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When it comes to the media landscape, a lot can change in 365 days.
Around this time last year, TikTok was banned in the U.S. (and still technically is if you believe Congress is a thing), Max was a couple months out from realizing that it’s good to have “HBO” in an entertainment brand name, and Netflix was not yet eyeing Warner Bros. with a lustful gleam. Meanwhile, you, dear reader, might have been on the couch, flipping through the streams and stumbling upon a new TV program where Noah Wyle plays a doctor. But wait, didn’t he already play a doctor in that ’90s thing? That was pretty good so maybe this will be as well. Lo’ and behold The Pitt was good. In fact, it might have been the best show of the year.
Point is that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Even as the market-movers play their corporate game of thrones and consolidate, there is always good television to be found for those who care to find it. And thanks to show’s like the aforementioned Pitt, that more than held true in 2025. Here are the best TV shows of the year – Pitts, Peacemakers, Pluribuses, and all.
25. Doctor Who
Look, we all know that the Doctor Who season 15 finale was objectively not a great episode of television, even though it’s possible to argue that some of its worst sins were not entirely its fault. (Showrunner Russell T Davies is still on the hook for the way he wasted the return of the Rani, though.) But we also shouldn’t let a bad ending erase the fact that the rest of the season was actually pretty darn great. After all, before “The Reality War” came along and harshed everyone’s buzz with Ncuti Gatwa’s surprise regeneration into Billie Piper, most would have likely agreed it was, at least collectively speaking, one of modern Who’s best!
After all, season 15 features some all-time bangers that run the gamut in terms of tone and subject matter. “Midnight” sequel “The Well” was a deliciously tense horror story, the Ruby Sunday-centric “Lucky Day” gave former companion Millie Gibson a chance to be a hero on her own terms, and meta-episode “Lux” was as much a love letter to the show’s fandom as anything else. But the real highlight of the year was “The Story and the Engine,” a fresh and visually striking hour that uses magical realism to explore how we (and the cultures we live in) are all defined by the stories we tell. A less-than-perfect ending to the season doesn’t erase all the good stuff that has come before it, and we should all take a moment to remember and appreciate that. – Lacy Baugher
24. The Eternaut
The Eternaut (El Eternauta) was a surprise global hit for Netflix when it launched on the streamer in April 2025, becoming the top non-English-language series worldwide. The Argentine sci-fi series was critically acclaimed, but more importantly, audiences everywhere became intrigued by its premise and locked in for the journey.
The show is set in Buenos Aires and tracks what happens after a mysterious snowfall wipes out most of the global population. We follow one friend group as they struggle to survive in the aftermath. They don’t know why it happened, but the dynamics between them are slowly shifting as they get closer to answers, so we’re never sure who will turn out to be a good guy or cause enough problems to spark further catastrophe.
The Eternaut is based on the comic by Héctor Germán Oesterheld and Francisco Solano López, published in the 1950s. You wouldn’t be able to tell, though, because many of the book’s themes carry over seamlessly into the modern day, and the show’s world feels realistic and lived-in, even when monsters populate it. Oesterheld was “disappeared” by the Argentinian military dictatorship in 1977, but his work lives on. If you haven’t checked out this hidden sci-fi gem yet, we can’t recommend it enough. – Kirsten Howard
23. Daredevil: Born Again
Daredevil: Born Again shouldn’t be as good as it is. Not only does it come to an audience that has forgiven and forgotten any problems in the original Netflix run, but the series also underwent an extreme change in direction during production. Although new showrunner Dario Scardapane and the directing duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead got to shoot plenty of new material, they had to use much of what the previous regime shot. The result is an uneven season of television, with even more visible seams than the usual MCU product.
