The 50 best TV shows of 2003

Brigada, also known as Law of the Lawless, is a Russian 15-episode crime mini-series that debuted in 2002. It became very popular, but received mixed reviews due to accusations in aestheticization of violence. The miniseries follows the story of four best friends from 1989 to 2000, mainly concentrating on the leader of the group, Sasha Belov.

Firefly is set in the year 2517, after the arrival of humans in a new star system and follows the adventures of the renegade crew of Serenity, a "Firefly-class" spaceship. The ensemble cast portrays the nine characters who live on Serenity.

A powerful beast known as the Nine-Tails attacks Konoha, the hidden leaf village in the Land of Fire, one of the Five Great Shinobi Nations in the Ninja World. In response, the leader of Konoha at the time, the Fourth Hokage, seals the fox inside the body of the new born Naruto Uzumaki, making Naruto a host of the beast; During this process it cost the fourth Hokage his life, requiring the Third Hokage to return from retirement in order to become leader of Konoha again. As a child, Naruto is shunned by the Konoha community, who treat Naruto as if he were the Nine-Tails that attacked the village.

Spetsnaz is a 2002 Russian TV miniseries directed by Andrei Malyukov.

Onizuka is an ex-biker and gang leader who has one goal, to become the greatest teacher. He learns of the power and respect possible as an intern teacher, using his strength and connections to get his students to respect him. Now, graduated, he gets a job at a prestigious private school to handle their 'problem class' that made the past few teachers quit. He must handle a different sort of trouble when the trouble makers include some of the smartest kids in Japan who prefer a more cerebral approach to torturing their teacher. Onizuka must slowly win his students over and deal with their mistrust of teachers while handling the distrust of his fellow teachers.

The hosts talk about the latest cars and its specifications. They review the performance of the car and also find out if it is as good as the manufacturers claim. The current hosts are Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc with The Stig.

A hedonistic jingle writer's free-wheeling life comes to an abrupt halt when his brother and 10-year-old nephew move into his beach-front house.

Told from the points of view of both the Baltimore homicide and narcotics detectives and their targets, the series captures a universe in which the national war on drugs has become a permanent, self-sustaining bureaucracy, and distinctions between good and evil are routinely obliterated.

The Idiot is a costume drama TV series produced by Russia TV Channel in 2003, based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel of the same title. The series' script is very close to Dostoevsky's original text, and the series features well-known Russian actors.

Edward and Alphonse Elric are two brothers gifted with the ability of alchemy, the science of taking one thing and changing it into another. However, alchemy works on the theory of Equivalent Exchange -- for something to be created, something else of equal value must be sacrificed. When their mother dies, Edward decides to do the unthinkable -- bringing her back to life by breaking one of Alchemy's biggest taboos and performing Human Alchemy. Thinking they have nothing more to lose, he and Alphonse make their attempt -- but something goes horribly wrong. In the process, Alphonse loses his body and Edward loses his leg. Ed manages to save Al by attaching his spirit to a suit of armor, but at the cost of his arm and leg.

MythBusters is a science entertainment television program created and produced by Australia's Beyond Television Productions for the Discovery Channel. The show's hosts, special effects experts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, use elements of the scientific method to test the validity of rumors, myths, movie scenes, adages, Internet videos, and news stories.

The series centers on Ryan Atwood, a troubled youth from a broken home who is adopted by the wealthy and philanthropic Sandy and Kirsten Cohen. Ryan and his surrogate brother Seth, a socially awkward yet quick-witted teenager, deal with life as outsiders in the high-class world of Newport Beach. Ryan and Seth spend much time navigating their relationships with girl-next-door Marissa Cooper, Seth's childhood crush Summer Roberts, and the fast-talking loner Taylor Townsend. Story lines deal with the culture clash between the idealistic Cohen family and the shallow, materialistic, and closed-minded community in which they reside. The series includes elements of postmodernism, and functions as a mixture of melodrama and comedy.

