The Wire (HBO, 2002-08):

Over its five seasons, spread out over seven years, The Wire felt more like a novel than a TV drama, and small wonder: David Simon's complex, densely drawn portrait of inner-city drug dealers, small-time politicians and undermanned, overworked social institutions was written in part by actual novelists, such as Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos and Richard Price. The result played like a post-modern allegory as it might have been conceived by Charles Dickens, replete with complicated, quirky characters, all of them seeking redemption.

American Idol (Fox/CTV, 2002-present):

Sure, it's easy to ridicule - and who hasn't tried, at least once? - but it's impossible to underestimate the societal impact of this TV-talent contest. A simple twist - let the viewers decide - empowered the audience and gave it a sense of ownership. More telling: Look at that premiere date: June 11, 2002. With its giddy optimism and basic premise that anyone - well, just about anyone - can be a star, American Idol was an idealistic, and ideally timed, pick-me-up after the culture's collective post-9/11 funk.

The Office (NBC/Global, 2005-present):

The Office was, and is, that TV rarity: an American, and Americanized, adaptation of a U.K. original that has not only outlasted its forbearer but transcended, it as well. The Office was funny from the beginning, with its canny-yet-funny portrait of office drones stuck in dead-end jobs. Lately, though, it's become something more: a telling commentary on the financial meltdown and those most affected by the crisis. Hard-working, middle-class men and women are suddenly cut adrift by an upside-down economy, where dishonesty trumps hard work every time.

Battlestar Galactica (Sci Fi Channel/Space, 2004-09):

TV's most unlikely yet revealing post-9/11 commentary on terrorism, paranoia, religion and societal dread, Battlestar Galactica was a thinly disguised resurrection of Rod Serling's Twilight Zone, and a searing commentary on power and its abuses. Where Serling saw the McCarthy Hearings and sought a way to react without being hauled in front of a U.S. Senate committee, Battlestar Galactica's Ronald Moore saw the erosion of civil liberties in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks and responded with the smartest, most incisive sci-fi thriller of his generation.

Mad Men (AMC/CTV, 2007-present):

A vivid and exquisitely portrait of Madison Avenue ad men, and women, in the era of JFK, civil rights and changing social mores, Mad Men has every bit as much to say about the aughts as it does the early '60s.