The 47 Best Shows on HBO Max Right Now (October 2025)

Are you watching The Chair Company? If not, you should check it out, because Tim Robinson's comedy about a man who gets sucked into a corporate conspiracy after an embarrassing incident at work is the funniest show of the year. And if you were waiting until all of Peacemaker Season 2 was available to stream, you can also get caught up on John Cena's superhero series. But if you're in the mood for something serious, check out the crime drama Task. All three of those shows are on our list of the best shows to watch on HBO Max right now.

A note about how this list was made: In the interest of keeping it relevant, we're emphasizing new releases, shows recently added to HBO Max, and HBO/HBO Max originals, but we've also made sure to add the shows we personally can't stop recommending to our friends. We'll be updating this list regularly.

Last updated Oct. 30; most recent additions at the top.

More on HBO Max:

• The best movies on HBO Max
• What's new on and coming to HBO Max

The Chair Company

If you haven't heard, 2025 belongs to Tim Robinson. Earlier in the year, the man behind I Think You Should Leave co-starred opposite Paul Rudd in the dark comedy Friendship, and now he's bringing his one-of-a-kind mind to HBO with his new series, The Chair Company. Robinson stars as Ron, a normal guy who finds himself at the center of a "vast criminal conspiracy" (his words) after experiencing an unfortunate workplace incident, which is a very likely thing to happen to a Tim Robinson character. -Allison Picurro [Trailer | Review]

Peacemaker

John Cena brings his The Suicide Squad DC Comics character Peacemaker — a buff guy who wants peace so badly he's willing to be extremely violent about it — to the small screen, with James Gunn writing every episode. If you saw the surprisingly great The Suicide Squad (not to be confused with but of course it's going to be confused with the dud Suicide Squad), you know the tone of this, with Gunn riding the gross-out humor of The Suicide Squad into an origin tale of the best character from the film who wasn't a walking weasel and Cena showing off his magnetic star power as a doofus meathead. Superhero purists may scoff at this, but those who love muscles, violence, and perverted jokes will lap it up. The scope gets expanded in Season 2, as Peacemaker is now part of Gunn's reimagined DC Universe with Superman and the Justice Gang, but the tone remains the same, if even a little sadder. -Tim Surette [Trailer | Review]

Good Cop/Bad Cop

This light, fun dramedy is the kind of show that makes you say "I wish they made more shows like this." Leighton Meester and Luke Cook star as sibling detectives forced to partner up by their father, the chief of police (Clancy Brown). They're trying to solve a string of pharmacy robberies in their town, but their constant bickering adds a layer of difficulty. It's a nice little show that runs on Meester and Cook's charming chemistry. Interestingly, it was filmed in Australia, which stands in for the Pacific Northwest. It originally aired on The CW, and hasn't been renewed for a second season yet, so if you want to help make sure it keeps going, stream it now. -Liam Mathews [Trailer]

Task

Mare of Easttown creator Brad Ingelsby returns to the suburbs of Philadelphia for this character-driven crime thriller. Task follows two men on different sides of the law who are both flawed but fundamentally decent. Tom Pelphrey (Ozark) plays Robbie, the leader of a small crew that robs drug houses in the area, and Mark Ruffalo plays Tom, an FBI agent leading a task force trying to catch Robbie. Inglesby keeps tension at a maximum while still finding room to sketch out empathetic portraits of just about every character. It's like Mare of Easttown meetsHeat, and it's terrific. -Liam Mathews [Trailer]

The Yogurt Shop Murders

This well-reviewed true crime documentary tells the story of a horrifying crime that took place in Austin, Tex. in 1991 and has haunted the city ever since. Four teenage girls who worked in a frozen yogurt shop were brutally murdered, and the crime was never solved. Two men were convicted, but they were freed years later after DNA evidence proved they didn't do it. The documentary, which was produced by Emma Stone and A24 and directed by Margaret Brown, focuses on the grief and memories of the victims' loved ones, rather than the grim details of the crime itself or trying to solve it. -Liam Mathews [Trailer]

Sex and the City/And Just Like That... 

