Pop Culture

The 25 Most Anticipated TV Shows of 2013

Don't be the lame who missed out.

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With a new year come new seasons and new series that are sure to continue television's domination as the best medium for fiction storytelling. The first half of the year is always dedicated to mid-season replacements on the broadcast networks, while winter and spring will see a roll-out of brand new dramas from the cable networks. Additionally, the fall-time cable series that recently left us high and dry last month are already plotting their triumphant returns.

For your viewing pleasure, Complex has listed and ranked the best of the best, from intriguing debuts to feverishly anticipated returns. Set your DVR for The 25 Most Anticipated TV Shows of 2013.

Related: Must Watch TV Shows of 2017

RELATED: The 25 Best TV Shows of 2012

RELATED: The 25 Worst TV Shows of 2012

Written by Frazier Tharpe (@The_SummerMan)

25. Red Widow

Network: ABC
Stars: Radha Mitchell, Goran Visnjic, Lee Tergesen, Clifton Collins, Jr., Jaime Ray Newman, Rade Serbedzija
Premieres: March 3

Why we're excited: This upcoming mid-season replacement stars Radha Mitchell as Marta, recently widowed wife of a big-time member of an organized crime syndicate. To protect and continue to provide for her family, Marta assumes her late husband's role in the business, slowly but surely adopting the criminal underworld as her new environment.

ABC's trend of pandering to suburban housewives could render this an unwatchable, escapist soap opera with a gritty backdrop. It'd be a shameful waste of a great premise, so we're hoping the network aims for both genders or at the very least Red Widow could be ABC's next great guilty pleasure, especially if Mitchell turns in a badass performance a la Emily Van Camp on Revenge.

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24. Legit

Network: FX
Stars: Jim Jefferies, D.J. Qualls, Dan Bakkedahl
Premieres: January 17

Why we're excited: FX is as strong with comedy (Louie, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The League, Wilfred, Archer) as it is with drama (Justified, Sons of Anarchy, American Horror Story), and the network is giving Australian canine Wilfred some native company with its latest half-hour effort, Legit. The series will follow Aussie stand-up comedian Jim Jefferies as a foul funnyman navigating the day-to-day of Los Angeles with his best friends. A low-key, cost effective, basic premise that stands to yield lots of laughs and attention? Sounds like the type of sitcom FX does best.

23. Zero Hour

Network: ABC
Stars: Anthony Edwards, Michael Nyqvist, Scott Michael Foster, Carmen Ejogo, Jacinda Barrett, Addison Timlin
Premieres: February 14

Why we're excited: It's been awhile since TV had a genuinely enjoyable, successful adventure series—mostly because on this medium they inevitably end up corny as fuck and the struggle to maintain whatever search the series' premise depends on renders the plot stagnant, dull, and directionless.

Still, we're always going to be willing to try out each and every one, because, who doesn't love a good adventure? Based off of the trailer and ABC's ramped up ad campaign, Zero Hour looks promising. So far the biggest plot details are being kept close to the vest, but from what we can tell, the show centers around a continents-spanning kidnapping and conspiracy narrative that seemingly encompasses everything from Nazis, supernatural demon babies, and Da Vinci Code-esque contraptions.

Judging from past experience, final ruling on these types of series can't be made after the pilot. We'll definitely give Zero Hour a few hours of our time before we decide if it's the next great adventure for TV, or just more mid-season cancel bait.

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22. Do No Harm

Network: NBC
Stars: Steven Pasquale, Alana de la Garza, Ruta Gedmintas, Phylicia Rashad, Michael Esper, John Carroll Lynch
Premieres: January 31

Why we're excited: It seems like Hollywood is always trying to make something pop with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and most times the result is a mess, because no one knows the right way to execute the good doctor's homicidal alter ego. He's either an overly hulking brute, or a lame, mustache twirling villain. NBC is trying its hand at the classic character with Do No Harm, which doesn't actually reference the source material by name and instead aims to be a modern interpretation.

The protagonist is Dr. Jason Cole (Pasquale), an accomplished neurosurgeon with a deadly alternate personality named Ian Price. We'd love it if they actually pull it off (although we still have nightmares about NBC's awful, similar Christian Slater starring My Own Worst Enemy from a few years back), but that mostly hinges on the execution of Price, and there's a very high chance that the ball will be dropped. Also, we're not quite sure how one maintains an ongoing series with this concept, but we're eager to find out.

