The Sopranos, The Wire, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and The Shield are my Top 5 but this is easily within 10. Esmail's direction was insane. I've been trying to enjoy Malek in other projects, but this is really the only thing I've liked him in so far.
Show was an absolute game-changer for the USA Network. They were running on fumes with the whole "Characters Welcome" branding, with a lot of their flagship shows being dramedies that were laidback and easy to watch. AMC had Breaking Bad/Mad Men, FX had The Americans, and USA didn't really have anything on the scope of those programs. Got the sense they were in search of a show to really catapult their programming to another level. Fortunately, this banger happens to premiere just around the time and the rest is history.