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Peak TV wasn’t just happening on cable and streaming. Throughout the 2010s, NBC quietly (and sometimes loudly) put out some of the smartest comedies, most emotional family dramas, and twisty crime series on television. From the warm hug of Parks and Recreation to the “please bring tissues” energy of This Is Us, NBC’s lineup helped define what weeknight TV felt like in that decade.
This ranking of the best NBC shows of the 2010s blends fan passion, critical acclaim, cultural impact, and good old-fashioned rewatchability. It’s not just about ratings; it’s about which series stuck in people’s heads and hearts long after the finale aired. So, grab a snack, imagine the familiar NBC chimes, and let’s revisit the shows that made “must-see TV” feel real again.
How We Ranked the Best NBC Shows of the 2010s
To keep things fair (and to avoid a full-on internet brawl), this list leans on a mix of criteria:
- Fan enthusiasm: Ongoing popularity, social media buzz, and fan-voted rankings.
- Critical reception: Reviews, end-of-decade lists, and awards attention.
- Cultural footprint: Memes, quotes, and how often a show still gets recommended.
- Rewatch value: Does it still hold up on that third binge watch?
- 2010s presence on NBC: Shows that aired a significant portion of their run on NBC during the decade.
With that in mind, here are the standout NBC shows that defined the 2010s, ranked.
The Best NBC Shows Of The 2010s, Ranked
1. Parks and Recreation
No NBC show captured the hopeful, awkward heart of the 2010s quite like Parks and Recreation. Following Leslie Knope and the Parks Department of Pawnee, Indiana, the series evolved from a slightly rough first season into a warm, relentlessly optimistic comedy about public service, friendship, and caring about your weird little town even when it doesn’t care back.
The show’s blend of workplace hijinks, faux-documentary style, and emotionally sincere storytelling makes it endlessly rewatchable. It also gave us some of the decade’s most beloved characters: Ron Swanson, April Ludgate, Andy Dwyer, Ben Wyatt, Donna Meagle, and Tom Haverford. Add in a steady stream of running jokes (“treat yo’ self,” Li’l Sebastian, waffles at JJ’s Diner), and you have the definitive NBC comedy of the 2010s.
2. The Good Place
Philosophical ethics plus slapstick comedy and wild plot twists shouldn’t work as a network sitcombut The Good Place made it look easy. The series begins with Eleanor Shellstrop waking up in the afterlife and being told she’s in “the Good Place,” only to realize very quickly that there’s been a huge mistake. From that point on, the show becomes a twisty, thoughtful exploration of what it means to be a better person.
Across its four seasons, The Good Place mixes high-concept storytelling, serialized mysteries, and sharp visual gags (all those ridiculous frozen yogurt shops) with surprisingly earnest questions about morality, redemption, and second chances. It also stuck the landing with a series finale that was both emotionally satisfying and thematically consistentno small feat in the age of divisive endings.
3. Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Yes, Brooklyn Nine-Nine began its life on Foxbut NBC swooped in to save it and aired its later seasons, cementing the show as part of the network’s 2010s identity. Set in the 99th precinct of the NYPD, the series centers on goofball detective Jake Peralta and his colleagues, balancing absurd workplace humor with surprisingly heartfelt character arcs.
The show became iconic for its diverse ensemble, clever cold opens (you can probably hear the Backstreet Boys line-up gag in your head right now), and its ability to address serious topics such as racism, sexism, and police accountability without losing its comedic edge. NBC’s pick-up helped give fans the closure they’d been loudly petitioning forproof that fan power really can keep a beloved show alive.
4. This Is Us
If you remember social media turning into a weekly group therapy session, This Is Us is probably why. The family drama follows the Pearson family across multiple timelines, weaving together past, present, and future in a way that made viewers cry, theorize, and occasionally text their parents just to say “hi.”
What made This Is Us stand out wasn’t just its complicated storytelling structure, but its emotional honesty. It tackled adoption, grief, mental health, addiction, race, and body image in ways that felt grounded rather than preachy. In an era dominated by gritty antiheroes and dark prestige dramas, this show offered something different: a heartfelt, network-sized epic about ordinary people doing their best.
