The Huffington Post

6. Mad Men: I will admit; I was skeptical that a show about an ad agency was going to stick. But AMC went for it, and that courage has paid enormous dividends. Only time will actually tell, but Mad Men may have done more to change television than any show since The Sopranos. It’s not just the writing, or the impeccable style, or the four Emmys in a row — it’s all of these things. The elements in Mad Men aren’t what make it revolutionary; it’s the show’s long-lasting residual effects on the medium itself. Mad Men has recalibrated the power paradigm of the TV ecosystem. Sure, HBO made great programming before Don Draper started swilling scotch, but HBO is ‘premium’ cable — they have different economics. Conventional wisdom said “No basic cable channel could do that.” And then AMC did. Now, every channel needs, wants and seeks “their Mad Men.” Now it is an accepted reality that basic cable can create the highest quality shows on TV and win an Emmy, or four. And now the programming floodgates are open wide, with quality TV appearing on premium and basic cable at a break neck pace — heck, even Netflix is getting in on the act. Mad Men proved that great programming takes a fair amount of cajones, but that it is not limited to Broadcast or Premium. And for that, TV will never be the same.

—

According to our TV editor, when Mad Men returns, it will have been gone for 525 days. 

Evan Shapiro: The 8 Most Important Things to Happen to TV in the Past 5 Years