Set in the fictional small town of Tree Hill, North Carolina, this teen-driven drama tells the story of two half brothers, who share a last name and nothing else. Brooding, blue-collar Lucas is a talented street-side basketball player, but his skills are appreciated only by his friends at the river court. Popular, affluent Nathan basks in the hero-worship of the town, as the star of his high school team. And both boys are the son of former college ball player, Dan Scott, whose long ago choice to abandon Lucas and his mother Karen, will haunt him long into his life with wife Deb, and their son Nathan. Until now, Dan has managed to keep his two sons far from each other. But the past and present collide sharply when Tree Hill's basketball coach recruits Lucas for his team, much to the chagrin of Nathan and Daddy Dan. And the siblings natural rivalry only intensifies when they set their sights on the same girl, Peyton Sawyer. The residue of the past lingers far into the future for the residents of Tree Hill, even as a new generation is rising. Tree Hill follows the lives and loves of these two brothers, their friends and their family as they navigate high school, marriage, and finally... adulthood.

Rebelde Way is a Martín Fierro Award—nominated Argentine soap opera created and produced by Cris Morena. It originally aired from 26 May 2002 to 18 December 2003. The series was broadcast in many countries worldwide, including Peru, Germany, Israel, Spain and Uruguay, achieving widespread success. In addition, numerous remakes of Rebelde Way have been made, most notably Rebelde by Mexican Televisa. In 2009, Jennifer Lopez bought the rights for an U.S. adaptation.Rebelde Way is set in the Elite Way School, a prestigious private boarding high school near Buenos Aires. The students of the school are the members of Argentine wealthiest families, as well as gifted students with scholarships. The series follows the lives of Elite Way students, their parents and their professors, and it also features the regular use of English language and phrases by the upper class. Its central characters are Marizza Pía Spirito, Mía Colucci, Pablo Bustamante and Manuel Aguirre, portrayed by, respectively, Camila Bordonaba, Luisana Lopilato, Benjamín Rojas and Felipe Colombo. The four form a band named Erreway, in order to pursue their dreams. The band enjoyed a great success throughout Latin America, Europe and Israel, selling over 3 million records and achieving several Platinum records. Along with spawning a series of merchandising, Cris Morena Group also released a spin–off movie Erreway: 4 Caminos in 2004.

The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, often shortened to just Jimmy Neutron, is an American computer animated television series created by John A. Davis. It is the 2002 spin-off to the 2001 film Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. It originally aired on Nickelodeon for three seasons from July 20, 2002 to November 25, 2006.

Claude Casey moved up in the secretarial world of television news, from temp to the anchor's desk. After her boss hires her full time, Claude realizes she may be in over her head in this world of assistants fighting to get ahead. But Claude is determined to prove that though she may not be perfect, she's not going down without a fight.

Hotshot plastic surgeons Dr. Sean McNamara and Dr. Christian Troy experience full-blown midlife crises as they confront career, family and romance problems.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an American animated television series, mainly set in New York City. It first aired on February 8, 2003 and ended on February 28, 2009. The series marked the revival of the franchise as a Saturday morning cartoon on Fox's Fox Box programming block The TMNT 2003 TV series was produced by 4Kids Entertainment, and Mirage Studios, which each owned half of the rights to the show, and animated by Dong Woo Animation. Reruns ran on Cartoon Network's Miguzi block in 2004. The series migrated to The CW4Kids in its final season after 4Kids's contract with Fox ended. Nickelodeon now owns the rights to this and any future Turtles series.

Dead Like Me follows a group of undead grim reapers tasked with shepherding the recently departed into the afterlife.

Rose Red is a television miniseries scripted by horror novelist Stephen King. The series was premiered in the United States on ABC on January 27, 2002. The story involves a cavernous Seattle mansion called Rose Red, which is investigated by parapsychologist Dr. Joyce Reardon and a team of psychics.

