The 10 Best TV Shows of 2021

This was the second consecutive year where pandemic-related production delays kept many of the previous year’s best shows from releasing new episodes (including The Mandalorian, Ramy, Better Things and Better Call Saul). But the new and returning series that did make it on the air this year more than made up for their absence, leading to an abundance of top-tier television. That caused some agonizingly tough choices when it came to picking this year’s 10 best TV shows. The lineup, which includes just one returning series from 2020’s list, features four freshman debuts that hit the ground running, a trio of sophomore shows that elevated their game for Season 2, an enthralling miniseries and a pair of longer-running programs that are just hitting their stride. (For shows that aired on linear networks, we’ve also included the name of the platform they are currently streaming on.) 10. Pen15 (Hulu) The novelty of co-creators Anna Konkle and Maya Erskine playing themselves at 13-year-old middle schoolers in 2000, alongside actual teenagers in the other roles, probably should have run out of steam just a few episodes in. But instead, the duo transcended the premise into one of TV’s most incisive and moving examinations about the mortifying roller coaster that is adolescence and puberty. The third season (which Hulu technically calls part two of Season 2) tackled topics like dating, drugs and death—sometimes with humor, but more often with so much spot-on awkwardness that you’ll watch scenes with your face buried in your hands. While I’m sad Konkle and Erskine have decided to end Pen15’s run, I applaud them for not overstaying their welcome. 9. Evil (Paramount+) Robert and Michelle King’s drama about a priest-in-training (Mike Colter) and psychologist (Katja Herbers) who investigate unexplained mysteries for the Catholic Church simply felt too weird for broadcast TV during its first season on CBS. But after relocating to Paramount+ for Season 2, Evil has come into its own by proudly letting its freak flag fly (its season finale, for example, is called “C is for Cannibal”). Season 2’s terrifying spins on zombies, creepy dolls and UFOs cement its status as the first show in two decades worthy of continuing—and perhaps even perfecting—The X-Files’ legacy. 8. Hacks (HBO Max) Jean Smart’s illustrious acting resume puts most of her peers to shame, but she reaches new heights as a legendary but fading Las Vegas comedian who teams with a younger comedy writer with a chip on her shoulder (Hannah Einbinder) in an effort to freshen up her musty standup act. And in her first major acting role, Einbinder impressively stands toe-to-toe with Smart, creating a delightful comic dynamic in which the characters will hopefully will be able to bring out the best—and worst—in each other for many seasons to come. 7. Ted Lasso (Apple TV+) The best TV show ever made that started as a series of NBC Sports Premier League promos, which starred Jason Sudeikis as a U.S. coach plucked to run an English soccer team despite knowing nothing about the game. Last year’s Season 1 was exactly the feel-good show we needed several months into the Covid-19 shutdown, but its sophomore year smartly layered in some pathos—forcing Sudeikis’ perennial optimist to finally come to grips with his own repressed family trauma. Sudeikis has famously planned for Ted Lasso only have a three-season run, but when the show is this finely-tuned, we can only hope he agrees to keep Ted in our lives for much longer than that. 6. Only Murders in the Building (Hulu) Sorry, Chevy Chase, but it turns out that the real third amigo needed to complete Steve Martin and Martin Short’s perfect comedic (and frequently also dramatic) trio is … Selena Gomez. Yes, the singer and former Disney Channel star proves a stellar foil to Martin and Short in this comedy about true-crime podcast aficionados who end up making one themselves as they investigate the suspicious death of a fellow tenant in their Upper West Side apartment building. Co-created by Martin, the series moves briskly and keeps viewers continuously guessing as to whodunit. (The seventh episode, told almost entirely without sound through the perspective of a deaf character, is a standout.) And in the season finale, Martin, now 76, deftly executes the funniest bit of physical comedy we’ve seen him perform in decades. 