The 20 Best New TV Shows of 2025

The latest extensively researched Ken Burns docuseries is a 12-hour examination of America's founding and its eight-year battle for independence. (Spoiler alert: America won.) Peter Coyote narrates, while a celebrity voice cast (including Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Morgan Freeman, Samuel L. Jackson, Laura Linney, Mandy Patinkin, Paul Giamatti, and many more) read personal accounts by some of the key figures involved.

Stream it at PBS (6 episodes)

"The filmmakers create a masterful narrative of the war's tactical beats interwoven with the human touch and the necessary myth-busting about the cornerstones of our history." —Hunter Ingram, The A.V. Club

The team behind The Legend of Vox Machina —you know them as Critical Role—returned this fall with a related Prime Video series that animates the group's second D&D campaign, which is set in the same world a few decades later. (And, no, Vox Machina isn't done; two more seasons will air in 2026 and 2027.)

Stream it at Prime Video (8 episodes)

"The Mighty Nein's comparatively slower pace means that our core characters have time to breathe on their own and form satisfying, lived-in one-on-one relationships before getting tossed into an ensemble." —Abby Monteil, The Daily Beast

If you know one fact about President James A. Garfield, it's probably that he was assassinated. America's 20th president was shot just four months after taking office, eventually dying from his wounds two months later despite the work of experts across multiple scientific disciplines. Netflix's four-part miniseries (produced by the Game of Thrones team of David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and adapted from Candice Millard's book Destiny of the Republic) details that assassination, with Michael Shannon playing the president and Matthew Macfadyen starring as his killer, Charles Guiteau. Nick Offerman, Bradley Whitford, Betty Gilpin, and Shea Whigham also star. Critics called it an entertaining, brisk, well-acted, and surprisingly humorous series.

Stream it at Netflix (4 episodes)

"'Death by Lightning' manages to make all of this both deadly serious and weirdly irreverent. And it does so in a mere four episodes, a minor miracle in these days of the bloated 10-hour 'limited' series. Streamers and showrunners, take note. Less can be more. And strong storytelling can hit with the quickness of a lightning bolt." —Chris Vognar, Boston Globe

Created by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, The Studio scored a record-setting 23 Emmy nominations for its debut season, winning 13 including Outstanding Comedy Series. Rogen takes the lead as the new head of an aging Hollywood movie studio that is struggling to stay relevant in the streaming era. (Do they do so by greenlighting a Kool-Aid movie? Of course they do.) Other cast regulars include Ike Barinholtz, Catherine O'Hara, Kathryn Hahn, and Chase Sui Wonders, while Bryan Cranston has a memorable recurring guest role. And, because the series is set within the entertainment industry, there are plenty of additional familiar faces (including Martin Scorsese, Charlize Theron, Ron Howard, and Zac Efron) who show up as themselves along the way.

Rogen and Goldberg also direct every episode, and they have opted to make things difficult for themselves by using numerous long, continuous takes in scenes that are sometimes filled with dozens of characters and multiple locations. It's all chaotic fun, and Apple has greenlit a second season.

Stream it at Apple TV (10 episodes)

"Laced with references to the silver screen at every turn and shot in such a way as to remind you of a golden age of cinema, the show walks a careful tightrope between silliness, satire and sentimentality with quite exceptional results. The sun may be setting on the Hollywood of old, but it has just risen on the best new comedy of the year so far." —Tim Glanfield, The Times

Cha Cha Real Smooth writer, director, and actor Cooper Raiff self-financed this eight-episode limited series centering on codependent adult siblings played by Raiff and Lili Reinhart—with those actors also playing, PEN15 style, the elementary school versions of their characters in recurring flashbacks about their shared childhood trauma. Mark Ruffalo also stars as their father. Critics enjoyed the surprisingly dramatic series when it debuted at Sundance and later streamed exclusively on the normally movie-oriented MUBI.

