Watch33

Television by the year

Watch33 is an English guide to 156 television series in English sorted by the year of their first episode, the way the Year box of the old Watch33 sorted them: 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and the 2000s. For each year there are two shelves, one of dramas and one of comedies, each with the thirteen most voted series of that year on TMDB, so that the guide reads like a calendar of the great years of television, from the comedies of the 2000s that still fill the evenings of reruns to the series of 2013 and 2014 that opened the age of streaming. The twelve shelves are grouped in three families: 2013 and 2014, 2011 and 2012, and 2010 and the 2000s. Every series has an English synopsis, the creators, the cast, the network, the list of its episodes and a Watch now button that opens it on JustWatch, which shows where it can be watched in your country.

The 156 series of the guide carry about 430,000 votes on TMDB, with an average rating of 7.71, and 66 of them are rated 8 or more. The most voted is Game of Thrones, of 2011, the war of the great houses of Westeros, with about 28,000 votes, the most voted series of the guide; the best rated is Breaking Bad, of 2008, with a 9.0. Together the series hold 953 seasons and about 15,600 episodes, a whole life of evenings. The guide Start with Watch33 gives a first route through the years.

Sorting series by the year they began shows how quickly television changed. The dramas of the 2000s came mostly from the broadcast networks and from HBO and Showtime; by 2010 the cable channels AMC, FX and Starz had their own epics, and by 2013 Netflix had begun to make its own series, from House of Cards to Orange Is the New Black. The guide A decade of television follows the change year by year.

The name and the look

The name Watch33 has had several lives. The Wayback Machine holds watch33.com in 2008 as a Korean shop of luxury watches and in 2010 and 2011 as an American shop of designer watches; then, in January 2015, watch33.tv appears as the TV Series site of a small network of streaming pages, with the name in black and red beside an orange header. That capture of 3 January 2015 and its stylesheet were read and measured, and only the look was measured; every picture and file of this site is new.

From the capture comes the fixed orange header, #FF7112, with the name in black; the bar of tabs, with an orange gradient from #F5904E to #F56C2F on the current one; the white sections of the main column, with a thin blue-grey border and a bold title over a fine rule, each with a more link in orange on the right; the posters in white frames with a grey border, and above all the sidebar on the right, a narrow column of boxes with an orange header, Genre and Year, over lists of links that turn grey under the mouse. Here the Year box stays in the sidebar, beside the rows, and lists the twelve shelves as the old box listed its years. The guide The look of Watch33 explains each colour.

How the years work

The series of the guide were chosen from TMDB by the year of their first episode, among the series in English, the most voted first. Each series sits on the shelf of the year it began and of its first genre: the dramas, with crime, mystery, science fiction, fantasy, action and westerns, and the comedies, with the animated comedies. Talk shows, news, reality, soap operas, documentaries and the cartoons of action for children were left aside, and a series sits on a single shelf, even when it ran for many years after its first season.

The years 2010 to 2014 each have their own two shelves; the whole decade from 2000 to 2009 shares the last two, as the old Year box grouped it under the 2000s, so that those shelves gather the most voted series of ten years and are among the best rated of the guide. The three families each hold 52 series. The guide How the years work sums up the rules.

A decade of television

The series of the 2000s on the last two shelves of the guide are the classics of a decade that critics later called a golden age. HBO had shown with The Sopranos and The Wire that a series could be as rich as a novel, and the networks answered with their own great dramas, from Lost and House to Grey's Anatomy, and with comedies made in the style of documentaries, from The Office to Modern Family. In 2008 AMC, a channel of old films, launched Breaking Bad, and the cable channels began to compete with HBO.

In 2010 and 2011 the epic came to television: The Walking Dead on AMC, Spartacus on Starz, Boardwalk Empire on HBO and, in April 2011, Game of Thrones. The British series crossed the ocean with Sherlock, Downton Abbey and Black Mirror. In 2012 the superheroes arrived with Arrow, and in February 2013 Netflix showed all thirteen episodes of House of Cards on the same day, followed by Orange Is the New Black in July, so that the way of watching changed: a season could be seen in a weekend. By 2014 the anthology, with True Detective and Fargo, and the animated comedy for adults, with BoJack Horseman, showed how far the form had come. The collection Still returning gathers the thirteen series of the guide that are still returning today.

