My favorite drug dealer TV shows, ranked
OPINION: I obviously love a good drug dealer drama, and I watch a lot of these shows, so allow me to share my rankings.
Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
One thing about me, I’mma watch a television drama that depicts the lives and lifestyles of drug dealers, and I’mma be obsessed with it.
I can’t put my finger on what it is about the high-stakes world of drug dealers, the women they love, the police detectives they work hard to evade, the enemies they have to face off against, and all the other high-stakes drama that draws me in and keeps me in a chokehold season after season, but here we are.
I’ve watched a number of them over the years, going all the way back to my teenage years, and I’m here to tell you my official ranking of all the shows I’ve enjoyed.
Now, I realize that my favorites are not everyone else’s favorites, and I realize that I have not watched all the same shows as everyone else, so this is why I say this is my ranking. It’s not definitive by any means; it is just a listing of the ones I like. Your opinion will likely differ, and that’s fine. Go write about it somewhere else because another thing about me? I’m not finna argue with y’all about nothing.
Oh, one other thing before I get this list started. All of these shows are personal favorites. A show being last on the list doesn’t mean it is a bad show; it wouldn’t be on this list if I didn’t like it and recommend it for viewing. It just means that when compared to my other favorite shows, this is where it is on the list.
Let’s begin.
18. “Drug Lords”
“Drug Lords” is not scripted television. It is a documentary series that looks into the lives of famous drug dealers and drug cartels we have all heard of and/or seen dramatized in movies and television. I put this on the list because I’m one of those people that will watch a show like this and then spend hours on Google searching for information on all the people mentioned. It’s my particular kind of kink. This show profiles Pablo Escobar, the Cali Cartel, Frank Lucas, and El Chapo among others. It’s must-see TV.
17. “Miami Vice”
There’s no way I could have made this list and not included the first to ever do it.
“Miami Vice” was such a groundbreaking show. They did it the way no one ever had before.
It’s funny; I was having a conversation with someone recently, and they said that Miami was a little “backwater town” until cocaine hit its shores.
“Miami Vice” showed us live and in color what that looked like, and they had the music, the cars, the fashions and the fine-ass men to go along with it. Don Johnson as Sonny Crockett, (fine-ass) Philip Michael Thomas (who has 11 kids according to Wikipedia?!?) as Rico Tubbs, and a young and handsome Edward James Olmos (who is always good in everything) as their boss, Marty Castillo.
I know Black people are all into Tubi these days, and you can watch the series over there. It hits differently as an adult, but I still love it.
16. “Power Book IV: Force”
I’ve written about how I love all the things in what I call “the 50 Cent Cinematic Universe.” This show is no exception.
“Force” is focused on Tommy Egan (Joseph Sikora), one of the main characters from the original series “Power.” He’s left New York and is building a new life for himself in Chicago. Of course, he just can’t leave the game alone, so he is getting his business and his weight up in the Windy City, and along with that comes everything you can expect — haters, women, people wanting to kill him and drama.
I recommend it if you’ve watched the original series and you enjoy the character of Tommy.
15. “Mayans MC”
This “Sons of Anarchy” spinoff is all about a Mexican biker gang in a California border town. The Mayans are led by Marcus Alvarez (Emilio Rivera), who we met in the original series, and we get to see how they get down in a time period that occurs after the events in the original SOA series.
Danny Pino is in this series, and he’s wearing a beard. If you don’t watch it for any other reason, watch it for him because he is fine as frog hair.
But also watch it because there is a lot of drama — family drama, gang-infighting drama, drug cartel drama, Mexican cartel drama, prison drama, baby mama drama, what the hell is even happening drama, and I know who yo daddy is drama.
14. “Narcos”
It admittedly took me a few tries to get into this Netflix series, but once I did, I was hooked. As previously mentioned, I love anything based on a real-life story, and this fits the bill. Pablo Escobar is the subject of this dramatization, and it’s such a good watch.
13. “BMF”
Another treat from the 50 Cinematic Universe, and another based on real-life people and events. This one tells the story of Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory (played by his son, Demetrius Flenory Jr. aka “Lil Meech”) and his younger brother Terry “Southwest T” Flenory (played by Da’Vinchi) and the drug empire they built from their humble beginnings in Detroit, Michigan.
As with everything else 50 Cent-related, this show is high drama. There are a lot of celebrity appearances sprinkled throughout the episodes, but the core cast is pretty good as well, including Snoop Dogg as the pastor of their church.
Watch for that alone.
12. “Weeds”
“Weeds” is a Showtime original series starring Mary-Louise Parker as Nancy Botwin, a suburban housewife who becomes a widow and decides to start selling weed to make money to provide for herself and her two sons, Silas and Shane. Everything that comes after that is hilariously white ladyish, including her interactions with non-white people. It’s awkward, funny, heartwarming at times, and an easy watch. 10/10 highly recommend.
11. “Power Book III: Raising Kanan”
“Raising Kanan” is the third installment in the “Power” series, and it focuses on the early life of Kanan Stark, who was portrayed by 50 Cent in the original series. In “Raising Kanan,” Mekai Curtis plays the character as a teen, and he’s so good at it, I’m wondering if maybe 50 has a secret son we don’t know about. I mean, even the way he talks sounds like 50.
Patina Miller plays Kanan’s mother, Raquel Thomas. “Raq,” as she’s known, could easily beat Monet Tejada in a contest for worst mother ever in television history.