Even if you haven't seen Sex and the City, you know about Sex and the City. Four best friends in New York City! Navigating love, navigating life, navigating the transition from late '90s fashion (fun) to early 2000s fashion (horrendous)! It's always been enormously popular, but hasn't always gotten credit as a quote-unquote "important" show, as is usually the case with a lot of things that are quote-unquote "for women," but it really is a great show, even for all of its many faults. Its sequel series, And Just Like That..., which premiered in 2021 and catches up with three out of four of the women now that they're in their 50s, is not as great, but if you're a fan, it's hard to resist. -Allison Picurro [Trailer] 

Back to the Frontier

It's very easy to describe the premise for this reality series from Chip and Joanna Gaines' Magnolia Network: It's Little House on the Prairie meets Survivor. Modern families try to live like 1880s homesteaders for a summer. It's really, really hard in a way Americans in 2025 are not prepared for. Everyone on this show is going to have a mental breakdown at some point. The question is, will they be able to stick with out until all the crops are harvested and stored for the winter? Or will they throw in the handkerchief they used to wipe sweat from their brow? The show has attracted some controversy, with some conservative Christian leaders criticizing it for including a two-dad family, which prompted a scathing dismissal from Chip Gaines ("Talk, ask qustns, listen.. maybe even learn. Too much to ask of modern American Christian culture," the Magnolia mogul wrote on X). Open-minded viewers will find a fascinating and fun reality series for the whole family. -Liam Mathews [Trailer]

The Gilded Age

This Emmy-nominated period drama is set in the world of New York high society in the 1880s, when new money and old money started to collide. It hails from creator Julian Fellowes, who did a similar thing in Great Britain in the early 20th century with Downton Abbey, though The Gilded Age is much soapier. The storylines are endearingly low-stakes, while the costumes and performances — from great actors like Carrie Coon, Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, and Morgan Spector — are first-rate. -Liam Mathews [Trailer]

The Mortician

This true crime documentary series profiles David Sconce, a former funeral home director who pleaded guilty to mishandling human remains and stealing gold fillings. He maximized profits by stuffing as many bodies into his crematorium as possible — and that's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of sinister things he did or might have done. He's a sick individual who remains unrepentant about his crimes. So if you're looking for a documentary that will disturb you in ways you maybe hadn't thought about before, look no further. -Liam Mathews [Trailer]

Duster

Lost co-creator J.J. Abrams and co-star Josh Holloway reunite for the pedal-to-the-metal crime thriller Duster. Holloway stars as a getaway driver for the biggest crime syndicate in 1972 Arizona who links up with an FBI agent (Rachel Hilson) to investigate his boss (the great Keith David), who may be responsible for the deaths of people close to both of them. It's a fun action show that doesn't take itself too seriously. "When Duster lets itself have fun, it's high-octane and highly watchable television," Allison Picurro writes in her review of the stylish show. Abrams serves as showrunner alongside co-creator LaToya Morgan. -Liam Mathews [Trailer]

Conan O'Brien Must Go

Conan O'Brien used to do his Conan Without Borders segments for his TBS series, and now he's expanded that idea into a full-on travel show of his own on Max. It hits all the right notes as it effectively lampoons the travel show format, with Conan visiting random fans he'd met on his podcast and participating in local culture in a very Conan sort of way. Season 1 takes Conan on adventures to Norway, Argentina, and Thailand, before wrapping up with a trip to Ireland that got a little bit poignant as he learns about his family history. But don't worry, it's not so poignant that it stops being hilarious. In Season 2, he goes to Spain, New Zealand, and Austria. -Phil Owen [Trailer]

