With the rise of streaming and serialized storytelling in the 2010s, it’s safe to say that the decade has provided a plethora of peak television offerings. Although some might even say that it’s a golden age, there’s no doubt that certain TV shows have entered the pop culture zeitgeist in a way that no one could have imagined. Whether it is a character you might love, a situation you might relate to, or just a great joke, here are 10 of the greatest TV lines that existed in the 2010s.
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Greatest TV Lines of the 2010s
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10. ‘Rick and Morty’ - “I’m Pickle Rick!”
If there were one quote that both sums up and lampoons the loyal fandom of Rick and Morty, this would be it. Simply put, this might be Rick’s most significant achievement of all time. Or maybe it’s just his way of avoiding going to family therapy.
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9. ‘The Good Place’ – “Holy mother forking shirt balls!”
The Good Place is filled with some clever uses of “censored” swear words. This one just happens to be the one that has permeated pop culture the most, at least in the form of T-shirts, coloring books, and even fan music – yikes.
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8. ‘Brooklyn 99’ – ‘If I die, turn my tweets into a book.”
The self-described “most important cop show ever” has delivered tons of great one-liners over the years. However, Gina’s final wishes are also some people’s greatest fear.
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7. ‘The Walking Dead’ – “Simply put, there’s a vast ocean of shit you people don’t know shit about. Rick knows every fine grain of said shit…and then some.”
Rick Grimes has had plenty of classic quotes throughout the years, but none sums up everyone’s favorite antihero than Abraham’s famous words.
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6. ‘Fleabag’ – “This is a love story”
Boy, it sure is. If this doesn’t sum up Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s masterpiece, we don’t know what does.
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5. ‘Stranger Things’ – “Mornings are for coffee and contemplation.”
This just in: the actual moment that everyone fell in love with Chief Hopper.
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4. ‘Game of Thrones’ – “Winter is coming.”
If only Benioff and Weiss would have heeded their own advice after the finale of the show.
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3. ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ – “They should’ve never given us uniforms if they didn’t want us to be an army.”
Hot damn. If that isn’t some political, social, and economic commentary packed into 15 simple words, then it’s hard to say what is.
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2. ‘Rick and Morty’ – “Nobody exists on purpose, nobody belongs anywhere, and everybody’s gonna die. Come watch TV?”
There’s so much truth to this that it hurts. It also happens to be the best summation of the meaninglessness of the show. In other words, it’s a deep cut – about life itself.
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1. ‘Breaking Bad’ – “I am the danger.”
Walter White’s pop culture-defining “the one who knocks” speech is an all-time classic. Not only is it perhaps the single most significant moment from Breaking Bad, but it’s also the instance where it went from being an excellent show to become the best show of the decade. It’s the precise moment where Walt fully becomes Heisenberg, making it the greatest TV line the existed in the 2010s.
