The only exception is here that I am not a subscriber to Apple TV. A lot of shows on that streaming service have been critically acclaimed and a lot of people sees Apple TV as the premier platform now, even higher than HBO and AMC. I might be inclined to agree if I ever get a subscription. I have subscriptions to so many others and I'm not able to go through all the shows on those others, so this list isn't as comprehensive as I might want. There is a longer list on my personal blog. However, all those shows on this list are very excellent and I have a passion for all of them. A lot of it is my personal taste, but here is my personal top ten.
10. THE GILDED AGE: SEASON 3 (HBO) - This series was created by Julian Fellowes, the man who gave us Downton Abbey (2010). This series could be described as another Downton Abbey but set in the United States in the 1880's. It follows three families. Two of whom live on the Upper East Side, along Central Park, specifically 61st Street near Fifth Avenue. These two families are wealthy white ones. The first family is the Van Rhijn family who has old money and long roots. The second family is the Russell family who has new money and who just moved to Manhattan. The third family is the Scott family, an African American group that lives in Brooklyn, prior to the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. What's great about the show is that it provides a history lesson about New York City. Fellowes gives us insight into the creation of such landmarks like the Brooklyn Bridge. The second season was such insight into the creation of the Metropolitan Opera House. This season focuses a lot on the railroad, as well as the potential married lives of the daughters in both the Russell and Scott families. Phylicia Rashad guest stars in a very juicy role.
9. HARLEM: SEASON 3 (Amazon Prime) - Recently, HBO Max resurrected the series Sex and the City (1998) with the sequel series And Just Like That... (2021). That same year, this series premiered, which is essentially a version of that 1998 comedy but set north of 110th Street in Manhattan and focusing on four, African American women. The creator of this series is Tracy Oliver who is probably best known for writing the hit film Girls Trip (2017) and what she does for this third and reportedly final season is utilize and integrate that 2017 comedy into this narrative brilliantly.
8. DEMASCUS (Tubi) - It's about a Black man in therapy, but the therapy involves futuristic technology that places the man into a virtual reality scenario that's meant to be an aspect of his personality or something that he wants deep inside. The series was developed for cable TV but then canceled before it aired. Tubi picked it up and aired it in 2025. It was mostly overlooked in that regard, but there was some really clever stuff happening here, as well as some meta-commentary on how TV shows are developed. Okieriete Onaodowan stars and he was one of the standouts from the Broadway show, Hamilton (2015) but the actor who I thought was brilliant here was Caleb Eberhardt who is also an actor from Broadway.
7. MR LOVERMAN (BritBox) - This series aired on BBC One in the UK back in 2024, but BritBox brought it to the USA in 2025 where it picked up four Spirit Awards, including Best New Scripted Series. It stars Lennie James who's biggest role was in The Walking Dead (2010). He won Best Actor at the British Academy Television Awards for this role of a middle-age Londoner who is married to a woman from the Caribbean but who is secretly having an affair with his best friend. He grapples with his same-sex attraction even as he moves into elderly status.
6. A THOUSAND BLOWS (Hulu) - Stephen Graham has gotten a lot of attention for his Emmy-winning role in Adolescence (2025), which was a critical darling. However, his wife pitched this idea of a series about a group of female criminals who existed from the late 1800's and the early 1900's. As such, Erin Doherty plays the main female criminal named Mary. Doherty won an Emmy for her role in Adolescence too and it's probably due to her work here that got her that role in Adolescence. This series though is an intersection of the fall of underground bare-knuckle boxing and the rise of boxing as a formal and professional sport. As such, Graham plays such a boxer named "Sugar," who is in great shape, despite being in his 50's. Malachi Kirby rounds out the cast as a Jamaican immigrant who comes in between Doherty and Graham's characters.
5. PARADISE (Hulu) - It was up for four Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Lead Actor for Sterling K. Brown who has been nominated 12 times for the Emmy. He's won three times. His most notable wins were for The People v. O.J. Simpson (2016) and This Is Us (2016). Brown plays Xavier Collins, a Secret Service Agent who is on the President's security detail. This isn't a spoiler to say that the President is killed in the first episode and the series is a murder mystery where Xavier has to figure out who killed the President. For those who have seen the film A House of Dynamite (2025) or even Greenland (2020), this series is like a spiritual sequel to those films. Some might think it's a rip off of Apple TV's Silo (2023) or perhaps a prequel to it.
4. MO: SEASON 2 (Netflix) - Mo Amer is a Palestinian-American comedian who has no question made the funniest show of 2025. It's also one of the most topical shows that have been produced. The conflict in Gaza has dominated the headlines since 2023 and the beginning of the Gaza War. We haven't heard too many Palestinian voices in the media, especially the mainstream media. Amer is that voice. He's speaking not simply as a Palestinian but also as an immigrant, and the issue of immigration has certainly been a hot topic throughout 2025 and into 2026, Amer is the voice of that immigrant perspective, so this series is quite refreshing.
3. TASK (HBO) - Police procedural programs are quite popular on television. Most on network TV are simply murder-of-the-week shows that rarely take the time to fully examine a case and give so many aspects and perspectives to it. Brad Inglesby created this series. Inglesby created Mare of Easttown (2021), which got 16 nominations at the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards. It won 7. This series is likely to do well at the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards, probably not as well as Mare of Easttown, but I liked this series from Inglesby just as much, if not more. Mark Ruffalo stars as a FBI agent investigating a drug gang that is getting robbed, and where it leads is quite thrilling and emotionally devastating.
2. THE DIPLOMAT: SEASON 3 (Netflix) - So many spy shows have come and gone in 2025, particularly those on Netflix like The Recruit (2022) and The Night Agent (2023). There was even one that came out late in the year called The Copenhagen Test (2025). This series might not be overtly an espionage tale, as those aforementioned ones. It's more of a political show, more in the vein of The West Wing (1999), which is probably why two actors from that 1999 series have appeared on this most-recent season, including Allison Janney and Bradley Whitford. Keri Russell is the lead and the titular character and when it comes to her, her role feels more like The Good Wife (2009), which is about a woman living in the shadow of her husband, as she tries to forge a career in the same industry as him. Brilliant writing and acting across the aboard.
1. FOREVER (Netflix) - This series is also up for four Spirit Awards, including Best New Scripted Series. It's an adaptation of a Judy Blume novel from 1975. It's set in present-day Los Angeles and centers two African American teenagers. As such, it utilizes social media of which Blume had no concept 50 years ago. Mara Brock Akil has crafted something so authentic, so tender and yet so powerful when it comes to a coming-of-age that works on every level. Lovie Simone who has been acting in film and TV for a decade now is amazing as this young woman figuring out herself and her relationships. Michael Cooper Jr in his first TV series is a revelation and presents a portrait of Black masculinity that is rarely seen and hopefully on the rise in the mainstream.