2013 and 2014

The first family, 2013 and 2014, holds the dramas and the comedies that began in those two years, the first years of the series of Netflix and Amazon. Its 52 series carry about 131,500 votes, with an average rating of 7.81, and its most voted are The Flash, Rick and Morty, Peaky Blinders and The 100. The guide 2013 and 2014 sums up the family.

Dramas of 2014

The shelf Dramas of 2014 holds the thirteen most voted dramas that began in 2014, and three of them come from the comics of DC. Its most voted is The Flash, by Greg Berlanti, Geoff Johns and Andrew Kreisberg, for The CW, with Grant Gustin as the scientist who becomes the fastest man alive, nine seasons and 184 episodes, with about 11,800 votes, followed by The 100, of the same network, a hundred young prisoners sent from a space station to a ruined Earth, rated 7.9, and Gotham, for FOX, the youth of Bruce Wayne and the police of Gotham.

The best rated drama of 2014 is Chicago P.D., by Dick Wolf, for NBC, the intelligence unit of the police of Chicago, rated 8.4, still returning after thirteen seasons. Two anthologies follow at 8.3: True Detective, by Nic Pizzolatto, for HBO, with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as two detectives of Louisiana on the trail of a killer across seventeen years, and Fargo, by Noah Hawley, for FX, a new crime in the snow of Minnesota each season, from the film of the Coen brothers. Scorpion, for CBS, a team of geniuses who solve crises for the government, and Outlander, by Ronald D. Moore, for Starz, a nurse of 1945 who falls back in time to the Scotland of 1743, are rated 8.2.

The rest of the shelf is dark. Penny Dreadful, by John Logan, for Showtime, gathers the monsters of the novels of Victorian London; The Strain, by Guillermo del Toro and Carlton Cuse, for FX, a plague of vampires in New York; Constantine, for NBC, the exorcist of the comics, cancelled after thirteen episodes; Black Sails, for Starz, the pirates of Nassau before Treasure Island, and How to Get Away with Murder, by Peter Nowalk, for ABC, with Viola Davis as a professor of law and her students caught in a murder. The guide Dramas of 2014 follows the shelf.

Comedies of 2014

The shelf Comedies of 2014 holds the thirteen most voted comedies that began in 2014, and with an average of 7.84 and seven comedies rated 8 or more it is the best rated shelf of comedies after the 2000s. Its most voted is the animated BoJack Horseman, by Raphael Bob-Waksberg, for Netflix, a horse who was the star of a sitcom of the 1990s and lives in the past in Hollywood, with about 3,000 votes and an 8.5. The best rated is the animated miniseries Over the Garden Wall, by Patrick McHale, for Cartoon Network, two brothers lost in a strange autumn forest, ten short episodes rated 8.6. Silicon Valley, by Mike Judge, for HBO, the programmers of a start-up of California, is rated 8.1, like Mr. Pickles, a dog with a dark secret, of Adult Swim.

The family comedies of the shelf are Girl Meets World, for Disney Channel, the daughter of the heroes of Boy Meets World, rated 8.3; Clarence, for Cartoon Network, an optimistic boy and his friends; black-ish, by Kenya Barris, for ABC, and Jane the Virgin, for The CW, a young woman accidentally inseminated, the American version of a telenovela of Venezuela. The British gentle comedy Detectorists, written by and starring Mackenzie Crook as a seeker with a metal detector, is rated 8.2. Mozart in the Jungle, for Prime Video, the musicians of an orchestra of New York; You're the Worst, for FX, two selfish people in love; Broad City, by Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, for Comedy Central, and the British Lovesick, a man who must call all his former lovers, complete the shelf. The guide Comedies of 2014 follows the shelf.

