100 best seasons of TV in the 21st century

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 22
- Audience score: 78%

This series on Comedy Central depicts life on the South Side of Chicago in a humorous and meaningful way. The first season finds Simon and Kareem fresh out of community college and attempting to start careers. Melanie McFarland, writing for Salon, notes, "The fact that it is a straightforward, frenetically paced laugh machine makes it stand out among the more severe portrayals of the city that we see on [other] shows like Lena Waithe's 'The Chi,' Gina Torres' 'Pearson,' and CBS's intense limited series 'The Red Line.'"

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 22
- Audience score: 88%

In this crime thriller, a Tokyo detective searches London for his brother who stands accused of murder and has ties to the Yakuza, an organized crime syndicate that originated in Japan. Though the season received critical acclaim, neither Netflix nor the BBC chose to renew it for a second season.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 22
- Audience score: 88%

Rebecca Bunch has it all, including a successful career as a New York attorney, but when she runs into an old boyfriend, she gives it all up and follows him to California to find happiness. In season two, things get much darker as both friendships and romances are destroyed and renewed. In 2016, Rachel Bloom, the show's star and creator, won a Golden Globe for best performance by an actress in a television series—musical or comedy.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 22
- Audience score: 91%

Each hour was a separate episode, and each season covered a 24-hour period in the life of counterterrorist agent Jack Bauer, played by Kiefer Sutherland. Day 5, aka season five, is the only season to receive a 100% fresh rating and understandably so given the intense plot involving Russian separatists coming after the United States and its citizens with weaponized nerve gas. The show aired on the Fox network for nine seasons.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 22
- Audience score: 91%

From the minds of Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, "Broad City" is based on their successful YouTube web series that turned the drudgery of entry-level jobs and difficulty of finding romance in New York City into comedic gold. Season three homes in on their professional and personal lives as the ladies deal with job loss and boyfriend troubles. The season also featured a who's who list of guest stars including Alan Alda, Whoopi Goldberg, and Hillary Clinton.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 22
- Audience score: 91%

Based on Marvel Comics superhero peacekeeping and spy organization, S.H.I.E.L.D stands for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division. Season three reveals more shocking truths as the agents battle Hydra and Hive. Two agents exit the organization.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 22
- Audience score: 92%

Comedy veterans Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman hosted the first season of this show featuring eight crafters competing to win $100,000 and the title of "Master Maker." Writing for Slate, Willa Paskin noted, "In Poehler and Offerman, 'Making It' has the funniest and most accomplished hosts a competition show could ask for, and it makes the most of them."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 22
- Audience score: 93%

Starz presented this espionage series about a United Nations employee (played by J.K. Simmons) who discovers a parallel dimension where another version of himself exists. Season two features Howard and his counterpart getting trapped in the other's world and learning to adapt while the Cold War rages. This marked the final season of the critically acclaimed series.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 22
- Audience score: 96%

Based on the web series created by Katja Blichfeld and Ben Sinclair, this HBO comedy is about a New York cannabis dealer and his clientele. Season two gives viewers a deeper look into The Guy's life while still focusing on his clients' anxieties and quirks. 

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 22
- Audience score: 96%

This Cartoon Network anime series is considered a classic that melds many genres. The first and only season featured the adventures of a bounty hunter, Spike Spiegel, and his crew while living on a ship—the Bebop—and roaming through outer space. The title of almost every episode comes from a popular song by artists like The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, and Frank Sinatra.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 22
- Audience score: 97%

Friends run a bar together in Philadelphia in this irreverent comedy. Season nine sees Dee attempt stand-up, Charlie quit working at the bar, and the return of Danny Devito as Frank. With its renewal in December 2020, the series has become the longest-running live-action comedy series, bumping "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" out of a spot the sitcom held for decades.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 22
- Audience score: 98%

Louis C.K. plays a version of himself in this comedy about a single stand-up comedian bringing up his two girls in New York City. Louie continues to look for love in all the wrong places and goes after the perfect gig in season three of the series. The season also provided an impressive list of guest stars including Robin Williams, Jerry Seinfeld, and Susan Sarandon.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 22
- Audience score: 98%

