Happy holidays, everyone. It’s that time of year again. No, not Christmas, I am talking about my list of favourite TV shows I saw in 2025. Looking back, I am quite surprised by just how many series I watched. For those who kept up with my monthly TV power rankings, you probably have a good idea of how my list will go, but I have to admit, there are a few shake-ups upon reflection. Before moving forward, I want to get one thing out of the way. I did not watch Severance. That’s why it’s not there. Beyond that, this list is entirely a subjective look at what I truly enjoyed. We had a historic year for television, and if your favourite show isn’t here, it’s not because it was bad; it’s probably just because I was too busy watching Tires for the third time to get to it. Now, let’s get into my list of favourite TV shows of 2025.
20. Terminal List: Dark Wolf
You should watch Terminal List: Dark Wolf because it cranks the paranoia and manhunt tension way higher than the first season. James Reece is dropped into a covert op where he’s both the weapon and the target, and the whole season moves around one brutal thread, which is Reece tracking a rogue Tier One operator tied to a black‑book CIA program. The show leans into tradecraft too: watching Reece improvise surveillance, countersurveillance, and low-tech fieldwork across Europe and the Middle East makes it feel like a proper modern military thriller, while still keeping the bruising action and moral gray zones that made the original hit. Plus, you can’t go wrong with a show featuring our boy Tim Riggins, making two appearances on my list this year.
19. Mayor of Kingstown
You should watch Mayor of Kingstown season 4 because it finally blows the lid off everything it’s been simmering toward. The corruption spirals into a full-on prison-street war that even Mike McLusky can’t control anymore, with a power vacuum pulling in Detroit gangster Frank Moses and Eddie Falco’s Nina Hobbs as the new warden. Falco is unreal here, pure no-nonsense menace, treating Mike less like a fixer and more like a problem to eliminate, delivering ice-cold monologues and making brutal calls without blinking. Add Kyle’s prison collapse and Evelyn tightening the legal vice, and the season finally hits the explosive stakes the show has been promising for years.
18. Alien: Earth
You should watch Alien: Earth because it finally makes a xenomorph outbreak feel both massive and uncomfortably personal. Instead of soldiers and space marines, you’re following a small group of survivors trapped in a quarantined coastal city while Weyland-Yutani does what it always does: tries to weaponize the problem instead of fixing it. The show plays the long game with tension, favouring slow-burn dread over constant gunfire. Subway tunnels, flooded high-rises, and sketchy “safe zones” turn every corner into a possible death sentence, and once corporate security and desperate civilians start hunting each other for leverage, it becomes clear the aliens aren’t even the worst part anymore. I will admit the finale was a bit of a dud, but episode 5 was one of the best on TV this year, period.
17. The Beast in Me
You should watch The Beast in Me because it takes a basic neighbour-from-hell premise and quietly turns it into a psychological knife fight. A grieving author fixates on the wealthy real estate mogul next door, who may or may not have murdered his missing wife, and what starts as curiosity turns into a dangerously obsessive game of surveillance and provocation. Claire Danes is full-on Clair Danes as expected, as Aggie Wiggs, funnelling her grief into a “research project” that’s clearly becoming something else entirely. Then you have Matthew Rhys as Nile Jarvis, who portrays a perfect predator with unsettling ease. Every shared meal, security camera angle, and overheard argument feels loaded, like it could flip from polite tension to outright violence without warning. It’s slow, cruel, and deeply uncomfortable in the way good psychological thrillers should be. I had Psycho Killer by the Talking Heads in my brain for a week.
16. Paradise
You should watch Paradise on Hulu because it’s a murder mystery set inside a perfectly manicured, slightly deranged gated community where everyone is suspicious and nothing is what it seems. The show knows exactly what it’s doing, dripping out flashbacks just fast enough to keep flipping your assumptions and make you say “wait… what?” every episode. Sterling K. Brown is rock-solid as the Secret Service agent at the centre of it all, giving the chaos some emotional gravity, but the real fun is the premise itself: wealthy, polished people smiling through their teeth while clearly hiding something huge. It’s slick, tense, and borderline absurd in the best way, the kind of show where a polite conversation can feel as dangerous as a gunshot. Episode 7 is unreal.
15. Tires
You should watch Tires season 2 because it somehow doubles down on the dumbest possible premise and makes it even funnier. It’s still just a bunch of deeply unqualified people running a tire shop, but the chaos gets bigger, the ego clashes get sharper, and the show leans hard into how wildly overconfident everyone is for absolutely no reason. Shane Gillis and Steve Gerben are at their best when the jokes feel improvised, slightly unhinged, and one bad decision away from a lawsuit. Nothing here is important, nothing is noble, and that’s exactly why it works. It’s stupid in a very intentional way, and if season one made you laugh at all, season two feels like they stopped pretending to behave. I almost feel embarrassed by how much season 2 made me laugh.
