Josh’s Favorite TV Shows of 2025 — Part Two!
Thanks for reading part one of my list of my favorite TV shows of 2025!
And now, on to my TOP FIVE:
5. Poker Face season 2 — I adored this show, masterminded by Rian Johnson (Knives Out, Glass Onion, Wake Up Dead Man) and starring Natasha Lyonne as Charlie, a woman with the ability to unfailingly know when someone is lying. The show brilliantly balanced a retro approach — an episodic, murder-of-the-week show, with a “lonely man” type hero traveling to a new town and situation each week — with boatload of modern style and cleverness and the pleasure of having a spectacular female lead character. Ms. Lyonne delivered a brilliant lead performance, ably assisted by an astonishing array of incredible guest stars, including: Rhea Perlman, Cynthia Erivo, Giancarlo Esposito, Kumail Nanjiani, Awkwafina, Katie Holmes, John Mulaney, Justin Theroux, Richard Kind, Haley Joel Osment, Carol Kane, Sam Richardson, Chris Bauer, Ego Nwodim, B. J. Novak, David Krumholtz, Margo Martindale, Gaby Hoffmann, Geraldine Viswanathan, Melanie Lynskey, John Cho, Adrienne C. Moore, Taylor Schilling, Alia Shawkat, Simon Helberg… and so many more!!! The show managed to be both emotionally rich and also enjoyably silly and playful. I loved it, and I am incredibly bitter that Peacock cancelled it. Click here for my full review. Click here to watch it now on Peacock.
4. Severance season 2 — I continue to be captivated by Severance, in awe of the boldly original story and tone and the wonderful characters, not to mention the top-notch production values — incredible set design, brilliant direction, a memorable score… it’s the complete package! To my delight, this season dug deeper into the mysteries of Lumon and the crazily bizarre world of Kier and the Eagans and whatever the heck is going on down there on the severed floor (not to mention the mysterious basement below)! We got some answers, and also lots of intriguing new questions. The complex dynamic between the “innies” and the “outies” grew even more fascinatingly complex, as the two versions of characters like Helly (Britt Lower) and Dylan (Zach Cherry), and most especially Mark (Adam Scott), grew further distinct from one another. The writing on this show is sharp, and the performances by these actors are all magnificent. The way the show is able to toggle between absurd comedy and wrenching drama is very impressive. I am deeply hooked into this show, these stories and these characters. Please don’t make us have to wait three years for season three. Click here for my full review. Click here to watch it now on Apple TV+.
3. Pluribus — OK, I had a very hard time deciding on the order of my top three shows. All three of these shows are stone cold masterpieces. Any one of these could have been the number one show on my list! Pluribus is the new show from Vince Gilligan (a writer who I began worshipping back during his days writing on The X-Files… and then of course he went on to create Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul) and it is phenomenal. It’s best to go into this show knowing as little about it as possible. I can say that it starts with a sci-fi twist, but while that sets the story in motion, this is not really a sci-fi show. It’s a richly-textured character study, that manages to be both serious and, at times, very funny. The series is anchored around Rhea Seehorn (who won a well-deserved Golden Globe last night for her performance!), who plays Carol Sturka, a successful writer who is nonetheless deeply unhappy. What’s clever and hilarious about Pluribus is that they have created in Carol possibly the worst person possible to be called upon to save the world after the sci-fi incident that sets the show’s story in motion. This is an incredible character, and Ms. Seehorn is astoundingly great in the role. The show looks amazing, and the nine episodes of this first season are perfectly paced, beautifully allowing the story to unfold in exactly the right way. And it ends with a deeply satisfying final scene and final line that fills me with excitement to see a second season. If you’re not watching this show, start now. My full review is coming soon. Click here to watch it now on Apple TV+.