The Last of Us

HBO's dystopian series based on a pair of PlayStation games is not only TV's best video game adaptation ever, it's also one of the popular and acclaimed shows on TV right now. The drama is set in a desolate, post-apocalyptic version of the U.S. that has been overrun by cannibalistic, zombified creatures. Season 1 follows a survivor Joel's (Pedro Pascal) journey to smuggle a teenage girl Ellie (Bella Ramsey) out of the quarantine zone. Season 2 finds them settled in a community while an outsider named Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) plots her revenge against Joel for what he did at the end of Season 1. The series was co-developed by Chernobyl's Craig Mazin and the game's creative director Neil Druckmann, with an ensemble cast that reads like a Who's Who of great TV character actors like Murray Bartlett, Anna Torv, and Melanie Lynskey in Season 1 and Jeffrey Wright, Young Mazino, and Catherine O'Hara in Season 2. -Allison Picurro [Trailer]

The Rehearsal

Nathan Fielder is really good at making social experiment TV (like his great Comedy Central series Nathan for You, or How to With John Wilson, which he produced) in which many episodes are built around interactions with everyday people. His latest series is a little harder to describe — in it, Fielder helps people plan for big moments in their lives through elaborately constructed rehearsals. But as is usually the case with Fielder's work, it becomes about so much more the longer it goes on. If Fielder's deadpan character appeals to you, and you can allow yourself to be in on the joke with him, you'll love The Rehearsal. -Allison Picurro [Trailer]

Hacks

Jean Smart is a living legend, and we owe it to human civilization to do everything we can to support her, starting with watching everything she's in. Smart stars in what's easily Max's best original comedy as Deborah Vance, an aging Las Vegas comedian whose time at the top is nearing its end, so circumstance teams her up with an entitled young comedian (Hannah Einbinder) recently canceled for a joke she made on Twitter. The cast also includes Kaitlin Olson and co-creator Paul W. Downs. It won the Emmy for Best Comedy Series in 2024, and is releasing a new season every spring like clockwork, the way TV is supposed to. -Tim Surette [Trailer] 

The Righteous Gemstones

Danny McBride is so good at making shows about awful, obnoxious people. The Righteous Gemstones, his third show for HBO after Eastbound and Down and Vice Principals, is a dark comedy about a world-famous televangelist family whose patriarch, Eli (John Goodman), has made his fortune by preaching the good word of the Lord to the public and opening a string of megachurches, often at the cost of smaller churches. McBride, Edi Patterson, and Adam DeVine play his three horrible adult children, all of whom are in constant competition with each other to see who can become Daddy's favorite and take over the empire (seriously, it's Succession), and Walton Goggins plays his loathsome brother-in-law. Every comedy is actually a drama these days, but The Righteous Gemstones is, thankfully, first and foremost occupied with making you laugh, even as its characters do and say absolutely despicable things. -Allison Picurro [Trailer] 

The White Lotus

The first season of Mike White's zeitgeist-capturing dramedy was set at an exclusive billion-star Hawaiian resort, though it was hardly relaxing for any of its characters, whether they were there for vacation or working to meet the needy needs of their wealthy clients. In Seasons 2 and 3, the location changes to Italy and Thailand, respectively, and a whole new cast of high-strung characters take the spotlight. There is one character who appears in all three seasons, and if you've only watched Season 1, you'll never guess who it is. White has created a dark comedy that he's proven works well in any corner of the world, and it's a joy to watch even when it seems as though the stakes are low. -Tim Surette [Trailer] 

Common Side Effects

This Adult Swim animated comedy/thriller has a serious comedy and animation pedigree. It's created by Joseph Bennett (co-creator of Emmy-winning cult hit animated sci-fi series Scavengers Reign) and Steve Hely (writer for Veep, The Office, and 30 Rock) and executive-produced by Mike Judge (King of the Hill, Silicon Valley) and Greg Daniels (The Office, The Simpsons). Common Side Effects is a satire of the medical industry that follows two friends who discover a mushroom that can cure all illnesses, and then get caught up in a conspiracy led by Big Pharma and the government to suppress that information. Judge voices the stupid and corrupt CEO of the pharmaceutical company. It's a trippy and timely conspiracy comedy. -Liam Mathews [Trailer]

