10 Best Single TV Seasons Ever

6. Bates Motel - Season 5

Bates Motel
A&E

Bates Motel could well be the most underrated show in the history of television. Is that a bold statement? Absolutely. The point stands, though, that this five-season A&E offering delivered episodic TV of the highest quality across its run.

In Bates Motel, audiences were given one of those rare shows that managed to go out with its finest season. Given just how fantastic the prior four years had been, it's testament to the supreme level of Bates Motel's fifth season that it manages to just about edge out as the series' finest output.

Here, Freddie Higmore's Norman is in full Psycho mode, with this season picking up two years after the Season Four finale as Norma Bates is dead, Detective Romero is serving five years in prison, Norman's brother Dylan and Emma have moved to Seattle and have a young daughter, the Marion Crane character is introduced, and the visage of 'Mother' is stalking the halls of the titular Bates Motel.

This final season is the perfect conclusion to a story that is extremely familiar yet also fresh and new, and much like the entire show itself, Bates Motel's fifth year manages to be a prime example of how to take an existing property and remain faithful to it while at the same time breathing new life into it.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.