Dramas of 2013

The shelf Dramas of 2013 holds the thirteen most voted dramas that began in 2013, and seven of them are rated 8 or more. Its most voted is Peaky Blinders, by Steven Knight, for the BBC, with Cillian Murphy as Thomas Shelby, the gangster of Birmingham after the First World War, with about 11,500 votes and an 8.5, followed by Vikings, by Michael Hirst, for History, the saga of Ragnar Lothbrok, rated 8.1. The best rated is The Originals, for The CW, the family of the first vampires of The Vampire Diaries in New Orleans, rated 8.6.

Netflix began to make its own series that year. House of Cards, by Beau Willimon, with Kevin Spacey as a congressman who climbs to the White House, was the first, in February, rated 8.0, and Orange Is the New Black, by Jenji Kohan, the women of a prison of New York, followed in July. Bryan Fuller made Hannibal for NBC, with Mads Mikkelsen as the psychiatrist and cannibal, rated 8.3; Bates Motel, for A&E, told the youth of Norman Bates; Banshee, for Cinemax, a thief who becomes the sheriff of a small town, and Orphan Black, with Tatiana Maslany as a woman who discovers that she is a clone.

The networks gave the shelf its science fiction and its spies. Under the Dome, for CBS, from the novel of Stephen King, a town of Maine sealed under an invisible dome, the third most voted drama of the year; Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, for ABC; The Blacklist, for NBC, with James Spader as a criminal who gives himself up to the FBI, ten seasons and 218 episodes, and Sleepy Hollow, for FOX, Ichabod Crane awakened in the present day. The guide Dramas of 2013 follows the shelf.

Comedies of 2013

The shelf Comedies of 2013 holds the thirteen most voted comedies that began in 2013, and six of them are British. Its most voted and best rated is the animated Rick and Morty, by Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland, for Adult Swim, a scientist who drags his grandson through the universe and its many versions of their family, with about 11,500 votes and an 8.7, still returning after nine seasons. Brooklyn Nine-Nine, by Daniel J. Goor and Michael Schur, the detectives of a precinct of New York, moved from FOX to NBC during its life, rated 8.2, and Steven Universe, by Rebecca Sugar, for Cartoon Network, a boy and the gems who protect the Earth, is rated 8.4.

The American comedies of the networks are Mom, by Chuck Lorre and his partners, for CBS, a mother and daughter who recover from addiction together, eight seasons; The Crazy Ones, with Robin Williams as an advertising man, and Liv and Maddie, for Disney Channel, with Dove Cameron as twins, rated 8.0. HBO gave the shelf Hello Ladies, with Stephen Merchant as a web designer of Los Angeles who looks for love. The British comedies are Derek, written by and starring Ricky Gervais as a kind worker of a home for the elderly; My Mad Fat Diary, for E4, a girl of Lincolnshire in the 1990s, rated 7.9; Vicious, for ITV, with Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi as an old couple of London; The Wrong Mans, by James Corden and Mathew Baynton, two office workers caught in a conspiracy; Toast of London, with Matt Berry as a vain actor, and Plebs, the young men of ancient Rome. The guide Comedies of 2013 follows the shelf.

2011 and 2012

The second family, 2011 and 2012, holds the dramas and the comedies that began in those two years, the years of the great fantasy and of the superheroes of television. Its 52 series carry about 101,500 votes, with an average rating of 7.40, the lowest of the three families because of the comedies of 2012, and its most voted are Game of Thrones, Black Mirror, Arrow and American Horror Story. The guide 2011 and 2012 sums up the family.

Dramas of 2012

The shelf Dramas of 2012 holds the thirteen most voted dramas that began in 2012. Its most voted is Arrow, by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim and Andrew Kreisberg, for The CW, with Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, the rich young man who returns from five years on an island as a hooded archer, eight seasons and 170 episodes, with about 6,500 votes, the series that began the Arrowverse of The CW. The best rated is Chicago Fire, by Derek Haas and Michael Brandt, for NBC, the firefighters of the Firehouse 51, rated 8.4, still returning after fourteen seasons, the first of the series of Chicago of Dick Wolf, ahead of the British Line of Duty, by Jed Mercurio, rated 8.2, and The Newsroom, by Aaron Sorkin, for HBO, the team of a news programme of cable, rated 8.1.

