1997 · 4 Seasons · Citytv / Sci Fi Channel · Science Fiction
Lexx is aggressively weird sci-fi that rewards viewers willing to embrace its absurdist tone, though its uneven quality and deliberately trashy humor make it a polarizing experience that's impossible to recommend broadly.
2024 · 1 Season · Amazon Prime Video · Crime
Like a Dragon: Yakuza is a live-action adaptation of the beloved video game series that nails the tonal balancing act between melodramatic crime saga and heartfelt character drama. The dual-timeline structure following Kazuma Kiryu across decades gives the story an emotional sweep, the fight choreography is impressive, and the show captures the spirit of Kamurocho even if it can't replicate the games' sprawling freedom. Non-fans may find the melodrama excessive, the villain motivations thin, and the six-episode format too compressed for the story it wants to tell. But as a video game adaptation that respects its source material while working as standalone television, it's one of the better examples in a crowded field.
2012 · 6 Seasons · BBC One · Police Thriller
Line of Duty is one of the most gripping police thrillers ever produced, a show that makes internal investigations feel more dangerous than any criminal underworld. Jed Mercurio's writing generates tension through interrogation scenes that rival any action sequence, and the central trio of Adrian Dunbar, Vicky McClure, and Martin Compston became the beating heart of British television for a decade. The final season's resolution divided the nation, but the journey to get there is some of the most compulsively watchable drama the BBC has ever broadcast.
2023 · 2 Seasons · Paramount+ · Action Thriller
A slick military thriller with a stacked cast that delivers tense individual sequences but struggles with the same character depth issues that plague Taylor Sheridan's expanding television portfolio.
2020 · 2 Seasons · Apple TV+ · Anthology Drama
Little America tells true stories of immigrants in the United States with a warmth and specificity that avoids both sentimentality and political grandstanding. Each episode is its own complete world, built around real people whose experiences are rendered with dignity and unexpected humor. The anthology format means quality varies episode to episode, but the best installments are among the most moving half-hours of television in recent memory.
2020 · 1 Season · Hulu · Drama
Little Fires Everywhere benefits enormously from the combustible pairing of Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington as two mothers whose opposing worldviews collide in a planned community where rules are everything. The show explores race, class, motherhood, and the limits of good intentions with enough nuance to provoke genuine reflection. It occasionally overplays its hand with melodramatic plot turns, and the custody battle subplot carries more thematic weight than it can always support dramatically.
2020 · 3 Seasons · Netflix · Fantasy / Horror
Locke & Key has a fantastic premise and occasionally reaches the magic of its source material, but inconsistent writing and baffling character decisions keep it from unlocking its full potential.
2018 · 2 Seasons · AMC · Comedy / Drama
Lodge 49 is a gentle, strange, and deeply humane show about a down-on-his-luck surfer who stumbles into a fraternal lodge in Long Beach, California, and finds something resembling community, purpose, and possibly alchemy. It's a show that defies easy description and rewards patience with a warmth and weirdness that feel entirely its own.
2021 · 2 Seasons · Disney+ · Action & Adventure
Loki is the rare MCU property that earned its ending, building a genuine character arc across two seasons and closing it in a way that resonated with fans long after the credits rolled. The first season sets up a compelling premise and the second delivers on it with surprising emotional depth. If you've ever wanted the MCU to care as much about its characters as its spectacle, this is the show that comes closest.
1989 · 1 Season · CBS · Western / Drama / Adventure
Lonesome Dove is the definitive television Western, a sweeping, emotionally devastating epic anchored by Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones in performances that redefined what the genre could achieve.
2022 · 3 Seasons · Apple TV+ · Comedy
A workplace comedy that coasts almost entirely on Maya Rudolph's charm and the strong chemistry of its supporting ensemble. Rudolph plays a newly divorced billionaire who discovers her own charitable foundation, and the fish-out-of-water premise generates reliable laughs without ever digging deep enough into its satirical potential. The show wants to comment on wealth inequality but treats its billionaire protagonist with too much affection to land any real punches. Three seasons in, Loot remains a pleasant, lightweight comedy that never quite becomes the sharper show its premise promises, carried by a cast that deserves writing with more bite.
