Was chosen by Time magazine as the best TV show of 1996 in their year end review issue dated December 23, 1996.
In a list appearing Spectrum issue #22, dated April 2000 of the best TV series of the 1990s, John Thorne ranked this show as #2.
This series was named the Television Critics Association "Program of the Year" in 1997.
In a list appearing Spectrum issue #22, dated April 2000 of the best TV series of the 1990s, Craig Miller ranked this show as #6.
In an interview with Scott Foundas that appeared in the November/December 2010 issue of Film Comment, Paul Haggis said about this show, "I wanted to do a television show that said, I'm going to show you the good guy, I'm going to show you the bad guy, and I'm going to make you hate the bad guy and love the good guy. Now watch this: you're about to love the bad guy and hate the good guy. Now you know what's what. Oh yeah? Watch this: you're about to love the good guy again and hate the bad guy again. And to just keep doing that over and over again, so we see how complex human beings truly are."