Sherlock Holmes came to New York in Elementary, for CBS, with Jonny Lee Miller as Holmes and Lucy Liu as Joan Watson, seven seasons; Shonda Rhimes made Scandal, for ABC, with Kerry Washington as a fixer of crises in Washington, and Lena Dunham made Girls, for HBO, four young women of Brooklyn. The science fiction of the shelf includes Continuum, a policewoman of 2077 sent back to Vancouver in 2012; Revolution, by Eric Kripke, a world after electricity stops; Touch, with Kiefer Sutherland and a boy who sees patterns, and Beauty and the Beast, for The CW, a detective of New York and a man with a beast inside. Longmire, a sheriff of Wyoming, and Hatfields & McCoys, with Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton, bring the West. The guide Dramas of 2012 follows the shelf.

Comedies of 2012

The shelf Comedies of 2012 holds the thirteen most voted comedies that began in 2012, and its best and most voted is the animated Gravity Falls, by Alex Hirsch, for Disney Channel, the twins Dipper and Mabel who spend a summer of mysteries with their great-uncle in a town of Oregon, with about 3,600 votes and an 8.6, the only comedy of the shelf rated 8 or more. Veep, by Armando Iannucci, for HBO, with Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a vice president of the United States, won the Emmy Award for best comedy three times and is rated 7.5, and Key & Peele, by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, the sketches of Comedy Central, is rated 7.7.

The other comedies of the shelf are uneven, and the shelf has the lowest average of the guide, 6.99. Anger Management, for FX, with Charlie Sheen as a therapist, made a hundred episodes in two seasons; Brickleberry, an animated comedy of the rangers of a national park; House of Lies, for Showtime, with Don Cheadle as a ruthless consultant; The Mindy Project, written by and starring Mindy Kaling as a doctor of New York; Go On, with Matthew Perry in a support group, and The Neighbors, a family whose neighbours are aliens. Britain gives the shelf four: A Young Doctor's Notebook, from the stories of Mikhail Bulgakov, with Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe as the same doctor at two ages; Bad Education, with Jack Whitehall as the worst teacher of England; Cuckoo, with Andy Samberg as a hippie son-in-law, and A Touch of Cloth, by Charlie Brooker, a parody of the police dramas. The guide Comedies of 2012 follows the shelf.

Dramas of 2011

The shelf Dramas of 2011 holds the thirteen most voted dramas that began in 2011, and it is the most voted shelf of the guide after the dramas of the 2000s, with about 69,600 votes. Its most voted is Game of Thrones, by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, for HBO, from the novels of George R. R. Martin, eight seasons and 73 episodes, with about 28,000 votes, the most voted series of the guide, rated 8.5. The British Black Mirror, by Charlie Brooker, for Channel 4 and then Netflix, the dark side of technology in a new story each episode, follows with about 6,600 votes, rated 8.3 and still returning, and American Horror Story, by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, for FX, a new story of horror each season, with about 6,300, still returning after thirteen seasons.

The best rated drama of 2011 is Teen Wolf, for MTV, a teenager of California bitten by a werewolf, rated 8.4. Grimm, for NBC, a detective of Portland who sees the creatures of the fairy tales, and Black Mirror share an 8.3; Suits, for USA Network, the brilliant dropout who works at a great law firm of Manhattan under a false degree, and Shameless, for Showtime, the family of William H. Macy in Chicago, an 8.2. Person of Interest, by Jonathan Nolan, for CBS, a machine that sees the crimes before they happen, is rated 8.1. Homeland, for Showtime, with Claire Danes as an officer of the CIA; Once Upon a Time, for ABC, the heroes of the fairy tales trapped in a town of Maine; The Killing, for AMC, the American version of the Danish series, a murder in Seattle; Falling Skies, for TNT, produced by Steven Spielberg, the survivors of an alien invasion, and Terra Nova, for FOX, a colony sent back to the age of the dinosaurs, complete the shelf. The guide Dramas of 2011 follows the shelf.