BoJack Horseman is a '90s sitcom star (who's also a horse) in this Netflix animated series. Season two finds BoJack finding love and losing it. In a season two review for Den of Geek, Daniel Kurland gave the show four out of five stars and wrote, "Watching BoJack, both the character and the series, evolve is a marvelous, honest experience, and its second season is a worthy addition to the show's library."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 23
- Audience score: 66%

The final season of the comedy manages to remain on point and continues to explore mental illness through main character Rebecca Bunch. Writing about the series finale for The A.V. Club, Allison Shoemaker noted, "There's nothing self-congratulatory about 'I'm in Love,' an extraordinary finale for an extraordinary series, the former written by and the latter created by Rachel Bloom and Aline Brosh McKenna."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 23
- Audience score: 67%

In the final season of this PBS show starring Helen Mirren, Detective Jane Tennison takes on her last case before retirement while trying to manage her chaotic personal life. In 2017, "Prime Suspect: Tennison" aired on PBS and flashed back to 1973 to focus on the 22-year-old rookie police officer before she became a detective. The series only lasted one season.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 23
- Audience score: 67%

This series is a mockumentary of classic documentaries by creators Bill Hader, Fred Armisen, and Seth Meyers. Season three takes as subjects the Professional Bowling League, a performance artist and her former lover, and a cult leader in a small Oregon town. Writing for The Nation, Pilot Viruet said, "The show's premise could quickly grow tiresome if done incorrectly, but with season three, 'Documentary Now!' continues its winning streak."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 23
- Audience score: 77%

This animated coming-of-age show focuses on puberty and all its shocking and grotesque wonders. The Netflix original series addresses adolescent topics in its first season. Writing about the show for The Guardian, Sarah Gosling says, "It might be simple gross-out comedy, but it also feels like we should be talking about this stuff more openly and more often."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 23
- Audience score: 79%

Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) alums Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer revealed how they first met in the season four premiere, which seemed fitting since the season wrapped up with their "Friendiversary." UCB co-founder Amy Poehler was an executive producer on the series.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 23
- Audience score: 81%

Before Bryan Cranston starred as meth dealer Walter White in "Breaking Bad," he played the father in this series about genius middle child Malcolm Wilkerson and his offbeat family. This single-camera, laugh track-free sitcom also allowed Malcolm to break the fourth wall and speak directly to the audience. The first season introduces viewers to the family members and their very middle-class lives.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 23
- Audience score: 84%

This series from the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) features a smart 14-year-old boy raised by his single mother in the projects trying to find his way out of poverty. David and his friends and family are the focus of the first season that includes the loss of his mother's job and the loss of his friend. Renewed for a second season, the show won a Peabody Award.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 23
- Audience score: 94%

This sci-fi anthology series created by Rod Serling invites viewers to a fifth dimension of sight and sound. The first season sets the tone for the rest of the series with an abandoned American town, a hypochondriac making a deal with the devil, and a man who fears sleep. Writing for Decider, Caseen Gaines says of the season one episode "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street": "This episode should be required viewing for anyone who worries about the current state of America, and Serling's closing narration should be listened to closely, as he reminds that contrary to what we often say about sticks and stones, prejudices and the panicked search for a scapegoat can kill."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 23
- Audience score: 96%

A prince tries to outwit a shape-shifting demon in this animated series. The fifth season finds Samurai Jack descending into madness, fighting many enemies, and in an epic battle of good versus evil. Originally canceled by Cartoon Network in 2004 after its fourth season, the show returned to Adult Swim for one final season 13 years later.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 23
- Audience score: 96%

The quirky show about the Bluths, a large, dysfunctional family, featured voice-over narration, historical footage, and hand-held camera work. In the first season, Michael takes over the family business after the family patriarch is arrested. Many fans felt something was lost in translation when the series moved from Fox to Netflix after three seasons.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 24
- Audience score: 57%

When he turns 21, Sam Oliver discovers that his parents brokered a deal with the devil before he was born and that he must work for Satan collecting escaped souls from hell as a bounty hunter. While critics loved the first season, season two didn't fare as well and "Reaper" was canceled.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 24
- Audience score: 73%

