It’s been a long time since the music industry was portrayed so vividly, viciously, and — let’s face it — accurately in pop culture as it was in Empire’s introduction of the hip-hop dynasty at the heart of this family saga, written by creators Lee Daniels and Danny Strong. If Taraji P. Henson became an instant sensation as the musically gifted, prison-hardened, blazingly intelligent Cookie, Terrence Howard’s Lucious Lyon wasn’t far behind, purring menacingly. — Ken Tucker

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NBC’s understated, unsung family drama gave us an achingly heartfelt series finale that was just about perfect, with the Bravermans coming together for two momentous life events: first, the wedding of Sarah and Hank, and then the death of family patriarch Zeek. But rather than a maudlin funeral scene, the series ended with the whole Braverman clan assembling on a baseball field. There they sprinkled Zeek’s ashes on the infield dirt and played a joyous game on top of him, while a series of flash-forwards reassured us that each Braverman turned out just fine. — Dave Nemetz

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Ilana Glazer and Abby Jacobson bring the raunch: Abby’s bed-date with Jeremy takes an unexpected turn when he brings out a strap-on dildo for her to use. Panicked, Abby sneaks a call to Ilana, who is elated: “It’s a dream come true; thank you for sharing this with me!” All this, plus Susie Essman being transcendently rude as Ilana’s mom while the two get mani-pedis. — KT

(Credit: Comedy Central)

As Stefon would say, this three-and-a-half hour special had everything: Appearances by cast members old and new, tributes from A-list celebs, big-name musical performers, and backstage intrigue. Mike Myers and Dana Carvey reprised the always-excellent “Wayne’s World,” while a slew of mega-stars paraded through a hilarious edition of “Celebrity Jeopardy.” Queens of comedy Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Jane Curtin read “Weekend Update.” Even long-estranged former cast member Eddie Murphy made an appearance (though he declined to play Bill Cosby in a sketch). It was a non-stop party with a point, reminding us just how deeply Saturday Night Live is embedded in pop culture. — Kelly Woo

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This masterful Season 3 installment saw the Underwoods both tightening their grip on power, and losing their grip on reality. Frank enlisted Jackie Sharp to attack rival Heather Dunbar during the Democratic debate to make Frank look better — but then he turned around and stabbed Jackie in the back, labeling her a hypocrite for criticizing Heather. (You can’t really blame Frank, though; like Freddie the rib chef said, “It’s like blaming a snake for having fangs.”) Plus, we got a rare glimpse of vulnerability from Claire in her woozy, cryptic monologue to writer Thomas Yates while giving blood, confessing her very mixed feelings about her marriage. — DN

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The whole series is the backstory of Saul Goodman, but this episode — the first TV script written by series co-creator Vince Gilligan’s onetime assistant, Gordon Smith — focused in on the tragic past of cop-turned-enforcer Mike Ehrmantraut. We knew from Breaking Bad that Mike had been a Philly cop, and here we learned he’d been a dirty cop who advised his policeman son Matty to go along with his fellow officers’ corruption. After Matty was killed by his partner, the usually stoic Mike finally revealed all to Matty’s widow, in a haunting, crushingly emotional performance from Emmy nominee Jonathan Banks: “I broke my boy!” — Kimberly Potts

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We thought he probably did it, but we had to wait for the final episode to hear him say he did it: Robert Durst, suspected of committing three murders, brought The Jinx to a conclusion that seemed to shock even the people making the film when, alone in a room with an open microphone, he muttered, “What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.” Whether that carries the weight of proof for conviction remains to be seen, but it was the culmination of a great piece of documentary television. — KT

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Week after week, we watch The Flash do battle with superpowered baddies, certain that he will prevail with the help of his faithful companions. Of course he’ll be OK: The show is called The Flash. But what happens when the faithful companions — who are truly the heart of the show — are in danger? Fans faced that fear in "Out of Time”: Tom Cavanagh was at his menacing best when he revealed himself as Reverse Flash and puts his hand through Cisco’s chest. This isn’t The Cisco Show — despite being a fan favorite, there was no guarantee at the time that he would be back the next episode. — Robert Chan

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Writer Joshua Brand earned an Emmy nomination for this episode, one of the best examples of how the FX Cold War drama has only gotten better each year. The Season 3 installment — the title is a nod to Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? — finds spy marrieds Philip and Elizabeth breaking into a repair shop to bug an FBI mail machine. Elderly bookkeeper Betty picked that night to catch up on some work, and when she and Elizabeth came face-to-face, they both knew Betty was doomed. But the ensuing conversation found the women identifying with each other, while Betty also resonated with Elizabeth as a mother figure, and forced the fiercely-committed Russian spy to question (if only for a fleeting moment) whether her cause justified acts like killing a kind old lady. — KP

(Credit: FX)

