The Best TV Shows of 2024
And if you don't see your favorite show here? Well...
There’s been a bit of bellyaching about the year of TV. Some of the biggest shows, like House of the Dragon and The Bear (both failing to make the list below), failed to deliver on their promise. Other expected series like Severance and The Last of Us, whether due to the strikes, rising production costs, or other reasons, disappointingly missed the calendar year entirely.
But as I put together this list and look at the TV year in its totality, I’m reminded we were graced by some really audacious, envelope-pushing series. Read on to find out my rankings:
12. Only Murders in the Building S4 (Hulu)
I would hardly call this the best Only Murders season, but something about the calibration of its main trio, Selena Gomez, Steve Martin, and Martin Short, feels so well attuned for that ineffable combination of warmth, humor, and familiarity. The Hollywood in-jokes were always funny, the admiration for stunt work was sweet, and the Arconia remains rife with mysteries. This season was loaded with cameos (Paul Rudd, Meryl Streep, Eugene Levy, Eva Longoria, Zach Galifianakis), which was sometimes fun and sometimes distracting, but ultimately highlighted how special the three lead players are and what amazing, mismatched chemistry they’ve built up over this many seasons.
11. The Acolyte (Disney+)
I have a soft spot for Leslye Headland’s series, which I’d argue was easily the second-best Star Wars show after Andor. The series set out to subvert our supposed ironclad understanding of heroes and villains within Star Wars, turning the white knight Jedi into essentially a corrupt union trying to cover up a case of police brutality. At the heart of the matter, torn between a sexy new Sith (Manny Jacinto) with anarchist ideas and the dyed-in-the-wool Jedi (led by Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae), was the ever-watchable Amandla Stenberg playing twin sisters. Credit to the series for trying something new, busting the canon, and playing by its own rules—a seditious spirit that upset the apple cart too much, as the ambitious series was canceled.
The Acolyte Premiere SchmearCast
The Docuseries
I didn’t know where or how to fairly rank these, but their merits positively required mention:
God Save Texas (Max)
Three Texan stories from three distinctive filmmakers, most notably Richard Linklater exploring the prison-industrial complex and the death penalty in his hometown of Huntsville—in a staggering doc that reminds one of The Zone of Interest. I wish every U.S. state got the God Save Texas treatment, as these movies were tremendous, disturbing, paradoxical windows into a state’s soul.Mr. McMahon (Netflix)
Even though Mr. McMahon’s titular figure has been deposed from the top WWE job—at a company he built through ruthlessness, reinvention, and cynicism—this incredible docuseries feels more timely than ever as friend-of-McMahon Donald Trump resumes office, equally stoking the flames of tribalism, performance, and crassness that helped Vince McMahon launch an empire.Ren Faire (Max)
If Game of Thrones and Succession had a baby and gave it a tab of acid, you’d get Ren Faire, a peek into an ascension battle at the country’s biggest Renaissance fair. Like in Mr. McMahon, the line between humans and characters is bizarrely blurry, and director Lance Oppenheim does us no favors (in the best way) figuring out where truth stops and starts by authoring this with immense creative flair.
10. The Sympathizer (Max)
Credit to HBO, Robert Downey Jr., creators Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar for wrapping their arms around this ridiculously ambitious, thorny project, an adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s knockout eponymous espionage novel. It wasn’t always pretty, and the series did flag during its middle stretch, but mostly The Sympathizer was marked by expert direction (especially in Director Park’s episodes), tonal deftness, sheer ballsiness of scope, and especially by the riveting performance of Hoa Xuande as our unnamed protagonist. The best part of the book is our lead character and his morally fraught, ever-restless internal monologue, and for Xuande to exude and communicate that was incredibly exciting to watch.
9. Presumed Innocent (Apple TV+)
This legal thriller—I’d argue the show of the summer—had me locked in for its total what-the-fuckness that made it always entertaining. I love the A+ performers doing campy, over-the-top derangement. Jake Gyllenhaal was a man possessed. Bill Camp was an ever-welcome presence, but Peter Sarsgaard and O.T. Fagbenle stole the entire show. There were endless twists and turns here and a resolution that was only so-so, but you knew all summer that once a week, you’d be glued to your couch, exclaiming, “Woah!” and having a blast with this show’s sudsy volatility.
Presumed Innocent Premiere SchmearCast
Presumed Innocent Finale SchmearCast
8. Mr. & Mrs. Smith (Amazon Prime)
An awkward February release date has Mr. & Mrs. Smith dissipating from viewers’ memory, which is too bad, because this Francesca Sloan-created series, a slickly modern reinvention of the Brad and Angie 2005 shoot-em-up, oozed with style, humor, and confidence. A lot of that credit goes to stars Donald Glover and Maya Erskine, who seemed an odd fit on paper but ended up demonstrating some of the best chemistry on TV. Gorgeous locales, seductive costuming, and charismatic cameos made this by far the coolest show on TV. If I were to criticize it, it’s that its existential renewal question (it has since been renewed, albeit with new characters) made it fall short of true greatness. I’ll miss this Mr. & Mrs. Smith, even as I’m confident a new season will bring its own delights.
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