A magic sword transforms an orphan into a warrior in this modern-day reboot of the 1985 animated series spun off from "He-Man." The first season lays out the story for orphan-girl Adora's shift to She-Ra. The children's show was lauded for its representation of gay and lesbian characters during its five-season run.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 24
- Audience score: 93%

Directed by Kurt Sutter, this FX series follows Jax Teller as he tries to navigate life in the California motorcycle gang, Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Originals (SAMCRO). Season four finds many of the Sons being released from prison only to get mixed up with a Mexican drug cartel as Jax contemplates retiring from the club. David Hinckley, writing for the New York Daily News, said of the fourth season, "'Sons' has hit the ground roaring."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 24
- Audience score: 94%

This HBO series satirizes the tech world and Silicon Valley culture, helmed by master satirist Mike Judge. Season three features both Hooli and Pied Piper dealing with corporate espionage, takeovers, and buyouts as both companies attempt to launch their final product. The show has drawn comparisons to Judge's 1999 movie, "Office Space."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 24
- Audience score: 95%

Following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history, New Orleans residents try to rebuild their lives. Despite an uptick in crime, the city still moves forward in season two. Jennifer Armstrong, writing for Entertainment Weekly, called the show's sophomore effort "the rare show that gets better the more it stews in its own juices."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 24
- Audience score: 96%

This coming-of-age show is set in 1990s Northern Ireland against the backdrop of The Troubles. The first season introduces viewers to teenager Erin Quinn, her family, and the Catholic school she attends. In a review for the Hollywood Reporter, Robyn Bahr wrote, "The writing by creator Lisa McGee is top-notch, the show's searing one-liners and tonally perfect '90s soundtrack as fantastic as its predominantly female cast."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 24
- Audience score: 96%

After her husband goes to prison for corruption, Alicia Florrick, played by Julianna Margulies, resumes her law career. In the fifth season of the CBS drama, Alicia and Cary start their own firm, and Peter is investigated on voter fraud suspicions. The series received 43 Emmy nominations and five wins during its seven-season run.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 24
- Audience score: 99%

The Peabody-winning series set in Baltimore explored crime from both the perspective of law enforcement and criminals. Season four continues to follow both the mayoral race and the Baltimore Police Department while also focusing on the public education system. Often cited as one of the best television shows ever, "The Wire" never won an Emmy in its five seasons.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 25
- Audience score: 57%

This HBO series by artist Terence Nance is a combination of musical performances, documentary, and animation presented as a series of vignettes. The first season features an infomercial for a topical ointment and an epic battle with jealousy. Writing for Vanity Fair, Yohana Desta says of the avant-garde show's creator, "Terence Nance paints the black experience with a canny, kaleidoscopic brush."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 25
- Audience score: 81%

A critically acclaimed Fox police procedural, this series only lasted for one season. The show focused on the Chicago Police Department and both the crimes taking place on the streets of Chicago as well as the corruption within the force. While the show had respectable ratings, Fox was concerned that it did not appeal to younger viewers.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 25
- Audience score: 88%

Timothy Olyphant stars as an unorthodox U.S. marshal who dispenses his own brand of justice in his hometown. The show's final season sees a conclusion to the rivalry between Raylan and Boyd. The series was based on Elmore Leonard's novella, "Fire in the Hole."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 25
- Audience score: 93%

A comical look at what happens behind the scenes in U.S. politics, this HBO series stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Vice President Selina Meyer. The season four premiere opens with a big speech, the first since Selina Meyer became president in the final episode of the third season. In 2015, the show finally clinched an Emmy for outstanding comedy series.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 25
- Audience score: 98%

Boyd and Ava continue to get in trouble, while Raylan tries to squash it. Season four didn't have one Big Bad and instead focused on the characters that are central to the series. In a review for Variety, Brian Lowry wrote, "Although 'Justified' isn't always mentioned in the same breath with some of cable's most prestigious dramas, last season's twisted alliances and terrific heavies (here's to you, Neal McDonough and Mykelti Williamson) put it on par with many of them."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 26
- Audience score: 75%

