2025 was an astounding year for television. Prestige television, despite claims of its demise, still abounded on the big streaming services, and Pop Break was watching all of it.
So to commemorate The Best TV Shows of 2025, we gathered an all-star team of writers, editors and podcasters to give there choices. Our panel includes:
- Bill Bodkin – Editor-in-Chief of Pop Break + Co-Host of Socially Distanced, Bill vs. The MCU & TV Break
- Avani Goswami – TV Editor of The Pop Break
- Ben Murchison – Staff Writer + Co-Host of the Don’t Tail This Podcast
- Sarah Bergin – Film, Music & TV Writer for Pop Break
- Ronnie Gorham – Film & TV Writer for Pop Break
- Randy Allain – Film & TV Writer for Pop Break + Co-Host of Podelay! and Media/Lit
- Amanda Hoffman – Film & TV Writer for Pop Break
- Megan LaBruna – Senior TV Writer for The Pop Break
Hacks
Where to Watch: HBO MAX
Starring: Jean Smart, Hannah Einbinder, Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Mark Indelicato, Paul W. Downs, Megan Statler.
Chosen by: Sarah Bergin
A masterful feat in comedy and heartfelt character relationships, Hacks is a showstopper. Created by Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky, this show continues to get better with age, as every season brings a new and fresh take on the comedy industry. It tackles the feminine experience beautifully and in such a complex manner, but still manages to fit all of its content in tight, cohesive episodes
Task
Where to Watch: HBO MAX
Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Tom Pelphrey, Martha Plimpton, Fabien Frankel, Emilia Jones, Thuso Mbedu, Raul Castillo, Alison Oliver.
Chosen by: Ben Murchison
Brad Ingelsby set a high bar with Mare of Easttown, and somehow Task cleared it. It’s a phenomenal series about belonging, faith and forgiveness, explored within the narrative of a gritty crime drama. The series, along with its stars Mark Ruffalo and Tom Pelphrey should see Emmy nominations and wins, and deservingly so as they deliver some of the best emotionally charged performances I’ve seen in a long time.
Smiling Friends
Where to Watch: Cartoon Network (Adult Swim), HBO MAX
Starring (voices): Michael Cusack, Zach Hadel
Chosen by: Amanda Hoffman
Smiling Friends Season 3 delivers one of the most delightfully unhinged and original animated seasons, proving that Adult Swim’s quirky hit has matured into a true standout of 2025. The new season knows how to dive even more into the chaotic mixed-media sequences while sticking with the core charm of Pim (voiced by Michael Cusack) and Charlie’s (voiced by Zach Hadel) misadventures.
Each episode takes the team well beyond their usual “make someone smile” assignments into stranger, more character-driven territory, like episode five, “Pim and Charlie Save Mother Nature.” The way things take a drastic turn when Mother Nature catches who she thought was the litterer is a perfect off-the-wall scenario without losing the show’s relentless comedic energy from Pim and Charlie’s reaction.
Smiling Friends embraces and continues its own (very) chaotic identity to keep up the bizarre, heartfelt, and aggressively rewatchable episodes.
A Man on the Inside
Where to Watch: Netflix
Starring: Ted Danson, Lilah Richcreek, Sally Struthers, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Mary Steenburgen, Stephanie Beatriz, Stephen McKinley, David Straithairn.
Chosen by: Ronnie Gorham
A Man on the Inside starring Ted Danson won me over with its hilarious and heartfelt take on nursing home life. Working in one myself, this writer found the antics and everyday shenanigans both relatable and laugh‑out‑loud funny.
Andor
Where to Watch: Disney+
Starring: Diego Luna, Genevieve O’Reilly, Denise Gough, Ardia Arjona, Stellan Skarsgard, Elizabeth Dulau, Kyle Soller, Ben Mendelsohn, Faye Marsay.
Chosen by: Bill Bodkin
Andor Season 2 is not just the best series of 2025. It’s the best series to ever air on Disney+. It’s the best Star Wars property produced by Disney. It’s one of the best seasons of television to air in this decade. Season 2, which dropped in three, three-episode batches, was a masterful tale of war, intrigue, love, loss and hope. The dynamite script is bolstered by out of this world performances by Luna, Gough, O’Reilly, Dulau, Skarsgard and Soller. The season is so evergreen in its story, yet feels so prescient at the same time. The season was littered with iconic moments from rave robots, to Benjamin Bratt swearing, to the tragic massacre at Gorman … it all hits so hard and so perfectly.
The Studio
Where to Watch: AppleTV
Starring: Seth Rogen, Zoe Kravitz, Dave Franco, Kathryn Hahn, Ike Barinholtz, Chase Sui Wonders, Catherine O’Hara.
Chosen by: Ben Murchison
If you haven’t seen the series in its entirety, you’ve probably at least seen the “old school Hollywood buffet” clip featuring Seth Rogen, Zoe Kravitz and Dave Franco as they accidentally begin a wild mushroom fueled night in Vegas. That chaotic sequence is one of the best comedic performances we got this year, and just a sampling of some of the hilarity from the show.