And yet, Born Again still manages to be powerful superhero fiction. Part of the appeal comes from its incredible core cast. Charlie Cox moves from charming to guilt-ridden to furious so effortlessly that we fully understand why people fall for the obviously not-okay Matt Murdock. Vincent D’Onofrio gets to put new spins on his take on Wilson Fisk as a baby in a giant man’s body as the Kingpin becomes the Mayor of New York. But the most incredible part of Born Again is the way it takes seriously Matt’s guilt about being a vigilante, making the audience actually fear for his soul when the series finally gives us what we want, Daredevil in costume. A devil’s bargain has rarely felt so rewarding. – Joe George
22. Such Brave Girls
One of the perils of the streaming era is that there’s simply more quality television out there than anyone could feasibly hope to watch in a 365-day period. So don’t feel bad if you’ve never actually heard of the Hulu comedy Such Brave Girls — just take this as an invitation to please fix your life immediately. But, to be clear, this isn’t a show for the faint of heart. A bleak, biting, often deeply uncomfortable story of a dysfunctional pair of sisters beset by mental health crises, financial woes, relationship dramas, and the emotional malaise that often goes hand in hand with figuring out the person you’re supposed to become; it’s chaotic, brutally honest, and frequently unhinged in all the best ways.
In its second season, the show takes even bigger swings, allowing its characters to unapologetically be the absolute worst versions of themselves in subplots that range from cruel to cringe. Real-life siblings Kat Sadler and Lizzie Davidson deftly navigtate the combative, occasionally hateful, but strangely moving bond between their onscreen counterparts without forcing either character to fit into the pre-determined boxes a lesser series might require them to, and the gloriously messy result is a series that feels unlike virtually everything else on TV at the moment. – LB
21. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
It’s true, the shining star in Paramount+’s larger Star Trek universe got a little tarnished this year. Yes, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 was pretty uneven towards the end, what with that terrible documentary-style episode and the one where half the main crew got turned into Vulcans and subsequently became huge jerks for no real reason. Yes, there was often a frustratingly uneven sense of pacing throughout. And yes, the season’s larger arcs (literally everything involving Captain Batel’s condition) were repeatedly sidelined in favor of adventure-of-the-week style antics that didn’t always tie back to the show’s larger themes. And yet, despite these flaws, it seems important to acknowledge that most of this season was actually pretty great.
The “Space Adventure Hour” Holodeck murder mystery. The creepy, almost unnameable evil at the heart of “Through the Lens of Time.” Ortegas getting stranded on an alien planet with a Gorn, a la Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Enemy.” These are genuinely great episodes — all for different reasons — which once again shows us the depth that this series is capable of when it tries. Successfully balancing weekly adventures and ongoing character subplots that frequently mix in fan favorites from The Original Series era is no small feat, and the fact that Strange New Worlds so frequently makes it look so effortless while having to serve so many masters is something I suspect a lot of us have begun taking for granted. If you ask me, any show is allowed a few clunkers when the bulk of its offerings are this strong. – LB
20. Peacemaker
How do you follow a universally-praised blockbuster reboot of the world’s first superhero? If you’re James Gunn, and only if you’re James Gunn, the answer is obviously “With another season of Peacemaker.” Further, anyone who wasn’t Gunn would have probably used Peacemaker as little more than an expansion of the new DCU from Superman and as set-up for the sequel Man of Steel. While some of that does appear in Peacemaker’s second season, in cameos from the Justice Gang and Lex Luthor as well as the introduction of the planet Salvation, Gunn keeps the attention on the show’s main cast, including its Z-list protagonist.
Peacemaker season 2 uses comic-book multiverse shenanigans as a tool to challenge the maturation Chris Smith (John Cena, showing remarkable range) underwent in season 1. Offered the chance to simply go to a reality where he is adored by the public and loved by his family, Smith can avoid the hard work of repentance and reconciliation before him. Adding to the complex character work is a fantastic supporting cast consisting of Jennifer Holland, Danielle Brooks, Freddie Stroma, and more, as well as a heavy dose of superhero humor. Peacemaker will never challenge the Man of Steel as an A-list hero, but in the hands of James Gunn, he’s just as compelling and complex. – JG
19. Ludwig
Cozy British mysteries are having something of a moment lately, their picturesque settings, rich character relationships, lack of overt gore and violence, and smart humor offering a welcome and convenient escape from… well, everything that’s happening in the real world. While 2025 saw several outstanding entries in this particular sub-genre of British crime television, including Death Valley, Art Detectives, and Murder Before Evensong, the buzziest of the bunch was almost certainly BBC One’s Ludwig (available on BritBox in the U.S.).
