The Best TV Shows of the Year (so Far)

Pen15 perfectly captures the nostalgia of the 2000s, as well as the anxieties that often plague girls in their early teens. Produced by The Lonely Island, the Hulu comedy stars Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle as incoming middle schoolers navigating the murky waters of puberty, crushes, and the seventh grade social hierarchy. The idea of 30-something women pretending to be pre-teens is funny enough, but Pen15 takes that premise and elevates it to create a heartfelt reflection on female friendship, relationships, and self-identity. — Claire Spellberg

Stream PEN15 on Hulu

The Fab Five’s inaugural jaunt to Kansas City, Missouri introduced us to a few truly iconic heroes, real world survivors that we loved seeing lifted up in 2019. From strong black lesbian Jess to the hard-working Jones sisters to single dad Rob, the Queer Eye guys turned their worlds upside down and made some heartwarming TV in the process. Thank god Netlfix has already renewed the show for two more seasons, because we need this little baby pocket of joy in our lives forever. This show just keeps getting better. — Brett White

Stream Queer Eye on Netflix

Schitt’s Creek Season 5 provided viewers with a steady stream of happy tears down our faces in nearly every episode. There was a major proposal, a moving coming out moment, and an unforgettable musical performance that will leave you breathless. North America’s favorite feel-good show simply became the feel-best show on TV. — Lea Palmieri

Where to stream Schitt's Creek

When Steven Canals, Ryan Murphy, and Brad Falchuk’s drama about the ballroom scene in the ’80s first premiered it was a glorious fairy tale about a community that’s typically depicted through the lens of Oscar-winning tragedy. Now that Pose is in its second season and in the ’90s, it’s lost a bit of its picture-perfect glamor. But its underlying message about love and humanity is still spot on. Set around the rise of Madonna’s “Vogue” this new season shows the hopes and devastation that emerge when a previously sheltered community goes mainstream. There’s truly nothing on television quite like Pose. — Kayla Cobb

Where to stream Pose

True to its name, there are so many ways the final season of Catastrophe could have gone wrong. Yet Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan’s hilarious ode to realistically flawed marriages stuck the landing with a finale that stayed completely true to the constantly bickering characters, while still feeling sweet, earnest and hopeful. Delaney and Horgan never shied away from making themselves look bad, but made us root for them anyway. Nobody is perfect (and some worse than others), and that’s the point. — Alex Zalben

Stream Catastrophe on Prime Video

Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us, a four-part miniseries depicting the true story of five teenage boys—four black and one Latino—who were wrongfully convicted of a crime they didn’t commit had an undeniable cultural impact. Every episode, most of which are over 80 minutes, is an excruciating watch. DuVernay takes you through every moment of pain, trauma, and torment the so-called justice system put these children through. But like Roots before it, it is an essential watch, and one that will educate generations to come. — Anna Menta

Stream When They See Us on Netflix

Big Little Lies was never designed to last for more than one season, but thank god it came back to give us more. The ladies of Monterey are back to gossip, curse, drive, and stare at the sea — and it’s incredible. Buoyed by the arrival of the grand dame of American acting, Meryl Streep, Big Little Lies Season 2 manages to be both an intensely opulent soap opera and a perilous look at the emotional scar tissues of abuse. — Meghan O’Keefe

Stream Big Little Lies on HBO Go and HBO Now

The Society was by far my favorite binge-watch of 2019. The Netflix drama follows a group of wealthy high school students (but just the fun ones over the age of 16, obviously) who are transported to a world without parents. It should surprise no one to learn that things soon go full Lord of the Flies, but with some socialist vibes and an unbelievable amount of teenage angst. The Society is fun, sexy, and, at times, downright ridiculous — basically, it’s an ideal distraction from the real world. — Claire Spellberg

Stream The Society on Netflix

An apocalypse need not be a grim affair! Prime Video’s positively delightful adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s end times tome was escapist fiction of the highest caliber. David Tennant and Michael Sheen forged the best partnership on TV, a sort of Biblical Bert and Ernie, and bounded through a delightful mini-series filled with angels, demons, and witches (oh my!). The show’s brisk pace and twee attitude made it one of the most surprising and rewarding binges of the year. — Brett White

