Television in 2014 took us for a turbulent ride, from the depraved ghettos of Louisiana to the frozen tundra of Minnesota, then to the greater Los Angeles area and into the heart of a black hole. It would be humanly impossible to watch all the television that is produced today. As such, a number of exceptional and brilliant programs did not make our lists of the best television shows of 2014. Nonetheless, below are the programs that were not only highlights of the year, but surely mark the small screen’s ample capacity for creative expression.

Chris Berg (@Mushroomer25)

10. @midnight (Comedy Central)

While John Oliver was breaking into the late night scene this year, another newcomer was coming into his own over on Comedy Central. @midnight is a brilliant little comedy show – topical, funny, and to-the-point. Like Twitter itself, it’s a collection of witty one-liners delivered at rapid fire. Not every panel of guests is a success, but when the right mix gets into a good bit, it can produce some of cable’s best comedy. No show on TV has been better for the current boom of alternative comics.

9. Fargo (FX)

While most people focused on the other big American crime anthology series to debut on cable this year (see below), FX’s Fargo earned more than its fair share of brownie points for crafting 2014′s most unexpected success. A sequel to a Coen Bros’ classic without their involvement sounds like a recipe for disaster – but the show’s first season managed to nail the iconic blend of dark humor, morbid reality and good old-fashioned midwestern values.

8. True Detective (HBO)

If you’re still wondering if television is considered an inferior medium of art to film, True Detective should stand as proof to the contrary. Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson are in the highlight of their careers with this dark mystery told in dual timelines. For film buffs, there was no more mesmerizing moment this year than watching Cary Joji Fukunaga’s masterful one-shot in episode four “Who Goes There,” as Rust evades both meth heads and the DEA in a stunning escape.

7. Game of Thrones (HBO)

With no more Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones has become the undisputed king of weekly ritual TV. Appointment television has never been more appropriate than this year’s season, which seemed to have a new moment every week that kept people talking for days on end. Capped off with an unbelievable battle at the Wall (a fight sequence that puts even the latest Hobbit film to shame) – it’s never been a better time to enter Westeros.

6. Rick & Morty (Adult Swim)

Dan Harmon is best known for the un-killable cult sitcom Community, but his most impressive work might be the sci-fi buddy comedy Rick and Morty on Adult Swim. In Harmon’s trademark style, the jokes are biting, smart and don’t stop coming. The densely packed laughs are painted over a sci-fi epic that spans more concepts and genres than the careers of most Hollywood directors.

5. Bojack Horseman (Netflix)

Netflix has gotten plenty of praise for their live-action series, but their best original creation this year has to be the animated dramedy Bojack Horseman. An adult take on an Adult Swim-style show, this is a deeply heartfelt and personal comedy about the half-life of fame – in which half of the characters just happen to be anthropomorphic animals. Hysterical and honest, it boasts one of the best casts working in comedy today, including Will Arnett, Aaron Paul, Paul F. Tompkins and Alison Brie, and makes the most of every member.

4. The Leftovers (HBO)

Dealing with personal loss is an experience that forces a person to reconcile with their faith, existing relationships and place in the world. So what happens when the entire planet is put through the process at once? The Leftovers starts with a standard mystery-TV premise (a sudden rapture), but analyzes it from a refreshing angle. Rather than teasing viewers with the ever-moving promise of answers, The Leftovers doesn’t concern itself with explaining the origins. Rather, it observes the fallout of a small-town society in the final stages of the grieving process. Christopher Eccleston, Carrie Coon and Justin Theroux drive the show forward and make it the most compelling new drama of the year.

3. Black Mirror (Channel 4, Netflix)

Sure, it’s entirely possible that you could’ve been watching this bleak sci-fi anthology series years ago during its original run on Britain’s Channel 4. But for us law-abiding Americans, Black Mirror is the best Netflix addition of 2014. It’s a modern Twilight Zone with a focus on technology, both existing and futuristic. It’s sharply relevant, and even in its most bleak depictions of humanity, absolutely captivating. If you’re a stickler for technicality, it did officially release one new episode this year (which has yet to hit Netflix) – the Jon Hamm-starring holiday special, Black Mirror/White Christmas. It’s sure to be a new seasonal standard, assuming you always ask Santa to bring you an existential crisis.