Poor Nastya is a Russian telenovela originally aired from 31 October 2003 to 30 April 2004 on the STS. Based on the imperial setting of the 19th century, the series reached international success and was shown in Ukraine, China, Israel, Serbia, Georgia, Greece, Bulgaria and more than twenty countries worldwide. With the budget of $11,8million, it is the most expensive Russian television project of all time. The sequel was planned, but had not been made yet.

Kim and Ron start out a new school year, only to find out that Ron's family is moving to Norway. This puts a strain on their partnership, just as Dr. Drakken, Monkey Fist, and Duff Killigan team up to find and use an ancient time travel device to rule the world. Attacking Kim in the past, present, and future, can these villians succeed? Or will an unforeseen force be more destructive?

Colonel Fox is in charge of a counter terrorism group that will now have the complicated mission to help the police to prevent a dangerous Chechen terrorist organization that wants to free its leader at any cost, even if it has to destroy the whole place.

A re-imagining of the original series in which a "rag-tag fugitive fleet" of the last remnants of mankind flees pursuing robots while simultaneously searching for their true home, Earth.

The story of a wealthy family that lost everything, and the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together.

In the future when technological enhancements and robotics are a way of life, Major Motoko Kusanagi and Section 9 take care of the jobs that are too difficult for the police. Section 9 employs hackers, sharpshooters, detectives and cyborgs all in an effort to thwart cyber criminals and their plans to attack the innocent.

Aspiring models compete for a chance to break into the business with a panel of judges critiquing their progress throughout the competition.

Lilo & Stitch: The Series is the animated television spinoff of the feature film, Lilo & Stitch and the follow-up to Stitch! The Movie. It was aired on Disney Channel worldwide, but has only been released on DVD in Japan, in four box sets.

Adrian Monk was once a rising star with the San Francisco Police Department, legendary for using unconventional means to solve the department's most baffling cases. But after the tragic (and still unsolved) murder of his wife Trudy, he developed an extreme case of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Now working as a private consultant, Monk continues to investigate cases in the most unconventional ways.

Frank Herbert's Children of Dune is a three-part miniseries written by John Harrison and directed by Greg Yaitanes, based on Frank Herbert's novels Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. First broadcast in the United States on March 16, 2003, Children of Dune is the sequel to the 2000 miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune and produced by the Sci Fi Channel. As of 2004, this miniseries and its predecessor were two of the three highest-rated programs ever to be broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel.

CSI: Miami follows Crime Scene Investigators working for the Miami-Dade Police Department as they use physical evidence, similar to their Las Vegas counterparts, to solve grisly murders. The series mixes deduction, gritty subject matter, and character-driven drama in the same vein as the original series in the CSI franchise, except that the Miami CSIs are cops first, scientists second.

Mr. Bean is an animated television series by Varga Studio based on the British live-action series of the same name. Characters from the original live action series included Mr. Bean, Irma Gobb, Teddy, and the mysterious driver of the Reliant Supervan, with the new addition of Mrs. Wicket, Bean's landlady, and her evil cat Scrapper. The series again featured little actual dialogue, with most being either little sound bites or mumbling, mild slapstick, with occasional sexually suggestive moments. Rowan Atkinson provided the voice for Bean; additionally, all of the animated Bean actions are taken from Atkinson himself. Other characters' voices are provided by Jon Glover, Rupert Degas, Gary Martin, Sally Grace and Lorelei King. Despite the series' actual title being simply Mr. Bean, some broadcasters referred to this series as Mr. Bean: plus a subtitle for disambiguating with the original live-action series. Disney Channel Asia refers this series as "Mr. Bean - The Animated Series" and the original live-action series as "Mr. Bean - Live Action Series" in their schedule. The German version, aired on Super RTL, is titled "Mr. Bean - Die Cartoon-Serie".

Monkey Dust is a British satirical cartoon, notorious for its dark humour and handling of taboo topics such as bestiality, murder, suicide and paedophilia. There were three series broadcast on BBC Three between 2003 and 2005. Following co-creator Harry Thompson's death, no further series were made.