In this Showtime series, Miri Matteson returns to her hometown after time spent in prison and works on her relationship with her parents and the community she left behind. The half-hour British dramedy stars Daisy Haggard as Miri, and Geraldine James and Richard Durden as her parents.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 26
- Audience score: 80%

Fred Armisen helped create this comedy about a group of horror lovers who turn their love into a business by providing horror to others in Latin America. The show, mostly spoken in Spanish, features Los Espookys taking on missions that include scaring a group attempting to make it through the night in a haunted house and creating alien lab subjects. Lorne Michaels serves as an executive producer on the series.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 26
- Audience score: 94%

"Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose," so became the mantra of Coach Eric Taylor and the Texas high school football team he coached in this critically acclaimed series. Season four finds Coach Taylor coaching a new team, which creates problems in other areas of his life. The show received 13 Emmy nominations and awards during its run.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 26
- Audience score: 95%

Armando Iannucci created "Veep," as well as the political British comedy "The Thick of It." In a shocking turn of events, season three finds Vice President Selina Meyer realizing her dream—though it is not in the way that she'd imagined. The show lasted for seven seasons.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 26
- Audience score: 96%

Airing on ABC Family, "Bunheads" featured a Las Vegas showgirl marrying a man she didn't know very well and moving in with his mother who happened to own a dance studio. The show only lasted for one season. Writing for Slate, television critic Willa Paskin noted that the show was "canceled because of its low ratings, which is just the dry way of saying it was canceled because it was different—too unique and unconventional to attract a sizable audience."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 26
- Audience score: 96%

Though never a rating's darling, "Friday Night Lights" managed to remain on the air for five seasons. In the final season of this NBC drama, based on the book and 2004 film of the same name, the Taylor's make a major decision, and a love story gets the ending it deserves.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 26
- Audience score: 97%

New Jersey native David Chase created this award-winning HBO show about a mob boss and his foray into therapy to manage anxiety surrounding his life of crime, his dysfunctional childhood, and his current nuclear family. This season introduced viewers to Tony Soprano, and both his mob family and his biological family. The audience also discovered much of Tony's backstory through his therapy sessions with Dr. Melfi.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 26
- Audience score: 97%

Writing for Paste magazine, Alexis Gunderson said of the third season, "It hit its narrative stride this year, as all the pieces from the first two seasons' many narrative threads, at last, came together to form a cohesive whole." The third season finds Mars, Earth, and the Belt waging war against each other. With the survival of the solar system hanging in the balance, figuring out the secret behind the protomolecule is more vital than ever.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 27
- Audience score: 46%

This late-night talk show features Samantha Bee providing commentary on current events. In her first season, Bee visits Jordan and talks with Syrian refugees, tracks down the NRA's mascot, and speaks to Donald Trump supporters. Bee worked as a correspondent on "The Daily Show" for 12 years, honing her skills before getting her own TBS series.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 27
- Audience score: 68%

Writing for IndieWire, Jude Dry calls the Showtime series, "The most radical queer show to ever make its way to television." Co-creator and star Abby McEnany begins the first season with a therapy session and a confrontation while on a first date.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 27
- Audience score: 71%

The Comedy Central series is based on co-creators Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson's real-life friendship as they struggle to make it in New York City. The final season of the show begins with Abbi's 30th birthday and ends with a goodbye between friends. Writing for The A.V. Club, Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya said of the series finale, "There's no perfect way to say goodbye, and yet, 'Broad City' did it perfectly."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 27
- Audience score: 86%

Set in the 1980s and 1990s, this AMC series focuses on the computer revolution. While earlier seasons focused on the rise of the personal computer, the fourth and final season roots itself in the beginnings of the internet. Sean T. Collins, writing for Decider, said, "'Halt and Catch Fire' is one of the best shows ever made."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 27
- Audience score: 88%

This sitcom follows the lives and high jinks of the NYPD's 99th Precinct. Starring Andy Samberg, the show's sixth season opens with Jake and Amy on their honeymoon and ends with the detectives teaming up with their former enemies. Fox canceled the series after the fifth season, and season six marked the series first on NBC.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 27
- Audience score: 93%