Banshee

Co-created by Jonathan Tropper and David Schickler, Banshee is one of the best action shows you'll find. The show, which ran for four seasons from 2013 to 2016 and came to be known for its pulpy action and knock-down, drag-out brawls as much as its careful study of identity and power, features pre-The Boys Antony Starr as an ex-con freshly out of prison who takes on the identity of Lucas Hood, the new sheriff of Banshee, Pennsylvania, after the real man dies in a bar fight the night before he's to be sworn in. As Hood walks the line between criminal and lawman, the violent show digs into small-town power dynamics, which are made more difficult by organized crime, corruption, and complicated relationships with the Pennsylvania Dutch and Native American communities. It's quietly one of the best shows of the 2010s. -Kaitlin Thomas [Trailer]

The Pitt

The Pitt is technically not an ER revival, but it feels a lot like that classic medical procedural, with the same type of fast-paced drama following emergency room doctors as they go about their life-and-death work. It even stars ER's Noah Wyle, who scrubs back into the genre as the chief attending physician at a Pittsburgh trauma center. The Pitt covers one 15-hour shift, with each episode charting an hour. It's particularly notable for being one of the first procedurals ever made for a streaming service. -Liam Mathews [Trailer]

Creature Commandos 

This adult animated series is James Gunn's (Guardians of the Galaxy) first project to come out since he and his producing partner Peter Safran took over DC Studios in 2022. Gunn writes every episode of this spinoff of The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker. The premise is that after the brutal live-action events of the aforementioned projects, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) is no longer willing to send humans on black ops missions, but she can send monsters, robots, animals, etc. The new team, led by Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo), is dubbed the Creature Commandos. Gunn's live-action projects are known for their gonzo ultraviolence, anarchic humor, and surprising heart, so you can probably guess at what his animated project is like. It's a fun preview of what's to come from Gunn's new-look DC. -Liam Mathews [Trailer] 

It's Florida, Man 

Danny McBride executive-produces HBO's genre-straddling late night comedy series telling true tall tales from the Sunshine State. It features eccentric Florida news stories reenacted by celebrity guests including Anna Faris, Jake Johnson, Juliette Lewis, and many more. It's sort of like Drunk History meets Dateline. -Liam Mathews [Trailer]

The Penguin

The Penguin picks up from 2022's The Batman, continuing the story of Colin Farrell's Oswald Cobblepot, aka Penguin, as he tries to take over Gotham City's underworld in the wake of Carmine Falcone's death in the movie. But it won't be an easy task, because Falcone's daughter Sofia (Cristin Milioti) is also making moves. Milioti and Farrell are so good in their respective parts that this noir thriller becomes impossible to look away from when their on the screen. -Phil Owen [Trailer]

Industry

Industry, which can best be described as the exact midpoint between "Succession for Instagram influencers" and "Euphoria for business majors," is just so good. The finance world series revolves around a group of young bankers trying to secure their dream jobs at a prestigious London investment bank, and focuses as much on their career drama as it does on their interpersonal drama. The market is always in shambles. Alliances are always shifting. Sometimes Jay Duplass is there. It's a great show. -Allison Picurro [Trailer]

House of the Dragon 

House of the Dragon, HBO's Game of Thrones prequel series, needs no introduction, but I'll attempt to give it one anyway: Set two centuries before Game of Thrones, the series centers on the Targaryen family as they fight for control of the Iron Throne. Expect power struggles and white hair. In his review of Season 1 for TV Guide, Liam Mathews wrote that the show doesn't "break the wheel" — it's really just more Game of Thrones, which isn't a bad thing: "If you're even a little bit open to getting burned by dragon fire, House of the Dragon is willing to meet you where you're at." -Allison Picurro [Trailer]