Stream Good Omens on Prime Video

From the creative team of Syfy’s now-cancelled Z Nation, Black Summer is a fresh and visceral take on the zombie apocalypse that is very binge-able over the course of a tense evening.  With its hand-held cameras, grainy cinematography, and frenetic editing style, this horror thriller fills every frame with impending dread as the threat of a zombie (or human!) attack looms. Grounded by performances from Jaime King, Sal Velez Jr. and MVP Christine Lee, Black Summer is disorienting, gripping and weirdly realistic. — Karen Kemmerle

Stream Black Summer on Netflix

Hulu’s most popular drama yet was a chilling retelling of a haunting American true crime. The Act cast Patricia Arquette as maybe the most infamous murder victim in America — abusive, conniving mother DeeDee Blanchard — and Joey King as her daughter and killer Gypsy Rose. The series was lurid, shocking, and divinely pulpy. In short, a brilliant drama about a perverse group of people destroying each other just to survive. — Meghan O’Keefe

Stream The Act on Hulu

Lisa Hanawalt’s comedy about two bird besties is a thing of beauty. Not only does this gorgeous show embrace the freedom and insanity of animation in a way that consistently feels revolutionary, but it also just gets women. Tuca (Tiffany Haddish) and Bertie (Ali Wong) aren’t vindictive or petty. They genuinely love, support, and respect each other even when they’re in the middle of a potentially friendship-ruining fight. Tuca & Bertie may have started as a silly show about bird best friends covered in bouncing boobs, but by its final episodes it’s one of the most introspective and powerful shows around. — Kayla Cobb

Stream Tuca & Bertie on Netflix

It will be a crime against humanity if The OA doesn’t get a Part III after Part II’s thrilling and completely game changing cliffhanger! With Part II, creators and executive producers Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij successfully tied together the first season (a seemingly impossible task!) while creating a new dimension(s) of possibilities and intrigue. They really doubled down on its sci-fi elements (like the giant, telepathic octopus), but remained grounded in reality, thanks to the performances of Marling, Phyllis Smith and newbie Kingsley Ben-Adir. — Karen Kemmerle

Stream The OA on Netflix

If you missed this one when it aired on FX this past spring, you’re in luck because it’s actually a fantastic binge-watch. Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi of the original film are felt (and briefly seen) all throughout the TV version too, guaranteeing that totally absurd comedy shines through at every step. It’s one of the silliest and most delightful TV adventures you can embark on in 2019, and to all my fellow vampires, just make sure you finish watching it before the sun comes up. — Lea Palmieri

Where to stream What We Do In The Shadows

Holy forking shirtballs, was The Good Place actually on the air in 2019? Why yes it was, with a fantastic run of episodes — “The Book of Doug,” “Chidi Sees The Time-Knife” and the Season 3 finale, “Pandemonium” — that once again completely redefined how the world of the show works. Even if we didn’t know that next season was the show’s last, every episode of this afterlife comedy is a special, unique moment in TV history, a perfect confluence of cast and crew that has created something laugh out loud funny one moment, brilliantly introspective the next, and heartfelt and earnest throughout. However it ends, even the three episodes broadcast this year alone would insure its placement in TV’s Good Place. — Alex Zalben

Where to stream The Good Place

I think a lot of people have, in the age of the online body positivity movement, forgotten just how revolutionary it is to see a fat woman as the lead of her own mainstream TV show. And while it’s great that movement has become more and more normalized, we shouldn’t forget to honor Aidy Bryant’s Hulu comedy Shrill for the achievement that it is. I heard testimonies from multiple women—and men—who cried watching the body-positive pool party scene, who were inspired to host their own body-positive pool parties, and who were inspired to dress in the kind of cute, feminine outfits seen by Bryant on the show. That kind of cultural impact is incredibly rare and special, and not a claim many other shows this year can make. — Anna Menta

Stream Shrill on Hulu

The first half of 2019 had no shortage of surprise hits. Few could have predicted that shows like Chernobyl, Sex Education, and PEN15 would become critical darlings. That same element of surprise can be applied to the straight-up funniest show of 2019: The Other Two. Created by former SNL co-head writers Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, the Comedy Central series follows two struggling siblings (played to perfection by Drew Tarver and Heléne Yorke) whose lives are upended when their 13-year-old brother becomes famous. A fresh blend of hard jokes and stealthy heart, The Other Two possesses an inexhaustible charm. — Josh Sorokach