2004 · 6 Seasons · ABC · Sci-Fi / Drama
Lost changed television. That's not up for debate. Its combination of cinematic production values, puzzle-box storytelling, and one of the deepest ensemble casts in network TV history turned it into a cultural phenomenon that reshaped how audiences engaged with serialized drama. The first four seasons build mystery and character with remarkable skill, creating an addictive viewing experience that few shows have matched. A final season and ending that divided its audience so sharply that the debate continues years later keeps it from the pantheon of all-time greats. Even so, the journey through those 121 episodes, the characters you meet, the questions the island raises, and the emotional connections the show earns represent something that television rarely attempts and may never quite replicate.
2019 · 4 Seasons · Netflix · Animation, Sci-Fi, Anthology
Love, Death & Robots is animated science fiction at its most ambitious and its most inconsistent. When an episode connects, combining a compelling story with a distinctive animation style, the results can be breathtaking. When it doesn't, you're left with a technically impressive but emotionally hollow exercise. The anthology format means both experiences are inevitable, often within the same volume. Four seasons in, the show remains the best showcase for the range and potential of adult animation on any streaming platform, even if it has never quite achieved the consistency that would make it a masterpiece.
2020 · 1 Season · HBO · Horror / Drama
Lovecraft Country is an audacious, uneven masterpiece-in-parts that uses cosmic horror to literalize the monstrous reality of Jim Crow America, delivering some of the most inventive and powerful horror television of the decade.
2016 · 6 Seasons · Netflix · Urban Fantasy Procedural
Lucifer is a show that runs entirely on the charisma of Tom Ellis and the entertaining absurdity of watching the literal Devil solve crimes in Los Angeles. When it leans into the theological and emotional depths of its premise, it's surprisingly compelling television. When it falls back on repetitive procedural structures and drawn-out romantic tension, it tests the patience of even its most devoted fans. Six seasons is too many, but Ellis makes nearly every episode watchable, and the show's best stretches demonstrate that there was a genuinely great show hiding inside a good one.
2021 · 3 Seasons · Netflix · Mystery, Thriller, Crime
Lupin is a stylish and infectious heist thriller elevated by Omar Sy's magnetic screen presence and a Parisian setting that drips with charm. The show's best moments combine clever disguises, elaborate cons, and genuine emotional stakes rooted in a father-son story that gives the flashy surface real weight. Plot logic doesn't always hold up under scrutiny, and the later parts lean heavier on action at the expense of the intricate scheming that made the early episodes so satisfying. But as escapist entertainment with a cultural identity all its own, Lupin delivers something that feels fresh in a crowded streaming market.
2010 · 5 Seasons · BBC One · Crime Drama
Luther is Idris Elba at his most commanding, a show built around a performance so magnetic that it elevates every scene, even when the scripts don't quite deserve it. The cat-and-mouse dynamic with Ruth Wilson's Alice Morgan is one of the best antagonist relationships in crime television, and London has never looked more menacing. Later seasons can't maintain the quality of the first two, and the show's relationship with realism is flexible at best, but Elba's DCI Luther is one of the defining detective performances of the century.
1972 · 11 Seasons · CBS · Comedy / Drama
M*A*S*H remains one of television's towering achievements, a comedy set in a Korean War surgical unit that used humor as a survival mechanism while building toward emotional moments that still devastate fifty years later. The show's evolution from broad military comedy to sophisticated dramedy tracked television's own maturation, and its finale remains the most-watched broadcast in American television history. Alan Alda's Hawkeye Pierce is one of the medium's great characters, and the show's anti-war message, delivered through laughter and tears in equal measure, has never been more relevant.
2007 · 7 Seasons · AMC · Drama
Mad Men built a seven-season character study inside a period piece so meticulously crafted that every costume, every set decoration, and every background detail earns its place on screen. Jon Hamm's Don Draper is a magnetic, frustrating, endlessly watchable creation, and the ensemble around him charts an entire decade of American transformation through individual lives rather than historical bullet points. The deliberate pacing is a genuine barrier for some viewers, and the later seasons retread familiar ground with diminishing returns. Those are fair criticisms of a show that still stands as one of the most ambitious and accomplished dramas in the history of the medium.