21. Californication

Network: Showtime
Stars: David Duchovny, Natascha McElhone, Evan Handler, Pamela Adlon, Madeleine Martin
Premieres: January 13

Why we're excited: Most of the series cable has to offer are brooding, dark dramas, and we love them for it, but a little levity goes a long way. Californication is fully capable of being dark and brooding, but even still, when it's on, it's the uncontested champion of breezy, R-rated comedy.

The sixth season will find boozing author Hank Moody sacrificing his artistic integrity yet again, this time with a live musical version of one of his books. Aside from a recurring guest appearance from Maggie Grace as a rock groupie/muse (that could potentially lead to a spin-off), as well as a cameo from Marilyn Manson, not much else is known.

However, it's more than a safe bet to assume that there will be lots of sex, Hank will meet a kindred, yet somehow more emotionally damaged spirit, baby mama and bratty daughter Karen and Becca will continue to annoy, agent Charlie will further degrade himself, and there will be lots of sex.

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20. Continuum

Network: SyFy
Stars: Rachel Nichols, Victor Webster, Erik Knudsen, Stephen Lobo, Roger Cross
Premieres: January 14

Why we're excited: The UK has already had the pleasure of experiencing this science fiction thriller, a high-concept drama which stars Nichols as Kiera Cameron, a law enforcement agent from 2077 who follows a group of terrorists that rebelled against the corporation-ruled dystopian future infrastructure and time travel to Vancouver 2012 to escape conviction.

Cameron works with the present-day officials to track down the renegades while also doing her best to avoid changing the future—and pondering if her bleak future is even worth preserving. It seemingly promises action with weighty, thoughtful social/political commentary, a mix SyFy once executed awesomely with the late, great Battlestar Galactica.

19. Masters of Sex

Network: Showtime
Stars: Michael Sheen, Lizzy Caplan, Caitlin Fitzgerald, Nicholas D'Agosto, Teddy Sears
Premieres: September 29

Why we're excited: Not much is known about this series other than it's based on Thomas Maier's book Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, and that Sheen and Caplan will portray the pair, real-life leaders of the sexual revolution/pioneers of the science of human sexuality. A TV show with that premise, on an uninhibited network like Showtime, starring the always sexy Caplan? Yeah, we'll be there.

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18. The Americans

Network: FX
Stars: Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, Noah Emmerich, Keidrich Sellati, Holly Taylor, Maximiliano Hernandez
Premieres: January 30

Why we're excited: FX currently has one of the best original programming slates out, and this winter it's adding to that with The Americans, a Cold War espionage drama set in the 1980s, starring Keri Russell as a sleeper KGB agent masquerading as a doting housewife.

The premise may seem random and well-worn, but then again a Cold War-era (regarded by many as the height of espionage) story could be a welcome contrast to espionage shows that center on contemporary conflicts. Plus, Russell's brief but memorable cameo in Mission: Impossible III proves that Felicity can, in fact, be taken seriously as an ass-kicking spy. Thirdly, premiering at the best time, in the winter, just as the Homeland thirst is kicking in, could create some healthy competition for the acclaimed series.

17. Dexter

Network: Showtime
Stars: Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter, David Zayas, Desmond Harrington, C.S. Lee, James Remar
Premieres: June 30

Why we're excited: The most important thing about season eight of Dexter is that, at this time at least, it's set to be the series' swan song. And we pray to Ghost Harry that executives at Showtime don't swoop in and change that. It's high time that this wildly uneven series come to an end. And as the (mostly) creatively rejuvenating seventh season proved, the promise of an end date is exactly what Dexter and Dexter needed to become engaging, and interesting again.

If this really is the last season of Dexter, it could quite possibly be the most suspenseful batch of episodes the show's ever delivered. Seasons prior have wrung exciting drama out of the idea of law enforcement closing in on the Bay Harbor Butcher, but we ultimately knew Dex would wriggle out of the noose. This year, hopefully all bets are off.

Throw in wild card sister and police homicide lieutenant Debra, who is sure to make some bad decisions over her guilt about killing Laguerta, and Angel, who might actually become, dare we say, relevant again in the wake of her death, and Dexter has several different avenues it could take toward an unpredictable ending. We can't wait, as long as one of those roads includes the return of the always-welcome Yvonne Strahovski.