A period drama that takes place in the English countryside, "Downton Abbey" focused on the lives of the Crawley family and their servants. The second season features the impact of World War I and the Spanish flu on the Crawley's. Verne Gay, writing for Newsday, called the second season, "Much grimmer, grayer and (gasp) dowdier. Still mostly wonderful."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 27
- Audience score: 97%

A series based on the ad men, often referred to as Mad Men, of Madison Avenue in the 1960s, the second season focused on Don Draper's crumbling marriage even as he makes professional strides at Sterling Cooper. The drama, created by Matthew Weiner and starring Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, and January Jones, aired for seven seasons and won various awards, including four consecutive Emmy wins for outstanding drama series.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 27
- Audience score: 99%

The sophomore season of the FX series expands its cast of characters, and Raylan Givens faces more bad guys while wondering about his future as a marshal. "Justified" won a 2011 AFI Award for television program of the year.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 28
- Audience score: 67%

Chronicling the lives of administrators, students, and teachers in a racially diverse suburban Chicago high school, this 10-part documentary series won critical acclaim. Documentarian Steve James set out to examine both socioeconomic and racial disparities in the public high school. Carlos Valladares, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, called it "one of the most urgent pieces of U.S. nonfiction filmmaking to come out in the past few years."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 28
- Audience score: 92%

The original late '80s cult classic saw a test subject forced, by mad scientists, to watch B movies. In 2017, this Netflix reboot starring Patton Oswalt and Felicia Day operated on the same premise. The first season included a "Stars Wars" knockoff, a monster-Western hybrid, and a twisted Christmas tale.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 28
- Audience score: 96%

This Netflix original series features British police sergeant Catherine Cawood. In season two, Cawood fights to prove that she wasn't involved in a series of murders while trying to raise her grandson. New York Times television critic Mike Hale wrote, "The second season of 'Happy Valley' is less intense, but more polished than the first, and still a superior example of the crime drama that focuses more on the people than on the crime."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 29
- Audience score: 86%

Teenage pilots use robotic weapons to battle evil in this post-apocalyptic anime series. The first season focuses on 14-year-old pilot Shinji Ikari and his relationship with his powerful father. The series only lasted for one season, but was followed up with two movies.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 29
- Audience score: 86%

A Los Angeles writer and a public relations executive who are both cynical about love navigate a relationship in this anti-rom-com. Season three opens with Jimmy and Gretchen dealing with the aftermath of saying the 'L' word. The first season of the series aired on FX while the rest of the five-season show aired on FX's sister station, FXX.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 29
- Audience score: 95%

This remake of the 1970s Norman Lear sitcom features a newly single mom raising two kids. Season two focuses on the real-world issues facing a Cuban American family as Lydia takes her citizenship test and Alex deals with racist taunts at school. The series was canceled twice, first by Netflix and then by Pop TV.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 29
- Audience score: 95%

The series about three interrelated but very different families living in Southern California, was a network darling. Season one laid the foundation for the remaining 10 seasons and introduced viewers to the wacky Pritchett clan and all their quirks. Nominated for seven Emmys for best comedy series, with five wins, "Modern Family" was a mockumentary sitcom.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 29
- Audience score: 97%

The series won an Emmy for outstanding multi-camera picture editing for a comedy series two years in a row. Penelope deals with pot smoking, sibling rivalry, and the wedding of her ex in the third season of the comedy.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 29
- Audience score: 97%

The disappearance of two children in a small town drives the plot of this German series about time travel. In season two, Jonas reunites with his father in 2019, and Martha figures out who the Stranger is. Writing for The New York Times, Lawrence Ware said the season, "'Dark,' the German time-travel thriller, is often compared to the Duffer Brothers' nostalgia trip. But in its second season, its ambitions are closer to 'The Wire.'"