Stream it at MUBI (8 episodes)

"What makes 'Hal & Harper' immediately compelling, beyond the sharp script and the magnificent performances from the entire ensemble cast, is a bit of a mystery that slowly and tragically unfolds. It's clear something unfortunate happened to this family a long time ago, but it's not made perfectly clear until a few episodes in. But even after that mystery is revealed another element of the show's execution adds a layer of both entertainment and emotion." —Ethan Anderton, Slashfilm

The newest series from SNL vets Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin, the team behind the Netflix hit I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson, delivers more uncomfortable comedy, but it's not another sketch show—instead, it's a narrative series like the duo's gone-too-soon Detroiters. The Chair Company stars Robinson as William Ronald Trosper, a man who begins investigating what he believes to be a far-reaching conspiracy after suffering a humiliating incident at work. (Seems pretty on-brand so far.) Lake Bell, Sophia Lillis, and Lou Diamond Phillips also star, while Andrew DeYoung, who directed Robinson in the recent film Friendship, directs the opener and produces. Following excellent reviews from critics, HBO picked up the series for a second season.

Stream it at HBO Max (8 episodes)

"It's like a sketch that never ends, continually building until the pressure is almost unbearable, and when it pops, it's a thrill. That it also manages to be a smartly made conspiracy spoof, a biting satire of corporate culture, and a heartwarming family drama is just showing off." —Sarah Moran, Screen Rant

This two-part, 200-minute HBO docuseries from filmmaker Matt Wolf (Spaceship Earth) offers an intimate look at the life of late actor Paul Reubens, best known for his career-long role as Pee-wee Herman. Bolstered by archival footage, the riveting documentary chiefly consists of a rare out-of-character interview between the director and star that is edited down from over 40 hours of candid conversations between the two. Critics have been impressed by the "insightful" documentary since it debuted at Sundance in early 2025, and the miniseries picked up three Emmy awards including the trophy for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special.

Stream it at HBO Max (2 episodes)

"Watching Wolf and Reubens push and pull their way through the impact of this wildly talented and complicated man makes for rich, rewarding television. It's a reminder that this was a bottomless well of talent that just happened to live in both Paul and Pee-Wee." —Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

This four-part British drama from the producers of Black Mirror and writer Jack Thorne—it's the first of his three (!) shows on this list—recounts a notorious, real-life 1980s legal case brought by residents of a town poisoned by years of toxic waste dumped by a steelworks. Jodie Whittaker and Robert Carlyle head the cast.

Stream it at Netflix (4 episodes)

"The result here is unexpectedly uplifting. Toxic Town's winning, underdog spirit brightens a universal tale, a final salvo in the fight to be heard." —Nick Hilton, The Independent

Maggie Q stars as LAPD detective Renée Ballard in a spinoff from Bosch: Legacy that is similarly based on Michael Connelly's book series. Ballard is tasked with leading the department's new (but underfunded) cold case division, and in this first season her investigation into decades-old killings lead to the uncovering of a conspiracy within the LAPD. John Carroll Lynch, Courtney Taylor, Michael Mosley, Amy Hill, and Rebecca Field also star, while Titus Welliver reprises his role as Harry Bosch. Critics found it an exemplary example of the police procedural genre thanks to an engaging story and excellent performances, and Amazon will bring it back for a second season next year.

Stream it at Prime Video (10 episodes)

"It's an uncommonly great potboiler with something for everyone." —Gregory Lawrence, The Wrap

Adapted from the Wondery podcast of the same name, this FX-produced miniseries is inspired by the true story of a woman (Michelle Williams) who, after being diagnosed with late-stage breast cancer, decides to leave her husband (Jay Duplass) after 15 years of marriage to begin exploring her sexuality with the aid of her best friend (Jenny Slate). Rob Delaney, Sissy Spacek, David Rasche, and Kelvin Yu also star, while directors include Leslye Headland (Russian Doll).

Stream it at Hulu (8 episodes)

"A near perfect amalgamation of absurdity and tragedy, and yet another superb showcase for its incredible leading lady." —Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

Directed by Justin Kurzel (Nitram), this five-part Australian WWII drama adapted from Richard Flanagan's Booker Prize-winning novel stars Jacob Elordi (and, in a later time period, Ciarán Hinds), as Dorrigo Evans. We see him in three distinct periods of his life: before the war as an Australian medical student, during the war as a prisoner of war in a Japanese-run camp in Thailand, and much later as a surgeon in Sydney. Though there are some romances along the way, Narrow Road is far more harrowing than glamorous.

