Here are my 12 favorite television shows of 2013 — the ones you won’t find piling up on my DVR, because I have to watch each new episode as soon as it appears. (Which means, of course, by the end of the next day.) Are they the 12 best shows of the year? Who knows. I didn’t come close to watching everything on TV, and neither did anyone else. All I know is that 10 wouldn’t have been enough.

It’s often said that we’re living through a golden age in American television, but not a lot is said about how much this perception is driven by the greatly increased availability of foreign shows, on TV and online. Three of my top 10 shows are from abroad (“Prisoners of War,” “The Hollow Crown” and “Moone Boy”), and in my extended listing, nine of 36 shows — 25 percent — were made in other countries (sometimes with U.S. financing).

1. ‘The Good Wife’ (CBS)

The opening episodes of the current, fifth season of Robert and Michelle King’s legal drama were about as good as episodic TV gets, a fast-moving story of ambition, betrayal and gamesmanship that could knot your guts like a Formula 1 car taking a dangerous corner. After a poky 2011-12 season, the show’s restored verve seems to have energized its excellent cast.

2. ‘Prisoners of War’ (HULU)

This Israeli series, on which “Homeland” is (extremely loosely) based, continued in its second season to be a quiet, intelligent, moving and profoundly sad examination of the wages of permanent conflict.

3. ‘Frontline’ (PBS)

It’s not that hard to be the best investigative current-affairs documentary series on American television when no one else is even trying. But given the lack of competition, it’s even more impressive that “Frontline” is as consistently good as it is. Reports that stood out in 2013 included the harrowing “Syria Behind the Lines” and “League of Denial,” about the National Football League’s handling of concussions.

4. ‘The Hollow Crown’ (PBS)

This BBC production offered an opportunity to see Shakespeare’s linked history plays “Richard II,” “Henry IV” Parts 1 and 2 and “Henry V” consecutively, in filmed adaptations helmed by major British stage directors, with wonderful performances, the kind theatergoers would fly around the world to see: Ben Whishaw as Richard II, Jeremy Irons as Henry IV, Simon Russell Beale as Falstaff.

5. ‘The Newsroom’ (HBO)

In the second season of Aaron Sorkin’s cable-news drama, TV’s best and most frustrating romance — between the anchor Will and his producer MacKenzie, beautifully played by Jeff Daniels and Emily Mortimer — got better and (up to a point) even more frustrating.

6. ‘Grimm’ (NBC)

Among the plethora of supernatural series on TV at the moment, this show about vaguely Germanic fairy-tale creatures infesting Portland is the most sheerly entertaining.

7. ‘Moone Boy’ (HULU)

Chris O’Dowd of “Bridesmaids” created this charming comedy about a 12-year-old Irish boy and his not-very-helpful imaginary friend for the British network Sky. O’Dowd plays the friend, but the real star is the young actor David Rawle, who plays the irrepressible title character, Martin Moone.

8. ‘The Americans’ (FX)

The first season of this cold-war spy story was tense and engaging, with a nasty edge and a performance by Keri Russell as a Soviet agent undercover in 1980s Washington that was a minor revelation.

9. ‘Southland’ (TNT)

Never able to attract an audience, Ann Biderman and John Wells’ gritty, convincing Los Angeles cop show faded away after five seasons, ending with what felt like a silent rebuke to the TV gods: the apparent suicidal death of a despairing main character.

10. ‘The Walking Dead’ (AMC)

The acting can be spotty, the writing can lapse into solemn melodrama and the story tends to shuffle around in circles, but in its fourth season this zombie drama still has a pure, visceral intensity unmatched in prime time.

11. ‘Bunheads’ (ABC Family)

Amy Sherman-Palladino’s serious comedy about a dedicated dancer (Sutton Foster) who finds herself stuck in a small town teaching classes to young ballet hopefuls was canceled after one low-rated season.

12. ‘Breaking Bad’ (AMC)

Some aspects of AMC’s recently concluded modern noir didn’t merit the inordinate praise it attracted. One thing that fully deserved the plaudits, however, was Bryan Cranston’s watchful, perfectly measured performance as Walter White, the high school teacher turned drug kingpin.

Honorable mention, in alphabetical order: “Bates Motel” on A&E, “The Big Bang Theory” on CBS, “Boardwalk Empire” on HBO, “Elementary” on CBS, “The Fosters” on ABC Family, “Foyle’s War” on PBS, “Legit” on FX, “Out There” on IFC, “Real Husbands of Hollywood” on BET, “The Returned” on Sundance, “The Simpsons” on Fox, “Veep” on HBO.

And 12 more, because there’s an awful lot of decent TV: “Archer” on FX, “Being Human” on BBC America, “Broadchurch” on BBC America, “Dexter” on Showtime, “Getting On” on HBO, “Inspector Lewis” on PBS, “Justified” on FX, “The Middle” on ABC, “Orange Is the New Black” on Netflix, “Person of Interest” on CBS, “Treme” on HBO, “A Young Doctor’s Notebook” on Ovation.