The 15 Best TV Shows of 2024
Making a list of the best TV shows of the year is an innately subjective endeavor — and better for it. Imagine, if you will, the alternative: What if every critic was able to objectively rank the year’s best series? They would probably be working off some sort of universally accepted rubric that allowed those of us tasked with analyzing as much television as possible to impartially separate the good from the bad, thus resulting in identical annual Top 10 lists of what you, my dear readers, should be watching.
That would be boring, but then again, maybe the lists wouldn’t be identical. Maybe each ranking that diverged from the norm would be seen as “wrong” or “incomplete.” The critics whose rankings don’t add up must not have seen enough shows, or maybe they did, but they didn’t accurately adhere to the rubric. Maybe this is how society would cull not only good shows from bad shows, but good critics from bad critics. Every year, the lists would all run on the same date (November 30, of course, a full month before year’s end), and any critic whose published copy didn’t match the Official Objective Ranking of the Year’s Best Television Shows would be fired.
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Isn’t that what everyone wants? To only read the best critics? And to only watch the best shows?
Dear Lord, I hope not.
Even if I just invented my own dystopian demise, until our A.I. overlords ship me off to copy edit their bizarre baking recipes, IndieWire’s Official Ranking of the Year’s Best Television Shows will bend to the whims of its human writers. Discovery, diversity, discussion — that’s what we’re after, and they’re only doable when good-faith arguments are heard and considered. All year we few — we weary few, we IndieWire TV critics — have endeavored to do just that, and this year-end list is the culmination of those efforts.
After all, for those of you craving verifiable insight, even subjective selections can tell us quite a bit about what’s been going on in Hollywood. For instance, our Top 15 is dominated by older shows and limited series — more so than I’d prefer, to be honest, but it’s not like there were four or five great, new, ongoing series we left just off the list. Even our list of Best New TV Shows is taken up by quite a few limited series!
This isn’t a coincidence. When there are fewer shows to choose from, there will inevitably be fewer great shows (especially when limiting our top picks to scripted series), and the production slowdown plaguing the entertainment industry all year meant fewer TV shows in 2024. It also meant that instead of a glut of new shows, there were more shows that had either established themselves before the industry cut-back on spending or were pitched as one-and-done seasons, which are generally considered less risky.
But there are still great series to discover. Most of the returning shows on our list aren’t considered “hits.” Roughly half of the limited series aren’t either. And while there may be more dramas than comedies, plenty skirt simple genre designations and all stem from a variety of distinct voices, ready to be heard, shared, and debated. Hopefully, this list can serve a similar purpose. It’s not about being right. It’s about the right way to use your time. These shows won’t let you down. —Ben Travers
P.S. Make sure to check out the movie list, too.
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