Comedies of 2011

The shelf Comedies of 2011 holds the thirteen most voted comedies that began in 2011, and it holds more episodes than any other comedy shelf of the years 2010 to 2014, about 1,600. Its best rated and most voted is the animated The Amazing World of Gumball, by Ben Bocquelet, for Cartoon Network, a blue cat and his family in the town of Elmore, 240 episodes rated 8.5. The sitcoms of the networks follow: 2 Broke Girls, by Whitney Cummings and Michael Patrick King, for CBS, two waitresses of Brooklyn; New Girl, by Elizabeth Meriwether, for FOX, with Zooey Deschanel and her three roommates, rated 7.4, and Last Man Standing, with Tim Allen, nine seasons on ABC and then FOX.

Bob's Burgers, by Loren Bouchard, for FOX, the Belcher family and their restaurant, rated 7.8, is the longest of the shelf, still returning after sixteen seasons and more than 300 episodes. The comedies of cable are Wilfred, for FX, with Elijah Wood as a man who sees his neighbour's dog as a man in a dog suit; Workaholics, three friends at a telemarketing company; Awkward., for MTV, a girl of high school whose accident is taken for something else; Portlandia, by Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, the city of Portland in sketches, and Episodes, by David Crane, the co-creator of Friends, and Jeffrey Klarik, with Matt LeBlanc as himself. ABC added Suburgatory and Happy Endings, and the BBC Death in Paradise, a detective of London sent to a Caribbean island, still returning after fifteen series. The guide Comedies of 2011 follows the shelf.

2010 and the 2000s

The third family, 2010 and the 2000s, holds the dramas and the comedies that began in 2010 and those of the whole decade before it. It is the most voted family of the guide, with about 196,900 votes, and the best rated, with an average of 7.92, thanks to the classics of the 2000s, and its most voted are Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, The Big Bang Theory and Grey's Anatomy. The guide 2010 and the 2000s sums up the family.

Dramas of 2010

The shelf Dramas of 2010 holds the thirteen most voted dramas that began in 2010. Its most voted is The Walking Dead, by Frank Darabont, for AMC, from the comics of Robert Kirkman, the survivors of a world of zombies led by the sheriff Rick Grimes, eleven seasons and 177 episodes, with about 18,300 votes, rated 8.1. The best rated is Sherlock, by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, for BBC One, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as Holmes and Watson in the London of today, only twelve episodes of ninety minutes over four series, rated 8.5.

The epics of cable follow. Spartacus, for Starz, the gladiator against Rome, rated 8.0; Boardwalk Empire, by Terence Winter, for HBO, with Steve Buscemi as the treasurer of Atlantic City in the years of Prohibition, also at 8.0; The Pacific, the marines of HBO in the Second World War, and Justified, by Graham Yost, for FX, with Timothy Olyphant as a marshal back in the hills of Kentucky, at 8.0. Britain adds Downton Abbey, by Julian Fellowes, for ITV, rated 8.1, and Luther, by Neil Cross, with Idris Elba as a detective of London, at 7.9.

The networks complete the shelf. Hawaii Five-0, for CBS, the new version of the series of 1968, ten seasons and 240 episodes; Blue Bloods, for CBS, with Tom Selleck as the police commissioner of New York and his family of police officers, fourteen seasons; Pretty Little Liars, for ABC Family, the four friends tormented by the mysterious A, rated 8.0; Nikita, for The CW, an assassin who turns against the agency that trained her, and Haven, for Syfy, a town of Maine full of troubles, from a story of Stephen King. The guide Dramas of 2010 follows the shelf.

Comedies of 2010

The shelf Comedies of 2010 holds the thirteen most voted comedies that began in 2010, and Cartoon Network gives it its two best. The best rated is Regular Show, by J.G. Quintel, a blue jay and a raccoon who work at a park and turn every chore into an adventure, eight seasons rated 8.6, and the most voted is Adventure Time, by Pendleton Ward, Finn the boy and Jake the dog in the land of Ooo, ten seasons and 279 episodes, with about 3,200 votes and an 8.5. Ugly Americans, for Comedy Central, a social worker of a New York full of monsters, is rated 8.2.