The story of an inner-city Los Angeles police precinct where some of the cops aren't above breaking the rules or working against their associates to both keep the streets safe and their self-interests intact.

Sonic and his friends team up with 12 year old Christopher to collect all the Chaos Emeralds and defeat the evil Dr. Eggman.

Carnivàle is an American television series set in the United States during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. In tracing the lives of two disparate groups of people, its overarching story depicts the battle between good and evil and the struggle between free will and destiny; the storyline mixes Christian theology with gnosticism and Masonic lore, particularly that of the Knights Templar.

Scooby-Doo and the Mystery, Inc. gang are launched into the 21st century, with new mysteries to solve.

Tutenstein is an animated television series, produced by Porchlight Entertainment for Discovery Kids based on the comic by Jay Stephens which was published in Oni Press' JetCat Clubhouse. This cartoon also airs on Jetix in Europe and Maxi TV in Turkey. It began broadcasting on November 1, 2003. The half-hour series features young mummy Tutankhamen who is awakened about 3,000 years after his accidental death and now must face that his kingdom is gone. The series is based on an idea by Jay Stephens. The name is a portmanteau of Tutankhamun and Frankenstein. On October 11, 2008 a TV movie entitled Tutenstein: Clash of the Pharaohs aired on Discovery Kids.The production company, PorchLight Entertainment, which is based in Los Angeles, California, has won Emmys for the first and second seasons of the series. Irish TV production company Telegael, which is based in An Spidéal, Co Galway, also won an Emmy Award for the second season.The Hub aired the show after the closure of Discovery Kids.

Tokyo is abuzz with persocoms – humanoid computers that are virtually perfect. The socially and technologically inept Hideki is dying to get his hands on one. When he finds Chii abandoned in the trash, she’s cuter than any current model he’s ever seen before. But when he gets her home and turns her on, she has no data and only a single learning program installed. While Hideki puts his whole heart into teaching Chii the ins and outs of humanity, a mystery unfolds as a dark secret within her awakens.

A dream of falling from the sky...and then birth. Rakka is born from a large cocoon into the Old Home, greeted by a group of females with small wings on their backs and shining halos above their heads. Soon Rakka’s own wings grow, a halo is placed on her head and she is told that she must work in the nearby town of Grie. She soon realizes that the town and the entire world they live in are confined behind the Wall, a tall, impenetrable wall that none except the mysterious Toga are allowed to exit.

Fortysomething is a 2003 British comedy-drama series, starring and directed by Hugh Laurie as Paul Slippery, a doctor facing a mid-life crisis. His wife Estelle is starting a new career as a headhunter. His three sons, Rory, a student at the fictitious University of Reigate, Daniel and Edwin, are sex-obsessed. Meanwhile, Paul appears to hear the inner thoughts of others.Other important characters include Paul's colleague and nemesis, Dr. Ronnie Pilfrey, and Estelle's new employer, Gwendolen Hartley.The series was written by Nigel Williams based on his 1999 novel of the same name. The six episodes of the series were broadcast on ITV. Although a ratings failure on first transmission, leading to it being moved to an off-peak timeslot midway through the run, the appearance of several actors who went on to greater fame has subsequently led the series to sell well on DVD.

Kaname Chidori’s one of the most popular girls at her high school – unfortunately, it’s her growing popularity off campus she should be worrying about. Unbeknownst to Kaname, terrorists are plotting her abduction, believing she possesses the rare and coveted abilities of “the Whispered.” That’s where Sousuke Sagara enters the picture. He’s a hotshot soldier from the clandestine counter-terrorist organization known as Mithril – and he’s going undercover at Kaname’s school to try and keep her safe. He may be an ace in the cockpit of an Arm Slave mech, but there’s no training in the world that could prepare him for the warzone of high school.

