In the last few decades, the television industry has significantly boomed, causing our pop culture to be flooded with hundreds of shows to obsess over. It’s not uncommon to spend several hours of one’s week watching TV and getting seriously invested in each show’s characters and plots.

TV as a whole is a wonderful art form and has done a lot of transformative things for our culture, but it’s often used just for mindless entertainment when one doesn’t feel like reading a book or interacting with others. With so many shows to choose from, I believe we ought to be pretty selective in which made-up worlds we choose to enter into and invest ourselves in. I believe we should only choose to invest our time in shows that cause us to think meaningfully about life.

That being said, here is a list of six TV shows in no particular order that I think are actually worth your time because they are artistically excellent and present morally sound themes, either directly or indirectly.

1. "How I Met Your Mother"

I know I said this list is in no particular order, and for the most part, that's true. However, I couldn't help but mention "How I Met Your Mother" first in this list because it just holds such a special place in my heart. "HIMYM," as I've nicknamed it, is a sitcom about five friends all in their mid 20's living and working in New York City. The show receives its name because it's all told from the perspective of the main character, Ted, who embarks on telling his kids the story of how he met their mother — the story which makes up the narrative of the show.

He starts the story from about eight years prior to the time he actually meets their mother and takes great care in telling his kids each and every aspect of his life that led him up to that point. He tells them all the bad relationships he's been in, all the jobs he's had, all the familial and relational struggles he and his friends have gone through and all the crazy, weird experiences he's had whilst living in New York City. Most importantly, however, he tells the story of what it means to experience life in camaraderie, surrounded by people for whom he loves and cares.

This show can often receive some flack for being inappropriate or foul as it talks about some more mature, adult concepts that are not appropriate for all age groups, but it's certainly not nearly as inappropriate as some other shows out there and does not seek to be crude for crude's sake, by any means. Each and every joke made in this show, crude or otherwise, points to the growth and development of each character over the eight years. I don't even really know which genre this show is because while it is brilliantly hilarious, it also deals with a lot of very real and tragic struggles of life. In several instances, this show made me cry because of how much I grew to love every character and how much I had witnessed them developed as people over the span of the show. I highly recommend this show to anyone who enjoys a show that can make them both laugh and cry and who enjoys really investing in a narrative that deals with several of life's hardest struggles.

2. "Mad Men"

Another TV show that is worth one's time is "Mad Men," a story set in the 1960s about a man, Don Draper, working in the advertising business on Madison Ave in New York City. This show is downright brilliant for several reasons. Artistically speaking, the casting, cinematography, costumes, set design and the storyline/plot are just very well done. The writers and designers behind this show accurately convey the issues that were present in the 1960s and the overall ethos of that setting. This is another show which admittedly has some very scandalous and mature themes in its narrative but that is so worth watching regardless.

What's fascinating about "Mad Men" is that the plot definitely thrives off of these risque events which happen to each character, but that it never once condones the character's behaviors. All the scandalous acts that occur in this plot are condemned in some way because they typically lead to the downfall or corruption of one character or another. It certainly sends some very complex and interesting ethical messages to viewers and deserves to be studied for whatever truth the writers are trying to convey. "Mad Men" has shocked me several times with its artistic excellence and complex storytelling. You might not agree with every character's life decisions within the show, but there is something to be said for analyzing what message or truth the authors of the show are trying to convey about consequences for one's choices, and thus invest in thinking deeply about the themes which it presents.

3. "The Walking Dead"

Most people typically know exactly what this show is about and immediately think they have its plot pegged out from the beginning. This show is another take on the classic zombie apocalypse. Specifically, this show tells the story of one group of people who travel on foot to several different locations in order to stay alive in the midst of the danger of zombies, known as "walkers," that exist in their immediate surroundings.

A lot of the same rules that apply to "Mad Men" also apply to "The Walking Dead." (Thank you, AMC.) This show is superior to any show I've ever watched in terms of makeup, costume design, graphic effects and cinematography. "The Walking Dead" also receives a lot of flack for being too gory or violent for the average viewer, and while I agree that it is certainly both gory and violent, the makeup and digital effects which were used to make it effectively gory are actually artistically excellent and good.

Not only does this show communicate well through its visual artistic excellence, but it also has very complex and well-thought-out plots that are very closely interwoven with each character. It discusses the effects and ideas of corruption, decay, evil, redemption and perseverance. The story presented in "The Walking Dead" is simply a fascinating and thrilling one that is worth investing yourself in for the sake of witnessing a wonderful art form. If you're watching it for the right reasons and not just for the sake of witnessing gory entertainment, this show can present some wildly complex ideas to dwell on and consider in your own ethical world views.

4. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"

The 1990s produced a great number of wonderful shows for us, including "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Whenever I tell people that I watch this show, they typically roll their eyes and laugh at me because they see it as only the first of a whole slew of shows about teenage, romantic, vampire nonsense, and also partially because the special effects are horrendous in the first season or so (it is the 90s, folks). While "Buffy" does include both teenagers and vampires, it puts other shows about vampires to shame in terms of accuracy. So many modern shows and movies portray vampires to be these celebrity, superhero, god-like rockstars that are only burdened with the gift of getting all sparkly in the sun rather than the monstrous, vile creatures they’re supposed to be. If you can get yourself through the first season of some seriously awful special effects, you’ll see that "Buffy" does a fantastic job of portraying vampires as demonic, twisted shells of human beings who incinerate in the presence of anything too good or too pure, such as the sun.

I could write another thousand words about how important the meaning behind vampires is and how they were originally intended to symbolize humans in the presence of God, but that’s not what this article is about. The point is, "Buffy" is a show about a teenage girl who is called to slay vampires for the sake of humanity and undergoes significant trials as a result. I found myself shocked several times at how symbolically brilliant this show was and how well it depicts the battle between good and evil. It’s dramatic, clever, hilarious, tragic, and sends some very clear moral messages about conquering evil.

5. "Gilmore Girls"

If shows about zombies and vampires aren’t your kind of thing, then perhaps you’d like a show about adorable people living in an adorable place doing adorable things. "Gilmore Girls" is a show about a single mother, Lorelai Gilmore, and her teenage daughter, Rory Gilmore, living in an unrealistically simple and dream-like town in Connecticut. So many other shows about teenagers try to glamorize high school and talk about it only in terms of partying, dating and disobeying their parents. Hardly any shows talk about any real struggles of teenager-dom such as struggling to relate to adults, being a good, loving friend to others or working hard to pursue a successful future. This is where "Gilmore Girls" takes the cake in terms of teen dramas (if you can even call it that).

Rory Gilmore is an honorable and virtuous girl who cares deeply about those around her and the future she strives to have as a journalist after attending an Ivy-league university. Rory isn’t the only virtuous character, however. Her mother, grandparents and peers also demonstrate noble characteristics that collectively produce an adorable, tight-knit community. The show receives most of its energy from the especially close bond that Rory and her mother, Lorelai, share which is demonstrated by the hilarious quick-witted banter they exchange. Although the small town they live in is completely, unrealistically perfect and simple, the characters are what make this show so worth watching. Even my dad, who typically scoffs at the many morally corrupt ABC teen dramas, finds "Gilmore Girls" to be genuinely witty and clever, all while presenting a morally sound set of characters and plot. It really is an adorable show, and I think the majority of people would find it entertaining and enjoyable.

6. "So You Think You Can Dance"

Okay, I know this show is wildly different than the others, but hear me out because my reasons for loving it are completely valid. "So You Think You Can Dance" ("SYTYCD"), is one of many competition shows that has several dancers compete for “America’s Favorite Dancer” by having them perform a number of different styles of dance in all sorts of genres so as to see who is the best overall performer. There are plenty of other shows that sound very similar to this one because they’re competitions within the arts, but "SYTYCD" is truly unique. This show thrives off a loving community of dancers and choreographers that support artists in pursuit of their passion and helps them to grow in their skill sets, regardless of whether or not they win the show. Multiple dancers have come away from "SYTYCD" without winning and have still become wildly successful as dancers and choreographers, including careers working for "SYTYCD" itself. Other competition shows may also produce beautiful dancing, but they typically thrive off nasty, ruthless drama between competitors and judges that only produces spite and hatred. Dancers who compete in this show know that even if they don’t win, they’ll enter into a community of other dancers and grow in their skill sets, all while making life-long friendships and helping one another to pursue some truly beautiful art; it's a wonderful thing to witness. What’s not to love?

So there you have it. Here are six shows that I believe you should actually spend your time watching because they present artistic excellence and morally sound themes, whether that be by directly presenting good actions or by presenting bad ones. I know there are probably hundreds of other shows that are truly good and deserve my attention too, but these six shows are just especially close to my heart. Besides, that’s what summer is for, am I right?

There are so many shows out there; please don’t spend your precious life watching the crappy ones. If you’re going to spend several hours of your life watching TV, spend them watching good, excellent, beautiful, thrilling shows that will further your growth as a person in some way. Be careful which worlds you choose to enter.