Louie, written, directed and edited by Louis C.K. for FX, the life of a comedian of New York, is rated 7.8; Blue Mountain State, for Spike, the football players of a college; Raising Hope, by Greg Garcia, for FOX, a young man who raises the baby of a murderer; Mike & Molly, for CBS, two people who meet at a support group; Hot in Cleveland, for TV Land, three women of Los Angeles with Betty White, and The Big C, for Showtime, with Laura Linney as a teacher with cancer. The British comedies are Going Postal, from the novel of Terry Pratchett, two episodes for Sky; Come Fly with Me, by David Walliams and Matt Lucas, the staff of an airport, and The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, with David Cross as an American in London. NBC added Outsourced, a call centre in India. The guide Comedies of 2010 follows the shelf.

Dramas of the 2000s

The shelf Dramas of the 2000s holds the thirteen most voted dramas that began from 2000 to 2009, and it is the best rated and most voted shelf of the guide: all thirteen are rated 8 or more, with an average of 8.33, and together they carry about 95,800 votes. Its best rated and most voted is Breaking Bad, of 2008, with Bryan Cranston as Walter White, rated 9.0 with about 18,900 votes, followed by Grey's Anatomy, of 2005, still returning after more than twenty seasons, and The Vampire Diaries, of 2009.

House, of 2004, with Hugh Laurie, and Band of Brothers, of 2001, the paratroopers of the Second World War, share the second best rating of the shelf, 8.6. The long runners of the shelf are Grey's Anatomy, with 460 episodes the longest drama of the guide, Criminal Minds, of 2005, nineteen seasons and 364 episodes, still returning, and Supernatural, of 2005, fifteen seasons and 327 episodes, while Bones, of 2005, ran for twelve seasons. Lost, of 2004, Prison Break, of 2005, Dexter, of 2006, The Mentalist, of 2008, and Smallville, of October 2001, complete the thirteen, with Band of Brothers, of September 2001, the oldest drama of the shelf. The guide Dramas of the 2000s follows the shelf.

Comedies of the 2000s

The shelf Comedies of the 2000s holds the thirteen most voted comedies that began from 2000 to 2009, and it is the best rated shelf of comedies, with an average of 7.98. Its most voted is The Big Bang Theory, of 2007, by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, twelve seasons and 279 episodes, with about 12,900 votes, ahead of How I Met Your Mother, of 2005, and The Office, of 2005, by Greg Daniels, which is also the best rated, at 8.6, followed by Malcolm in the Middle, of 2000, the oldest of the shelf, at 8.5.

The rest of the shelf is the comedy of a decade. Chuck Lorre made Two and a Half Men, of 2003, too; Modern Family, of 2009, by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd, won the Emmy Award for best comedy five times in a row; Arrested Development, of 2003, by Mitchell Hurwitz, was brought back by Netflix in 2013; Community, of 2009, by Dan Harmon, who later made Rick and Morty, and Parks and Recreation, of 2009, by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, close the decade on NBC. FX gives the shelf two comedies still remembered for their nerve, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, of 2005, still returning after eighteen seasons, and the animated Archer, of 2009, a spy of a ridiculous agency; FOX gives American Dad!, of 2005, by Seth MacFarlane, and Channel 4 The IT Crowd, of 2006, rated 8.2. The guide Comedies of the 2000s follows the shelf.

The British years

Twenty-seven series of the guide were made first in Britain, and they show how the British series changed in those years. The great dramas crossed the Atlantic one after another: Sherlock and Luther in 2010, both for BBC One; Downton Abbey the same year, for ITV, the costume drama sold all over the world; Black Mirror in 2011, for Channel 4, before Netflix took it over; Line of Duty in 2012 and Peaky Blinders in 2013, both for the BBC. TMDB also counts as British two great series made for American channels: Game of Thrones, filmed in Northern Ireland, and Outlander, filmed in Scotland.

