Choosing 10 of the best TV shows this year was hard, because I could easily have come up with 20. We are indeed in a golden age of television, and 2013 had some truly unforgettable moments, including the end of a meth empire, the beginning of a twisted clone conspiracy and the wedding of the century. This list doesn't include some shows I enjoyed this year, ("Girls," "Mad Men") and some critically acclaimed shows I simply haven't gotten around to watching yet ("The Good Wife," "Boardwalk Empire," "Hannibal").

That's the beauty of year-end lists. Each one is different, and no one is ever going to completely agree with an entire list. Have a favorite TV show that I didn't include? Let us know in comments section (But please, don't try to justify the final season of "Dexter." Seriously, don't go there).

10. The Returned (Les Revenants)

Move over "Walking Dead." There's a zombie import from France and it's called "The Returned," and it's one of the most original and compelling series since "Lost." While the first season of the subtitled Sundance feature doesn't involve mindless flesh-eating creatures, it provides a different aura of horror, painting a picture of what life would be like if dead loved ones came back to life, never having aged with no memory of their deaths. The mysteries of the show propose question after question and the sci-fi element adds some confusion, but hey, Season 2 premieres next year to (hopefully) provide some answers. The haunting and dramatic soundtrack from Mogwai is a great touch, as is the creepiest kid since Damien from "The Omen."

9. The Americans

The first of two highly underrated FX shows is "The Americans," a Cold War-era drama about two KGB agents (Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys) posing as a suburban American family. Unlike the over-the-top and frustratingly unrealistic mess that is now "Homeland," the first season of this smart, sexy and sleek drama is terrific and subtle. There were no true OMG moments, but the acting was consistently top-notch, there were some badass fight scenes and of course, there were wigs. So many glorious wigs. 

8. Scandal


Shonda Rhimes' fast-paced, highly addictive political drama about White House-fixer Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) started as a simple soap opera involving her affair with the president. Cut to over a year later, with the back half of Season 2 and the first half of Season 3, and we now have one of the most live-tweeted, "can't wait an entire week for the next episode" drama, full of betrayals, backstabbing, white hats and outfits/hair (courtesy of Olivia and Mellie) that are talked about for days. The story lines in this increasingly dark ABC show are naturally unrealistic, and they provide scenes that will make you ask yourself: Can this be shown on network TV? (i.e. wrist eating) But "Scandal" doesn't care. It knows exactly what show it is and owns it. 

7. Broadchurch

Season 1 of the BBC America crime drama about the murder of a young boy in a small seaside town and the search for his killer was one of the most intense seasons of TV I've ever seen. With fantastic performances from David Tennant and Olivia Coleman as detectives on the case, each episode constantly had us guessing who the killer was and why he did it. The reveal in the finale was predictable for some, but the journey towards it is completely worth watching. Try not to tear up when one of the detectives makes a shocking, game-changing discovery. 

6. Masters of Sex

Showtime's 1950s period drama based on the story of real life sex scientists Dr. William Masters (Martin Sheen) and Virginia Johnson (Lizzy Caplan) is compelling, intelligent, provocative and, above all, sexy. Performances by the two leads are amazing, as well as great supporting turns from Allison Janney, Beau Bridges and Caitlin Fitzgerald as Masters' lonely and sexually deprived wife. With it's complicated, secret-keeping characters and interesting plot lines, we could be looking at the next "Mad Men." 

5. Orange Is the New Black

Netflix experimented with numerous original series this year, like the good but overrated "House of Cards," the fourth polarizing season of "Arrested Development" and the terrible "True Blood" knockoff "Hemlock Grove." However, none were better than Jenji Kohan's provocative prison dramedy "Orange Is the New Black." The critically acclaimed series, which is based on a memoir of a true story, revolves around the privileged upperclass Piper Chapman (Golden Globe nominee Taylor Schilling), who is slapped with a 15-month prison sentence after being caught with drug money ten years prior. At first we think this is Piper's story, but it just so happens she's the gateway to a slew of compelling, hilarious and heartbreaking stories of the diverse group of inmates at Litchfield prison. Whether you're a Red, Taystee or Crazy Eyes fan, you can't argue that this is a show you can binge-watch over and over again.

4. Justified


FX giant "Sons of Anarchy" and everyone's guilty pleasure, "American Horror Story," have overshadowed the network's best drama and the most underrated show on television: "Justified." The Kentucky-based crime show revolving around U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) and his questionable tactics of enforcing the law stayed consistently great in its fourth season, which focused on a 30-year old case involving a dead parachutist who was in possession of bags of cocaine. "Justified" always has a season-long arc that's intermingled with episode-long criminal pursuits, but what sets it apart from a typical police show is the outstanding acting and even better dialogue. The show can be hilarious when it wants to be and it can easily present moments that pull at the heartstrings. A guest arc by comedian Patton Oswalt didn't hurt the show, either. 

3. Orphan Black


A woman sees another woman who looks exactly like her commit suicide, and decides to assume her identity. This is the premise for the BBC America sci-fi series "Orphan Black." The edge-of-your-seat clone conspiracy has a story line that keeps you guessing, but what makes it stand out is the performance of newcomer Tatiana Maslany, who portrays every single clone. Maslany is astounding as the thieving troublemaker Sara, the uptight aerobics housewife Allison, the insane and unintentionally hilarious Helena and every other clone (their personalities and accents are quite different) she portrays. Maslany is so good, you'll soon forget she's in almost every scene.

2. Game of Thrones


Everything about Season 3 of HBO's medieval fantasy epic was bigger and better. New characters and plot lines were introduced, the stakes were raised and we got know characters on a more personal level, most notably Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), who proved he's more than just an incestuous jackass who pushed a kid out of a window. Part of what made this season the best yet was the fact that it was roughly based off of the first half of "A Storm of Swords," which is full of memorable scenes that show runners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss pulled off tremendously. Whether it was Jon and Ygritte's sexy time, Tyrion and Sansa's awkward nuptials, Brienne fighting a giant bear or badass Daenerys sacking cities and freeing slaves, each episode gave fans something to talk about between Sunday nights. But the moment that will stick in everyone's minds for years to come is that wedding. You know, the red one. The shocking and horrifying end of the penultimate episode, "The Rains of Castamere," proved that literally no one on this show is safe. Months later, fans are still traumatized.

1. Breaking Bad


The final eight episodes of Vince Gilligan's "The evolution of Mr. Clean to Scarface" masterpiece was as good as any final season of a TV show can get. The previous four-and-a-half seasons led to this, and boy, did it pay off. There was never one bad episode of "Breaking Bad," but the one that put every episode, even the finale, to shame, was "Ozymandias." In what may have been the most spectacular and most devastating hour of scripted television, we finally saw Walter White's (Bryan Cranston) meth empire crumble in the span of a day, with so many jaw-dropping moments. We always knew these moments (Hank's death, Walt's confession to Jesse, Skyler and Walt's KNIFE FIGHT) could happen; we just weren't prepared. The series finale, "Felina," wasn't completely perfect, but the poignant moment where Walt finally admitted, "I did it for me," provided many with all the closure they needed, to a show that solidified itself as one of the best. Ever.