Stream it at Prime Video (5 episodes)

"This is a world of blood and viscera, body fluids, and entrails, and Kurzel is going to show you all of it. And with a brilliant cast of actors, you'll want to keep going where this road promises to take you." —Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire

Rebecca Miller (Maggie's Plan) directs a five-part look at one of the planet's most famous Scorseses, Larry Harpo Martin. The series traces the life and career of the legendary filmmaker through extensive interviews not just with Scorsese but also with collaborators and colleagues including Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, Steven Spielberg, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cate Blanchett, Jodie Foster, Paul Schrader, and many more familiar names as well as non-famous friends and family members. Critics deemed it a revelatory must-watch for film fans.

Stream it at Apple TV (5 episodes)

"This is an engaging portrait of one of the greatest directors of all time – a long-form love-letter that does what every good cinematic tribute should. It makes you want to stop watching and go back to explore the films themselves." —Ed Power, The Telegraph

Judy Blume's oft-blacklisted but highly influential 1975 teen first-romance novel Forever... was filmed just once before, as a 1978 TV movie. This year the book received its first series adaptation, though it changes things up a bit. Series creator Mara Brock Akil (The Game, Girlfriends) has reimagined Forever as a Black teen romance set in 2018 Los Angeles—but with the approval of Blume. Lovie Simone, Michael Cooper Jr., Karen Pittman, and Wood Harris head the cast, while Regina King directs the first episode and serves as a producer. A second season is on the way.

Stream it at Netflix (8 episodes)

"It's an insightful update of Blume's novel, a powerful addition to Akil's body of work, and a deeply compelling piece of art." —Cristina Escobar, RogerEbert.com

Created by Jack Thorne (you'll see his name again a bit further down this list), this BAFTA-nominated, four-part limited series (which aired on the BBC in 2023) stars Sharon Horgan and Michael Sheen as parents who are told by doctors that their daughter, suffering from a rare form of muscular dystrophy, should be allowed to die. They then choose to fight the doctors' decision in court, drawing unwanted publicity in the process. Critics lauded the morally complex, ambiguous, and devastating series.

Stream it at Prime Video w/Acorn TV (4 episodes)

"It's a vanishingly rare thing for a series to be content to sit in the complexity of its own story, and allow audiences to come to their own conclusions about what it means, or what they might do in a similar situation. But it's why this series is so powerful in the end." —Lacy Baugher, Paste

The 46-year-old Alien film franchise moved to TV for the first time this year with a prequel series created by Noah Hawley (who previously created the TV version of Fargo for FX) and produced in part by original Alien director Ridley Scott. Set two years before the events of the first film (in other words, nearly a century into the future from today), Alien: Earth is the first entry in the franchise to take place on Earth—one that is governed by five rival mega-corporations, one of which is developing new robot-human hybrids. When Weyland-Yutani's mysterious deep space research vessel crash lands back on Earth, a group of tactical soldiers investigates—and we're guessing that you already suspect what they'll find on board. Sydney Chandler (Sugar) heads a cast that also includes Timothy Olyphant, Alex Lawther, Essie Davis, and Samuel Blenkin.

Critics enjoyed the well-crafted and often frightening sci-fi/horror series (a lot more than our users did), and FX recently renewed Alien: Earth for a second season.

Stream it at Hulu (8 episodes)

"It is Hawley's astute attention to detail and desire to construct an intricate story that distinguish and make 'Alien: Earth' a big step up in quality for the 'Alien' series overall. It's certainly one of the best series I've seen this year, and better than the majority of studio blockbusters this summer in theaters." —Randy Myers, The Mercury News

Sterlin Harjo returned to FX this fall for a follow-up to the recently concluded Reservation Dogs, one of the most acclaimed shows of the past five years. His new project (originally titled The Sensitive Kind) is a neo-noir drama set in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where an obsessive citizen journalist (Ethan Hawke), who lives and works out of a bookstore and whose quest to expose local government corruption frequently lands him in trouble—and pulls him away from his teenage daughter. The strong cast of regulars and guest stars includes Kaniehtiio Horn, Kyle MacLachlan, Keith David, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Scott Shepherd, Tim Blake Nelson, Killer Mike, Peter Dinklage, Michael Hitchcock, and Tracy Letts. Critics cited the Coen brothers, Elmore Leonard, and David Lynch—plus shows like Terriers and Lodge 49 —as clear influences on the highly entertaining, quirky, and often humorous series.

FX has yet to renew The Lowdown, but a return has not been ruled out.