Where to stream the Other Two

Despite producing two action-packed, emotionally evocative seasons of magnificent television, YouTube Premium’s Cobra Kai is still vastly under-appreciated. The critically-acclaimed Karate Kid revival not only revisits but adds to the historic rivalry between Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso. A fun exploration of trying to do the right thing in an increasingly complicated world, the series toggles between humor and heart while delivering a healthy dose of action. I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again: Billy Zabka deserves an Emmy nomination for his nuanced portrayal of Johnny Lawrence. — Josh Sorokach

Stream Cobra Kai on YouTube

Netflix’s first great show of 2019 came as a total surprise. The British comedy stars Asa Butterfield as a high school student who starts a sex therapy clinic with the school outcast, Maeve (Emma Mackey), and despite debuting just days after New Years, it was immediately embraced by viewers. Teens probing their deepest insecurities? Gillian Anderson as a boundary-pushing sex therapist? Snappy, nuanced writing and scene-stealing performances? Yes, yes, and yes. Sex Education has it all, and more. Season 2 can’t come soon enough. — Claire Spellberg

Stream Sex Education on Netflix

Barry had one of the best second seasons of television in recent history, but also maybe ever. Bill Hader somehow managed to pull quadruple duty as a director/writer/producer/star of the series that was both way darker and way funnier than its first season. Every episode was packed with belly laughs and gasps, and if Episode 5 “ronny/lily” doesn’t clean up at the Emmys this year, we must demand a recount. — Lea Palmieri

Stream Barry on HBO Go and HBO Now

While everyone was screaming about the end of Game of Thrones, another beloved HBO staple saw its last episode. And it stuck the landing better than almost any other finale in the history of television. Veep‘s final season was rocky at some points and forced at others, but nothing could top its brutal, nihilistic, sickening, and hilarious finale. No matter how much fun it is to quote her, Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) was never our friend, and her final moments unflinchingly showed how toxic politics can be. — Kayla Cobb

Stream Veep on HBO Go and HBO Now

In case you hadn’t heard—and I fear a lot of you still haven’t—NBC’s Superstore, a workplace sitcom starring America Ferrara which wrapped up its fourth season this year, is one of the best. If you stopped rewatching The Office for two seconds you might know that! This season especially, the characters—a group of employees working at a Walmart-esque store in Missouri—are comfortable and confident in their roles, which means snappier jokes and more rewarding emotional payoff. The show has always been quietly rebellious thanks to a diverse cast of poor and working-class characters, but Season 4 went all in on taking on the political issues of the day. I won’t spoil it, but I will say it was done in a way that was personal to the characters, rather than a preachy lesson, and it really, really worked. I can’t wait for Season 5. — Anna Menta

Where to stream Superstore

The pace is slow, the vibe is drab, the tone is grim, and we could not get enough. Who knew that a somber limited series with granular accuracy would become the biggest HBO show of the year not involving dragons? That’s the grim charm of Chernobyl, an intense look at how the world literally almost came to a nuclear halt 30 years ago. Powered by slow burn performances from Stellan Skarsgard, Emily Watson, and the Emmy-worthy Jared Harris, Chernobyl was a true terror to watch–and we couldn’t stop. — Brett White

Stream Chernobyl on HBO Go and HBO Now

Russian Doll is irrefutably cool. Possessing an envious swagger most shows would kill to possess, the sophisticated Netflix comedy from the unassailable comedy troika of Leslye Headland, Natasha Lyonne, and Amy Poehler is an absolute blast. Starring the aforementioned Lyonne as a cynical New Yorker who keeps dying only to repeatedly return to her 36th birthday party (“Sweet birthday baaaaby!”), the series is a deft blend of humor, philosophy, and existential dread, but like, in a fun way. Number two on our list but number one in our hearts, the first season can be devoured in about three and a half hours, making Russian Doll the perfect weekend binge. — Josh Sorokach

Stream Russian Doll on Netflix

If the first season of Fleabag was genius, Season 2 was downright god-like. Writer, creator, and star Phoebe Waller-Bridge took a bitterly funny examination of grief and turned it into a profound love story. We got the thrills of the hot priest, the tragedy of Claire’s miscarriage, and one outrageously hot jumpsuit. But Fleabag is more than just a trend-setting and twisted rom-com; it’s a beautiful examination of the highs and lows of love in all its forms — even religion. — Meghan O’Keefe

Stream Fleabag on Prime Video