Best Writing: Tv

The story of an inner-city Los Angeles police precinct where some of the cops aren't above breaking the rules or working against their associates to both keep the streets safe and their self-interests intact.

When Madeline and Celeste take new-in-town single mom Jane under their wing, none of them realize how the arrival of Jane and her inscrutable little boy will affect them all. Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, schoolyard scandal, and the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive.

The series centers on 17-year-old Joshua "J" Cody, who moves in with his freewheeling relatives in their Southern California beach town after his mother dies of a heroin overdose. Headed by boot-tough matriarch Janine "Smurf" Cody and her right-hand Baz, who runs the business and calls the shots, the clan also consists of Pope, the oldest and most dangerous of the Cody boys; Craig, the tough and fearless middle son; and Deran, the troubled, suspicious "baby" of the family.

A pair of deep-cover Soviet spies masquerades as a typical DC couple whose children, neighbors, coworkers, and friends are completely unaware of their activities. At home, they're the stereotypical parents of stereotypical kids; at work, they pose as travel agents; but at night, they weave a web of confidantes, lovers, dupes, and historical figures from the Reagan-era Cold War. The startlingly realistic plot twists force the viewer to consider the real cost of an undeclared war, what it takes to protect one's beliefs, if it's worth it, and if it actually worked for either side.

Set in the Prohibition era of the 1920s Boardwalk Empire is the story of Enoch "Nucky" Thompson, the treasurer of Atlantic County, Atlantic City, New Jersey. Due to his relationships with mobsters as well as political contacts, the Federal Government start to take an interest in him. His lavish lifestyle seems at odds with his position, and as well as his connections, there is prolific bootlegging in the area.

Memphis, Tennessee, 1972. Mac Conway and his friend Arthur have just returned home after serving in Vietnam. They reconnect with their families and try to find jobs. However, work is hard to come by for Vietnam vets. Conway gets contacted by a man known simply as The Broker. He recruits hitmen for assignments and believes that Conway would be ideal for this sort of work. Conway is reluctant, but is drawn in once he discovers that Arthur has already accepted a similar offer from The Broker. The Broker gives Conway a code name - Quarry.

Disillusioned at the thought of taking down another "mark," depressed, low-level hit man Barry Berkman seeks a way out. When the Midwesterner reluctantly travels to Los Angeles to execute a hit on an actor who is bedding a mobster's wife, little does Barry know that the City of Angels may be his sanctuary. He follows his target into acting class and ends up instantly drawn to the community of eager hopefuls, especially dedicated student Sally, who becomes the object of his affection. While Barry wants to start a new life as an actor, his handler, Fuches, has other ideas, and the hit man's criminal past won't let him walk away so easily.

An innovative look at the life of fictional Mafia Capo Tony Soprano, this serial is presented largely first person, but additional perspective is conveyed by the intimate conversations Tony has with his psychotherapist. We see Tony at work, at home, and in therapy. Moments of black comedy intersperse this aggressive, adult drama, with adult language, and extreme violence.

The Byrdes and their teenage kids, Charlotte and Jonah, are, for all intents and purposes, an ordinary family with ordinary lives. Except for the job of Marty, a Chicago financial advisor who also serves as the top money launderer for the second largest drug cartel in Mexico. When things go awry, Marty must uproot his family from the skyscrapers of Chicago and relocate to the lazy lake region of the Missouri Ozarks.

The streets of Baltimore as a microcosm of the US's war on drugs, and of US urban decay in general. Seen not only through the eyes of a few policemen and drug gang members but also the people who influence and inhabit their world - politicians, the media, drug addicts and everyday citizens.

The body of a young girl (Laura Palmer) is washed up on a beach near the small Washington state town of Twin Peaks. FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper is called in to investigate her strange demise only to uncover a web of mystery that ultimately leads him deep into the heart of the surrounding woodland and his very own soul.

The professional and personal lives of those who work in advertising on Madison Avenue - self-coined "mad men" - in the 1960s are presented. The stories focus on those at one of the avenue's smaller firms, Sterling Cooper, and its various incarnations over the decade. At the heart of these stories is Donald Draper, the creative genius of the company. That professional creative brilliance belies the fact of a troubled childhood, one that he would rather forget and not let anyone know about except for a select few, but one that shaped who he is as an adult and as an ad man in the need not only to sell products but sell himself to the outside world. His outward confidence also masks many insecurities as evidenced through his many vices, such as excessive smoking, drinking and womanizing - the latter despite being a family man - and how he deals with the aftermath of some of the negative aspects of his life.

He's smart, he's good looking, and he's got a great sense of humor. He's Dexter Morgan, everyone's favorite serial killer. As a Miami forensics expert, he spends his days solving crimes, and nights committing them. But Dexter lives by a strict code of honor that is both his saving grace and lifelong burden. Torn between his deadly compulsion and his desire for true happiness, Dexter is a man in profound conflict with the world and himself. Golden Globe winner Michael C. Hall stars in the hit SHOWTIME Original Series.

Sons of Anarchy, aka SAMCRO, is a motorcycle club that operates both illegal and legal businesses in the small town of Charming. They combine gun-running and a garage, plus involvement in porn film. Clay, the president, likes it old school and violent; while Jax, his stepson and the club's VP, has thoughts about changing the way things are, based on his dead father's journal. Their conflict has effects on both the club and their personal relationships.

A drama series that examines infamous historical American crimes. In Season 1, "The People vs OJ Simpson", we follow the OJ Simpson murder trial of 1994-95. Season 2, "The Assassination of Gianni Versace", covers the murder of fashion designer Gianni Versace in 1997.

Bryan Cranston stars as a New Orleans judge who is forced to confront his own deepest convictions when his son is involved in a hit and run that embroils an organized crime family. As a storm of vengeance, lies and deceit threatens to engulf the entire city, Michael Desiato faces a series of increasingly impossible choices and discovers just how far an honest man will go to save his son's life.

In Seattle, Det. Sarah Linden is on what is supposed to be her last day on the job. She and her son Jack are supposed to leave that evening to join her fiancé in Sonoma. Her replacement, Det. Stephen Holder, is ready to take over but they answer a call from a patrol car who have found a bloodied sweater in a field. When the missing girl, Rosie Larsen, is found in the trunk of a car at the bottom of a lake it turns out the car is registered to the campaign committee for councilman Darren Richmond, who is running for mayor. Linden delays her departure for what she hopes will be only a few days.

OZ chronicles McManus' (Terry Kinney) efforts to control the inmates of Em(erald) City as well as the drug trade and the violence. There have been many groups of inmates during the run of the show and not everybody makes it out alive. There are the gangstas (Adebisi, Wangler, Redding, Poet, Keene, Supreme Allah), Muslims (Said, Arif, Hamid Khan), Italians (Pancamo, Nappa, Schiebetta), bikers (Hoyt), Aryans (Schillinger, Robson, Mark Mack), Christians (Cloutier, Cudney), Latinos (Alvarez, Morales, Guerra, Hernandez), gays (Hanlon, Cramer), and a pile of others (the O'Riley brothers, Keller, Stanislovsky, etc.). And a great "everyman" character called Beecher offers a good look at a normal man who made one tragic mistake. Besides the regular inmates, there are guest stars such as Method Man, Luke Perry, Master P, Treach, etc. and a bunch of prison staff doctors (Dr. Nathan), a nun/psychologist (Sister Peter Marie), a bunch of guards--some honest, some crooked--and, of course, the warden, Leo Glynn. The whole thing is narrated and held together by inmate Augustus Hill, who provides the show with context and some sense of theme, and ties everything together nicely.