Josh’s Favorite TV Shows of 2025 — Part One!
I hope you all enjoyed my list of my favorite movies of 2025!
Now it’s time to turn to my list of my favorite TV shows of 2025!
As always, I’ll begin by saying that while I’ve watched a lot of TV in 2025, there were plenty of other shows that looked great to me but that I just didn’t get to. This includes, but is not limited to: Black Mirror (a show I am several seasons behind on), Slow Horses, Your Friends and Neighbors, Four Seasons, Platonic season 2, It: Welcome to Derry, Mr. Scorsese, Star Wars Visions season 3, Task, The Lowdown, and more.
There were also, of course, plenty of TV shows I watched and enjoyed in 2025 that didn’t make this list, such as Stranger Things and Only Murders in the Building.
I have to start my list with an honorable mention: Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld. I have LOVED all three seasons (so far — I hope we’ll get more!) of Star Wars shorts overseen by Dave Filoni, digging into fun little corners of the Star Wars universe. Tales of the Jedi focused on Ahsoka Tano’s rise and Count Dooku’s fall. Tales of the Empire explored the Nightsister Morgan Elsbeth (who appeared in The Mandalorian and Ahsoka) and Barriss Offee (an interesting supporting character on The Clone Wars; a Jedi padawan who turned to evil). This new short series (of six short episodes) focuses on Cad Bane (the Jedi-fighting bounty hunter introduced in The Clone Wars and brought into live-action in The Book of Boba Fett) and Asajj Ventress (the evil Sith apprentice who frequently fought Anakin & Obi-Wan on The Clone Wars, and who was recently brought into post-Prequel era continuity at the end of The Bad Batch series). I deeply love the animated corner of the Star Wars universe, overseen by Dave Filoni, and it was a pleasure to get to dip our toes back into this world and these characters with these “Tales of the…” shorts. I didn’t think it would be fair to include these shorts on my list, because I think this run-time was far too short to be considered a full season of TV, but I wanted to highlight this great show. Click here for my full review. Click here to watch it now on Disney+.
And now, here is my list of my favorite TV shows of 2025!
10. Light & Magic season 2 — I loved the first six-episode season of Light & Magic from back in 2022, that charted the development of the special effects company and their ground-breaking work on movies, beginning with Star Wars in 1977 and on to so many of the most visually dazzling movies of the last half-century: many of the Star Trek films, the Indiana Jones films (and pretty much every other movie Steven Spielberg has ever made, most notably Jurassic Park), Willow, Back to the Future, The Abyss, T2: Judgment Day, Forrest Gump, Jumanji, The Mummy, Mission: Impossible… and so many, many more. My only complaint about that first season was the last episode, which felt like a rushed history of several decades at the company following Jurassic Park and the CGI revolution. To my delight, this year we got a wonderful three-episode second season that expanded upon that era! This season was directed by Joe Johnston, an incredible visual effects genius who became a terrific director (Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, The Rocketeer, Jumanji, Jurassic Park III, Captain America: The First Avenger). This new season explores the many creative achievements of ILM in the past several decades. We did deep into the process of creating the visual effects for the Star Wars prequels, The Perfect Storm, the Pirates of the Caribbean films, and more. I loved these three episodes — my only complaint is I wanted more! My full review is coming soon. Click here to watch it now on Disney+.
9. Futurama season 13 — This latest season of Hulu’s revival of Futurama is spectacular, with ten crackling new episodes. There is nary a stinker in the bunch! We got some great parables for issues of our time, from climate change to Pizzagate to kids being addicted to screens. The show was as spectacularly silly as ever, filled with everything from physical comedy to sophisticated math jokes. Once again I felt like somehow this show was being written just for me, with incredible moments such as the episode that builds to a Pacific Rim joke, to a throw-away “Better B’Cawl Hyperchicken” joke sign that made my heart sing. This was ten episodes of pure joy. Click here for my full review. Click here to watch it now on Hulu.