My Life as a Teenage Robot is an American animated science fantasy television series, created by Rob Renzetti for Nickelodeon. It was Nickelodeon's first animated science fiction fairy tale. The series follows the adventures of XJ-9, better known as Jenny Wakeman, a robot girl designed to protect Earth, who is excessively addicted to teen-related activities, which are almost always interrupted by Nora Wakeman, her creator and mother.Nickelodeon debuted the first episode on August 1, 2003. After the series was cancelled, later episodes of the series started airing as "never before seen episodes" on Nicktoons Network. The series is distributed outside the United States by the Canadian animation studio, Nelvana Limited.The first season is available on iTunes. All three seasons are available on DVD at Amazon, although it is unknown if Shout! Factory will release them elsewhere.

In the year 2075, mankind has reached a point where journeying between Earth, the moon and the space stations is part of daily life. However, the progression of technology in space has also resulted in the problem of the space debris, which can cause excessive and even catastrophic damage to spacecrafts and equipment.

Mini-series based on the last novel in John Galsworthy's trilogy. A follow-up to The Forsyte Saga (2002).

Tru Calling is an American television supernatural drama series that was shown on the Fox Network from 2003 to 2005. Created by Jon Harmon Feldman, the series was produced by Original Film, Oh That Gus!, Inc., and 20th Century Fox Television. The show starred Eliza Dushku as Tru Davies, a woman who works at the city morgue. In the course of her job, the bodies of dead people start talking to Tru, asking her for help. Tru then finds herself reliving their last day alive, trying to keep their death from happening.

For Brandon Heat, death doesn't matter. Driven by his need for revenge, he returns from beyond the grave to cripple Milleneon, the huge mafia organization which uses undead monsters as its enforcers. His ultimate goal is to destroy Harry MacDowel, the leader of Milleneon and, at one time, Brandon's best friend...

Spider-Man: The New Animated Series is an American animated series based on the Marvel comic book superhero character Spider-Man, which ran for one season, 13 episodes, starting on July 11, 2003. It is a loose continuation of 2002's Spider-Man film directed by Sam Raimi. The show was made using computer generated imagery rendered in cel shading and was broadcast on MTV, and YTV. Eight months later after the series finale, episodes aired in reruns on ABC Family as part of the Jetix television programming block. The series featured a far more mature version of the character than typically seen on television for any animated comic book adaptation. Throughout the series, characters are clearly killed, rather than the usual ambiguous disappearance, and several characters are strongly implied to have had sex.

The life of Napoleon Bonaparte.

A pair of teenage half-brothers, Karl and David Scott, are on a flight with their father on his private plane when Karl takes over the controls, so his father can fall asleep. After flying into a storm, Karl struggles, causing Frank to retake control before it crashes into the ocean. Frank saves his sons, but has trouble escaping the crashed plane as his seatbelt fails to release. Karl and David wash up on the shore of a large uncharted island. Looking for help, Karl and David meet a man named Cyrus Crabb who leads them to Waterfall City, the capital of Dinotopia, a hidden civilization where human beings and dinosaurs peacefully coexist. In fact, some of the dinosaurs, notably a neurotic, but friendly Troodon named Zippo, possess human intelligence and speak perfect English. Among the many rules in Dinotopia is the edict that, once an outsider arrives, he or she is never allowed to leave. As Karl and David prepare to take their places in their new surroundings, both boys develop a strong bond with young Marion, who is on the verge of becoming a "matriarch" of the Dinotopian society. Legend has it that their ancestors lived in an underworld that was lit by sunstones. Cyrus has been stealing artifacts and books to try and find a way off the island. Zippo discovers all the stolen items, but Cyrus knocks him out and thows him in a water canal. Meanwhile, Karl finds a Dino egg and gets sent on a mission by himself. The sun-stones keep mysteriously breaking which causes the dinos to attack. David needs to learn to conquer his fears. Unfortunately, the incursion of vicious carnivores, not to mention an unanticipated human villain, threaten to destroy Dinotopia and everyone living there.