Smiling Friends

In the world of absurd adult animation, there's a fine line between idiotically lol random and dementedly brilliant. Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Rick & Morty fall into the latter category, and they're clearly influences on Adult Swim's latest gem, Smiling Friends. As is usually the case with this type of show, the "plot" matters little — but in case you must know, it's about four weirdos who work for a company dedicated to spreading happiness — and the bizarre adventures matter a lot. And oh, the adventures they go on. Smiling Friends also can't be contained by one animation style, mixing CGI, stop-motion animation, and more into its crude drawings. It's a trip. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Curb Your Enthusiasm, now in its 12th and allegedly actual final season, is a show that needs no introduction. But I'll give one anyway in case you somehow haven't heard of it: Larry David plays a fictionalized version of himself and the show follows him as he goes through life being inconvenienced by normal, everyday things. In 12 seasons, nothing has really changed, and that's the whole point. It's actually kind of incredible that it's still funny after all these years — even deep in his 70s, Larry David's still got it. -Allison Picurro [Trailer] 

True Detective

Each season of True Detective is its own separate story with a completely new cast, but there's one major aspect that all four seasons have shared: a deadly serious noir-thriller vibe and a morally grey story that will make you feel bad about, uh, many things. The newest season, dubbed True Detective: Night Country, stars Jodie Foster in the same sort of role that won her an Oscar for Silence of the Lambs, and it's the best season of True Detective since the first. -Phil Owen [Trailer]

The Curious Case of Natalia Grace

The wildest reality docuseries since Tiger King blew up in 2020 is Investigation Discovery's The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, which features more twists than Chubby Checker working at a pretzel factory in the middle of a tornado. The saga follows the story of Natalia Grace, a Ukranian child who was adopted by an American family but become a terrifying burden to them. Well, according to the parents. Was she actually a 30-year-old with dwarfism conning everyone around her? What really was happening is still up for debate, stuck in a web of lies, abuse charges, and legal chokeholds. It's the kind of series that will leave everyone with an opinion and more questions than answers. The second season features Natalia telling her side of the story and comes with a finale bombshell that all but guarantees a third season. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

Harley Quinn

The hit DC animated series will be back for a fifth season on the same Bat-channel. In the meantime, catch up on Season 4 of Harley Quinn, which picks up with Harley (Kaley Cuoco) teaming up with the Bat-Family now that Batgirl (Briana Cuoco) has taken the reins — and Bruce Wayne (Diedrich Bader) has gone to jail for tax invasion. Superhero stories like this don't come along every day. -Kelly Connolly [Trailer]       

Warrior

Warrior is a breakthrough in Asian representation on the screen, but that's just a bonus of this action drama that's finding new life on Max after toiling in obscurity on Cinemax. Based on the writings of Bruce Lee and brought to the screen by his daughter Shannon, Warrior's depiction of the Tong Wars in San Francisco in the late 1800s is appropriately gruesome and takes more turns than Lombard Street, showing a time, place, and people that television somehow always overlooks. It's Peaky Blinders with an added layer of racial issues. It's Gangs of New York with more flying kicks. But it's also wholly original as a story of immigrants making their way in a country that only barely tolerated them and fighting back against that hatred. -Tim Surette [Trailer] 

The Other Two

Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider's showbiz comedy is one of the funniest shows of the last decade, period. It follows forgotten older siblings Cary (Drew Tarver) and Brooke (Heléne Yorke) who have to deal with the fact that their teen brother has become a world famous pop star overnight. As his star rises, they flail forward, trying to forge their own career paths despite the world constantly kicking them down at every turn. It's a satire that isn't cynical or smug, and it's the surprisingly rare comedy of today that is primarily focused on packing as many jokes into each episode as possible. -Allison Picurro [Trailer] 

Somebody Somewhere

Comedian Bridget Everett stars in this indie-com about a woman named Sam learning to find herself in Kansas after the untimely death of her sister. But it's not a sad show! In fact, Somebody Somewhere is about relishing the joys of friendship, expressing yourself, and embracing what makes you unique, but in that weird way that the choir club at high school used to do. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