A mystery series that’s firmly aimed at non-mystery fans, it follows the story of a socially awkward puzzle setter named John Taylor (or “Ludwig” as he is known in the papers) who is forced out of his comfort zone when his police detective twin brother disappears and he must assume his identity to try and figure out what happened. Peep Show’s David Mitchell plays the oddball eponymous lead, whose logical mind (surprise!) also turns out to be remarkably skilled at solving murders. Yes, it’s the sort of mystery show whose premise you require to suspend a great deal of disbelief, given that multiple people are repeatedly required not to notice when John-pretending-to-be-James starts acting as though he’s never seen an episode of Law & Order before, let alone been to a crime scene. But the result is such fun you won’t care. – LB
18. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Few shows airing a 17th(!) season find their way onto a best-of-the-year list. Then again, not many shows make it to their 17th year in the first place. Thankfully FX comedy It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has and TV is all the better for it. After a stretch of funny but ultimately dispensable installments in the show’s late teenage years, Rob Mac, Charlie Day, and Glenn Howerton’s demented creation became the best version of itself once again in 2025.
Save for the second half of its charming yet inessential crossover with Abbott Elementary, Always Sunny season 17 features nothing but bangers. Everyone is at the top of their game here. Mac (Mac) salsa dances while under the influence of hot peppers. Dee (Kaitlin Olson) slaps some people. Dennis (Howerton) becomes a waxy-faced vampire. Charlie (Day) shaves his head. Frank (Danny DeVito) is cake. It all culminates in another one of the show’s hilarious, yet oddly touching finales. – Alec Bojalad
17. Murderbot
Apple TV‘s Murderbot features one of the most slam dunk elevator pitches of the 2025 TV season. They’ve got Alexander Skarsgård … and he’s a murderbot. Ok, the titular cyborg (made from machine parts and cloned tissue) at the center of Murderbot isn’t actually called that. He’s an anonymous security tool known as “SecUnit” who is purchased to assist some egghead hippies on a dangerous scientific mission. Unbeknownst to both his creators and purchasers, however, Murderbot has achieved autonomy and given himself a colorful new name.
Just like Martha Wells’ beloved book series upon which Murderbot is based, this is easy-breezy sci-fi capable of entertaining mass audiences. Skarsgård is as likable as ever as he balances the needs of protecting his charges and keeping up his ruse all the while bingeing episodes of his favorite show The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon. The first season’s 10 episodes flow together nicely, ending in a finale that promises expanded Murderbot adventures (or Diaries) to come. – AB
16. Task
A slow-burn affair for HBO, Task nevertheless became must-see TV by the time it wrapped its first season, which pit Mark Ruffalo’s priest-turned-FBI agent Tom Brandis against a gang of violent robbers. Focusing on three groups – the FBI task force headed up by Ruffalo, the stash house robbers, and the motorcycle gang they both despise – Task is a worthy prestige follow-up from Mare of Easttown creator Brad Ingelsby.
He’s very good at getting under your skin by creating flawed heroes and villains. Ruffalo is also on form throughout as a guy trying to work out how to live after his adopted son murders his wife.
Despite its bleakness, Task is riveting. By the time you get halfway through it, you’ll be ready for 10 more seasons of misery as long as you get a couple of moments of levity along the way. – KH
15. Death by Lightning
While Americans, as a general rule, love period dramas, we don’t necessarily make all that many of them. Neither, for that matter, does anyone else. That’s slowly starting to change, thanks to the success of shows like The Gilded Age and Manhunt, but mostly, period dramas focused exclusively on American history are few and far between. This is a big part of why the Netflix drama Death By Lightning feels like such a breath of fresh air.