5. The White Lotus (HBO, streaming on HBO Max) Sometimes the best ideas come from the most-desperate circumstances. HBO, struggling to refill its content pipeline during the pandemic, reached out to Mike White and asked him to create a series set in a single location, so that it could be filmed in a Covid bubble. His response was to create this superbly-biting social satire set at a posh Hawaiian resort, about the wealthy guests and their uneasy—and unbalanced—relationships with the local staff who wait on them. With indelible turns from Jennifer Coolidge (as a neurotic guest reeling from the recent death of her mother) and Murray Bartlett (as the rapidly unraveling resort manager), White Lotus will forever change the way you think of island getaways. 4. Reservation Dogs (FX on Hulu) Over the past decade, FX has become the home of a very specific type of elite comedy, like Atlanta and Louie, that each week takes audiences on completely unexpected yet wild, exhilarating ride. Reservation Dogs, about four Indigenous teenagers coming of age in a rural Oklahoma town, is a worthy successor to that lineage. One episode solely focused on two characters hunting in the woods, while another featured a mythical, murderous character called Deer Lady, who has hooves instead of feet and may or may not be real. Co-creator and showrunner Starlin Harjo (Adweek’s Game Changer of the Year) crafted a gem of a series that ended up as this year’s most-pleasant surprise. 3. For All Mankind (Apple TV+) I only mildly appreciated the first season of this drama, which imagined an alternative reality in which the Soviet Union beat the U.S. to the surface of the moon in 1969. But the series made a dramatic qualitative leap forward in its second season, which picks up in 1983, at the height of the Cold War, as NASA has become militarized and escalating tensions between the two nations seem to portend a showdown on the moon itself. Much like Pen15, this show led with a gimmicky premise that in hindsight served as a Trojan horse containing one of the year’s most emotionally-involving TV experiences. 2. Mare of Easttown (HBO, streaming on HBO Max) In a year or so of flashy limited series that started strong and then sputtered (looking at you, The Undoing and Nine Perfect Strangers), Mare of Easttown was the rare entry to not only draw us in from the start with not one but two intriguing mysteries, keep us riveted for the entire run—and then, just when we think we’ve emotionally endured all we can, circle back for one final gut punch. Much of the credit goes to Kate Winslet as the world-weary Mare, a small-town detective who has a deep history with literally every person she encounters on the job. Yes, she nailed the Delco accent, but that’s only scratching the surface of her fearless performance that again solidifies her status as one of our greatest actresses. (Her supporting cast, including Julianne Nicholson, Evan Peters and Jean Smart, is also aces.) 1. Succession (HBO, streaming on HBO Max) After 2019’s ascendant Season 2, where Succession seemed poised to earn its place in the pantheon of all-time greatest HBO dramas, the drama found itself sidelined for two years by the pandemic. As a result, no show’s return was as eagerly anticipated this year, and the drama—about the media mogul patriarch (Brian Cox)’s efforts to retain power as his children (Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin, Sarah Snook and Alan Ruck) jockey for position as his heir apparent—managed to surpass all of our lofty expectations. Featuring the strongest, most cohesive cast on TV, Succession seems to top itself each week, with its most recent two episodes—including Kendall’s disastrous 40th birthday party—ranking high among its best ever. Which seems to indicate that Succession could reach even greater heights whenever it returns for Season 4. Honorable mentions These fantastic shows just missed out on making the Top 10 (including Netflix’s limited series, Maid, above, featuring career-best work from Margaret Qualley and her onscreen and real-life mom, Andie MacDowell), but they’re also well worth your time: Bo Burnham: Inside (Netflix)Dave (FXX, streaming on Hulu)The Good Fight (Paramount+)The Great (Hulu)In Treatment (HBO)Maid (Netflix)Pose (FX, will stream on Netflix next year)WandaVision (Disney+)What We Do in the Shadows (FX, streaming on Hulu)Yellowjackets (Showtime) Check back on Thursday for the 10 Best New TV Shows of 2021. The 10 Best New TV Shows of 2021

Year in Review

The 10 Best TV Shows of 2021

Ted Lasso, Evil and Mare of Easttown were among this year’s most binge-worthy series

Jason Lynch

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Jason Lynch