Each week Bill Maher surrounds himself with a panel of guests which include politicians, actors, comedians, musicians and the like to discuss what's going on in the world.
The peaks and the valleys. Find the essential episodes — and the ones to skip.
Martin Short - actor and comedian; Steve Martin - actors and comedian; Donna Brazile - USA Today columnist, ABC News contributor and author; Michael Moynihan - Vice News Tonight National Correspondent.
Guests: Ex-Obama economy adviser Christina Romer, Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Salon editor-at-large Joan Walsh, Palin biography filmmaker Stephen K Bannon and chef Anthony Bourdain. Topics: US credit downgrade, debt ceiling deal, failure of the stimulus package, inability of Democrats to negotiate, 'job creators', defunding of science in America, Rick Perry's prayer festival, escaping poverty, would Hillary Clinton have been better, need for a left-wing tea party equivalent.
Nicole Perlroth - Fmr. cybersecurity and digital espionage reporter for The New York Times and author; Laura Coates - CNN Senior Legal Analyst and author; Andrew Yang - Founder of political party, Forward, and author.
Guests: Actor Richard Belzer, novelist Farai Chideya, senator John Edwards, David Frum, Ralph Nader Topics: Iowa caucus, The Apprentice, Olivia Goldsmith, sexuality in islamic countries
Each point is an episode, plotted in order. Colored bands mark season boundaries. Look for the rise, the plateau, or the decline.
High votes + high rating = beloved classic. High votes + low rating = notorious stinker. Low votes + high rating = hidden gem.
One point per season. Smooths out the episode-to-episode noise to reveal the bigger arc.
Did each season build or fizzle? Green means the finale outscored the premiere. Red means the opposite. Longer arrows, bigger swings.
How steady is each season? Tightly clustered dots mean reliable quality. Scattered dots mean a wild ride.
Connection lost
