18. 24 (2001-2010; 2014-)
We knew there’d be no happy ending for Kiefer Sutherland’s CTU agent, constant-savior-of-the-world Jack Bauer, but we did get to see him let loose as what he was trained to be and always tried to transcend: a remorseless killer. He became a true vigilante, claiming ”I am judge and jury.”(Not to mention that he went all Mike Tyson on Reed Diamond?s Jason Pillar and bit off a chunk of his ear). As Ken Tucker wrote at the time: ”Finally, in his greatest moments of grief and fury, he showed us the most vulnerable, despairing side of the man of action.” And we got our touching Chloe/Jack moment when he told her ”I never thought it would be you who would cover my back after all these years.”
But the satisfaction came from having 24 go out as a wonderfully self-contained record of a post-9/11 mood, as well as maybe something more — ”a clever experiment that turned into something more searching, as it surfed the wave of the national discourse about politics and policy, hanging ten on terrorism.”
17. SIX FEET UNDER (2001-2005)
With all its resolutions, new beginnings, and flash-forwards, the finale really seemed to neatly wrap-up the lives of the Fisher clan. It wasn’t nearly the weep-fest that the funeral for Nate (Peter Krause) was, but who could forget the haunting notes of Sia’s ”Breathe Me” playing throughout the final six minutes as Claire (Lauren Ambrose) drove away. —Abby West