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16. Ray Donovan

Network: Showtime
Stars: Liev Schreiber, Jon Voight, Paula Malcomson, Eddie Marsan, Katherine Moennig, Dash Mihok, Kerris Dorsey, Pooch Hall, Steven Bauer
Premieres: June 30

Why we're excited: Showtime is enjoying a prominence unlike it's ever seen, and the network is far from content to rest on the success of Homeland and Shameless. With this possibly being the last year for network staples Dexter and Californication, it's full steam ahead in the drama department, and talent-wise, Showtime is kicking off the new year with its biggest new gun.

Liev Schrieber leads the A-list cast as the titular Ray Donovan, "fixer" to the rich and famous, handler of all types of unscrupulous situations (the show is located in Hollywood, naturally). His successful business and family life are threatened upon his father's (Voight) expedited release from prison, and if the trailers are any indication, Angelina Jolie's dad has one hell of a scary performance up his sleeve. Could this be the next great crime series? It's looking good so far.

15. Bates Motel

Network: A&E
Stars: Vera Farmiga, Freddie Highmore, Max Thieriot, Keegan Connor, Mike Vogel, Nestor Carbonell, Nicola Peltz, Olivia Cooke, Richard Harmon
Premieres: March 18

Why we're excited: Prequels are arguably the least necessary narrative device. For some reason executives aim to wring all they can out of a franchise or classic character with explanations of how the events that led to our favorite films and shaped our favorite characters into the people we love to watch. There have been some great ones, but most tend to eschew the magic and mystique of classic characters with over-explanations and performances that don't hold a candle to the original.

Bates Motel could go either way. On one hand, we're not sure we really need to see a young, pre-Psycho Norman Bates strangling cats, stuffing birds, and creepily interacting with his mom. But the pilot could prove that there is indeed drama worth mining from the future slasher's early years. It's all in the, ahem, execution.

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14. House of Cards

Network: Netflix
Stars: Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright, Kate Mara, Corey Stoll, Kristen Connolly, Sakina Jaffrey, Sebastian Arcelus, Constance Zimmer, Sandrine Holt, Jayne Atkinson, Mahershala Ali, Michael Kelly
Premieres: February 1

Why we're excited: Netflix has already launched its inaugural original series, Lilyhammer, but that show has mostly flown under the radar. House of Cards, however, will almost certainly gain attention for leading man Kevin Spacey alone (who developed the show with David Fincher and Beau Willimon), and if the series is a hit it could set the next big phase of original television programming in motion.

Adapted from a BBC miniseries, Cards features Spacey as Frank Underwood, a politician working very closely with the next president of the United States, who goes on the offensive against the administration when he doesn't receive his promised appointment as Secretary of State. His ruthless retaliation sets a secret political scandal in motion. Skeletons are unearthed, backs are stabbed and judging by trailers, it's all done with a cinematic, HBO-style execution.

It's been awhile since there was a popping political drama that didn't also involve spies, bullets, and explosions. House of Cards looks poised to put the genre back on the map while paving new territory for the video rental giant.

13. Boardwalk Empire

Network: HBO
Stars: Steve Buscemi, Kelly Macdonald, Michael Shannon, Shea Wigam, Michael Stuhlbarg, Stephen Graham, Vincent Piazza, Michael K. Williams, Jack Huston, Gretchen Mol
Premieres: September

Why we're excited: When the Prohibition-era crime drama's third season ended last month, Nucky survived his bloodiest feud yet against wannabe crime lord Gyp Rossetti (Bobby Cannavale), but emerged harder and more misanthropic for it. Gone is the glad-handing politician and in his place is a cold gangster, and any future business dealings will certainly reflect that.

The finale left a few things up in the air, like nut job Gillian's fate after heroin overdosing, but otherwise we can expect business as usual in Atlantic City when the show returns this fall, but relationships will never be the same. Margaret will almost certainly return to Nucky, but the marriage will never overcome the affairs, lies and hardships it faced in season three. The same goes for Arnold Rothstein and Lucky Luciano, whose been fucked over by his money-driven mentor one too many times. Nucky also has made moves against Rothstein after having been abandoned in his conflict with New York.

Boardwalk is sometimes unfairly hated on for its leisurely pacing, but it's for that very reason that it's one of the best, most sophisticated series out. The only thing that could make it even better at this point is a Nucky Thompson-Richard Harrow union.