5. Chicago Fire
The show that kicked off the “Chicago” franchise, Chicago Fire turned first responders at Firehouse 51 into decade-defining characters. Mixing high-intensity rescue sequences with soap-worthy personal drama, the series gave viewers a front-row seat to the lives of firefighters and paramedics juggling dangerous calls and complicated relationships.
Its success spawned interconnected spin-offsChicago P.D. and Chicago Medand helped revive the appeal of large, ensemble-driven network dramas. For many fans, Chicago Fire became comfort viewing: a show where bravery, loyalty, and found family were always at the center, even when literal buildings were falling down around the characters.
6. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2010s Era)
Law & Order: SVU technically began in the late 1990s, but its 2010s seasons solidified it as a cultural institution. By then, the show was already one of NBC’s longest-running dramas, and the 2010s saw it continue to tackle timely, headline-inspired cases with its signature mix of suspense and empathy.
The decade also marked the evolution of Olivia Benson into one of television’s most respected leaders, as she rose through the ranks and anchored the series through cast changes and shifting storylines. While some episodes were ripped from the headlines in a very literal way, fans stuck around for the characters’ resilience and moral center in a world that often felt anything but just.
7. Community
While Community debuted in 2009, its most iconic and experimental episodes aired during the early 2010s, firmly cementing its status as a cult classic. Set at the deeply chaotic Greendale Community College, the show followed a study group whose Spanish class turned into something much stranger (and funnier) than any of them expected.
Known for its high-concept episodespaintball wars, video game parodies, alternate timelines, mock documentariesCommunity pushed the boundaries of what a network sitcom could do. The constant winking at pop culture, the phrase “six seasons and a movie,” and the endlessly quotable lines made it a favorite among comedy nerds and meme lovers alike.
8. Parenthood
If This Is Us made people cry in the late 2010s, Parenthood had already been warming up the tear ducts earlier in the decade. Centered on the Braverman family, the series explored parenthood in all its forms: raising kids with learning differences, navigating divorce, blending families, dealing with illness, and trying not to lose yourself in the process.
What made Parenthood so resonant was its grounded tone and naturalistic performances. The dialogue often felt like real family conversationoverlapping, messy, heartfeltand the show excelled at small, quiet moments as much as big emotional confrontations. For many viewers, it felt less like watching a TV show and more like eavesdropping on a real extended family.
9. Hannibal
On paper, a network prequel series about Hannibal Lecter sounded like a terrible idea. In practice, Hannibal became one of the most visually striking and artistically ambitious shows of the decade. Equal parts psychological thriller and art-house horror, it focused on the twisted relationship between FBI profiler Will Graham and the charming, monstrous Dr. Hannibal Lecter.
The show pushed network boundaries with its stylized violence, dreamlike imagery, and slow-burn storytelling. It never pulled the ratings of a broad procedural, but critics and fans championed it as a bold experiment that treated horror as high art. Years later, it’s still regularly recommended as one of the most underrated network dramas of the 2010s.
10. The Blacklist
The Blacklist took the familiar “case-of-the-week” format and injected it with a twisty mythology and one very charismatic criminal. When Raymond “Red” Reddington, one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives, mysteriously turns himself in and insists on working with rookie profiler Liz Keen, the result is a series that blends espionage, family secrets, and elaborate conspiracies.
Anchored by James Spader’s delightfully mannered performance, the show offered viewers a steady supply of intrigue and villains with theatrical flair. Its serialized mystery arcs, combined with satisfying episodic plots, kept fans guessing and theorizing for years. It became the kind of show people would binge just to finally understand what Red was really up toand whether he was telling the truth this time.
11. The Voice
Reality competitions weren’t new in the 2010s, but The Voice managed to freshen up the formula by centering its early rounds around “blind auditions.” Coaches initially judge contestants without seeing them, which made for one of the most suspenseful and feel-good formats on network TV.
