Adapting a book for television is always a gamble. The best adaptations honor the heart of their source material while also embracing what makes television special. The following shows did just that, each bringing a great book to life in ways that resonated with audiences and critics alike.

Some TV shows are built for easy viewing. These aren’t. They reward patience, attention, and the ability to sit with ambiguity. If you didn’t just watch these shows but actually followed what they were doing—narratively, thematically, or structurally—you were probably exercising more brainpower than the average viewer.

If the sidewalk looks like a powdered donut and your plans have officially become “stay horizontal,” congratulations—you’ve unlocked peak binge conditions. The trick is picking a show that doesn’t just fill time, but devours it. The kind where you look up and it’s suddenly dark out and you’re emotionally attached to eight strangers and a suspiciously charming villain. Here are 21 series that are basically built for snowed-in marathons.

Ending a TV show is hard. Walk away too early and fans feel robbed. Stay too long and suddenly the magic starts slipping. These shows were still good, still watchable, and still beloved. But if they’d just wrapped things up one season sooner, their legacies might be nearly flawless.

There’s a reason so many adults can still quote cartoon dialogue from memory. The 2000s weren’t just a strong decade for animated TV—they were a creative explosion where writers, artists, and networks stopped playing it safe and started trusting kids (and adults) to handle smarter jokes, bigger emotions, and stranger ideas. These shows didn’t talk down to their audiences. They grew with them, shaped their humor, and quietly became cultural cornerstones.

The 90s didn’t just do sitcoms, they practically engineered the comfort-food blueprint. The jokes were built for rewatching, the characters felt like people you’d actually miss, and the episodes didn’t demand a spreadsheet to understand what was happening. Even if you didn’t grow up in the decade, these shows still hit because they’re simple in the best way: funny setups, sharp timing, and just enough heart to make the laughs stick. Here are 20 90s sitcoms that still feel like they’re playing in a different league.