Equally satisfying though are the impressive feats of cinematography that it delivers like, “The Oner” which is about the filming of a oner, and is also filmed as a oner. If you’re obsessed with film and television, this series is a great dramatized inside look at the industry.
Stranger Things Season 5
Where to Watch: Netflix
Starring: Millie Bobbie Brown, Finn Wolfhard, David Harbour, Winona Ryder, Sadie Sink, Gaten Matarazzo, Noah Schnapp, Caleb McLaughlin.
Chosen by: Ronnie Gorham
Stranger Things Season 5 delivered everything I love about the series — an irresistible mix of ’80s nostalgia, creepy monsters and a cast of characters who feel like real friends.
The Pitt
Where to Watch: TNT, HBO MAX
Starring: Noah Wyle, Katherine LaNasa, Taylor Dearden, Gerran Howell, Supriya Ganesh, Fiona Douriff, Isa Briones, Shawn Hatosy, Tracy Ifeachor, Patrick Ball.
Chosen by: Ben Murchison
Medical dramas have never been my thing, but one episode of The Pitt and I was hooked. The storytelling decision to have the season take place over one 7AM – 9PM shift is gripping, and it somehow manages to infuse character development and narratives that extend beyond the patients brilliantly amongst the chaos found in the ER. Noah Wyle has excelled in this genre before, but his performance in this show goes beyond any expectation you might have for him.
Severance
Where to Watch: AppleTV
Starring: Adam Scott, Britt Lower, Zach Cherry, John Tuturro, Christopher Walken, Tramell Tillman, Dichen Lachman, Michael Chernus, Patricia Arquette, Gwendoline Christie.
Chosen by: Randy Allain
Nearly one year ago, Severance announced its place at the center of pop culture discourse when the cast set up shop in Grand Central Station for an extended performance piece; they typed and tidied up their signature cubicles for masses of weary travelers. Their fans were took notice, and they never looked away.
Luckily, Dan Erickson, Ben Stiller, and the entire cast and crew had much more than publicity stunts up their sleeves. Severance took its quirky vibe and signature look to all new cinematic heights with innovative direction and stunning cinematography en route to a whopping 27 Emmy nominations and eight wins.
Even more importantly, the writers and performers proved that their quirky darling of a sci-fi drama could continue to find compelling existential ground to explore as the MDR crew grappled with their chaotic multiple identities. Ultimately, the stunning closing moments of the season left us with an iconic hallway shot that is still burned into the minds of Severance fans as they theorize and anticipate the next chapter.
Daredevil: Born Again
Where to Watch: Disney+
Starring: Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Deborah Ann Woll, Wilson Bethel, Jon Bernthal, Hunter Doohan, Michael Gandolfini, Margarita Levieva, Kamar de los Reyes, Elden Henson, Ayelet Zurer, Clark Johnson, Genneya Walton.
Chosen by: Bill Bodkin
The bar was set so high for Daredevil: Born Again. It had to match the exquisite quality of the first three seasons which aired on Netflix. While it wasn’t as perfect as those shows were, DBA was still one of the most thrilling, visceral and engrossing weekly series of 2025. Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio were a tour de force, while the peppering of Bethel, Bernthal and Woll were the perfect bits of seasoning for this season. The finale promises that 2026’s second season will only be that much better.
All Her Fault
Where to Watch: Peacock
Starring: Sarah Snook, Jake Lacy, Dakota Fanning, Sophia Lillis, Michael Pena, Abby Elliott
Chosen by: Megan LaBruna
All Her Fault is the first show in a long time that has truly captured my attention the entire time. Every episode managed to both raise more questions and provide satisfying answers. The twists and turns throughout this miniseries felt both clever and fresh, and the cast absolutely delivered on every front.
All Her Fault delves into timely themes of the female experience of trying to excel in a career while also raising a family. It questions why so much of the mental load often falls to women in society, and how they carry the blame when things go wrong because they are seen as the “default” parent.
Dakota Fanning’s character has an excellent monologue about this. The show also focuses on the gray area of morality and honesty and how there are always two sides to a story. As a miniseries, it’s the perfect bingeable show with a satisfying ending, and I cannot recommend it enough.
Knights of Guinevere
Where to Watch: YouTube
Starring (voices): Eden Riegel, Michaela Laws, Zelda Khan Black, Kayleigh McKee, Erin Nicole Lundquist, SungWon Cho)
Chosen by: Avani Goswami
One of the best TV shows, or rather episodes, of 2025 is the pilot of Knights of Guinevere, a sci-fi, animated series by Glitch Productions. Animation is an underrated love of mine, and I would be remiss to not recommend a show that deserves all of its roses (and more).
Knights of Guinevere is set on the fictional amusement park Park Planet, where two friends find a broken Princess Android and discover a greater darkness lurking behind the park’s secrets. The storyline, characters and dialogue all hit hard, within one episode – and that’s not even considering how visually stunning and compelling this series is.
It’s a short watch, and deserves to continue, so if animated psychological thrillers set in vibrant, futuristic amusement parks sound like your kind of thing, definitely check out Knights of Guinevere, one of 2025’s best.