It was crowned Most Satisfying Series Finale in our inaugural reader-voted Yahooies! for good reason: It had everything longtime fans could want in an hour of Justified, from a beautifully-filmed showdown between Raylan (Timothy Olyphant) and bad guy Boon (Jonathan Tucker) to the perfect final exchange between Raylan and Walton Goggins’s Boyd (“We dug coal together.” “That’s right.”). The writers stayed true to the characters while still giving viewers a hopeful flash-forward ending: Ava (Joelle Carter) is raising a son who’s as buttoned-up as his daddy. Raylan and Winona (Natalie Zea) still have that spark even though they’re parenting their daughter separately. And Boyd’s in prison, where he has a captive audience. — Mandi Bierly

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Others might prefer the series finale, but this was our favorite Mad Men episode of the year: an elegiac farewell to Sterling Cooper and the lost souls who inhabited it for seven seasons. We thought Don Draper might pull one last rabbit out of his hat with a plan to save his firm from being swallowed up by that monolith McCann-Erickson. But it ended in defeat, and our old friends throwing themselves an Irish wake at a local bar, awash in boozy sentiment. Plus, “Time & Life” gave us the heartbreak of Peggy admitting her past pregnancy to Stan, and the high comedy of Pete “The King Ordered It!” Campbell getting into yet another fistfight. — DN

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This parody of the classic 1957 courtroom drama stars actors such as John Hawkes, Vincent Kartheiser, Paul Giamatti, and Jeff Goldblum debating not a legal case, but rather whether or not Amy Schumer is “hot enough” to be on TV. Perhaps the year’s best feminist-comedy moment. — KT

(Credit: Comedy Central)

The game-changing episode found Elizabeth Keen framed, and ultimately cleared, for the attempted murder of a U.S. senator… but then she goes and kills her blackmailer, corrupt Attorney General Tom Connolly, and is forced to go on the lam with frienemy (father?) Red Reddington. Liz earned her own spot on the FBI’s Most Wanted List, and also learned the secret Red had been keeping from her: As a child, she’d killed her (alleged) father while he was abusing her mother. These bold moves shook up the series’ entire premise and all its relationships, setting up a reboot that returned The Blacklist to the must-see quality of its first season. — KP

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The Season 1 finale of Starz’s epic love story is one fans may never want to watch again. But that’s only because memories of the fearlessly–scripted flashbacks showing the psychological and sexual abuse Black Jack (Tobias Menzies) forced on Jamie (Sam Heughan) still haunts them. With performances both raw and layered, Menzies and Heughan made viewers feel what it means to break someone and be broken. Only then could fans find themselves fighting alongside Claire (Caitriona Balfe) for suicidal Jamie’s soul. — MB

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Jon Snow experiences his version of the Alamo in a remarkable, action-packed Game of Thrones episode that’s on par with any big-budget, big-screen blockbuster. Unfolding almost entirely in a single location — the titular fishing village that becomes a body-strewn battleground when the White Walkers descend en masse — “Hardhome” showcases just how far the series has come in terms of special effects and fight choreography. But director Miguel Sapochnik is careful to balance the spectacle with soul, and the final shot of the Night’s King raising his arms to welcome more of the walking dead into his army is instantly iconic. — Ethan Alter

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Barely five minutes into the dark Lifetime drama’s pilot, we knew were watching our new obsession. In fact, in the first 20 seconds, when Constance Zimmer’s executive producer character Quinn declared, “Ponies, princesses, romance, love, I don’t know. It’s all a bunch of crap anyways,” as she launched a new season of the series’ fictional Bachelor-esque reality show, it was clear we were in for one deeply satirical ride. As the episode progressed, viewers met the suitor, his hopefuls, and the severely flawed producers who would go to dehumanizing lengths to manipulate them for the sake of good ratings. By the end, it was also clear that Shiri Appleby’s performance as a seriously troubled (but completely brilliant) reality TV producer was going to be something people would talk about all the way into next year’s Emmy season. — Breanne L. Heldman

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Called before Congress to account for alleged malfeasance surrounding one of President Meyer’s signature bills, the entire Veep ensemble plays an extended, hilarious game of Pass the Buck. (Not surprisingly, that buck doesn’t stop with Selina, but with one of her flunkies instead.) Much of the comedy stems from the fact that “Testimony” is structured as a compilation of C-SPAN clips, allowing for a non-stop barrage of jokes, contradictions and gaffes. It’s a montage of government ineptitude that would be right at home on The Daily Show. — EA

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Season 2 of HBO’s tech-geek comedy was plagued by a few glaring bugs (we never liked that billionaire jerk Russ Hanneman), but by the time this action-packed season finale rolled around, the comedy’s code was running smoothly. While Richard fought to keep his company out of Hooli’s evil clutches via binding arbitration, his Pied Piper pals scrambled to keep the site online during a massive spike in traffic. “Condor” had more ticking-clock tension than most TV drama episodes, and also underlined the hard truth that every victory for our awkward underdog heroes just opens the door to another daunting set of challenges. — DN