14 Mobland
You should watch MobLand because Tom Hardy spends the entire series barely speaking and somehow makes every room feel unsafe. His fixer character, Harry, isn’t flashy or charming. He’s calm, precise, and quietly terrifying, which immediately yanks the show away from cartoon gangsters and into something tighter and meaner. Pierce Brosnan playing a slippery crime boss and Helen Mirren as the ice-cold family matriarch give it full-on crime-royalty energy, like everyone’s stuck in a violent monarchy where one wrong look can start a war. The show really shines in the slow moments. Nightclubs, backroom chats, family “business” discussions where you know payback is coming, just not when. And the theme song absolutely sets the tone. It kicks in and lets you know things are about to go very badly for someone.
13. The Righteous Gemstones
You should watch the final season of The Righteous Gemstones because even when the plot wanders around like it forgot why it entered the room, the Gemstone siblings are still absolute dynamite together. Jesse, Kelvin, and Judy remain one of the best dysfunctional trios on TV, and this season fully leans into that chemistry as the show heads for the exits. The story itself can feel a little overstuffed and uneven, but none of that really matters once the siblings start sniping, scheming, posturing for control, or completely melting down in the same scene. Every sermon room showdown and family power grab turns into chaos in the best way. As a send-off, it’s imperfect, loud, and messy, which honestly feels like the most Gemstones ending imaginable. I didn’t even get to Baby Billy, who delivered some of the best lines of 2025.
12. Slow Horses
You should watch Slow Horses season 5 because, somehow, Jackson Lamb has become even more repulsive and even more brilliant. While the spycraft is as sharp as ever, focusing on a hacked MI5 database that puts everyone in the field at risk, the show continues to thrive on the utter incompetence of its heroes. Gary Oldman is having the time of his life, delivering insults that are so creative they belong in a museum, but this season really belonged to River Cartwright, finally having to grow up. The tension in the final two episodes was suffocating, proving that Slough House might be for rejects, but they are the only ones you actually want saving the world.
11. Black Rabbit
You should watch Black Rabbit because watching Jason Bateman and Jude Law play brothers is the casting masterstroke of the year. It’s a sleek, dark dive into the NYC nightlife scene that feels grimy despite the billion-dollar setting. Law plays the responsible owner of the city’s hottest club, and Bateman is the chaotic sibling who crashes back into his life, bringing a tidal wave of debt and violence with him. The chemistry is electric, they bicker like real siblings, even as bodies start dropping. It’s stressful, stylish, and Law is so charmingly destructive you almost forget he’s ruining everyone’s life. You start out thinking Bateman’s character is the worst human ever, and then Law is like, hold my beer. Shoutout to how well this show looked filming on location in New York City.
10. The Studio
You should watch The Studio because it’s the meanest, funniest satire of Hollywood since Larry Sanders, but with Apple TV+ money making it look gorgeous. Seth Rogen captures the desperate, sweaty energy of a movie executive trying to keep his job while the industry burns down around him. It’s pure chaos cinema: massive egos, failing streaming numbers, and directors having meltdowns over craft services. It feels like a documentary about why movies are bad now, but it’s so funny you don’t care. The cameo in episode 4 completely floored me. Also, Bryan Cranston is next level, not to mention the ongoing gag of – Thank you, Sal Saperstein.
9. Landman
You should watch Landman season 2 because it takes the Yellowstone formula, covers it in crude oil, and sets it on fire. If season one was about establishing the hierarchy of the West Texas oil patch, season two is about watching it collapse. Billy Bob Thornton is in rare form as Tommy Norris, looking more exhausted and dangerous with every episode as he tries to keep the roughnecks alive and the billionaires happy. The show masters that specific Taylor Sheridan tension of massive machinery, volatile men, and the constant threat that one wrong move blows the whole operation sky-high. I admit I have grown tired of the old age home storyline, but no matter what Sheridan writes, I can’t stop watching it. This show had it all before it casually added Andy Garcia and Sam Elliot to the mix. Oh, and everyone’s favourite character actor, James Jordan.
8. The Diplomat
You should watch The Diplomat season 3 because Keri Russell has perfected the art of looking perpetually exhausted while outmaneuvering world leaders in crisis mode. The political chessboard spans tense summits and shadowy alliances across Europe, with stakes that feel genuinely apocalyptic, but the show stays grounded by the most toxic, riveting marriage on TV between Kate and Hal. The dialogue snaps with Sorkin speed laced with deep cynicism, and the seamless blend of nuclear brinksmanship with their petty spousal barbs is a masterful tonal high-wire act that keeps it smart, brisk, and relentlessly tense. Every time I need to convince someone to watch, I simply say, Stephen King said on X, it was the best written show on TV.