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 30
- Audience score: 80%

The Starz series focuses on the lives of several Mississippi strippers at fictional strip club Pynk. Writing for IndieWire, Tambay Obenson notes, "It's a lyrical and atmospheric series that centers on the lives of a community unlike anything television has seen before." The series was renewed after only three episodes aired.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 30
- Audience score: 82%

Joanna Coles, an editor at Cosmo, inspired the series about women and their time working at a women's magazine. The second season shows the ladies dealing with issues like fertility, diversity or the lack thereof, and career changes. In 2020, Aisha Dee, who plays Kat Edison, a queer person of color, called out the show, and the Freeform network, for its lack of diversity.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 31
- Audience score: data not available

This British miniseries is the tale of a man who travels from England to Ireland to face trauma from his childhood. BAFTA-winning writer-director Shane Meadows, when asked about a second season, said in an interview with Variety, "The end feels fairly conclusive and I've no plans to do another as yet. Never say never though, baby."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 31
- Audience score: 88%

A short-lived anthology series, "American Crime," made use of interconnected narratives to tell the story of different crimes in each season. The third season focused on drug abuse, forced labor, and sex trafficking in a community in North Carolina. The final installment in the series starred Felicity Huffman, Lili Taylor, and Timothy Hutton.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 31
- Audience score: 93%

Claire Danes stars as CIA operative Carrie Mathison in this Showtime drama. Season one finds Carrie trying to tie a war hero and POW who has finally returned home to Al Qaeda. The show also provides an accurate portrayal of Carrie's ongoing struggles to manage her bipolar disorder.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 31
- Audience score: 96%

In Season 3, BoJack rides the wave of success created by "Secretariat." The penultimate episode of the seasons finds BoJack losing a friend and the audience realizes how truly rooted the series is in addiction. The show has been lauded for its honest portrayal of both addiction and mental illness.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 32
- Audience score: 56%

Based on the 2014 film of the same name, the series is set at a fictitious Ivy League school where Samantha White runs a campus radio show titled "Dear White People." Season two finds Samantha dealing with the fallout after the protest and Reggie's attempting to adjust and find help after the event with campus police. The show has been nominated for NAACP Image Awards for outstanding comedy series for three consecutive years.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 32
- Audience score: 84%

Co-created by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, this comedy focuses on a woman who goes to New York to start a new life after spending 15 years in a bunker convinced by a cult leader, played by Jon Hamm, that the world was ending. In season two, Kimmy finds a new job, helps Jacqueline after her divorce, and stages an intervention for Gretchen after she joins another cult.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 32
- Audience score: 96%

Paul Feig created this coming-of-age series that featured a high school mathlete who drops her group of friends to hang with the burnouts—the "freaks" of the show's title. Her brother and his friends, meanwhile, are the "geeks." The series only lasted for one season, but remains a cult classic and was #21 on TV Guide's list of the top cult shows ever.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 33
- Audience score: 81%

In season two, the Shame Wizard makes an appearance and causes even more confusion and frustration for the already struggling teens. Changing bodies or those that aren't changing fast enough are on the minds of everyone at the middle school. "Big Mouth" won a 2020 Emmy for outstanding character voice-over performance by Maya Rudolph, as Connie the Hormone Monstress.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 33
- Audience score: 95%

Set in Berlin in the late 1920s, the show focuses on Inspector Gereon Rath, a war veteran on a mission to break up a porn ring, and Charlotte Ritter, who dreams of becoming Germany's first female homicide detective. The series is the most expensive television show ever filmed in Germany.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 34
- Audience score: 90%

An American tourist accidentally impregnates a British woman, turning their brief coupling into something serious in this Amazon Prime comedy. In season two, a married Sharon and Rob are expecting another child. Of course, things aren't perfect for the couple with Rob fighting off sexual advances while Sharon battles postpartum depression.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 34
- Audience score: 99%

This series about a high school chemistry teacher turned meth maker lasted for five seasons. The penultimate fourth season finds Walt and Skyler doing what is necessary to protect their family and Walt's business, and ends with a face-off against a great adversary. Writing for Nerdist, Michael Walsh said, "It's the culmination of one of the most exciting seasons in television history, but it has one final shocking moment even after the dust settles."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 35
- Audience score: 78%

