The most significant TV show debuts by year for the last 25 years

Sketch shows in comedy have come and gone over the years. Other than “Saturday Night Live,” few of them have stayed around. We don’t know how long “A Black Lady Sketch Show” will stick on HBO. What we do know is that it’s the first sketch show in television to focus on black women. That alone makes it significant and worthwhile. The fact some really talented women, including creator Robin Thede, are involved helps as well.

David Letterman is a TV icon. When he signed off from his late-night talk show, it was a momentous end of an era. Letterman stayed away for a while but apparently got the itch to return to the world of interviewing. “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction” is slightly different. Letterman, now older, more thoughtful and heavily bearded, sits down for a long, semi-serious interview with one guest per episode. That Letterman sharpness is still there, though.

Could the world of Archie and his Riverdale gang be reconfigured into a way that would interest young audiences? Evidently yes! Hiring a bunch of attractive young actors and putting them into a sordid world of sexy mystery made “Riverdale” work for the CW audience. Even Mrs. Grundy got a sexy makeover! What a time to be alive.

Look, “Fuller House” isn’t good. The reboot of the classic (but also not good) sitcom “Full House” featured older versions of many of the characters, other than Michelle, since the Olsen twins didn’t want to be involved. However, despite the lack of quality, “Fuller House” was a huge success for Netflix. It was at the forefront of the nostalgia, reboot craze in sitcoms. That makes “Fuller House” significant.

Yes, it’s another Netflix show. Hey, Netflix has ruled the roost for a few years now. “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” is a great show, starring the amazing Ellie Kemper. It’s also a Tina Fey project, which made it notable. What got it the boost to make this list is that it started as a project for NBC. It passed, finding the concept a bit dark for the network, and Netflix scooped it up. That really changed the game for the steaming giant.

Comedy programs tackling the news have been around for a while, including the staple of that genre, “The Daily Show.” John Oliver is a “Daily Show” alum, and with “Last Week Tonight” he branched off to create his own show. The HBO program is slightly different, as it’s once a week and really digs deep down into one issue per episode. It’s a critical darling and also has racked up Emmys since its debut.

By 2013, Marvel had already started to dominate the world of film. It wasn’t quite the behemoth it is today, but the Cinematic Universe was building up. Why wouldn’t it try and translate that success to TV? “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” was its first foray. It never really clicked like Marvel probably hoped, and future shows from Marvel had even less success. However, it was still a monumental moment in the pop culture landscape.

“Girls” generated just a smattering of opinions when it debuted on HBO. We understate for effect, of course. Lena Dunham’s show was a lightning rod, yielding polarized hot takes for years. It was definitely a different kind of show, and also it introduced many of us to an actor named Adam Driver, who has gone on to some notable things.

After “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy,” FOX had some issues trying to get another animated show to really click. Some, like “Futurama” and “American Dad,” had some success, but they also came from the creators of “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy” respectively. “Bob’s Burgers” was a hit that brought in a whole different creative team. The show about the Belcher family and their burger joint has been going strong now since 2011, with no signs of slowing down.

The cartoon that’s “for kids” but really is for everybody includes a lot of shows from the past. However, there has been an influx of them recently, particularly on Cartoon Network, and patient zero for that was “Adventure Time.” It had a cult-like following, and still does, despite its simple artistic style. This is a cartoon about a dog and a boy going on, well, adventures, but it also took the time for a vampire to do a cover of a Mitski song. That’s how you appeal to a wide audience.

Both “Glee” and “Parks and Recreation” debuted in 2009. While “Parks and Rec” is the better show with the longer tail of success, in terms of significance, we still have to go with “Glee.” “Parks and Rec” had some bumps along the way, but “Glee” was a straight-up phenomenon. It made people think that other musicals could work in prime time. Spoiler alert: They couldn’t!

We didn’t have to look deep into the calendar to make this decision. “Breaking Bad” debuted, honestly quietly, in January of 2008. It was not anything special up front, even if the quality of the show was there. Then it became a hugely popular drama. The final season generated the kind of buzz few shows do. Bryan Cranston won about a million Emmys for playing Walter White. The legacy continues, as “Better Call Saul” airs on AMC, and a movie follow up, “El Camino,” is hitting Netflix.