Succession

Jesse Armstrong's series about the power struggles of the members of the exorbitantly rich Roy family, whose father is the CEO of a billion-dollar media conglomerate, is worth every bit of the hype surrounding it. Yes, it's about the business stuff (though I don't really know anyone watching it because they're super passionate about business), but it's mostly about the truly horrifically twisted family dynamics, and about the awful things wealth and power do to people. Considering the clashing personality types at play — from king sad boy Kendall (Jeremy Strong) to slimy, immature Roman (Kieran Culkin) to cold, calculating Shiv (Sarah Snook) — it's not difficult to understand why it's inspired so many memes. Sometimes it's just fun to watch bad people behave badly, when it's all happening within the confines of a fictional TV show. -Allison Picurro [Trailer] 

South Side

South Side follows two friends in Chicago who are trying to become venture capitalists but are stuck working boring day jobs until it happens. Creators Bashir Salahuddin and Diallo Riddle have created a delightfully singular little world. This is the ultimate hangout show in that nothing really happens, but the jokes are laugh-out-loud funny and the characters are excellent. It's the kind of show you watch and wonder why you didn't start watching it sooner. -Allison Picurro [Trailer] 

Abbott Elementary 

Abbot Elementary is a mockumentary in the vein of The Office or Parks and Recreation about an underfunded public elementary school in Philadelphia, where the teachers try to provide for their students as best they can without getting burnt out by the lack of resources, respect, administrative support, and difficulty of the job itself. The main character is Janine Teagues (series creator Quinta Brunson), an idealistic second-grade teacher in her second year on the job. Every episode, she tries to go above and beyond the call of duty, with alternately triumphant or humbling results. The show has a sweet-and-salty sense of humor and a cast of characters who feel like people who could actually exist in real life. We've all relied on commiseration with competent coworkers to help us endure bad bosses like Ava Coleman, the preening and vindictive principal hilariously played by Janelle James. -Liam Mathews [Trailer] 

Euphoria

Euphoria is the kind of show that'll make you say, "I'm never having kids!" Sam Levinson's gloriously messy, semi-autobiographical series centers around Rue (Zendaya), a high school student fresh out of rehab who has no intention of staying sober, and her toxic friendship with Jules (Hunter Schafer). Rue, Jules, and their classmates party, do drugs, and engage in general debauchery as they struggle to find themselves, but the show is so lovingly empathetic of their uniquely teenage despair while also having some of the best cinematography on television. -Allison Picurro [Trailer] 

Search Party

Search Party originally aired on TBS, where it was generally ignored for its first two seasons, but thankfully, Max rescued it from getting lost in the shuffle of cable TV. The satirical comedy stars Alia Shawkat as Dory, an aimless twenty-something living in Brooklyn who decides to assign purpose to her life by tracking down an old college classmate who has recently gone missing. That's how it starts out, anyway. Search Party goes to all kinds of audacious, dark places, boldly switching genres every season by adding in elements of crime thrillers and court dramas, and upping the stakes all while retaining its signature sharp sense of humor. It's a trip, but if you're willing to go along with it, you're in for a great ride. -Allison Picurro [Trailer] 

Station Eleven

For better or worse, many shows have already addressed the pandemic, but Station Eleven is a little different than the rest, if only because the book it's based on (also called Station Eleven, written by Emily St. John Mandel) was written years before COVID (the miniseries also started filming before the pandemic). It centers on a group of survivors in the wake of a global pandemic that has ravaged much of the world as they work to figure out how to go on in the face of so much devastation, with the story often switching back and forth between the pre-virus past and the post-virus future. Mackenzie Davis, Matilda Lawler, and Himesh Patel star. -Allison Picurro [Trailer] 

Insecure

Issa Rae's opus centers around her alter-ego Issa Dee and Issa's best friend Molly (Yvonne Orji), who are both trying their best in their careers, their relationships, and their lives. Insecure is so good at so many things: presenting nuanced looks at the friendships between Black women, making life's everyday hardships alternately funny and heartbreaking, and of course, having a never-ending rotating door of handsome dudes. It's one of the best, funniest, and smartest comedies of the past decade. -Allison Picurro [Trailer] 