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12. Justified

Network: FX
Stars: Timothy Olyphant, Walton Goggins, Nick Searcy, Natalie Zea, Joelle Carter, Jacob Pitts, Erica Tazel
Premieres: January 8

Why we're excited: It feels like forever since we last rocked with Deputy Raylan Givens (Olyphant), the cowboyish, sly-tongued U.S. Marshal with a gun hand as fast as lightning and a mountain worth of daddy issues. The superb backwater Kentucky-set series features an original universe unlike any other setting in TV's current crop, populated with a rich cast of characters that spout the best, wittiest dialog on the tube.

Details on season four's main arc are scarce, but we do know that while Raylan and estranged wife Winona are expecting, the series will continue to focus on its core relationship: that of Raylan and former best friend turned criminal mastermind Boyd Crowder (Goggins). Three seasons in, Justified has earned a reputation for crafting fantastic antagonists for Raylan to butt heads with, and we're expecting the latest batch of episodes to continue to deliver on that regard. This is hands-down the best show you're not watching (cheers to all who are already tuning in), so add it to your New Year's resolutions and get familiar.

11. Sons of Anarchy

Network: FX
Stars: Charlie Hunnam, Maggie Siff, Ron Perlman, Katey Sagal, Mark Boone Junior, Kim Coates, Dayton Callie, Tommy Flanagan, Theo Rossi
Premieres: September

Why we're excited: After a couple middling seasons, Sons of Anarchy delivered one of its best stretches yet with the last half of season five, which saw Jax (Hunnam) finally ascend to the throne and inevitably become corrupted by it. Creator Kurt Sutter is planning to wrap up the motorcycle crime saga in seven seasons, so some might assume the upcoming sixth will be the calm before the storm. And they'd be mistaken.

There's plenty of shit waiting to hit the fan when the action resumes. Gemma may or may not have set Tara up for arrest, Clay will almost certainly find a way around the certain death Jax fixed him up for, but most importantly Donal Logue's silently menacing, vengeful U.S. Marshal, last seen sitting by a bed full of choppers is in the wind, ready to make the Sons pay for their indirect hand in his sister's death. The penultimate year of SoA may just be its most blood-splattered yet.

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10. Hannibal

Network: NBC
Stars: Mads Mikkelsen, Hugh Dancy, Caroline Dhavernas, Lara Jean Chorostecki
Premieres: Mid-season 2013

Why we're excited: There seems to be a trend this year of developing series based on classic horror/thriller characters, and Hannibal has a shot at being the best of the bunch. There's every chance it could be as terrible a prequel as Hannibal Rising, but the talent involved suggests otherwise.

The series stars onetime Bond villain Mads Mikkelsen as Hannibal Lecter, the good doctor who uses his forensic psychiatrist skills to help Special Agent Will Graham (Dancy) catch serial killers—while secretly serial killing and cannibalizing in his private time. Hannibal will explore the complex relationship between Lecter and Graham, its origins, and of course how it all leads to the opening scene of Red Dragon.

The show is also notable for being the first broadcast drama to apply the cable model in terms of episode order—every season will only consist of 13 episodes, which of course tightens the narrative focus and lessens the chance of the fluff and filler usually deployed to stretch a typical broadcast 22-episode order.

Yes, it's possible that Mikkelsen's performance will just be a pale imitation of Anthony Hopkins' iconic one, or that the series will stick too closely to a procedural format. But with Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies, Wonderfalls, Dead Like Me) running things, we're hoping Hannibal proves the skeptics wrong.

9. The Following

Network: FOX
Stars: Kevin Bacon, James Purefoy, Jeananne Goossen, Maggie Grace, Natalie Zea, Adan Canto, Nico Tortorella, Shawn Ashmore, Valorie Curry, Michael Roark
Premieres: January 21

Why we're excited: Scream scribe Kevin Williamson has already made TV lightning strike on the low, on The CW's underrated but highly entertaining The Vampire Diaries. Now he's trying out for the big leagues with a different lane in the horror genre, on FOX's upcoming The Following.

The series follows Kevin Bacon as Ryan Hardy, a celebrated FBI profiler who gained his fame after collaring super-smart serial killer (aren't they all) Joe Carroll (Purefoy). Naturally, you can't keep a good sociopath down, but Carroll's return isn't a straightforward one: He's developed a cult of followers from his prison cell and marshaled them via the great worldwide web.

