The TV landscape was a drastically different space in 2005, compared to how it is in 2025, in ways that are obvious to anyone who remembers being alive back then.Streaming services as they’re now understoodwere still a little way off (though YouTube did launch in 2005),meaning that network or cable TV remained the dominant ways people actually, you know, watched TV.
There were countless great shows that were still running in 2005 (and some that ended during the year in question, likeSix Feet Under), but what the following aims to do is celebrate the TV dramas that debuted in 2005. In a sense, they’re all celebrating their 20th anniversaries at some point during 2025 and, remarkably, there are some that are still ongoing to this day.
10’Weeds' (2005-2012)
Created by Jenji Kohan
Weedsis a borderline drama; perhaps not one in the true sense, because it mixes dark comedy and crime elements with qualities you’d expect to find in a TV drama. Indeed, its premise is comparable to a show that began airing in 2008:Breaking Bad, thoughthat one was generally darkerand perhaps higher stakes, revolving around the manufacturing of methamphetamine, rather than the dealing of marijuana.
That’s the drug the central character ofWeedsturns to dealing, withthe show following the chaos, drama, and comedy such a lifestyle change has for a newly widowed suburban mother. It’s admittedly not as well-known today as some other shows that debuted in 2005, but it was a relatively big deal for its time, ultimately running until 2012.
9’Medium' (2005-2011)
Created by Glenn Gordon Caron
There’s a high-concept premise toMediumthat, likeWeeds, makes it more than just a drama. It containsfantasy elements alongside being a crime/drama series, with its central character indeed being a medium. She communicates with spirits and uses those powers to help solve crimes, which, yes, sounds a bit ridiculous, butMediumtook that premise and ran with it for seven seasons.
It’s also elevated byPatricia Arquette’s performance in the lead role, asshe ultimately won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, and was nominated for the same award on another occasion. Despite finishing its run in the early 2010s,Mediumfeels incredibly of the 2000s, for better or worse… maybe for better, because it’s possible to feel a little nostalgia for television of this era, given a couple of decades have passed now.
8’Grey’s Anatomy' (2005-)
Created by Shonda Rhimes
One of the best indicators of just how longGrey’s Anatomyhas run for is by looking at howmany love interests the central character has had. It’s a pretty much unstoppable behemoth of a medical drama, focusing on heightened drama in a hospital setting while, yes, spending ample time on the love lives of all the main characters; the stuff that keeps them busy when they’re not saving lives or getting killed off themselves.
Praising a show likeGrey’s Anatomydoes involve celebrating its quantity more than its quality, becausesomething that’s aired 400+ episodes is not going to have a spotless track record. Still, this drama knows exactly what it is, what it needs to do, and how to entertain the audience it’s grown, having done the latteracross 21 seasons now.
Grey’s Anatomy
7’Criminal Minds' (2005-)
Created by Jeff Davis
Though its episode count is a little lower than the one for the aforementionedGrey’s Anatomy,Criminal Mindsis another show that began in 2005 and, as of 2025, hasn’t been concluded yet. It’s a police procedural, so you know the deal: personal drama between principal characters alongside numerous cases to tackle, with behavioral analysis usually being key to solving the grisly crimes at hand.
Criminal Mindsstands out a little from the police procedural pack by beingunafraid to get quite unsettling at times, allalongside a reliable formula it’s defined for itself after being on the air for so many years. The later seasons have been known asCriminal Minds: Evolution, butCriminal Minds: Evolutionis still considered a continuation ofCriminal Minds(all theseasons are grouped asCriminal Mindson IMDb, for example).
Criminal Minds
6’Bones' (2005-2017)
Created by Hart Hanson
You kind of have to admire how muchDavid Boreanazhas worked in the TV world since the late 1990s, having been a part ofBuffy the Vampire Slayer’s early seasons, and then being the titular character on that show’s spin-off,Angel. One year afterAngelconcluded, Boreanaz started starring inBones(alongsideEmily Deschanel), which ran from 2005 to 2017, and then in 2017, he began starring in another long-running show,SEAL Team.