Along with powerhouse performances and slick production, the show gained attention thanks to its rotating lineup of celebrity coachesnames like Blake Shelton, Adam Levine, Kelly Clarkson, John Legend, Gwen Stefani, and more. The 2010s era of The Voice turned chair spins into an oddly emotional experience and gave viewers a steady pipeline of new singers to root for.
12. Blindspot
Blindspot brought high-concept mystery and action-thriller energy to NBC’s schedule. It kicks off with a woman emerging from a duffel bag in Times Square, covered in intricate tattoos and with no memory of who she is. Each tattoo turns out to be a clue, sending an FBI team into a sprawling conspiracy with global stakes.
The show combined serialized puzzle-box storytelling with the pace of an action procedural, making it a favorite for viewers who love decoding clues and watching elaborate missions unfold. Even after its original run ended, the series found a new audience through streaming, proving that its twisty narrative and propulsive style still hit the mark for modern binge-watchers.
Honorable Mentions
Narrowing this list down was not easy. Other NBC 2010s titles that often come up in fan discussions include:
- Chicago P.D. – For those who love the law-and-order side of the Chicago universe.
- Chicago Med – Because there’s always room for one more medical drama in your queue.
- Smash – A messy, fascinating look behind the scenes of Broadway.
- Grimm – A supernatural procedural that developed a devoted cult following.
They might not all crack the top of the ranking, but they helped make NBC’s 2010s lineup surprisingly varied and adventurous.
What It Felt Like To Watch NBC In The 2010s
Rankings are fun, but they don’t fully capture what it felt like to live through these shows in real time. For many viewers, the 2010s NBC experience was defined less by Nielsen numbers and more by rituals, routines, and shared moments.
Maybe your week revolved around a specific night. Thursday became “comedy night,” when you’d rush through dinner just in time to catch back-to-back episodes of Parks and Recreation, Community, or The Good Place. Commercial breaks were snack breaks. Group chats lit up with quotes and reaction gifs. You didn’t just watch the showsyou let them set the tone for your evening.
For others, NBC’s 2010s dramas felt like emotional appointments. Watching This Is Us or Parenthood became a kind of weekly catharsis. You’d tell yourself you were ready this time, that you would not cry, and then find yourself tearing up at some quiet scene between characters you’d known for years. These shows didn’t just give audiences plot twists; they gave them permission to feel big feelings about family, loss, and second chances.
Then there were the binge sessions. As streaming and on-demand viewing grew, a lot of people discovered NBC’s 2010s hits out of order and after the fact. Someone might watch all of Hannibal over a long weekend, emerging slightly unsettled but deeply impressed. Another person might fall down the Brooklyn Nine-Nine rabbit hole over a summer break, suddenly collecting inside jokes (“no doubt, no doubt, no doubt”) they shared with friends who’d watched it years earlier.
Reality and competition series also played their part. You might not remember every season of The Voice, but you probably remember a standout audition that gave you goosebumps, or a coach’s over-the-top pitch to convince a singer to join their team. These moments turned background TV into shared cultural memories, the kind that pop up again in social media clips years later.
One of the most striking things in hindsight is how varied NBC’s 2010s slate really was. Within a single week, you could bounce from the cozy optimism of Pawnee to the stylish horror of Hannibal, from the emotional gauntlet of This Is Us to the playful chaos of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. That range meant different viewers could connect to the network in different ways, whether they craved comfort, adrenaline, or something weird and ambitious.
And even now, long after some of these shows have ended, their impact lingers. Parks Department quotes still float around office chats. People revisit Parenthood when they hit a big life change. New viewers are discovering Blindspot or diving into the early seasons of SVU and realizing just how long that show has been part of the TV landscape.
In other words, the “best” NBC shows of the 2010s aren’t just the ones that topped critic lists or won the most awardsthey’re the ones that became part of viewers’ daily lives. Whether you laughed, cried, theorized, or just let a familiar show play in the background while you did chores, these series helped define what television meant in that decade. That’s what really gives them staying power, long after the final credits rolled.