An outspoken Los Angeles actor and single mother raises her three kids and helps her aging mother in this raw FX comedy starring Pamela Adlon. Season three deals with menopause, dementia, and motherhood, and ultimately what it means to be a part of the sandwich generation.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 35
- Audience score: 98%

The third season begins with Jesse finishing up at rehab and a turbulent shift in Walt's marriage. Bryan Cranston, who played lead character Walter White, won three consecutive Emmys for outstanding lead actor in a drama series, making him the second actor in history to do so.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 36
- Audience score: 86%

After a college acquaintance disappears, 20-something Dory and her friends try to figure out what happened against the backdrop of their own lives in this TBS dark comedy. Writing for The Guardian, Lauren Carroll Harris says, "Wonderfully droll, the show fits the anti-aspirational trajectory that TV comedy from 'Seinfeld' to 'Broad City' has made so successful: No one hugs and no one learns."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 37
- Audience score: 75%

This Amazon original series follows the Pfefferman family and the transformation of Morton Pfefferman, played by Jeffrey Tambor, to Maura, after he tells his family that he identifies as a woman. Season three features a health scare, a family cruise, and a flashback to 12-year-old Maura's budding femininity. Tambor was accused of sexual harassment and did not return for the fifth season, after which the series was canceled.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 39
- Audience score: 75%

Two estranged Mexican American sisters return to their old neighborhood in East Los Angeles after their mother's death only to realize she'd kept a secret from them. Writing for ScreenCrush, Kevin Fitzpatrick notes, "The series is helmed by an all-Latinx writing staff and unravels a tangled web of queer identity, family estrangement, and gentrification in the Spanish communities of East Los Angeles."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 39
- Audience score: 94%

In this supernatural thriller set in a village in the French Alps, several people return home though they've been dead for years. The series lasted for two seasons. In 2009, a U.S. version of the show debuted on A&E, but was canceled after one season.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 40
- Audience score: 92%

A wealthy family finds there is only one place for them to go after they lose their fortune—the small town of Schitt's Creek—a town they own because nobody else wanted it. In the sixth season, the Roses haven't lost their hustle, and David plans his wedding. Writing for Esquire, Justin Kirkland said of the final season, "Sure, it's tough for fans to see the show end on its own terms, but this was the way 'Schitt's Creek' was always meant to end. ... This moment of celebration and fan service and triumph works because it was earned."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 40
- Audience score: 93%

The life and times of three New York City roommates who happen to be vampires unfolds in this FX mockumentary series. The show is based on a 2014 New Zealand film of the same name created by Jemaine Clement. Season two features a ghost infestation and seance, a Super Bowl party, and an abduction by a coven of witches.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 40
- Audience score: 93%

This BBC/Amazon series is written by and stars British comedian Phoebe Waller-Bridge and is based on her play of the same name. Season one finds the title character, Fleabag, dealing with trauma, grief, and anger while navigating life in London. Almost three years passed between the first and second season's release of the comedy on Amazon Prime.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 40
- Audience score: 93%

A brief affair between a London school teacher and an American advertising executive has an unexpected outcome. Rob and Sharon try to figure out how to make an unplanned pregnancy and their relationship work in the first season. Writing for Yahoo! Entertainment, Ken Tucker calls the series, "One of the smartest, most charming and funny shows you're likely to see all year."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 41
- Audience score: 84%

A female comedian named Mae tries to manage her sobriety and navigate a relationship with her new girlfriend while living in London in this British series. Former "Friends" star Lisa Kudrow portrays Mae's mother. Netflix renewed the show for its second and final season, which will premiere in 2021.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 41
- Audience score: 92%

A hitman who was once a marine gets caught up in theater on the West Coast in this series starring Bill Hader. In the second season, Barry wants to fully immerse himself in acting, but it isn't easy to break away from contract killing. In a role that won him an Emmy, Henry Winkler played acting coach Gene Cousineau in the series.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 42
- Audience score: 79%

In this coming-of-age series, set in 2000, two middle school girls deal with adolescence. Anna tries to cope with her parent's divorce, and Maya has a crush in the second season of the show. Series creators' Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle play 13-year-old versions of themselves in the comedy, though both are in their 30s.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 42
- Audience score: 97%

