Biggest TV moments of the Decade: 'Game of Thrones' final season, Priyanka Chopra's American TV debut 'Quantico', more

The most influential American comedy of the last decade came to an end. The Office US, which debuted in 2005, ran for eight years. The show started off as a clear copy of the UK version and while it struggled to take off in the first season, it did exceptionally well in the following years. The show undoubtedly benefited from a happy accident of history—who could’ve guessed that a genial, low-key comedy would turn Steve Carell into a movie star? The Office benefited from a deep bench of talent. Several great sitcoms in similar formats have aired since 2005, but few have reached the creative heights The Office once did. This awesome show currently airs in India on Star World and can be streamed on Hotstar.

After hosting one of the most loved culinary show for about 11 years, Matt Preston, George Calombaris, and Gary Mehigan bid farewell to MasterChef Australia. Across 11 sensational seasons, MasterChef Australia has established itself as one of the most popular and respected cooking television series around the world. For more than a decade, this iconic series has shaped and driven not just the Australian public’s but the world’s passion for food and cooking. The show successfully delivered iconic television moments and made the culinary dreams of everyday home cooks come true. This masterpiece of a cooking show can be seen airing in India on Star World. 

Love it or hate it, but Game of Thrones was the show that gained the most eyeballs. This show, in this age of VOD, brought back appointment viewing and an entire economy was built around breaking down every single detail of the series, from the teasers to trailers, and to even episode credits! One of the most anticipated moment from the past decade has surely been the death of Night King by the hands of Arya Stark! Just when it seems that all hope is lost, the hero of the Winterfell breezes past the White Walkers before they even know she’s there and puts a knife in the Night King’s belly. Season 8, which though disappointed so many, but there really was no other way for the show to end. The death of Night King changed shifted the entire game! What followed was the surprising death of the dragon queen, and that too by the hands of her lover Jon Snow. This era-defining of a show has found its home in India on Star World and Hotstar!

Big Little Lies – the only show surely created women lead the movement with an all-women lead star cast! Women dominate Big Little Lies, both on the screen and in the behind-the-scenes power of Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman, who are executive producers as well as stars of the HBO series. This murder mystery out with just two seasons, has characters so thoroughly and thoughtfully developed, it is simply outstanding! It scored a number of Emmys and Golden Globes, dominated social media for its seven-week run and featured an extraordinary cast of Hollywood stars, namely: Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern, Shailene Woodley, and Zoë Kravitz. The story depicts motherhood and the women who experience it in all its messiness. For the first time ever in the history of TV, was there a cast dominated by women in all lead characters. The show airs in India on Star World.

If anyone on this planet has had a decade, which is emphatically different from any old measly 10 years, it would have to be Meghan Markle, who has quite literally become royalty before our very eyes. At the very start of the decade in 2010, Markle was yet to begin starring in the hit legal drama series, Suits! And ten years later, she has gained a royal status – a member of the British royal family, Duchess of Sussex. She has retired from acting to focus full-time on her royal duties and philanthropic endeavours. 

More than any other showrunner, he has upended the pieties of modern television. His shows such as include Glee, American Horror Story, Pose, loves extremes. This decade saw his rise in the Hollywood industry. He started off as a virtual intruder knocking on the doors of TV establishment, eventually got mainstream recognition for one of the hits – Glee and progressed further by creating an empire of ambitious, broad dramas. In 2018, he ascended even further—a $300 million icing-on-the-cake deal with Netflix, where, he’s said, he has 10 projects in development. Murphy arrived on the scene as a disruptor, doubled and then tripled his output, and quickly became the biggest game in town: He’s Netflix, but a person. Throughout the past ten years, he has won Emmy for Outstanding Directing for Glee, The Normal Heart, The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story along with numerous nominations for almost all of his work! In short, it’s quintessentially Ryan Murphy—a polished, compelling mess; a piece that tangles through genres, periods, and tones; a mood, more than a story. Some of the show like Glee, American Horror Story and American Crime Story and Pose, have found their home in India on Hotstar and Star World. 

The past ten years have been super exciting for our Desi girl – Priyanka Chopra! Not just did her Hollywood appearances in movies like Baywatch, Isn’t It Romantic, were applauded, her debut in television drama – Quantico, got her the title of becoming the first South Asian woman to headline an American network series. The former Miss World has clearly established herself as an A-list star in Hollywood. The actress has been named in Time's 100 Most Influential People issue alongside the likes of Mark Zuckerberg and Leonardo DiCaprio, was one of the lucky celebrities in attendance at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding, and tied the knot with Nick Jonas at Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India after a whirlwind romance. 

The loyal fans waited nine seasons to finally meet the titular mother only to have her die shortly after because of a terminal illness. To top it all off, Barney, who went through some immense character growth throughout the seasons, reverts to his playboy self and he and Robin divorce. And after their whole back-and-forth, Ted and Robin somehow go back to each other and nothing makes sense. Contrary to popular belief, the most infuriating finale of the last decade did not belong to Lost or even Game of Thrones, but rather the long-running comedy show How I Met Your Mother, which ended in 2014. After spending nine years carefully explaining why Ted and Robin's relationship could never work, creators used the show's flexible narrative structure — the one thing that initially made it stand out from other TV comedies — to have them end up together. It was an easy way out of the narrative hole they'd dug nearly a decade before when they revealed Robin wasn't the mother of Ted's children, but by refusing to accept that the story they had been telling no longer fit the ending they had planned so many years before, the romantic series went out on a sour note that still lingers all these years later.

Lucifer, the American TV series that premiered on Fox in 2016, went on to join Netflix when Fox, despite high viewership for its debut received consistently poor ratings, cancelled the show after three seasons. A month later, Netflix picked up the series for a fourth season and has already renewed the series for the fifth and final season which will come in 2020. The show gained immense acclaim and got fans tweet worldwide - #SaveLucifer and #RenewLucifer. In fact, a petition to save the show managed to rack up 33,000 signatures! This dark, dramatic, absurd and wickedly witty show, based on the DC comic book series, revolves around Lucifer, the Devil who abandons Hell for L.A where he runs his own nightclub and becomes a consultant to L.A’s police department.

Show that gave heart-pangs. This Is Us has defied the odds simply by taking beautiful writing and mixing it with superb acting to create a show that is warm, wonderful and a winning family drama. This Is Us follows events in the lives of the Pearson family. This family drama got the whole world weeping. The biggest stars wept. Even the tissue brands leveraged. Through this show, actors like Mandy Moore got to revive their acting career and once again after a decade, she became a household name. The plot twists, the narratives, and the stunning actors, the show proved to be so much more! This show has found its home in India on the country’s leading English entertainment channel – Star World and the streaming platform – Hotstar.