Before Mad Men, there were the sad (and funny, and introspective, and talky) men (and women) of this 1987 drama about two ad-business buddies and their extended network of friends and family. Minutely observed and headily written by creators Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz, thirtysomething discovered a new way of finding the drama in TV drama. Instead of medical cases or legal trials, it found conflict in the stuff of ordinary life: career challenges, life disappointments, parenthood and getting old. And unlike soap operas, it drew its power not from outlandish twists but from conversations and epiphanies. Yet it was also pioneering, exploring topics like homosexuality and death with unusual realism for prime time. Ahead of its time and overdue on DVD, thirtysomething wasn't too cool to express emotion or too stuffy to laugh at itself. — James Poniewozik
Price: $39.99 at Amazon