Stream it at Hulu (8 episodes)

"A thoughtful, picaresque-pulp conspiracy story, abetted by an absolutely stacked cast." —James Poniewozik, The New York Times

Hi Carol! Apple's biggest TV hit to date is a slow-burn sci-fi thriller that marks the first series from creator Vince Gilligan since the end of the Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul universe. The ambitious, darkly comedic, Pluribus is once again based in New Mexico (but also, thanks to Apple's endless funding, features additional scenes filmed across the globe) and reunites Gilligan with one of the Emmy-nominated stars of the latter series, Rhea Seehorn, who takes the lead here as the driving force of the series.

Their new project has been shrouded in mystery since it was announced in 2022—even the title was a secret until this summer—but finally revealed itself to be an Invasion of the Body Snatchers riff set in a seemingly utopian world where, thanks to the arrival of a mysterious extraterrestrial signal, every human on the planet is suddenly happy, conflict-free, and of one common mind—except, that is, for a handful of people including Seehorn's character, the romantasy author Carol Sturka. Critics have been wowed by Seehorn's performance and hooked by the fun, captivating premise at the heart of the show.

The first season concludes with its ninth episode on Christmas Eve, and a second season has already been greenlit.

Stream it at Apple TV (9 episodes)

"It's genuinely one of the weirdest and most strangely satisfying things on television at the moment, simultaneously heartbreaking, hopeful, and disturbing by turns. It couldn't have possibly arrived at a better moment." —Lacy Baugher, Paste

The latest adult animated comedy from BoJack Horseman creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg also brings back much of that show's creative staff, including producer/art director Lisa Hanawalt (who also created Tuca & Bertie), and animation studio ShadowMachine. Their new series centers on the members of a Jewish American family over many years, with the show jumping back and forth between different time periods (think This Is Us but with many more laughs) to reveal the events that shaped their lives. Abbi Jacobson, Lisa Edelstein, Paul Reiser, Ben Feldman, Nicole Byer, Max Greenfield, and Angelique Cabral provide the voices. Critics deemed it another triumph—boasting a novelistic scope and even more heart and humanity than BoJack while retaining much of the humor—and Netflix has ordered a second season.

Stream it at Netflix (10 episodes)

"It's a macro piece of work, fueled by its attention to the micro. To achieve that combination in just ten 25-minute episodes, and to do it in a way that looks effortless even though it clearly was not, makes this one of the best TV shows of 2025." —Jen Chaney, TV Guide

Airing in the U.S. on Masterpiece, the sequel to the excellent 2015 historical miniseries Wolf Hall adapts the final novel in Hilary Mantel's trilogy and picks up where the previous show ended (in 1536, just following the death of Anne Boleyn). Mark Rylance returns from the first series as Thomas Cromwell, as does Damian Lewis (as King Henry VIII), Jonathan Pryce, Kate Phillips, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, and Lilit Lesser, among others. They are joined by Harriet Walter and Timothy Spall. Reviews were once again excellent, with critics praising the phenomenal script and a tremendous performance by Rylance.

Stream it at PBS (6 episodes)

"The script is a miracle of compression and architecture, bearing loads that ought to be impossible. The first did justice to 1,200 pages of Mantel's perfect prose in six hour-long episodes; this distils the essence of her trilogy's last 900. .... Six hours of magic." —Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

Metacritic's Official #1 New TV Show of 2025. It's not just one of the most talked-about shows of 2025. It's also the best despite strong competition emerging in the second half of the year. This four-part British psychological drama from Stephen Graham (who also stars) and Jack Thorne centers on a 13-year-old boy who is arrested for the murder of one of his classmates (with the boy's family and the police investigation also factoring into developments). But what sets Adolescence apart from the standard show—aside from the stellar performances—is that each of the four episodes in the real-time drama is filmed in a single, continuous take. The result is one of Netflix's biggest hits of all time, and one that also impressed Emmy voters to the tune of 13 nominations and multiple wins, including a trophy for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series.

Stream it at Netflix (4 episodes)

"Adolescence (Netflix) is brilliant. I can put it no other way. Every beat, every remark, every glance between characters, every angry or teary outburst in this four-part drama — each episode shot in one continuous take — is laden with authenticity and it is terrifying. .... A storytelling masterclass." —Carol Midgley, The Times

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