As 2025 hits the halfway mark, it’s clear that we’re in the middle of a standout year for television series. From long-awaited sophomore seasons that deliver on sky-high expectations to bold new series that came out of nowhere and knocked us flat, this year’s best shows have one thing in common: They haven’t merely entertained us. They’ve also shown us just how good TV can be.
With that in mind, here’s my (completely subjective) list of the TV shows that have defined the best of the medium so far, now that we’re six months into the year. How many of these have knocked your socks off?
Severance: Season 2 (Apple TV)
After a long hiatus, Severance came back earlier this year better and more emotionally resonant than ever.
The second season picked up in the immediate aftermath of that jaw-dropping Season 1 cliffhanger, when Mark’s innie saw a picture of his outie’s dead wife and screamed at the top of his lungs: “She’s alive!” From there, Apple’s biggest show ever (literally!) plunged us deeper into the mystery surrounding Lumon Industries and the employees trapped in its bizarre work and personal life split. True to form, the show gave us another season-ending cliffhanger that once again broke the internet.
Since its debut in early 2022, this spectacular show has evolved into something more than a workplace thriller: It’s also a profound reflection on memory, identity, and what we give up in the name of balance. And if you’re not a fan, well then you can just “devour feculence.”
Andor: Season 2 (Disney+)
I remain so blown away by this next title, the second and final season of Disney+’s Andor, that I still haven’t fully come to terms with how good it is.
Creator Tony Gilroy’s masterclass in political storytelling strips away the pulpy gloss of the galaxy far, far away to show how revolutions actually begin. The writing in Andor is intelligent, the performances deeply felt, and Season 2 also included what will probably end up as my favorite streaming moment of 2025 (the “Where are you, boy?” scene). But rather than me continue to rave about what a powerful piece of storytelling Andor is, especially with its warnings about fascism more prescient than ever, let me turn to a YouTube commenter who praises the show thus:
“I have no words to describe how much this show means to me. Currently, in my country, thousands of parallels are being drawn with what we see in the series: The complete rupture of truth, the destruction of facts as the ultimate reason … the imposition of regimes founded on fear, and the total breakdown of community ties. I won’t be able to live long enough to express my gratitude for the existence of a series like Andor, which shows like no other what many choose to ignore.”
Adolescence (Netflix)
This next TV show, a coming-of-age drama from co-creator and star Stephen Graham, has proven such a juggernaut for the streaming giant that it’s now Netflix’s #2 English-language series of all time (having raked in almost 143 million hours of viewership in its first 91 days of streaming availability).
From my review, which you can read in full here: “Adolescence tells the story of Jamie Miller, a 13-year-old boy arrested for the murder of his classmate, Katie Leonard. The series unpacks all of the events leading up to the crime, exploring Jamie’s interactions, the investigation, and the crime’s impact on his family and community. Through its real-time narrative, the show also sheds light on issues such as toxic masculinity, and the radicalization of youth through online platforms.”
The Pitt (Max)
No matter how the rest of 2025 shakes out, this next HBO Max medical drama is going to be on everyone’s year-end list of the best TV shows. That’s just a certainty that you can go ahead and take to the bank.
The Pitt, which puts Noah Wyle back in scrubs as Dr. Robby Robinavitch, dumps viewers into the middle of a 15-hour ER shift in Pittsburgh. The show’s raw, sweaty chaos manages to avoid feeling like it was ripped from some writer’s playbook full of overused medical drama tropes; it also nails the panic and burnout that go hand in hand with a job in a hospital ER. Watching The Pitt, you really feel that lives are on the line, and that the overworked and underpaid heroes racing through the corridors carry not just patients but the weight of an imperfect system on their backs.
Dept. Q (Netflix)
Finally, we come to yet another standout Netflix series that unquestionably belongs on any list of the year’s best TV shows so far.
Adapted from the popular Danish crime novels, Dept. Q follows a rather unpleasant detective assigned to cold cases, only to uncover crimes far darker and more twisted than he could have ever expected. Tightly plotted and unnervingly suspenseful, it’s a procedural that rewards patient viewers with unexpected emotion and depth. As I’ve described it in a previous post, the show leans into familiar, Slow Horses-style grumpy detective territory — and it also comes from the writer of The Queen’s Gambit, all of which serves to make this one a can’t-miss crime thriller.