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Some shows take a little while to establish their identity, but Sam Esmail’s acclaimed summer hit Mr. Robot arrived fully formed. Directed by Danish filmmaker Niels Arden Oplev (whose credits include the original version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), the pilot immediately establishes Robot’s striking visual language and vivid atmosphere of paranoia and dread. You really feel as if you’re gazing out at the world through the jittery eyes of Rami Malek’s conspiracy-minded hacker, Elliot, and it’s impossible to look away. — EA

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A lot happened in this Season 3 finale: Daniel and Janet left on the road trip that would end with him at his new home in Tennessee; Tawney finally declared her independence from Teddy; Teddy and step-sis Amantha bonded over their newly-single status; and Carl made a major arrest in the Hannah case, one that may also be another case of a man wrongly accused. Like nearly every episode of the SundanceTV drama, “The Source” was one to be savored, because the heart of the show isn’t plot points, but the time we get to spend with these complicated characters. On both those fronts, the hour was satisfying enough to have served as a series finale, which makes us grateful that we’ll get to spend even more time with the folks of Paulie (and new Nashville-ian Daniel) when the show returns for a fourth season in 2016. — KP

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Of all the victim brains zombie Liv (Rose McIver) has munched on in the name of crime-solving, the frat boy’s remain our favorite. McIver always falls effortlessly under the influence of any personality, but her full embodiment of bro-culture (from beer pong to “brain fart” to wanting to stay in and eat hot wings) was, to quote Liv, “fun as hell.” Plus, Major and Ravi went clubbing so Ravi could try Utopium, and we met Blaine’s father after Blaine taught us the proper shade of zombie makeup (“more Tilda Swinton, less Casper’s ass”). —MB

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The latest Supergirl manages to wear the bright colors of a hero created in the ‘50s while avoiding campiness — and, more importantly, pedantic speeches about girl power. As Supergirl, Melissa Benoist is as believably coltish and awkward around cute boys — like the effortlessly sexy Mehcad Brooks — as she is steel-willed and determined around the grotesque aliens she fights. The pilot follows the classic screenwriting advice “show, don’t tell” and, rather than bogging down in talk about female empowerment, just shows us a woman who is flawed and strong, complex and vulnerable, and absolutely worth rooting for. — RC

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The transformation of TWD’s Morgan Jones was a mystery viewers had been waiting to learn more about since his reunion with his friend Rick Grimes was teased in Season 5. The actual story wasn’t so surprising; Morgan had dropped hints that someone had influenced his new Zen outlook on life, and the quick chemistry between Lennie James and guest star John Carroll Lynch as the tragic Eastman helped the story unfold beautifully. What was surprising, though, was how thoroughly Morgan has dedicated himself to the “all life is precious” philosophy, a decision that has already affected Rick in some nearly deadly ways, and threatens Morgan’s place in the Ricktatorship. — KP

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FXX’s hipster comedy really nails that bittersweet feeling of being young and sad, and never more powerfully than with this finely polished gem. We met Jimmy’s neighbors Rob and Lexi, a formerly cool married couple with a kid; we also found out that the clinically depressed Gretchen has been stalking them, convinced they have the perfect life. She even kidnapped their dog (!) just so she could return him and get a look at the inside of their house. But when she discovered their “happy” marriage wasn’t as happy as she imagined, it was one of the most brutal gut-punches TV has delivered this year. — DN

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Spoiler alert! Eight episodes in to the Netflix series, we know how horrible David Tennant’s Kilgrave is (he uses his mind-control capabilities to kidnap, rape, and murder his way to personal happiness). And yet, when Jessica (Krysten Ritter) considers staying with him to teach him to use his powers for good (“First step in heroism, don’t be a prick”), a part of us actually wants her to. Tennant’s innate charm gets a chance to show through, we learn Kilgrave’s backstory (or rather, the version he tells Jessica), and we want them to keep conversing — which is when the show is at its best. Fortunately, Jessica has another idea for how to make him talk. — MB

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The pitch-black comedy dished out by FX’s aw-shucks crime anthology hit new heights with this fantastic Season 2 installment, which found amateur criminals Ed and Peggy Blumquist holed up in a cabin with professional criminal Dodd Gerhardt as their captive. What followed was both incredibly funny (“Hon, you gotta stop stabbing him!”) and unbearably tense, as the Blumquists’ lack of hostage-taking experience came back to bite them in the you-know-what. Jesse Plemons and Jeffrey Donovan were great in their own right, but this was Kirsten Dunst’s episode… and the one that cinches her Emmy, if there’s any justice. — DN

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