2017 · 2 Seasons · AT-X / Tokyo MX · Adventure / Fantasy / Drama
Made in Abyss creates one of the most compelling fictional worlds in anime history and then dares its characters, and its audience, to keep descending into it. The Abyss itself is a masterwork of environmental storytelling, gorgeous and terrifying in equal measure, with Kevin Penkin's soundtrack elevating every moment of wonder and dread. The show's willingness to inflict real suffering on its young protagonists gives the adventure genuine stakes but also pushes into territory that many viewers find deeply uncomfortable. Whether that discomfort represents brave storytelling or unnecessary provocation depends on your tolerance and your trust in the narrative. For those who can engage with it on its own terms, this is an unforgettable piece of anime that stays with you long after you stop watching.
2021 · 1 Season · Netflix · Drama
Maid is an unflinching portrait of poverty, emotional abuse, and the bureaucratic gauntlet that traps people who are trying to escape both. Margaret Qualley delivers a breakthrough performance as a young mother navigating homelessness, custody battles, and a system designed to catch you in loops rather than lift you out. The show's refusal to simplify or sentimentalize poverty makes it one of the most honest depictions of class in American television, even when the emotional weight becomes almost unbearable.
2015 · 2 Seasons · Netflix · True Crime Documentary
The documentary that launched a thousand true crime obsessions, Making a Murderer is a gripping examination of the American justice system that's more powerful when it asks questions than when it implies answers.
2000 · 7 Seasons · FOX · Comedy
Malcolm in the Middle redefined what a family sitcom could look like by removing the laugh track, embracing visual comedy, and centering a dysfunctional working-class family whose chaos felt more real than any pristine TV household. Bryan Cranston's Hal is one of television's greatest comic performances, Frankie Muniz's fourth-wall-breaking narration gives the show a distinctive voice, and the Wilkerson boys' escalating destruction provides physical comedy that still hasn't been matched. The later seasons lose some of the anarchic energy as the novelty fades.
2018 · 1 Season · Netflix · Sci-Fi, Dark Comedy, Drama
Maniac is a visually inventive limited series about two damaged strangers in a pharmaceutical trial whose subconscious minds keep colliding, blending retro-futurist aesthetics with genuine emotional insight about connection and healing.
2018 · 4 Seasons · Netflix · Supernatural Drama
Manifest is a show that hooks you with one of the best premises in recent sci-fi television and then tests your patience by taking four seasons to explain it. The missing plane mystery and the 'callings' concept generate genuine intrigue, and the family drama provides an emotional anchor that keeps you watching through the rougher stretches. The network-TV pacing, repetitive plotting, and uneven writing hold it back from the heights its concept deserves, but the Netflix-revived final season provides enough answers to make the journey worthwhile for committed viewers.
2016 · 2 Seasons · NHK · Drama / Slice of Life / Sports
March Comes in Like a Lion is one of the most honest and compassionate depictions of depression, isolation, and recovery in anime, wrapped around the life of a teenage professional shogi player who's struggling to find reasons to keep going. Shaft's animation uses visual metaphor with breathtaking creativity, the Kawamoto sisters provide warmth that never feels forced, and the second season's bullying arc delivers some of the most powerful storytelling of the decade. It's a slow, quiet, deeply humane show that rewards viewers willing to sit with difficult emotions.
2014 · 2 Seasons · Netflix · Historical Drama / Action / Adventure
Marco Polo offered lavish production design and a memorable Kublai Khan performance from Benedict Wong, but its bland protagonist and meandering storytelling prevented it from becoming the epic it aspired to be.
2021 · 1 Season · HBO · Crime Drama
Mare of Easttown is a masterclass in how to do a limited series right: a murder at the center, a community threaded around it, and a lead performance that makes everything feel urgent and real. Kate Winslet is extraordinary, the Delaware County setting feels lived-in and specific, and the finale carries genuine emotional weight. A few subplot missteps don't change the fact that this is exactly what prestige TV is capable of at its best.
