10 Best Single TV Seasons Ever

10. Boardwalk Empire - Season 2

From Terence Winter - who'd previously served as writer and executive producer on The Sopranos - Boardwalk Empire largely centred on Steve Buscemi's Nucky Thomspon, an aspiring Prohibition Era politician with ties to the mob. Your writer says "largely", for there were several other key players involved along the way in Nucky's five-season story.

For its first two seasons, Boardwalk Empire had Michael Pitts' Jimmy Darmody as a major character. A veteran of World War II who had a father/son relationship with Nucky, Darmody's journey became a dark one of addiction and self-destruction as the show's second year played out.

We'd seen Nucky get his own way throughout the series' debut season, but Season Two really put Buscemi's character in jeopardy in a political, business and personal sense, with Jimmy looking to undercut him and take over Atlantic City. To his credit, Darmody actually succeeds... ish. Of course, while Jimmy is playing checkers, Nucky is playing chess. In reality, that means while Jimmy gains power in Atlantic City, Nucky encourages worker strikes and heads off to Ireland to put together a deal to allow him to sell booze cheaper than anyone else.

So many key figures are introduced or fleshed out in this season, but it's the inevitable demise of Jimmy Darmody that really drives the season home as the show's very best.