2. Hannibal (NBC, Amazon Prime)

There’s no greater injustice on television than the low Nielsen ratings for NBC’s Hannibal. Its masterful cinematography and award-worthy performances put it at fighting weight with this era of TV’s greatest achievements. The overall atmosphere is unlike anything seen on network television. For the second season, Bryan Fuller’s macabre masterpiece brought us beautifully horrific imagery in spades and an ending that left every audience member’s mouth agape. Cannibalism is just the tip of the psychological horror iceberg that is Hannibal, and you owe it to yourself to dive in.

1. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

2014 has been a huge year for late night TV with the rise of Fallon, the end of Colbert and best of all – the solo debut of John Oliver. Last Week Tonight sprinted out of the gate this season, with comedy & news segments that made even its most established competitors seem irrelevant. Oliver is a master of integrating just the right amount of comedy with even the darkest of news stories, which allows him to cover everything from income inequality to a space-set gecko orgy. HBO’s unique place on TV permits Oliver to hold no allegiances to advertisers, have no filter on content and run a piece as long as it needs to. The result is a new standard in comedy news.

Emerson Malone

5. True Detective (HBO)

With writer Nic Pizzolatto and director Cary Joji Fukunaga pairing for all eight episodes, the first season of this anthology series is a gothic noir set in primal small-town Louisiana. Matt McConaughey is masterful as Rust Cohle, a morose homicide detective with a heavy existentialist complex. The show bent a lot of boundaries for modern television, with its scrambled chronology, weighty dialogue, striking establishing shots and abundant nihilism.

4. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

The format of HBO’s partnership with John Oliver lets him take one or two stories each week and expertly break them down. Last Week Tonight brought public notice to a new contentious topic each week, from America’s sugar lobbyists to the broken immigration system to mating geckos in space. The show’s writers blur the line between comedy and commendable journalism.

 3. Fargo (FX)

Expectations were uniformly lowered before Fargo came to television, already prejudged as an unoriginal offshoot of the Coen Brothers’ 1996 movie of the same name. Thankfully, it could not have been better. Soft-spoken insurance salesman Lester Nygaard, played by Martin Freeman, has the polarized personality of a declawed housecat: self-pitying and recklessly confident. He crosses paths with shady character Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thorton), who drags him into a deceitful murderous plot. The simmering tension and peculiarities throughout becomes novel storytelling. Throughout the season, you follow some despicable and comical characters who have earned nothing more than your contempt, and yet you still want to see them to make it out alive. The show also stars Colin Hanks, Allison Tolman and Bob Odenkirk.

2. Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (FOX)

Cosmos holds the prestige of creating the single-most important hour of television this year. Neil DeGrasse Tyson hosts this reboot of perpetually turtlenecked scientist Carl Sagan’s 1980 series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, a series that focused on science’s forgotten heroes. The penultimate episode begins by taking a look at the greenhouse effect on Venus before it transitions to the parallels with the impressionable climate here on Earth. It should be mandatory to show the episode “The World Set Free” in middle-school science classes. Here we have one of the most distinguished, accredited American astrophysicists looking into the camera and saying: Climate change is a fact. Evolution is not up for debate. Cosmos is affirming and optimistic, not just on a personal level, but for the planet at large.

 1. Transparent (Amazon)

Amazon makes a convincing argument as a contender for an online TV purveyor with the beautiful and deeply intimate Transparent. Maura (played with vulnerability by Jeffery Tambor) is a parent to three grown adult-children (operative word being “children”) who are about to learn that their father has transitioned to live openly as a woman. The show handles a sensitive subject with respect and a smart sense of humor. The depiction of siblings grating on one another’s patience is tangible and familiar, from the neurotic and petrified youngest Ali (Gaby Hoffman) to the oldest sibling (Jay Duplass) whose emotional instability is covered up behind a pretense of confidence and a bad fashion sense. Creator Jill Soloway, a writer and director of Six Feet Under, has made a dignified show that finds wit in its alienation and levity in endlessly tested familial relationships.

Honorable mentions: Mad Men (AMC), The Knick (Cinemax), The Honorable Woman (Sundance), The Colbert Report (Comedy Central), Rectify (Sundance), Too Many Cooks (Adult Swim), Sherlock (BBC).