The show focuses on Kanan’s relationship with his mother and her two younger brothers Lou (Malcolm Mays) and Marvin (London Brown), and the life all of them lead as members of Raq’s drug dealing empire.
10. “Power”
Original recipe “Power” is about the life of James St. Patrick (Omari Hardwick), street name Ghost, an entrepreneur who owns night clubs and other types of businesses and uses them as fronts to launder the proceeds from his large-scale drug dealing business.
The original series introduces us to people who will become main characters in the spinoff series including Ghost’s son Tariq (Michael Rainey Jr.), Tommy (Joseph Sikora), Cooper Saxe (Shane Johnson), and Rashad Tate (Larenz Tate).
9. “Sons of Anarchy”
This is the show that made me respect Katey Sagal so much as an actress. Who knew Peggy Bundy could be this diabolical?
Her husband, Kurt Sutter, is the creator of the series, and in my mind, he wrote that character just for her so she could show off her acting chops, and show off she did. I hate her character, Gemma Teller Morrow, more than anything, but I love Katey Sagal.
That said, watch “Sons of Anarchy” just for the high drama that surrounds a motorcycle gang full of racist or racist-adjacent white men who sell drugs, mistreat women, shoot it out with everyone and their mama, and spend what seemed like an eternity in Ireland (and I considered that season the hardest to watch, but it’s worth pushing through it).
8. “Power Book II: Ghost”
In “Ghost,” we learn that Tariq grows up to be just like his father, and if the ending of this last season was any indication, we know who his ride or die is going to be, and that is really poetic.
If you want to watch a group of college kids, drug dealers, college kids who are drug dealers, and drug dealers who should be in college but were pressured into the drug game by their overbearing mama, watch this show. It’s good.
7. “Queen of the South”
Teresa Mendoza (Alice Braga) got done wrong one good time in her life, and she decided to take that tragedy and turn herself into a drug queenpin who takes no mess from anyone and ends up the winner of it all in the end.
Watch this for the high drama. It’s like an English-language telenovela, and I love it.
6. “La Reina del Sur”
Or maybe “Queen of the South” is like an English-language telenovela because it’s based on the Spanish-language telenovela “La Reina del Sur.”
This is on Netflix, and when I tell y’all I binged it with all my learned Spanish and loved it more than the American version? It’s so good.
You can turn subtitles on, and I highly recommend you do so and enjoy the original story; it differs greatly from the American-made series.
5. “Breaking Bad”
“Breaking Bad” is another that took me a few tries to get into, but once I was in it, I was hooked. The story of high school chemistry teacher Walter White (Bryan Cranston) is a compelling one. Finding out you have lung cancer and knowing you won’t be able to afford the medical bills is a valid reason to use your science smarts to start manufacturing and selling the best meth on the market.
And once you watch “Breaking Bad” in its entirety, be sure to check out the spinoff, “Better Call Saul,” which focuses on the attorney we come to meet in the original series and shows how he became who he is. It’s great television and should have won all the awards.
4. “The Corner’
This HBO miniseries is from the creators of “The Wire,” and it focuses on a family in Baltimore that lives on both sides of the drug game — both dealers and users.
It’s such a good story, and it’s based on real people and true events. 1000% recommend.
3. “Ozark”
Marty Byrd. Wendy Byrd. Ruth Langmore.
That’s it. That’s the description. There is nothing I could tell you that would adequately prepare you for the rollercoaster that is “Ozark.” You simply have to experience it for yourself. Do it soon.
2. “The Wire”
Honestly, this is No. 1 right alongside the show I put as No. 1, and the reason this slipped even a tiny bit below the actual No. 1 spot will be explained in the description for No. 1.
Suffice it to say “The Wire” is a classic. It is compared to every show that has come after it, and honestly, there is no comparison.
The ensemble cast came through and gave us a host of characters to love, hate, root for and root against. When a show makes you openly cheer for a Black man walking around with a shotgun in his overcoat robbing drug dealers and killing them if he has to, you know the writing and characterizations were good as hell.
HBO, or Skinemax or whatever they are calling themselves these days, understood the assignment when they put this one out. Watch it immediately if you haven’t already.
And if you have watched it before, it’s time to watch it again.
1. “Snowfall”
You should have already known “Snowfall” was going to be my No. 1 pick.
The reason “Snowfall” edges out “The Wire” for me is because of its complete focus on Black stories. “The Wire” told us Black stories, but McNulty and the other white people were the main people in that show. “Snowfall” told all the Black stories and made them the focus on the show.
But also? “Snowfall” wins because it was an L.A. story told by an L.A. storyteller.
John Singleton made his last gift to us his greatest. As a native and current resident of Los Angeles, I always appreciate it when a depiction of my city gets it right.
There was no doubt John Singleton was going to get this right.
“Snowfall” shows us the rise of crack cocaine in South Central Los Angeles in the early ’80s. It shows us how people got rich from it. It shows us how people got high on it, It shows us people got addicted to it. It shows how people died over it.
Not one angle of the story of the crack epidemic in Los Angeles was left untouched. We saw it all.
If this series doesn’t win all the Emmys this season, I am going to be very upset.
Whether it does or not, you should watch “Snowfall.” The series ended in April, and it went out on a really high note. I one million percent recommend it.
So yeah. These are my favorite drug dealer shows.
What are yours?
Monique Judge is a storyteller, content creator and writer living in Los Angeles. She is a word nerd who is a fan of the Oxford comma, spends way too much time on Twitter, and has more graphic t-shirts than you. Follow her on Twitter @thejournalista or check her out at moniquejudge.com.
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