But, to focus onBones(it was the one that started in 2005, after all), it’s a police procedural that revolves around murder cases where all that’s left evidence-wise are bones (hey, that’s the name of the show).It’s not the best show of its kind by any means, but it ran for an impressively long timeand managed to bea defining program of both the 2000sand 2010s.
5’Empire Falls' (2005)
Written by Richard Russo
Though it’s an HBO miniseries,Empire Fallsdoes still technically count as a TV show that began (and finished) airing in 2005. It amounted to two feature-length episodes, so watching it play out feels like watching an epic-length movie, albeit a largely character-focused one that’s set in a small town populated by a large cast, with most of the actors here being best known for their movie roles.
Saidcast includes the likes of Ed Harris, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Helen Hunt, and Paul Newman, among others, and it’s probably the acting here that stands as the best reason to watchEmpire Falls. Plenty of other things that aired around this time on HBO are more well-known today, sure, but this miniseries by no means deserves to be forgotten.
Empire Falls
4’Prison Break' (2005-2017)
Created by Paul Scheuring
Prison Breakboldly asks the question: “What if we tooka prison escape movie kind of premise, and stretched it out into a season of television?” The excellent first season of the show is just that; a well-paced and frequently satisfying slow-burn prison escape plot, using all 22 of its episodes to squeeze the maximum amount of tension and drama out of such a story.
Unfortunately,Prison Breakwas too successful to just be one season, and the attempts it made to extend a rock-solid initial season were a little shaky at best (though perhaps not irredeemable). Still,for the commitment to what that first season was ultimately about, and for executing it so well,Prison Breakdeserves to be held up as (temporarily) excellent small-screen popcorn entertainment.
Prison Break
3’Supernatural' (2005-2020)
Created by Eric Kripke
Anotherlong-runner of a TV showthat kicked off in 2005,Supernaturaldid a bit of everything genre-wise, though could, at its core, be broadly labeled a “drama.” Well, “drama” in the sense that it wasn’t a sitcom, because those are kind of the two main genres when it comes to TV. ThoughSupernaturalcould also be funny. At times, it was scary, weird, gory, and thrilling, too.
There was enough of an overarching storyline to keep people interested across seasons, though much of the time,Supernaturalhad an episodic feel. Things are inevitably going to be episodicwhen only two actors – the leads, Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles – are credited with appearing in every episode. It generally got the balance right, at least enough to air 300+ episodes, even if there was inevitably a little inconsistency after stretching out the main premise for so long.
Supernatural
2’Doctor Who' (Revival series) (2005-2022)
First showrunner: Russell T Davies
Speaking of long-running TV shows, you could considerDoctor Whoone of the longest-running of all time, if you do indeed count all ofDoctor Whoas a singular behemoth of a TV show. It was technically revived in 2005 after a while off the air, though, and if you count this revival series as its own distinct thing, thenDoctor Who(this iteration of it) can be considered something that debuted in 2005.
Or, if you want to argue that this thing reboots itself every few seasons, then sure… it does find ways tostay fresh as a drama/sci-fi seriesby continually having the protagonist, the Doctor, regenerate into new physical forms.Certain other characters and elements recur, of course, ensuringDoctor Whogets that balance between the familiar and the fresh right most of the time(and such a balance is essential, for obvious reasons, when a show’s a long-runner).
Doctor Who
1’Rome' (2005-2007)
Created by John Milius, William J. MacDonald, Bruno Heller
There’s an argument to be made thatthe best historical drama in HBO historywasDeadwood, and that one began airing in 2004.But a worthy runner-up would beRome, which only had two seasons(so a little less thanDeadwood’s three seasons plus a movie), but is – ironically – a historical series that history itself has been kind to.
It aims to be both an epic and grounded look at life for various people during the end of the Roman Republic, encompassing a time and a place in much the same way asDeadwood, or arguablyThe Wire(the latter doing so for then-contemporary America).Romehad immensely impressive production values and a dedication to feeling as authentic as possible, even if it can’t claim to be 100% historically accurate. It’s one of the more overlooked HBO dramas of its era; perhaps drowning in the sea of high-quality programming there during the 2000s, but it’s still something that holds up well all these years later.