Written by and starring Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan, this comedy series has been nominated for several awards. Season three finds Sharon and Rob struggling to maintain their relationship under the staggering weight of a mortgage, unemployment, and biting children.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 45
- Audience score: 87%

This spy thriller stars J.K. Simmons as everyman Howard Silk. In Season one, Silk discovers a parallel dimension that is in battle with our own world, and he meets a near-identical version of himself. Simmons is not only an Oscar-winning actor, he was also the voice of the yellow M&M peanut for many years.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 47
- Audience score: 95%

"Cobra Kai" features a nostalgic return to 1984 and the successful film franchise "The Karate Kid." A middle-aged Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso meet again as they both struggle in different areas of their lives. Netflix surprised viewers with the early release of the third season.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 51
- Audience score: 87%

A woman played by Kristen Bell dies and winds up in the Good Place instead of hell, which is where she thought she would go—though all is not as it seems. In the fourth and final season, the group supervises a neighborhood and negotiates a plan for the afterlife. Writing for The Daily Beast, Kevin Fallon said, "'The Good Place' series finale was so beautiful, so well thought out, and so expertly executed that it nearly convinced me to die. It was that good."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 51
- Audience score: 87%

Using interesting techniques like voice-over narration and soap-opera like plot twists, the series begins with the titular character Jane being accidentally artificially inseminated and getting pregnant. This causes upheaval in her love life, which most of the first season focuses on, creating issues between Jane and her fiance.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 53
- Audience score: 94%

An FX original series, "The Americans" featured a married "American" couple raising a family in suburban Washington D.C. in the 1980s, who were actually Russian KGB operatives. In the third season, Stan, the FBI agent neighbor of Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, attempted to save his marriage and Nina while the Jennings tried to separate their professional and home lives.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 54
- Audience score: 79%

This Netflix show, based on the book series of the same name, provides a bit of GenX nostalgia with a modern twist. Kristy's mother in the series is played by Alicia Silverstone, most famous for her role as Cher Horowitz in the 1995 film "Clueless." The first season focused on navigating the new club, friendships, crushes, overprotective parents, a wedding, and summer camp.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 58
- Audience score: 89%

In Season 2 of the NBC comedy, Eleanor and friends start out in the Good Place unaware that Michael, the master architect, erased their memories. Michael and Janet also deal with unexpected issues. "The Good Place" was named one of the top 10 television programs of 2017 by the American Film Institute.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 60
- Audience score: 91%

Starring Aziz Ansari, this Netflix series chronicles the life of Dev, a New York City actor. Season two is filled with more adventures including pasta making in Italy, an introduction to forbidden meat, and seismic shifts in both Dev's personal and professional life. In 2018, Ansari was accused of sexual misconduct, and while "Master of None" never had a third season, Netflix never officially canceled the series either.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 60
- Audience score: 95%

Based on the 1996 Coen brothers film of the same name, this anthology series airs on FX and features a new crime and a different cast of characters each season. Season two takes place in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Luverne, Minnesota, in 1979, with Patrick Wilson starring as a state police officer and Vietnam veteran. Critics praised the dialogue, writing, and characters in the show's sophomore season.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 65
- Audience score: 79%

In Los Angeles two 20-something Black women and best friends navigate life and love in the first season of this HBO comedy based on the web series "Awkward Black Girl" by Issa Rae. The show that received 11 Emmy nominations over four seasons is set to return for season five sometime in 2021.

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 66
- Audience score: 89%

Dev Shah is a first-generation American who struggles to realize his dream of becoming an actor in New York in the first season of this critically acclaimed comedy. NPR television critic Eric Deggans wrote of the first season of the show, "Aziz Ansari nails modern love, modern families and cultural assimilation in a potent comedy that often camouflages its depth with Ansari's quick wit and snappy patter."

- Tomatometer: 100%
- Number of critic ratings: 94
- Audience score: 93%

In season two, Fleabag meets a priest who may help her change her perspective. At the 2019 Emmy awards, the show received 11 nominations and six wins. Creator and star Phoebe Waller-Bridge said this would be the comedy series' final season.