Ranking Every HBO Drama Series From Worst To Best

Big Love had the misfortune to come out during one of HBO’s most gilded periods, and can be a little forgotten amongst the top tier drama. This frank and often funny examination of a Mormon family in Utah is quality stuff, though, particularly in its lead roles and often shocking storytelling.

It’s a rare and welcome lead role for the late Bill Paxton as patriarch Bill Henrickson. He’s the head of three households, with wives played brilliantly by Jeannie Tripplehorn, Chloe Sevigny, and Ginnifer Goodwin. There are familial dramas rife in this set up, but the show casts its net further than this.

There’s political intrigue, an incredible storyline featuring Harry Dean Stanton as the leader of a group of religious separatists, and a fair amount of violence. The show sold itself in a cheeky fashion with its polygamy angle, but while there were laughs to be had, a lot of the time Big Love was a serious and even distressing show bolstered by its A-grade cast.

Its storytelling was a little less naturalistic than the truly great HBO dramas, but the five seasons of Big Love told a hell of a story.