For those of us at The Ringer, this meant assembling a list that not only recognizes the best of prestige TV but also encapsulates everything that television has to offer: drama, comedy, variety, reality, game shows, and lifestyle-focused programming. With the understanding that television is going through yet another revolution, and that the boundaries and definitions of the medium could change yet again, it feels like the right time to look back at the past 18 years and determine the 100 best episodes of TV since 2000-the ones that stunned and entertained more than any others, and in turn made television what it is today. The expansion of cable networks led to an increase in experimentation, quality, and quantity that has since been eclipsed by the advent of streaming, to the point that the monoculture experience of that Survivor finale is almost entirely obsolete. Then, eight months into the new millennium, 51.7 million people watched the season finale of Survivor, ushering in a boom of reality TV. On HBO, The Sopranos entered its second season, and would go on to not only create the blueprint for prestige TV, but redefine dramatic television and champion the kind of antihero who would dominate the rest of the decade. NBC’s stranglehold on comedy loosened, giving way to more varied perspectives and formats. At the turn of the 20th century, television began to morph into a new, more expansive medium.