue was tremendous.

 

Season Two of the Sopranos, with the constant conflict with Pussy, was intense stuff.

 

Seasons 1, 2, 3, and 4 of The Wire.

Season 2, 3 of The Sopranos.

Season 1 of NYPD Blue, with honorable mention going to the season where Jimmy Smits character dies.

Seasons 4-7 of The Simpsons (so many good episodes).

Seasons 2, 3, 4 of The West Wing.

Seasons 1, 2 of Gilmore Girls.

 

Homicide was fabulous. I didn't discover it until Court TV started showing reruns a few years back.

 

season 1: heroes.