The brilliant American Horror Story series made horror-for-TV a relevant genre again, but in the wake of vampires, ghosts, and otherwise supernatural over-saturation, the slasher sub-genre has been begging for the small-screen treatment. If anyone is up to the task, it's Williamson, a guy who knows a thing or two about revitalizing the horror genre.

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8. The Newsroom

Network: HBO
Stars: Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer, John Gallagher, Jr., Alison Pill, Thomas Sadoski, Dev Patel, Olivia Munn, Sam Waterson
Premieres: June 2013

Why we're excited: After a promising pilot, The Newsroom writing team—Aaron Sorkin, Aaron Sorkin, and Aaron Sorkin—frustrated us with juvenile romantic comedy, a timeline that allowed the News Night team to crack stories because of convenient connections or just sheer, unexplained prescience, that annoyingly saccharine theme song, and the 18th use of Coldplay's "Fix You" for a moving montage.

And yet, for all the jokes, each time a big national event went down we found ourselves wondering if and how Sorkin-through-McAvoy would cover it. Sure, there's a very high possibility that the election 2012 coverage will be intercut with Jim and Maggie staring longingly at each other with Vanessa Carlton playing in the background, but either way, Newsroom will certainly have our attention.

7. The Walking Dead

Network: AMC
Stars: Andrew Lincoln, Laurie Holden, Steven Yeun, Chandler Riggs, Norman Reedus, Lauren Cohan, Danai Gurira, Michael Rooker, David Morrissey
Premieres: February 13

Why we're excited: Despite the recently resumed game of showrunner musical chairs, The Walking Dead is currently enjoying its goriest, most action-packed, and all-around best season yet. When the zombie drama went on winter hiatus, Michonne (Gurira) had pushed the Governor (Morrissey) over his metaphorical sadistic cliff, and while Rick (Lincoln) and co. managed to rescue Maggie (Cohan) and Glen (Yuen) from his grasp, they lost Daryl (Reedus) in the melee.

With the Governor eager to exact his pound of flesh with Daryl and Merle's (Rooker) deaths, Andrea's (Holden) slow realization that her new beau is actually out of his mind, and Rick's increasingly cold demeanor, we have a feeling the Woodbury shootout was just a preview of an epic battle between the two surviving camps.

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6. Homeland

Network: Showtime
Stars: Claire Danes, Mandy Patinkin, Damian Lewis, David Marciano
Premieres: September 29

Why we're excited: Sure, Homeland made some questionable decisions in season two, with Brody and Carrie going full-on star-crossed romance among the most frustrating. Was our trust in the at one point infallible espionage drama shaken? Unfortunately, yes. But is that a good reason to anticipate season three with trepidation? Hell no.

We've got a long way to go before September. That's a good time for all of the complaints and concerns about the direction season two took to sink in with the writers, and for them to regroup and get back to the basics. And although season two just ended, there are already some promising tidbits to give us hope.

Firstly, the finale gives the series an easy out to do away with some of its most problematic characters (read: the entire Brody family) or at least give them reduced screen time, paving the way for new, fresh story lines and more importantly, more Saul (Patinkin). Secondly, creator Alex Gansa has hinted that season three may operate on a smaller, (esteemed espionage novelist) John le Carré type scale, which is precisely what the season should do, instead of trying to top last year's admittedly ballsy and unforgettable CIA headquarters bombing. But for now, all we can do is hope, and wait.

5. Community

Network: NBC
Stars: Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Yvette Nicole Brown, Alison Brie, Donald Glover, Jim Rash, Ken Jeong, Chevy Chase
Premieres: February 7

Why we're excited: The fourth season of the lovable, immensely underrated oddball sitcom brings with it a ton of trepidation for longtime fans to sweat over. Series creator and mastermind Dan Harmon was ousted in the off-air interim, as well as several other key collaborators.

Chevy Chase, long rumored to be a contentious presence on set, has finally walked and as such season four will be the eccentric Pierce Hawthorne's last (if not the untimely end of all things Community). On top of all of the behind-the-scenes strife, the series, which practically resides on the cancellation bubble, was supposed to premiere last fall. The delayed date doesn't quite ease the fear that this may be Greendale Community College's last hurrah.

