The best TV shows of 2024
Over the past two decades or so, cinema’s loss has been television’s gain. With the collapse of mid-budget film, once a natural home for adults, prestige programming has exploded on the small screen. You probably know what happened next: landmark series like “The Sopranos” and “Mad Men” opened up the possibilities of serialized storytelling; The streaming wars have funded an almost endless number of shows, including relatively niche experiments that would never have aired in any previous era; The Quadrilateral epics supported monoculture; Television has become not just an emerging medium, but an engine that pushes Hollywood in exciting new directions – if anyone can keep up with all of these advances.
The boom cannot continue. The rise of streaming has changed the television industry’s business model — and its production — in fundamental ways. Last year, when a writers’ strike led to a nationwide production freeze, studios used the lull as an opportunity to cancel a host of projects, and since then Netflix, home of trashy true-crime movies and the occasional “delicious cheese hamburger,” has risen to prominence. As a leading company in the film industry. Dominant streamer. Now, there are rumors in town that fewer shows are getting the green light, and that Hollywood as a whole is under a cloud of executive risk aversion. For many in the industry, “survive until 25” has become the mantra.
There is no doubt that these larger trends have seeped into the business. 2024 has been an exceptionally weak year for television; Until a few late great contenders arrived, I wondered if I had enough entries for a traditional top ten list. I ended up making one – as a critic, I can only champion shows I love – but the first five, in my view, vastly outshine the rest. Perhaps the most interesting television story of 2025 cannot be found in any single show, but in the question of where intelligent, original mass culture will end up if we continue down this path.
prime minister
“Mr. Married spies who eventually turn on each other in a drama that is at once visually stunning and emotionally stunning, exploring the instant bond that can form between… Two lonely souls share a dark wit. For all the heroes enjoy, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of economic anxiety reminiscent of Glover’s earlier “Atlanta” series. The sexy, designer-clad killers have rarely felt more relatable.
9. “We Are Lady Parts”
peacock
When the first season of We Are Lady Parts launched, in 2021, it seemed like a win for more than a marginalized community: an upbeat comedy about the formation of an all-female, all-Muslim punk band in London, whose members served as a role model. A range of cultures and influences. (Sample track: “Nobody’s gonna kill my sister but me.”) Season 2 is a meditation on the burdens of such acting responsibilities. The band that bears their name can barely survive financially, and what little fame they have achieved so far brings contradictory pressures: to produce more “serious” music, to be accessible to a general audience, and to issue political statements on behalf of distant Muslim populations. , or, in the case of the group’s queer drummer, to come out publicly. The series’ creator, Nida Manzoor, encapsulates the plight of art pioneers without sacrificing her quirky humor or trademark immediacy.
8. “Survivor”
CBS
Nearly a quarter-century after Richard Hatch won $1 million on the first season of Survivor by outsmarting, outwitting, and outlasting his fellow competitors, the show remains a cultural phenomenon. This is perhaps the closest thing to a perfect game that reality television has ever created — a physical and social contest that has, over the years, developed an aura of wholesome sportsmanship that has not been adulterated by meddling producers. But its evergreen freshness is probably a result of its exquisite casting and “personal” arches. This year’s crop gave us an almost Shakespearean friendship between Charlie and Maria, as well as the unique character of Q, a brilliant anarchist who repeatedly encouraged his Clanmates to take him down, only for him to stick around for weeks. Reality TV is often a much better showcase of human weirdness than scripted shows. Survivor, now in its 47th season, has never stopped delivering compelling foibles or surprising twists.
7. “Abbott Elementary”
ABC
The perpetual upright signs “Abbott Elementary” make it easy to take it for granted. But Quinta Bronson’s workplace mockumentary about an underfunded, majority-black public school in Philadelphia — which already boasted TV’s best comedy troupe — may end 2024 with its strongest season yet. After three years of tension between will and refusal, Janine (Bronson) and Gregory (Tyler James Williams) finally decide they’re going to do it, leaving them free to feel the less crowded zone of two obsessed nerds in love. A new arc about the slow creep of gentrification has also enlivened the sitcom by dividing the teachers along unexpected lines. “Abbott” may be the funniest show on television, and it continues to find ways to update itself.
6. “Superheroes”
Top
Few shows are as unabashedly obsessed with female ambition as “Hacks.” The flash inside Jean Smart’s Deborah Vance — an obscenely wealthy comedian but out of touch with the culture in Vegas — that tells her she hasn’t done everything she could have done turns into a major conflagration when she meets Ava Daniels, played by Hannah Einbender, a comedy writer. Generation Z canceled due to error. Tweet, who is rebuilding her career by reviving Deborah’s career. Three years later, they are dependent on each other, although they both hate to admit it. This season sees Ava struggle to get her narcissistic mentor to treat her as an equal – and provides a fascinating portrait of the kind of cruelty it takes to break free.
HBO