1987 · 11 Seasons · FOX · Comedy
Married... with Children was the anti-sitcom that helped launch FOX as a network, turning the wholesome family comedy inside out with the Bundys, a family that openly despised their circumstances and frequently each other. Ed O'Neill's Al Bundy is one of television's great comic creations, and the show's willingness to be crude, mean, and deliberately offensive gave it an energy that polished network comedies couldn't match. Eleven seasons is too long for the format, and the later years lean too heavily on cartoon logic, but the show's influence on irreverent comedy is undeniable.
2024 · 1 Season · Starz · Drama
Julianne Moore is deliciously ruthless as a Jacobean mother weaponizing her son's beauty to seize political power, in a show that's stylish, provocative, and occasionally uneven in its balance between historical drama and modern sensibility.
2024 · 1 Season · Apple TV+ · Drama
A visually spectacular WWII aerial combat series that delivers breathtaking action sequences but struggles to develop the emotional connections that made Band of Brothers and The Pacific into television landmarks.
2021 · 3 Seasons · Paramount+ · Crime Drama
A grim, violent crime drama that benefits from Jeremy Renner's committed performance but suffers from Taylor Sheridan's increasingly familiar formula of brooding men solving problems through intimidation.
2006 · 4 Seasons · Adult Swim · Animated Comedy / Musical
Metalocalypse is the rare show that works equally well as comedy and as a genuine celebration of the music it parodies. Brendon Small's compositions for Dethklok are legitimately good metal, and the show's escalating mythology about a band whose popularity threatens civilization provides a surprisingly compelling narrative backbone. The unresolved series ending remains a sore point, but four seasons of sharp comedy, brutal animation, and committed world-building make this one of Adult Swim's most distinctive creations.
2009 · 5 Seasons · TBS · Drama
A beautifully understated anthology about a Tokyo diner that opens at midnight, where each dish served tells the story of a customer's life with warmth, humor, and quiet wisdom.
2021 · 1 Season · Netflix · Horror, Drama
Midnight Mass is one of the most ambitious horror miniseries in recent memory, wrapping a slow-burn vampire story inside a serious, probing meditation on faith, death, and community. The performances are extraordinary, the atmosphere is suffocating in the best way, and the finale earns its emotional devastation. It demands patience and tolerance for extended philosophical monologues, and some viewers will bounce off it hard. But for those who connect with it, it lingers long after the credits roll.
2017 · 2 Seasons · Netflix · Crime / Thriller
Mindhunter is one of the most intelligent crime shows ever produced, a series that finds its tension in conversation rather than action and trusts its audience to stay engaged with the psychology behind the violence. David Fincher's meticulous direction, Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany's compelling lead performances, and the chilling interview sequences create something that feels entirely distinct from any other show in the genre. Two seasons and 19 episodes is not enough, and the cancellation stings more with each passing year. What exists is exceptional, and anyone with patience for a slow-burn approach to storytelling about the darkest corners of human behavior will find this unforgettable.
2022 · 2 Seasons · Starz · Comedy Drama
Minx is a sharp, funny, and surprisingly touching comedy about feminism, pornography, and the compromises required to change the world from within the system. Ophelia Lovibond and Jake Johnson have terrific chemistry, and the show captures 1970s Los Angeles with a colorful authenticity that goes beyond nostalgia. Its cancellation after being bounced between networks is a shame, because the show was only getting better at balancing its comedy with genuine substance.
2014 · 1 Season · tvN · Drama
A quietly powerful workplace drama that transforms the daily grind of a trading company into a meditation on ambition, survival, and the quiet heroism of showing up every day.
2009 · 5 Seasons · E4 · Sci-Fi Comedy Drama
Misfits gave superpowers to the worst possible people and discovered that was the best possible premise for a television show. The first two seasons are a creative high point for British genre television, driven by Robert Sheehan's volcanic performance as Nathan and writing that uses supernatural abilities as psychological metaphors with genuine wit. Cast turnover after the second season diminishes the magic considerably, but the original run is a brash, funny, and surprisingly emotional achievement that proved you could deconstruct superheroes on a shoestring budget.