Turning the story of a presidential assassination that almost everyone seems to have forgotten about — President James Garfield was shot less than four months into his first term and died of sepsis several months later — into a genuinely entertaining television series with real stakes and tension is an accomplishment enough on its own. But with the help of an all-star cast that includes Michael Shannon, Matthew Macfadyen, Nick Offerman, Bradley Whitford, and Betty Gilpin, Death By Lightning manages to feel as contemporary as anything on TV at the moment, wrestling with questions of power, progress, and political violence in ways that feel incredibly relevant to the moment we find ourselves in now. – LB
14. Slow Horses
Rolling into the fifth season of Apple TV’s Slow Horses, you’d assume it might be starting to lose some of its charm, but the combined power of the returning cast and Will Smith’s sublime adaptation of Mick Herron’s spy thriller novels is still overwhelming.
In season 5, a bloody massacre in London is paired with the hilarious trials and tribulations of obnoxious computer nerd Roddy Ho’s love life. It sounds like a recipe for tonal disaster, but somehow it works. Case in point: there’s an episode where Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) takes Ho to hide out in a glamorous rooftop restaurant. Complaining about the prices as they discuss how to take down a Libyan terrorist gang, Lamb is asked why he picked a place so out of whack with his character to lie low. As Lamb bluntly replies, no one who’s ever set eyes on him would expect to see him there. All this is taking place just a few moments after Ho has gone through yet another assassination attempt. It’s ridiculous, but it couldn’t be more fun if it tried. That’s the Slow Horses way. – KH
13. Alien: Earth
“There is surprisingly little mythology in the Alien film universe,” Alien: Earth showrunner Noah Hawley observed in an interview with Den of Geek. “All we really know is that there’s this company called Weyland-Yutani, and it has a knack for putting its employees in terrible danger.” Hawley is right. Much of the appeal of Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi classic comes down to the simplicity of letting an apex predator loose in a confined space amid a vacuum where no one can hear your scream. How can such a cinematic, elemental concept stand up to the episodic rigors of television? Pretty well it turns out!
Thanks to Hawley’s vision, a capable cast, and FX’s newfound Disney money, Alien: Earth presents some of the most compelling worldbuilding from an Alien story yet. Set just two years before Scott’s film, Earth imagines its title location as a playground for five megacorporations looking to achieve immortality. Young trillionaire Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin) and his Prodigy Corporation believe they’ve reached that goal with the creation of powerful, child-brained hybrids, led by the indestructible Wendy (Sydney Chandler). Those ideas combined with some genuinely thrilling and bloody action have made for a heady, enjoyable sci-fi experience. – AB
12. Squid Game
Thanks to Netflix’s creative (and frankly annoying) release strategy, Squid Game came close to airing two full seasons of television this year, with season 2’s Dec. 26, 2024 release date missing the cut by only six days. The fact that only season three’s six episodes premiered in 2025 might make its inclusion on this list controversial. The concluding arc to creator Hwang Dong-hyuk’s modern dystopian masterpiece was divisive to say the least.
We would argue it shouldn’t be, however. Aside from the aforementioned release model that made it feel like half a season, Squid Game season 3 was another pitch perfect round of dark storytelling. The central games, which are always equal parts thrilling and revolting, took on an added foreboding resonance as viewers were forced to contend with the introduction of the ultimate innocent contestant and the lingering question of whether Player 456 could actually survive the brutal gauntlet twice. Somehow a very cynical, at times angry show found room to get even angrier while still introducing the slightest bit of hope for a brighter future. – AB
11. Dying for Sex
FX miniseries Dying for Sex didn’t receive quite the same attention as its franchise and IP-centric television peers and that’s a shame. This funny, touching, and bittersweet eight-episode series was one of the more pleasant and human experiences for the medium this year. Based loosely on a real-life story, Michelle Williams stars as Molly Kochan, a woman who receives a Stage IV breast cancer diagnosis. Faced with the prospect of death, Molly sets off on a journey of sexual self discovery.
Williams shines with a vulnerable performance and Jenny Slate chips in superb supporting work as Molly’s friend Nikki Boyer. Dying for Sex is ultimately a refreshingly blunt look at the most taboo of subjects – death and sex. By the time Rob Delaney enters the proceedings as a neighbor Molly finds herself equally repulsed and turned on by, it’s clear the show has something to say about both. – AB
10. The Lowdown
FX’s The Lowdown pulled off the near impossible in 2025: it made a journalist seem cool. Sure, it helps that said journalist is played by Ethan “I Once Rizzed Up Rihanna” Hawke. And sure, said journalist prefers to call himself a historian or, more haughtily, a “truthstorian.” But he writes investigative stories for printed publications so we’re going to take the W.
