TV.com's Top 100 Everything of 2014, Vol. 8: 30–21

Welcome to the 20s! At this point, we're down to the "this was really great TV" section of our annual Top 100 Everything list. This installment includes moments from our favorite TV shows that were just a smidge more exciting than the "we enjoyed this stuff a lot" honorees of the 40s and the 30s, but that didn't quite make the guest list for the "OMG DID YOU SEE THAT?" party of the top 20. Take a look around, decide whether you agree or disagree with our highly complex numbering system, and then hit the comments with your praise and/or complaints. And don't forget to check back in a couple of days for the final two installments of the best cat videos the very best of TV in 2014!

30. Nora's side trip on The Leftovers

You can debate all you want about the overall quality of HBO's intense new sad-faced drama, but everyone should be able to agree that "Guest," the first season's sixth episode, is the type of installment we want to see more of from the divisive series. There was no wondering about the bigger question that will never be answered anyway, there were no phantom deer or killer dogs; there was just an hour focusing on the series' best character, Nora, as she navigated The Leftovers' post-"Rapture" world, and Carrie Coon's wonderful performance was revelatory.

29. The ladies of The 100

In the post-apocalyptic setting of The 100, everyone and no one is a hero—at least not in the typical sense. The show's commitment to portraying the brutality of the environment it's created is certainly commendable, but the real reason to praise The 100 isn't necessarily its willingness to go dark, but rather its consistently on-point depiction of women. The ladies hold the power in this world; from young, intelligent, and brave characters like Clarke, Raven, and Octavia to respected leaders like Abby, Anya, and Lexa, the series offers a glimpse at a social hierarchy we wish more shows would attempt.

28. Manhattan drops a whopper to end its fantastic first season

WGN American was just trying to make a splash when it entered the crowded field of cable programming, but instead it left a white-hot crater with the debut of its historical drama Manhattan. Centering on the race to build the atomic bomb and end World War II, the series unearthed secret after secret on all levels, building to a suspenseful and confident finish that left us craving more. Not bad for a network's second original series.

PREVIOUSLY: Manhattan Season 1 Finale Review: Sifting Through the Fallout

27. Sons of Anarchy's crying game

Some people watched Sons of Anarchy for the action and the blood. Others watched it to ogle Charlie Hunnam's sculpted ass. And still others watched it for episodes like "Suits of Woe," which were relatively quiet but full of deep, heartbreaking emotion, as characters were allowed to be vulnerable and silences spoke volumes. When the truth about Tara's murder was confirmed by Juice and then revealed to folks like Nero and the club, we were reminded that underneath all the grit and grime, Sons of Anarchy was a story about family... an unconventional and totally screwed-up family, but a family nonetheless. It might have been the best episode since Season 2, and one thing is for certain: Theo Rossi, Charlie Hunnam, and Jimmy Smits were never better. If you didn't tear up as Jax cried in Nero's arms, you're a liar, because everyone cried.

PREVIOUSLY: Sons of Anarchy "Suits of Woe" Review: One Long Reaction Video

26. Ouch my eyeballs!

The way we see it, 2014 was a really bad year for eyeballs, but a really good year for the .GIF-making community. From Oberyn Martell's peeper-'sploding fate on Game of Thrones to Rachel taking a pencil to the iris in Orphan Black's Season 2 finale to The Strain's worm-in-the-retina vampirism transmission method, eyeballs everywhere were in danger. But the corneal carnage didn't stop there! Look into your mind's (hopefully unstabbed) eye to recall: not one, but TWO forms of eye trauma on Sons of Anarchy, the stiletto to the eye on Supernatural, Daryl's creative use of eye sockets on The Walking Dead, and the various eye injuries featured on Gotham, Constantine, and American Horror Story: Freak Show. *Shudder*

25. The CW, Starz, and Cinemax prove there's room for everyone at the adults' table

This year, three long-overlooked little brothers—The CW, Starz, and Cinemax—all made great strides with regard to producing quality original programming. No longer the butt of everyone's jokes, The CW (a.k.a. the runt of the broadcast networks' litter) successfully launched The 100, The Flash, and Jane the Virgin, with the latter bringing the network its first-ever Golden Globe nomination. Meanwhile, Cinemax branched out with the period medical drama The Knick, which made us vomit in a good way, and turned in a great second season of the already underrated Banshee. And the same was true of Starz, which had an excellent year thanks to high-profile shows like the sci-fi period romance Outlander (is it April yet?) and U.K. import The Missing, as well as the surprisingly good underdog Survivor's Remorse. Welcome to the big leagues, kids!

PREVIOUSLY: With Outlander and The Knick, Cinemax and Starz Are Poised to Compete With HBO and Showtime

24. You're the Worst ends the best

Like its prickly characters, FX's new comedy grew on us, and the longer we watched, the more we were rewarded. It makes sense, then, that the Season 1 finale was the show's best episode, with multiple threads stitched together in one big party scene fueled by Vernon's trash juice. Many comedies can be consistently funny in their first seasons, but few manage to go out on such a high note.

23. Veep keeps it real (and real funny)

No series made us laugh as hard, as often, or as loudly as Veep did in its third season. The series is now a well-oiled machine, and Season 3 expertly hurled biting cynicism and pointed zingers at everyone from Jonah to the techies of Silicon Valley ("Do they have a bathroom here, or do they put their turds up in the cloud?). And that was BEFORE it capped everything off by putting Selina in the Oval Office. We can wait to see what's next.

PREVIOUSLY: Veep Season 3 Premiere Review: The Worst Wingman

22. Parks and Recreation outperforms itself... and then does the time warp

Leslie Knope and the wacky employees of Pawnee, Indiana's parks and rec department truly outdid themselves in the show's hour-long Season 6 finale. Before Leslie took a job at the National Parks Service, she put on the greatest concert ever televised—one that included a Mouse Rat reunion and cameos from both Duke Silver and Li'l Sebastian (in hologram form, of course; may he rest in peace). Oh, and did we mention that before the episode was over, the show jumped three years into the future, giving us a glimpse of Ben and Leslie as the power-couple parents of three toddlers? Don't get us wrong, we're thrilled that "Moving Up" turned out to be a season finale instead of a series finale, as the episode seeded a plethora of amazing story opportunities for Parks and Rec's final go-round, but it would've made a hall-of-fame-worthy series ender, too. Either way, it was an incredibly enjoyable hour spent with some of our favorite BFFs (best fictional friends). We love you and we like you, Parks and Rec.

PREVIOUSLY: Parks and Recreation Season 6 Finale Review: Call Me Kristen, 'Cause I Am Wigging Out!

21. The rise of John Oliver and Last Week Tonight

Dear Jon Stewart,

Thank you for taking a mini-vacation from The Daily Show in the summer of 2013 and allowing John Oliver to step in and step up, because if Oliver hadn't spent a couple months helming Comedy Central's flagship late-night show, who knows whether 2014 would've blessed us with the often goofy, always funny, and undeniably knowledgable John Oliver of Last Week Tonight. By filling the Supreme Court with puppies, explaining net neutrality, and building a salmon cannon to shoot fish at celebrities, Oliver carved out a wonderful little corner for himself in our Sunday-night viewing lineup.

Sincerely, the World