Gossip Girl

The crown jewel of late aughts TV, Gossip Girl revolves around a group of rich kids who go to an elite Manhattan high school, all while their scandalous inner lives are tracked and put on display by the mysterious Gossip Girl. It's silly, it's stupid, it's perfect, and it catapulted people like Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, and Penn Badgley to stardom. Max also put out a, to be nice about it, not as perfect revival in 2021 that focuses on a new cast. -Allison Picurro [Trailer]  

Six Feet Under

Alan Ball's series follows the lives of the Fisher family, who take over the Los Angeles funeral home that was left to them by their recently deceased father. You may or may not know that Six Feet Under is best remembered for its iconic series finale sequence, but most everything that happens before that is incredible too. The Fisher family is dysfunctional and troubled, and the show is unique for its willingness to have frank, complicated discussions about the many facets of dying and grief. While you should probably know before going in that this one is pretty dark (each episode begins with a different death), don't let that deter you from watching. It's something special. -Allison Picurro [Trailer]

The Leftovers

Co-created by Lost's Damon Lindelof and author Tom Perrotta, The Leftovers could be read as a direct response to the controversy around the Lost finale: On The Leftovers, the lack of answers was the point. Set in the dazed aftermath of the sudden vanishing of 2 percent of the world's population, the series evolved past its bleak first season to tell a story more expansive, and more quietly magical, than anything else on TV. But while the unrelenting anguish of the first few episodes turned some viewers off, it wasn't a flaw in the big picture. The distance between where The Leftovers began and where it ended was part of what made the second and third seasons so effective: It was thrilling to watch the show break its own rules. When the characters found their own ways to heal, it was both a rebellion and a relief. The Leftovers didn't capture life exactly as it is but as it feels. It will be looked back on as a snapshot of a chaotic era striving for grace. -Kelly Connolly [Trailer] 

The Wire

Created by David Simon, The Wire is rightfully lauded as being one of the greatest shows of all time. Set in Baltimore, the crime drama focuses largely on the city's drug trade, but with each season it peels back another layer, expertly exploring other facets of the city, from the local government to the educational system. It's unflinching and fascinating, set on exposing the American underbelly, but more than anything, it really just is that good. -Allison Picurro [Trailer] 

The Sopranos

Have you heard of this one? David Chase's groundbreaking drama is about as popular now as it was when it first aired, and for good reason. It is quite simply one of the best to ever do it, following James Gandolfini's mafia man with feelings, Tony Soprano, as he tries to reckon with the weight of the horrifically violent things he's done as a mob boss while balancing his role as a husband and father. It's an absorbingly vibrant story about America, the things capitalism does to a person's soul, and track suits. If you love any show made after The Sopranos, there's a pretty good chance it was, in some way, inspired by The Sopranos. -Allison Picurro [Trailer] 

Enlightened

One of the best series HBO has ever produced, Mike White's half-hour dramedy Enlightened stars Laura Dern — in arguably her greatest TV performance — as a former corporate exec who heads to a spiritual retreat after a mental breakdown. There, she becomes a new age, eco-friendly goddess who rejoins her company at the bottom, where she plots to take down the corporation. Extremely touching and hilarious, Enlightened was ahead of its time. -Allison Picurro [Trailer] 

I May Destroy You

Rising super-talent Michaela Coel created, writes, directs, and stars in this timely and unflinching drama made in partnership with the BBC. She plays Arabella, an author who is drugged and sexually assaulted in a bar, and comes to with a vague memory that something bad happened to her, but she's not sure who's responsible. She tries to find out who did it, while also maintaining her friendships and finishing her book. The series deals with some intensely heavy topics, but it has a sly sense of humor that will make you laugh when you're least expecting it. -Liam Mathews [Trailer]