Created by Sterlin Harjo of Reservation Dogs fame, The Lowdown is clearly the work of someone who loves and cherishes detective fiction. Hawke’s Lee Raybon is an immensely appealing sleuth, his ability to suss out a rat being second only to his ability to take punch after punch from the local riff raff. As the central mystery surrounding the dynastic Washberg family and their corrupt dealings continues to unfold, Lee and the show around him never lose sight of what matters: the underdog. – AB
9. Pluribus
While the question of whether Apple TV’s Pluribus is the best TV show of the year is worthy of debate, we can likely all agree that it’s certainly the weirdest. (Complimentary.) The story of an apocalypse that brings about world peace and universal happiness by way of joining all of humanity into a single hivemind, it’s the sort of sci-fi series that delights in asking big philosophical questions about free will, individualism, and change.
Better Call Saul’s Rhea Seehorn stars as Carol, a cynical romantasy author who is one of a handful of humans who are mysteriously unaffected by the great Joining that has changed the world. Desperate to find a way to reverse what has happened, she is forced to reckon with deep personal truths — like whether she may have actually been, in some part, responsible for her own misery in the world that used to be. – LB
8. The Rehearsal
The first season of Nathan Fielder’s The Rehearsal was a worthy follow-up to the Canadian satirist’s landmark Nathan For You docuseries. Still, it was hard to shake the feeling that the narrative, in which Fielder attempts to rehearse every encounter in his life, could have benefitted from a little more focus. That focus arrives in The Rehearsal season 2, with Fielder locking in to save the American aviation industry.
Over the span of six brilliant episodes, The Rehearsal season 2 identifies a problem (plane crashes), diagnoses its solution (lack of pilot communication), and rolls up its sleeves to fix everything (through rehearsal, of course). By the time you get to Fielder’s “Miracle Over the Mojave,” The Rehearsal‘s second season has truly entered into the “social advocacy comedy docuseries” genre Hall of Fame alongside pretty much just other Nathan Fielder projects. It’s a narrow category. – AB
7. Long Story Short
It’s hard to make an animated comedy series more personal, elegiac, and melancholy than BoJack Horseman. With Long Story Short, BoJack creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg gives it a shot anyway. This 10-episode effort puts its viewers through the emotional wringer. Following the middle-class Jewish American Schwooper family over a span of 30-some years, Long Story Short doesn’t let the perpetual forward movement of time interrupt with its storytelling mission.
Whether it’s experiencing young Yoshi’s (Max Greenfield) bar mitzvah, checking in with an adolescent Shira (Abbi Jacobson), or jumping forward to a middle-aged Avi (Ben Feldman) after experiencing multiple personal tragedies, Long Story Short examines the quiet desperation of American family life from every angle. And of course: it’s very funny… as all families are. – AB
6. The Chair Company
When you click “play” on a new series from I Think You Should Leave creators Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin, you know you’re about to see something baffling, but The Chair Company exceeds all expectations in that regard. The show’s inciting incident sees Ron Trosper (Robinson) falling to the ground after giving an important speech at work, thanks to a faulty chair. He’s so embarrassed by the humiliation, he decides to investigate the chair manufacturers and tumbles into a sprawling conspiracy.
Each episode is like a 12-layer dip of cringe, surreal moments, and relentless twists, with Robinson at the center of a story that barely makes sense but still leads you to places you wouldn’t go with a gun. Of course, it’s been renewed for a second season. That’s just what Tecca wants. Don’t you get it? – KH
5. Severance
Viewers want answers when it comes to mystery box storytelling. In the case of Severance season 2, that means resolutions to questions like “Who was Kier Eagan?,” “Why is Lumon doing all of this,” and of course “What’s with the goats.” At the same time, however, wrapping up any mystery just ends that mystery. How can a show like Severance keep its audience engaged without stringing them along?