2. The Studio — I am madly in love with The Studio, the latest collaboration between Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. For a long time I was certain this would be my number one show of the year. The show is a masterpiece. I was riveted by every minute of the ten episodes in this first season. Seth Rogen stars as Matt Remick, a movie studio executive who, in the series premiere, is thrust into the role of head of his studio. This is Matt’s dream job; unfortunately, he quickly discovers that his dream job is pretty awful and stressful. As Matt desperately tries to find some way to make movies that are good while also keeping the talent happy and making sure the movies make money so as to keep his boss Griffin (Bryan Cranston) happy, he careens from one crisis to the next, alongside his good buddy Sal Saperstein (Ike Barinholtz), head of marketing Maya Mason (Kathryn Hahn), and Matt’s former assistant Quinn Hackett (Chase Sui Wonders). The Studio was created by Mr. Rogen and Mr. Goldberg, along with Peter Huyck, Alex Gregory, and Frida Perez. Mr. Rogen and Mr. Goldberg co-directed all ten episodes, and also wrote several of them. The show is tremendously funny and also nail-bitingly tense, thrusting the audience right into the thick of the crisis-a-second life of Matt and his friends & colleagues. The show is filmed in a series of “oners”, long, unbroken camera shots, which are masterfully staged and directed. I am bowled over by the care and precision it must have taken to create these unbroken oners, many of which feature multiple locations, scores (if not hundreds!) of extras, characters getting in and out of vehicles (oh my gosh, the crazy drive that Mr. Rogen does at the start of the second episode had me bowled over at the audacity of how they managed to do that in a oner)… it’s extraordinary! I was staggered by the production challenge these shots must have represented. And the guest stars! Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Charlize Theron, Anthony Mackie, Sarah Polley, Ice Cube, Adam Scott, Zac Efron, Dave Franco, Nicholas Stolle, and Zoë Kravitz are just some of the many amazing guest stars who populate these episodes. That this show can be so funny and so masterfully well-made is an extraordinary achievement. Click here to read my full review. Click here to watch it now on Apple TV+.
1. Andor season 2 — In the end, my number one show of the year had to be this, the best Star Wars project produced since Disney purchased Lucasfilm. This magnificent second and final season of Andor is magnificent, with riveting, sophisticated storytelling that cements Andor as a crown jewel of the entire Star Wars franchise. This is a superlative Star Wars show. It’s a superlative TV show, period. If you haven’t watched any of Andor, I implore you to watch this show. Go back and start with season one; watch these two seasons, and then watch Rogue One. (And then, if you’re like me, go back and re-watch the original Star Wars!) I promise you won’t regret it. While this show rewards attentive, hard-core Star Wars fans (my family thought I was crazy how happy I was once I realized that the Ghorman massacre — a tiny detail mentioned on an animated Star Wars show years ago — would become a pivotal plot point this season), but I assure you that this show is terrific even if you know very little about Star Wars. Whereas the original Star Wars was a fairy tale, Andor (and Rogue One) tell the darker, grittier, more realistic story of the wrenching sacrifices and moral compromises made by a variety of people, across the galaxy, in order to actually create the Rebellion that Luke Skywalker and friends would later drop into. Andor is both a brilliantly and beautifully realized sci-fi/fantasy creation — the detail and world-building in the production design, sets, props, costumes, and visual effects is extraordinary — but it’s also a grounded character piece, digging deep into the individuals who made the Rebellion happen; who they were, why they fought and struggled for so hard and so long, and everything and everyone they lost along the way. It’s a beautiful and heartbreaking story that also manages to be uplifting in the end (despite the tragic fates that await many of the characters on the show). This story of people engaged in a fight against creeping fascism is sadly potent and relevant to the world we’re living in today. Andor is in many ways an angry show, a fiery cry to fight against the evils of fascism. This show really hit me in the guts, over and over while watching this season. I really wish this story was just fantasy, rather than feeling ripped from the headlines. Was there a more compelling, more important piece of television this year than Mon Mothma’s final speech to the senate? That speech is even more haunting now, after the murder of Renee Nicole Good by ICE agents. “The distance between what is said… and what is known to be true… has become an abyss.” This is what our Star Wars heroes have always been fighting against, and this is what we’re fighting against in the world right now. Andor was an exemplary television show, the best example of what great work can be done within franchise storytelling. Bravo to showrunner Tony Gilroy and the entire team behind Andor (including Dan Gilroy, who wrote Mon’s speech). Click here to read my full review. Click here to watch it now on Disney+.
Thanks for reading! My list of my favorite comic book series of 2025 is coming soon! And lots more reviews of TV shows and movies! Thanks for reading and helping support what I do.
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