The shows to watch when you're watching more than one

Hill Street Blues

NBC, 1981-87

Now: Amazon, Hulu Plus, DVD

Stars: Daniel J. Travanti, Veronica Hamel, Michael Conrad, Michael Warren, Charles Haid, Bruce Weitz

Why it's binge-worthy: This almost unimaginably influential classic from producer Steven Bochco cut through TV's Dukes of Hazzard fantasy landscape like a breath of hot urban air. With its huge, diverse ensemble, its interweaving stories and its grasp of life as it was being lived in rough big-city neighborhoods, Hill Street brought a new pace, realism, relevance, maturity and cinematic style to television. If this is the Golden Age of TV drama, Hill Street is its founding father — and it's still more honest about race than most of its children.

Peak moments: Start with the pilot, of course, with its incredibly shocking ending. And don't miss the third season's Emmy-winning opener (the first TV script from NYPD Blue and Deadwood's David Milch), a complex outing about the rape and murder of a nun by two black men that climaxes with Joyce and Frank's fair, famous debate about justice and the law, or the equally famous episode that season in which an angry Ray Calletano uses an awards banquet to confront the police department's anti-Hispanic bias.

What to skip:Bochco was fired at the end of the fifth season, so watch just enough of the sixth to see Dennis Franz join as Lt. Norman Buntz and then move on. — Robert Bianco

Breaking Bad
AMC, 2008-13; final season premieres Aug. 11.
Now: Netflix, , iTunes, Amazon, AMC on Demand, DVD

Stars: Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn, Dean Norris

Why it's binge-worthy: A show about the drug trade should lead to lost weekends. But the performance of its two leads will keep you hitting the play button like it's a crack pipe. Five years ago, the notion of the goofball dad from Malcolm in the Middle as a manipulative drug lord would have been laughable. But Cranston sold it — as evidenced by his three consecutive Emmys. You can't help but admire his work, even as you begin to dislike Walter White for his increasingly uncontrollable ego and the way he treats his family. You'll find yourself rooting instead for meth-cooking apprentice Jesse Pinkman, as Aaron Paul slowly transforms the character from mere comic relief to a man with a conscience and the confidence to finally leave the drug world behind. You just hope it will let him out alive.

Peak moments: In Season 2, Walter and Jesse come perilously close to getting caught red-handed in their rolling meth lab by Walt's brother-in-law Hank, a DEA agent. Season 3 features a pulse-pounding parking lot shootout between Hank and two cartel gunmen as well as a violent confrontation between him and Jesse. From there, the tension is ratcheted ever higher with Walter matching wits against new boss Gustavo Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) and his fixer Mike (Jonathan Banks) at work and estranged wife Skyler (Gunn) at home through the end of Season 4.

What to skip: Subplots involving Hank's kleptomaniac wife Marie (Betsy Brandt), and Skyler's affair with her boss. — Jayme Deerwester

All in the Family
CBS, 1971-1979
Now: Hulu (seasons 1 and 2), DVD, Antenna TV, syndication
Stars: Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers

Why it's binge-worthy: The working-class Queens home of Archie and Edith Bunker hardly seems like a revolutionary place, but producer Norman Lear broke the timid rules of television by injecting timely social issues, such as racial prejudice, sexism and Vietnam -- and the jarring sound of a toilet flush -- into the family sitcom. The series thrived, earning 22 Emmys, and was TV's top show for five seasons. Family made it easier for other programmers to address difficult topics and spawned hit spinoffs Maude, The Jeffersons and Good Times.

Peak moments:Family hit the ground running, shocking and amusing the public as it addressed the off-limits topic of sex in its opening episode and touched on miscarriage, homophobia and racial prejudice in its first season. A classic moment came in Season 2, when Sammy Davis Jr., playing himself, shocked bigoted Archie (O'Connor) with a kiss on the cheek.

What to skip:Archie Bunker's Place, a 1979 successor that moved the focus from the Bunkers' home to a nearby tavern. The show's familial bonds faded. It's tough to follow a classic. — Bill Keveney

Burke's Law
ABC, 1964-66
Now: DVD

Stars: Gene Barry, Gary Conway

Why it's binge-worthy: The first and best of Aaron Spelling's all-star anthologies (think Love Boat or Fantasy Island), this weekly murder mystery is an electronic stroll through a '60s Hollywood reunion. The near-endless list of familiar faces includes Gloria Swanson, Dick Clark, William Shatner, Mickey Rooney, Buster Keaton, Telly Savalas, Don Rickles and my personal favorite, Betty Hutton. You'll never find anything else like it.

Peak moments: Every episode in the first season, the only one currently available, offers a vastly entertaining look at a Hollywood that no longer exists, which includes a money-saving production built around a few established sets that were redressed each week. Binge on just a few episodes, and you'll begin to recognize them. For a Burke's drinking game, hoist one every time you spot an oft-used Chinese screen, or the curved staircase that graces almost every mansion's entrance hall.

