2025 in Review: Top 10 Best TV Shows

As the streaming wars settle into a phase marked by consolidation and acquisitions, many are rightfully concerned about a future shaped by a potential Netflix monopoly. But judging by the output of new and returning shows in 2025, the overall marketplace appears to be as healthy as it has ever been, at least using perceived quality as our preferred metric. This is why whittling down the number of shows I watched and enjoyed this year to just ten has proven more difficult than most years. Still, where there's a will, there's a way, so what follows are my Top 10 TV Shows for the year.

10. The Last of Us Season 2

I really struggled with whether or not to include Season 2 of The Last of Us on my shortlist. That's how hard the show has fallen out of my good graces following its adaptation of what was already itself a very divisive second game. The decision to kill off a certain major character aside, there were just too many questionable, ideologically-charged inclusions in its story, which threatened to derail the entire thing. But ultimately, the show succeeds in more ways than it falls flat on its face, even though I can finally better understand the vitriol it inspired in certain pockets of the game's fandom.

9. Squid Game Season 3

Following an abrupt end to Season 2 of Squid Game, Netflix released what was effectively the second half of that particular story arc this year. And taken as a whole, Season 2 and 3 certainly had their fair share of things to say about classism and the dangers of free-market capitalism. But chances are you cared more about the games themselves, of which there were new ones as well as returning favorites. And while I would never forgive Player 456 and Detective Hwang for nearly grinding the story to a halt with their stupidity, I still enjoyed the final season, all things considered.

8. Severance Season 2

I was a bit late to the game with Severance when it originally swooped onto the scene in 2022. But I made sure I was caught up with its high-concept premise, as well as the various innies working the brightly lit offices of Lumon Industries, in time for its second season, which was doled out over the course of several weeks on Apple TV earlier this year. And while I personally didn't think it hit the same heights as that critically-acclaimed first season, the new season peels back just enough layers of its central conceit and mysteries that I can see myself sticking with it for another season or two.

7. It: Welcome to Derry

2025 was a solid year for Stephen King adaptations, from movies like The Life of Chuck, The Long Walk, and The Running Man, to It: Welcome to Derry on HBO Max. Bill Skarsgård reprises his role as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, the chosen avatar of the eponymous It, long before he goes toe to toe with the members of the Losers Club. The show delves deeper into the lore from the books, with creative connections to other Stephen King works like The Shining, and it is anchored by an all-round solid cast. Just don't get too attached to any of them, if you know what I mean.

6. Peacemaker Season 2

The DCU was already off to a great start with both Creature Commandos and Superman. So, going into Peacemaker, I was more concerned with how it would reconcile the show and its titular character's origins within the DCEU with how he was now being positioned as part of the new universe. But rather than tackle that issue head-on, Season 2 merely opens with a recap of events that mirrored the ones from the first, suggesting we were dealing with a parallel universe, a concept that would serve as a throughline for the events of the entire season and, by the looks of it, the future of the DCU as a whole.

5. Adolescence

Netflix is hardly regarded as a de facto home for prestige television, with a good chunk of its library falling well under the umbrella of slop, or even worse, second-screen viewing. This is why whenever a show like Adolescence comes around, everyone pays attention. The four-part miniseries explores the effects of online spaces like the manosphere on young, impressionable minds. But it is in its single-take construction that the show really impresses, with each episode being filmed as one continuous tracking shot. This is next-level filmmaking, bolstered by equally strong performances from its acting ensemble. 

4. Invincible Season 3

Mark Grayson continues his ascension to full-fledged hero in Season 3 of Invincible, a show that has always been packed with some of the most awesome superhero showdowns. This year, it was the fight with the Viltrumite commander, Conquest, that had fans salivating, a confrontation so epic that it made his beatdown by Omni-Man in Season 1 look like warmup. The new season had other highlights too, but frankly, I was just glad to see Mark finally move on from Amber, whom I've always found insufferable, and embrace his future with Atom Eve, whom I adore.

3. Pluribus

When Pluribus arrived on Apple TV with a perfect 100 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, I was cautiously optimistic. After all, it was the same crop of critics who gave Season 2 of Foundation a similar score. But with acclaimed Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul showrunner Vince Gilligan at the helm, and a high-concept science-fiction premise that is part alien invasion, part viral outbreak, I knew I was bound to have a jolly good time. Except nothing could have prepared me for just how rib-crackingly funny the show is, with a variation of dry humor that borders on the very edge of absurdist.

2. Andor Season 2

Star Wars fans were in dire need of a palate cleansing after a string of mediocre Disney+ shows set in a galaxy far, far away (I'm looking at you, Ahsoka and The Acolyte). And like a cool breeze on a hot summer day, Andor was back to show the hacks at Lucasfilm what was possible when you pair the right showrunners with the right projects. Season 2 further bridges the gap between Revenge of the Sith and Rogue One, covering events spanning a four-year period with some of the best writing and directing seen on this side of the Volume.

1. Stranger Things Season 5

I know we are technically only halfway through the final season of Stranger Things, but if the first four episodes are anything to go by, then what a season it is shaping up to be. Will the Wise is dead. Long live Will the Sorcerer. The buildup and execution of that big reveal is a payoff nearly a decade in the making, taking an often-neglected secondary character and making him one of the most powerful players on the board.

Sure, the kids might look way too old for their roles now. And say what you will about Netflix and its gradual shift away from its traditional binge model. But, damn it, if it all isn't just some next-level genius planning, as they've suddenly given fans of the show something to look forward to over the holidays. Now Christmas and New Year's Eve can't come soon enough.