While those are valid concerns, to the fanbase we say: stop worrying about two more seasons and a movie and enjoy the upcoming episodes that we've been granted. Series lose showrunners all the time, Harmon's gone and the best-case scenario is that after three years every winning aspect that he brought to the show has been imprinted in the remaining cast and crew. Judging by the premiere's premise, which finds Dean Pelton bringing the Hunger Games universe to Greendale, we'd say the pop-culture meta-humor sitcom we fell in love with is still intact.

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4. Girls

Network: HBO
Stars: Lena Dunham, Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet, Adam Driver, Alex Karpovsky
Premieres: January 13

Why we're excited: Love it or loathe it, one fact about Girls remains true: No debut season has stormed the TV streets as assuredly as Lena Dunham's first year of 20-something white girl problems. The simple fact is, we all know girls as self-involved and occasionally hard-to-like as Hannah, Marnie, Jessa and Shoshanna, and it's that acute attention to generational archetypes that is going to help Girls continue to win.

Season two picks up where the finale "She Did" left off, with Hannah rooming with ex-boyfriend Elijah and Jessa embarking on the adventures of married life. Shoshanna will pursue a relationship with Ray, her deflowerer. Marnie continues to be salty about how quickly Charlie's gotten over her, while fielding more advances from that weird, sexually aggressive art dealer guy.

But most intriguingly, it's Hannah who will be playing the field the most this year, hooking up with the likes of guest star Donald Glover (so much for that race issue!) while Adam devolves into a crazed, jealous, stalker-ex.

3. Mad Men

Network: AMC
Stars: Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, Jessica Pare, John Slattery, Christina Hendricks, January Jones, Vincent Kartheiser, Robert Morse
Premieres: Spring 2013

Why we're excited: Remember when AMC, Matthew Weiner, and Lionsgate were beefing over contracts, and Mad Men was off the air for 15 months?! Harsh times. Thankfully, we're back to regular programming, and the cigarette inhaling, whiskey swirling, cheating ad executives should be back to do it all again a sixth time by spring. Thankfully, because it's one of the finest shows on TV.

As usual, Weiner is tight-lipped about plot details, down to the actual year that the season will begin in, but we can make some safe assumptions. As the Hawaii set pictures would imply, Don and Meagan are still together, but the last we saw of them, their marriage was compromised when she asked Don to pull strings to jump-start her fledgling acting career.

Sterling Draper Cooper Price finally ascended, but at the cost of Lane's life. Elisabeth Moss has assured fans Peggy will continue to be a presence, despite leaving SCDP for greener pastures, as will Betty, but as they become satellite characters, their level of interaction with Don remains a mystery.

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2. Breaking Bad

Network: AMC
Stars: Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn, Dean Norris, Bob Odenkirk, Betsy Brandt, RJ Mitte
Premieres: Summer 2013

Why we're excited: The end is finally here. For four and a half tremendous seasons, we've watched Walter White (Cranston) ascend to unforeseen heights as he slowly but surely used his wits and chemical expertise to take control of the methamphetamine drug trade, but at the very large cost of his soul. He's finally amassed enough money to quit, but it's too late to walk away clean at this point.

There are several confrontations hanging over Mr. White's head, waiting to crash down on him at any given moment, that will surely color most of the final episodes. How will Hank (Norris) react to his recent discovery that his brother-in-law is the phantom meth distributor he's hell-bent on catching? Will Jesse (Paul) ever learn what Walter did to Jane and Brock? All we know is that in the near future Walter is alone, desperate, and apparently has a problem that can only be solved with a very large machine gun.

1. Game of Thrones

Network: HBO
Stars: Peter Dinklage, Emilia Clarke, Lena Headey, Kit Harrington, Harry Lloyd, Michelle Fairley, Iain Glen, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Premiere Date: March 31

Why we're excited: As if the promise of yet another A-plus season weren't enough, the Game of Thrones producers have long cited book three as one of the top reasons they wanted to adapt the series for television to begin with. If that's not enough to get you excited, then there's also Jon Snow's capture alongside Mance Raydor, Daenerys Targaryen's impending arrival in Westeros with her badass dragons, and the fate of Peter Dinklage's Tyrion to keep you satisfied, until part one (the third book will be split across two seasons) of season three reaches that Earth-shattering moment that compels fans to unanimously name A Storm of Swords as their favorite book.

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