What to skip: In a failed effort to cash in on the TV spy craze, ABC removed Captain Burke from the police department in the third season and turned the show into Amos Burke – Secret Agent. And ABC revived the series in 1994-95. Even if you could find those episodes, don't. — Robert Bianco

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
WB/UPN, 1997-2003
Now: Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, DVD, Syfy, Chiller

Stars: Sarah Michelle Gellar, David Boreanaz, Alyson Hannigan

Why it's binge-worthy: Even though Buffy aired on smaller networks, creator Joss Whedon created a cult classic that brought horror, sci-fi and genre material to the masses. Starring Gellar as the title "chosen one," Buffy told one girl's coming-of-age story amid a scary real world — which, in her case, meant demons, the undead, werewolves and a high school on top of a Hellmouth. The series introduced a stake-swinging, witty-bantering superheroine and her Scooby gang of quick-witted outsider friends and loyal "Watcher" Giles (Anthony Stewart Head).

Peak moments: The vampire Angel (Boreanaz) losing his soul after a night of intimacy with Buffy (Gellar) in Season 2 kicked off an outstanding string of episodes, while the Emmy-winning hour "Hush" — mostly devoid of dialogue — and the musical "Once More, with Feeling" showed Whedon at his most creative.

What to skip. The beginning of the seventh and final season was the most convoluted part of the series as it featured a slew of girls cropping up as potential Slayers in case Buffy dies for good, which added an excess of personalities to the tight ensemble cast the show had for much of its run. However, Buffy got its groove back for the good guys' climactic battle against the hellish forces of Nathan Fillion's evil preacher Caleb. — Brian Truitt

China Beach
ABC, 1988-92
Now: DVD

Stars: Dana Delany, Marg Helgenberger, Robert Picardo, Michael Boatman

Why it's binge-worthy: Children of the '80s will remember this drama with the cool music their parents loved and hot-looking women who came of age amid the horrors of the Vietnam War. In addition to the well-crafted story lines in the show, the sounds of the era recalled good times (and bad). And it's a chance to see where Body of Proof's Delany and CSI's Helgenberger earned their stripes.

Peak moments: The pilot introduced nurse Colleen McMurphy (Delany), supposedly spending her last week in Vietnam. Episodes in later seasons featured real veterans relating their experiences in Vietnam, intercut with scenes from previous episodes. In the finale, McMurphy attends a China Beach reunion in Ohio, recalls her last day in Vietnam and travels to Washington, D.C., where the characters are reunited.

What to skip: Season 4 made for a jarring shift as the show jumped 20 years later. It was too much of a leap. Still, watch the two-part finale for a sense of closure. — Lorena Blas

The Larry Sanders Show
HBO, 1992-98
Now: DVD, Amazon, iTunes, VH1 Classic

Stars: Garry Shandling, Jeffrey Tambor, Rip Torn, Janeane Garofalo, Wallace Langham

Why it's binge-worthy: Sanders, a satire about a late-night talk-show host and his staff, was the first to successfully tap into the vain, back-stabbing, egomaniacal world of showbiz, sparked by Shandling's role as a frequent guest host for Johnny Carson. Dozens of celebrities signed on for self-parodying sendups, fawning on camera while sniping behind the scenes. Though overshadowed by Frasier at the Emmys and Seinfeld as a cultural touchstone, Sanders was among HBO's first original-series hits and influenced future shows such as Curb Your Enthusiasm and 30 Rock.

Peak moments: The show's sixth and final season, when Larry calls it quits, guest host Jon Stewart prepares to take over the show, and Sanders drops his "no flipping" advice to viewers in Flip, a celebrity-filled, Emmy-winning finale. And virtually any episode focused on insecure sidekick Hank ("Hey, now") Kingsley (Tambor).

What to skip: The show had its lesser moments, but each season offered a blend of vitriol and pathos that inside-Hollywood series rarely mastered. — Gary Levin

My So-Called Life
ABC, 1994-95
Now: Amazon, Hulu, DVD

Stars: Claire Danes, Jared Leto, Tom Irwin, Bess Armstrong, Wilson Cruz, A.J. Langer, Devon Gummersall, Lisa Wilhoit

Why it's binge-worthy: The series can be dated — from the mismatched, flannel-crazy fashion to the Sonic Youth and Buffalo Toms music —but Winnie Holzman's writing is undeniably timeless. Partnering strong female characters with controversial subjects such as teen drug use and school violence, it's no wonder that Lena Dunham calls this coming-of-age drama an inspiration for HBO's Girls. Realistic, often gut-wrenching insight comes from the internal dialogue of 15-year-old Angela Chase (Danes) or a tender conversation between her parents as they bemoan their increasingly distant daughter.

Peak moments: Life has a habit of letting literature and theater parallel real life, forcing characters to make realizations about themselves. While such moments might induce Liz Lemon-worthy eyerolls (Jordan's Shakespearean revelation that he loves Angela), they can also break your heart (Rayanne's teary Our Town rehearsal in the fittingly named "Betrayal" episode). Also, any chance we get to see Danes' infamous cry face is an episode highlight.

What to skip: The series was canceled after just one season, so why not give all 19 episodes a chance? If you must skip one, then make it Halloween. Although Jordan and Rickie bond, and we're given insight into Angela's younger sister, Danielle, the main story finds Angela talking to the '60s-greaser ghost of a student who died in the school gym. Even for a character that lives inside her head, it felt out of place. — Patrick Ryan