2016 · 3 Seasons · Crunchyroll · Animation / Action / Comedy / Supernatural
Mob Psycho 100 is one of the rare anime that gets better with every season and sticks the landing when it matters most. It wraps profound messages about self-acceptance and emotional growth inside some of the most inventive animation the medium has produced, and it does it without ever feeling like it's lecturing you. The humor is sharp, the action is spectacular, and the heart underneath it all is completely genuine. Three seasons wasn't many, but the show used every one of those 37 episodes to say exactly what it wanted to say.
2009 · 11 Seasons · ABC · Comedy
Modern Family redefined the family sitcom for a new era by presenting a multigenerational, diverse family through the mockumentary lens that made each episode feel intimate and immediate. The first five seasons deliver some of the sharpest, warmest comedy of the 2010s, with an ensemble so perfectly cast that every family member gets their share of standout moments. The later seasons ran on momentum rather than invention, and eleven seasons was several too many, but the family it built remains one of television's most endearing.
2023 · 2 Seasons · Apple TV+ · Sci-Fi
Kurt Russell brings gravitas to a MonsterVerse series that's more interested in family drama than kaiju battles, a bold choice that works for some viewers and frustrates others looking for monster mayhem.
2017 · 5 Parts · Netflix · Crime / Thriller
Money Heist starts as one of the smartest, most addictive heist stories ever put on television. The Professor's plan, the city-named robbers, the red jumpsuits, and the constant chess match with police create an atmosphere of controlled chaos that's impossible to stop watching. The first two parts are close to perfect television. The trouble is that the show kept going past its natural ending point, and the later parts increasingly rely on melodrama, coincidence, and escalation that strains credibility. Watch it for the brilliant setup and stay for the characters you'll grow attached to along the way. Just know that the ride gets bumpier the longer it goes.
2022 · 2 Seasons · Netflix · Action, Crime, Drama
A Korean adaptation of the Spanish heist phenomenon that brings inter-Korean political tension to the formula but never escapes the shadow of the original.
2002 · 8 Seasons · USA Network · Comedy, Crime, Drama, Mystery
Monk is built on one of the great television performances: Tony Shalhoub's portrayal of Adrian Monk, a brilliant detective crippled by obsessive-compulsive disorder and grief, is funny, heartbreaking, and utterly original. The mysteries are clever, the comedy is warm without being cruel, and the show's exploration of living with mental illness, while sometimes simplified for television, is handled with more care and empathy than it had any obligation to provide. Eight seasons and 125 episodes of consistently entertaining television, anchored by a character who earns every laugh and every tear.
2004 · 1 Season · Nippon TV · Thriller / Mystery / Drama
Monster is a psychological thriller that unfolds with the patience of a great novel, following a Japanese surgeon across post-Cold War Europe as he hunts the serial killer he once saved as a child. Naoki Urasawa's storytelling is masterful in its construction of atmosphere, its exploration of human nature, and its refusal to take shortcuts. The 74-episode length demands commitment and the pacing will test some viewers, but for those who surrender to its deliberate rhythm, Monster delivers one of the most intellectually and emotionally rewarding anime experiences ever produced.
2022 · 1 Season · Netflix · True Crime Drama
Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story became one of Netflix's most-watched series by centering the perspectives of Dahmer's victims and the community failures that allowed his crimes to continue, but its very popularity reignited the debate about whether true crime entertainment can ever truly honor the people it claims to be about. Evan Peters delivers a chilling, restrained performance that avoids sensationalism, and the show's best episodes are powerful examinations of systemic failure. Its worst moments feel like exploitation wearing the disguise of social commentary.
1969 · 4 Seasons · BBC One · Comedy, Sketch
The comedy that broke the mold and never bothered putting it back together, Monty Python's Flying Circus remains the benchmark for fearless, absurdist humor.