The British comedies of the guide are smaller and sharper. The IT Crowd, of 2006, the oldest of them, gave Channel 4 its technicians of the basement; the years 2012 and 2013 added the worst teacher of Bad Education, the hippie of Cuckoo, the soldiers and slaves of Plebs, the vain actor of Toast of London and the girl of My Mad Fat Diary, and 2014 the gentle seekers of Detectorists, perhaps the kindest comedy of the guide. Two series made in Britain with American stars complete the picture: Episodes, with Matt LeBlanc as himself, made for the BBC and Showtime, and The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, with David Cross. Even a cartoon of Cartoon Network, The Amazing World of Gumball, was first made in London.

Animation grows up

Fifteen series of the guide are animated, and they are among its best: seven of them are rated 8.5 or more. The years 2010 to 2014 were a golden age for the cartoons of Cartoon Network, which gave the guide Adventure Time and Regular Show in 2010, The Amazing World of Gumball in 2011, Steven Universe in 2013 and Clarence and Over the Garden Wall in 2014, and Disney added Gravity Falls in 2012. These series spoke to children and to adults at once, with long stories, strange worlds and jokes for both.

The animation for adults grew at the same time. Rick and Morty, of 2013, for Adult Swim, became the best rated comedy of the guide, at 8.7; BoJack Horseman, of 2014, the first animated series of Netflix for adults, told depression and fame in a world of talking animals; Bob's Burgers, of 2011, joined the Sunday night of FOX beside American Dad!, of 2005, and Archer, of 2009, made the spy story a comedy of the workplace for FX. Ugly Americans, Brickleberry and Mr. Pickles complete the list, from Comedy Central and Adult Swim. The guide Animation grows up follows them.

Year by year

Read shelf by shelf, the guide shows which years were strongest. The dramas of the 2000s are the best rated shelf, with an average of 8.33, because ten years compete for its thirteen places; among the single years, the dramas of 2014 come first, at 7.93, ahead of the dramas of 2011, at 7.90, and those of 2013 and 2010, both at 7.89. The year 2012 is the weakest of the guide, with dramas at 7.37 and comedies at 6.99, the only shelf below 7, even though it gave the guide Gravity Falls, Line of Duty and Chicago Fire.

For comedies, the 2000s lead at 7.98, before 2014 at 7.84, 2013 at 7.57, 2010 at 7.49 and 2011 at 7.35. The most voted single shelf is the dramas of 2011, carried by Game of Thrones, with about 69,600 votes, and the least voted is the comedies of 2012, with about 6,100. Each year also has its typical form: 2010 the epic of cable, 2011 the fantasy and the horror anthology, 2012 the superhero and the dramas of Chicago, 2013 the first series of Netflix and the great British crime, and 2014 the anthology of crime and the animated comedy for adults. The families follow the same pattern: 2010 and the 2000s is the best rated family, at 7.92, ahead of 2013 and 2014, at 7.81, and 2011 and 2012, at 7.40.

One season only

Twelve series of the guide lasted a single season, for two different reasons. Five were planned that way: the two great war series of HBO, Band of Brothers in 2001 and The Pacific in 2010, ten episodes each; the animated Over the Garden Wall, ten short episodes for Cartoon Network in November 2014; Hatfields & McCoys, three long episodes for History, and Going Postal, two episodes for Sky from the novel of Terry Pratchett. A sixth, Come Fly with Me, the airport comedy of David Walliams and Matt Lucas, ended after its six episodes of the winter of 2010 and 2011.

The other six were stopped by their networks after their first season, a fate common in those years. Terra Nova, produced by Steven Spielberg for FOX, ended after eleven episodes in 2011 despite its large budget; Constantine, the exorcist of NBC, after thirteen; and the comedies Hello Ladies on HBO, The Crazy Ones on CBS, the last series of Robin Williams, Go On with Matthew Perry on NBC and Outsourced, the call centre of NBC, after one season each. The shelves keep them because they were among the most voted of their years, and some of them, like Constantine, lived on elsewhere: its hero returned in the series of Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow.