And the year before “Breaking Bad,” we got “Mad Men.” It’s the same story but with even more significance. Bryan Cranston was already known in TV before playing Walter White. Jon Hamm made himself into a household name as Don Draper. These two shows combined to legitimize AMC as a network for original programming. “Mad Men” hit the air first though.

Unless you are of a certain age, you probably never watched Disney’s “Hannah Montana.” It was certainly significant though. This is the show that turned Miley Cyrus into a star. Even if you don’t stay up to date on pop music, you’ve certainly heard of Miley, if only for her antics. Did “Love Monkey,” which also debuted in 2006, make any stars? We don’t think so.

“The Office” didn’t invent the workplace sitcom, or the mockumentary, or heck, even “The Office,” which Ricky Gervais did with the original in the United Kingdom. That being said, the American version of “The Office” was a phenomenon that pretty much changed the sitcom landscape. It was a brilliant show that made a lot of stars and helped bolster the career of Steve Carell, who put in an iconic performance as Michael Scott.

This was a tricky year to make selections for, as there wasn’t anything super notable. That being said, “Battlestar Galactica” deserves recognition. It reenvisioned the kind of campy original show and turned it into a serious, sobering drama. It also helped bring gravitas to SyFy, then the Sci-Fi Channel, when it came to original shows.

Who would have thought watching two guys making machines to try and confirm or bust myths would become so popular. And yet Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman became stars on Discovery thanks to their hit show “Mythbusters.” It was informational, it was cool, it was funny and it seeped into the zeitgeist. How many scientific-minded shows can say that?

This one doesn’t really require explanation. Just for giving us Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and Jennifer Hudson, the last of whom somehow didn’t win, “American Idol” was significant. It turned singing competitions into a cottage industry. It became a phenomenon. Eventually, winners started not becoming stars and the bloom left the rose, but you can’t argue with the popularity of “American Idol” at its peak.

Have you watched ESPN recently? Have you seen the dozens of shows that are a few talking heads loudly debating issues? Have you seen the litany of hot takes? That all stems from “Pardon the Interruption.” Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, for better or worse, helped change the future of ESPN programming.

And with that, a reality competition boom was born. “Survivor” captured the attention of seemingly everybody. Richard Hatch walked away, not naked despite his predilections, with a million bucks. Viewers were fascinated by watching competitors stranded away from civilization trying to not just survive but to also maneuver to avoid getting voted out. The first season even got Colleen a role in a Rob Schneider movie!

We really wanted to go with “SpongeBob SquarePants” for its long life and popularity. Also, a little show called “The Sopranos” came out. That being said, “SpongeBob” is just a popular cartoon. “The Sopranos” is a great drama that helped make HBO, but it wasn’t the first big show they had. “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” was a phenomenon that changed TV.  The game show quickly became so popular that Regis Philbin was asking people about their final answers five nights a week, and seemingly every network had its own imitator. The candle burnt out quickly, but the impact was immense in that short burst.

HBO had its show about serious men, but where was the female-centric show for the network. That came with “Sex and the City.” Since it wasn’t on a network, the show could be frank in its talk, and depiction, of the titular sex in the titular city, which was New York. Sarah Jessica Parker became a star, even for those of us who are more a Miranda than a Carrie.

Who would have thought some poorly animated, foul-mouthed kids would become an indelible part of pop culture? And yet, Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s “South Park” did just that. It helped bring a lot more eyes to Comedy Central, and it spawned a movie, not to mention multiple video games. Truly “South Park” was a force of nature, and the show continues to this day.

We name-dropped it in the “Last Week Tonight” entry, but “The Daily Show” deserves its own spot as well. When it first debuted, it was hosted by Craig Kilborn, and it wasn’t the show we would know it as today. Jon Stewart took over and made it more political, and that’s what turned it into a vital piece of programming, even becoming a respected news source. It also spawned several future stars, including Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell.

If you were a wrestling fan in the '90s, or followed pop culture at all, the debut of “WCW Monday Nitro” was a major moment. It’s when Ted Turner’s wrestling company threw down the challenge to WWE’s “Monday Night RAW.” The Monday Night Wars had begun, and they would help change professional wrestling and also television. In the end, the WWE won, but at least Hulk Hogan got to shill his pasta restaurant in the meantime.