TV SHOWS

THE GOOD PLACE 2016–

It’s been a bleak decade for broadcast networks since the surge of streaming—with the exception of this outlier. What makes the show unique is a surreal premise that places four newly dead humans in an afterlife where nothing is as it seems. Created by Michael Schur and starring the charismatic duo Kristen Bell and Ted Danson, The Good Place doubles as a course in moral philosophy and raises the question of whether humans can change for the better. (NBC)

MAD MEN 2007–2015

You could argue that an era-defining hit that followed maverick 1960s ad exec Don Draper as invited us to meditate on whether it’s crazy to seek fulfillment in whatever it is you do for money.