The makers across the years

Chuck Lorre is the creator who appears most often in the guide, with three sitcoms of CBS across three shelves: Two and a Half Men of 2003 and The Big Bang Theory of 2007 among the comedies of the 2000s, and Mom among the comedies of 2013. Many creators have two series in different years. Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg made Arrow in 2012 and The Flash in 2014; Dan Harmon made Community in 2009 and Rick and Morty in 2013; Greg Daniels made The Office in 2005 and Parks and Recreation in 2009, the second with Michael Schur, who made Brooklyn Nine-Nine in 2013; Shonda Rhimes made Grey's Anatomy in 2005 and Scandal in 2012; Eric Kripke made Supernatural in 2005 and Revolution in 2012; Jeff Davis made Criminal Minds in 2005 and Teen Wolf in 2011, and Bruno Heller made The Mentalist in 2008 and Gotham in 2014. Charlie Brooker links Black Mirror to A Touch of Cloth, Carlton Cuse links Bates Motel to The Strain, and Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci link Hawaii Five-0 to Sleepy Hollow. The guide The creators follows them.

The networks

The broadcast networks still lead the guide: CBS is the first network of fifteen series, FOX of fourteen, NBC of thirteen and ABC of twelve. HBO and FX follow with ten each, HBO from Band of Brothers to True Detective and FX from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia to Fargo, then The CW with eight, Showtime with seven, and BBC One and Cartoon Network with six each. Netflix appears as the first network of BoJack Horseman, House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black, the first of its own series, all of 2013 and 2014. The guide The networks lists them all.

Watch33 in figures

The 156 series of the guide carry about 430,000 votes on TMDB, with an average rating of 7.71, and 66 of them reach 8 or more; the collection Rated 8 or more gathers them, best first, from Breaking Bad at 9.0 to Rick and Morty at 8.7. The most voted are Game of Thrones, with about 28,000 votes, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, The Big Bang Theory, The Flash and Rick and Morty. Together the series hold 953 seasons and about 15,600 episodes; the collection The long runners gathers the 36 series with 150 episodes or more, from Grey's Anatomy and American Dad!, each with more than 400, down the list, and the shortest are Going Postal, with two episodes, and Hatfields & McCoys, with three.

Of the 156 series, 121 have ended, 22 were cancelled and thirteen still return each year. The guide holds 130 series that began in the 2010s and 26 of the 2000s, all of them in English; by the first production country that TMDB records, 118 are American, 27 British and six Canadian, with a few made with Mexico, South Africa, Australia and France. The guide The figures gathers every number.

Where to begin

For a first evening, take one year and both its shelves: 2011, with Game of Thrones and Bob's Burgers, or 2014, with True Detective and BoJack Horseman. Then move across the years: Sherlock and Adventure Time from 2010, Line of Duty and Gravity Falls from 2012, Peaky Blinders and Rick and Morty from 2013, and Breaking Bad and The Office from the 2000s. The guide Start with Watch33 gives a first route.

How to use Watch33

The home page opens with an introduction in a white section under the orange header, and beside the rows, on the right, the box Year of the old sidebar, with an orange header over the twelve shelves in a column, two for each year, that turn grey under the mouse. Each row of the main column is a white section with a thin border, a bold title over a fine rule and a more link in orange on the right, which opens the full shelf. On a small screen the box Year moves above the rows. The menu in the header leads to the three families, and the search box finds any series by its title; the guide Search tips explains how.

Each poster sits in a white frame and shows the year of the first episode on a dark tag, the TMDB rating on an orange tag and, on an orange band at the bottom, the tag of its shelf, for example Drama 2014 or Comedy 2000s; under the poster come the title, the first genre and the number of episodes. The series page has the English synopsis, the creators, the cast, the network and the list of episodes. The Watch now button opens the series on JustWatch, which shows the services that offer it in your country, and the button Add to My List keeps it in My list, stored in your browser. The guide How to use Watch33 explains each part, and the guide The Watch now button explains how JustWatch works.

Questions