Season 2 makes that tightrope act look absurdly easy. Yes, some questions are answered in this batch of 10 episodes on Apple TV (including the goat one, believe it or not!). But the season’s real strengths lie in the quiet moments between those discoveries. Between Ben Stiller’s revelatory direction, immaculate production design, and a pitch perfect cast led by Adam Scott, there is truly never a dull moment on the Macrodata Refinement floor. – AB
4. Adolescence
Extended single-take shots or “oners” are all the rage on television nowadays. So much so that another 2025 show (that you’ll be reading about on this list soon enough) built an entire episode, fittingly called “The Oner,” out of the technique. With so many talented filmmakers and performers getting in on the action, the standards for what makes an effective oner have been raised. It can’t just all be about logistical mastery – the lack of interruption within a scene has to play emotionally as well. Enter Adolescence.
Created by Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham, this four-episode Netflix series represents the most effective and affecting use of single take storytelling in some time. At the beginning of one unassuming day in an unspecified northern English town, police arrive at the doorstep of the Miller family to deliver unthinkable news: 13-year-old son Jamie (an astonishing Owen Cooper) is wanted for the murder of his classmate Katie. What follows are four excruciating installments examining a family and community’s pain, all without the relief of a single cut. – AB
3. The Pitt
It might be hyperbole to say that The Pitt saved television this year, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t think that more than once while watching it. Amid a sea of low-effort streaming sludge and long-in-the-tooth franchise storytelling, only HBO Max’s The Pitt had the courage to step forward and say “what if it we just made an awesome ’90s medical drama?”
The Pitt obviously owes a lot to its med drama forefathers, particularly ER from which it borrows star lead Noah Wyle (and according to the Michael Crichton estate: a bit more than that). But its dedication to real-time storytelling and relentless plot movement is an entirely modern invention. These 15 episodes (released weekly obviously) just absolutely fly by. There’s always something going on at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center. Glance down at your phone for a second and you’ve missed no fewer than 14 intubations. Take that, second screen TV culture! – AB
2. The Studio
Despite feeling as though his job is to destroy them, Continental Studio head Matt Remick (Seth Rogen) really loves movies. The TV show built around him, The Studio, also loves movies… but maybe not as much as it loves television. In addition to being a satirical love letter to Hollywood, even in its imperfect IP era, The Studio has a deep appreciation of what works for its small screen brother. In this case that means gags…lots of ’em.
Save for arguably the premiere and a two-part finale, The Studio‘s 10 installments are wonderfully episodic. One episode finds Matt continually ruining a “oner” on Sarah Polley’s film. Another finds him tussling with Ron Howard over the indulgent end of his flick. Then, just when he thinks he can have a breather on a date with a pediatric oncologist, suddenly he’s suffered a gruesome injury. It’s almost as if this story about movies continues to present situations saturated with comedy. If only there were some kind of term for situational comedy. Maybe then Continental Studio could break into the TV biz. – AB
1. Andor
The success of Disney+’s Andor can be observed by its frequent use as a measuring stick. Across the entertainment landscape, any studio introducing a fresh new take on an existing IP plainly states that it’s intended to be the “Andor of [INSERT-FRANCHISE-HERE].” Marvel’s Secret Invasion was teased as the Andor of the MCU (and hooboy, that was a swing and a miss). More successfully, the aforementioned Alien: Earth has been pitched as the Alien’s Andor. Truthfully, however, there’s only one Andor and the show’s second and final season proved why.
Andor season 2 is quite simply a masterpiece of sci-fi genre storytelling. Imbued with authentic revolutionary spirit, the “conclusion” to Cassian Andor’s story (give or take a Rogue One) was a triumph. Diego Luna once again embodied Cassian as an unwilling folk hero who’s always there for the rebellion when it needs him. Meanwhile, the political analogies at play were more astute than ever with the villainous Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) and Syril Karn (Kyle Soller) finding out how little use fascism has for its adherents. Andor season 2 had friends everywhere and we count ourselves among them. – AB
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