8. The Bear season 4 — The Bear season four was another beautiful, riveting season of this great show. It remains grippingly compelling and intimate, putting the viewer right into the insecurities and self-doubt that pretty much every character on the show is feeling. There are some lighter moments and some bursts of humor (which I love) but (despite how this show is categorized at the Emmys), this is still an intense character drama, and I love it for that. The main narrative through-line of this season is the two-month deadline that Uncle Cicero gives Carmy and the gang to bring The Bear into profitability. That’s a great hook for the season, and it keeps the show living in the stress and intensity of running a restaurant that has always been central to The Bear. Within that framework, I was pleased that this season, it felt like we got to see these characters we love so much make some positive steps forward in their lives. (Carmy apologizes to Claire and takes a step towards reconciliation with his mother; Ebraheim makes plans to develop and expand The Bear’s successful lunch-counter business; Richie makes peace with his ex-wife Tiff’s re-marrying; etc.) Of course, there is still pain and drama and plenty of setbacks, but it was nice to feel here in season 4 that we’re seeing these characters take (baby) steps towards growth. Christopher Storer’s show is as strong as ever; I can’t wait for season five! Click here for my full review. Click here to watch it now on Hulu.
7. Peacemaker season 2 — While not quite the perfect masterpiece that season one was, I loved every episode of the long-awaited second season of this joyous, profane, violent show. After trying and failing to land a spot in the new “Justice Gang”, Chris/Peacemaker gets drunk and wanders into the multi-dimensional doorway his father had in his house (as seen in season one). He discovers an alternate dimension where his dad and brother are both still alive and love him, and he himself is a popular, beloved superhero. Chris is quickly overcome by the temptation to leave his old life behind and step into this perfect life in the alternate universe. Of course, it all quickly goes wrong… James Gunn has once agin created a show that is funny and heartfelt and enjoyably shocking (with violence, cursing, and nudity — that first-episode orgy sequence really knocked me out). This cast is spectacular, and I’ve grown to truly love these characters. James Gunn is a master at developing well-rounded characters who you can’t help but love; it was a pleasure to be back in this world and to get to spend more time with these great characters. I was also delighted by how smoothly Mr. Gunn was able to bring this show from the old DCEU continuity to the new DCU that was kicked off with this summer’s Superman movie. Click here for my full review. Click here to watch it now on HBO Max.
6. Long Story Short — Raphael Bob-Waksberg (BoJack Horseman, Undone) has outdone himself yet again with his latest adult animated show, focusing on the middle-class Jewish family the Schwoopers. The episodes jump all around in time, presenting us with a tapestry of moments in the lives of the parents and three kids in this family. I love this structure, which allows us to develop a fuller understanding of all the characters as we see them at different points in their lives. The show is funny and heartbreaking in equal measure. This is an animated show, but as with all of Mr. Bob-Waksman’s previous work, he and his team have taken pains to present these characters as fully-realized, real human beings, filled with foibles and selfishness and making the types of poor decisions that many (most? all?) real human beings do. It’s a pleasure to see a show that is so deeply Jewish, and that manages to get the details correct. (It made me happy hearing one character causally use the word “davenning” in a sentence.) It’s remarkable that the Jewish edges of this show weren’t sanded off during production; I love how drenched in Judaism this show is, right from the opening moments of the first episode. These are universal stories about growing up and navigating difficult relationships within a family that I am certain will appeal to Jewish and non-Jewish audiences alike. This show would be even higher on this list if I felt that more of these Jewish characters actually had a genuine, positive relationship with their Judaism. (This is a flaw I unfortunately find in so many of the Jewish stories I see on TV or in the movies, even when, as is the case here, there’s a Jewish creator at the helm.) Despite that concern, this show is a beautiful portrait of a flawed, fractured family; I loved it more with each episode I watched. Extra points for the casting of Paul Reiser and Lisa Edelstein as the Schwooper parents. My full review is coming soon. Click here to watch it now on Netflix.
Thanks for reading! I hope you’ll come back tomorrow for my TOP FIVE!
Please support my website by clicking through one of my Amazon links the next time you need to shop! As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. That means I’ll receive a small percentage from ANY product you purchase from Amazon within 24 hours after clicking through. Thank you!