7. Pluribus
You should watch Pluribus on Apple TV+ because Vince Gilligan brings his signature slow-burn mastery to a world gone weird. A mysterious extraterrestrial virus turns nearly everyone into a hive mind, leaving Rhea Seehorn’s Carol Sturka as one of the few people still thinking for herself. The Others aren’t violent; they’re eerily accommodating, but the tension comes from just how unnervingly polite and perfectly synchronized they are. Gilligan’s pacing makes every quiet moment feel loaded, while the little comedic touches, like drones getting stuck on a telephone pole, land in exactly the right absurdly creepy spot. Seehorn grounds it all beautifully, carrying you through grief, paranoia, and the existential terror of forced bliss.
6. Dept Q
You should watch Dept Q because Scott Frank knows exactly how to adapt Nordic noir for a global audience without losing the chill. Matthew Goode is perfectly prickly as Carl Morck, the detective stuck in the basement working cold cases no one wants solved. The mystery, a missing politician found years later in a pressure chamber, is gruesome, but it’s the relationship between Morck and his partner Assad that makes this essential viewing. It’s moody, methodical, and proves that you don’t need car chases to make your heart race. Sidenote, this show pushed me to read the books by Jussi Adler-Olsen, and I have to say, Carl and Assad are one of my favourite pairings in literature ever.
5. American Primeval
You should watch American Primeval because it is brutal, beautiful, and features the second appearance of Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch) on my list, this time looking significantly more traumatized. This is the American West before it was “won,” and it is absolutely terrifying. It’s a survival story where the environment kills you faster than the enemies do. The violence is shocking, but never gratuitous; it just feels heavy. Kitsch gives a career-best performance as a man trying to cross a frontier that clearly doesn’t want him there. It’s The Revenant turned into a 6-hour nightmare, and I loved every second. The most shocking part of this show is that it’s like it never happened. Airing in January, it came and went so fast, I have not seen it on anyone’s best of the year list. The story of Brigham Young would be an amazing mini-series.
4. Adolescence
You should watch Adolescence because Stephen Graham is incapable of a bad performance, and this might be his most intense yet. Filmed in a continuous-shot style that puts you right inside the panic, the show deals with a father realizing his son has committed a horrific crime. It is not an easy watch. It is claustrophobic, heartbreaking, and feels more like a stage play than a TV show. The tension doesn’t come from action; it comes from silence, from glances, and from a father trying to save a kid who might be beyond saving. The final episode got me a few times. The speakerphone chat in the van, the dad sitting in his son’s empty room. Woof. An achievement in television that we have not seen before.
3. The Pitt
You should watch The Pitt because it finally brings the medical drama back to reality. Forget the glossy romances of Grey’s Anatomy; this is Noah Wyle returning to the ER, but this time it feels like a war zone. It captures the exhaustion of the modern healthcare system perfectly. The doctors aren’t heroes; they are tired workers trying to stop the dam from breaking. It’s frantic, loud, and sometimes deeply depressing, but it honours the profession by showing the actual cost of caring. Wyle slips back into the white coat like he never left, but with a new, weary edge that anchors the whole show. The Mr. Rogers episode was a standout for me. Plus, when they ordered food from Primanti Bros., it reminded me of our family trip to Pittsburgh.
2. Task
You should watch Task because it is the spiritual successor to Mare of Easttown that we desperately needed. Mark Ruffalo plays an FBI agent heading up a task force in the same grim, grey suburbs of Philadelphia, and the atmosphere is thick enough to chew on. It deals with corruption, not just in the police, but in the soul of the city. Ruffalo is scruffy, mumbled, and absolutely magnetic. The mystery is intricate, but like Mare, the show is really about a community that is falling apart. It’s dark, heavy, and features the best interrogation scene of the year in episode 6. Throw in all of the birding references, and this was almost my favourite show of the year. Except one.
1. Andor
You should watch Andor season 2 because it stuck the landing in a way that puts every other franchise show to shame. We knew how it ended, we knew Cassian had to get to Rogue One, but knowing the destination somehow made the journey more stressful, not less. The writing is on a completely different level, treating the Rebellion not as a glorious crusade, but as a messy, compromised, desperate scramble in the dirt. Diego Luna is heartbreaking, but Genevieve O’Reilly’s Mon Mothma steals the season, showing the suffocating terror of fighting an Empire from the inside. It is a masterpiece of spy fiction that just happens to have stormtroopers in it. It is, without a doubt, the best show of 2025.
So yeah, that’s my list. Twenty shows, way too many hours logged, and I’d do it all again. 2025 really delivered, and if you made it this far, you probably agree, or you’re ready to yell at me about what I missed. Either way, I appreciate you.
Before you go, what were some of your favourite TV shows of 25? List away in the comments.
Oh, and yes, let’s end it with one of the best scenes of the year.
